This week’s news of Miami’s most recent salary dump finally becoming official clearly looks like a major win for the Blue Jays who get immediate help in shortstop Jose Reyes, and starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle. But with prospects involved in the trade and injuries always a part of the game, it could take years to truly determine who got the better end of the deal.
With that in mind, here are the biggest trades over the last five seasons and who won each deal:
5. December 8, 2009—Yankees get Granderson in three-team deal.
The trade: The Yankees traded away Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, and Ian Kennedy while receiving Curtis Granderson. The Tigers traded away Edwin Jackson and Curtis Granderson while receiving Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer, and Daniel Schlereth. The Diamondbacks traded away Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth while receiving Ian Kennedy and Edwin Jackson.
Who won: Detroit—in a very close call. The Tigers got two good, young cost-controlled players in Scherzer and Jackson. Meanwhile, the Yankees made out well with Granderson who has hit 84 home runs the past two seasons. Even Arizona got the best of the Hughes/Chamberlain/Kennedy trio from the Yankees as Kennedy went 21-4 in 2011 and 15-12 last season.
4. November 10, 2008—Rockies Deal Holliday for Street, Gonzalez.
The trade: Colorado dealt Matt Holliday to Oakland for Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith, and Huston Street.
Who won: Colorado, by a wide margin. While Greg Smith pitched in just eight total games for the Rockies before being released Gonzalez and Huston were great pickups.
Huston totaled 84 saves from 2009—11 before being dealt to the Padres last offseason. The left fielder Gonzalez, who has won Gold Gloves in two of the last three years, led the league in batting average and hits in 2010, while finishing third in the MVP voting.
Holliday spent a forgettable half-season in Oakland before being dealt to St. Louis, where his bat came alive, for about fifty cents on the dollar.
3. December 4, 2007—Tigers net Cabrera, Willis for prospects.
The trade: The then-Florida Marlins sent Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit for prospects Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Eulogio De La Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, and Mike Rabelo.
Who won: Detroit, though not by as much as you'd think. The Tigers certainly netted the game’s most deadly hitter in triple crown winner Miguel Cabrera, who has finished in the top-five in the MVP voting each of the past four years. But they had to pay nearly $29 million to slumping pitcher Dontrelle Willis to do so.
Willis enjoyed four great seasons in Florida before posting a 5.17 ERA in 2007. The cost-cutting Marlins, desperate to get out of a possibly franchise-crippling contract (sound familiar?) gave up one the game’s best hitters to do so and received some good-looking prospects to do so—though they didn’t work out.
Maybin and Miller were very highly-touted prospects, and though each is still in their mid-20’s, neither have panned out to make this work out for the Marlins.
2. July 31, 2007—Texas trades Mark Teixeira to Atlanta for prospects.
The trade: Texas dealt Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay for Beau Jones, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Who won: Texas by a landslide. Teixeira was still at his ridiculous power/average/defense peak in 2007 but the Braves, who missed the playoffs that year and the next, dealt him to the Angels at the 2008 trade deadline for Casey Kotchman and Steve Marek—much less than what they gave up a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the Rangers hit on a number of the prospects in the trade.
Andrus, 23, is one of top young, speedy shortstops in the game and already has two All-Star appearances. Harrison, a starter, went 18-11 with a 3.29 ERA in 2012, finishing eighth in the Cy Young voting, and was 14-9 with a 3.39 ERA the year before. Feliz saved 72 games over a two-year span from 2010-11 before being injured in 2012 after a short, but successful stint as a starter.
Saltalamacchia, was probably the biggest name in the deal before his stock dropped and was traded to Boston in 2010 for a trio of minor-leaguers.
The Rangers soon rode those prospects to back-to-back AL pennants and three straight playoff appearances. Somehow Atlanta, and their highly-touted farm system, absorbed the loss of those prospects to somehow make the playoffs two of the last three years.
1. August 25, 2012—Red Sox dump Crawford, Beckett, and Gonzalez on the Dodgers for Loney and prospects.
The trade: Boston sent Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Nick Punto, and Adrian Gonzalez to the Dodgers for Allen Webster, Ivan De Jesus, James Loney, Rubby De La Rosa, and Jerry Sands.
Who won: Boston, though it’s still officially early. The future commitments to Crawford, Beckett, and Gonzalez totaled more than $250 million and only Gonzalez (owed more than $125 million still) had been somewhat earning his keep, as his power has been in decline.
The speedy Crawford hit .296 in his nine seasons in Tampa Bay, while leading the league in steals four times, but hit just .260 in Boston from 2011-12 while missing almost all of 2012 and stealing just 18 bases the previous year. He’s owed $100 over the next five years.
Beckett is probably the biggest reason the Red Sox won the 2007 World Series but had a 5.23 ERA in 21 starts in 2012 and is owed more than $30 million over the next two seasons.
Had Boston gotten rid of these contracts via waivers they would have taken the deal, so to get several of their top-ten prospects was a bonus. It’s hard to see how Los Angeles could ever win this deal.
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
