This Date In Transactions History: Mo Vaughn
On this date in 2001, the Mets acquired first baseman Mo Vaughn from the Angels in exchange for right-hander Kevin Appier. Vaughn had missed the entire 2001 season with the Angels due to a ruptured tendon in his left arm, but General Manager Steve Phillips & Co. opted to roll the dice on the slugger anyway. The trade was meant to bring some power to the Mets’ lineup, but Vaughn’s injuries wound up making the deal one of the worst moves of Phillips’ tenure in New York.
The media got wind of the trade almost a week prior to its completion when sources told Tyler Kepner of the New York Times that Phillips, manager Bobby Valentine, and Assistant General Manager Omar Minaya traveled up to Massachusetts to watch Vaughn work out, which was unusual given that Vaughn was under contract with Anaheim. ”I understand it was very positive. I heard that they really liked what they saw,” said one source. That would presumably include Vaughn’s physical shape, despite the slugger’s reported increase from 245 pounds to 275 pounds in his first two seasons with the Halos.
Less than a week later, the Mets agreed to take on Vaughn and the roughly $50MM owed to him over the next three seasons. As part of the deal, the Mets got to defer some of the money paid to the first baseman while the Angels covered the $8MM he was still owed as part of his signing bonus. Meanwhile, they would also part with Appier, who was coming off of an impressive season in his first (and only) campaign in blue and orange. The right-hander posted a 3.57 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9, his best numbers since his time in Kansas City.
Vaughn wasn’t able to mash the ball as well as he had in years past by the time he got to Shea, but the veteran still managed to hit .259/.349/.456 with 26 homers in 139 games in 2002. The 2003 season was an entirely different story, however, as a knee injury in early May would bring his career to a close. Meanwhile, Appier pitched to a 3.92 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 32 starts for the Halos in 2002, helping to propel the Halos to their first World Series title. The Angels wound up releasing Appier the following year as he struggled with a flexor tendon injury, but one has to imagine that they were pretty happy to get out from under the money owed to Vaughn.
This post was originally published in 2012.
Follow MLBTR On Instagram
Earlier this year, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB. Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball. From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.
Recently, we’ve giving fans an early look at traded players in their new jerseys. Here’s a glance at how Starlin Castro will look in pinstripes. And how about Ben Zobrist in his new Cubs uniform? If you’re looking for Todd Frazier in a White Sox jersey, Johnny Cueto in a Giants uniform, or Mike Leake in his new threads, we’ve got you covered there too.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one. Follow us on Instagram today!
Submit Your Questions For The MLBTR Mailbag
It’s time for another edition of the MLBTR Mailbag. Our last edition fielded questions on free agents Wei-Yin Chen, Doug Fister and Mike Leake in addition to breaking down a potential Lorenzo Cain extension and offering baseball book recommendations for the holiday season.
We’ll run another edition of the mailbag later tonight. If you have a question you’ve been kicking around and would like to hear our take, let us know via email: mlbtrmailbag@gmail.com. While volume prevents our ability to come close to responding to all of the questions, remember that you can also always join our Tuesday and Thursday afternoon chats, hosted by myself and Jeff Todd, respectively.
AL Central Notes: Frazier, Salazar, Allen, White Sox, Twins
The Reds spent “at least a month” trying to pry Danny Salazar from the Indians for Todd Frazier with no luck, and were also unsuccessful with their next demand of Cody Allen and prospects for Frazier, Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports in his chronicle of the negotiations between the two Ohio clubs. Cleveland wanted to keep Salazar and Allen in order to contend in 2016 so the Indians were more open to talking about Jose Ramirez and second-tier prospects (Justus Sheffield, Michael Clevinger, Bobby Bradley) with the Reds. Cincinnati, however, wanted two of those prospects plus one of Clint Frazier or Bradley Zimmer, and the Tribe was unwilling to give up either of its top two minor leaguers. The Indians attempted to construct a three-way deal to land Frazier from Cincinnati but the Reds instead ended up swinging a three-team trade of their own with the White Sox and Dodgers that sent the third baseman to Chicago.
Here’s more from around the AL Central…
- Also from Pluto’s piece, he hears the acquisitions of Rajai Davis and Mike Napoli may be the Indians‘ last notable moves of the winter. The club may still make a minor transaction or two but their heavy lifting could be over.
- The White Sox are monitoring the free agent outfield market and giving up a draft pick to sign a qualifying offer free agent “won’t necessarily be a deal-breaker,” ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (subscription required). Chicago’s first-rounder is protected by virtue of being a top-10 pick, so if they were to sign someone like Justin Upton or Dexter Fowler, the Sox would only sacrifice the extra compensation round pick they recently obtained when Jeff Samardzija left to sign with San Francisco. As Olney notes, the White Sox are intent on being contenders while cornerstone pieces like Chris Sale and Jose Abreu are on such reasonable contracts.
