The Rotation That Never Was

Here is the part that still stings in Queens. That group was never a rotation.

Jon Matlack made his debut on July 11, 1971. Nolan Ryan was traded to California on December 10, 1971, packaged with three others for Jim Fregosi, who lasted a season and a half at Shea. The window where all four wore the same uniform was about five months long, and Matlack pitched in 18 games in it. Nobody ever ran them out there in order.

What they became apart is the number that hurts. Seaver: 311 wins, 3,640 strikeouts, three Cy Youngs. Ryan: 324 wins, 5,714 strikeouts, seven no-hitters. Koosman: 222 wins, and the man on the mound for the final out in 1969. Matlack: 1972 Rookie of the Year and a two-hit shutout in Cincinnati in the '73 NLCS. Add it up and you get 982 career wins and better than 13,400 strikeouts from one farm system, inside one decade.

The Mets did not squander the talent. They developed all four of them, which is the hardest part. They just could not hold onto it long enough to find out what it would have looked like.