@@lmvbaseball3622 I hit the play button just to see where in the video the Ryan/Fregosi trade would be shown. I looked at the time and l started to think we are running out of time here ! It was a nice touch to have it last because it places better that way. The Mets trading Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi was DISASTROUS for me a young Mets fan. I was inconsolable and l knew he was the greatest pitcher on the Mets because even Tom Seaver and Koosman and Gentry, they all knew Nolan Ryan was faster than all of 'em. His motion was effortless and fluid and devastating. Had he played his entire career for say the Yankees or stayed with the Mets he could have ended up with 5 or 6 rings. He had all the records a pitcher wanted anyway, any pitcher would love to have a line like Nolan Ryan. Good Job ! Imv
I'd say that for Sandberg and Martinez, at least, they were. They were prospects who were marginal in the systems that drafted them, but given to a team that knew how to maximize their talent they went from marginal guys who might have had a couple of cups of coffee in the Bigs to Hall of Famers.
Well he was sort of traded for a play called "No No Nanette." From what I understand it was supposed star his girlfriend at the time. Not sure how the Mrs. felt about that. Anyway, the $125,000 went to finance it and like the deal itself it was a big time flop.
Rick Hahn should've already been fired for trading Marcus Semien and Chris Bassitt for fucking Jeff Samardzija. but rather than losing his job, he was allowed to then trade Tatis Jr for James Shields corpse. I swear Jerry Reinsdorf is killing this franchise on purpose.
@@joesaiditstrue Agree, I was at That Game Big Lame James pitched vs the Nationals for his White Sox debut. Horrible he was gone by the 3rd and so were we drinking in the parking lot. Don't know y he had the name Big Game James he sucked and of course overrated Maddon named him that. Thank God For Tim Anderson. I only imagine if the Sox had Anderson and Tatis WOW!!!
The Nolan Ryan trade is 100% the WORST trade in sports history. I thought that when i was growing up in the 80s and i still think that 40 years later. Utter stupidity.
"Utterly stupid" - not really. The Mets had a four-man rotation back then. Ryan didn't fit. Ryan had control issues back then. Ryan pitched in a league where umps didn't use the balloon protectors not giving him the high strike. Bad trade - you bet your ass, but calling it "utterly stupid" is a bit hyperbole especially when the clip also shows cases of trades gone wrong. You can make the case that Ryan isn't even a top 20 pitcher of all time. Best arm in MLB history - yes, but nowhere near the best pitcher in MLB history by far. Goodness, the Reds traded one of the most underrated and least talked about sluggers in MLB history in Robinson. The Cubs traded the once all-time stolen base leader. The Phillies traded who is arguably a top 5-second baseman of all time. The Red Sox traded someone who would have added another 100 plus home runs playing at Fenway to his already 449. The Reds traded a top three pitcher of all time in Matthewson. The Cubs traded away arguably the greatest closer of all-time before Mariano Rivera hit the scene. The Dodgers traded away Pedro who everyone and their mother would take over Ryan in their primes. See my point?
Christopher !!! ABSOLUTELY !!! The Babe Ruth Trade can't Shine The Shoes of this trade. The Mets (I am a Mets Fan), traded a fireballer who would get blisters on his fingers (Wes Westrum hjis pitching coach told him to soak his hand in Pickle Brine), for a Broken Backed 3rd Basemen - Fregosi - who lasted 3 Months !!!! Ryan went on to pitch for 24 more years !!! Ryan was erratic , but so was Sandy Kofax . My father told me he started in 1958-59 with the Dodgers (who left Brooklyn in 1958), couldn't find the plate , but the Dodgers were patient . The rest is History !!.
@@Brooklyn3955 Unfortunately, it is apparent the The Mets (Yes, I'm a Mets Fan), made some of the worst Trades in History. The Nolan Ryan trade for Jim Fregosi , Common, that makes the Babe Trade look like child's play :):). Keep in mind: Amos Otis, Ken Singleton, Tom Seaver (are you Kidding Me), Darling, Neil Allen,; and all the players The Mets Let go or didn't sign recently : Daniel Murphy, Wheeler, and many others too numerous to mention ... As this video states: You don't let an arm like Ryan's go ..... Check out the history of Sandy Kofax with the Dodgers - took him 4 years to find his command. Be well. LGM !!