- The Twins are looking for a veteran backup outfielder, MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger writes. This player would essentially replace Shane Robinson on Minnesota’s roster, serving as an experienced bench piece behind the Twins’ young outfield corps.
- It’s been a relatively quiet offseason for the World Series champions thus far, though Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star feels the Royals front office has earned the benefit of the doubt given its recent success. Expecting the Royals to suddenly splurge above their usual payroll limits was unrealistic, Mellinger notes, as the club needs “efficient spending” to remain competitive in both the short- and long-term. It’s worth noting that the Royals signed Joakim Soria and Chris Young to multi-year contracts and they’ve been at least connected to several major free agents and trade targets (such as Alex Gordon, Yovani Gallardo, Scott Kazmir, Gerardo Parra, Carlos Gonzalez and Frazier), so K.C. could simply be waiting to strike with another notable move.
MLBTR Podcast: Reliever Todd Coffey
Free agent Todd Coffey joins host Jeff Todd this week to talk about his career in the pen and his current comeback attempt. Coffey, who plans to throw for teams in January, says he feels healthy and wants to be able to pitch multiple innings for his next MLB club. Steve Adams also chats with Jeff about what’s up ahead in the hard-to-predict offseason market.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
MLBTR Podcast: More From the Winter Meetings
On this week’s edition, MLBTR’s Zach Links, who is on site in Nashville, checks back in with Jeff to discuss the moves that have gone down at the Winter Meetings as well as how the remaining pieces might fall.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
Follow MLBTR On Instagram
Recently, MLB Trade Rumors launched a brand new official Instagram account: @TradeRumorsMLB. Each day, we’re sharing conversation-inspiring images about the hottest topics in baseball. From there, we invite you to give us a like, weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section, and even share the link with a friend.
This week, we’re giving fans an early look at traded players in their new jerseys. Here’s a glance at how Starlin Castro will look in pinstripes. And how about Ben Zobrist in his new Cubs uniform? Ditto for Shelby Miller who looks sharp in the D’Backs’ 2015 uni.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have an Instagram account, this is the perfect excuse to sign up and get one. Follow us on Instagram today!
MLBTR Podcast: Winter Meetings Preview
Host Jeff Todd covers the latest transactions leading up to the Winter Meetings and then welcomes fellow MLBTR writer Zach Links to the show. Zach will be heading down to Nashville to cover the meetings next week, and he joins to preview the major stories as that key event approaches.
Among the matters considered in this week’s episode: Zack Greinke‘s coming contract, the biggest sellers, some surprising drivers of the market, and a still-quiet group of excellent free agent corner outfielders.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.
The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
AL East Notes: Blue Jays, Happ, Colon
Former Orioles executive Andy MacPhail believed in the “grow the arms” philosophy because he felt that getting pitching was expensive and getting it any other way proved to be expensive. After watching J.A. Happ ink a deal with a $12MM AAV, Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com agrees with the expensive part. Happ, of course, finished the 2015 season with a stellar 1.85 ERA over 11 starts for the Pirates, but he posted a 4.64 ERA in his previous 20 starts for Seattle. Happ’s overall track record is one of mediocrity and Melewski can’t quite understand why the Blue Jays paid that much for him. He’s not alone in that thinking, either.
Here’s more on Happ and other items out of the AL East:
- Interim GM Tony LaCava says the Blue Jays inked Happ because he fills an urgent need for the club without forcing Toronto to give up a prospect, big leaguer, or draft pick, as John Lott of the National Post writes. Overall, it sounds like LaCava is not even close to done. “We’ve had dialogue with any number of (free agents), a wide net we’ve cast, and we still have conversations with various free agents and their agents and also with other teams looking at the trade market as well,” LaCava said. “I wouldn’t rule anything out right now, but certainly we did address some of the bigger needs that we had.”
- Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette of SiriusXM (audio link) see tons of red flags when it comes to the Blue Jays‘ deal with Happ. Bowden is troubled by the enormity of the contract, which appears to be based off of Happ’s small sample size of excellence. The ex-GM expected Happ to command $20MM over a two-year deal, but a three-year, $36MM pact was far beyond what he imagined.
- Wallace Matthews of ESPN.com pondered Bartolo Colon as a fit for the Yankees. Colon, who will be 43 in May, has averaged 196 innings in each of the last three seasons and his 2015 ERA (4.16) was lower than that of several Yankees starters. Still, Matthews expects Colon to start feeling his age sooner rather than later and doesn’t feel that he would be a good match for the Bombers.
MLBTR Podcast With Lefty Wade LeBlanc
After catching up on the league’s pre-Thanksgiving Day trades and signings, host Jeff Todd welcomes veteran left-hander Wade LeBlanc to the show.
The 31-year-old says that he’s healthy and looking for an opportunity with a major league organization after spending the 2015 campaign with Japan’s Seibu Lions. LeBlanc, a seven-year MLB veteran, talks about his hot stove experiences as well as his approach on the mound and dedication to the game. He also shares a great story about an unlikely source of a valuable pitching tip.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.