Now that it's July, and we're approaching the midpoint of the season, we have two things to look forward to - the All-Star game and the non-waiver trade deadline. I'm sure we'll start heating up the trade rumors here at the 7th Inning Stretch in coming weeks, but for now, in antipation of deadline deals, I wanted to talk about bad trades.
This morning's San Francisco Chronicle has an article about the Minnesota Twins' 2nd ace, rookie sensation Francisco Liriano. Liriano's numbers? Currently 8-1, with a 2.26 ERA in 73.1 innings pitched, with 82 Ks against 19 BBs, averages 10.06 Ks per 9 innings, and opponents are batting .216 against him.
How did the Twins acquire him?
He was a former Giants farmhand, who was a throw in player when, prior to the 2004 season, the Giants traded for then Twins All-Star catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Who did the Giants give up?
Minor league pitcher Boof Bonser (who was the Giants' No. 1 pick in 2000) and RP Joe Nathan, who has since become an All-Star closer and who currently has 14 saves, a 5-0 record, a 1.85 ERA, with 47 Ks against 4 BBs in only 34 innings of work. Nathan had not been considered a closer candidate with the Giants, and in fact had struggled as both a starter and reliever. And then, just to sweeten the deal with the Twins, the Giants decided to throw-in Liriano, who was not among the higher rated (according to the club) minor league pitchers in the organization.
So to recap: The Giants traded Joe Nathan, 2 time All-Star closer for the Twins; Boof Bonser, a former # 1 pick who is now the Twins' fifth starter; and Francisco Liriano, now the #2 behind Johan Santana on the Twins' staff, a early candidate for AL Rookie of the Year and even AL Cy Young.
Who did the Giants get, again? Former All-Star catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who played one season (2004) with the Giants, hit into 27 double plays (setting a Giants franchise record and was the major league high that year); batted .232 in the 2nd half of the season; only threw out17.7 % of base stealers; and refused to study opposing batters prior to each pitchers' starts even though he was in a new league. Additionally, he had won his arbitration case against the club prior to the season and left as a free agent to play for the eventual World Champion White Sox.
Today, you couldn't do a straight up deal of Nathan for Pierzynski, let alone a straight up deal of Liriano for Pierzynski. It was, perhaps, the worst trade by the Giants in the past 15 years.
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Any other really bad trades you can think of?
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3 comments:
Ortiz for... what was his name? And then trading what was his name to the Orioles for whozdat? That was the worst string of trading I'd ever seen. It reminded me of the old Steve Martin joke, "How to turn a million dollars of real estate into $10 cold hard cash."
Pierzynski is another idiot. I'm glad he's gone. Really, when was the last good trade the Giants made? The last good one I can think of was that young pitcher (name escapes me right now) for J.T. Snow.
Okay, Andy, show your stuff... fill in all the names.
(P.S. Worst deals of all time - Reds acquisition of KG Jr. Or perhaps that little trade between the BoSox and Yankees a few years back... ;)
Russ Ortiz for the Aussie kid, Damian Moss and Merkin Valdez. Considering Valdez' upside and that Ortiz was recently released by Arizona after signing a bloated FA contract, it's a wash. Moss went to the Orioles with Kurt Ainsworth for Sidney Ponson - Ainsworth has never come close to realizing his potential, and Moss was released shortly thereafter...so another wash.
The last good trade was actually last year when we picked up Randy Winn for Yorvit Torrealba and Jesse Foppert. Winn has clearly been an offensive catalyst while Foppert continues to hang in AAA with VanLandingham disease (i.e. effectively wild, but maybe for 2 innings a game). Torrealba is on the bench with Seattle.
Sabean's track record is pretty solid, for the most part. The Pierzynski deal, by far, was his worst.
As to the deal that brought JT Snow, that was in Dec 96 when Allen Watson went to Angels for JT. Don't forget, 1997 brought the 3 White Sox players for a bunch of rookies (only one of which made the majors, Bobby Howry), while the Giants had longer term success with Roberto Hernandez and Danny "25 years in the Majors" Darwin. Wilson Alvarez was just okay down the stretch, and really hasn't been the same pitcher since before that deal.
1998 brought Ellis Burks and Joe Carter, and don't forget the offseason prior to the 1998 season netted us Robb Nen when the G-men unloaded Nate Bump and another prospect (neither of whom have done anything at the major league level). And 1998 also gave us Livan Hernandez at the deadline for Jason Grilli and another prospect - again, neither of whom have done much.
Still we remember the stinkers all too well, and the Reds deal for Griffey is a real stinker - Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko to Seattle for Griffey. Cameron and Tomko at least have been healthy for most of the past 5 years (although neither are with Seattle any more).
Randall - obviously that worked out very well for you.
Correction on my prior comment - Torrealba is no longer with Seattle - he's now sharing catching duties in Colorado, making the Winn trade even THAT much better...
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