We really appreciated having Carlton here in Philly , along with his nasty slider. That fact that he didn’t want to be bothered with the media in an effort to help him concentrate on his game, made him even more respected by his fans who got it
Steve Carlton getting traded to last place Phillies and turning that franchise from losers to winners will always be an embarassment for the St.Louis Cardinals.
The reason why he stopped talking to the media was because after his unbelievable 1972 season he lost 20 games in 1973 and the media ripped into him badly.
As a big fan of the Expos in their early years, I still have painful memories of two very bad trades they made after the 1974 season. They traded Mike Torrez and Ken Singleton to the Orioles for Dave McNally, Rich Coggins, and Bill Kirkpatrick. Torrez was 20-9 with Baltimore in 1975, played about another decade, and was on the mound for the Yankees when they won the World Series in 1977. Singleton hit .300 in 1975, and played well with the Orioles for many years thereafter. McNally won his first 3 decisions with the Expos, lost his next 6, and retired in mid-season with an ERA of 5.26. Coggins took ill in spring training, reportedly with a nerve condition of some sort, hit well in his first few games back in the lineup, but was sold to the Yankees after hitting .270 in just 13 games as an Expo. He was out of baseball completely after 1976. Bill Kirkpatrick never pitched a game in the major leagues. Two days later, the Expos traded Ron Fairly, who still had four years left in him, to the Cardinals for Ed Kurpiel and Rudy Kinard, neither of whom ever played a game in the major leagues. And for that, Jim Fanning kept his job as general manager.
I haven't forgotten that dreadful trade, nor the ugly rumours that this inexplicable move may have had something to do with Ken marrying a white woman .
@@Rockhound6165 Yes, there was that; although Johnson had yet to make his mark, they knew full well that Langston was going to become a free agent after that season, and was highly unlikely to sign with Montreal.
At the time, that looked like a great trade. Smoltz was a bit of a head case, lacking confidence and struggling. Fortunately for us Braves fans, he figured it out. Oh man did he figure it out. While Johnson and Martinez seem to be the guys most hitters from that time call the toughest to hit, there are quite a few that say Smoltz.
Even though the Tigers had drafted a Michigan kid in Smoltz, they weren't sure he was ever going to make it. Meanwhile they don't win the division in 87 without Alexander, they beat the Blue Jays on the last day of the year by one game. Meanwhile they were huge favorites to beat the Twins and just happened to lose. Alexander also won another 14 games in 1988 and the Tigers could have reached the playoffs that year too. So the Tigers did get actual value. Everyone forgets that. It is just that Smoltz got his head on straight in the Braves organization.
I think of that trade similar to the Mark Langston for Randy Johnson swap. In hindsight, it was a bad trade, but there was no guarantee that their young prospect was ever gonna pan out so why not get an established star?
@@WaitAMinute1989 I agree. Those defending the trade would have a stronger case if the Tigers had won it all in '87. They didn't. And much of that was because of Alexander. His lifetime in the post season (for NY, Baltimore and Toronto) was something like 0-5 with an ERA of about 5.6 and with the Tigers that went up to I think 0-7 and a run per game higher. Terrible in the playoff.
As a kid, I had to have been blessed with seeing Seaver-Carlton at least 20 times. Knowns the future, but my dad would just come home, look at the paper and say "Good match-up" and off we'd go. Amazing
Yeah, the Eckersley trade is similar to the Bagwell trade: Lack of creative thinking. The Red Sox didn’t need Bags at 3rd because Wade Boggs was the best hitter in baseball. Never thought of moving him to a different position. Eck was a mediocre starter, and they never thought of moving him to relief. Of course they also had Lee Smith at the time, so who knows?
One too recent for this video, that is worse than any included here: Baltimore acquires Glenn Davis for Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch. Davis plays three injury-plagued non-productive seasons for Baltimore and is the highest-paid player in their history to that time. Schilling leads the league twice in wins and strikes out 3000, wins 216 games, and is likely going into the Hall of Fame. Finley plays 19 years, hits 304 homers, and wins four Gold Gloves. And while Harnisch wasn't great, he did put together a solid 14-year career as a starter.
Don't forget that trade was supposed to make up for the nearly as bad Eddie Murray trade 3 years before. The Orioles ended up getting an aggregate of Glenn Davis, Juan Bell, Brian Holton, and Ken Howell for Eddie Murray, Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch. Ouch!
The single worst trade in MLB history, imho. I think it is second only to the Ruth trade in future WAR lost vs. future WAR gained. I believe it was a net -107 or so.
