The Mets at the deadline traded good-guy righty Rick Reed 35 to the Twins (yes, the Twins) for outfielder Matt Lawton. Lawton, perhaps the outfielder the Mets needed all along, will wear No. 23, most recently occupied by Brian Rose.
Also, Gary Bennett 7 was sent to Norfolk (and subsequently traded to the Rockies for a player to be named) and Donne Wall 33 returned.
The Mets tonight in a bold stroke traded the veteran relievers as responsible for the team’s success as any two Mets over the last three years. We’ll miss whacky Turk Wendell, a MBTN original at 99; and the even nuttier Dennis Cook 27. In return, the Mets receive potentially good lefty pitchers Bruce Chen and Adam Walker. Chen takes No. 32. Walker goes to the Minors in the meantime and Grant Roberts 36 takes his place.
Turk and Cook join another struggling symbol of the good old days Todd Pratt, traded days earlier to Philadelphia for another backup backstop, Gary Bennett. The straight-up uni-swap dressed Bennett in Todd’s old No. 7. We’ll miss Pratt. In addition to THE homer, it was Pratt’s goofy fate to have hit home runs in his first and last at-bat as a Met. All four of these guys had real character and brought us a lot of great memories.
