RealGM

Is this the best trade that one MLB team has ever made?

Not the best, no; there are too many Pedro-for-DeShields and Fregosi-for-Ryan deals sprinkled throughout baseball history.

Now, if the question was "worst trade involving only established major leaguers", it's up there. Probably not at the top, but still a historic fleecing.

Maybe in a pure salary dump sense but it wasn't even the best trade in team history. I'd say the trade that brought Alomar and Carter here was bigger for the Jays since it led to 2 World Series victories.

Not be the best trade in all baseball but among the best if not the best in Blue Jays history is the Jose Bautista for Robinzon Diaz trade.

Not the best ever in the "I'm on a boat/She's out of my league" sense.

But maybe the best ever in the "I'm caught under a boulder and about to saw my arm off with a jack-knife when an earthquake unexpectedly sets me free" sense.

sonn wrote:Maybe in a pure salary dump sense but it wasn't even the best trade in team history. I'd say the trade that brought Alomar and Carter here was bigger for the Jays since it led to 2 World Series victories.

Yeah but that wasn't a straight-up ridiculous face-smack of the Padres. We gave them Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez. McGriff had a DOWN year at .890 OPS in his first season, then was back to .930+ OPS for the next three seasons, including one at 1.012. Two Silver Sluggers as a Padre, couple of All-Star selections (actually, the second SS might have been with the Braves). That was not bad talent trade-off no matter what it did for us, and even if Tony came back to us like three years later. Hell, even Tony made an All-Star team for the Padres after the trade.

I have a feeling that this will be less one sided than most of you think...

You'd like a "best trade" to be a positive thing, ideally for both teams. Getting rid of a bad contract doesn't really qualify. "Stupid trade of the decade" (for the Angels) - sure, that fits.

It's funny to remember my feelings around the time of the Carter/Alomar/McGriff/Fernandez trade. Definitely mixed. McGriff was tough to give up, and arguably (at the time) the most talented of the bunch, albeit not at a skill position. Anyone have stats to prove or disprove that?

We didn't even have an Internet at the time, but if there was one, there would have been some discussion.

darth_federer wrote:I have a feeling that this will be less one sided than most of you think...

I don't. It's an awful trade for the Angels regardless of what Vernon Wells does (and I doubt he'll do much).

tecumseh18 wrote:You'd like a "best trade" to be a positive thing, ideally for both teams. Getting rid of a bad contract doesn't really qualify. "Stupid trade of the decade" (for the Angels) - sure, that fits.

It's funny to remember my feelings around the time of the Carter/Alomar/McGriff/Fernandez trade. Definitely mixed. McGriff was tough to give up, and arguably (at the time) the most talented of the bunch, albeit not at a skill position. Anyone have stats to prove or disprove that?

We didn't even have an Internet at the time, but if there was one, there would have been some discussion.

Jack Murphy Stadium is one of the worst hitters parks in MLB. It was depressing Carter and Alomar's stats while Skydome, one of the best hitters parks, was certainly helping McGriff.

More like the dumbest trade ever than the best/worst.

I don't think you can call any trade where the team that does well gains through subtraction. I reserve that for trades where you grab a great player, but for pure value it was huge.

I disagree that great trades should be good for both teams. There's something to be said for a GM that doesn't take guys to the cleaners, especially if it's because he just knows something's wrong with the guys he's sending out, but the "best" (and just how I use the word) are the ones where you sent some overvalued vet and got 3-4 prospects who all panned out to one degree or another. Those types of deals are the ones I'd classify as best, but AA is still either the luckiest or smartest guy in the league to get Wells off the books at that price.

I like League for Morrow

Raider917 wrote:I like League for Morrow

First one that came to mind.