After their first losing season in seven years in 1991, the New York Mets went all in for 1992. Frank Cashen finally let go of the reigns as general manager, though he held onto them so long the Mets lost GM-in-waiting Joe McIlvaine to the Padres. They still had Al Harazin, apprenticed to Cashen in Baltimore and then New York, who took over as GM. A numbers guy more than a baseball man, Harazin planned on doing more than just follow the company line.
While Cashen never liked free agents, Harazin signed three of them—and big names, too.