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Past Trade Review: Cashman’s Top 3 Heists

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When two or more general managers consummate a trade, they believe that their team will benefit. Why else would they agree to it? As we’ve learned throughout baseball history, though, trades don’t always work out for both sides. GMs who end up on the losing end of a few deals find themselves looking for new jobs soon enough. Those who come out on the winning end extend their tenures. It seems, however, that few, if any, GMs can consistently come out ahead. There are just too many variables involved. Every so often, a trade is going to smack you in the face.

We’ll soon enough get to Brian Cashman’s biggest blunders. Today, though, we’ll focus on his heists. That is, his best deals during the 12-plus-year reign as Yankees’ GM. This will not only include the players received, but the players sent. I’ll look at this using the WAR of the players acquired, for the length of his contract when traded, and the value of the players sent, either by the same measure, or, in the case of prospects, for the six years of team control.

3. Nick Swisher

After the 2008 season the Yankees had plenty of remodeling to do. A number of starters, including Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu, were slated to hit free agency and the team showed no desire to retain either one. Considering the numbers both produced in 2008, it wasn’t an easy task to replace them. Xavier Nady was in the fold, though, presumably ready to man right. In a buy-low move to fill first base, Brian Cashman traded Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquez, and Jhonny Nunez for Nick Swisher and Kanekoa Texeira. He later acquired Mark Teixeira to play first base, rendering Swisher’s role unknown. After Nady tore his UCL, though, Swisher slid right into Abreu’s spot.

Swisher relished his new job, posting a .375 wOBA, the highest mark of his career. Always a patient hitter, he actually increased his walk rate in 2009 to 16 percent, also the highest of his career. Power came in abundance, too, as his .249 ISO was, again, the best mark of his career. This, combined with league average defense, produced 3.6 WAR, which is 4.2 higher than the sum of Betemit, Marquez, and Nunez (Betemit produced -0.6 WAR before his release). Marquez notably fumbled the season. It’s hard to imagine him pitching worse than the 9.85 ERA he produced in 2009.

There’s still time for the White Sox to see more from this trade, but it’s doubtful that they ever make up the 4.2 WAR difference from the first season, let alone keep up with Swisher’s pace. Marquez was never projected as a top of the rotation starter. If he’s lucky he’ll spend a few years in a major league team’s bullpen. Nunez could get another shot with the Sox, but again, it would take an enormous breakout for him to get within a few wins of Swisher’s eventual WAR total with the Yanks.

2. Bobby Abreu

The 2006 season was not an easy one for Yankees’ outfielders. On April 29 Gary Sheffield collided with Shea Hillenbrand at first base. He picked up two RBI on the play, but also had to leave the game. The issue was with his forearm, but after he tried to return in early May it was clear he’d need at least a long rehab period, and possibly surgery, to correct the problem. Then, just two weeks later, Hideki Matsui broke his wrist while sliding to make a catch in the outfield. There was a chance both would miss the rest of the season.

The injuries forced the Yankees to call up Melky Cabrera, who looked lost during his cup of coffee in July 2005. He started off the season hot as can be in Columbus, hitting .385/.430/.566 through his first 135 PA. With the injuries and few bodies to fill the outfield — the Johnny Damon signing loomed large here — Melky was the obvious choice. He and Bernie Williams would have to bear the load. They did it pretty well, but the Yanks still could have used some help. Thankfully, Brian Cashman was on the case.

For some reason, the folks in Philadelphia just did not like Bobby Abreu. Even though he’d played in at least 152 games in each of his first seven seasons with the club, and even though he’d posted a .415 OBP and .522 SLG in that span, they still did not warm to him. He had an expensive contract and the Phillies just weren’t contending that year. Heading into July they were 36-43, 11 games back of the first-place Mets. Rumors swirled all month that they desired to trade Abreu, and the Yankees, with two outfielders on the DL, were often connected. Those rumors, though, involved the Phillies demanding Phil Hughes in return.

The team’s tune changed later in the month, and eventually they traded Abreu to the Yankees for three prospects – including their 2005 No. 1 draft pick – and a lefty reliever. The trade, obviously, was all Yankees. The No. 1 pick and the lefty reliever, C.J. Henry and Matt Smith, are no longer playing for any system. One prospect, Carlos Monasterios, continues to dawdle in the low minors. The only promise the Phillies have from that trade is Jesus Sanchez, who converted to the mound last season. He performed well, and with some improvement he might be a salvageable prospect.