"Eck" got the biggest comeuppance of his career in '92, the same year he was MVP & Cy Young. In ALS game 4 vs Toronto, Roberto Alomar and the Jays, scored 4 runs in the 8th & 9th off Eck to tie the game and later win in extra innings to go up 3-1 on the A's. Eck in his previous appearance taunted the Jays bench as he strolled off the mound. In BBL you don't slow trot homers and you don't cuss out the opposing team after you shut them down. It was a notorious & embarrassing blown save that ended his best ever season. The Jays won in 6.
greatest Phillies trade, Rick Wise for Steve Carlton. Initially Phillies fans were livid which quickly turned to joy, "It's about time we got the better end of a trade".
Ones that come to mind involving teams I follow: -- Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez from the Pirates to the Cubs for Jose Hernandez and two others . (This was more of a "You can have Lofton if you take Ramirez's contract" trade, but Ramirez ended up being the best player in the deal.) -- Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop from the Orioles to the Cubs for Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman. -- Derrek Lee from the Marlins to the Cubs for Hee Seop Choi. -- Joe Nathan, Francisco, Liriano and Boof Bonser from the Giants to the Twins for A.J. Pierzynski. (Pierzynski lasted only one year in SF, and the Twins traded him to make room for Joe Mauer, so they upgraded at catcher with the trade, too.)
Mets' fan here... I remember when we traded Nolan Ryan to the Angels. It was almost a relief at the time, as while he had strength and power and speed, he had little control. Plus, the Mets needed a good third baseman, which Fregosi seemed to be at the time. (It's notable also that for all that he did in his great career, Ryan's only World Series was with the Mets--in 1969, which we won.)
You got most of this right. Nolan Ryan was like Sandy Kolfax at the start of his career. Great stuff but control problems and needed innings to work out the kinks. The Mets had too much talented pitching to throw Ryan out there every 4th day. Jim Fregosi was an all-star caliber shortstop that the Mets thought they could convert into a third baseman (it didn’t work)
@@plndv3363 Ooops--I didn't know that Jim Fregosi was originally a shortstop--thanks for the correction! (A bit of trivia you may already know--Fregosi was Nolan Ryan's manager on the Angels in 1978 and 1979.)
@@SmoothCriminal12 Particularly I mean from the dodgers side as presented in the video. The Dodgers got back from the Marlins Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson and Jim Eisenreich for Piazza and Todd Zeile. It was a good trade on paper and Sheffield did have some of his best years with the dodgers. But Bonilla got hurt and was never the same player and they traded away Charles Johnson so they could have a left handed bat at catcher in Todd Hundley which would be a bad move (that I saw coming) since over the next 2 years Hundley was inconsistent at the plate and horrible at throwing out runners (was never the same after injuring his right shoulder in 1997) where as Charles Johnson who was already the best defense catcher in baseball not named Ivan Rodriguez would have his best consecutive offensive seasons hitting .277 w/ 47 HRs and 145 RBI from 1999-2000.
Trading Harvey Kuenn, the '59 batting champ for Rocky Colavito, the '59 home run champ, infuriated Detroit and infuriated Cleveland. Nobody in either town has ever forgiven the smartypants GMs who did the trade. I'm still mad.
To who ever posted this video, thank you very much. As a former fan in my mid fifties it was nice to see an "all time" video that was actually all time, not from the 90's on like so many other baseball posts.
@@jamesarmstrong1811 piazza and ivan rodriguez are also in hof. bags best friend ken caminiti was also a big time juicer. none is so blind as he who will not see.
