10 Worst MLB Trades in Recent Years

Today, the Oakland A's traded ace Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Chicago Cubs for four minor leaguers. At first glance, I thought Oakland and Billy Beane got fleeced - c'mon, Billy, you couldn't land Felix Pie? No Josh Vitters? You couldn't hold out until the Rays were forced to overpay to keep the magic going? I mean, as an Angels fan, I think this is great...but still, what gives?

But then reason set in - it might seem like Oakland got the short end of the stick, but Beane rarely disappoints. So I guess we need to wait and see how this one pans out.

But this got us thinking - what were some of the worst MLB trades in recent years? We've given (most of) these ones time to pan out, and they were flat out awful.

10. Texas Rangers trade John Danks, Nick Masset, and Jacob Rasner to the Chicago White Sox for Brandon McCarthy and David Paisano.

This goes at #10 only because we should probably give it more time. But after the time we have given it, the pitching-starved Texas Rangers look terrible. John Danks has been spectacular for the White Sox, sporting a 6-4 record, 2.52 ERA, 86 K's, and 1.17 WHIP. Nick Masset hasn't been too shabby himself coming out of the bullpen with a 3.58 ERA. But Brandon McCarthy? 5-10 record with a 4.87 ERA, 59 K's, and 1.56 WHIP.

9. St. Louis Cardinals trade Dan Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Mulder.

I might have put this one higher on the list, except the fact that this trade resulted in a World Series Championship for the St. Louis Cardinals. I'll give the St. Louis front office some credit for that. But where has Mark Mulder been these days? Meanwhile, Dan Haren put up three very solid years for Oakland, going more than 200 innings each year, Kiko Calero put up a few good seasons for the A's (before being released about a week ago), and Daric Barton...well, let's just go back to Dan Haren. Even though Haren finds himself in Arizona now, the A's were able to parlay him into guys like Dana Eveland (7-5, 3.50 ERA) and doubles-machine Carlos Gonzalez.

8. Oakland Athletics trade Mark McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals for T.J. Matthews, Blake Stein, and Eric Ludwick.

Sure, I'm a little reluctant putting this one here because I understand the A's wanting to get something - anything - for McGwire before he hit free agency. But that's the best you could do for a guy who would go on to hit 220 homeruns for the redbirds, juiced or not?

7. Tampa Bay Devil Rays trade Bobby Abreu to the Philadelphia Phillies for Kevin Stocker.

Kevin Stocker's career numbers - .254 average, 23 HR, 248 RBI 45 SB, .338 OBP

Bobby Abreu's career numbers - .299 average, 231 HR, 1,040 RBI, 307 SB, .405 OBP

.......Any questions?

6. New York Mets trade Scott Kazmir and Jose Diaz to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bartolome Fortunato and Victor Zambrano.

I think this was a head-scratcher the moment it happened. Except for a 50 inning campaign in 2001, Zambrano never posted a sub-4.00 ERA year. Meanwhile, Scott Kazmir is going to the 2008 All-Star game with a 7-3 record, 2.69 ERA, 84 K's, and 1.13 WHIP.

Despite all of Kazmir's time on the DL, he's out-K'd Zambrano 701 to 529 in their respective careers. And Kazmir is still only 24.

5. Texas Rangers trade Chris Young...

We've already established the Texas Rangers have been pitching-starved for a while now. But you're telling me that in addition to John Danks and Edinson Volquez (if they didn't bring in Josh Hamilton - can't say that was a "bad" deal, though), the Rangers could have ALSO had Chris Young?

...and Adrian Gonzalez to the San Diego Padres for Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka, and Billy Killian.

And they could have had Adrian Gonzalez to fill in for the departing Mark Teixeira?!?!? And all they got was a crummy combination of Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka?

4. Seattle Mariners trade Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Boston Red Sox for Heath Slocumb.

Heath Slocumb? He posted a 4.13 ERA in just more than 28 innings in 1997, and a 5.32 ERA in nearly 68 innings.

Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek? I think you know how that one panned out.

3. Montreal Expos trade Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, and Lee Stevens to the Cleveland Indians for Bartolo Colon, Tim Drew, and cash.

It's not that Bartolo Colon was a bad pickup...it's that he won the Cy Young award - with the Angels. Fast forward to 2008, and the Indians have a guy who could bring home his own Cy Young hardware this year in Cliff Lee, and a potential 40-40 guy (and maybe MVP if the Indians make an unlikely playoff push?) in Grady Sizemore. Brandon Phillips didn't turn out too poorly either, as he's become one of the best offensive second basemen in the National League for the Cincinnati Reds.

2. New York Mets trade Nolan Ryan, Don Rose, Frank Estrada, and LeRoy Stanton to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi.

This one really isn't a "recent" bad trade. But it's hard to forget about the fact that the Mets traded away a fireballer who would become arguably the best pitcher in the history of the game for pennies on the dollar. (I'd go even lower than that and say pesos on the dollar, but these days I can't be certain that is indeed lower). At least Mets fans had to endure Fregosi's terrible performance for only 146 games over parts of two seasons.

1. San Francisco Giants trade Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan, and Boof Bonser to the Minnesota Twins for A.J. Pierzynski.

I don't think it gets much worse than this. And it's not that A.J. Pierzynski is a bad player - he's probably among the top tier catchers in the game today. But it's the fact that the Giants had him for only a half of a season before he bolted for Chicago. And, boy, did the Giants pay dearly for him. If your dream rotation has Tim Lincecum-Matt Cain-Francisco Liriano-Jonathan Sanchez-Boof Bonser with Joe Nathan shutting things down, you can thank Giants management for killing that dream. But they got you Barry Zito, Giants fans - doesn't that make up for it?