Still, the Yanks clearly won here, with Abreu producing 5.8 WAR over his 2.5 seasons in pinstripes. Corey Lidle takes that number down a bit, as he was worth -0.2 WAR during his half season. Matt Smith, the only player to appear in the majors for the Phillies, produced 0.3 WAR in 2006, followed by -0.3 in 2007. If Sanchez can come up and produce that might change the outlook on this trade. As it stands, though, Cashman pulled nearly six wins out of thin air.

1. Alex Rodriguez

When I first came up with the idea for this post, I thought Abreu would be the one. After looking through Cashman’s trade history, it appears that many of his best trades were for the short-term — David Justice stands out. The Abreu trade, to my mind, seemed the most one-sided. But then I saw the A-Rod trade and thought that it was worth examining. As it turns out, it was the most lopsided deal he ever made.

We all know the story. In the winter of 2004, after he had sent the Yankees to the World Series with an 11th inning walk-off home run off Tim Wakefiled, Aaron Boone tore his ACL playing basketball. Since his contract expressly prohibited that type of activity, the Yankees voided the deal. That left an opening at third base. The Yankees traded a minor leaguer to Texas for Mike Lamb, who had spent most of his time in 2003 demolishing AAA after hitting at about league average over the previous two seasons. The Yankees, though, probably wanted a bit more certainty from the position.

Then, about 10 days after acquiring Lamb, the Yankees worked a deal with Texas to acquire Alex Rodriguez. Most of us have stories of where we were and who we were with when we heard the news. It was a pretty big event in recent Yankees history, not only for who the Yankees acquired, but whom they traded. In exchange for the best player in baseball, the Yankees sent Alfonso Soriano to Texas. This might have made the deal seem a bit less palatable. It was not, though.

At the time of the trade Soriano had three years left of team control. He had produced tremendously for the Yankees in 2003, a 4.8 WAR. Yet the Yankees added nearly two wins over 2003 with A-Rod’s acquisition, as he produced 6.7 WAR in 2004. Soriano dropped precipitously, though, producing just 1.8 WAR that season. Over the next two he added another 7.5 WAR before hitting free agency, bringing his total to 9.3. A-Rod’s contract technically ran through 2010, but had the opt-out clause after 2007. For the period the Yankees controlled him, he produced 30.1 WAR. The difference, 20.8 WAR, represents an enormously lopsided deal.

On all three of these deals the Yankees came out tremendously ahead. In the first two the other teams had little or nothing to speak of. In the last, the player received vastly outproduced the player sent. It’s kind of crazy that A-Rod’s deal was the most lopsided, considering the Yankees sent a productive player in exchange for him. But, as his 30.1 WAR indicates, he’s just that good.

Photo credits: Swisher — Steve Nesius/AP, Abreu and Rodriguez — Gene J. Puskar/AP

Spring Training Trade Review: Wily Mo Pena

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It seems that spring training trades tend to involve small-time players. After evaluating players over the first month of exhibition, some of these role players become expendable. This is what we saw in the Rondell White trade. Hideki Matsui’s addition rendered White a reserve outfielder. Rather than spend $5 million on a bench player, the Yankees traded him for a high-upside arm. Yet this isn’t at all the type of trade Cashman pulled in the Spring of 2001. It involved two minor leaguers, Wily Mo Pena and Drew Henson. The players involved have quite a history with the Yankees.

The backstories


Photo credit: Tony Tribble/AP

During the international signing period in 1998, the Mets signed 16-year-old Wily Mo Pena. That winter, however, Major League Baseball voided the deal. Why this happened I could not find, but whatever the reason the Yankees stepped in a month later and signed Pena with a $2.44 million bonus, the largest non-Cuban bonus ever at that point.

The Yankees drafted Drew Henson in the third round of the 1998 draft. A star quarterback at the University of Michigan, Henson chose baseball and the Yankees thought he had star potential. But, needing a pitcher in 2000, they traded him to the Reds for Denny Neagle. Also included in that trade: Ed Yarnall, whom the Yankees acquired just a year prior in exchange for Mike Lowell.

The trade


Photo credit: Chris O’Meara/AP

In the spring of 2001 Henson had recently completed his junior year at the University of Michigan, where he excelled at quarterback. He was still playing baseball, but it was clear that he could still choose to enter the 2002 NFL draft and try his hand there. His preference, however, was to play baseball, and specifically for the Yankees. As Buster Olney put it, the Yankees were convinced of his future stardom and wanted him back from the Reds before he had to decide on the NFL.

Pena had not impressed during his first two seasons in the Yankees’ minor league system. He played his age-17 season in the GCL, hitting .247/.323/.446 through just 186 plate appearances. He followed that up with underwhelming performances in low-A and A levels in 2000, hitting for a combined .651 OPS. He played mostly in class-A, Greensboro at hte time, where he hit .205/.268/.361 in 276 PA. The performance itself was disappointing, but Pena was all projection at the time. His raw power certainly enticed other teams, and the Yankees took advantage.

