Each team’s best and worst offseason trade of the last 20 years

Arizona – Atlanta – Baltimore – Boston – Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox – Cincinnati – Cleveland – Colorado – Detroit
Houston – Kansas City – LA Angels – LA Dodgers – Miami
Milwaukee – Minnesota – New York Mets – New York Yankees – Oakland
Philadelphia – Pittsburgh – St. Louis – San Diego – San Francisco
Seattle – Tampa Bay – Texas – Toronto – Washington

Houston Astros
Best trade: Acquired Moises Alou from Marlins for Manuel Barrios, Oscar Henriquez, and Mark Johnson (November 11, 1997)
The Astros had no problems taking advantage of the Marlins’ fire sale after winning the 1997 World Series. Alou was coming off of a 1997 that saw him finish tenth in the NL MVP voting, so expectations were high for him in Houston. He only spent three seasons on the field with the team, missing all of 1999 because of a torn ACL. But in those three years, Alou was a monster. He hit 95 homers over those three seasons, mashing his way to a ridiculous .331/.406/.585 line during Houston’s glory years in the NL Central. He made a pair of All-Star teams and finished third in the 1998 NL MVP voting before signing a multi-year deal with the Cubs.

Manuel Barrios pitched only 2 2/3 innings with the Marlins before he was traded to the Dodgers as part of the Mike Piazza deal. Oscar Henriquez had an 8.55 ERA in 20 innings with the club, and was traded to the Mets for Jorge Fabregas the next winter. Mark Johnson never reached the majors as a Marlin, and was traded to the Yankees in 1999 as part of the Mike Lowell deal. Three extra pieces for an MVP candidate? That works.

Worst trade: Acquired Ezequiel Astacio, Taylor Buchholz, and Brandon Duckworth from Phillies for Billy Wagner (November 3, 2003)
In most of Houston’s trades, they at least got something of value in return. Billy Wagner was the Astros’ closer for the large bulk of his eight full seasons with the team. He had a 2.53 ERA, 225 saves, and an insane 694 strikeouts in his 504 1/3 innings as an Astro. Houston traded him to the Phillies, and watched Wagner continue to do what he does – in two years, he pitched to a 1.86 ERA, striking out 146, walking 26, and saving 59 games in 126 innings. He bailed on the Phillies to sign with the Mets after the 2005 season, which eventually led to Houston trading Brad Lidge to Philadelphia for a much better return.

Speaking of the return…well, it was depressing. Ezequiel Astacio pitched to a 6.02 ERA in 86 2/3 innings over two seasons with the Astros. Taylor Buchholz had a 5.89 ERA in 113 innings during his one year with the team before he was traded to the Rockies for Jason Jennings, who had a one year disaster in Houston. Then there’s Brandon Duckworth, who pitched 55 2/3 innings in Houston and had an 8.08 ERA. Yikes.

Kansas City Royals
Best trade: Acquired Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi from Brewers for Yuniesky Betancourt and Zack Greinke (December 19, 2010)
In a couple years, maybe the James Shields/Wade Davis trade will overwhelm this one. After all, Wil Myers has already been traded by the Rays, and the Royals won the AL pennant this season. But the groundwork for the Shields trade was laid by the Greinke trade. Jake Odorizzi was part of the Shields trade, and threw just 7 1/3 innings as a Royal. Jeremy Jeffress had a 5.65 ERA in 28 2/3 innings with Kansas City before being sold to the Blue Jays.

Then, there are the two key components on the Royals pennant-winning team – Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar. Cain had a breakout year in 2014, and is poised to remain a fixture in the team’s outfield for years to come. Escobar has consistently been an above average defender at shortstop with the team, though his bat has been erratic throughout his career. Being able to get two regulars, and a component that allowed you to get two key pitchers, in one trade is a pretty big deal.

Yuniesky Betancourt was notoriously awful in his first season as a Brewer before signing back with the Royals for the 2012 season and then heading back to Milwaukee for 2013. Greinke was great with the Brewers, tossing 294 2/3 innings of 3.67 ERA ball before the club traded him to the Angels for a package headlined by current shortstop Jean Segura. All in all, you can’t really fault either side in this deal, but considering what the Royals did in 2014 thanks in large part to what they got in return for Greinke, you’ve gotta give them a tip of the cap.

Worst trade: Acquired Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Verdugo from Giants for Melky Cabrera (November 7, 2011)
I have no issues with the Royals trying to sell high on Melky Cabrera after his ridiculous 2011. But this…this was not selling high. Jonathan Sanchez was coming off of a 2011 season that saw him throw just 101 1/3 innings, pitching to a 4.26 ERA with a walk rate close to six batters per nine innings. There were plenty of warning signs that Sanchez wasn’t a great bounceback candidate, and Kansas City ignored them.

Naturally, he had a 7.76 ERA in 53 1/3 innings with Kansas City, somehow walking more hitters than he struck out over 12 starts. Jarrod Dyson took over in center from Cabrera, and was a disaster alongside the even more ghastly Jeff Francoeur in right. Cabrera was an NL All-Star in 2012 and was an MVP candidate before a PED suspension ended his year.

