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A Standout’s Unusual Path To D.C.

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Since he made his major league debut in 2015, Trea Turner has established himself as one of the reigning World Series champion Nationals’ most valuable players. A second baseman and then a center fielder at the beginning of his career, Turner took over as the Nationals’ shortstop in 2017 and now has a stranglehold on the position.

Dating back to his first full season in 2018, Turner has accounted for 8.3 fWAR and hit .283/.348/.451 (110 wRC+) with 38 home runs and 78 stolen bases – the second-highest total in MLB – across 1,309 plate appearances. And the 26-year-old Turner figures to contribute similar or better production in Washington for at least the next couple seasons, as he’s only now about to enter his first of three arbitration-eligible campaigns.

With Turner having already given the Nationals quite a bit of surplus value, it’s worth revisiting how he joined the team in the first place. To say the least, it was unusual transaction that led him to D.C. Turner was a 20th-round pick of the Pirates in 2011, but he elected to pass on signing with the Bucs in order to play at North Carolina State. That proved to be a wise decision by Turner, who increased his stock so much as a college player that the Padres took him 13th overall in 2014. Little did Turner or the Padres know then that he’d never play a real game in their uniform, nor was either side aware their relationship would end in such unconventional fashion.

While Turner continued to succeed as a young pro with the Pads, ranking as Baseball America’s 65th-best prospect prior to 2015, the club parted with him that year. Actually, though, San Diego agreed to trade Turner in December 2014 in a three-team blockbuster that also involved the Rays and Nats and. The Padres received outfielder Wil Myers, pitchers Gerardo Reyes and Jose Castillo, and catcher Ryan Hanigan. The Rays acquired first baseman Jake Bauers, righty Burch Smith, outfielder Steven Souza Jr., catcher Rene Rivera and lefty Travis Ott. The Nationals picked up righty Joe Ross and a player to be named later. Ross showed flashes at the beginning of his Nats tenure, but injuries have helped knock him off course in recent years. On the other hand, the PTBNL, Turner, has been a gem.

Although the Padres and Rays had a handshake agreement in regards to Turner, they weren’t allowed to make it official for a while because of previous MLB rules. The league formerly had a system in place that barred teams from trading anyone who wasn’t a year removed from being drafted. So, because Turner didn’t meet that requirement, he had to spend several more months with the Padres, even though he knew he wasn’t really a member of the team. Turner’s agent, Jeff Berry, suggested he’d fight the setup. In the end, however, Turner didn’t officially change hands until June 2015 – one month after the league instituted new rules to stop something similar from taking place.

To the Padres’ credit, they treated Turner well during his waning months with the club. Turner had to go to Padres spring training and play in the minors as part of the franchise as he waited for the finalization of the trade, and he complimented the team on multiple occasions during that period.

Unfortunately for San Diego, it hasn’t gotten nearly enough out of this trade in hindsight. Turner, after all, has clearly become the top player in this massive swap. Myers had an All-Star season in 2016, which persuaded the Padres to hand him a six-year, $83MM extension, but he has fallen off since then and is now someone they’d like to remove from their books. Reyes had a rough go in his MLB debut last season (7.62 ERA), though he did amass 38 strikeouts in 26 innings. Castillo performed well as a rookie two years ago, but injuries wrecked his 2019. Unlike those three, Hanigan never even played for the Padres, who quickly flipped him to the Red Sox for third baseman Will Middlebrooks. Although Middlebrooks did pile up 270 PA as a Padre in 2015, he was just a .212/.241/.361 hitter then.

It’s fair to say this deal will not go down as a shining moment for Padres general manager A.J. Preller. Conversely, it’s one of the many feathers in the cap of GM Mike Rizzo and the Nationals, for whom a one-time player to be named later helped to a championship several months back.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

A 4-Year-Old Trade That Could Have Long-Term Effects

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For the most part, if one team trades you to another for cash considerations, odds are you aren’t going to amount to much in Major League Baseball. But it was four years ago today that the two Missouri-based franchises – the Royals and Cardinals – came together on a cash/player trade that made an impact in the ensuing couple years and could continue to have a long-term effect. On May 25, 2016, the Cardinals acquired outfielder Jose Martinez, whom the Royals had recently designated for assignment to clear roster space for a guy named Whit Merrifield, for money.

Jose Martinez

Back when the trade occurred, MLBTR’s Jeff Todd wrote of Martinez: “He’s a ten-year minor-league veteran who has yet to crack the majors. In parts of two seasons at Triple-A, Martinez owns a productive .359/.431/.525 batting line over 556 plate appearances. He hasn’t quite maintained the pace he set last year at Omaha, but will nevertheless provide the Cards some outfield depth in the upper levels of their system.”