The two teams worked out a swap in late March, with the Yankees receiving outfielder Michael Coleman in the deal. This was not much of a consolation, as Coleman had no remaining options — hence Cincinnati’s willingness to deal him. His last at-bat of the season, and of his major league career, came on May 16.

The results

What started as a swap of two talented players turned into a swap of two busts. Pena appeared to be on his way in 2001, when he hit .264/.327/.485 in 565 PA at Class-A. He struggled at AA the next year, though, especially with his bread and butter, power. Still, he made his Major League debut that season. He hit well enough in 2003 to warrant a call-up, and in 2004 it appeared he was well on his way to mashing major league pitchers. He posted a .268 ISO in 2004 and .238 in 2005. Yet his plate discipline remained a big problem.

Pena was involved in another spring training trade five years after the Yanks traded him when Cincinnati sent him to Boston for Bronson Arroyo in 2006. His power numbers dropped that year, but his .301 average powered his OBP to a respectable .349. THat’s what a .400 BABIP will do. Of course, that’s unsustainable. After 172 poor plate appearances for the Red Sox in 2007 they traded him to the Nationals, where he picked it up. Unfortunately he stumbled again the next season. He spent 2009 at the Mets’ AAA organization, where he hit .276/.296/.414.

Though Henson played at three minor league levels in 2001, he spent most of his time at AAA, 281 PA, though he struggled worse than Pena. His .145 ISO was the only remotely bright spot that season. In 2002 he returned to AAA and showed improvement, hitting .240/.301/.435, again displaying power, a .195 ISO this time, but once again showing not much in the way of discipline. He did get one major league PA at the end of the season. He was even worse in 2003, hitting .234/.291/.412. He went 1 for 8 that september with the big league club and never played baseball again.

Overall, Pena produced 0.8 WAR in his career while Henson was -0.1, so the Yankees didn’t lose even one win by making the swap. I don’t remember much of the trade, though I understand what they were doing. They wanted the athlete over the power product. As it turned out, neither reached their potential.

Spring Training Trade Review: Rondell White

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After an off-season spent assembling a roster, teams get a month-long look at players during spring training. Plenty can change during this time. Players step up and players get hurt. This can change a team’s season outlook. If, for instance, a key player succumbs to an injury the team might be more inclined to trade for a replacement. Yet we typically don’t see many inter-team transactions in March. Since he took over in 1998 Brian Cashman has made only a handful himself, and none was particularly significant. A couple do stand out, though.

In Spring Training 2003 the Yankees had a logjam of sorts. For years they had sought a stable left fielder. In the winter of 2001 they pursued Moises Alou, but by the Winter Meetings had given up. Instead, Cashman signed Rondell White to a two-year, $10 million contract. The team had apparently been interested in White for years, but when the opportunity to trade for him two years prior, in the summer of 2000, they shied away because of the time White had missed over the past few seasons with knee injuries. He ended up missing all of September that year.

The Yankees still had high hopes for White heading into the 2002 season, despite his having played only 95 games in 2000. Early word, upon his signing, was that he could have hit as high as fourth, with Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, and recently signed Jason Giambi hitting ahead of him. Yet things did not go well for White, who started off by hitting .232/.287/.404 in April and never really recovered. His slugging actually went down as the season progressed, and he ended the season with a .240/.288/.378 line over 494 plate appearances. He did pick up one hit that postseason, a home run in the Yankees’ Game 1 victory over Anaheim. He didn’t get into another game.

During the following off-season the Yankees signed Hideki Matsui to a three-year, $21 million contract. While Matsui had played center field in Japan, he figured to play left in the majors. This left White seemingly without position. Cashman tried to trade him early in the off-season, but found no takers. Unwilling to send White away for nothing, the Yankees went into Spring Training 2003 with two players for one position. But as March wound down, Cashman hooked up with an old buddy on a trade.

In his fifth transaction with Padres general manager Kevin Towers, Cashman traded White for outfielder Bubba Trammell and left-handed pitching prospect Mark Phillips, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2000 draft. Surprisingly, cash didn’t trade hands between the teams. Trammell had two years and $7.25 million left on his contract, while White had just one year and $5 million. The money evened out, in the Yankees’ eyes, because the Padres had paid Phillips a $2.25 million signing bonus upon signing him.