I remember the Sandberg trade....what modern fans do not realize that don't know the full history of this trade. You need to look at the ages and the career up to that point of the other players involved. Ivan DeJesus was a much younger player than Larry Bowa. Larry Bowa had been a career Philly up to that point. The Phillies had been a winning team for a long time and Bowa had been a key part of those winning teams of the late 70s and in 1980 when they won the World Series but Bowa was now getting up there in years and his skills were starting to erode. He was always a gritty hustle player but the Phillies who in those days had a great farm system were looking to continue winning and contending without falling way off as most teams do when their veterans get older. The Phillies also traded away long time Catcher and defensive whiz Bob Bonne after the 1981 season because they were sure they had a better young catcher in Ozzie Virgil at the time. Plus they brought in a younger Bo Diaz. Larry Bowa was thought to be on the down side which he was. However Bowa did had 2 solid and one more not so great 1984 season as well that he helped the Cubs win their division. But Ivan Dejesus was thought to be in his prime. DeJesus was several years younger than Bowa and was coming off a season just 2 years earlier in 1980 where he stole 44 bases and looked like a budding all star for years to come. From 1978 through 1980 DeJesus had been a key offensive cog for the Cubs twice stealing over 40 bases. DeJesus was only 28 years old compared to Bowa being 36. 1981 was a down year for both DeJesus and Bowa but it was a strike shortened season where not many players performed as well as expected due to lesser games and longer time off putting many players out of shape. But the Phillies were banking they were getting a elite SS talent that was just entering his peak years in DeJesus and in that time range more and more teams were looking at guys with speed. Philly was no different in those days. But because DeJesus was thought to be in his prime and Bowa was like 36 years old and thought to at best only have a couple good years left at most which was about right.....the Cubs would only deal DeJesus for Bowa if the Phillies threw in a Prospect. Enter Ryne Sandberg.....a good prospect but not one that everyone in baseball was drooling over in those days. In the minors Sandberg had played 3B and came up in 1981 as a 3B....at the time the PHillies had Mike Schmidt who was in his prime just coming off back to back MVP seasons and was one of the very best 3B in all of baseball both with the bat and with the glove. The Phillies were not going to be moving Schmidt their best player and arguably at the time the best player in baseball. So Sandberg was road blocked by Schmidt. Because of his size the Philly brass didnt really see him as a middle infield option. The thought was since he was only a solid prospect but not deemed great prospect at the time....throw him in the deal with the 36 year old Bowa to get the much younger SS who had in 1980 looked like a budding all star before the strike shortened year of 81. The Phillies at the time thought they had a steal getting a much younger SS for the old Bowa and a so so prospect who wasn't going to play stuck behind Mike Schmidt anyway. However Bowa not only played 3 more solid years at SS for the Cubs....but Sandberg became the Cubs starting 3B in 1982. The next year the Cubs looking to contend added veteran Ron Cey in another steal of a trade from the Dodgers who thought he was too old also to keep playing well. But in adding Cey and his power bat the Cubs decided to try Ryne Sandberg at 2B.....and that year in 1983 is when he started to take off on his way to the Hall of Fame. Ironically Ivan DeJesus played solid SS for the Phillies in seasons 1982 through 1984 but ....during those 3 seasons though he never again showed the elite base stealing ability or offensive potential he had shown from 1978-1980. By 1985 DeJesus had soured on the Phillies and they unloaded him on the Cardinals where he spent a year backing up Ozzie Smith and hardly playing at all. He then bounced around the minors trying to find a way back to the majors with cups of coffee appearances with the Yankees in 86, the Giants in 87 and made his last appearance in the Major Leagues for the Detroit Tigers in 1988. DeJesus is not often remembered for what he did in his young days with the Cubs outside of older Cubs fans who remember him. Fans in Philly never seen that player as DeJesus never again played to that level after the 1980 season. As DeJesus struggled to find that success in Philly and Sandberg took off as a star, all Philly fans remembered was that DeJesus was the guy that they gave up Sandberg for. Funnt side note.....DeJesus only lasted 3 years as the SS in Philly. Larry Bowa who Philly management was sure was at the end of his career....also played those same 3 years as the starter for the Cubs and except for the 1984 season when Bowa really began to show his age......Bowa actually out performed the yonger DeJesus with the bat and his glove. So really a horrible trade all around for Philly. They threw away a career Philly who should have been able to finish his career in the city after more than a decade as their starting SS.....and they threw away a future hall of famer all to get a guy who never was the player he had been from 78-80 again.
Second base may not have been an option for Ryne Sandberg with the Phillies either. The Phillies had all star Manny Trillo at second at the time and a young prospect named Juan Samuel waiting in the minors.
I was born in Seattle, where I grew up. Japanese-American too (showing HOW I grew up). NO "worst MLB trades ever" list is complete, without the Mariners trading Derek Lowe and Jason Vortex, for Heathcliff Sloccumb! The Mariners made another blunder that same season, trading young potential star Jose Cruz Jr. for Paul Spoljaric! What a genius organization these Mariners are!
Not really. Mark Langston would still be one of the better pitchers in baseball over the next half decade where as The Big Unit wouldn't start to break out until a few years after he was traded.
@@robearnest7613 No, it was a bad trade because the Expos traded a prospect for a pitcher who was about to become a free agent after the season, and wasn't likely to stay in Montreal--and he didn't.