Indeed, Martinez didn’t look as if he’d make a mark in the majors when the Cardinals got him. After all, along with the Royals, the White Sox and Braves gave up on Martinez earlier in his career. But following a couple months in the Cardinals’ system, the club recalled him Sept. 6, 2016, for his long-awaited major league debut. Martinez has defied the odds and gone on to a pretty successful offensive career since then.

In 2017, his first extensive action in the bigs, Martinez batted a hearty .309/.379/.518 (136 wRC+) with 14 home runs in 307 plate appearances. The good times continued the next season in an even larger role, as Martinez hit .305/.364/.457 (127 wRC+) and put up 17 HRs over 590 trips to the plate. As solid as Martinez was as a hitter then, though, defensive questions have consistently dogged him. He posted minus-13 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-5.3 Ultimate Zone Rating as a corner outfielder from 2017-18, preventing him from maxing out his value as a hitter. By fWAR, Martinez was roughly an average contributor during that span, though he was passable as a first baseman in 675 innings in ’18 (minus-1 DRS, minus-3.2 UZR).

If you struggle as a defender, you have to hit in order to be of much use to your team, but Martinez even had difficulty doing that last year. On the heels of two impressive seasons in a row, he stumbled to a low-power line of .269/.340/.410 (101 wRC+) and managed just 10 homers in 373 PA. Between that and more subpar outfield defense (minus-10 DRS, minus-4.6 UZR), Martinez was close to a replacement-level player.

Despite his underwhelming output in 2019, as someone whom they gave up almost nothing to acquire, Martinez provided St. Louis more value than it could have realistically expected when it landed him. However, the Cardinals bid goodbye to Martinez last offseason, sending him, outfielder Randy Arozarena and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick to the Rays in a deal that netted the Redbirds left-hander Matthew Liberatore, Tampa Bay’s Competitive Balance Round B selection and catcher Edgardo Rodriguez.

In the 31-year-old Martinez, the Rays got a player who, as mentioned, has typically fared well at the plate. Plus Martinez is under affordable control for the next three seasons, which is important for a low-budget club. It remains to be seen whether any of the younger talent in the swap will pan out, but it seems Liberatore stands the best chance. The 20-year-old currently ranks as the game’s 42nd-best prospect at Baseball America, which contends that he has “mid-rotation or better” upside.

Unlike the original Martinez trade, which was a win for St. Louis, we don’t yet know how the Cardinals-Rays one will go. Regardless, the Royals-Cards trade from four seasons ago is another sign that deals which may look insignificant at the time are capable of affecting teams for years.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

1990 AL Rookies Of The Year: How Many Hall Of Famers?

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After reviewing the careers of 1990s National League Rookies of the Year, let’s move over to the AL…

1990 – Sandy Alomar Jr., C, Indians:

  • Kevin Appier, John Olerud and Robin Ventura were among the rookies Alomar beat out for the award that year. While those players had better careers than Alomar, he did turn in a few solid seasons, including in 1990. He was a .290/.326/.418 hitter with 2.4 fWAR then. He wound up playing through 2007 and totaling 13.2 fWAR in almost 5,000 plate appearances.

1991 – Chuck Knoblauch, 2B, Twins:

  • The rookie version of Knoblauch was a capable contributor on a Twins team that won the World Series in 1991, when he batted .281/.351/.350 with 2.2 fWAR and 25 steals during the regular season and put up even better offensive numbers in the playoffs. Knoblauch made his first of four All-Star trips the next season, but he really came into his own from 1995-97. During that three-year span, Knoblauch trailed only Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza in position player fWAR (20.6). Nevertheless, after the last of those seasons, the Twins traded him to the Yankees for Eric Milton, Danny Mota and Brian Buchanan. Knoblauch was a member of three World Series winners and four straight AL pennant teams as a Yankee, though his overall production fell and he developed an awful case of the yips as a second baseman. His defensive troubles forced him to move to the outfield for the tail end of his career – which came to a close with the Royals in 2002. Still, Knoblauch was quite successful in the bigs, where he slashed .289/.378/.406 with 39.8 fWAR.

1992 – Pat Listach, SS, Brewers:

Listach beat out fellow speedster Kenny Lofton for this award, hitting .290/.352/.349 with one homer, 54 steals and 3.4 fWAR. But Lofton ended up a far superior big leaguer to Listach, who only played through 1997. Also an ex-Astro, Listach batted .251/.316/.309 with 1.5 fWAR.