White did make a recovery in the final year of his contract, hitting .278/.330/.465 in 449 plate appearances before the Padres traded him, in August, to Kansas City, where he hit the cover off the ball for 85 plate appearances. Trammell made just 61 plate appearances through June 22, hitting a paltry .200/.279/.291. At that point he left the team without permission, forcing the Yankees to place him on the restricted list. He said he was depressed, but that didn’t stop the Yankees from releasing him and filing a grievance to recover a portion of his salary. He signed with the Dodgers that off-season and then, after being cut, signed with the Rays, but he never made another major league appearance.

The main aspect of the trade from the Yankees’ end was Phillips. Control had been a problem for him at Class-A Advanced Lake Elsinore in 2002, but he still managed to strike out more than a batter per inning while allowing only 9 home runs through 148.1 innings. This made him the No. 84 prospect in baseball heading into the 2003 season. His Yankees career didn’t go so well, though, lasting just 13 starts spanning 70.1 innings. His strikeout rate dipped, his walk rate rose, and while he still kept the ball in the park it didn’t much matter. I’m not sure what happened to him after that, but he didn’t play at all from 2004 through 2006, making a 32.2 inning comeback with Newark of the Independent League before hanging them up for good.

In terms of results, the White trade didn’t go so well. The Yankees got a busted prospect and a bench player who hit poorly even by those standards. It’s a shame what happened to Trammell, though it’s tough to blame the Yankees for placing him on the restricted list. The key to the trade, Phillips, didn’t work out, making the deal look a little worse. But from the Yankees’ perspective, they were trading a spare part for a potentially useful player. It’s not every day that a team can trade a player who had a .666 OPS the previous season for the No. 84 prospect in baseball. Sometimes these things just don’t work out.

Photo credit: Osamu Honda/AP

Past Trade Review: John Wetteland

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It might be hard to believe for some younger fans, but there was a time when the Yankees didn’t have Mariano Rivera around to close things out in the ninth. Righty Steve Farr saved 78 games in three years as the Yanks’ closer, but the 36-year-old was allowed to walk as a free agent following the 1993 season, the worst of his career (4.21 ERA, 1.53 WHIP). He was out of the game less than 12 months later. Farr was replaced by another Steve, lefty Steve Howe. Howe picked up 15 saves for the 1994 Yankees, though he was always a question mark because of an off-the-field life plagued by cocaine addition.

With some of his best young players approaching the majors, then-GM Stick Michael went looking for an upgrade at the back end of his bullpen. As luck would have it, the Expos were looking to sell off their closer, 28-year-old John Wetteland, because of financial reasons. Wetteland had racked up 105 saves with a 2.32 ERA and 10.8 K/9 from 1992-1994, and was slated to earn $7.375M over the next two seasons, absurd money for a reliever at the time.

Three days after the strike was officially over, the Yankees sent outfield prospect Fernando Seguignol to Montreal in exchange for Wetteland. The Yanks got their end-game ace, and the Expos got a little breathing room under the budget. At the time of the trade, Seguignol had yet to appear in a full season minor league, and had just hit .289-.335-.432 in 73 games for Short Season Oneonta of the NY-Penn League. The switch hitter had big time power potential, but defensive concerns meant he was probably going to have to move to first base eventually.

Seguignol certainly fulfilled that power potential, clubbing 69 homers in the next four seasons before making his big league debut in 1998. Unfortunately for him and the Expos, all that power came with the big caveat of high strikeouts and low walk totals. He would bounce back and forth between the minors and the majors for the next three years, ultimately hitting .251-.305-.451 with 17 homers in 366 at-bats in a Montreal uniform. He became a free agent after the 2001 season, and ended up re-signing with the Yankees. Seguignol spent the next few years as a Triple-A masher, though he made an eight plate appearance cameo in the Bronx during the 2003 season.

Now 35-years-old, Seguignol spent some time in the Tigers’ system and in Japan after leaving the Yanks’ organization for a second time. Although he was on Panama’s provisional roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic, he did not play and has been out of baseball for over a year now. Surely, the Expos would have liked a little more of a return for their star closer.

The Yankees, meanwhile, got exactly what they wanted. Wetteland owned the ninth inning in the Bronx during the 1995 season, saving 31 games with a 2.93 ERA and a 9.7 K/9. Unfortunately the postseason wasn’t as kind to him as the regular season was. After allowing three runs in 4.1 innings during Games One and Two of the ALDS against the Mariners (both Yankee wins), Wetteland entered the eighth inning of Game Four with the score tied at six. Nine pitches later, the bases were loaded following a walk, a single, and a hit batter. The dangerous Edgar Martinez – .327-.464-.595 that year – stepped to plate and worked the count like he always did before giving the Mariners the lead with a grand slam. The Yankees lost the game and eventually the series, and then-manager Buck Showalter didn’t even bother to use Wetteland in the deciding Game Five despite there being obvious situations to use him.

