# Best players ever traded? (at/near their prime) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 7, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897 "2015-11-07T14:42:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/41 "2015-11-09T21:14:04Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > This is the prime example, for me. As a Man United fan, I thought £80m for Ronaldo at the time was a good deal for Man U. Now, I don’t think it was. Ferguson sold Ince, Kanchelskis, Hughes, and Beckham at exactly the right times, but he got it wrong (with hindsight) with Ronaldo. Of course, if a player wants to leave there’s very little you can do to stop them and you could say he did well to get fair value. > [@AK84](#): > > Ronaldo would never have achieved the heights he has with Real Madrid with United, the hard tackling culture of the Premiership would have kept him in check. You have to remember though at Man Utd he won, the Champions League once, the Premier League multiple time and won the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World’s Best Player once. At Madrid he has won the Champions League once, La Liga once and the FIFA Ballon d’Or twice. The point being when he left Man Utd he was already recognized as one of the absolute best players in the World and going to Madrid hasn’t particularly brought him more silverware. I think by the time CR7 left Man Utd he was already pretty much fully-formed into the juggernaut that he still is today and his time at Man Utd was far more important to his development than his time at Madrid. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/42 "2015-11-09T22:03:56Z")
You could make an argument for both sides of the 2004 Champ Bailey-Clinton Portis trade between Washington and Denver. Bailey was a 4-time Pro-Bowl (out of 5 seasons) CB and Portis was 2002 Rookie of the Year and coming off of 1500 yard rushing seasons with 5.5 yards/carry in both 2002 and 2003. Bailey went on to make 8 more Pro-Bowls in a Hall-of-Fame career in Denver, and Portis played seven more years, including four 1200+ yard seasons, in Washington. Denver ultimately got the better end of the deal, but it was a rare blockbuster that made both sides happy for a while. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/43 "2015-11-09T22:16:52Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > David Cone was also traded from the Mets to the Blue Jays. And he was traded from the Blue Jays to the Yankees. > > Cone was a hell of a pitcher but he’s not exactly at the level of Tom Seaver, though. Which reminded me of [David Wells](http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wellsda01.shtml), a three-time All-Star (though probably not even at Cone’s level of talent), who got traded four times, and pitched for nine different teams (and played two stints each with the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Padres). What amuses me about Wells’s entry on Baseball Reference is that it lists him at 187 pounds. Maybe when he was 17. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/44 "2015-11-09T23:30:51Z")
Another baseball one: Mike Piazza from the LA Dodgers to the Florida Marlins who, a few days later, shipped him off to the New York Mets. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/45 "2015-11-10T01:33:50Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > You could make an argument for both sides of the 2004 Champ Bailey-Clinton Portis trade between Washington and Denver. Bailey was a 4-time Pro-Bowl (out of 5 seasons) CB and Portis was 2002 Rookie of the Year and coming off of 1500 yard rushing seasons with 5.5 yards/carry in both 2002 and 2003. Bailey went on to make 8 more Pro-Bowls in a Hall-of-Fame career in Denver, and Portis played seven more years, including four 1200+ yard seasons, in Washington. > > Denver ultimately got the better end of the deal, but it was a rare blockbuster that made both sides happy for a while. This was the trade I thought of when seeing the thread. Another possibility: Randy Moss, both in 2005 (from Vikings to Raiders) and 2007 (from Raiders to Patriots). In 2004, injuries limited him, but he had hit 1000 yards in the six seasons before that, made the Pro Bowl five times, and was still 28 years old. He looked good for the Raiders before he suffered some nagging injuries, and more importantly because disinterested because the team sucked, before getting traded in 2007 to the Patriots where he promptly had a record setting season (most receiving TDs in a season). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/46 "2015-11-10T12:34:50Z")
There are all kinds of reasons a team might trade a genuinely great player who’s having (or just had) a great season. And many of these reasons make perfect sense. 1. The player’s contract is about to expire, the team knows it can’t afford to pay him what he’s going to demand, so they trade him in order to get something of value for him before he departs. I’ve already mentioned Randy Johnson, someone mentioned Reggie Jackson… in baseball, this happens all the time. 2. The player is approaching an age when production USUALLY starts to plummet. Even if, say, a 28 year old running back has just led the NFL in rushing, there are very, very few running backs who remain productive once they reach 30. It might make sense to trade the guy for a draft pick or a younger player. 3. Sometimes, a bad team has one superstar and a lot of mediocrities. If that star is the only valuable asset the team has, they may decide it’s best to trade him IF they can get a several good players or a lot of young prospects for him. 4. Or, the team may just miscalculate and trade off a great player for a worse player, and live to regret it. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/47 "2015-11-10T13:04:08Z")
> [@Asympotically\_fat](#): > > You have to remember though at Man Utd he won, the Champions League once, the Premier League multiple time and won the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World’s Best Player once. At Madrid he has won the Champions League once, La Liga once and the FIFA Ballon d’Or twice. > > The point being when he left Man Utd he was already recognized as one of the absolute best players in the World and going to Madrid hasn’t particularly brought him more silverware. > > I think by the time CR7 left Man Utd he was already pretty much fully-formed into the juggernaut that he still is today and his time at Man Utd was far more important to his development than his time at Madrid. I agree with this. Ronaldo was pretty much fully formed as a player by the time he left ManU. Some of the footballers mentioned earlier wished to leave their club. I think that was the case with Ronaldo at ManU. It’s hard to tell what is a mistake by the selling club, what is a mutually beneficial deal, and when it is a case of a club cutting it’s loses. If a player want’s to leave it \*can \*turn very bad for the club. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/48 "2015-11-10T14:19:27Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Which reminded me of [David Wells](http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wellsda01.shtml), a three-time All-Star (though probably not even at Cone’s level of talent), who got traded four times, and pitched for nine different teams (and played two stints each with the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Padres). > > What amuses me about Wells’s entry on Baseball Reference is that it lists him at 187 pounds. Maybe when he was 17. 😉 Wells once commented “I never heard of a player going on the disabled list with pulled fat.” ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/49 "2015-11-10T14:21:42Z")
