🦖 Inside the Mets 'last-ditch' effort to sign Hideki Matsui

Hello fellow Mets fans! Welcome to today’s edition of Almost A Met.

We all know the story of what happened with Kaz Matsui and the Mets. For those who somehow don’t know: It went poorly.

But the team was reportedly interested in bringing in a different Matsui to Queens: Hideki Matsui. We also know he had a great career across town. So how close was that to being a reality? Let’s find out.

Andrew Wyrich

We’ve covered the disaster of the 2002 Mets several times in this newsletter. It was one of the greatest disappointing eras in the team’s history.

Just to recap: Ahead of the 2002 season, the Mets made several splashy moves including acquiring: 1B Mo Vaughn, 2B Roberto Alomar, RF Jeromy Burnitz, CF Rodger Cedeno, and SP Shawn Estes. The new-look Mets were a trendy pick to win the World Series and with those lofty expectations, the team finished 75-86. They were last in the NL East and a major disappointment.

In an effort to supplement that roster the following offseason, the Mets were “interested in Japanese stars,” according to the New York Times. We’ve previously covered the team’s intense interest in 3B Norihiro Nakamura (who would have come with his signature bat flips). But in addition to Nakamura, the Mets were looking into the possibility of bringing in Matsui.

Matsui, nicknamed “Godzilla,” was one of the premiere power hitters in Japan. During the 2002 season, he hit 50 HRs and drove in 107 RBIs, while hitting .334 and having an OPS of 1.153. Prior to that, he routinely hit 30+ HRs over his 10 years in Japan’s league, never having a season with less than 11 HRs (in his rookie season).

So, it makes sense that the Mets — and other teams — were looking to add that kind of power to their MLB lineups.

Ahead of the Winter Meetings in December 2002, the Mets interest in Matsui “remained strong,” according to the New York Times, with both owner Fred Wilpon and GM Steve Phillips expressing interest in bringing the slugger to Queens.

In fact, the Mets spoke with Matsui’s agent Arn Tellum about his probable asking price and were “not scared off by it.” While they had a financial plan in place for the offseason, they believed that Matsui could be “the one special circumstance” to deviate from it, an official familiar with the talks told the Times.

Around the same time, Wilpon made a somewhat uncharacteristic comment to the press about Matsui.

“We certainly think he’s an interesting person,” Wilpon said, according to the New York Daily News. “He’s enormously popular.”

Wilpon went on to say that Matsui’s popularity in Japan could open up new revenue streams for the Mets, but there was intense competition for his services. Most notably, from the Yankees.

However, Phillips seemed optimistic. “We’re in on everything until we’re not in on it,” Phillips said, the Daily News reported at the time. “Obviously, he’s a good player so we’re considering it.”

As the Mets continued their pursuit of Nakamura, they also continued to stay in the hunt for Matsui. In fact, the Murray Chass of the New York Times noted that signing Nakamura “would not preclude the Mets from pursuing” Matsui also.

In mid-December 2002, the New York Post reported that the Amazin’s had offered the slugger a three-year offer that was “in the same $21-million range as the Yanks and Orioles.”

The Mets envisioned him playing center field for them alongside Burnitz in right field and Cedeno in left field.

While they believed Matsui was likely to land with the Yankees, they had “not abandoned hope” on him choosing Queens, the Post reported, and were still were hotly pursuing Nakamura to play third base.

Ultimately, the Mets made a “last-ditch effort” to try and land Matsui, according to the New York Post, but lost out to the Yankees.

Here’s how the Post put it at the time: “The Mets also had tried to get into the Matsui sweepstakes. But last night, as expected, the Yanks won. The sides reached an agreement of three years, $21 million. They still have to work out details involving an option year and performance bonuses, but are confident those are minor hurdles.”

However, it seemed, for a moment, that they would still get a Japanese slugger to sign with them. That never happened.

As we’ve covered previously, Nakamura would agree to a deal with the Mets before backing out of it and deciding to stay in Japan.

Matsui would go on to have a great career in the Bronx. He drove in 106 RBIs in 2003, 108 in 2004, and 116 in 2005. He’d be an All Star several times for the Yankees and generally be considered a great bat in the middle of their lineup.

Put simply: He was awesome for the Yankees.

Meanwhile, the Mets signed OF Cliff Floyd — who, as I’ve said in the past, was a personal favorite player of mine. They also decided to dip back into the Japanese player pool in 2003 by signing SS Kazuo Matsui to a three-year $20.1 million contract. We all know how that went. (Side note: Jolly Olive recently did a great video on Kaz Matsui. Give it a watch).

While I often say the Mets dodged a bullet by not signing or trading a player, this is one instance where they clearly could have used Matsui’s power as they tried to dig themselves out of the hole they made in 2001.

Would you have signed Matsui in December 2002?

Next newsletter we’ll share the results of the poll! So stay tuned.

Last newsletter’s answers: 80% of Almost A Met readers said they wouldn’t have signed Carlos Correa to a 12-year $315 million deal, while 20% said they would have.

🔵 Is it time for the Mets to turn to the next generation? (Jorge Eckardt / Mets Merized Online)

🟠 A debut for the literal history books (Drew Van Buskirk / Just Mets)

🔵 Hope arrived at Citi Field: and his name is A.J. Ewing (The Shea Hello Newsletter)

🟠 Why Mets are promoting top prospect A.J. Ewing and what scouts see (John Harper / SNY)

🔵 What if Mets sell at trade deadline? Should David Stearns be better at evaluating? Mailbag (Tim Britton / The Athletic)