Bill Smith gives away Matt Garza and then turns around and gives the only player that was anything close to good from that trade away too.. Pathetic!
iheartyourfart
reymond fuentes was also a first round pick in that adrian gonzalez trade.
aaronanderson16
One really big one you do not have included was when the Cardinals traded first rounder and then big talent Brett Wallace for Matt Holliday in ’09. That trade looks so lopsided now and back then a lot of Cards fans did not want to let go of Wallace and now most must wonder why.
definitely see the Jays and Mariners are game for these types of trades.
harmony55
Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik traded away the last four first-round draft picks of his predecessor, Bill Bavasi: Jeff Clement (2005), Brandon Morrow (2006), Phillippe Aumont (2007) and Josh Fields (2008).
themightygin
“if the Cubs reach the point of contention”…? Theo/Jed have already traded 2006 1st round pick Tyler Colvin for Ian Stewart and 2008 1st round pick Andrew Cashner for Anthony Rizzo.
Yes but neither within our three-year cutoff. Cashner could be counted though.
vtadave
Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran is a good one too.
rainyperez
Wheeler has yet to pitch in the majors. If the Giants brass like Tidrow, Evans, Righetti, and Sabean saw him as expendable then I’ll trust them due to their recent success in pitching prospects.
bayareabeast
its not that they thought he was expendable, they thought the return would be the playoffs. however, i do agree that the young crop we’ve brought through the minors dampens the uglyness of this trade.
In Sabean’s tenure he has traded off the following first round picks: Joe Fontenot, Jason Grilli, Nate Bump, Kurt Ainsworth, Jerome Williams, Boof Bonser, and David Aardsma in addition to Alderson and Wheeler. 2 of those trades were 2-fers though, Grilli/Bump and Williams/Aardsma. He’s got a good record on trades of these 1st rounders, partly thanks to injuries (Bonser/Aardsma), but the Wheeler one will get severely tested. No regrets here, if Beltran put the G’s in the playoffs it would have been worth it. Fell short, move on.
Beersy 2
As for the competive balance draft picks, the draft is in season, so if a player unexpectedly falls to that part of the draft, that another team is high on, can the pick be traded at the draft?
mrtriandos
What strikes me as remarkable is how rarely these first round draft picks have developed into major league stars. Most appear to be busts. I guess that supports the Bill James contention (back in the Abstract days) that it’s always a good idea to trade several prospects to obtain one star player.
raffish
Alex White (from the U. Jiminez trade) was a 2009 first rounder, I believe.
lefty177
Great piece, just 1 thing, it looks like you’re going in chronological order of when the trade went down, the Alonso/Latos trade is in with the December 2010 instead of 2011, great job otherwise!
Tyler
Bill Smith gives away Matt Garza and then turns around and gives the only player that was anything close to good from that trade away too.. Pathetic!
iheartyourfart
reymond fuentes was also a first round pick in that adrian gonzalez trade.
aaronanderson16
One really big one you do not have included was when the Cardinals traded first rounder and then big talent Brett Wallace for Matt Holliday in ’09. That trade looks so lopsided now and back then a lot of Cards fans did not want to let go of Wallace and now most must wonder why.
martinfv2
Agreed…I accidentally deleted the Wallace bullet as I was moving them around. It’s back now.
aaronanderson16
I see. But I agree with most on this it was a good article before or after Wallace was added ha.
Lanidrac
Yeah, we got mostly burned on the Perez for DeRosa trade, but the Holliday trade more than made up for it.
htlee4
One more: 2009 White Sox send 2007 first round pick Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell to the Padres for Jake Peavy
rockfordone
One you would like to forget – That is why Tim did it. Don’t forget Joe Borchard (1ST round) and many $$$$ for Matt Thornton
rockfordone
How about Gio G. (1st round) for Swich. I thought Floyd and Danks were 1st rounders????
martinfv2
Some of those just didn’t fit in as recent, I started with the ’07 draft. But Poreda belonged.
WrongVerb
Just saw the Reds/Pads trade listed.
skandy1
Forgot to mention Dombrowski in the 3-way trade – Dec 09.
martinfv2
Was just naming GMs who gave up first rounders.
skandy1
definitely see the Jays and Mariners are game for these types of trades.
harmony55
Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik traded away the last four first-round draft picks of his predecessor, Bill Bavasi: Jeff Clement (2005), Brandon Morrow (2006), Phillippe Aumont (2007) and Josh Fields (2008).
themightygin
“if the Cubs reach the point of contention”…? Theo/Jed have already traded 2006 1st round pick Tyler Colvin for Ian Stewart and 2008 1st round pick Andrew Cashner for Anthony Rizzo.
martinfv2
Yes but neither within our three-year cutoff. Cashner could be counted though.
vtadave
Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran is a good one too.
rainyperez
Wheeler has yet to pitch in the majors. If the Giants brass like Tidrow, Evans, Righetti, and Sabean saw him as expendable then I’ll trust them due to their recent success in pitching prospects.
bayareabeast
its not that they thought he was expendable, they thought the return would be the playoffs. however, i do agree that the young crop we’ve brought through the minors dampens the uglyness of this trade.
Shankbone
In Sabean’s tenure he has traded off the following first round picks: Joe Fontenot, Jason Grilli, Nate Bump, Kurt Ainsworth, Jerome Williams, Boof Bonser, and David Aardsma in addition to Alderson and Wheeler. 2 of those trades were 2-fers though, Grilli/Bump and Williams/Aardsma. He’s got a good record on trades of these 1st rounders, partly thanks to injuries (Bonser/Aardsma), but the Wheeler one will get severely tested. No regrets here, if Beltran put the G’s in the playoffs it would have been worth it. Fell short, move on.
Beersy 2
As for the competive balance draft picks, the draft is in season, so if a player unexpectedly falls to that part of the draft, that another team is high on, can the pick be traded at the draft?
mrtriandos
What strikes me as remarkable is how rarely these first round draft picks have developed into major league stars. Most appear to be busts. I guess that supports the Bill James contention (back in the Abstract days) that it’s always a good idea to trade several prospects to obtain one star player.
raffish
Alex White (from the U. Jiminez trade) was a 2009 first rounder, I believe.
lefty177
Great piece, just 1 thing, it looks like you’re going in chronological order of when the trade went down, the Alonso/Latos trade is in with the December 2010 instead of 2011, great job otherwise!
Ben
Great article, makes you think a little bit at how upset we sometimes get when our team trades away minor leaguers we are big on.
Also, anyone notice how many times Billy Beane gets screwed in these deals?
yt
Deals in which Alex Anthopolous recieved former first rounders: Morrow, Drabek, D’Arnaud, Wallace, Lawrie, and Rasmus.
Owen Wilson
Alex White was a 2009 first rounder as well.