John Smoltz to the Braves for Doyle Alexander deserves a mention. Tigers got one good season and him choking in the playoffs. Braves got 20 years of a Hall of Fame pitcher who was one of the most dominant starters of all time and one of the most dominant closers
Scott McGregor---: Traded by the New York Yankees with Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May and Dave Pagan to the Baltimore Orioles for Doyle Alexander, Jimmy Freeman, Elrod Hendricks, Ken Holtzman and Grant Jackson.
Broglio for Lou Brock made the Cardinals World and Pennant champions in the 1960s. Trading away Steve Carlton guaranteed that they would not win anything in the 1970s... which was a drought, but the Cardinals did win 3 Pennants in the 1980s.
But Carlton started quoting Protocols of the Elders of Zion to a Sports reporter. So I learned to care less that the Cardinals got rid of him. I just wish they had gotten someone better.
great stuff !!!I would have thought the ryan trade would have been the worst,but i guess the eckersley deal might have it beat,i dont know,its close.Sandberg ,bagwell and carlton deals certainly way up there too.
Baseball is weird, sometimes just the most random thing can be what slides something into place and gets a mediocre player to start clicking. I vaguely remember one player that got called up to a major league team somewhere in the northern interior did do well and got traded to a more southern team on the coast and he development just skyrocketed and when asked he said the smell of the salt air made him nostalgic and allowed to think of it as a game again which settled him DPW and have fun again. Meanwhile another player got traded to a team who bucked tradition and had the home dugout on the third base and the player never adjusted to looking The other way
No mention of the Astros / Reds trade in which the Reds received Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, Jack Billingham, Ed Armbrister, and Denis Menke, for Lee May? Morgan, Geronimo, Billingham, and Armbrister all were important pieces of forming the Big Red Machine of the 70's and back to back World Series champs in 75, and 76.
@@chrisdelisle3954 The following year, after the trade, the Reds finished first winning 95 games, 10.5 games ahead of the Astros and also went to the World Series losing to the Swingin' A's in 7. Morgan goes on to win back to back MVPs in 75 and 76, along with numerous gold gloves and silver slugger awards. If that trade isn't made, there would be no Big Red Machine
@@chrisdelisle3954 Morgan was an Astro at two points; he broke in with the Houston Colt .45s in 1963, made it as a starter in 1965, played with them through 1971, and returned to them for one season in 1980.
Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Jimmy Stewart, actually. May at least had 3 good years in Houston, but the Astrodome was the most home run-unfriendly park in the majors. That trade was made 11 days before the Mets traded Nolan Ryan.
Which year would you have given it to him? I can't find a year when he deserved it. He was the most amazing pitcher I have ever seen, but he isn't in the top 20 of the greatest.
@@gil4321 I said it's hard to imagine, I didn't say he deserved the cy Young. I'd like to see the 20 people that you thought were better than Nolan Ryan.
The Dennis Eckersley trade from the Cubs to the A's looks boneheaded in retrospect, but at the time the Cubs traded him away he had been a career starting pitcher who had a great run with the Red Sox and had a couple solid seasons with the Cubs before his arm started giving out after four or five innings. It was Tony LaRussa who turned him into a closer in the first place, and Eckersley was at least humble enough to go into the bullpen that it not only extended his career but made him one of the all-time great relief pitchers in baseball history. The Cubs have a great history of making boneheaded trades, but they got lucky when they traded George Bell to the White Sox for Sammy Sosa. Now it may look boneheaded in time, but they traded away one of their top prospects in Gleybor Torres to the Yankees for essentially renting Aroldis Chapman, who re-signed with the Yankees after he helped the Cubs win the World Series. (Granted, Torres was an infielder, and they already had Kris Bryant and Javier Baez.) And the following year the Cubs traded another of their top prospects in Eloy Jimenez to the White Sox for Jose Quintana. Quintana was okay but not spectacular as a number four pitcher for the Cubs, while Jimenez looked like an absolute stud for the White Sox before getting injured in spring training this year. But he still is in his early 20's and hopefully has time to regain his form.
@Benjamin Enriquez Dammit, you beat me to the punch! I thought about that exact quote by Susan Sarandon in "Bull Durham" as soon as I saw this video title.