1993 – Tim Salmon, OF, Angels:

  • This was the first of five 30-home run seasons for Salmon, who put up 31 en route to 4.7 fWAR. For the most part, Salmon was an excellent offensive player during his career – all of which he spent with the Angels from 1992-2006 – evidenced by his .282/.385/.491 line and 299 HRs. He put up 35.4 fWAR along the way and is considered one of the top players in franchise history. However, with Mike Trout now in the fold, Salmon’s no longer the best Angel with a fish for a last name.

1994 – Bob Hamelin, 1B, Royals:

  • Hamelin upended eventual greats Manny Ramirez and Jim Edmonds in the voting that season, but it was hardly the start of a storied career. While Hamelin hit .282/.388/.599 with 24 homers and 2.4 fWAR as a rookie, he never reached the 20 mark again through his last season in 1998, and he was a replacement-level player (0.0. fWAR) after his first year. But he’ll always have this, arguably the worst baseball card ever.

1995 – Marty Cordova, OF, Twins:

  • Cordova had a few productive campaigns from 1995-2003, but Year 1 was his best. He debuted with a .277/.352/.486 line, 24 homers, 20 steals and 3.6 fWAR. He ultimately finished his career a .274/.344/.448 hitter with 122 dingers, 57 stolen bases and 6.5 fWAR.

1996 – Derek Jeter, SS, Yankees:

  • Never heard of him. Seriously, though, 24 years after winning AL ROY, Jeter can be considered one of the most recognizable athletes in history. He went on to a Hall of Fame career, all of which he spent from 1995-2014 with the Yankees (who retired his number), with 14 All-Star nods and five titles. The Captain was a .310/.377/.440 hitter with 260 homers, 358 steals and 73.0 fWAR. As a first-year man, Jeter batted .314/.370/.430, totaling 10 HRs, 14 SBs and 2.2 fWAR.

1997 – Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Red Sox:

  • A year after the Red Sox saw an archrival Yankee win the award, they found a shortstop capable of going to to toe with Jeter. Garciappara’s greatest four-year stretch spanned from his rookie season through 2000, during which Jeff Bagwell and Barry Bonds were the only position players to outdo his 27.5 fWAR. A good portion of that (6.4) came during Garciaparra’s first year, when he slashed .306/.342/.534 with 30 homers and 22 steals. Unfortunately, peak Garciaparra didn’t last nearly as long as he should have because of injuries. But he did still manage extremely effective overall production (.313/.361/.521; 229 HRs, 95 SBs; 41.5 fWAR; six All-Star appearances) before his career ended in 2009.

1998 – Ben Grieve, OF, Athletics:

  • Grieve was a good hitter throughout his career, which ended in 2005, though never more productive than he was a rookie. He hit .288/.386/.458 with 18 HRs that season. Four years later, the A’s sent Grieve to the then-Devil Rays as part of a trade for Johnny Damon. However, Grieve didn’t provide a ton of value in Tampa Bay. He left the game as a .269/.367/.442 hitter with 118 homers and 6.7 fWAR.

1999 – Carlos Beltran, OF, Royals:

  • The start of a Hall of Fame career? Depends on how you view Beltran in light of his sign-stealing issues with the Astros and his fleeting stint as the Mets’ manager. In terms of production, though, he has a strong case, and it all began during a ’99 campaign in which he slashed .293/.337/.454, went 20/20 (22 HRs, 27 SBs) and accrued 4.3 fWAR. Beltran went on to account for 67.9 fWAR as a member of several different teams through 2017, bat .279/.350/.486 with 435 homers and 312 steals, and earn nine All-Star trips.

Orioles Release 37 Minor Leaguers

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While roster moves in Major League Baseball are not allowed during the shutdown, teams can still make minor league transactions. For instance, the Rockies cut right-hander Tim Melville earlier this week. And now the Orioles are among the clubs paring down minor league player personnel. The Orioles just released 37 low-level farmhands, Dan Connolly of The Athletic reports (subscription link). Connolly provides the full list of players in his piece.

While the Orioles, of course, didn’t part with any premium prospects, there are a few familiar names in the bunch. Sons of former Orioles Chris Hoiles (outfielder Dalton Hoiles) and Rafael Palmeiro (infielder Preston Palmeiro) were let go. Also of interest, the Orioles said goodbye to infielder Jomar Reyes, who was a well-regarded prospect earlier in his professional career.

Baltimore signed Reyes for $350K out of the Dominican Republic in 2014, when then-general manager Dan Duquette said Reyes and fellow signing Carlos Diaz could be “potential everyday major league players that can hit in the middle of the lineup.” That obviously hasn’t come to fruition so far, as Reyes has only managed a .269/.313/.395 line in 2,159 minor league plate appearances. Now 23 years old, he spent most of last season in High-A and batted .283/.320/.406.

