Worst Trade Deadline Deals in History

[savafan]

No team wants to be remembered for moves like these.

Red Sox send Jeff Bagwell to Houston for reliever Larry Andersen

Tigers send John Smoltz to Braves for Doyle Alexander

Blue Jays send David Cone to Yankees for pitchers Marty Janzsen, Jason Jarvis and Mike Gordon

Cubs trade Lou Brock to the Cards for Ernie Broglio

Cardinals send Keith Hernandez to Mets for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey

Yankees send Jay Buhner to Seattle for Ken Phelps

Mariners send Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocumb

A's send Mark McGwire to Cardinals for pitchers T.J. Mathews, Eric Ludwick and Blake Stein

Padres send Fred McGriff to Braves for OF Melvin Nieves and pitchers Donnie Elliott and Vince Moore

Indians trade David Justice to Yankees for Ricky Ledee

Astros send Freddie Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama to Mariners for Randy Johnson

Reds send Hank Sauer and Frankie Baumholtz to Cubs for Harry "Peanuts" Lowrey and Harry "The Hat" Walker

Mariners send Shin-Soo Choo to Indians for Ben Broussard

Royals send Jermaine Dye to Rockies for Neifi Perez. Rockies send Dye to the A's that same day for Todd Belitz, Mario Encarnacion and Jose Ortiz

Phillies send Curt Schilling to Diamondbacks for Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Travis Lee and Vicente Padilla

A's send Aaron Harang to Reds for Jose Guillen

Marlins send Cliff Floyd along with Wilton Guerrero, Claudio Vargas and cash to the Montreal Expos for Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai, Carl Pavano and Justin Wayne. The Montreal Expos sent Donald Levinski to the Florida Marlins to complete the trade. 3 weeks later, the Expos send Floyd to the Red Sox for Seung Song and Sun-Woo Kim

Pirates send Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to Cubs for Bobby Hill, Jose Hernandez and Matt Bruback

Indians send Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew to the Expos for Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore and Lee Stevens

[savafan]

Okay, I'll take back that Harang for Guillen trade now...

[PuffyPig]

No team wants to be remembered for moves like these.


Tigers send John Smoltz to Braves for Doyle Alexander


Astros send Freddie Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama to Mariners for Randy Johnson

Alexander and Johnson both pitched absolutely lights out for their respective teams and got them into the playoffs.

Each paid a big price for that luxury.

[savafan]

I find the Colon trade to be particularly vulgar.

[TheNext44]

Keith Hernandez was traded because Herzog found out Hernandez was doing coke during the season, and had a serious substance abuse problem.

Still a terrible trade, but there was a reason why he was dumped for next to nothing.

[savafan]

Keith Hernandez was traded because Herzog found out Hernandez was doing coke during the season, and had a serious substance abuse problem.

Still a terrible trade, but there was a reason why he was dumped for next to nothing.

At least the Cards got rid of him before the spitting incident.

[REDREAD]

Okay, I'll take back that Harang for Guillen trade now...

The trade was still good, just the extension backfired.

Oh well, at least in two years (at most), Harang, Arroyo, and Cordero will be off the books. Hopefullly no more mistakes like that are made in the interim.

[membengal]

Alexander caught absolute fire and propelled the Tigers to the 1987 playoffs. Given that the short-term return was exactly what Detroit wanted, and the long-term return was exactly what Atlanta wanted, didn't both teams "win" that trade? Isn't that the point of such deals? Win-win?

[RichRed]

Jermaine Dye straight up for Neifi Perez? Yowza.

[Ravenlord]

Okay, I'll take back that Harang for Guillen trade now...

i don't know, we traded a guy who is a 4th OFer on a hot streak and have received 1203 innings pitched with a 4.20 ERA.

i'd love to trade our current stock of 4th OFers for more Aaron Harang types.

[wolfboy]

i don't know, we traded a guy who is a 4th OFer on a hot streak and have received 1203 innings pitched with a 4.20 ERA.

i'd love to trade our current stock of 4th OFers for more Aaron Harang types.

Not to mention that Guillen's sunny disposition prevented him from ever being a long term solution.

[RedsBaron]

Alexander caught absolute fire and propelled the Tigers to the 1987 playoffs. Given that the short-term return was exactly what Detroit wanted, and the long-term return was exactly what Atlanta wanted, didn't both teams "win" that trade? Isn't that the point of such deals? Win-win?

I agree. The Tigers absolutely would not have won the 1987 AL East without Alexander. Detroit wound up with the best record in baseball that year, with 98 wins, and was favored to win the World Series going into the postseason, before losing in the ALCS to the Twins. Had the Tigers won the World Series that year, that championship banner would still be flying.
Had Detroit kept Smoltz, there was no season after Smoltz made the majors where having him on the team would have been enough to have brought the Tigers a title, at least not until 2006, when the Tigers made the World Series anyway. The Tigers collapsed after 1987 and rarely contended after that until 2006. Detroit maximized its chances to win a championship in 1987, when they had a team capable of winning it all.

[Hollcat]

At least the Cards got rid of him before the spitting incident.

But it was Roger McDowell that turned out to be the spitter

[Benihana]

Yonder Alonso for Scott Rolen