Trades on Laughing Gas

Its the year 2014 and its time to look back at some of the trades that highlighted the summer of 2011.  What a deadline it was, and I can still remember our reaction here on Off The Bench, back when Max and I were doing this mostly for fun and making pennies a day.  Boy how things have changed. But, one thing that has not changed is the absurdity of the logic used by the GM’s in that eventful summer of 2011.  A look back at the top 5 head scratching moves of that summer:

5)  The Minnesotta Twins trade Catcher Joe Mauer to the Red Sox for the entire Red Sox minor league organization and Bobby Jenks.  The analysis:  The Sox really wanted a catcher.  The thought was that it would put them completely over the top and all but guarantee a World Series.  They did get that ring but, now its 2014 and the Red Sox haven’t had a player make his Major League debut in 4 years.  Because of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, in place until 2016, the Sox still can’t field a minor league team.   What were they thinking?  GM Theo Epstein at the presser to announce the trade had glazed over eyes, a hunched back and merely muttered my precious, my precious, my precious over and over.  Seriously, look at the youtube clip.

4)  The Yankees move Mariano Rivera for  Cardinals Ryan Franklin and John Jay.  I still don’t get the logic on this one.  But, whichever Steinbrenner was in charge at the time was quoted as saying “We like closers who throw a lot of pitches…. and alliteration.” Yeah, its safe to say that Yankees fans miss George more and more each day.

3) The Detroit Tigers trade Miguel Cabrera and Brad Penny to the Atlanta Braves for Tim Hudson, Nate McLouth and Matt Young.  It’s not that this trade was particularly lopsided, both sides improved a certain side of the ball, (and the Braves have won the past 3 NL pennants) it was the explanation given by both general managers.  “The weights matched up and we knew it was meant to be.”  Of Course, they were talking about weight. Like on a scale.

2)The Florida Marlins trade Scott Cousins and Anibal Sanchez for San Fransisco’s Tim Lincecum.  The league really should have blocked this trade.  I’ll never forget Buster Olney trying to justify the trade from the Giants perspective saying, “Sanchez has comprable talent to Lincecum, if only he can harness it, plus the Giants pick up Cousins.”  Well, as it turns out, the Giants picked up Cousins and dropped him. From a very high roof. The trial for ex-GM Brian Sabean is still ongoing.

1)  The Oakland A’s trade Trevor Cahill, Tyson Ross, and Andrew Bailey for the Giants’ Barry Zito.  The trade had us at Off The Bench going absolutely nuts.  We managed to get up a 5,000 word post berating Billy Beane for the trade.  Beane’s logic here was that “We wanted to get older, plus, we had finally saved up the money to afford a big contract.” So they chose to purchase Barry ZITO?! The guy signed to the worst, most unrewarding contract in baseball? Its a new school of thinking and we credit Beane with the Old School Movement but, its still freakin’ stupid.  Why are older, sore, and wary kneed players preferable? We need to knock some sense into these GM’s.

As we can look back know, the trades still don’t make sense 3 years later.  Remember, you can never judge a trade until 10-15 years down the road.  Well, guess we’ll revisit in 2026 and see if anything has changed.  Hopefully my wallet thickness will change by then.

Stat of the Day: 11 players have made the Major Leagues born on February 29th.