There were only four pitchers in baseball history who compiled 3000 strikeouts with less than 1000 walks. Two of them played for the Cubs. Both wore number 31. Jenkins and Maddux 😮
The Carlton Wise trade. I was in Philadelphia in 1971/1972 and the fans and media did not like the trade and you could not blame them. in 1971, Wise threw a no hitter AND HIT TWO HOME RUNS in the same game. Then in September he retired 32 CONSECUTIVE BATTERS ( a perfect game plus five) in a game with the Cubs from the second inning on and THEN WON THAT GAME WITH A HOME RUN in extra innings. Wise was Cy Young to the Phillies fans at that time and I think Carlton was actually booed in his first start at home in April. That obviously changed very quickly. There is something else about Wise. He was actually traded TWICE for future first ballot Hall of Famers.In 1978, a young starting pitcher named Dennis Eckersley was traded to Cleveland by the Red Sox for Wise and some other players long before he changed to a reliever and ended up in Oakland where he then became a star.
There was one year in which the trade seemed to be in the Cardinals favour: in 1973, Carlton dropped to 13-20, while Wise was 16-12 and was the starting and winning pitcher in the All-Star Game.
For Seattle Mariners its Derek Lowe and Jason varitek for heathcliff Slocumb Lowe and varitek became vital parts of the 2004 world series championship for the Boston red Sox
there should be a series of videos that would highlight the worse decision each team ever made . an example would be the falcons trading brett favre to the packers for a guy whose career was over before you knew it
An updated version of this would have the Braves trading Simba for effing Newcomb who can't throw an effing strike on it. Oh, and the Braves trading Adam Wainwright, a 100mph-throwing LEFTHANDED PITCHER, to the Cardinals for one year of J.D. Effing Drew. Oh, and Atlanta trading half their farm system to the Rangers for less than 2 full seasons of Teixiera in a Quixotic attempt to get Bobby Cox another ring. Effing-a, the Braves had a ton of bad trades the last 20 years.
Excellent program. Two trades not mentioned in the video: Danny Cater to BOS for Sparky Lyle??? Lyle had 35 saves for NYY in 1972. Keep those saves in the Red Sox bullpen, Boston runs away with AL East...instead, they lose division by a half-game. Honorable Mention: Bronson Arroyo (lifetime WAR 23.4) to CIN for Wily Mo Pena (-1.2).
As a Mets fan, you could have made the whole video about us! Perversly proud that the Nolan Ryan trade was number 1- you couldn't have given an honorable mention to Joe Foy for Amos Otis? :)
Consider it done. That was the second worst trade in Met history. Everyone except the Mets knew Foy had a drug problem. Then he fell in with his old friends from the Bronx and it snowballed. The Mets wanted Otis to play third base and he refused.
@@jimsannerud6254 Oh Please! Tom Seaver for spare parts? - Reprehensible but in line with the cheap mentality of He-Who -Rots-In -Hell-NExt -To-O'Mally (Pick your own, Dick YOung and/or M Donald Grant). For pure, exquisite, mulit-level profundity, one of my faves (not) Del Unser for "You can't steal 1st base" Pepe Manguel! There is SO much when a Fan-Network overlaps one's Group Therapy network! Met fans! Proud, disfunctional and Proudly Disfunctional!
@@jimsannerud6254 Seaver wanted to renegotiate his contract, but M. Donald Grant, who in the words of Whitey Herzog didn't know a hill o' beans about baseball, wouldn't budge. Then Dick Young started writing negative stuff about Seaver. Those two ran him out of town.
Very curious to see 10 years from now if the Mookie Betts for Alex Verdugo trade becomes one sided. Or maybe it will be a typical one that works well for both sides.
Maybe not the worst trade ever, but I was thinking of the Oriole's 1974 trade, with the principle players trading Rich Coggins/Dave McNally for Mike Torrez/Ken Singleton. Coggins was a bit player and McNally retired after 12 starts and a 5.00+ ERA. Torrez won 20 games in '75 and Singleton had nine good to excellent season for the O's before tailing off in his last season. Thanks for your excellent video!
Orioles fan here - I remember that one, and the trade with the Yankees that brought Rick Dempsey, Scott McGregor, and Tippy Martinez to the team. The all-time worst for us though has to be the trade we made for Glenn Davis, giving away Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch. What makes it dumber was, we didn't need a first basemen, as we had David Segui and Randy Milligan. Then, after a horrible year, he was re-signed. Still SMH over that one.
I posted the same trade. Stupid, stupid trade by the Giants. With McCovey at 1st, I could understand dealing Cepeda. But Ray Sadecki? Dumb. They should have gotten someone much better.
