1964 - Cubs trade Lou Brock to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio.
On paper, it looked like the Cubs had stolen the Cards blind. Broglio was a front line pitcher who had been a 20-game winner, and a Cy Young candidate. Brock was a poor hitting outfielder with dubious defensive skills. However, Broglio had been pumping his arm full of cortisone for two years, and just two months after the trade, his elbow locked up completely. Brock caught fire with the Cardinals and ended up in the Hall of Fame.
1981 - Cardinals trade Gary Templeton to the Padres for Ozzie Smith
Templeton was a good shortstop with a .305 BA for the Cards, but had repeatedly gotten in trouble for his attitude, culminating in his giving fans the finger during a game in August. Smith was a brilliant shortstop but a weak hitter with the Padres. Templeton would be plagued by knee problems throughout his career, while Smith would become The Wizard, and improve his batting average by 40 points during his 15 seasons with the Cardinals.
In 1999 Mike Ditka was absolutely convinced Ricky Williams was the second coming of Walter Payton, so the New Orleans Saints traded their entire 1999 draft AND their first- and third-round picks from the 2000 draft to the Washington Redskins for the fifth overall pick which they used on Ricky Williams.
Traded to New Orleans
[ul]
[li]1999 first round pick (5th overall, Ricky Williams)[/li][/ul]
Traded to Washington[13]
[ul]
[li]1999 first round pick (12th overall, later traded to Chicago, used to select Cade McNown)[/li][li] 1999 third round pick (71st overall, later traded to Chicago, used to select D’Wayne Bates)[/li][li] 1999 fourth round pick (107th overall, used to select Nate Stimson)[/li][li] 1999 fifth round pick (144th overall, later traded to Chicago, used to select Khari Samuel)[/li][li] 1999 sixth round pick (179th overall, later traded to Denver, used to select Desmond Clark)[/li][li] 1999 seventh round pick (218th overall, later traded to Denver, used to select Billy Miller)[/li][li] 2000 first round pick (2nd overall, used to select LaVar Arrington)[/li][li] 2000 third round pick (64th overall, used to select Lloyd Harrison)[/li][/ul]
Shockingly, it turned out Ricky Williams was decidedly NOT the second coming of Walter Payton and he was traded to the Dolphins after just 3 seasons in New Orleans. Ditka’s head coaching career also ended the same season, fired after posting a 15–33 win-loss record in three seasons. Later when asked about the trade, Ditka said he would make it again. :smack:
On the other side, the Redskins being the Redskins, they turned that unprecedented bounty into a couple of Pro Bowls for LaVar Arrington, and after a few more trades, RT Jon Jansen and a few years of Champ Bailey’s services, but that’s pretty much it.
One of the great baseball trade robberies was in 1997 when the Red Sox sent Heathcliff Slocumb to the Mariners for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek. Boston got an effective pitcher (who won 21 games in '02 and was a big part of their Series win in '04) and a three-time All-Star catcher who hit 193 home runs. Slocumb had a decent stint with Seattle but overall didn’t do much.
To go back to olden times, there’s Cincinnati trading a young Christy Mathewson to the Giants for Amos Rusie (the ''Hoosier Thunderbolt"). Rusie was well past his prime and pitched just three games for Cincinnati with zero wins. Mathewson went on to rack up 373 wins.**
*this is a lot better trade for Red Sox fans to remember than Jeff Bagwell for Larry Andersen. :smack:
**there’s a bit of disagreement over just who Cincy gave up Mathewson for, Rusie or other players, but it was a comically bad deal no matter what.
In 2007, Bill Belichick traded the Miami Dolphins a 2nd and a 7th round pick for an undrafted kick returner that the Dolphins had been using as a third-string receiver.
Even if you follow football, you probably haven’t heard of Samson Satele and Brandon Fields, the players the Dolphins acquired with those picks. You’ve probably heard of Wes Welker.
The most lopsided baseball trade I can think of offhand, not including the sale of Babe Ruth, was the Expos’ decision to trade away Randy Johnson, one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, for a year of Mark Langston.
The Astros were involved in a few - Bagwell for 2 months of Larry Andersen; the Glenn Davis for Curt Schilling, Pete Harnisch, and Steve Finley trade was pretty outrageous, involving a pitcher who I think should be in the Hall of Fame and a couple guys who played in all-star games for a guy who turned out to be washed up, though the Astros didn’t take full advantage because they ended up trading Schilling for Jason Grimsley, who never pitched an inning for the Astros.
