All time great baseball trades?

[Jim65]

Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander

[Mark17]

December 8, 1899 the Louisville Cardinals traded:
Honus Wagner,
Rube Waddell,
Mike Kelley,
Fred Clarke,
Deacon Phillippe,
Claude Ritchey,
Tommy Leach,
Bert Cunningham,
Jack Wadsworth,
Chief Zimmer,
Tacks Latimer,
Tom Messitt

To the Pittsburgh Pirates for:
Jack Chesbro,
George Fox,
John O'Brien,
Art Madison, and $25,000

[ALR-bishop]

Feeling bad about getting Brock for Broglio from the Cubs as Jake mentioned, the Cardinals sought to even things up by trading Carlton to the Phils for Rick Wise

[SAllen2556]

December 13, 1927: The Detroit Tigers traded Lu Blue and Heinie Manush to the St. Louis Browns for Harry Rice and Elam Vangilder. What were the Tigers thinking?

Lu Blue 36.7 career WAR, Manush 47.2

Rice 15.3, Vangilder 2.0

On the plus side, in 1960 the Tigers traded Steve Demeter to Cleveland for Stormin' Norman Cash.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by SAllen2556

December 13, 1927: The Detroit Tigers traded Lu Blue and Heinie Manush to the St. Louis Browns for Harry Rice and Elam Vangilder. What were the Tigers thinking?

Lu Blue 36.7 career WAR, Manush 47.2

Rice 15.3, Vangilder 2.0

On the plus side, in 1960 the Tigers traded Steve Demeter to Cleveland for Stormin' Norman Cash.

An even better Tiger trade was when they dumped McLain on October 9, 1970:

Traded by Detroit Tigers: Denny McLain, Don Wert, Norm McRae and Elliott Maddox

to Washington Senators for Ed Brinkman, Aurelio Rodriguez, Joe Coleman and Jim Hannan

Brinkman and Rodriguez were an excellent left side of the infield, and Coleman went 20-9 in 1971. He won 98 games for the Tigers in the 6 years he was with them.


McLain was 10-22 with a 4.28 ERA in 1971, and was dumped prior to the 1972 season, for Don Stanhouse and somebody named Jim Panther.

[GeoPoto]

Continuing the thread of "great" deals i.e. terrible for Washington, in December 1948 the Senators shipped Early Wynn and Mickey Vernon to Cleveland for Joe Haynes, Ed Klieman, and Eddie Robinson.
https://net54baseball.com/attachment...4636098636087;

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Robinson is underrated (of course so is Vernon, who I think is a worthy hall debate candidate especially when you factor in 2 years of his prime lost to service) but man that's lopsided. On a tangential note is Eddie the oldest living Major Leaguer?

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Feeling bad about getting Brock for Broglio from the Cubs as Jake mentioned, the Cardinals sought to even things up by trading Carlton to the Phils for Rick Wise

I'm in with you on the Carlton. Costs the Red Birds some division titles because Auggie Busch was a hard headed clown.

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

Also forgot Bob Sykes for Willie McGee. Sykes never saw the mound with the Yankees.

[Tabe]

This one was pretty huge at the time:

On December 5, 2007, the Marlins traded Cabrera and starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers for pitchers Andrew Miller, Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz and Burke Badenhop, outfielder Cameron Maybin, and catcher Mike Rabelo.


Cabrera has won 4 batting titles, 2 MVPs, and a Triple Crown in Detroit. I'd say the Tigers did A-OK with this one.

[sflayank]

Danny Carter for sparky lyle

[Tabe]

Another big one that worked out OK for both teams:

6/14/84: Cubs get Rick Sutcliffe, Ron Hassey, and George Frazier. Cleveland got Joe Carter, Mel Hall, and two minor league pitchers.

Sutcliffe won a Cy Young and finished 4th in the MVP in 1984 after going 16-1 with Chicago. He would lead the NL in wins in 1987 as well. Unfortunately for Chicago, he got bombed in game 5 of the '84 NLCS as the Cubs blew a 2-0 games lead to lose in 5 to San Diego.

Joe Carter did alright for himself in Cleveland, leading the league in RBI and putting up big numbers his last four years there. Ended up in the HOF.

[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by Mark17

December 8, 1899 the Louisville Cardinals traded:
Honus Wagner,
Rube Waddell,
Mike Kelley,
Fred Clarke,
Deacon Phillippe,
Claude Ritchey,
Tommy Leach,
Bert Cunningham,
Jack Wadsworth,
Chief Zimmer,
Tacks Latimer,
Tom Messitt

To the Pittsburgh Pirates for:
Jack Chesbro,
George Fox,
John O'Brien,
Art Madison, and $25,000

I believe we have a winner here! Pirates are real Pirates!

[Chris-Counts]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander

I'll never forget when I learned Jim Fregosi had been traded to the Mets. I would have been about 11. Not only was he the Angels' greatest player ever up to that time, but he lived nearby me. He was literally the hero of every other kid in the neighborhood.

All I knew about Ryan was that he was a hard-throwing reliever who switched to being a starter the year before and had a mediocre year. The first time I saw him was in spring training of 1972. He started against the Giants, and when he faced Willie McCovey, he threw a pitch so high against the backstop that Willie could only look up at. From my seat in the stands at the ballpark in Palm Springs, I groaned and silently cursed the Angels for trading away Fregosi.

When I think of my favorite trades, I can't help think about the time I traded a handful of old steel pennies and buffalo nickels to a little league teammate for a baseball signed by the 1939 Cleveland Indians. I still have it.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Jim65

John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander

I'm a Tigers fan and, if given the chance to do this trade again, I would. 100 times out of 100. Without the pickup of Alexander (and picking up Bill Madlock), the Tigers don't win their division in '87. They went 11-0 in his starts and never trailed in any of them. I'll take it.

[rats60]

Milt Pappas for an "old" Frank Robinson.

[bmattioli]

Redsox trade RHP Carl Pavano, RHP Tony Armas Jr.

For

Pedro

1997

[birdman42]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

Redsox trade RHP Carl Pavano, RHP Tony Armas Jr.

For

Pedro

1997

In my online trivia league, forfeiting every game in a 25-day season is known as a Pavano.

[tjb1952tjb]

Ozzie Smith for Gary Templeton (1982)……...how'd that work out, Padres?

[Santo10Fan]

Aroldis Chapman "rental" trade at the 2016 deadline. Cubs/Yankees trades are as high profile as it gets. Sure, we gave up Gleyber Torres who is a bonafide star. But our infield was already stacked (at the time) so we really don't miss him. I do not believe the Cubs would have won Game 5 without him, as well as game one of the NLDS.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by tjb1952tjb

Ozzie Smith for Gary Templeton (1982)……...how'd that work out, Padres?

I remember how mad I was when the Cards traded Templeton for this weak hitting SS. What were they thinking?! I guess their scouts knew more than I did after all.