Worst Trades

[abacab]

The Baseball Hall of Shame books had chapters devoted to worst trades. I don't have the books with me now but here are some that I remember.

1990: Red Sox trade minor leaguer Jeff Bagwell to Astros for pitcher Larry Andersen, who pitches 22 innings for the Sox and leaves as a free agent.

1982: Phillies trade rookie Ryne Sandberg and veteran Larry Bowa to Cubs for Ivan DeJesus. Sandberg goes to Hall of Fame, DeJesus plays 3 years for Phils with OPS+ of 74, 84, and 77.

1964: Cubs trade 25-year-old Lou Brock and two other players to Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Bobby Shantz, and Doug Clemens. Broglio pitches 2 1/2 years for the Cubs and wins a total of 7 games, Shantz pitches 11 innings and then gets sold (!), Clemens hits .221 the following year and gets traded again.

1949: A's trade 21-year-old Nellie Fox to White Sox for Joe Tipton, who puts up OPS+ of 90, 92, and 95 before being waived.

1916: Red Sox trade Tris Speaker to Indians for Sam Jones, Fred Thomas, and cash. And it wasn't even the worst deal the Red Sox made in that decade.

Any others? What's the worst trade of the past 10 years? I can't think of any because superstars usually change teams via free agency instead of trades.

[Williamsburg2599]

It had to be when the soxs traded away Ruth.

[abacab]

Here's another good one I just found.

1992: Cubs trade former MVP George Bell to White Sox for Sammy Sosa and one other player. Bell has two awful seasons for the White Sox, then retires.

[BoSox Rule]

Someone always has to mention this trade in a thread like this: Pedro Martinez for Delino DeShields.

[abacab]

Someone always has to mention this trade in a thread like this: Pedro Martinez for Delino DeShields.

Yeah... and then Pedro Martinez for Tony Armas and Carl Pavano.

[Buzzaldrin]

Amos Rusie for Christy Mathewson. Rusie won exactly zero games and lost one for Cincinnati; Mathewson won 372 for New York.

Goslin for Crowder and Manush when they were at their peak and well after his was a big bad one.

Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. Robinson responded with a triple crown; Pappas with a 4.29 ERA.

[KHenry14]

One more bad one from the 60's, Giants send Orlando Cepeda to the Cards for pitcher Ray Sadecki. The Baby Bull proceeds to win the MVP and help the Cards to a WS title, Sadecki has a few woeful years for the Giants...:grouchy

KH14

[Bothrops Atrox]

Steve Carlton for Rick Wise. The Cardinals would have made several World Series in the 1970's if they didn't trade away Carlton.

[Ubiquitous]

Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton for Bobby Hill, Jose Hernandez, and Matt Bruback.

Granted this was a pay cut trade but the Cubs still made out like bandits.

Another one that good have been really bad but because of some things turned out to just miss the cut is the Scott Rolen trade.

It ends up basically being a Scott Rolen for Placido Polanco trade and Polanco turned into pretty nice player while Scott has had some trouble staying healthy. If Scott stays healthy and Polanco doesn't start hitting like he did this would have been a really bad trade instead it is only slightly bad.

[KHenry14]

I thought the Giants traded Cepeda for peanuts because they already had McCovey. That trade didn't hurt them too badly, I don't think. Still, they could've done a little better.

It was partly because McCovey was there, but mostly because they needed a good lefty starter. They should have tried to get Carlton instead of Sadecki

KH14

[leecemark]

--It was also because Cepeda was already having serious knee problems. He did win the 67 MVP, but his best years were actually behind him.

[Buzzaldrin]

Here's some good ones from the distant past (although Rusie for Mathewson is still the worst all-time)


George Davis for Buck Ewing.

Davis was 21 and just starting his Hall of Fame career. He responded with nine straight .300 seasons for the Giants.

Ewing was 33 and on the way down- he had one good year withe Cleveland (the ones who traded away davis), then went to Cincinnati and out of the big leagues.


Hugh Nicol for Jack Boyle.

Nicol only hit .215, BUT he did steal the all-time record 138 bases (let's not get started about the rules; it's still damn impressive) and score 122 runs in 125 games (he walked 86 times as well).

Boyle hit .189


Gid Gardner for Paul Hines.

This never made sense- Gardner had just hit .175 for Indianapolis, while former triple crown winner Hines (an overlooked HOFer if there ever was one) had just hit .312 and .308 and finished near the top of the league in several categories with Washington.

Hines hit .281 and .305 with the Hoosiers, Gardner appeared in 2 games with Wahington, one with Philly, and was out of baseball.

There was something seriously shady about that deal.


Hughie Jennings (and Harry Taylor) went to Baltimore for Tim O'Rourke.

The same year, Baltimore got Wille Keeler and Dan Brouthers from Brooklyn for Billy Shindle and George Treadway. That had to hurt.


Billy Hamilton for Billy Nash is a classic. Nash hit .247, .258, .243 with Philly (only the second year came in more than 100 games) after the trade. Billy continued his hitting barrage (he'd hit .404 and .389 the two seasons before the trade with the Phils) by posting .365, .343, and .369 his first three years in Boston.

And, of course, the biggest, shadiest trade of them all- Jack Chesbro, a handful of cash, and three also-rans from Pittsburgh to Louisville for Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke, Deacon Phillippe, Rube Waddell, Tommy Leach, Chief Zimmer, and six other players. A nice even handed trade with no hint of syndicalism. Funny, how Chesbro ended up back on Pittsburgh next spring, isn't it?

[Victory Faust]

Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. Robinson responded with a triple crown; Pappas with a 4.29 ERA.

But Pappas brought us the Gyro sandwich! I remember reading an iten way back in the late 70s or early 80s about Milt Pappas. In the story, Pappas gushed about this newfangled sandwich he was trying to push: a Gyro sandwich.

Plus, I found a 1960s baseball card of him once and thought because it was so old, it must be worth something! I held onto that card for years.

[Victory Faust]

Steve Demeter for Storman Norman Cash isn't the worst trade in baseball history, but it was pretty darn bad.

By the way, in response to earlier posts: Babe Ruth didn't go to the Yankees in a trade; he was sold. And I don't think you can even count the Christy Mathewson trade, because Freedman knew he was going to end up owning the NY Giants soon after the trade. It was done totally in self-interest.

[Buzzaldrin]

And I don't think you can even count the Christy Mathewson trade, because Freedman knew he was going to end up owning the NY Giants soon after the trade. It was done totally in self-interest.

um...a trade being doen out of self-interest? Aren't they ALL done out of self-interest?

Actually, it's a little more complicated than you put it. New York wanted Mathewson, but didn't want to pay $2000 to Norfolk (that was their deal), so John Brush (Cincinnati owner) took him from Norfolk (team name "Mary Janes" - top that) after the Giants had returned him for, getting him for only $100, and then swapped him for the washed up Rusie.

Brush was trying to buy the Giants and wanted Matty in place, but he didn't get the team from Freeman for another three years as it turned out, although this deal was pure engineering.