Headlines

  • Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge
  • Mets Moving Sean Manaea To The Bullpen
  • Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut
  • Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List
  • Dipoto: Mariners Interested In Re-Signing Josh Naylor
  • Anthony Volpe Playing Through Partial Labrum Tear
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Athletics
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Do Closers Fetch More When Traded Midseason?

By Tim Dierkes | December 22, 2010 at 1:51pm CDT

Discussing the Mariners and David Aardsma today, David Cameron wrote, "There is a school of thought that closers garner more in return when moved at the deadline than in the offseason, though I haven’t seen much in the way of real evidence to support the assertion."

Looking at the last three seasons and offseasons, let's look at examples with the help of MLBTR's Transaction Tracker.  This post won't answer Cameron's question in a statistical sense, but it may help shed some light.

I found four closers who were traded during the 2008-10 seasons: Octavio Dotel, Matt Capps, George Sherrill, and Jon Rauch.  I've omitted the trades of Brian Fuentes, Chad Qualls, Kerry Wood, Billy Wagner, and Joel Hanrahan, as those five either weren't closing at the time of their trades or had prohibitive salaries. 

  • Dodgers acquired Octavio Dotel and $500K from Pirates for James McDonald and Andrew Lambo.  Though both players had fallen out of favor with the Dodgers, this viewed as a steal for the Pirates.  Dotel once fetched Kyle Davies from the Braves in a different trade, also a fine return.
  • Twins acquired Matt Capps and $500K from Nationals for Wilson Ramos and Joe Testa.  The Twins acquired a season and a half of Capps, but with Ramos regarded as at least a regular in the near future, Minnesota had to overpay for Washington's closer.
  • Dodgers acquired George Sherrill from Orioles for Josh Bell and Steve Johnson.  The Dodgers had potentially acquired two-plus seasons of Sherrill, who had a 2.40 ERA when the deal was struck.  But Bell was a well-regarded prospect and was anointed Baltimore's third baseman of the future at the time.
  • Diamondbacks acquired Jon Rauch from Nationals for Emilio Bonifacio.  Bonifacio was Arizona's sixth-best prospect, but I'd expected Jim Bowden to ask for more for two-plus seasons of Rauch.  It's fair to say the D'Backs didn't have to overpay for Rauch, though his closer pedigree only involved six saves before that season.

Five closers were acquired during the last three offseasons, not including this one: Rafael Soriano, J.J. Putz, Kevin Gregg, Jose Valverde, and Brad Lidge.  We're omitting Huston Street and Matt Lindstrom, who had lost their closer jobs before being dealt.  Gregg was on the outs in Florida but we'll include him.

  • Rays acquired Rafael Soriano from Braves for Jesse Chavez.  This isn't a good example, as the Braves were backed into a corner by Soriano accepting arbitration after they'd already signed Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito.
  • Mets acquired J.J. Putz from Mariners.  This was a huge three-team deal.  The Mets received other players, but didn't give up premium pieces to acquire Putz.  Putz was coming off a rough '08 season though.
  • Cubs acquired Kevin Gregg from Marlins for Jose Ceda.  I think most viewed this as a win for the Marlins at the time.
  • Astros acquired Jose Valverde from Diamondbacks for Chad Qualls, Juan Gutierrez, and Chris Burke.  At the time, I questioned whether Josh Byrnes got the best possible return for two seasons of Valverde.
  • Phillies acquired Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett from Astros for Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary, and Mike Costanzo.  At the time Bourn/Costanzo was generally considered a high price paid by the Phillies.

More data points would be nice, but this is a start.  Teams overpaid to acquire Dotel, Capps, and Sherrill midseason, though Ned Colletti authored two of those deals.  The prices did seem lower for Putz and Valverde during the offseason, but not necessarily for Gregg or Lidge.  I think the conventional wisdom has value – contenders are more desperate for relief help during the summer, and with no free agent alternatives they're willing to surrender slightly better prospects for closers. 

Share 0 Retweet 1 Send via email0

Uncategorized

Blue Jays, Pirates, Rays Interested In Dotel
Main
Arias, Zawadzki Clear Waivers
View Comments (1)
Post a Comment

1 Comment

  1. Gumby65

    15 years ago

    Geoff Geary is getting WAYYYY too much play at MLBTR today. Oh well, one day he can share this with the grandkids…

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge

    Mets Moving Sean Manaea To The Bullpen

    Blue Jays To Promote Trey Yesavage For MLB Debut

    Dodgers Place Will Smith On Injured List

    Dipoto: Mariners Interested In Re-Signing Josh Naylor

    Anthony Volpe Playing Through Partial Labrum Tear

    Orioles Promoted Mike Elias Prior To 2025 Season

    Anthony Rizzo Retires

    Cubs Place Kyle Tucker On Injured List

    Blue Jays Place Bo Bichette On Injured List

    Phillies Place Trea Turner, Alec Bohm On Injured List

    Sean Murphy To Undergo Hip Surgery

    Trea Turner To Undergo MRI Due To Hamstring Strain

    Davey Johnson Passes Away

    Mets Option Kodai Senga

    NPB’s Kazuma Okamoto, Tatsuya Imai Expected To Be Posted For MLB Teams

    Shelby Miller Likely Headed For Tommy John Surgery

    Red Sox To Place Roman Anthony On Injured List

    Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Diagnosed With Torn ACL

    Braves Claim Ha-Seong Kim From Rays

    Recent

    Pirates Select Rafael Flores

    MLBTR Chat Transcript

    Royals To Activate Cole Ragans On Wednesday

    Braves Select Jose Suarez

    The Opener: Alvarez, Doubleheader, Pitchers’ Duel

    Matt Strahm Triggers Vesting Option

    Nationals’ Prospect Jarlin Susana Undergoes Lat Surgery

    Yordan Alvarez Headed For MRI With Ankle Sprain

    Nationals Have Interviewed Guardians’ AGM Matt Forman

    Blue Jays Release Orelvis Martinez

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Every MLB Trade In July
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version