Quote:
Originally Posted by RT-
Do teams in real life trade away consensus top 3 prospect players for top 15 current players, if they can afford it? Do teams swap established arbitration players for young guys who look set to be just as good?
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Bagwell was selected in the fourth round of the
1989 draft by the
Boston Red Sox. On August 30,
1990 the Red Sox traded him to the Houston Astros for 36-year old relief pitcher
Larry Andersen to gear up for their playoff run.
The trade is now considered one of the most one-sided trades in baseball history; indeed, in 2002
ESPN's readers named it the second-worst trade in sports history, behind only the Red Sox shipping
Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
[1] Although Andersen pitched well down the stretch in 1990 (allowing three runs in 22 innings of relief), and helped the Red Sox win the AL East division title on the last day of the season, Boston was swept in the American League Championship Series and then lost Andersen to
free agency (in part because of a
collusion settlement).
However, from the Red Sox' perspective, the trade made some sense at the time. Though Bagwell was considered a top prospect, he faced a logjam in the organization at third base. Veteran
Wade Boggs started for the major league club, and the Sox farm system had two other top prospects at the position,
Tim Naehring and
Scott Cooper. Neither player was really able to establish himself at the position, and both were out of baseball by 1997.