When Dwight Gooden was placed on the disabled list in early July 1989, the Mets began looking for a veteran starting pitcher via trade rather than promote from within into the open rotation slot with young pitchers such as Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, and David West rumored as trade bait. After the Mets lost their seventh game in a row ahead of the trade deadline, Aguilera was included in a last-minute deadline deal, along with West, Tapani, reliever Tim Drummond and a player to be named (which on October 16 became reliever Jack Savage), for Minnesota Twins ace Frank Viola.