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Worst Trades 80's & 90's

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Sloopy45

Sloopy45

Pimp Minister Sinister
A little look back on the Highway robberies of the last two decades. If anyone has any more to add, please do so:

1990's:
November 18, 1998: The Pittsburgh Pirates trade Ricardo Rincon to the Cleveland Indians for OF Brian Giles.

November 18, 1997: The Philadelphia Phillies trade Kevin Stocker to Tampa Bay for Bobby Abreu.

July 31, 1997: The Boston Red Sox trade Heathcliff Slocumb to the Seattle Mariners for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.

November 19, 1993: The Montreal Expos trade Delino DeShields to the L.A. Dodgers for 21 year old 2nd year reliever Pedro Martinez.

April 2, 1992: The Philadelphia Phillies trade Jason Grimsley to the Houston Astros for reliever Curt Schilling.

March 30, 1992: The Chicago Cubs trade George Bell to the crosstown White Sox for Ken Patterson and 22 year old OF Sammy Sosa.

December 10, 1991: The Cleveland Indians trade Willie Blair and Eddie Taubensee to the Houston Astros for Dave Rohde and rookie OF Kenny Lofton.

August 30, 1990: The Houston Astros trade Larry Andersen to the Boston Red Sox for Double-A 3B Jeff Bagwell.

1980's:
May 25, 1989: The Seattle Mariners trade Mark Langston and Mike Campbell to the Montreal Expos for Brian Holman, Gene Harris, and 25 year old rookie LH Randy Johnson. Langston, while one of the best pitchers in the NL that season, failed to win the division for the Expos, and bolted via free agency at year end.

August 12, 1987: The Atlanta Braves trade Doyle Alexander to the Detroit Tigers for minor league RH John Smoltz.

March 27, 1987: The New York Mets trade Ed Hearn, Rick Anderson, and Mauro Gozzo to the Kansas City Royals for Chris Jelic and 2nd year righthander David Cone.

December 9, 1982: The Toronto Blue Jays trade Dale Murray and Tom Dodd to the New York Yankees for Dave Collins, Mike Morgan, cash, and A-Ball 1B Fred McGriff.

January 27, 1982: The Chicago Cubs trade Ivan DeJesus to the Philadelphia Phillies for Larry Bowa and first year 2B Ryne Sandberg.

October 21, 1981: The St. Louis Cardinals trade Bob Sykes to the New York Yankees for minor league OF Willie McGee.

Forgot to add these ones as well (oh, the Yankees of my youth):

June 21, 1989: The Oakland Athletics trade Greg Cadaret, Eric Plunk, and Luis Polonia to the New York Yankees for disgruntled OF Rickey Henderson.

July 21, 1988: The Seattle Mariners trade Ken Phelps to the New York Yankees for Rich Balabon (minors), Troy Evers (minors), and rookie OF Jay Buhner, who was mired in an 0 for 21 slump at the time.

November 26, 1986: The Pittsburgh Pirates trade Rick Rhoden, Cecilio Guante, and Pat Clements to the New York Yankees for Logan Easley, Brian Fisher, and 24 year old rookie RH Doug Drabek.

April 10, 1982: The Minnesota Twins trade Roy Smalley to the New York Yankees for Paul Boris, Ron Davis, and minor league SS Greg Gagne.
 
August 12, 1987: The Atlanta Braves trade Doyle Alexander to the Detroit Tigers for minor league RH John Smoltz.

Yeah, drafting for a pitcher who goes 8-1 and wins the Division for you is clearly a bad trade. :roll1:

Of course, Smoltz wouldn't have made a bit of difference for the Tigers throughout the 90s. Lose 110 games or 95? Who cares?
 
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April 10, 1982: The Minnesota Twins trade Roy Smalley to the New York Yankees for Paul Boris, Ron Davis, and minor league SS Greg Gagne.[/QUOTE]


Greg Gagne was a steal ??? What the heck did he ever do to be considered a great return in a lopsided trade? I'm not exactly sure, but I'll bet Smalley had better career numbers than gagne did. Could the Twinks still have won the WS with Smalley as the ss? I don't see why not.