The St. Louis Rams traded HOF running back Jerome Bettis to the Steelers after 3 seasons (2 of which he made it to the Pro Bowl). They drafted Lawrence Phillips as a replacement. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/50 "2015-11-10T15:22:39Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Technically, LeBron James was traded to Miami, but NBA sign-and-trades probably aren’t in the spirit of the OP. So I’ll say Carmelo Anthony, even though I personally have gone back and forth over whether he’s overrated or not. I’m on the ‘over’ side of that. Instead, and IMHO way on the underrated side, how about Kevin McHale doing his old teammate a favor and trading KG to the Celtics (for seven (7!) players)? Probably more on the far side of ‘prime’, was the Bruins trading Ray Bourque to Colorado (this was explicitly to give him a chance to win a Cup before he retired. It worked). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/51 "2015-11-10T15:26:23Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > how about Kevin McHale doing his old teammate a favor and trading KG to the Celtics (for seven (7!) players)? It was a nice counter to Jerry West, the Memphis GM, doing his Laker friends a favor by giving them Pau Gasol. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/52 "2015-11-10T15:54:04Z")
Chris Webber. The second time he got traded, not the other two times (the first time doesn’t count under the OP, and the third time was after he was on the decline). ---
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/53 "2015-11-10T18:05:33Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Another baseball one: Mike Piazza from the LA Dodgers to the Florida Marlins who, a few days later, shipped him off to the New York Mets. Some twenty years have passed and I’m still pissed off about that trade. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/54 "2015-11-10T18:09:35Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It was a nice counter to Jerry West, the Memphis GM, doing his Laker friends a favor by giving them Pau Gasol. Nitpick/pet peeve: This didn’t happen. Jerry West was retired and Chris Wallace was Memphis’ GM at the time of the Gasol deal; West was actively critical of the deal when it happened. Also - everyone seems to have internalized that Paul Gasol was gifted to Los Angeles for no return. In fact, Memphis got (along with a bunch of flotsam) Gasol’s brother Marc in the deal, who is now the team’s foundational player and much, much more valuable than Pau; this is not at all a bad return for a struggling team dealing an unhappy star. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/55 "2015-11-10T18:09:55Z")
> [@Club\_33](#): > > Some twenty years have passed and I’m still pissed off about that trade. Steinbrenner: My name is George Steinbrenner, I’m afraid I have some very sad new about your son. Estelle (crying): I can’t believe it, he was so young. How could this have happened? Steinbrenner: Well, he’d been logging some pretty heavy hours, first one in in the morning, last one to leave at night. That kid was a human dynamo. Estelle: Are you sure you’re talking about George? Steinbrenner: You are Mr. and Mrs. Costanza? Frank (yelling): What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?!? He had 30 home runs, over 100 RBIs last year, he’s got a rocket for an arm, you don’t know what the hell you’re doin’!! Steinbrenner: Well, Buener was a good prospect, no question about it. But my baseball people love Ken Phelps’ bat. They kept saying ‘Ken Phelps , Ken Phelps’. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/56 "2015-11-10T20:18:15Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Nolan Ryan. Doesn’t match the criteria. Ryan was hardly a star: he was a stinko pitcher at the time he was traded by both contemporaneous and modern statistics. He regressed every year and had a particularly terrible second half in 1971. His WHIP dropped every year, his K/9 and K/W kept getting worse. He was looking like a guy with a great fastball and nothing else. But he immediately turned it around in California, something no one at the time thought possible. I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Connie Mack’s fire sales in the 30s, where he traded away Lefty Grove, Al Simmons, Jimmy Foxx (only 28 at the time), Jimmy Dykes (who became a two-time all star after his trade) and Mickey Cochrane (though his post-Athletics career was short) in their prime. There’s also Joe Cronin, traded to the Red Sox at age 28. He was a two-time all-star for the Senators, and four-time all star for the Sox. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/57 "2015-11-10T20:23:46Z")
Adrian Gonzalez. Twice. ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/58 "2015-11-10T22:31:10Z")
The Bengals trade of Carson Palmer to Oakland was a great start for the Andy Dalton era and Palmer has had several good years with Oakland and Arizona since then. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/59 "2015-11-11T01:13:49Z")
> [@Club\_33](#): > > Some twenty years have passed and I’m still pissed off about that trade. I’m not pissed off about the trade so much as puzzled. Piazza was the Dodger’s franchise player and by far the most popular guy on the team. Were Fox and Rupert Murdoch (who owned the team at the time) just trying to shake things up by trading Piazza? I know they did get Gary Sheffield in return and he did have some productive years but he had trouble fitting in and the team went nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897/60 "2015-11-12T19:22:48Z")
Short version: Piazza wanted more money, apparently struck a very negative note with the management, and they decided to make the point that no-one was untouchable. A lot of miscalculation all around on that one, as I recall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-players-ever-traded-at-near-their-prime/736897.md?page=4)