10-Year-Old A’s Trade Paying Dividends

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If you followed Major League Baseball for most of the this century, you probably remember David DeJesus. The now-retired outfielder posted a solid career as part of a few different teams from 2003-15, during which he amassed 25.5 fWAR. DeJesus spent one of his seasons in Oakland, and though he didn’t have a banner year then, the franchise is still benefiting from his acquisition – one that could pay dividends for at least a few more years.

Back in November 2010, DeJesus was coming off one of the most productive seasons of his career. Although he only played in 91 games that year with the Royals, DeJesus batted .318/.384/.443 (127 wRC+) with 2.5 fWAR. However, after spending the first eight seasons of his career in Kansas City, the non-contenders traded him and his $6MM salary to Oakland for pitchers Vin Mazzaro and Justin Marks. The Royals received little to no value from either of those players, though. Mazzaro threw 72 1/3 innings of 6.72 ERA ball in their uniform, and the Royals dealt him to the Pirates after that. Marks tossed just two frames in KC (both in 2014) and was out of the organization after that.

Oakland made out far better, though it took some time for that to become the case. Both the team and DeJesus underwhelmed in 2011, in which the A’s went 74-88 and DeJesus saw his line plummet to .240/.323/.376 (96 wRC+) with 1.7 fWAR over 506 trips to the plate. DeJesus became a free agent after that, and the A’s let him leave for the Cubs on a two-year, $10MM contract (fun fact: He was president of baseball operations Theo Epstein’s first free-agent signing in Chicago). So the trade was close to a wash for the A’s, right? Not quite.

As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes wrote when DeJesus joined the Cubs, “DeJesus was offered arbitration by the A’s last week, so they’ll receive a supplemental draft pick in 2012 for their loss.”

This is where it gets good for the Athletics. With selection No. 47, the one the club received for DeJesus, it chose a Georgia-born high school first baseman named Matt Olson.

“The A’s see Olson as a future middle-of-the-order hitter,” Baseball America wrote at the time. And though Olson was long a well-regarded part of the A’s system, he was never a premium prospect across the league. Now, though, he’s one of the most valuable players on the A’s and among the most well-rounded first basemen in the sport.

After a run as a productive minor leaguer, Olson made it to Oakland in 2016, though he struggled over a mere 26 plate appearances. The next season, however, Olson turned into a monster at the MLB level. The lefty swinger racked up 216 PA and slashed .259/.352/.651 (164 wRC+) with 24 home runs. To this point, that has been Olson’s lone elite showing as a hitter, but that’s not to say he hasn’t been easily above average since then. Dating back to 2018, Olson has slashed .256/.342/.495 (126 wRC+) with 65 homers over 1,207 PA. Those numbers, not to mention his all-world defense, helped him post 7.3 fWAR during the previous two seasons.

Among all major leaguers dating back to 2018, Olson ranks seventh in Ultimate Zone Rating (18.1) and eighth in Defensive Runs Saved (31). One of the few better defenders than Olson has been teammate and third baseman Matt Chapman. He and Olson comprise one of the premier corner infield tandems in the game, and they’ve done it at affordable prices for low-budget Oakland. That’s going to start changing soon – b0th players will enter arbitration for the first of three potential trips next winter. Whether the A’s will be able to keep either around beyond their arb years remains to be seen, but there’s no denying they’ve already gotten excellent value from the two. In Olson’s case, it all began with a trade that didn’t bring potentially strong returns in the beginning.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Remembering 1990s NL Rookies Of The Year

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Having already revisited the careers of Rookie of the Year winners from 2000-09 (American League, National League), let’s go back a decade to the 1990s. We’ll open with the NL’s 10 winners…

1990 – David Justice, OF, Braves:

  • This marked the beginning of a decorated career for Justice, who slashed .282/.373/.535 with 28 home runs in 504 plate appearances as a rookie. The Braves were only a 65-win team that season, but thanks in part to Justice, they became a powerhouse after that. The club made three World Series appearance, winning one Fall Classic (in 1995), with Justice on its roster. But the Braves traded Justice and Marquis Grissom to the team they knocked off, the Indians, prior to the ’97 campaign for Kenny Lofton and Alan Embree. Justice continued to succeed as an Indian, though they dealt him to the Yankees during the 2000 season. He went on to win his second title then. Although Justice’s numbers dipped as a Yankee and Athletic from 2001-02, he finished his career as a .279/.378/.500 hitter with 305 homers, 40.4 fWAR and three All-Star bids.