If I remember correctly, there was a trade the blue jays did in the early 2000s with the white Sox. The jays got a pitcher who was suppose to be their ace starter, but he got hurt, had surgery, and he never pitched a game in Toronto. I forgot who was involved.
The worst current trade involves the Tigers picking up Alfredo Simon, a 34-year-old spot starter who did not satisfy them enough to get them to sign him, for some 22-year-old kid shortstop Eugenio Suarez that the Reds got. Suarez may not be on a Hall of Fame trajectory, but when it comes to getting very little for a lot, the Tigers certainly got fleeced. It's going to get worse every year.
Do you think they should have traded Adolpho Phillips to the Expos in 1969? I have heard that idea. I know Phillips was a light hitter but wasn't he pretty fast? I'm not sure how he was as a fielder.
In fairness on the Brock trade, Ernie Broglio was the Cards ace at the time and it was arm trouble that hurt him. Even Bob Gibson thought the Cards were crazy for trading Boglio who was off to a slow start in 1964. The Cards were off to a slow start after a good year in 1963 and really liked the speed of Brock to shake up some offense. I believe the contract dispute with Carlton was over just $10,000 as owner Busch did not want Carlton to make the top money of an every day ballplayer. The Cards would have won division titles in the 1970s but not necessarily pennants as they likely did not have have enough anyway. They got Rick Wise who was actually OK but was not a hall of famer. The Carlton trade was the worst ever for St. Louis because they knew Carlton was for real. Cards fan
A lot of people in LA guessed that trading Pedro Martinez would be a bad idea. After former Dodger GM Al Campanis got himself fired for making racist comments on television he was replaced by Fred Claire. Fred had done a great job as the Dodgers VP of Public Relations, but that in no way qualified him to become a baseball GM. The only good signing he ever made was for Kirk Gibson and that worked for only a single season. He traded future Cy Young winner Bob Welch for Alfredo Griffin, Jesse Orozco and Jay Howell. Only Howell was moderately good in relief for the Dodgers. The signing of Darrel Strawberry was largely disappointing. His trade for Eric Davis was a disaster. The only thing he can't be blamed for is trading Mike Piazza to the Mets. New owners from FOX did that behind Claire's back.
Someone else already mentioned this, but I'll say it too. Yankees trading away Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps. We traded away Fred McGriff after drafting him.
@@robertolerma3934 It’s totally true. Eckersley was in the Red Sox before he played for the Cubs. Chicago gave up a first baseman named Buckner to get Eckersley.
12:27 hold up, the Tribe traded away Eck for a bunch of nobodies that didn’t do anything. You should have included that trade too. My dads still pissed about that trade btw lol
They mention Robinson and the Reds but an equally lopsided trade that the Orioles made that was key to their success from '69 through '75 was getting Mike Cuellar from the Astros for Curt Blefary. Cuellar was the backbone of the Oriole staff while Blefary never emerged from mediocrity
Seattle traded Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Boston Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocumb. In a year and a half with the Mariners, Slocumb went 2-9 with only 13 saves and an ERA just under 5.
I still remember that trade. I had no idea who Varitek and Lowe were, but I was super stoked just because Slocumb was out of Boston. Needless to say, that trade worked out nicely.
The Larry Andersen - Jeff Bagwell trade was known to be a bad trade right from the get go. Living in New England at the time, there were a lot of columns trashing this trade. It was known Bagwell was a promising prospect, and it was known that Andersen was a free agent at the end of the season.But Red Sox GM Lou Gorman was so desperate for a closer, he flinched. Personally I would have liked to have seen Bagwell stay in Boston, but at the very least the should have gotten a lot more for him than one months use of an aging closer. And yes, this was all known at the time of the deal.
This video is missing full context. Lou Gorman the Sox GM who was a gentleman and baseball lifer would always say when asked about Bagwell “I never understood how he developed home run power when he got to the major leagues.” The fans and media figured it out and the bashing of the Red Sox which started after Bagwell became great subsided.
One that hasn't been mentioned yet: The Pirates trading Willie Randolph, Ken Brett, and Dock Ellis to the Yankees for George "Doc" Medich after the 1975 season. And how about the Reds trading Hal McRae to the Royals with Wayne Simpson for Richie Scheinblum and Roger Nelson after the 1972 season? McRae was the only one of those players who was productive after that season, with pitchers Simpson and Nelson having their careers shortened by arm problems.
