So with the trade deadline looming in Major League Baseball, and the big trade moving Carlos Beltran to the Giants (thus making me a happy Mets fan), it has prompted me to think about the All Time terrible trades that have taken place. I originally started thinking of just baseball, but then as it often does, my mind began to wonder and drift away into other sports; like the ADD riddled adult I am. Then like a person who should actually be on meds for his condition, I went back to just baseball trades. So that’s what I’m going to do, just baseball trades. So here are the Top 5 terrible trades in baseball history.
5- 1971 Nolan Ryan and 3 others go from the Mets to the Angels for Jim Fregosi – From a strictly statistical standpoint this trade is stupid. Nolan Ryan finished the 71 season with a 10-14 record and a 3.97 ERA; not great grant you, but compared to Fregosi’s .233 avg., 5 homers, 33 RBI season, its Cy Young worthy. But the long term impact on the Mets franchise is still being felt today. Not from a pennant or World championship standpoint. As a matter of fact, from that perspective the Mets were generally unaffected; appearing in the World Series just one season removed from Nolan Ryan while the Angels made themselves comfortable in the basement of the AL West. No, this is more about historical impact; a certain monkey that remains on the New York Metropolitans back, the No-Hitter. That’s right, the Mets are still one of two franchises without a no-no in the history of the game (the San Diego Padres are the other). Nolan Ryan has 7 in his career. Needless to say, that monkey would be long gone if Nolan would have stayed in Flushing. But who’s to say that Nolan would’ve been successful in NYC ever? But when compared to what Fregosi went on to do in his career (Fregosi’s best season post ‘71 was .262 avg, 12 dingers and 35 RBI, Ryan’s 21-16, 2.87 ERA with 383 K’s) you could imagine Ryan would’ve done better.
4- 1991 Orioles trade Curt Schilling, Steve Finley and Pete Harnisch to the Astros for Glenn Davis – The Orioles weren’t very good in 1990, neither were the Astros. But both franchises were on the verge of making themselves viable contenders for the majority of the coming decade. So this trade may not show an immediate impact, but when you look beyond the ’91 season and see the long term impact of these moves, it is a little stunning to think about the potential impact of this trade not happening. First off, Glenn Davis was terrible for the O’s. He was only around for another three seasons after a nerve injury in his neck cut short a potentially great career. Davis had been one of the most feared hitters in the NL for 5 years, and I understand wanting to acquire a bat like that, but let’s play hindsight shall we? Although it took until ’96 for the O’s to be a legit contender for a Championship, it may have come a lot earlier if they hold onto to pitching like Schilling and Harnisch. Think of the ramifications of holding on to these two pitchers. The Yankees mid to late ‘90’s dynasty may not have happened the way it did. The Yanks main competition in ’96,’97, and ’98 were the O’s. With Mussina, Erickson, and Wells at the top of that rotation, the potential for this team could have been legendary if you add Curt Schilling to that squad. Now Pete Harnisch may not have turned out to be what he was touted to be, but I would take him over Kent Mercker or Rocky Coppinger any day as my 5th starter. I know its hindsight, but Glenn Davis was coming off of an injury plagued season in 1990 to begin with; this one was bad. To add insult to injury, Steve Finley became a very good, borderline All Star outfielder on top of all that pitching.
3- 2002 Montreal Expos trade Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens to the Indians for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew - At first not a terrible trade, Colon won 20 games for the Expos in the one season he was there and Sizemore, Lee and Phillips were just prospects at the time. But WOW, what prospects they were huh? Sizemore has turned out to be a five tool stud that continues to star in Cleveland (even though he’s having a tough year this year), Lee is a Cy Young award contender every year and Phillips is one of the best 2nd basemen in baseball. Colon, after a few solid seasons has turned into the best sandwich eater in the AL and Tim Drew is nowhere to be found. Now hindsight being what it is, Colon probably looked like a lock at the time, but this list isn’t about hindsight, it’s a bad deals and this one hurt the Expos franchise. Think about what the Nationals would look like right now with Brandon Phillips at 2nd, Cliff Lee as their ace and Grady Sizemore in the outfield. I believe that’s a team that would fight the Phillies hard for the NL East crown.
2- 1993 The LA Dodgers trade Pedro Martinez to the Expos for Delino DeSheilds – When I started researching and thinking about this list I wasn’t going to put this one on there. I remember this trade because the Dodgers were hard up for a 2nd basemen after Jody Reed rejected the Dodgers contract offer thinking there was more out there (there wasn’t). So out of necessity the Dodgers traded Martinez, a young pitcher, for what they thought was a solid 2nd baseman. I thought that maybe the Dodgers didn’t really know what they had, or that maybe Pedro had had a rough start to his career that I don’t remember; upon further review I have no idea what the Dodgers were thinking. Let’s do some numbers real quick, Pedro in 65 appearances has a 10-5 record with a 2.61 ERA and 119K’s in 107 IP. Not Hall of Fame worthy yet but it’s a nice start for a 21 year old pitcher in his rookie campaign. Now DeShields hit .295 with 41 SB, .389 OBP and 17 doubles. Not terrible by any stretch but DeShields was in his 4th season and the three prior were more of the same, so what you see is what you get. Deshields spent three seasons in LA where he failed to meet his 1993 numbers, whereas Pedro went on to be one of the most dominant pitchers in the history of the game. He won 209 games away from LA, 2 World Series (should’ve been 3 because the ’94 Expos would have won) and 3 Cy Young awards, not to mention he was in the top 5 in MVP voting twice. A swing and a miss by the Dodgers.
1-1920 The Boston Red Sox trade Babe Ruth to the Yankees for a bag of cash – Need I say more. I know you all knew it was coming but even I couldn’t ignore the obvious. Sorry, it’s an undeniable truth, there is no trade in the history of any sport, any business, or of any kind that was a worse move than what the Red Sox did in 1920. You know it’s a bad move when 91 years later we’re still talking about it. I know the curse is over, but the memory will always remain.
Honorable Mention-
*2004 The New York Mets trade Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano – The Mets WOULD’VE been an NL East dynasty if this trade doesn’t happen.
*1990 The Red Sox trade Jeff Bagwell to the Astros for Larry Andersen – On the surface this should’ve been a top 5 but the fact that the Sox won more championships during Bagwell’s career makes it not as bad a move as it could’ve been.
*1977 The Mets trade Tom Seaver to the Reds for Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn and 2 others – How Seaver didn’t retire a Met is beyond me.
*1987 The Tigers trade John Smoltz to the Braves for Doyle Alexander – On the surface this looks like a top 5’er as well, but Smoltz had never pitched for the Tigers and Alexander actually went 9-0 down the stretch during a Tigers playoff run that season.
*1997 The Mariners trade Derrick Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocumb – The dude’s name was Heathcliff….’nuff said.
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