If there’s a bright side to this story for the Royals, it’s this – they were somehow able to trade Sanchez to the Rockies for Jeremy Guthrie, who’s been a rotation mainstay for them ever since.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Best trade: Acquired Kevin Appier from Mets for Mo Vaughn (December 27, 2001)
Bad contract swaps are awesome. The Angels gave Vaughn a six-year, $80 million deal after he finished fourth in the 1998 AL MVP voting, and regretted it almost immediately. During his only two years with the team, he hit .276/.362/.503 with 69 homers. After missing all of the 2001 season, the Angels dumped him and nearly all of his remaining contract off on the Mets for Kevin Appier and his more palatable contract. Vaughn stunk in 166 games with the Mets, and didn’t play in the majors after May 2nd, 2003.

Appier wasn’t great in his season and a half with the Angels. In 51 starts, he pitched to a 4.48 ERA over 281 innings. But the Angels won the 2002 World Series after making the trade, and ended up saving a lot of money and headaches after dealing Vaughn.

Worst trade: Acquired Vernon Wells from Blue Jays for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera (January 21, 2011)
This was a bad idea from the get go. Everyone panned this deal when it happened, mostly because the Angels ate up all but $5 million of Vernon Wells’ hideous contract with a smile on their face. He played 208 games over two years with the Angels, and hit .222/.258/.409 with 36 homers. Miraculously, the Yankees agreed to acquire Wells before the 2013 season, and took on a third of his remaining contract just for the hell of it. The Angels gave up a pair of players and paid Wells roughly $51 million for those two years of service. Incredible.

And the two players they gave up weren’t slouches, either. Well, Juan Rivera kind of was – he hit .243/.305/.360 in 2011 with the Blue Jays before they sold him to the Dodgers, where he’d end his career in 2012. Mike Napoli was immediately traded by the Blue Jays to the Rangers for reliever Frank Francisco. Napoli hit .275/.379/.552 with 54 homers in 221 games as a Ranger before inking a free agent deal with the Red Sox. Francisco had a 3.55 ERA in 50 2/3 innings with Toronto in 2011 before signing with the Mets (leading to the Jays somehow getting a supplemental draft pick). The Angels got no production behind the plate in 2011, and were forced to trade for Tyler Chatwood after the season ended. The Rangers are the only team who made out well in this trade, and they weren’t even one of the original parties involved!

Los Angeles Dodgers
Best trade: Acquired Shawn Green and Jorge Nunez from Blue Jays for Pedro Borbon and Raul Mondesi (November 8, 1999)
We’ll get this out of the way right now – this was essentially a swap of Shawn Green for Raul Mondesi. Jorge Nunez never made the majors, and Pedro Borbon had a 4.93 ERA in 107 2/3 innings over three seasons with the Blue Jays.

Trading Raul Mondesi seemed like a gamble at the time. He was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1994, and had been a consistent performer in Los Angeles for six seasons. In 1999, he was coming of a 33 homer, 36 stolen base season. He was just two years into a six year, $60 million contract, and was still owed $45.5 million. Luckily for the Dodgers, the trade didn’t come back to bite them. Mondesi spent just three years in Toronto, and hit only .251/.328/.470 over 320 games. Yes, he did put together 20/20 seasons in 2000 and 2001, but he wasn’t the same player. The Blue Jays dumped him off on the Yankees in 2002, and the Yankees sent him to the Diamondbacks in 2003. He played 75 games in the majors in 2004 and 2005, before his career was over at 34. He never won a Gold Glove, made an All-Star team, or received an MVP vote after leaving Los Angeles.

The Dodgers didn’t end up saving any money in the trade because of the six-year, $84 million contract they gave to Green shortly after acquiring him. After a down 2000, Green rebounded into an MVP candidate, finishing sixth and 2001 and fifth in 2002. During his five years in Los Angeles, he hit .280/.366/.510 with 162 homers. Eventually, Los Angeles traded him to the Diamondbacks for a package of four players that included Dioner Navarro. Like Mondesi, Green’s baseball career was over at 34, and while he did make more money than the player he was traded for, he also gave the Dodgers a lot more production than Mondesi gave the Blue Jays.

Worst trade: Acquired Andrew Brown, Brian Jordan, and Odalis Perez from Braves for Gary Sheffield (January 15, 2002)
Gary Sheffield still had two years left under contract with the Dodgers, with an option for 2004 as well. So the Braves got some good value picking him up from Los Angeles to fill their vacancy in right field, and did he ever deliver over those two years – .319/.412/.562 with 64 homers in 290 games, including a third place MVP finish in 2003. He’d leave as a free agent following the 2003 season, and Sheffield would sign with the Yankees and finish as the runner-up in the AL MVP race.

