1996 New York Mets season

The 1996 New York Mets season was the 35th regular season for the Mets. They went 71–91 and finished fourth in the National League East, twenty-five games behind the first place Atlanta Braves. The Mets were managed by Dallas Green and Bobby Valentine. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

Offseason

December 14, 1995: Lance Johnson signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
December 19, 1995: Brent Mayne was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the New York Mets for Al Shirley.
March 31, 1996: Ryan Thompson was traded by the New York Mets with Reid Cornelius to the Cleveland Indians for Mark Clark.

Regular season

After back to back finishes near the top of the National League East, the Mets returned to the losing ways that had plagued the team since 1991. Manager Dallas Green, like his three predecessors in the position, was fired before the season was completed. His replacement was former Texas Rangers manager Bobby Valentine, the manager of the Norfolk Tides.
The Mets did not put up great power numbers as they had in recent years but managed to have two players reach 30 or more home runs. One was catcher Todd Hundley, who broke Roy Campanella's major league record for home runs by a catcher by recording 41. The other was outfielder Bernard Gilkey, who put up 30 home runs of his own. Lance Johnson, acquired in the off season after spending eight years with the Chicago White Sox, had a career year as well. The National League's All-Star center fielder, Johnson hit a career high.333, led the NL in hits with 227, stole 50 bases to set another career high, and recorded sixty extra base hits including a league leading 21 triples; no player since 1930 had that many in the National League.
The Mets traded away infielders Jeff Kent and José Vizcaíno to the Cleveland Indians during the season. The promotion of rookie Rey Ordoñez to be the team's everyday shortstop had both players playing out of position, with Vizcaino at second base and Kent at third. In return the Mets received Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza, neither of whom made much of an impact.
Mark Clark led the Mets starters with a 14–11 record. Bobby Jones' 12–8 mark was good enough for second best on the team. Jason Isringhausen made more than twenty starts for the only time in his career, finishing with a 6–14 mark.
Alex Ochoa hit for the cycle on July 3 in a 10–6 win in Philadelphia. He was the sixth Met to hit for the cycle.
The Mets and San Diego Padres traveled to Mexico in August, marking the first time a regular season MLB game was played in Mexico.

Opening Day Roster

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	24	11	13		139	140
May	28	11	17		93	114
June	28	15	13		124	129
July	28	15	13		153	122
August	28	8	20		131	159
September	26	11	15		106	115
Total	162	71	91		746	779

Player stats

Batting

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Todd Hundley	153	540	140	.259	41	112
1B	Butch Huskey	118	414	115	.278	15	60
2B	José Vizcaíno	96	363	110	.303	1	32
SS	Rey Ordóñez	151	502	129	.257	1	30
3B	Jeff Kent	89	335	97	.290	9	39
LF	Bernard Gilkey	153	571	181	.317	30	117
CF	Lance Johnson	160	682	227	.333	9	69
RF	Alex Ochoa	82	282	83	.294	4	33

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
Edgardo Alfonzo	123	368	96	.261	4	40
Carl Everett	101	192	46	.240	1	16
Rico Brogna	55	188	48	.255	7	30
Chris Jones	89	149	36	.242	4	18
Álvaro Espinoza	48	134	41	.306	4	16
Brent Mayne	70	99	26	.263	1	6
Roberto Petagine	50	99	23	.232	4	17
Tim Bogar	91	89	19	.213	0	6
Carlos Baerga	26	83	16	.193	2	11
Andy Tomberlin	63	66	17	.258	3	10
Jason Hardtke	19	57	11	.193	0	6
Kevin Roberson	27	36	8	.222	3	9
Matt Franco	14	31	6	.194	1	2
Alberto Castillo	6	11	4	.364	0	0
Charlie Greene	2	1	0	.000	0	0

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
Mark Clark	32	212.1	14	11	3.43	142
Bobby Jones	31	195.2	12	8	4.42	116
Pete Harnisch	31	194.2	8	12	4.21	114
Jason Isringhausen	27	171.2	6	14	4.77	114
Paul Wilson	26	149.0	5	12	5.38	109

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
Robert Person	27	89.2	4	5	4.52	76

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
John Franco	51	4	3	28	1.83	48
Doug Henry	58	2	8	9	4.68	58
Jerry Dipoto	57	7	2	0	4.19	52
Dave Mlicki	51	6	7	1	3.30	83
Paul Byrd	38	1	2	0	4.24	31
Bob MacDonald	20	0	2	0	4.26	12
Derek Wallace	19	2	3	3	4.01	15
Blas Minor	17	0	0	0	3.51	20
Pedro Martínez	5	0	0	0	6.43	6
Ricky Trlicek	5	0	1	0	3.38	3
Mike Fyhrie	2	0	1	0	15.43	0

Awards and records

Lance Johnson, National League leader, Triples

All-Star Game

Todd Hundley, Catcher, Reserve
Lance Johnson, Outfield, Reserve

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Lucie