1993 New York Mets season

1993 New York Mets
File:NewYorkMets.gif
Division	Eastern Division
Ballpark	Shea Stadium
City	New York
Record	59-103 (.364)
Owners	Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, Jr.
Managers	Jeff Torborg, Dallas Green
Television	WWOR-TV/SportsChannel New York (Ralph Kiner, Tim McCarver, Fran Healy, Rusty Staub)
Radio	WFAN (Bob Murphy, Gary Cohen, Todd Kalas) WSKQ-FM (spanish) (Juan Alicea, Billy Berroa, Renato Morffi, Armando Talavera)
Seasons

The New York Mets' 1993 season was the 32nd regular season for the Mets. The team sought to improve on its 72-90 mark from 1992. Instead, the Mets slid back and for the first time since 1967 lost 100 games. The Mets finished with a 59-103 record, their fifth worst in history, and finished last place in the NL East. They played all of their home games at Shea Stadium. As of 2020, this was the most recent 100-loss season for the Mets.

Background

The 1993 Mets entered the season after a disappointing 1992 campaign where their major player acquisitions, designed to help the team return to contending for a division title, largely fizzled out. Their biggest acquisition, outfielder Bobby Bonilla, did not perform up to fans' expectations and was frequently booed by the local fans. Pitcher Bret Saberhagen and second baseman Willie Randolph, two more major pickups in the previous offseason, were injured much of the season and largely ineffective. One of the few bright spots was Eddie Murray, who led the team with 91 RBI to go along with 16 home runs, but besides he and Bonilla (74 RBI, 19 home runs) no Met reached 50 RBI or 15 home runs. Murray's .261 average led the regulars, who all struggled to record hits; shortstop Dick Schofield, for instance, recorded over 400 plate appearances but could not manage to reach 100 hits. Howard Johnson, the 1991 National League home run and RBI champion, also battled injuries and saw his totals fall off significantly. The pitching staff was not much better off, as Dwight Gooden recorded his worst season as a major leaguer and the team left a hole in its rotation by trading away ace David Cone in August; Sid Fernandez's 14 wins led the team.

Manager Jeff Torborg, who had come off two consecutive winning seasons with the Chicago White Sox, found himself unable to maintain control of the team. He had a particularly testy relationship with outfielder Vince Coleman, which eventually resulted in the former stolen base king's suspension in September.

Offseason

The Mets were not as aggressive in pursuing other players as they had been in 1992 but made a splash in a trade, acquiring All-Star shortstop Tony Fernández in a trade with the San Diego Padres. Another significant acquisition was veteran starter Frank Tanana, who had spent the last eight years with the Detroit Tigers and would give the rotation an additional veteran to go with Gooden, Fernandez, and Saberhagen.

Moves

• October 26, 1992: Wally Whitehurst, D. J. Dozier and a player to be named later were traded by the Mets to the San Diego Padres for Tony Fernández. The Mets completed the deal by sending Raul Casanova to the Padres on December 7.
• November 17, 1992: José Martínez was drafted from the Mets by the Florida Marlins in the 1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft.
• December 2, 1992: Roger Mason was signed as a free agent by the Mets.
• December 17, 1992: Roger Mason and Mike Freitas (minors) were traded by the Mets to the San Diego Padres for Mike Maddux.
• December 22, 1992: Mauro Gozzo was signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.
• December 28, 1992: Eric Bullock was signed as a free agent by the Mets.

Regular season

Once again, trouble courted the Mets in 1993. After Bob Klapisch and John Harper's chronicle of the 1992 season, The Worst Team Money Could Buy, came out early in the season, Bobby Bonilla confronted Klapisch after a game and tried to provoke him into a physical confrontation. In June, Bret Saberhagen filled a Super Soaker water gun with bleach and shot it at reporters in the clubhouse. Vince Coleman once again found himself in trouble when he struck Dwight Gooden with a golf club while swinging it wildly in the clubhouse and injured him. Later in the season, while in the car of Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Eric Davis, Coleman tossed a lit firecracker toward a crowd of autograph seekers at Dodger Stadium, injuring three people when it exploded. This proved to be the last straw for the Mets and Coleman; he was placed on administrative leave following the incident and the team later announced that Coleman would not be with the team going forward.

