Did We Make a Good Deal?: August 30th, 2000 Mets Acquire Jorge Velandia

The Deal:

The Why:  At this time the Mets were in a deadlock for first place in the NL East with the Atlanta Braves and first in the wild card standings looking for a little extra help.  While the A’s themselves were also in the playoff hunt they had no need for the 25-year-old utility infielder who was batting .125 in 18 games that season.  Nelson Cruz was having a breakout season in the DSL hitting .351 with 15 homeruns and 17 steals as a 20-year-old.

Who did it help the most?:  No one. Jorge Velandia had 0 hits and scored 1 run on 2 BB’s during the rest of the regular season for the Mets.  He did not make the playoff roster and did nothing to help the Mets who would win up losing to the New York Yankees in the World Series that year.  Nelson Cruz had some great seasons for the A’s minor league system before being traded to the Brewers for Keith Ginter.  Had the A’s held on to Cruz it would have helped them much more, but since Velandia did absolutely nothing for the Mets it’s even.

Did we make a good deal?:  Bad deal. Nelson Cruz has gone on to become a slugging All-Star outfielder for the Texas Rangers and Velandia is now sitting on his couch watching ball games at home.  There was nothing wrong with trading Cruz at that time because he was old for the DSL and no one could have predicted such a late breakout from him.  The thing that irks me about this deal is that it was pointless as there was no need for the Mets to acquire Velandia for anything more than cash considerations.

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