Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of John Thomson

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John Thomson
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Memories of
John Thomson

John Thomson
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 554 of 1252 players

John Carl Thomson
Born: October 1, 1973 at Vicksburg, Miss.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 6.03 Weight: 190

John Thomson was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on January 11, 2007, October 9, 2011, and November 20, 2015.

First Mets game: August 3, 2002
Last Mets game: September 27, 2002

Share your memories of John Thomson

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

murphy
August 5, 2002
Thomson looks like he fits in well on this 2002 Mets team. Why? Because of the stupidity he showed in his Mets debut. Top of the third, Miguel Batista the opposing pitcher steps to the plate. Thomson gets ahead 0-2, then proceeds to try to throw the perfect pitch on the outside corner. Nibble, nibble, nibble. Four pitches later, Batista takes the walk. How damn dumb can a pitcher be? Just throw the guy a strike!!! Instead, the leadoff walk moves to second on an error by, of course, Thomson on a sac. bunt. At the end of the inning, he's given up 4 runs, all started because the moron had walked the pitcher after getting ahead 0-2.
Stupidity. Bad baseball. Welcome to the 2002 New York Mets.

Gilinfiji
August 16, 2002
Damn! When the trade was announced, I thought we were getting Georgetown basketball coach, John Thompson. Could he do any worse on the mound in his first two starts than the guy we got?

Jujo
December 19, 2002
Another bum. Steve Phillips must be looking through rose colored glasses when he trades for this crap.

Mr. Sparkle
December 20, 2002
What a waste of a trade this was. Not for nothing but Steve Phillips was supposedly wet over this guy for years. Then when he finally gets him, he non-tenders him after the season is over. Don't get me wrong this is no great loss since Thomson was horrible with the Mets but If Phillips wanted him so bad you can definitely say he didn't give him enough of a chance. So why trade Jay Payton, who definitely under achieved but was serviceable, for a guy you let go at the end of the season? Why not just release Jay Payton? It would be the same thing. And you wouldn't release Payton would you? No, Payton was always a guy who could be traded for value. So instead you trade him for this stiff, who, had so much potential if you get him out of Colorado, and then you release the guy. Thomson sucked in Colorado not because of Colorado but simply because he sucked. And you have nothing to show for Jay Payton. Nice move Steve.

Gregory Gewirtz
January 25, 2003
The trade made sense at the time, but never worked out on any level.
The reasoning went, if the surging Mets, who were apparently coming back from the dead to get back into the wild card race, were to have any real shot at the playoffs, we would need another starting pitcher, and the best available pitcher was John Thomson. All we had to give up was Jay Payton, and it seemed that Timo Perez could do whatever it was Payton was doing.
Furthermore, with only Leiter signed for the next season, (Astacio, Estes, D'Amico, and Trachsel were all free agents, though Astacio's option eventually kicked in for 2003) Thomson could fill a pending hole in the rotation, and possibly make use of his good stuff removed from both shoulder problems and Coors Field.
Well, the Mets fell apart all over in August, not even winning a game at Shea that month. Thomson wasn't great, and the poor defense, offense, and relief behind him didn't help.
And with the prices plummeting on the free agent market the next winter, coupled with the Mets signings of Glavine and Trachsel, and Thomson's pending increase in salary through arbitration, Thomson simply wasn't worth his expected salary, and we non-tendered him.
Bottom line in my eyes - good move, but nothing worked out around him.

Shari
January 27, 2003
I never thought this was a good trade, we hung on to Payton way too long, The Mets could have gotten a lot of decent players for him in the off-season and they didn't want to give him up. When they finally did we get this stiff, and an outfielder that was hitting under .200 and was designated for assignment a week after his first plate appearance. I always thought Jay Payton would never have that breakthrough season we all were hoping for, and didn't use his head on the bases, but we could have gotten someone better than John Thomson for him.

Larry from Hoboken
December 27, 2004
I for one did not see the bad things most fans see in this guy. He almost always got ground balls on the infield which were booted and got no run-support. I was not suprised at all by his higher success in Atlanta.

David
January 10, 2005
John really wasn't given much of a chance here. He was let go after 7-8 starts in 2002. John's another guy Mazzone fixed. Pretty amazing how he's resurrected pitchers like Byrd's, Wright's, and Thompson's career. It's too bad we don't have a pitching coach like that.

Joe Figliola
January 24, 2007
Newsday used the word "bizarre" to describe this buttmunch's comments on why he didn't sign with the Mets this winter. I prefer the word "ignorant."
It's one thing if you're a Hall of Fame pitcher like Steve Carlton to want a personal catcher handling you. Since Thomson is not on that level, he should swallow his pride and deal with a veteran like LoDuca (who I think calls a great game and bleeds blue and orange on the field). Why he doesn't want LoDuca catching him when he never even PLAYED with him (I don't even think he knows him personally) is ridiculous.
Thomson made Alicia Silverstone's character in the film "Clueless" look like a genius when he thought Cliff Floyd was still on the Amazin's. Perhaps he should make a daily investment and purchase a newspaper. This, unfortunately, is another example of how out of the loop most baseball players are in terms of the game's history and current events.
What sucks even more is that Thomson signed with the Blue Jays, my number three team (after, of course, the Mets and the White Sox). I'll be going up there in mid-August and knowing my luck, Thomson will be pitching the game that I'll be going to (18 August vs. Baltimore).
It would've been nice if Thomson had re-signed with the Mets. He hit well for me when I scored him (.400 on a 4/10) back in '02. Instead, we are subject to another example of people speaking without thinking first.