Mets, Rockies, Brewers swap 11 players

Posted 6:18AM on Tuesday 22nd January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

NEW YORK - Adding a slugging outfielder didn't come easy for the New York Mets. After being spurned by free agent Juan Gonzalez, the Mets pulled off a three-team, 11-player trade, acquiring Jeromy Burnitz from Milwaukee and sending Glendon Rusch to the Brewers and Todd Zeile to Colorado on Monday night. ``This has been a rather complicated process, which seems to go with everything else this winter that we've done,'' New York general manager Steve Phillips said. The trade completes an offseason overhaul of the Mets' offense, with Burnitz returning to his original team and joining a lineup with newcomers Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn and Roger Cedeno. New York also received pitcher Jeff D'Amico, infielder Lou Collier, outfielder Mark Sweeney and cash from Milwaukee. The Mets got two minor leaguers from Colorado: infielder-outfielder Ross Gload and pitcher Craig House. The Brewers added a left-handed starter in Rusch, as well as outfielder Alex Ochoa from Colorado and infielder Lenny Harris from New York. The Rockies filled their third base hole with Zeile and added outfielder Benny Agbayani. The Mets will pay about half of Zeile's $6 million contract. GMs Dan O'Dowd of Colorado and Dean Taylor of Milwaukee have a history of making big deals. They took part in a four-team, nine-player swap on Dec. 13, 1999. This is the biggest deal since December 1994, when Houston and San Diego pulled off a 12-player trade - the most players dealt in the past 44 years. After going to the World Series in 2000, the Mets went 82-80 last year, finishing with the fewest runs in the majors. They were second-to-last in average and homers in the NL. Burnitz adds another big bat to a lineup that returns Mike Piazza and Edgardo Alfonzo. ``You'd like to be a part of that lineup and watch that lineup hitting all year if it's healthy,'' Burnitz said. Burnitz, who played two seasons with the Mets, hit .251 with 34 homers and 100 RBIs last season, although he struck out 150 times. The Mets only had 40 home runs from their entire outfield in 2001. ``We feel fortunate to have his bat,'' Phillips said. ``He's a power-hitting corner outfielder and he goes to the gate every night.'' D'Amico was 2-4 with a 6.08 ERA in 10 starts for Milwaukee last season. He missed four months because of an arm injury and had surgery July 2 to decompress a nerve in his right arm. D'Amico went 12-7 with a 2.66 ERA in 2000. ``When he was healthy in 2000, he absolutely dominated,'' Phillips said. ``He was always a highly touted pitcher. He was just besieged by injuries.'' With the latest deal, the Mets project their 2001 payroll to be a little more than $100 million - about $5 million more than their original budget. After acquiring lefty Shawn Estes from San Francisco last month, the Mets had an excess of left-handed starters. They also signed free agent righty Pedro Astacio last week. Bruce Chen probably will move to the bullpen to make room for D'Amico in the rotation. Rusch went 8-12 with a 4.63 ERA last season and joins a Milwaukee staff that probably will include Ben Sheets, Jamey Wright and Ruben Quevedo. ``He has quality stuff, and we feel as though he's going to be a tremendous acquisition for us,'' Brewers manager Davey Lopes said. Ochoa hit .276 with eight homers, 52 RBIs and 17 steals last season for Cincinnati and Colorado. Harris' 151 pinch hits are the most in baseball history. The Brewers wanted to shed the free-swinging Burnitz, who will make $6.5 million this season and $11.5 million in 2003. The Brewers became the first team to have more strikeouts - a record 1,399 - than hits - 1,378. ``Obviously, we've lost some home runs in this deal,'' Taylor said. ``But if you looked at this ballclub last year, home runs were not an issue. What we lacked was speed and contact hitters.'' Zeile fills the hole at third created when Jeff Cirillo was dealt to Seattle. Zeile played first base in his two seasons for the Mets. ``He's looking forward to moving back to third base,'' O'Dowd said. ``He has no qualms, no reservations about it.'' Zeile hit .266 with 10 homers and 62 RBIs last season. He had arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow in November, but is expected to be ready for spring training.

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