But what I never understood is, why did him debuting at 29 all of a sudden make him a hot commodity with big league teams? They had a whole near-decade's worth of career to start noticing him, but he didn't even reach Triple-A until he was 28 years old.

But when the Mets finally gave him the call, that made him a major league caliber pitcher that teams went out of their way to sign? The Red Sox utilized his services in 2020 and the Rays did so in 2021 and 2022 (not just that, the Rays TRADED for him, giving up two prospects).

So he wasn't worth looking at from ages 28 and before, then all of a sudden teams wanted him once a big league club took a flier on him...even though he didn't even impress in his first stint in the bigs.

I don't get it.

I McCan't believe they thought he'd be a good option at catcher.

On the bright side, his struggles are, in part, what opened the door for Francisco Alvarez, who has been decent so far.

Also, he signed an autograph for me through the mail in 2008, when he was in the Reds minor league system. He's never been much of a signer, but I got lucky. Then I tried him again in 2010, and he didn't respond.

He was with the club for seven seasons and was a face of the franchise during some, if not terrible, pretty bland times.

Because of his performance with the club, the voters in the Mets Hall of Fame project I run on another website elected him with 100% of the vote in his fourth try on the ballot.

(Also I wrote him an autograph request through the Mets in 2018 and he never responded).

Then he went and contributed some to that semi-magical 2022 club that won 101 games.

He's one of those guys that most baseball fans will forget, but to Mets fans will mean just a little bit more.

Currently, he's playing for Gastonia of the independent Atlantic League.

And when they traded him away, all they received in return was a guy who peaked at Double-A in their system (Chris Bullock).

Anywho, I've sent him four autograph requests through the mail in my day, most recently earlier this year. He's responded once, way back in 2005, when he signed in about a month.

"Few players stick out in my mind as being 'especially bad' with New York."

Well, Mayberry is another one. I could not understand why they stuck with him so long. He was on their roster through late July!

He played for them in 2015. it's hard to believe that a World Series team was able to make it to the Fall Classic at all giving a guy like John Mayberry so much playing time.

But Brogna was good. He played only one full season with the team and excelled, hitting 22 homers with 76 RBI in 1995. The year before, he had a .351/.380/.626 slash line in 39 games. Even in his 'down' year of 1996, he still managed a 100 OPS+. So all told, his 162 game averages with NY were 26 HR, 90 RBI a .291/.342/.495 slash line and a 121 OPS+. Not bad!

And all the Mets had to do to get him was trade Alan Zinter, who didn't even debut in the majors until 2002, when he was 34.

Also, I've written him two autograph requests in my day, in 2005 and this year, both through his home address, but he hasn't responded.