Baseball Time

It is obviously very exciting that the MLB regular season is right around the corner. But looking through all of my projects I have wasted time with over the past few years, I came across an interesting piece of research. I looked through all of the trades in the ten year span of 1998-2008 and made a list of them all. I then ranked them by not how good or bad they were at the time, but how poorly the trade has played out in hindsight to this point. It is actually pretty funny to see how piss-poor some of these trades were, but again, hindsight is 20/20. So have a looksie.

Top 25 Worst Trades of the Last Decade (1998-2008)

1. Expos trade Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, and Lee Stevens to Indians for Bartolo Colon (June 2002)

2. Mets trade Scott Kazmir and Jose Diaz to Tampa for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato (July 2004)

3. Giants trade Boof Bonser, Joe Nathan, and Fransisco Liriano to Twins for A.J. Pierzynski (Nov 2003)

4. Rangers trade Alfonso Soriano to Nationals for Brad Wilkerson, Armando Galarraga, and Terrmel Sledge (Dec 2005)

5. Red Sox trade David Murphy, Kason Gabbard, and Engel Beltre to Rangers for Eric Gagne (July 2007)

6. Phillies trade Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle to Yankees for minor leaguers C.J. Henry, Matt Smith, Jesus Sanchez, and Carlos Monasterios (July 2006)

7. Marlins trade Derrek Lee to Cubs for Hee Seop Choi and minor leaguer Mike Nannini (Nov 2003)

8. Pirates trade Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to Cubs for Bobby Hill, Jose Hernandez, and Matt Bruback (July 2003)

9. White Sox trade Carlos Lee to Brewers for Scott Podsednik, Luis Vizcaino, and minor leaguer Travis Hinton (Dec 2004)

10. Mets trade Jason Isringhausen to A’s for Billy Taylor (July 1999)

11. Rangers trade Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez, and Terrmel Sledge to Padres for Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, and minor leaguer Billy Killian (Jan 2006)

12. Pirates trade Jason Schmidt and John Vander Wal to Giants for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong (July 2001)

13. Astros trade Carlos Guillen, Freddy Garcia, and John Halama to Mariners for Randy Johnson (July 1998)

14. Indians trade David Justice to the Yankees for Ricky Ledee (June 2000)

15. Mets trade Bobby Jones, Jason Bay, and Josh Reynolds to Padres for Steve Reed and Jason Middlebrook (July 2002)

16. Tampa Bay trades Randy Winn to Mariners for manager Lou Piniella and minor leaguer Antonio Perez (Oct 2002)

17. Dodgers trade Paul Konerko and Dennys Reyes to Reds for Jeff Shaw (July 1998)

18. A’s trade Aaron Harang, Joe Valentine, and Jeff Bruksch to Reds for Jose Guillen (July 2003)

19. Indians trade Ryan Church and Maicer Izturis to Expos for Scott Stewart (Jan 2004)

20. Indians trade Steve Karsay and Steve Reed to Braves for John Rocker and minor leaguer Troy Cameron (June 2001)

21. Rangers trade Travis Hafner and Aaron Myette to Indians for Einar Diaz and Ryan Drese (Dec 2002)

22. Astros trade Jason Hirsh, Willy Tavares, and Taylor Buchholz to Rockies for Jason Jennings and Miguel Asencio (Dec 2006)

23. Diamondbacks trade Carlos Quentin to White Sox for Chris Carter (Dec 2007)

24. Blue Jays trade Michael Young and minor leaguer Darwin Cubillan to the Rangers for Esteban Loaiza (July 2000)

25. Reds trade Felipe Lopez, Austin Kearns, and Ryan Wagner to Nationals for Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris, and minor leaguer Daryl Thompson (July 2006)

Other Notables:

Cubs trade Jon Garland to White Sox for Matt Karchner (July 1998)

Expos trade Cliff Floyd to Red Sox for Seung Song and Sun-Woo Kim (July 2002)

Royals trade Johnny Damon to A’s for Roberto Hernandez (Jan 2001)

• A good note to end on is to commend the Mets for topping this list with not one or two, but three of the worst moves in that ten year span. But one can only assume they will turn their luck around with the big signings this offseason of Gary Matthews Jr., Rod Barajas, and Kelvim Escobar. (Sarcasm)