It’s that time of year again: A collection of baseball’s finest from across the country rendezvous for 48 hours of red-carpeted, star-studded celebration. And along with all the fanfare and festivities comes an inevitable complaint ringing out from the bleachers, the internet echo chambers, and heated family dinners: “Why isn’t [insert favorite player with a probably pretty compelling case] at the All-Star Game?! End fan voting! End player voting! Get rid of analytics!” Or something to that effect.
As it stands, the All-Star Game is an exhibition. Without home-field advantage at stake, the point is to have fun and showcase players worthy of celebration. So it’s in that spirit of fun and celebration (and not in the spirit of anger) that I have embarked on creating the Mets’ No-Star Team — a roster of longtime staples, postseason heroes, and fan favorites who never made an All-Star Game in their entire career. Note that the criteria here excludes players who earned an All-Star selection with a different team, so no Nolan Ryan-types are eligible. It also doesn’t incorporate projections, so you won’t find Nolan McLean or Carson Benge on the list (though with another couple years of similar production and no All-Star selections, both would have a solid case).
Without further ado, here are my selections for the Mets’ No-Star roster.
FIRST BASE – Donn Clendenon
The All-Star Game might be all about first halves, but Clendenon’s Mets legend was built on the power of his second half after being traded from the Expos in 1969. After the All-Star Break, Clendenon put up an .851 OPS with 11 homers in 47 games as the Miracle Mets surged their way to the postseason, where Clendenon slashed .357/.438/1.071 with three homers in four games. Clendenon was never an All-Star, despite a strong 1970 season with New York and several formidable seasons in Pittsburgh during the mid-60s. But who needs an All-Star selection when you’ve got a World Series MVP Award, right?
SECOND BASE – Wally Backman
Neil Walker, Ken Boswell, and Tim Teufel all have solid cases, but Backman ultimately gets the nod here in recognition of his nine-year tenure in orange and blue. It’s not difficult to see why Backman never made an All-Star team, as he only once entered an All-Star break hitting over .300 (in 1986) and only played in north of 60 games by the break on three occasions (1982, 1984-85). But he finished his Mets career with a solid .283 average and 165 RBI, and he recorded a top-10 bWAR on two division-winning teams.
THIRD BASE – Dave Magadan
Magadan spent seven seasons with the Mets, averaging 100 games played per season with a 122 OPS+. His best shot at the Midsummer Classic came in 1990, when he ended the first half slashing .355/.438/.483, but he didn’t earn the full-time starting job until early June. He didn’t put up eye-opening power numbers, but he was an offensive force, and could serve as the No-Star Team’s honorary hitting coach as well.
SHORTSTOP – Wilmer Flores
Of all the positions to consider when making this No-Star roster, this one might have been the weakest. There’s Francisco Lindor and José Reyes, the titans of the Mets’ shortstop pool, but both players were of course perennial All-Stars. Kevin Elster, Bob Bailor, Amed Rosario, and Rubén Tejada all have their cases, but with no clear candidate, the honor should go to the heart and soul of the 2015 Mets. His numbers (a .262 average, .727 OPS, 68 homers, and 2.3 bWAR across six seasons) might not tell the whole story, but they don’t need to — Mets fans will still be telling Wilmer’s story for generations. Call it this No-Star Team’s fan vote. Our Ernie Clement.
LEFT FIELD – Kevin McReynolds
Only 28 MLB players to debut since 1933 (when the first All-Star Game occurred) have accumulated 30+ bWAR and not made an All-Star team. Kevin McReynolds is one of those 28 players. During five seasons with the Mets between 1987-91, he averaged 24 homers, 28 doubles, 87 RBI, and 13 steals a year, with a .273 batting average and a 122 OPS+. In his 1988 campaign, when he clubbed 27 homers behind a 142 OPS+, he placed third in National League MVP voting behind Kirk Gibson and teammate Darryl Strawberry — but even in that season he did not make the NL All-Star team, as the bulk of his production came in a second-half surge.
CENTER FIELD – Mookie Wilson
Mookie Wilson is precisely the type of player who provides immense value to winning baseball teams, but tends to slip through the All-Star cracks. A speedy, glove-first center fielder, Mookie never recorded more than 3.8 bWAR in a season, never finished a season batting over .300, and only once (in 1984) reached double-digit home runs. But he was almost freakishly consistent with the bat, recording a .276 batting average in three consecutive seasons between 1983-85. For that, he also earns a selection to the All-Khris Davis team.
