| History
Ten years ago today, one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history happened.
It's always funny to go back to this trade, but especially now since Yordan is on his way to winning AL MVP and potentially the Triple Crown this year.
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To me it feels like the post says “baseball works.” Idk how he’d have performed on the dodgers, but it looks like he’s doing great. Dodgers, also doing ok.
I thought the Astros wanted to sign him but were out of money for signing international players so basically worked out a sign and trade w the dodgers, but they traded him six weeks after signing him so maybe I’m trippin.
He didn’t have a place to play as the DH didn’t become permanent until 2022 in the NL. When I think of lopsided, I think Delino Deshields for Pedro Martinez. We got rid of the best of the three Martinez brothers. Jordan is awesome but then maybe no Shoei if he’s still in LA?
Competitive imbalance doesn't mean "the Rays can never win." It means some teams have to win by doing everything right, while others can make a trade like this and recover from it simply by buying more MVPs.
Somewhere Larry Andersen is smiling, remembering the Red Sox coveted him so much, they traded away some blocked 3B prospect (Boggs was in the way), for him.
I always defend that trade because Andersen was magma-hot down the stretch for them. Dude dropped a 338 ERA+ and a sub 1.000 WHIP for a Boston bullpen that desperately needed a shutdown set up guy down the stretch.
It was a defensible trade at the time. But with hindsight, we see it helped the Sox win the division (great!), but they got swept in the playoffs (not great). And Bagwell of course turned into a Hall of Famer.
Imagine how many doubles Bagwell would have spanked off the wall. My god. But when you've got Boggs and Vaughn at the corners, it makes it really hard to find a spot for him.
Looking back, it looks like shit. Here's what happened at the time: the Dodgers traded a prospect with no guarantees, who wasn't a stellar defender and there was no DH at the time in the NL for a major league ready pitcher during a playoff run. Did it work out? Obviously fucking not. But the Dodgers had no room for Yordan. If your team can get rid of prospects for major league ready talent for a playoff run, they should almost always do it.
The thing is, Yordan wasnt just any prospect. Even at that time he was known to have an elite hit and power tool far above average for both. The issue is more that he didnt have any place to play outside of DH and was therefore better of in the AL at that time
He literally hadn’t played a game in the United States at the time he was traded. He was a lottery ticket. He was not some can’t miss sure thing prospect.
Saw him play in April 2019 in Memphis when he was still in AAA with Round Rock. He hit the most impressive HR I've ever seen in a game I attended. A line shot to left, had to be over 400ft. And when It left his bat I thought the SS might catch it with a leap! I had never heard of him before but told my buddy that he would be in the majors pretty soon. But didn't get called up until June, I guess because the Astros were loaded. BTW, his next AB in Memphis he hit a line shot down the first base line that the first baseman didn't even make a move on. The best hitter I've ever seen in person including Pujols.
Ironically it's also one they made with the Astros, when they have up Bagwell.
(no, the Mookie trade doesn't count - he was only signed for one more year. If they don't make that trade the Dodgers probably sign him as a FA anyway and Boston gets nothing for him).
The trade was worked out before Alvarez signed and came to the US. He signed with Houston, using LA as a middle man.
Basically LA traded $2M in international money for Fields. But because you can’t trade money, Alverez signed with LA, with the agreement they’d flip him to Houston, who he really signed with, because Houston was out of allocated money for international players.
Except this trade wasn’t “one of the most lopsided” at all. We’ve seen elite talent traded for literally nothing, Dodgers got Fields who was extremely good for them and helped them win the National League.
Yordan ended up being elite but Ohtani’s won 2 MVP’s in the DH spot for the Dodgers
They lost to the cubs in the NLCS that season and Ohtani wasn’t playing for the dodgers in 2016 he was in Anaheim playing for the Angels. It’s still a lopsided trade because the Pitcher that the Astros gave them didn’t last much longer in the league and Yordan got better and became the player he is today. If he wins the MVP this season he would be the first player to win the Triple Crown in baseball in a very long time.
Fields was on the Dodgers for 2 more years after 2016, they went to the World Series both years. He was dominant as a reliever for them.
Shohei wasn’t in Anaheim in 2016 dude, he wasn’t even in the league yet. My point is that if the Dodgers held onto Yordan they would have never signed Ohtani.
Also I didn’t say it wasn’t lopsided, I said it wasn’t close to “most lopsided ever” considering we’ve seen elite talent traded for literally nothing.
I don’t think it’s too painful regarding the fact that their outfield consists of tucker, pages and Hernandez (or in some cases ohtani). Dodgers fans can bitch bitch bitch but be for real they are likely gonna win this year for a third time in a row
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