I thought Smalley had some decent power #'s for the Wanks while he was there. I'll have to check that out.
 
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Tibbs: "Yeah, drafting for a pitcher who goes 8-1 and wins the Division for you is clearly a bad trade."

Hindsight is 20/20. I just put it in there b/c it was a lopsided trade.

Brutus1: "Greg Gagne was a steal ??? What the heck did he ever do to be considered a great return in a lopsided trade?"

You're right. The bottom part of the list was an add-on by me when I was thinking about all the prospects the Yankees jettisoned in the 80's. I was even considering putting the Jose Rijo trade in that bunch, but that wasn't lopsided. We got Rickey back from the A's in return.

Still, the Gagne trade was a bad trade for the Yanks. Smalley had a short career for a non-contender in the Bronx, while Gagne was a 10-year SS for the Twins with 2 rings.
 
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Didn't the Indians trade Joe Carter to the Padres for Sandy Alomar and Carlos Baerga? Carter went on to bat .239 with the Padres. The next year he bolted for Toronto where he won them a World Series with a dramatic 9th inning home run.
 
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November 18, 1997: The Philadelphia Phillies trade Kevin Stocker to Tampa Bay for Bobby Abreu.

April 2, 1992: The Philadelphia Phillies trade Jason Grimsley to the Houston Astros for reliever Curt Schilling.

August 30, 1990: The Houston Astros trade Larry Andersen to the Boston Red Sox for Double-A 3B Jeff Bagwell.

These were the first things that i thought of, Abreu had been let go by houston earlier in order to be able to afford a powerhitting RF named Richard Hidalgo. way to go guys.
 
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ScriptOhio: "June 15, 1983 - Cardinals send Keith Hernandez to Mets for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey"

Forgot about that one. Great call. I got another Keith Hernandez transaction for you Indians fans:

December 7, 1989: Keith Hernandez signed as a Free Agent with the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians bypassed FA 1B Cecil Fielder (who was returning from a stint in Japan) in favor of Hernandez. In the 1990 season (Mex's last), Fielder hit more Home Runs (51) than Hernandez had Games Played (43).

JC: "Didn't the Indians trade Joe Carter to the Padres for Sandy Alomar and Carlos Baerga? Carter went on to bat .239 with the Padres. The next year he bolted for Toronto where he won them a World Series with a dramatic 9th inning home run."

That trade's not as lopsided as you think.

First off, Carter had 115 RBI for the Padres in '90.

Secondly, Carter didn't bolt from San Diego, he was traded along with Roberto Alomar to the Blue Jays for Fred McGriff & Tony Fernandez.

Had he stayed in SD, that trade would (in fact) have been in favor of the Padres (looking at Carter's production for the Blue Jays - he still had plenty of good seasons left: Seven 100 RBI seasons after he left Cleveland).

The Padres weren't swindled at all in the Indians deal. They were swindled in the next deal with the Blue Jays giving up Carter & Alomar (big time).

But, that being said, its still not as one-sided as the deals I have above: I mean, Jason Grimsley for Curt Schilling? That's turning nothing into a borderline HOF pitcher.
 
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Sloopy45 said:
August 30, 1990: The Houston Astros trade Larry Andersen to the Boston Red Sox for Double-A 3B Jeff Bagwell.
Click to expand...
This was my first thought just from reading the thread title. The Red Sox got a one year rental and the Astros received a HOF 1B who was among the most dominant players at their position from at least '94 - '00. The offensive numbers that Bagwell managed to put up in the Astrodome are really quite silly.

It's been disappointing to watch his performance and PT suffer the past two seasons as he struggles with the shoulder. Projecting his season averages out to a career at the age of 40, Bagwell would reach such milestones as 2000 runs, 3000 hits, 500 doubles, 550 hrs, 2000 rbi, with lifetime ba around .300, lifetime obp around .400, and lifetime slugging near .550.