RIGHT FIELD – Brandon Nimmo
As has been documented on this site by long-winded hacks before, it seems as if the baseball gods have conspired to keep the very-good-but-not-quite-elite Brandon Nimmo from the All-Star Game. Some years, it’s been injuries. Some years, it’s been a proper snub. One year, it was a global pandemic. When all is said and done, Brandon Nimmo concluded his Mets career with 135 homers, 463 RBI, 524 walks, and 26.0 bWAR — all of those marks ranking first among Mets players with zero All-Star selections.
CATCHER – Francisco Alvarez
There were a number of solid candidates to choose from for the catcher position, but Alvarez eked out the competition on the back of his 57 homers, already fourth-most among Mets catchers — and he’s not even 25 years old yet. Alvarez’s bat may not be able to live up to the lofty expectations that come with top prospect status, and his health has certainly defied him (he’s only once played more than 100 games in a season), but Mets fans shouldn’t take for granted what he’s given them. Since 2023, only eight players in baseball have caught at least 300 games while maintaining an OPS+ above 100, and Alvarez is the youngest of that group by almost two years.
DESIGNATED HITTER – Lucas Duda
Of the 23 Mets players to record 30-homer seasons, only three never made an All-Star team in their careers: Bernard Gilkey, Ike Davis, and Lucas Duda, this No-Star Team’s designated hitter selection. The left-handed slugger spent eight seasons in Queens, with his two best coming in 2014 (the aforementioned 30-homer season) and 2015 (when the Mets won the NL pennant). Duda finished his Mets tenure with a total of 125 homers, 11th-most in franchise history, and has the third-most at Citi Field with 71.
RESERVES
Catcher: Todd Pratt
Infield: John Milner, Wayne Garrett
Outfield: Juan Lagares, Bernard Gilkey
For backup catcher, Todd Pratt fits the bill, providing an iconic series-clinching walk-off home run in the playoffs and five years with a 100 OPS+ as a Met. Apologies to Ron Hodges, who played 12 seasons and 666 games as a Met, but even for a No-Star Team his .240 average and .663 OPS wasn’t quite enough to make the cut.
Our backup infielders are a pair of 1970s Mets, with Milner offering power (multiple 20-homer seasons) and Garrett providing versatility around the diamond. Todd Zeile and Ed Charles both had solid cases, but ultimately neither spent quite enough time in orange and blue to beat out Milner and Garrett.
The outfield reserves might just have been the most competitive portion of this entire roster. It feels painful excluding Ángel Pagán, who put up a 4.0 bWAR season in 2009 followed by a 5.3 bWAR season in 2010. It feels even worse excluding Steve Henderson, who came one vote short of winning NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1977 before putting up three more solid years.
But Lagares is the ultimate fourth outfielder for a No-Star roster. A Gold Glove Award winner with a career .701 OPS against lefties (just barely enough to earn him starts as a platoon) and contributions to a pennant-winning team, he handily makes the cut.
Gilkey only played in parts of three seasons with the Mets, but one of those was a monster 8.1-bWAR campaign in 1996. Since 1933, only 22 players have put up 8+ bWAR in a season and not made the All-Star team that year. Of those 22 players, only three never made an All-Star Game in their entire careers: John Valentin, Andrelton Simmons, and Gilkey. This No-Star article was essentially made to highlight players like Gilkey, who did exceptional things on the field yet never received baseball’s most traditional honor designated for exceptional players.
ROTATION – Bob Ojeda, Craig Swan, Gary Gentry, Steven Matz, Sean Manaea
Ojeda is the clear ace of this staff. The left-hander put up a 2.57 ERA as part of an elite rotation in 1986, and went 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA in four postseason starts. He followed that up with four more solid seasons in New York, giving him a body of work worthy of this honor. Over his 15-year career, Ojeda went 115-98 with a 3.65 ERA and 1,128 strikeouts. He earned a third-place Rookie of the Year finish in 1981 with the Red Sox and a fourth-place Cy Young finish in ’86, but no All-Star selections.
