Rick Reed, Reluctant Twin

After growing up poor and needing to help his financially struggling parents, Rick Reed made the controversial decision to serve as a replacement player during the 1994-95 player’s strike. He was seemingly blackballed after the strike ended and spent the entire 1996 season with the Norfolk Tide (Triple A, New York Mets). Reed developed a good relationship with Tide manager Bobby Valentine, who was promoted to manage the Mets in 1997. Valentine helped ease Reed back into a clubhouse culture that was slow to accept a "scab", and then his career took off.

His 2.89 ERA in 1997 was sixth in the National League. Reed was named an All-Star for the first time in 1998 at age 33, and he would make a second All-Star team in 2001. Between those seasons, he was a reliable control artist for a Mets team that reached the NLCS in 1999 and the World Series in 2000.

The biggest moment of his Mets tenure was arguably game 161 of the 1999 season when Reed tossed a three-hit shutout to help New York keep pace with Cincinnati in the National League wild-card race. The two teams would finish tied, and the Mets were able to pull out a game 163 tiebreaker win on the road. Reed also started the Mets' only win of the 2000 World Series, allowing two runs over six innings against the Yankees.

Reed posted a 59-36 record during his five seasons in Queens. Dwight Gooden is the only pitcher in Mets history with a higher winning percentage. He also has the third-lowest walks per nine innings in Mets history, trailing Bartolo Colón and Bret Saberhagen.

The Twins acquired Reed in the middle of his 2001 All-Star season, sending veteran outfielder Matt Lawton to New York. Minnesota was in a playoff race for the first time in almost a decade, but things fell apart down the stretch. Their five-game AL Central lead at the All-Star break was gone by the end of July, and they finished six games out of first place. It didn’t help that Reed became a deadline dud, posting a 5.19 ERA with the Twins after the deadline.

But the Twins playoff drought finally ended in 2002, and Reed was arguably their best pitcher that season. He led the team with 15 wins and 188 innings. His 3.78 ERA was second among those who pitched at least 100 innings, trailing 23-year-old Johan Santana (2.99 ERA in 108.1 IP). Reed led the American League by walking just 1.2 hitters per nine innings and was also eighth in WHIP. He tossed two complete games and completed seven innings in at least 12 of his 32 starts. Reed was especially strong after the All-Star break, posting a 2.88 ERA in 14 second-half starts.

Reed got off to a pretty nice start in 2003. His numbers don’t look all that impressive, but an 11-run disaster against the Yankees in April ballooned them. If you remove that start, he would’ve had a 2.93 ERA through the end of May. This sample included a complete-game shutout against the Royals, who had gotten off to a fast start and were in first place when that game took place on May 14.

Then, though, Reed was placed on the disabled list with a back injury, and he was never quite the same after returning in late June. He posted a 5.76 ERA from June through August. Ron Gardenhire moved the 38-year-old veteran to the bullpen in September, and he faced just three batters during the ALDS that fall. 

This ended Reed’s big-league career. He went to spring training on a minor-league deal with the Pirates in 2004, but chose to retire after his back issues from 2003 began to bother him again. Since retiring, Reed has been very involved at Marshall University. This includes a short stint as their pitching coach and a $1-million donation towards a new baseball field in 2019.

Years after his career ended, Reed would say that getting traded to the Twins was the day “baseball kinda died” for him and his wife. Reed added, “I wish I could’ve ended my career in New York. When I was traded, I was torn up. I can say it now that I’m not playing. That’s how much we loved New York. Did I compete when I went to Minnesota? Absolutely. But there’s no place like New York.”

Reed had been a free agent following the 2000 season and agreed to a three-year deal to stay with the Mets. He was three months into that contract when New York shipped him off to the Twins.

NOTES: All statistics from Baseball Reference and Stathead. Most personal information on Rick Reed was taken from the Society for American Baseball Research. The quotes on baseball dying were from a New York Daily News article in 2010.