2003 New York Mets season
The 2003 New York Mets season was the 42nd regular season for the Mets. They went 66–95 and finished fifth in the National League East, thirty-four and a half games behind the first place Atlanta Braves. This was the first season under full ownership of Fred Wilpon, who decided in the offseason to replace Bobby Valentine with Art Howe as manager; previously, Howe had managed the Oakland Athletics for the past seven seasons. The Mets played home games at Shea Stadium.
Offseason
- November 25, 2002: Jorge Velandia was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
- December 5, 2002: Tom Glavine was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
- December 19, 2002: Mike Stanton was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
- January 11, 2003: Tsuyoshi Shinjo was signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
- February 11, 2003: Jay Bell signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
- February 13, 2003: David Cone signed as a free agent with the New York Mets.
Regular season
After their disappointing 2002 season the Mets entered 2003 hoping to contend for a playoff spot. But the season ended up being a massive disappointment as they were defeated by the Cubs at home 15–2 on opening day and finished just 66–95.Opening Day starters
- Roberto Alomar
- Jeromy Burnitz
- Roger Cedeño
- Cliff Floyd
- Tom Glavine
- Mike Piazza
- Rey Sánchez
- Mo Vaughn
- Ty Wigginton
Season standings
Notable transactions
- July 1, 2003: Roberto Alomar was traded by the New York Mets with cash to the Chicago White Sox for Edwin Almonte, Royce Ring, and Andrew Salvo.
- July 16, 2003: Armando Benítez was traded by the New York Mets to the New York Yankees for Ryan Bicondoa, Jason Anderson and Anderson Garcia.
- July 29, 2003: Kenny Kelly was traded by the Seattle Mariners to the New York Mets for Rey Sánchez and cash.
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 | Vance Wilson | 96 | 268 | 65 | .243 | 8 | 39 |
| 1B | Jason Phillips | 119 | 403 | 120 | .298 | 11 | 58 |
| 2B | Roberto Alomar | 73 | 263 | 69 | .262 | 2 | 22 |
| SS | José Reyes | 69 | 274 | 84 | .307 | 5 | 32 |
| 3B | Ty Wigginton | 156 | 573 | 146 | .255 | 11 | 71 |
| LF | Cliff Floyd | 108 | 365 | 106 | .290 | 18 | 68 |
| CF | Jeff Duncan | 56 | 139 | 27 | .194 | 1 | 10 |
| RF | Roger Cedeño | 148 | 484 | 129 | .267 | 7 | 37 |
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 |
| Timo Pérez | 127 | 346 | 93 | .269 | 4 | 42 |
| Joe McEwing | 119 | 278 | 67 | .241 | 1 | 16 |
| Tony Clark | 125 | 254 | 59 | .232 | 16 | 43 |
| Mike Piazza | 68 | 234 | 67 | .286 | 11 | 34 |
| Jeromy Burnitz | 65 | 234 | 64 | .274 | 18 | 45 |
| Raúl González | 107 | 217 | 50 | .230 | 2 | 21 |
| Rey Sánchez | 56 | 174 | 36 | .207 | 0 | 12 |
| Jay Bell | 72 | 116 | 21 | .181 | 0 | 3 |
| Tsuyoshi Shinjo | 62 | 114 | 22 | .193 | 1 | 7 |
| Mo Vaughn | 27 | 79 | 15 | .190 | 3 | 15 |
| Marco Scutaro | 48 | 75 | 16 | .213 | 2 | 6 |
| Jorge Velandia | 23 | 58 | 11 | .190 | 0 | 8 |
| Daniel Garcia | 19 | 56 | 12 | .214 | 2 | 6 |
| Prentice Redman | 15 | 24 | 3 | .125 | 1 | 2 |
| Matt Watson | 15 | 23 | 4 | .174 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Glavine | 6 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe DePastino | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
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 |
| Steve Trachsel | 33 | 204.2 | 16 | 10 | 3.78 | 111 |
| Jae Weong Seo | 32 | 188.1 | 9 | 12 | 3.82 | 110 |
| Tom Glavine | 32 | 183.1 | 9 | 14 | 4.52 | 82 |
| Al Leiter | 30 | 180.2 | 15 | 9 | 3.99 | 139 |
| Aaron Heilman | 14 | 65.1 | 2 | 7 | 6.75 | 51 |
| Pedro Astacio | 7 | 36.2 | 3 | 2 | 7.36 | 20 |
| David Cone | 5 | 18.0 | 1 | 3 | 6.50 | 13 |
| Jason Roach | 2 | 9.0 | 0 | 2 | 12.00 | 2 |
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 |
| Jeremy Griffiths | 9 | 41.0 | 1 | 4 | 7.02 | 25 |
| Mike Bacsik | 5 | 17.2 | 1 | 2 | 10.19 | 12 |
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 |
| Armando Benítez | 45 | 3 | 3 | 21 | 3.10 | 50 |
| David Weathers | 77 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 3.08 | 75 |
| Mike Stanton | 50 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 4.57 | 34 |
| John Franco | 38 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2.62 | 16 |
| Graeme Lloyd | 36 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.31 | 17 |
| Dan Wheeler | 35 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3.71 | 35 |
| Jaime Cerda | 27 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.85 | 19 |
| Pedro Feliciano | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.35 | 43 |
| Scott Strickland | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.25 | 16 |
| Grant Roberts | 18 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.79 | 10 |
| Edwin Almonte | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.12 | 7 |
| Orber Moreno | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.88 | 5 |
| Jason Anderson | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 | 7 |
| Pat Strange | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.00 | 5 |
| Jason Middlebrook | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.29 | 3 |