Cleveland Indians: The 6 “worst” deadline deals in Tribe history

Any time you make a deadline deal, there’s a chance it won’t work out like you planned. In general the Cleveland Indians won more deadline deals than they lost. But there are a few bad ones.

When I really looked at the trades, I found four bad ones. And one of those was successful in the short-term for the Cleveland Indians. But there were two more trades that we need to consider. Let’s file them under the heading of “I’d rather be lucky than good.”

The time the Indians traded the reigning Cy Young winner

C.C. Sabathia to Milwaukee for Matt LaPorta, Rob Bryson, Zach Jackson and a player to be named later.

Sabathia was everything the Brewers hoped for: 11-2. He wasn’t everything they hoped for in the postseason, losing Game 2 in the NLDS. The Brewers were eliminated in four games.

LaPorta was the can’t miss prospect the Indians wanted. He missed. Bryson never made it to Cleveland and Jackson (2-3, 6.11 ERA) didn’t make it for long.

Per the terms of the trade, the Indians got to pick the player to be named later. Had the Brewers not made the playoffs, they would have made the choice. And it probably wouldn’t have been Michael Brantley. The Indians choices came down to third baseman Taylor Green, or Brantley. Green hit .207 in parts of two seasons for Milwaukee.

The Indians chose wisely.

The other time the Indians traded the reigning Cy Young winner

Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to Philadelphia for Jason Knapp, Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Lou Marson.

Knapp was the prime prospect. He had number one starter upside. He also had three shoulder surgeries.

Jason Donald and Lou Marson were bit players for the Tribe.

Fortunately Carlos Carrasco made up for the loss of Cliff Lee.

Bad Trade No. 3: Sick Burn: Jeromy Burnitz for Kevin Seitzer

Seitzer did his part in 1996. He hit .386 for the Tribe (OPS 1.022). But they would have made the playoffs without him. And they would have lost to Baltimore in the first round without him too. In the end, he didn’t make a difference.

But Burnitz wound up with 315 career home runs, most of them for the Brewers. Every day (it seemed). Turn on SportsCenter and see another Burnitz home run.

Advantage Milwaukee.

Bad Trade No. 2: Victor Martinez for Nick Hagadone, Justin Masterson and Bryan Price

This trade looked good for a while. Masteron had three good seasons at the top of the Indians rotation. And Hagadone spent four years in the Indians bullpen with some success.

But they’re both gone. Not just from Cleveland, but from the major leagues. And Victor just keeps hitting. And hitting. And hitting.

Bad Trade No. 1: John Smiley and Jeff Branson for Danny Graves, Damien Jackson, Scott Winchester and Jim Crowell

Has there ever been a worse result in a trade?

Smiley was not having a good year for the Reds. At the time of the trade he was 9-10, 5.23. He was no better in six starts in Cleveland (2-4, 5.54). But the real problem was what happened in the bullpen as Smiley was warming up before his seventh start on September 27, 1997. It was described as “First a crack, then a scream.” Smiley’s left arm broke at the shoulder. His season and his career was over.

Graves recorded 182 saves for the Reds. Winchester pitched for two seasons. Jackson played 11 seasons in the big leagues, mostly with San Diego. As an added bonus, Graves was on the radio doing the Reds report, so I got to listen to that.

It would have been the worst trade – but my rules excluded it: John Rocker for Steve Karsay and Steve Reed

On July 7, 2001 Rocker took off from Cleveland to attend a Black Sabbath concert. He made it back in time to blow a save on July 8. Rocker went 3-7 with a 5.45 ERA down the stretch.  Karsay saved more games for the Braves than Rocker did for the Tribe (7-4).

Both Reed and Karsay were effective through 2004, long after Rocker was gone.