After thirty-eight games, the Mets had decided enough was enough and relieved Jeff Torborg of his duties as manager. He became the third straight Mets skipper to be fired before the end of the season, following Davey Johnson and Bud Harrelson. The team then called upon Dallas Green, who had been out of baseball since he was fired by the New York Yankees as their manager during the 1989 season. With the team standing at 13-25, Green recorded only forty-six victories in his abbreviated first campaign and brought the Mets home with the worst record in baseball. The team's poor record also cost second year general manager Al Harazin his job, with the team hiring San Diego Padres general manager Joe McIlvaine to replace him.

Despite the poor record, some positives came from the Mets' lineup. Bonilla returned to the All-Star Game and hit a career high 34 home runs. Second baseman Jeff Kent, in his first full year as a starter, added 21 home runs with 80 RBI. Eddie Murray tallied 27 home runs, led the team with a .285 average, and recorded 100 RBI, the first time he had done that since he was with the Baltimore Orioles in 1985. 1993 also saw the debut of Bobby Jones, a rookie who would become a frontline starter for the Mets in the coming years.

Anthony Young

One of the stranger stories of the 1993 season was the losing streak recorded by pitcher Anthony Young. After winning his first two decisions of the 1992 season, Young would lose his final fourteen of the year. He picked up right where he left off in 1993, dropping thirteen straight games were he factored into the decision and breaking a record that was held by Boston Braves pitcher Cliff Curtis, who lost 23 straight decisions over the course of the 1910 and 1911 seasons.

Young's losing streak was snapped at 27 on July 28 against the expansion Florida Marlins. Young allowed an unearned run in the top of the ninth to give the Marlins a 4-3 lead. The Mets scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth against closer Bryan Harvey to win the game 5-4. The win was the only one Young recorded in 1993, and he went on to finish with a team high sixteen losses in thirty-nine appearances with ten starts.

Season standings

NL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Phillies	97	65	.599	—	52‍–‍29	45‍–‍36
Montreal Expos	94	68	.580	3	55‍–‍26	39‍–‍42
St. Louis Cardinals	87	75	.537	10	49‍–‍32	38‍–‍43
Chicago Cubs	84	78	.519	13	43‍–‍38	41‍–‍40
Pittsburgh Pirates	75	87	.463	22	40‍–‍41	35‍–‍46
Florida Marlins	64	98	.395	33	35‍–‍46	29‍–‍52
New York Mets	59	103	.364	38	28‍–‍53	31‍–‍50

Record vs. opponents

1993 National League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	7–5	10–3	13–0	7–5	8–5	8–5	7–5	9–3	6–6	7–5	9–4	7–6	6–6
Chicago	5–7	—	7–5	8–4	6–7	4–8	7–5	5–8–1	8–5	7–6	5–8	8–4	6–6	8–5
Cincinnati	3–10	5–7	—	9–4	7–5	6–7	5–8	4–8	6–6	4–8	8–4	9–4	2–11	5–7
Colorado	0–13	4–8	4–9	—	7–5	11–2	7–6	3–9	6–6	3–9	8–4	6–7	3–10	5–7
Florida	5–7	7–6	5–7	5–7	—	3–9	5–7	5–8	4–9	4–9	6–7	7–5	4–8	4–9
Houston	5–8	8–4	7–6	2–11	9–3	—	9–4	5–7	11–1	5–7	7–5	8–5	3–10	6–6
Los Angeles	5–8	5–7	8–5	6–7	7–5	4–9	—	6–6	8–4	2–10	8–4	9–4	7–6	6–6
Montreal	5–7	8–5–1	8–4	9–3	8–5	7–5	6–6	—	9–4	6–7	8–5	10–2	3–9	7–6
New York	3–9	5–8	6–6	6–6	9–4	1–11	4–8	4–9	—	3–10	4–9	5–7	4–8	5–8
Philadelphia	6-6	6–7	8–4	9–3	9–4	7–5	10–2	7–6	10–3	—	7–6	6–6	4–8	8–5
Pittsburgh	5–7	8–5	4–8	4–8	7–6	5–7	4–8	5–8	9–4	6–7	—	9–3	5–7	4–9
San Diego	4–9	4–8	4–9	7–6	5–7	5–8	4–9	2–10	7–5	6–6	3–9	—	3–10	7–5
San Francisco	6–7	6–6	11–2	10–3	8–4	10–3	6–7	9–3	8–4	8–4	7–5	10–3	—	4–8
St. Louis	6–6	5–8	7–5	7–5	9–4	6–6	6–6	6–7	8–5	5–8	9–4	5–7	8–4	—

