Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Worst Trades of My Lifetime

Still upset over the Adam Dunn deal, I figured I'd put together a list of the worst trades my teams have made in my sports watching life. In no particular order:

Fredd Young to the Colts for two first round picks. Seriously? TWO first round picks? This trade has to be the single worst deal of any of my teams in my lifetime. Though now we think of him as perhaps the finest owner in the NFL, we forget what a disastrous tenure Jim Irsay had as GM. He traded away draft picks like candy. It was perhaps this trade as much as any other that would later convince him that he didn't know crap about football and had better hire a great football man to run things. And what was with two 'd's in Young's name? This could not have turned out any worse.

Marshal Faulk to the Rams for a second round pick. I know that we got Edge. I know that it was the best deal we could get. But seriously. We dealt one of the most dynamic players in history for a second round pick. It wasn't exactly a 'mistake', but it was a bad deal. I wonder if Polian could do it over again, knowing how dominant Faulk would be for the next several years, if he wouldn't have kept him, paid him, and drafted someone else with that first round pick.

Craig Erickson to the Colts for a first round pick. Yikes.

Mark Jackson to the Nuggets for Jalen Rose. This trade was so bad that Donnie Walsh immediately undid it by fleecing the Nuggets and got both Rose AND Jackson.

Antonio Davis to the Raptors for the 5th pick (Johnathan Bender). Maybe this deal works if Bender wasn't made of glass. Unfortunately, he was and Davis went to the All-Star Game the next year.

The trade most like this Dunn deal? Paul O'Neil to the Yanks for Roberto Kelley. People were all over O'Neil for all the things he couldn't do (ironically, hit 30 HRs), and ignored all the things he was good at (great arm, incredible stroke). Kelley was crap, and O'Neil was a cornerstone of the Yankees dynasty of the late 90s, becoming one of the most popular players in recent Yankee history.

Links:
CHFF has the Colts at #3 in their new Power Poll. It's hard to quibble with the logic of #1 and 2. The Cold Hard Football Fact for the Colts is something we talked a lot about last year, and has to improve (the Clark part, not the Wayne part).

FOLLOW UP POINT: In thinking about the 1999 Colts, imagine if they had kept Faulk and paired him up under the following scenarios:
Faulk and Edge
Faulk and Torry Holt (Terrance Wilkins was the #2 WR on that team. Yikes)
Faulk and Champ Bailey on D after trading the 5th pick for the New Orleans draft
Faulk and Booger
Faulk and Chris McCalister

I love Edge, but tell me that every single one of those combos wouldn't have been better than James/Peterson.

14 comments:

Bob M. said...

And didn't the Yanks end up with Roberto (briefly Bobby) Kelly AND Paulie in the outfield at the same time a little while later? I'm thinking 1994/1995.

I remember taking a college buddy to his first baseball game ever, tied in the 9th, one or two outs. I left him in our seats to head to the toilet to prepare for extra innings. While I'm indisposed, Kelly hits a HR, the stadium goes nuts, and I miss it. Damn beer. At least my friend's first game was exciting to the last.

Bob M. said...

CHFF: SD seems low to me, GB and Jax high. Then again, I'd probably lump about 4 teams together at #2.

I love their "top-12" scoring stat for the Pats offense since Brady's arrival..... Top twelve? That's a category? Why not top 13, or 17 or 7? Oooh, they're cherry-picking their categories to fit the actual facts. nice.

Unknown said...

Technically, with 36 teams in the NFL, top twelve would be the top third of the league. Admittedly, it's an odd number, and probably cherry picked, but it does have at least some rationale.

Every time I see Marshall Faulk in a Rams uniform, I think "We could have had Edge and Faulk in the same backfield. FUCK."

Deshawn Zombie said...

Yeah, it's tough to stay ahead of the LA Stars, San Antonio Rodeo Clowns, San Jose Taco Eaters, and Portland Granola.

Dude, there's 32 teams, not 36.

Just busting your chops.

shake'n'bake said...

The Arizona Republic reports that Micah Owings is one of the players to be named later in the Dunn trade.

Less sick?

Deshawn Zombie said...

WOW. At least he's close to the bigs. I could live with getting a major league starter out of the deal.

The deal was originally reported as 3 prospects. Sure he had an ERA of 6 this year, but that's better than some single A scrub who won't ever see the bigs.

I'd still rather have the ML leader in HRs.

shake'n'bake said...

Worst case you got a mediocre pitcher who absolutely rakes (Career OPS+ of 124)

Deshawn Zombie said...

Yeah, maybe he can play left field and hit home runs.

Bob M. said...

Regarding the Faulk envy, it took me about two games to get over it. I thought they were nuts until I saw Edge in action.
Faulk beat the odds by lasting as long as he did and thriving into his 30s. So will Edge, but the Colts were playing the odds. No crystal ball can tell you which runner will do better at 31 than at 26.

If we kept him and he blew out a knee in 1999's Week 1, what would you have said?

Deshawn Zombie said...

It always sucks when guys get hurt, but that can happen to a young back too (Edge 2001). I was throwing things around the room when they dealt Faulk. Edge covered up the mistake mostly, but as you can see from the other scenarios, that keeping Faulk and dealing the pick to New Orleans would have been the best strategy.

Anonymous said...

You want Owings to hit...maybe that's what the Reds do with him. Here are a few articles from May about his hitting:
<.A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3407015"> ESPN the Mag <./A>
<.A HREF="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=3387111"> Owing a big hit <./A>

Anonymous said...

ok...so my little linking experiment didn't work. Juat copy and paste I guess.

shake'n'bake said...

Don't use the periods after the As and the hyperlinks will work perfect.

ESPN the Mag

Owing a big hit

shake'n'bake said...

before the As I mean