Unfortunately, it looks like the shoulder will prevent him from reaching any of these milestones. Only two years ago, he appeared tp be a lock to achieve all of them before the end of the 2008 season (at age 40). Tony Gwynn's pursuit of .400 aside, Bagwell was probably the one player most severely impacted by the '94 strike, as he was on pace to put up some historic numbers.

I feel bad for both Biggio and Bagwell. After Palmeiro, the Killer B's are two of the most underappreciated stars in the history of the game. They were my sentimental pick through the post season last year.
 
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Didn't the Red Sox trade Curt Schilling to the Orioles for Mike Boddicker in '86? That's pretty lopsided.

Also, I'd say another bad trade (for the yankees) was Chuck Knoblauch to the yanks for Cristian Guzman and Eric Milton. Sure, they both suck now, but they had several good seasons for the Twins, while Knobby thought first base was located in the first row of the grandstand! (Which sportscenter anchor's mom did he hit in the head with one of those throws?)
 
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Dryden: "The Red Sox got a one year rental and the Astros received a HOF 1B who was among the most dominant players at their position from at least '94 - '00."

A lot of these trades are of that ilk. The Pedro Martinez, Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa, etc. trades are all swaps of HOF'ers (early in their careers) for absolutely nothing in return.

"I feel bad for both Biggio and Bagwell. After Palmeiro, the Killer B's are two of the most underappreciated stars in the history of the game. They were my sentimental pick through the post season last year."

I don't think Biggio makes the Hall of Fame, but Bagwell is a lock. Bag-Pipes has 440+ career Homers, 1500+ RBI, 2 30/30 seasons, .408 lifetime OBP, .542 SLG, an MVP, a ROY, 3 Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove, and probably would've had the best single statistical season in '94 since Ruth in '21 had he not gotten beamed in the hand & of course the player's strike. The only knock on Bagwell is that he (and Raffy) are the prototypical post-1994 stats hogs. He only made 4 All-Star teams, and was a poor post-season player. Certainly, Palmiero is a 1st ballot lock.

Here's Bags 162 game projection in 1994 (Wow!):

R-153, H-216, 2B-47, HR-57, RBI-171, SB-22, BB-96, AVG-.368, OBP-.451, SLG-.750

Its a shame that it was the '94 season that was cut short. Any other season would've been no big deal, but we lost possibly one of the magical seasons in baseball history, like '61, '41, '98, '67, '27, etc.

thenumber7: "Didn't the Red Sox trade Curt Schilling to the Orioles for Mike Boddicker in '86? That's pretty lopsided."

Amazingly, every deal Schilling has been a part of has been a lopsided deal:

July 29, 1988: The Boston Red Sox trade Brady Anderson & Curt Schilling to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Boddicker.

January 10, 1991: The Baltimore Orioles trade Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch to the Houston Astros for Glenn Davis.

Davis was a superstar for Houston, but he got hurt, faded fast, & did nothing for the Orioles. In between this was the aforementioned Jason Grimsley deal, and ...

July 26, 2000: The Philadelphia Phillies trade Curt Schilling to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Travis Lee, and Vicente Padilla.

November 28, 2003: The Arizona Diamondbacks trade Curt Schilling to the Boston Red Sox for Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon, Jorge de la Rosa, and Michael Goss (minors).

"Also, I'd say another bad trade (for the yankees) was Chuck Knoblauch to the yanks for Cristian Guzman and Eric Milton."

No way. The Yanks won three Championships & went to 4 World Series with Knobby. Was he as good as he was in Minnesota? Not even close. Did his fielding & throwing deteriorate? Certainly, and even to an embarassing level. But Guzman wouldn't have made the team anyway (Jeter), and Milton wouldn't have sniffed the starting rotation, either. Knobby filled his role for the Yanks. That trade was a win-win for both teams.

"Which sportscenter anchor's mom did he hit in the head with one of those throws?"

Keith Olbermann.
 
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Being a fan of the Chicago Cubs, I've seen my share of head scratchers. One was when they traded Jamie Moyer and Rafael Palmeiro to the Rangers for Mitch "wild thing" Williams, Paul Kilgus, Steve Wilson and Curtis Wilkerson.
In 1988 they traded Lee Smith to the Red Sox for Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi.
 
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