get	RHP John Thomson, Colorado OF Mark Little, Colorado
	get	OF Jay Payton, New York (NL) RHP Mark Corey, New York (NL) OF Robert Stratton, Norfolk (AAA)

The Why:  Well even though the Mets final record of 75-86 is not pretty at the time the made the deal for Thomson they were 4 games over .500 at 55-51 and inline to make a run at the wild card, with the Braves running with the East.  The Colorado Rockies on the other hand were a young, struggling team who was willing to take a chance on Jay Payton to fulfill his hype coming out of college that the Mets had given up on.  At the time of the deal Baseball America considerd John Thomson “the best player who changed teams” at the 2002 deadline.

Who did it help the most?: Well let’s see Thomson wound up going 2-6 with a 4.31 ERA with the Mets and the Mets going 2-7 overall in Thomson starts with the Mets absolutely collapsin and falling out of playoff contention before he left via free agency in the off-season.  Jay Payton on the other hand batted.335 for the rest of the year and doubled his homeruns in half the games finishing the year with 16. Mark Little lasted 3 AB’s with the Mets before being traded for P.J. Bevis who never made it past AAA Norfolk. Mark Corey was terrible  for Colorado and Robert Stratton never made the majors and was forever a minor league slugger, but the deal still helped Colorado the most with the 2002 and amazing 2003 Payton put together.

Did we make a good deal?: Bad deal. Although Payton couldn’t sustain the success he had with the Rockies in ’02 and ’03 he still managed to hit 119 homeruns and drive in 521 runs while Thomson put up terrible numbers with the Mets and put up poor numbers for his career outside of one solid year for the Braves in 2004.

	get	RHP Turk Wendell, Mets LHP Dennis Cook, Mets
	get	LHP Bruce Chen, Scranton (AAA) LHP Adam Walker, Reading (AA)

The Why: At the time of the deal the Mets were 9 games under .500, well behind the Phillies and Braves despite finishing only 6 games out, and were looking to shed some salary and Bruce Chenn had been a top prospect and putting up good numbers for the Phills in his first full season. The Phillies were battling it out with the Braves and needed some bullpen help so they aquired an above-average set-up man.

Who did it help the most?:  The simple answer is no one.  Turk Wendell went on to post an 0-2 record with a 7.47 ERA for the Phillies down the stretch in 2001, missed all of 2002 with an elbow injury, but did have a solid year in 2003 before leaving for the Rockies in free agency and Dennis Cook went 0-0 5.59 in 2001 then leaving for the Angels.  Burce Chen only wound up playing 60.1 going 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA as a New York Met before making his 4th stop in the NL East going to the Expos, while Adam Walker never cracked a big league roster and toured the Mets minor league system.

Did we make a good deal?: Mute deal. Neither team lost anything special and no one gained anything special.  I liked Turk Wendell, but he wasn’t going to help a terrible Met team and Chen was worth the gamble.  The deal made sense for both teams, but worked out for neither.