With his Game Four collapse still on everyone’s mind, Wetteland again dominated as the Yanks’ closer in 1996. He saved 43 games with a 2.83 ERA and a 9.8 K/9, earning his first All Star Game berth in the process. Of course, no one cared about the regular season, everyone wanted to see him do it in October. He saved three games in seven appearances during the ALDS and ALCS, though his five walks in nine innings were a bit worrisome.

After the Yankees fell behind the Braves 2-0 in the World Series, Wetteland threw a scoreless ninth to preserve the win for David Cone in Game Three, and he again shut the door in Game Four after the rest of his bullpen mates bailed out the awful Kenny Rogers. His two out save in Game Five was an afterthought following the epic Andy Pettitte-John Smoltz matchup, but the Yankees returned to New York a game away from their 23rd World Championship thanks to three saves in three days from their All Star closer.

Wetteland entered the ninth inning of Gave Six with a two run lead to protect, though the inning was a little more stressful than most cared for it to be. He struck out 19-year-old phenom Andruw Jones to start the frame, but Ryan Klesko and Terry Pendleton put a pair of runners on with back-to-back singles. Former Yankee Luis Polonia struck out for the second out of the inning, but Marquis Grisson singled in a run and put the tying run in scoring position with one swing of the bat. With the lead down to just one run, Wetteland ran the count full against Mark Lemke, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat he got him to pop-up harmlessly to third baseman Charlie Hayes in foul territory. The Yankees were World Champs, and the big-time closer they traded for just two seasons earlier had been named World Series MVP thanks to his four saves in five days.

Montreal needed to move Wetteland because they couldn’t afford him, and the Yankees were happy to take him in exchange for an A-ball prospect. Although his Game Four meltdown during the 1995 ALDS left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth, Wetteland delivered in Year Two of his Yankee tenure. He would sign a four year, $23M contract with Texas prior to the 1997 season, allowing a young setup man named Mariano Rivera to take over the closer’s role. This deal was a clear win-win, except both wins went to the Yankees. Sorry, Expos fans.

Photo Credit: Roberto Borea, AP

Past Trade Review: Jose Contreras

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By most appearances, the Yankees were sitting pretty at the 2004 trade deadline. They were 64-38, 7.5 games ahead of the second-place Red Sox and 6.5 games ahead of the next closest AL competitor. On the night before the deadline they defeated the Orioles 2-1 on the strength of a Kevin Brown performance, his first start after spending more than a month on the DL. The team looked poised to win its seventh straight AL East title.

Still, the team had a major weakness in its pitching staff. They had allowed 500 runs through July 30, the second worst mark among teams above .500. It was also 10 runs worse than the Red Sox, while the Sox had outscored the Yankees by 10 runs to that point. That must have made the Yankees feel a little less secure in their position. In fact, it led them to seriously discuss a Randy Johnson trade with the Diamondbacks.

By July 28, however, it was apparent that Johnson would remain in Arizona. But that wouldn’t stop Brian Cashman from attempting to improve the team’s pitching staff. As he commented around the time the Johnson talks fell apart, “Right now, I’m exchanging ideas with other G.M.’s [sic] and trying to improve our club.” When that quote appeared in The New York Times, few of us could have guessed the mystery pitcher. A day after publication, a minute before the 4 p.m. trade deadline, we found out, though the more surprising aspect was the player the Yankees traded away.


Photo credit: Paul Sancya/AP

The Yankees signed Jose Contreras to a four-year, $32 million deal in the winter of 2002, which led to the now infamous Evil Empire declaration from Larry Lucchino. Because the rotation was so crowded, Contreras started the 2003 season in the bullpen, though he didn’t get much work early in the season. In just eight relief appearances he allowed 11 runs, six in three appearances against the Jays and five in one appearance against the Red Sox. He transitioned to the rotation at the end of May, and in his first two starts he allowed two runs over 14 innings, striking out 12. But he strained his subscapularis, causing him to miss over two months. Upon his return he pitched well in all but one start. Of course, that one came against Boston.

In 2004, however, Contreras could not put it together, which hurt particularly because the Yankees were relying on him. They had lost Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and David Wells over the off-season and needed Contreras to hold down a spot atop the rotation. After a two-out start against Baltimore on June 2, Contreras held a 7.11 ERA, having pitched just 31.2 innings over eight starts. He recovered a bit after that, bringing his ERA down to 4.84 after a July 20 start against the Devil Rays, but then surrendered 15 runs over 12 innings in his next two starts against Boston and Baltimore. With their rotation reeling — even Tanyon Sturtze had gotten a start by that point — the Yankees needed an upgrade.