Opening Day starters

• Bobby Bonilla
• Vince Coleman
• Tony Fernández
• Dwight Gooden
• Todd Hundley
• Howard Johnson
• Jeff Kent
• Eddie Murray
• Joe Orsulak

Notable transactions

• April 23, 1993: Jeff Kaiser was selected off waivers by the Mets from the Cincinnati Reds.
• May 14, 1993: Ced Landrum was signed as a free agent by the Mets.
• June 11, 1993: Tony Fernández was traded by the Mets to the Toronto Blue Jays for Darrin Jackson.
• June 12, 1993: Wayne Housie was traded by the Mets to the Milwaukee Brewers for Josías Manzanillo.

Roster

1993 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers 47 Mike Draper 50 Sid Fernandez 31 John Franco 45 Paul Gibson 16 Dwight Gooden 45 Mauro Gozzo 34,35 Kenny Greer 53 Eric Hillman 40 Jeff Innis 28 Bobby Jones 56 Jeff Kaiser 51 Mike Maddux 39 Josías Manzanillo 18 Bret Saberhagen 48 Pete Schourek 29 Frank Tanana 38 Dave Telgheder 43 Mickey Weston 19 Anthony Young		Catchers  9 Todd Hundley 22 Charlie O'Brien Infielders  1 Kevin Baez 23 Tim Bogar  1 Tony Fernández 10 Butch Huskey 20 Howard Johnson 12 Jeff Kent 17 Jeff McKnight 33 Eddie Murray 36 Tito Navarro  2 Doug Saunders 34 Chico Walker		Outfielders 25 Bobby Bonilla  5 Jeromy Burnitz 11 Vince Coleman  8 Dave Gallagher  2 Wayne Housie  3 Darrin Jackson 26 Ced Landrum  6 Joe Orsulak 44 Ryan Thompson		Manager 46 Dallas Green 10 Jeff Torborg Coaches  4 Mike Cubbage (third base) 26 Barry Foote (first base) 15 Darrell Johnson (bench) 28 Dave LaRoche (bullpen) 27 Tom McCraw (hitting) 30 Mel Stottlemyre (pitching)  7 Bobby Wine (bench)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; OPS = OBP + SLG (On base + slugging percentage)

Player	Pos	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	OPS
Todd Hundley	C	130	417	95	.228	11	53	.626
Eddie Murray	1B	154	610	174	.285	27	100	.792
Jeff Kent	2B	140	496	134	.270	21	80	.765
Tim Bogar	SS	78	205	50	.244	3	25	.652
Howard Johnson	3B	72	235	56	.238	7	26	.732
Vince Coleman	LF	92	373	104	.279	2	25	.691
Ryan Thompson	CF	80	288	72	.250	11	26	.747
Bobby Bonilla	RF	139	502	133	.265	34	87	.874

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Tony Fernández	48	173	39	.225	1	14
Ced Landrum	22	19	5	.263	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Jeff Kaiser	6	0	0	0	11.57	5

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Norfolk Tides	International League	Clint Hurdle
AA	Binghamton Mets	Eastern League	Steve Swisher
A	St. Lucie Mets	Florida State League	John Tamargo
A	Capital City Bombers	South Atlantic League	Ron Washington
Short-Season A	Pittsfield Mets	New York–Penn League	Howie Freiling
Rookie	Kingsport Mets	Appalachian League	Ron Gideon
Rookie	GCL Mets	Gulf Coast League	Junior Roman

External links

• 1993 New York Mets
• 1993 New York Mets team page at www.baseball-almanac.com