1991 – Jeff Bagwell, 1B, Astros:

  • Acquired from Boston a year earlier in a trade the Red Sox would still like back, Bagwell got off to a terrific start – he hit .294/.387/437 with 4.3 fWAR as a rookie – and only improved from there. He’s now an Astros legend, a Baseball Hall of Famer and someone who put up a .297/.408/.540 line with 449 homers, 202 steals, 80.2 fWAR, four All-Star nods and an MVP through 2005.

1992 – Eric Karros, 1B, Dodgers:

  • Compared to the first couple players on this list, Karros had a modest impact in his first year, when he batted .257/.304/.426 with 20 homers and 1.0 fWAR. But Karros still enjoyed a better career than most, as he swatted 284 HRs and hit .266/.325/.454 with 17.8 fWAR as a Dodger, Cub and Athletic through 2004.

1993 – Mike Piazza, C, Dodgers:

  • The second straight Dodger to win and the second eventual Hall of Famer on this list, Piazza made an incredible impact from the get-go. He slashed .318/.370/.561 with 35 dingers and 7.4 fWAR in Year 1 – the first of 12 All-Star seasons. Also a former Marlin, Met (they retired his No. 31), Athletic and Padre, Piazza hung it up in 2007 as a .308/.377/.545 batter who smacked 427 homers and accounted for 63.7 fWAR.

1994 – Raul Mondesi, OF, Dodgers:

  • Make that three consecutive Dodgers. Mondesi hit .306/.333/.516 with 16 homers and 11 steals in his first year, which proved to be the first of several above-average offensive efforts for him. Overall, he was a two-time 30/30 man who racked up 271 homers, 229 steals, recorded a .273/.331/.485 line, and collected 26.5 fWAR as a Dodger, Blue Jay, Yankee, Diamondback, Pirate, Angel and Brave from 1993-2004. Mondesi later became the mayor of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, but that ended with a prison sentence for corruption. In better news, his son Adalberto Mondesi looks as if he could be a long-term cornerstone for the Royals.

1995 – Hideo Nomo, SP, Dodgers:

  • Hey, another Dodger, and the first NL pitcher of the decade to win the award. Nomo, a Japanese import who was the first player born there to play in the majors since 1965, was a sensation early in his MLB career. He spun 191 1/3 innings of 2.54 ERA ball with over 11 strikeouts per nine as a rookie. That proved to be Nomo’s best season, but he did put together a few more quality ones through 2008, and he tossed two no-hitters along the way. The former Dodger, Met, Brewer, Tiger, Red Sox, Ray and Royal logged a 4.24 ERA with 8.73 K/9 and 4.13 BB/9 in 1,976 1/3 innings in the bigs.

1996 – Todd Hollandsworth, OF, Dodgers:

  • In order to win this award, it was apparently a requirement to play for the Dodgers. Hollandsworth hit .291/.348/.437 with 12 homers and 21 steals in his debut season, though his impact in the league wasn’t that great otherwise. He totaled 5.2 fWAR (1.2 as a rookie) with a handful of teams from 1995-2006.

1997 – Scott Rolen, 3B, Phillies:

  • Rolen put an end to the Dodgers’ ROY reign Hall of Famer with a stellar first season, in which he was a .283/.377/.469 hitter with 21 homers and 4.3 fWAR. Rolen was largely an outstanding offensive player with the Phils, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds through 2012 – he batted a lifetime .281/.364/.490 with 316 HRs and 118 steals – and also a defensive maven. He wound up an eight-time Gold Glover and a seven-time All-Star who accrued 69.9 fWAR. Hall of Famer? He has a legit case.

1998 – Kerry Wood, SP, Cubs:

  • Wood’s shining moment came in his fifth-ever start, May 6, 1998, when he struck out 20 Astros in a complete game shutout. Those 20 punchouts helped Wood to a whopping 12.58 K/9 that year, during which he registered a 3.40 ERA over 166 2/3 innings. But Wood missed the next season because of Tommy John surgery, and injuries regularly slowed him down throughout a career that ran through 2012 with the Cubs, Yankees and Indians. While Wood was a full-time starter in his first six seasons, he shifted to a relief role in 2005. He left the game with a 3.67 ERA, 10.32 K/9 and 23.9 fWAR across 1,380 frames. Not the Hall of Fame career it perhaps could have been had Wood stayed healthy, but still an impressive one.

1999 – Scott Williamson, RP, Reds:

  • Williamson was a relief workhorse who peaked in his first season, when he fired 93 1/3 innings of 2.41 ERA pitching with 10.32 K/9 and 19 saves. Like Wood, however, injuries had a negative effect on his career. Williamson pitched for several other teams through 2007, and despite walking five batters per nine, he still put up a highly respectable 3.36 ERA with 10.45 K/9 in 439 1/3 lifetime innings.