Brian Cashman and White Sox GM Ken Williams got a bit creative in their deadline deal. Instead of swapping prospects for veterans, as we often see, they decided to swap underperforming vet for underperforming vet. The White Sox received Contreras, plus $4 million, while the Yankees received 2003 Cy Young runner-up Esteban Loaiza. Even though his 2004 season more resembled his spotty past than it did his stellar 2003, he was still out-pitching Contreras. Plus, he would hit free agency after the season, which left the Yankees some flexibility.

The deal could not have backfired worse. Loaiza jumped right into the rotation, much to the joy of opposing hitters. He allowed 22 runs, 20 earned, over 24.2 innings in his first five starts, striking out 16 to 13 walks and 6 home runs. In other words, he had the FIP, 6.71, to go with the ERA, 7.30. After surrendering four runs in 4.1 innings to the Jays on August 27 the Yanks removed him from the rotation, though his bullpen stint went just as poorly. He made just one more start that year, but he probably wouldn’t have gotten even that had Kevin Brown not broken his hand punching a wall.

Loaiza’s only saving grace that year was the playoffs, in which he allowed just one run over 8.1 IP. Then again, that was a pretty important, the game-winner against Boston in Game 5 of the ALCS. The Yankees let him walk after that season, meaning all they got out of the deal was two months of horrible pitching, followed by a decent playoff run marred by one enormous run.

Contreras had his troubles in Chicago, keeping his ERA pretty consistent up until his last start, an eight-inning, zero run performance against Kansas City. The next year, however, is when the Yankees regretted the deal. As they ran through a series of scrubs because of various injuries to their pitching staff, Contreras pitched very well for the White Sox, racking up 204.2 innings with a 3.61 ERA (3.89 FIP). His ERA did rise to 4.27 in 2006, the final year of the contract he signed with the Yankees, though his FIP was right around his 2005 mark, 4.00. Though the Yanks’ staff was a bit better that year, they certainly could have used a performance like that in the middle of the rotation.

While the need to improve the pitching staff in 2004 was evident, the Yankees did not win in this trade. The pitcher they acquired was actually worse than the one they traded away. The move did save the Yankees about $15 million in future salaries, but considering the state of their pitching staffs in 2005 and 2006, I’m sure they gladly would have paid that money to Contreras. We can decidedly stick this one in the loss column.

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Past Trade Review: David Justice

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The Yankees were coming off two straight World Championships in 2000, however their offense was lacking compared to the past few seasons. Both Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill were in the middle of their worst offensive seasons with the team, which hurt considerably in the lefthanded power department.

In need of a long ball threat, GM Brian Cashman tried to acquire Sammy Sosa from the Cubs and Juan Gonzalez from the Rangers, however nothing came to fruition. He then turned to Indians’ GM John Hart, who was looking to move the aging David Justice to free up a lineup spot for a pair of up-and-coming mashers named Russell Branyan and Richie Sexson. About a month before the trade deadline, the two sides completed the following deal…

Yankees Received
OF David Justice

Indians Received
RHP Jake Westbrook
RHP Zach Day
OF Ricky Ledee

At the time of the deal, Justice was hitting .265-.361-.582 for the Indians, whacking 21 homers in 68 games. However, he had slumped to .283-.386-.476 in the two prior seasons, and there was concern that a precipitous fall from grace was imminent.

Westbrook, then just 22-years-old and just six months removed from being acquired in the Hideki Irabu trade, appeared in just three games for the Yanks, allowing ten runs and 19 baserunners in 6.2 IP. He bounced back and forth between Triple-A and the majors for the next two years, and didn’t settle into a full-time role with the Indians until 2003. After taking over a rotation spot in mid-July of that year, Westbrook ran off a 13 start stretch in which he posted a 4.14 ERA. His peripherals weren’t good (34 K, 34 BB in 71.2 IP), but Cleveland’s days as a powerhouse were over, and they were looking for any young contributors they could find.

During his first six-plus years in the majors, Westbrook posted a perfectly league average 100 ERA+ in 130 starts and 40 relief appearances, chipping in close to 900 innings. The Indians gave him a big contract extension (three years, $33M) before he could reach free agency, however the team only gets credit for his first six years of control in the trade because that’s all they acquired. They negotiated the extension on their own after the fact. During those years of team control, Westbrook was worth 8.2 wins over a replacement level pitcher.

The 22-year-old Day was the Yanks’ fifth round pick in 1996, and at the time of the trade he had a 2.56 ERA with a 147-46 K/BB ratio in 119.2 IP split between Low-A Greensboro and High-A Tampa. He was one of the team’s better pitching prospects, and Cleveland sent him right to Double-A after the trade. Day never appeared in a single game with the Indians, who instead traded to the Expos straight up for Milton Bradley at the 2001 trade deadline. As you probably figured, Day contributed zero wins over replacement to Cleveland’s cause, though Bradley certainly helped.

