1 trade every MLB team would like to have back
By Drew Koch
1 trade the New York Mets want to take back: Nolan Ryan
Wow! When looking back over the classic blunders that the New York Mets have made over the years, it’s kind of hard to come up with just one trade that they’d like to take back. Lenny Dykstra, Tom Seaver, Rusty Staub, and Amos Otis all deserve honorable mention.
But in the end, it has to be Nolan Ryan, right? The Mets traded Ryan, along with a handful of other players, to the California Angels in 1971 for Jim Fregosi. The shortstop spent less than one year in Queens and Ryan became one of the most decorated pitchers of all time.
After leaving New York, Ryan went to eight All-Star Games, pitched 59 shutouts, and seven no-hitters. Remarkably, Ryan never won a Cy Young Award despite leading the league in strikeouts 11 different times and in ERA twice.
Ryan finished among the Top 5 in the Cy Young vote six times and was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. The Ryan Express still leads all of baseball in both walks and strikeouts and had his best years after leaving New York City.