Ranking The All-Time No. 1 Picks

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In case you missed it, we just recapped the careers of every No. 1 pick from the first amateur draft in 1965 through last year (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s). So now let’s round up how those players fared or, in the cases of those who are still active, have fared since hearing their names called at the top of their respective classes. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll use fWAR as the defining stat. Granted, it’s not the end-all, be all, and it doesn’t account for the postseason, but it does give you a pretty good idea of a player’s performance. Of course, not every first selection has played in the majors. Recent choices like Mickey Moniak (2016), Royce Lewis (2017), Casey Mize (2018) and Adley Rutschman (2019) are trying to work their way up. Meanwhile, Steve Chilcott (1966), Brien Taylor (1991), Mark Appel (2013) and Brady Aiken (2014) never reached the majors.

2000-09 AL Rookies Of The Year: At Least 2 Future Hall Of Famers

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We just began a series that examines how the Rookies of the Year from each decade panned out. Naturally, after going from 2000-09 in the National League, we’ll stay in that decade and turn our attention to the AL…

2000 – Kazuhiro Sasaki, RP, Mariners:

  • Sasaki was a star in his homeland of Japan before immigrating to the majors and signing with Seattle, where he continued to keep runs off the board at an impressive rate. The right-hander put up 62 2/3 innings of 3.16 ERA ball with 37 saves as a rookie. While Sasaki only played through 2003, he enjoyed a nice major league career in which he posted a 3.14 ERA with 9.75 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 129 saves and two All-Star appearances over 223 1/3 frames.

2001 – Ichiro Suzuki, OF, Mariners:

  • Back-to-back Mariners, both from Japan. Ichiro, who beat out then-Indian C.C. Sabathia for ROY honors, was among the driving forces on an incredible M’s team that won 116 regular-season games. Not only was he the top rookie in his first season, but the exhilarating Ichiro took home the MVP, won his first of two batting titles and made his first of 10 All-Star teams with a .350/.381/.457 line, 56 stolen bases and 6.0 fWAR. Ichiro didn’t spend his entire career in Seattle – he also was a Yankee and Marlin – but things came full-circle when he wrapped up his playing days as a Mariner in 2019. He should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when the time comes.

2002 – Eric Hinske, 3B, Blue Jays:

  • Hinske peaked in Year 1 with a .279/.365/.481 showing, 24 homers and 4.8 fWAR. He did play through 2013 with a few other teams, but he didn’t register especially valuable production after his first season. However, Hinske did end up as a .249/.332/.430 hitter with 137 HRs and 11.2 fWAR, so he had a better MLB career than most.

2003 – Angel Berroa, SS, Royals:

  • Hideki Matsui, Rocco Baldelli and Mark Teixeira were also among the AL’s top rookies that year, but they all lost out to Berroa. Those three ultimately had far better overall careers than Berroa, though. While Berroa was a .287/.338/.451 batter who totaled 17 HRs, 21 steals and 2.7 fWAR in his rookie season, he never came close to matching that output again. Berroa, also a Dodger, Met and Yankee through 2009, was a minus-0.1 fWAR player for the rest of his career, and he said goodbye as a .258/.303/.374/ hitter.

2004 – Bobby Crosby, SS, Athletics:

  • Another sign that ROY voting isn’t an indicator of long-term success: Zack Greinke finished fourth in that year’s balloting. Crosby was productive that season and the next, during which he combined for 6.4 fWAR, but was nowhere near as valuable thereafter. He posted a combined 0.1 fWAR with the A’s, Pirates and Diamondbacks into 2010, the last season he appeared in the majors.

2005 – Huston Street, RP, Athletics:

  • The second consecutive winner for Oakland, Street beat out runner-up Robinson Cano by logging a sterling 1.72 ERA and converting 23 of 27 save opportunities. It was the beginning of a strong career for Street, who managed a 2.95 ERA with 324 saves from 2005-17 as an Athletic, Rockie, Padre and Angel. Notably, Street was part of the 2008 blockbuster that saw him, Carlos Gonzalez and Greg Smith go to Colorado in exchange for Matt Holliday.

2006 – Justin Verlander, SP, Tigers:

  • Future Hall of Famer No. 2 on this list. The fireballing Verlander pitched to a 3.63 ERA across 186 innings in 2006, when the Tigers lost to the Cardinals in the World Series, yet his production has trended way upward since then. Now a member of the Astros, with whom he has won two pennants and a World Series, the 37-year-old is the owner of a 3.33 ERA with 9.07 K/9 and 2.57 BB/9 in 453 starts and just under 3,000 innings. Verlander’s an eight-time All-Star, someone who has pitched three no-hitters, won two AL Cy Youngs (including last season) and taken home an MVP. He’s also 27th all-time in pitcher fWAR (72.0).