Ledee, a 25-year-old platoon outfielder for the Bombers, was hitting .241-.332-.419 with seven homers at the time of the swap. His time with the Indians would be short lived though, as they flipped him to Texas for David Segui a month later. I remember hearing at the time of the trade that Ledee was the first player in history to play for three different teams that won their division the previous season in one year. He contributed just one-tenth of a win over replacement to the Indians’ cause.

As for Justice, he was everything the Yanks could have hoped for and then some. In the first four weeks after the deal, he hit .347-.449-.653 with six homers, and his final line with the Yanks in 2000 was .305-.391-.585 with 20 bombs. All told, Justice was a .286-.377-.584 hitter that season, clubbing a career high 41 homers.

His hot hitting carried into the playoffs, when he hit a solo homer off Kevin Appier in Game Five of the ALDS, pushing the Yanks further out ahead of the A’s and eventually sending them home. Justice completely torched the Mariners in the ALCS, picking up eight RBI in the six games. His three run homer off Arthur Rhodes in the 7th inning of Game Six turned a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 lead, and the Yanks would eventually hold on for a trip to their third consecutive World Series. His efforts won him ALCS MVP honors, and a few weeks later the Yankees were World Champions.

That fall from grace happened the next season, when Justice hit just .241-.333-.430 with a then-career low 18 homers in 2001. The Yankees did get back to the World Series, though Justice was traded across town to the Mets for Robin Ventura after the season. In his year and a half in pinstripes, Justice provided the Yanks with 3.5 wins over replacement, almost all of which came during the second half of 2000.

Here’s a round up of the WAR data…

As you can see, Cleveland’s haul in the trade was more than twice as valuable as Justice was for the Yanks, almost exclusively thanks to Westbrook. However, just like the Chuck Knoblauch trade, the Yankees got exactly what they wanted out of the deal in the World Series victory.

There we times during the mid-2000’s that the Yankees could have really used an innings eater like Jake Westbrook in their rotation, but I wouldn’t have traded that Subway Series win for it. This one is another win-win; the Indians got six years of a league average big league starter plus more, and the Yanks got another championship. Both sides would do this one over time after time.

Photo Credit: Jeff Zelevansky, AP

Past Trade Review: Chuck Knoblauch

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The Yankees figure to be prominent players on the free agent market every offseason, however they threw us a changeup this winter and instead pulled off two major trades while committing no more than one year to any free agent. Curtis Granderson steps into the outfield for the next few seasons, and even though Javy Vazquez is only signed through 2010, it has to be considered a major move just in terms of how valuable he could be. The cost in both trades was the same: three young players with several years of cost control ahead of them.

Twelve years earlier, the Yanks made a similar trade, one that turned a weakness into a strength at the cost of minor league depth. After watching their second basemen hit .282-.331-.362 with just five homers in 1997, the worst production the team received from any position besides catcher, rookie GM Brian Cashman acquired All Star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch from the Twins. Cashman had succeeded Bob Watson as the team’s general manager just five days before the trade was completed, so he wasted no time making a big splash.

Of course, Knoblauch was very outspoken about his desire to be traded, forcing GM Terry Ryan’s hand. The Twins won just 68 games in 1997 and hadn’t made the playoffs in six years, and the 29-year-old didn’t want to spend his prime years duking it out for fourth place in the AL Central. So, in early February of 1998, just a few weeks before pitchers and catchers were due to report, the two sides consummated the following deal:

Yankees Received
2B Chuck Knoblauch

Twins Received
LHP Eric Milton
SS Cristian Guzman
OF Brian Buchanan
RHP Danny Mota
Cash (Wikipedia says $3M)

At the time of the trade, none of the four players the Twins received had yet to appear in the majors, while Knoblauch was coming off a four year stretch in which he hit .319-.413-.468 with 188 stolen bases while making four All Star appearances. His 127 OPS+ during those four years was higher than Roberto Alomar’s (124). The trade gave the Yanks a veteran lead off hitter, pushing young phenom Derek Jeter down to what would become his customary two-hole.

Milton, the Yanks’ first round pick in 1996 and then just 21-years-old, had split 1997 between High-A Tampa and Double-A Norwich, posting a 3.11 ERA with a 162-50 K/BB ratio in 28 starts and 171 innings. Yeah, things were different back then, innings limits weren’t exactly a top priority. Minnesota sent him straight to the big leagues in 1998, and he responded by posting a 5.64 ERA with a 107-70 K/BB ratio in 32 starts and 172.1 IP. He would go on to no-hit the Angels the next season, and in the end he became a fixture in the Twins’ rotation until 2002, posting a dead even 100 ERA+ in 162 starts and close to 1,000 innings along the way.

Knee issues limited Milton to just three starts in 2003, and with free agency just a year away, Minnesota shipped him to the Phillies for Carlos Silva, Nick Punto, and a player to be named later. As you can imagine, Milton provided the Twins with a great deal of value as a league average innings eater. All told, he was worth 13.2 wins over a replacement player during his time in the land of 10,000 lakes.

Guzman, just 19 at the time, had hit .273-.310-.354 with 23 steals mostly with Low-A Greensboro the year before the trade. He spent his first season in the Twins’ organization playing in Double-A, hitting .277-.304-.352 with another 23 steals. Minnesota jumped him to the big leagues in 1999, though he struggled greatly and hit just .226-.267-.276 with nine steals. Guzman improved a bit the next year, and in the long run he hit .266-.303-.382 with 102 steals in six years with the Twins. He thrice led the league in triples, and even appeared in an All-Star game. The lure of a free agent payday (four years, $16.8M from the Nationals) spelled the end of Guzman’s time with Minnesota, though he gave the team 3.9 wins over replacement total.

Buchanan, another former first round pick by the Yanks (1994), had developed into a minor league slugger with good but not great numbers. He toiled away in Triple-A for a few years after the trade, seeing big league action in parts of three seasons for the Twins before being traded to the Padres during the 2002 season for a light hitting A-ball shortstop by the name of Jason Bartlett. Buchanan hit .258-.319-.428 in 455 plate appearances for Minnesota, providing just one-tenth of a win above a replacement player.

Mota, a 21-year-old righty that had spent parts of three seasons in the Short Season NY-Penn League prior to the trade, steadily climbed the ladder and ultimately contributed just 5.1 IP of 8.44 ERA ball to the big league team. He was out of affiliated baseball by 2002, contributing a whopping one-tenth of a win below replacement level to the Twins cause.

As for Knoblauch, he parked himself atop the Yanks’ batting order for four seasons, though he never quite produced at the levels he had in Minnesota. He hit .265-.361-.405 with 31 steals and a then-career high 17 homers in 1998, however he was perhaps best remembered for the “Blauch-head” play against the Indians in the ALCS, when he stood around arguing with an umpire rather than picking up a ball in play, allowing Cleveland to take the lead in extra innings. Knoblauch went on to hit a game-tying three-run homer in Game One of the World Series, helping the Yanks to a sweep of the Padres and a World Championship.

With a season in pinstripes under his belt, Knoblauch rebounded to hit .292-.393-.454 with 28 steals and a career high 18 homers in 1999, helping the Yanks to another World Title thanks to a .283-.353-.391 postseason performance. However, he began having issues with this throwing, leading to a career high 23 errors. Knoblauch missed time with injury in 2000, and his throwing problems became so severe that he spent significant time as a designated hitter. Nevertheless, he hit .283-.366-.385 as the Yankees captured their third straight World Championship.

Knoblauch, unable to overcome his issues throwing to first base, moved to left field permanently in 2001, and he hit just .250-.339-.351, the worst offensive showing of his career to that point. In the four years since he was acquired, Knoblauch went from an elite hitter at a premium position to a below average hitter in a corner outfield spot. The Yankees let him walk as a free agent after the season, and Knoblauch was out of baseball by 2003. During his four seasons in pinstripes, Knoblauch contributed just 6.6 wins above a replacement level player to the Yankees cause.

Let’s round up the WAR data in a nice, easy to read table.

The Twins quartet provided their team with a combined 17.1 wins above replacement, mostly thanks to Milton obviously. That doesn’t include the contributions they got from Silva, Punto, and Bartlett, but we can’t count that against the Yanks here because Minnesota might have made those trades anyway, just with different players.

While the Twins got the better end of the on-the-field production here – and there’s no denying that – the Yankees did win four pennants and three World Series with Knoblauch in the lineup every day. Unlike say the Brewers and CC Sabathia, the Yanks didn’t forfeit a significant part of the future for just one playoff appearance here.

In the end, this trade was a classic win-win. The Twins got exactly what they were looking for, two legitimate big leaguers and a little extra, while the Yankees got what they wanted in the form of championships. Minnesota’s reward is easily measured in WAR, but Knoblauch was a part of a dynasty in New York, and it’s impossible to put a number on that. Hindsight is 20-20, and I’d bet that both sides would do this deal again 100 times out of 100.

Photo Credit: Doug Mills