COOPERSTOWN, NY – Yesterday, West Coast Craig gave us a superb breakdown of the 2011 trading deadline deals. How the Mets didn’t accept any deal for Scott Hairston that included anything more than a rosin bag, is beyond me.
Anyway, I’m going to play this one pretty straight here and give you my list of best performances by players traded at the deadline. I’m not worried about the quality of the players given up for these guys, just how the guys performed after the deadline for their new team.
David Justice 2000 – There really is no Justice in this world. The Yanks were struggling to score runs in early 2000 and GM John Hart of the Indians was kind enough to send them Mr. Halle Berry. He played 78 games with the Yanks batting over .300 with 20 homers and driving in 60 runs. In addition he was the 2000 AL Championship Series MVP and helped the Yanks dispose of the Mets in five games. I was hoping to read about a Hart Attack in Cleveland that off season, but it never came to be.
David Cone 1995 – After winning back to back championships with the Blue Jays, Coney was dealt to the Yanks and went 9-2 for the remainder of the ’95 season. Always a tough guy to root against, he made those Yankee teams somewhat stomachable.
Rick Sutcliffe 1984 – Before he was hired by ESPN to try to ruin our national pastime, Sutcliffe was a pretty damn good pitcher. He helped the Cubbies win the NL East for the first time and brought them within one win of going to the World Series. His stats were mind blowing, going 16-1 with the Cubs with a 2.69 ERA and won the National League Cy Young Award.
Carlos Beltran 2004 – Mr. Mole took his act to Houston for two months and helped them win the NL Central. It was in the playoffs where he really came alive, hitting eight home runs and drove in 14 runs. Holey Moley, those were big numbers.
Manny Ramirez 2008 – Manny being Manny turned into The Manny, in 2008. His exploits there have been well chronicled by West Coast Craig. In his spare time he was able to play 53 games for the Dodgers driving in 53 runs and hitting 17 home runs and sported an on-base percentage of .489. The steroids must have been very good that summer out in LaLa Land.
CC Sabathia 2008 – CC joined the Brew Crew in the second half of 2008 and dominated the National League, going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in his 17 starts. The only downside was the poor sausages were really running for their lives every home game in the bottom of the sixth inning, fearing that CC could devour them at any moment.
Doyle Alexander 1987 – Popeye Doyle started in 11 of the Tigers’ 51 remaining games, going 9-0 with three shutouts and a 1.53 ERA. He was so good in his two month stint with the Tigers that he actually came in fourth in the AL Cy Young voting. The only real issue with this trade was that the guy going the other way happend to be John Smoltz.
Stay tuned tomorrow for our very own sausage connoisseur, Angry Ward.
This is worth a listen:
