John Hart -- worst trader ever?

Burnitz is a looser. An empty 30-Hr hitter who whiffs 160 times and hits .230 for sub-.500 teams. He'd be a drain on a decent team.

And Micro, that Grady Sizemore/Cliff Lee deal was executed by Shapiro.

As for the worst trader of all time, lil' Jeffy Wilpon retired the title in late July 2004.

 

Hart was the Rangers' GM when he sent Hafner to Cleveland.

 

HEY TSP. . . you need to get back on your medication.

Things really aren't that bad (besides the whole living in Cleveland thing) so chill out and take it like a man.

There is no use crying over fumbled footballs . . . or blown saves. . . or Lebron to be leaving in four years.  It only makes it worse.

By the way, the rumor is that the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce is changing the promotional slogan for the city to: "Cleveland — You have to live some place."

 

You forgot to Kenny Lofton on that last list.

 

Worst trader ever?

The Philadelphia 76ers have traded away some decent young talent over the years: guys like Jerry Stackhouse, Larry Hughes, Tim Thomas and Keith Van Horn. I'm sure I'm missing some names, but the players they got back for trading these guys away haven't provided Philly with much.

I'm not saying the above guys would have been able to win a championship — all have their strengths and weaknesses — but it would have been interesting if the team had hung on to some of them and built around Iverson that way.

 

I can't speak much for Vizcaino, but I can tell you what Tavarez is: A certified fucking maniac.

 

Didn't Hart make a lot of those trades to get players for a big push into the playoffs? You could go back through a lot of trades that helped teams get into the playoffs and laugh at them for how stupid they were. For example, Detroit sending an unknown John Smoltz to Atlanta for Doyle Alexander. But as I recall, the Alexander went 9-0 and got Detroit into the post-season. So, technically, the trade accomplished its goal for Detroit. Sure, they could have used Smoltz, but he wasn't going to help them that year.

 

Of course the Tigers then got rolled by the Twins in the ALCS.

 

There was no call for that.

 

I know the point was made that some of these were salary dumps, but at least get SOMETHING.

Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill and some crappy pitcher whose name I forget. Hernandez was let go in the offseason. So was the minor-league pitcher. Hill was having back problems and he had already failed repeatedly to win a job with the Cubs.

Littlefield had one good trade. Brian Giles for Jason Bay and Oliver Perez. Ok, it was a great trade even though Perez fell apart after one good year. But otherwise, he's been a disaster.

 

This is a good point. If I am correct, Smoltz took a couple of years to be the great pitcher he became.

This is an example cited as a bad trade made by the Detroit Tigers. I say it is an example of the type of trade which should be made.

Detroit got what it wanted - an extra pitcher who got them to the post season. And Detroit won the 1987 AL East by one game - the final game of the year against Toronto. If memory serves me, I think Detroit won the last eight games to win it.

True, they lost to the Twins in the ALCS - but when you have a chance to win it all you make those trades - the object is to win the World Series. Human nature being what it is, you forget all the times you trade a pitching prospect who doesn't perform like John Smoltz.

Atlanta got what it wanted, a prospect who might turn out really well and got rid of a higher-salaried veteran who wasn't going to help him. In 1987, people knew Smoltz had good stuff but if anybody would tell you they knew he would have the type of record they did, they are lying to you.

 

Hernandez left town and said crap pitcher (Matt Bruback) was lost on waivers, so the Pirates essentially traded Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill. Nice. :