Here’s a trivia question. Only five Mets pitchers have won an ERA title. Four of them are predictable enough: Tom Seaver (1970, ’71, ’73), Dwight Gooden (1985), Johan Santana (2008), and Jacob deGrom (2018). But the fifth might stump even a confident Mets fan. Craig Swan captured the title with a 2.43 ERA in 1978, despite only going 9-6 on a 96-loss, last-place team. The Mets’ sole All-Star representative that season was right-hander Pat Zachry, who had come over in the Tom Seaver trade the summer prior. Swan spent 12 seasons in New York, starting 184 games for the Mets — 10th-most in franchise history, and first among pitchers without an All-Star appearance (coming in just ahead of Jon Niese in both pools).
Selecting Gentry as this rotation’s No. 3 starter is a part-logical, part-sentimental decision. Gentry’s role in Mets history is in some ways the embodiment of a third starter, with his 3.43 ERA in 1969 providing a contribution less flashy than Seaver’s and less remembered than Koosman’s, but no less important in helping the Mets become champions. He shone especially bright in that Fall Classic, tossing 6.2 scoreless innings against the Orioles in Game 3 (the first World Series game played at Shea Stadium).
Among the Mets’ five young fireballers of the mid-2010s, four became All-Stars. Matt Harvey started the All-Star Game in 2013, Noah Syndergaard was selected despite not pitching due to injury in 2016, Zack Wheeler has made it thrice since joining the Phillies in 2020, and Jacob deGrom is a five-timer. But Steven Matz — whose career got off to a sizzling start in 2015 with a 2.27 ERA in six regular season starts and a 3.68 ERA in three postseason starts (including the Mets’ pennant-clinching game at Wrigley Field) — missed out on the honor. He’s had solid seasons, with a 3.40 ERA in 2016 as a Met, a 3.82 ERA in 2021 as a Blue Jay, and a 3.86 ERA in 2023 as a Cardinal. It’s never been enough to make an All-Star Team, but it’s certainly enough for a No-Star Team.
Manaea hasn’t quite been the same since 2024, but his efforts that season as the effective ace of a team that came two games from the World Series more than earn him the fifth spot in this rotation. And if he ended up looking more like 2025 or 2026 Sean Manaea than 2024 Sean Manaea, then Jon Niese and John Maine would both be on call to jump in as potential No-Star replacements.
BULLPEN
Closer: Roger McDowell
Setup: Turk Wendell, Addison Reed, Skip Lockwood
Lefty specialist: Aaron Loup
Long men: Jim McAndrew, Ray Sadecki
The first four names here are true, traditional relievers. McDowell, the right-handed anchor in the Mets’ ’80s bullpens, ranks eighth on the franchise’s all-time leaderboard with 84 saves. In 1998-99, Wendell put up back-to-back seasons with a 140+ ERA. He also won’t have to fight anyone for a number on this No-Star Team, being one of only two Mets along with Taijuan Walker (a 2021 All-Star) to wear No. 99. Reed only spent part of three seasons (with one full one) in New York, but it was a dominant run. The right-hander posted a 2.09 ERA (194 ERA+) with 156 strikeouts in 142.0 IP. And Lockwood’s Mets career was bracketed by a pair of strong seasons, with a 1.49 ERA in both 1975 and 1979.
The competition for that last traditional spot in the bullpen made for a brutal decision. A shoutout is in order to Ron Taylor, Bob Apodaca, Terry Leach, and Jeff Innis, each of whom had particularly compelling cases.
For the role of left-handed specialist, there were two clear frontrunners: Jerry Blevins and Aaron Loup. Blevins spent four seasons in New York, two of which were elite. Loup spent just one season in New York, but it was one of the best relief seasons in Mets history, with a 0.95 ERA in 56.2 innings. Ultimately, I went with Loup because of how utterly insane those 2021 numbers are, but Blevins would be well-justified to run an SNY segment challenging the decision.
The long relievers are a pair of starting pitchers who barely missed the cut for the rotation. McAndrew spent six solid seasons as a Met, with a 3.54 ERA. Sadecki, an 18-year veteran who also spent six seasons as a Met, has the fifth-most wins (135) of any southpaw without an All-Star selection to debut since 1933. He also split time between the rotation and the bullpen, making 62 starts and 103 relief appearances as a Met, making him perfect for this long relief role.
And that does it for the Mets’ No-Star Team. Surely, now that every possible Met without an award has been given an award, this will end all complaint and debate, right? Let me know in the comments!
