Welcome to UnforMETable, an Amazin’ Avenue Audio show that looks back on less heralded, more obscure, but quintessential Mets players from the past. 

Coming off a season a bit like 2019, with a promising young core that threatened but missed the playoffs, Omar Minaya entered the 2005 offseason intent on bolstering one of that season’s great weaknesses—the bullpen.   

Along with signing closer Billy Wagner, Minaya engineered a trade for promising Dodgers set-up man Duaner Sanchez. The righthander was dynamic in the eighth inning, providing a stabilizing bullpen presence for a team cruising to the 2006 National League Eastern Division title. Until a fateful cab ride in Florida just prior to the deadline in July 2006 derailed Sanchez’s career—and one can only wonder how it altered the course of the Mets’ 2006 postseason. 

As always, you can listen or subscribe to this and all of our wonderful Amazin’ Avenue Audio podcasts through Apple Podcasts, where we encourage you to leave a review if you enjoy the show. It really helps! And you can find us on the Stitcher app, or listen wherever you get podcasts. 

If you’ve got an idea for a player to be featured on UnforMETable, let us know in the comments.

Make sure to follow Rob on Twitter (@WolffRR), and you can now follow the show, too (@unformetable). Tune in next week for another tale from the Mets’ past.

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