Former Tigers GM Bill Lajoie passed away today at the age of 76. In the words of current Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski, Lajoie "played an integral role in building the [1984] Detroit Tigers into a world championship team."
Lajoie had been a a senior advisor for Pirates GM Neal Huntington since 2009, and Huntington calls him a "terrific evaluator of talent, an outstanding baseball man, a tremendous mentor and a better friend.” Along with the Tigers, Pirates and many others in the baseball world, MLBTR extends condolences to Lajoie's family and friends.
Now here's a look back at some historical transactions that have occurred on this date:
- The Red Sox signed Josh Bard and Brad Penny on this date in 2008. Bard didn't play for the 2009 Red Sox and fans of the team probably wish Penny hadn't either. The right-hander posted a 5.61 ERA in 131 2/3 innings before moving on to San Francisco, where the results were considerably better.
- The Indians signed Fausto Carmona as an amateur free agent ten years ago today. They've paid him $8.87MM for 746 innings of 4.43 ERA ball so far and have him under team control for four more seasons.
- The Tigers traded Luis Gonzalez to the Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia on this date in 1998. Garcia hit 14 homers for the Tigers in 1999 and was out of the organization the next year. Gonzalez hit 26 homers for the D'Backs in 1999 and didn't stop there. He hit 31 long balls in 2000 and 57 more in 2001, leading the D'Backs to their first World Series title.
- The White Sox traded Tim Raines to the Yankees on this date in 1995. Raines was past his prime, but that didn't stop him from hitting .299/.395/.429 in three seasons in New York as the Bronx Bombers won a pair of championships.
- The Indians signed current Rangers manager Ron Washington on this date in 1987. In his last extended taste of playing action, the infielder hit .256/.298/.363 for the Tribe.
- Last, but certainly not least, we take you back to 1994. On this date 16 years ago, the Astros and Padres completed a memorable 12-player trade that MLBTR's Howard Megdal explained in great detail this June.
