1999 New York Mets season

The 1999 New York Mets season was the franchise's 38th and the team's 36th season at Shea Stadium. The team finished with a 97–66 record, placing second in the National League East. They secured the NL Wild Card by defeating the Cincinnati Reds in a one-game playoff. The Mets advanced to the NLCS, where they were defeated by the Atlanta Braves in six games.
The Mets were managed by Bobby Valentine, who entered his fourth year as skipper. They played home games at Shea Stadium.

Offseason

November 11, 1998: Bobby Bonilla was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the New York Mets for Mel Rojas.
December 1, 1998: Todd Hundley was traded by the New York Mets with Arnold Gooch to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Roger Cedeño and Charles Johnson.
December 1, 1998: Charles Johnson was traded by the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles for Armando Benítez.
December 1, 1998: Robin Ventura was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
December 16, 1998: Rickey Henderson signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
December 18, 1998: Josías Manzanillo was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.

Regular season

The Mets' 97 victories were their highest total since they won 100 games in 1988. They were led offensively by catcher Mike Piazza, who compiled a.303 average with 40 home runs and 124 RBI in his first full season with the team. New third baseman Robin Ventura put together a.301 average, 32 home runs, and 120 RBI while second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo hit.304 with 27 home runs and 108 RBI. First baseman John Olerud continued his consistent hitting, hitting.298 with 96 RBI, his third straight year with 90 or more runs driven in. Offseason acquisitions Roger Cedeño and Rickey Henderson recorded the two highest batting averages on the squad at.315 and.313 respectively. Benny Agbayani, a semi-regular outfielder who got more playing time as the year progressed, contributed 14 home runs.
The Mets' pitching staff was again led by Al Leiter with 13 wins. Orel Hershiser matched that total, with Masato Yoshii recording 12 wins and Rick Reed 11. Rookie Octavio Dotel went 8–3 in fourteen starts, and late season acquisition Kenny Rogers won five of six decisions while leading the team in complete games. The rotation was not as strong at keeping runs off the board; the team's four main starters recorded ERAs above 4.00.
The offseason acquisition of Armando Benitez from the Baltimore Orioles ended John Franco's tenure as the team's closer. Franco did manage to record nineteen saves and broke the Major League Baseball record for saves by a left-hander, but Benitez' 1.85 ERA and twenty-two saves ensured the closer role would be his for the foreseeable future.

Mercury Mets

As part of the now-infamous Turn Ahead the Clock promotion sponsored by Century 21, the Mets changed their name to the "Mercury Mets" while hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 27, 1999.

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

July 31, 1999: Brian McRae was traded by the New York Mets with Thomas Johnson and Rigo Beltrán to the Colorado Rockies for Darryl Hamilton and Chuck McElroy.
July 31, 1999: Jason Isringhausen was traded by the New York Mets with Greg McMichael to the Oakland Athletics for Billy Taylor.

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Mike Piazza	141	534	162	.303	40	124
1B	John Olerud	162	581	173	.298	19	96
2B	Edgardo Alfonzo	158	628	191	.304	27	108
3B	Robin Ventura	161	588	177	.301	32	120
SS	Rey Ordóñez	154	520	134	.258	1	60
LF	Rickey Henderson	121	438	138	.315	12	42
CF	Brian McRae	96	298	66	.221	8	36
RF	Roger Cedeño	155	453	142	.313	4	36

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
Benny Agbayani	101	276	79	.286	14	42
Darryl Hamilton	55	168	57	.339	5	21
Todd Pratt	71	140	41	.293	3	21
Matt Franco	122	132	31	.235	4	21
Bobby Bonilla	60	119	19	.160	4	18
Luis López	68	104	22	.212	2	13
Shawon Dunston	42	93	32	.344	0	16
Jermaine Allensworth	40	73	16	.219	3	9
Mike Kinkade	28	46	9	.196	2	6
Melvin Mora	66	31	5	.161	0	1
Jay Payton	13	8	2	.250	0	1
Terrence Long	3	3	0	.000	0	0
Jorge Toca	4	3	1	.333	0	0
Vance Wilson	1	0	0	----	0	0
Shane Halter	7	0	0	----	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Al Leiter	32	32	213.0	13	12	4.23	162
Orel Hershiser	32	32	179.0	13	12	4.58	89
Masato Yoshii	31	29	174.0	12	8	4.40	105
Rick Reed	26	26	149.1	11	5	4.58	104
Octavio Dotel	19	14	85.1	8	3	5.38	85
Kenny Rogers	12	12	76.0	5	1	4.03	58

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
Bobby Jones	12	59.1	3	3	5.61	31
Allen Watson	14	39.2	2	2	4.08	32
Jason Isringhausen	13	39.1	1	3	6.41	31

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Armando Benítez	77	78.0	4	3	22	1.85	128
Turk Wendell	80	85.2	5	4	3	3.05	77
Pat Mahomes	39	63.2	8	0	0	3.68	51
Dennis Cook	71	63.0	10	5	3	3.86	68
John Franco	46	40.2	0	2	19	2.88	41
Rigo Beltrán	21	31.0	1	1	0	3.48	35
Greg McMichael	19	18.2	1	1	0	4.82	18
Josías Manzanillo	12	18.2	0	0	0	5.79	25
Billy Taylor	18	13.1	0	1	0	8.10	14
Chuck McElroy	15	13.1	0	0	0	3.38	7
Jeff Tam	9	11.1	0	0	0	3.18	8
Matt Franco	2	1.1	0	0	0	13.50	2
Dan Murray	1	2.0	0	0	0	13.50	1
Glendon Rusch	1	1.0	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Mike Piazza, Catcher, Starter