The Dodgers didn’t get a whole lot in return for Sheffield. Andrew Brown never made the majors with the Dodgers, and was traded to the Indians as part of the Milton Bradley deal. Brian Jordan played in 194 games over two years with the Dodgers, and hit .289/.349/.453 with 24 homers and just three stolen bases. He signed with the Rangers in 2004, and made his way back to Atlanta in 2005. Odalis Perez was the most significant piece received by the Dodgers, and he threw 772 innings over five seasons with the team, pitching to a 3.94 ERA. However, those stats are skewed by a 2002 season that saw Perez pitch to a 3.00 ERA in 222 1/3 innings – he had a 4.32 ERA in the other four seasons before being traded to the Royals for Elmer Dessens. That’s not a great return for two years of MVP caliber performance.

Miami Marlins
Best trade: Acquired Jesus Delgado, Harvey Garcia, Hanley Ramirez, and Anibal Sanchez from Red Sox for Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Guillermo Mota (November 24, 2005)
Rip on Miami’s process all you want, but the team knows how to move talent. Future three-time All-Star Mike Lowell was acquired for table scraps. They turned Al Leiter into A.J. Burnett. They turned Charles Johnson and Preston Wilson into Juan Pierre, and then turned Pierre into Ricky Nolasco. Mark Kotsay was moved for Matt Clement, and Clement was the key piece in the Dontrelle Willis trade. They unloaded five mid to high priced players for seven Blue Jays, helping build their current team back into a contender.

And this trade was the rare one that worked out well for both sides. Josh Beckett had a 4.17 ERA in seven seasons and 1,240 innings with the Red Sox, but was a three-time All-Star, the 2007 AL Cy Young runner up, and won the 2007 ALCS MVP award en route to another championship for the Red Sox. Mike Lowell spent the final five years of his career with the Red Sox, hitting .290/.346/.468 with 80 homers. He was an All-Star in 2007, and also finished fifth in AL MVP voting that year. Like Beckett, he had a significant impact on Boston’s 2007 World Championship – he was named the World Series MVP. Guillermo Mota never pithed with Boston, but still had an impact – he was traded to the Indians two months later as part of the Coco Crisp deal.

That brings me to the return the Marlins received for Beckett and Lowell. Jesus Delgado and Harvey Garcia were non-factors – they combined to throw 14 1/3 innings in the majors. Hanley Ramirez has become a household name across the baseball world, and rolled his way to a .300/.374/.499 line in seven seasons as a Marlin. He crossed the 20/20 threshold in four straight seasons, including a 30/39 campaign in 2008. In 2009, Ramirez won the NL batting title and was the runner-up in MVP voting. He made three All-Star teams in Miami, was the 2006 NL Rookie of the Year, and received MVP votes in a total of three seasons. In 2012, the Marlins traded him to the Dodgers for Nate Eovaldi, who was moved this winter for Martin Prado.

Anibal Sanchez also had a fine Marlins career. He tossed 794 1/3 innings with the club, pitching to a 3.75 ERA. Shoulder issues plagued his tenure with the team, but he did manage back to back 195 inning seasons in 2010 and 2011. Like Ramirez, he was also moved in the Great Miami Purge of July 2012, finding his way to the Tigers for a trio of players that are no longer Marlins. All in all, the Marlins did pretty well in the Beckett/Lowell trade – not all of these fire sale moves work out well.

Worst trade: Acquired Burke Badenhop, Eulogio de la Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Mike Rabelo, and Dallas Trahern from Tigers for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis (December 4, 2007)
Despite what I just about Miami’s ability to turn veterans into young talent, they whiff sometimes too. In fact, there were plenty of possibilities here. They traded Derrek Lee for Hee Seop Choi. They traded Moises Alou for an unforgettable platter of minor leaguers that wouldn’t have much of an impact in the majors. Dan Uggla was dealt for a LOOGY and a utility infielder. They voluntarily traded FOR Mike Hampton’s contract before summarily moving it to the Braves (and dooming their division rival in the process, which was a brilliant move in hindsight).

But there was no trade that worked out worse for the Marlins than the Miguel Cabrera trade. I already recapped just how damn good Cabrera has been since the deal, but what about the players that Miami received? Good question.

-Burke Badenhop had a 4.34 ERA over 250 2/3 innings with the Marlins before being traded to the Rays in December 2011.
-Eulogio de la Cruz pitched nine innings as a Marlin, allowing 18 runs and 11 walks. He was sold to the Padres in March 2009.
-Cameron Maybin spent three seasons in Miami, hitting .257/.323/.391 with 12 homers and 14 stolen bases. He was traded to the Padres in November 2010 for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb.
-Andrew Miller had a 5.89 ERA in 220 innings with the Marlins. He was traded to the Red Sox in November 2010, and became a dominant reliever.
-Mike Rabelo played in 34 games with Miami, hitting .202/.256/.294. He was granted free agency in November of 2009, and signed with the Tigers.
-Dallas Trahern never made it to the majors, and last pitched in 2011 with the Marlins’ AA and AAA clubs.

Four years after the trade, everyone the Marlins acquired was gone. Cabrera would go on to win the AL MVP award in back to back seasons. Now that’s painful.

BONUS: During the 1999 Rule 5 Draft, the Marlins took a player from the Astros and traded him to the Twins. That player was awful in 2000, and not so great in 2001. Then in 2002, at the age of 23, he began to blossom into one of the best pitchers in baseball. His name? Johan Santana.

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