Tom Seaver Trade: That time he was almost dealt to the Dodgers

Hall-of-Fame pitcher Tom Seaver was nearly traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the spring of 1976 before re-signing with the New York Mets.

In March of 1976, Tom Seaver was the best pitcher in baseball.

He had won his third Cy Young award the previous season, his second in three years, leading the league in strikeouts on his way to a 22-9 record and 2.38 ERA. The 31-year-old, who took a pay cut in 1975 after a subpar performance according to his incredibly high standards, was ready to get paid in 1976.

However, a contract dispute with the Mets put the Hall-of-Famer on the market and almost landed him in Dodger Stadium.

On March 28, 1976, a report circulated from the Newark Star Ledger that Tom Seaver had been traded to the Dodgers in exchange for another Hall-of-Famer in waiting, Don Sutton. The report indicated the trade only needed Sutton’s approval before it was completed. Since Sutton had one extra year of service on Seaver, he met the ten-year threshold that gave him the right to refuse any trade.

While Sutton wasn’t quite the pitcher that Seaver was at the time, he was still a perennial All-Star and fixture within the Dodgers rotation, having won 155 games over the previous ten seasons. The Dodgers reportedly wanted to work out a one-for-one swap of Sutton for Seaver, while the Mets were looking for extra players to be included in the deal.

The proposed trade became the backdrop to Seaver’s ongoing negotiations with the Mets, with many believing he would be dealt if a contract agreement was not reached by the start of the season. Nine days after the Seaver for Sutton swap was first reported, the Mets and their Ace agreed to a three-year contract that made Seaver the highest paid pitcher in baseball.

How close did it get for Seaver to end up on the Dodgers? The right-hander told reporters at the time he was “90 percent certain that he would be traded.”

Seaver pitched for the Mets in 1976, leading the league in strikeouts again, but taking a slight step back from his Cy Young performance the previous year. In 1976, only 1.5 years after the deal to send him to the Dodgers failed to materialize, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in a dark day in Mets fans history. Seaver pitched until he was 41-years-old, retiring in 1986 with 311 career wins. His best years were clearly behind him after becoming the highest paid pitcher in baseball, although he flashed his old brilliance during the strike-shortened 1981 season.

Don Sutton remained a Dodger until 1981 when he signed as a free agent with the Houston Astros. Sutton is still the Dodgers franchise leader in wins (233) and strikeouts (2,696).