In time you can put Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows (Pirates) for Chris Archer(Rays) on this list. After horrible years Archer went back to the Rays basically meaning the Pirates just handed the Rays Glasnow AND Meadows.
Are you kidding me??? The Babe sold to New York. Rafael Palmiero trade from the Cubs for Williams, the Cubs added Curtis Wilkerson, Paul Kilgus, Steve Wilson, and a pair of players who never played in MLB. Wilson provided a degree of value to the Cubs as an international scout, particularly in the Pacific Rim. Palmeiro would hit over 540 homers after leaving the Cubs. From a strict value perspective, the Cubs got shafted.
Honorable Mention: 1971 - Denny McClain (P) and Don Wert (3B) from the Detroit Tigers to the Washington Senators for Joe Coleman (P), Aurelio Rodriguez (3B), and Eddie Brinkman (SS). Denny pitched one season for them going 10-22 with an ERA of 4.28. Wert was a fine third baseman but his lifetime BA was .242 and he only played one season for Washington as well, appearing in 20 games and batting .050. Joe Coleman on the other hand gave Detroit 5 solid seasons going 86 - 68 with an ERA of 3.87 including a stretch between 1971 - 1973 where he won 20, 19, and 23 games. Rodriguez and Brinkman were light hitters but they gave the Tigers a solid left side of the infield for four seasons. Rodriguez had a cannon for an arm and Eddie was called "Steady Eddie" for a reason. They each won Gold Gloves with the team. All three were instrumental in helping Billy Martin milk one final playoff run out of the old 68 team in 1972. It's one of those under the radar trades though that only us die-hard Tiger fans recall. Ask the casual or younger fan about it and they'll say who? I was ultra bummed at the time because Denny was one of my childhood heroes but I got over it when I saw how good Coleman was and I used to love to watch Rodriguez stare at the runner for a second or two before firing off a dart over to first, like he was toying with him (which he was). And I'll never forget Eddie talking to the TV reporter in the clubhouse the night they clinched the division in 72, telling him he wasn't just happy for himself, he was happy for the other fucking guys too! Gotta love a man who tells it like it is. He gave a sheepish apology the next day but everyone was cool with it. People back then had no idea what the term "Cancel Culture" meant because it didn't exist. Actually, everyone got a kick out of it. Ah, the good old days when PC wasn't a thing. And a special Hat tip to Billy Martin, my favorite Tiger manager of all time (sorry Sparky).
@@NJGuy1973 Yeah, Denny had worn out his welcome by 71. His suspension in 70 was the final straw. Too bad. He was a great talent but a bit too much of a bad boy for Jim Campbell, the Tigers GM at the time.
A harder list to figure out would be- roster moves that made the Pirates better during the Nutting ownership..... I don't think there's ten. Personally, I like his signature move of trading top minor league future stars for 2 new boxes of pearls and an L-screen
Fred McGriff from San Diego to Atlanta for 3 no names that never made it. Adam Wainwright from Atlanta to St. Louis for one year of JD Drew. David Justice and Marquis Grissom from Atlanta to Cleveland for one year of Kenny Lofton (who never wanted to be here) and Alan Embree. Jermaine Dye from Atlanta to KC for Jeith Lockhart and Michael Tucker
Mark Mulder for Dan Haren was a pretty bad one, but not as bad as any listed. Mark Mulder had one decent season, then got hurt. Dan Haren went off to have a solid career and got to be the starting pitcher of an All Star Game.
Chicago Cubs trade away: Lou Brock, Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter, Joe Carter, Anthony Rizzo, Yu Darvish, Dennis Eckersley, Kris Bryant, and Javy Baez. Cubs also let Greg Maddux leave after having a huge contract dispute. On the plus side, Cubs acquire Ryne Sandberg and Ferguson Jenkins. Cubs also sign a low-priced free agent, Andre Dawson.
Wasn't Ramon Martinez, Pedro's brother, ALSO on the Dodgers at the time, 1993? If so, that's extra cold....like 'Hey Ramon, come here. We're sending your little bro to Montreal, he throws the fire, but he's kinda skinny soooo....
Carleton, the best pitcher to ever throw so few actual strikes, his pitches just looked good enough to be strikes. hitters had to attack Lefty's pitches
His slider was in the strike zone 10 feet before home plate and then drop like it was going down an elevator shaft. That was what the hitters were swinging at.