2007 – Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Red Sox:

  • Pedroia may also have a Hall of Fame case, though injuries have ruined a tremendous career over the past few seasons and could prevent the 36-year-old from making his way back to a major league diamond. Nevertheless, Pedroia will go down as one of the most accomplished Red Sox players ever. It all began in Year 1 with a .317/.380/.442 line and 3.7 fWAR. Pedroia was on his first of three World Series-winnings teams then. He’s also now a four-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glover and a one-time MVP who has slashed .299/.365./439 with 140 homers, 138 steals and 46.6 fWAR in the bigs.

2008 – Evan Longoria, 3B, Rays:

  • We’re on a good run now. Longoria batted .272/.343/.531 with 27 homers and 5.6 fWAR as a rookie to help the Rays to their only AL pennant. He’s now a franchise icon who largely thrived in Tampa Bay through 2017, though the team traded him to San Francisco after that. Longoria’s production has dropped off lately, but there’s no denying he has had a wonderful career. The 34-year-old is a three-time All-Star and a three-time Gold Glove winner who has batted .267/.335/.474 with 297 HRs and 51.1 fWAR.

2009 – Andrew Bailey, RP, Athletics:

  • The decade concluded with three A’s winning this award. Bailey earned it with 83 1/3 innings of 1.84 ERA ball and 26 saves, and he continued to hold his own over the next couple years. However, injuries took their toll after that, and Oakland traded Bailey to Boston in 2011 in a deal that delivered Josh Reddick to the A’s. That worked out for the A’s, but Bailey wasn’t often healthy or effective as part of the Red Sox from 2012-13. He went on to pitch for Yankees, Angels and Phillies from 2015-17, though he also couldn’t revisit his A’s form with any of those teams. That said, Bailey had a more-than-respectable career, in which he logged a 3.12 ERA with 9.05, 2.99 BB/9 and 95 saves, and earned two All-Star nods.

12 Years Later, This Trade’s Still Paying Off For Yankees

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It has been a dozen years since the Yankees swung a trade for outfielder Nick Swisher, who paid immediate dividends as part of the franchise and whose acquisition continues to benefit the organization to this day. On Nov. 13, 2008, the Yankees sent two minor league pitchers – Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez – as well as veteran infielder Wilson Betemit to the White Sox for Swisher and young hurler Kanekoa Texeira. Most of the pieces in the swap – Marquez, Nunez and Texeira – failed to pan out in the majors, but the move revived the switch-hitting Swisher’s career and helped him land a sizable payday in free agency down the road.

If we go back to the start, Swisher opened his career as a rather effective member of the Athletics, who chose him 16th overall in the 2002 draft. As a member of the big club from 2004-07, Swisher batted .251/.361/.464 (118 wRC+) with 80 home runs and 10.0 fWAR over 1,924 plate appearances, aiding Oakland in three plus-.500 seasons and a playoff berth. However, almost six years after spending a high pick on him, the A’s sold the affable Swisher, dealing him to the White Sox in January 2008 for a package led by left-hander Gio Gonzalez. That worked out fine for Oakland, which received a couple terrific years from Gonzalez before trading him to the Nationals in December 2011 in yet another notable transaction.

While the A’s profited from Gonzalez’s presence, his career took a bad turn in his first year out of Oakland. The 2008 campaign was one of the worst of Swisher’s time in the game, and he was unable to win the favor of then-White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen as a result. While Swisher was seemingly a solid clubhouse presence in the majors, Guillen thought the opposite. He said in November 2008, a little while after the White Sox parted with Swisher: “To be honest with you, I was not happy with the way he was reacting at the end of the season. He wasn’t helping me either.”  Maybe the relationship would have been better had Swisher produced, though he instead struggled to a .219/.332/.410 line (93 wRC+) in 588 PA. But Swisher did pop 24 home runs, his third of nine straight seasons with 20-plus, and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman decided to buy low on him.

To this day, the Swisher pickup looks like one of the most brilliant decisions of Cashman’s lengthy tenure atop New York’s front office. Swisher was a quality contributor throughout his time as a Yankee, including in a 2009 campaign that saw the team win its most recent World Series championship. From that season through 2012, Swisher’s last as a Yankee, he hit .268/.367/.483 (128 wRC+) with 105 HRs and 14.4 fWAR across 2,501 PA, also earning his lone All-Star berth in the process. But the Yankees were not willing to commit to Swisher once he became a free agent before 2013, which, for multiple reasons, was a wise call in hindsight.

In January 2013, the Ohio-born Swisher returned to his native state on a four-year, $56MM contract with the Indians. Unfortunately for Cleveland, it didn’t get anything close to the Yankees’ version of Swisher. Owing in part to knee problems, Swisher slashed a below-average .228/.311/.377 (92 wRC+) with 32 homers and minus-0.5 fWAR in 1,146 PA in an Indians uniform. They dealt Swisher and fellow outfielder Michael Bourn to the Braves for infielder Chris Johnson in August 2015. That proved to be Swisher’s final season in MLB, though he did return to the Yankees on a minor league contract in 2016 before his career came to an end later that year.

The season after Swisher said goodbye to pro baseball, another star was born in New York. Towering right fielder Aaron Judge, a top 100 prospect in his younger days, exploded on the scene in 2017, batting .284/.422/.627 (174 wRC+), smacking 52 homers and racking up 8.3 fWAR. Judge fell short of AL MVP honors then, but he won Rookie of the Year in his league and was part of a club that took the eventual title-winning Astros to a seven-game LCS.

While injuries have somewhat limited Judge’s availability since his initial season, you can’t argue with the production he has managed when he has been able to take the field. Since his second year, Judge has recorded a line of .278/.392/.528 (good for a 146 wRC+) and amassed 54 dingers with 9.7 fWAR.

Judge is now 28 years old, a two-time All-Star and perhaps the face of the Bronx-based franchise, but he may have never gotten there if not for Swisher. Allowing Swisher to depart in free agency entitled the Yankees to a compensatory selection in the ensuing draft. They used that pick, No. 32 in 2013, on Judge – a former Fresno State Bulldog. So, not only did the Yankees benefit from Swisher’s best seasons as a pro, but stealing him from the White Sox 12 years ago is still paying off for them in a big way.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

How Seattle Acquired One Of Its Best Players

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While last season was an injury-shortened wreck for the Mariners’ Mitch Haniger, you can’t dispute that he’s a highly valuable outfielder when he’s able to take the field. Haniger came into his own during his first extensive action in 2017, and he was a deserving All-Star during the next season, in which he hit .285/.366/.493 (137 wRC+) with 26 home runs and 4.5 fWAR. With three years of control left, Haniger could either continue to serve as a key Mariner or re-emerge as a desirable trade chip, leaving the M’s in a good spot in both cases.

As for how Haniger became a Mariner, we can start by revisiting the 2011-12 offseason. Prolific slugger Prince Fielder, a Brewer from 2005-11, reached the open market after the last of those seasons. He was a Type A free agent, which is a concept that’s now extinct in the majors, but losing Fielder entitled the Brewers to a compensatory pick in the 2012 draft. They did indeed see Fielder depart, as he went to the Tigers on a nine-year, $214MM contract. That left the Brewers with the 38th overall pick, which they used on Haniger.

While Haniger was a decent minor league hitter at the lower levels in the Milwaukee organization, he never played in the majors with the Brewers. They instead traded Haniger and left-hander Anthony Banda (now a Ray) to the Diamondbacks at the July 2014 deadline for outfielder Gerardo Parra. The Brewers didn’t make the playoffs that year or the next one – Parra was on their roster both seasons – and they traded him to the Orioles for righty Zach Davies at the 2015 deadline. Davies was effective as a Brewer from 2015-19, though they dealt him to the Padres in a four-player swap that delivered infielder Luis Urias and lefty Eric Lauer to Milwaukee over the offseason.

So, in the wake of the Parra trade, how did Haniger end up in Seattle? Let’s go back to November 2016, when the D-backs sent him, infielder Jean Segura and righty Zac Curtis to the Mariners in a blockbuster trade for infielder/outfielder Ketel Marte and righty Taijuan Walker. Segura’s now a member of the Phillies, who acquired him from the M’s in a December 2018 that brought shortstop J.P. Crawford and some guy named Carlos Santana to Seattle (though Santana never played for the club). Marte has turned into a superstar in Arizona, meanwhile, Walker’s now back in Seattle after a couple injury-ruined years in the desert, and Curtis is out of baseball.

This goes to show how much one team’s decision – in this case, the Brewers letting Fielder go in free agency – can affect the league. Had the Brewers simply re-signed Fielder, which was out of the question for the low-budget team, you never know what would have happened to any of the aforementioned clubs or players. Milwaukee’s inability to keep Fielder did lead Haniger to Seattle, which is no doubt pleased to have him in the fold for at least the next few seasons, but it did lose Marte when it acquired him.

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