Top 5 MLB Trade Deadline Deals Of All Time
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It's been a wild day for MLB's Trade Deadline, as three blockbuster trades went down.
The latest trade involves David Price being sent to the Detroit Tigers. The Red Sox sent their ace, John Lester, along with outfielder Johnny Gomes to the Oakland A's in exchange for Yoenis Cespedes. The move was somewhat surprising given that Cespedes is the A's most lethal threat in the middle of their lineup. Boston wasn't done yet though, as they then traded John Lackey to the St. Louis Cardinals for Allen Craig and right-hander Joe Kelly.
While it remains to be seen what impact these trades have on their teams, we can't help but mention our opinion of the top 5 Trade Deadline Deals of All-Time:
2007 - Texas Rangers trade Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay to the Atlanta Braves for Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Texas Ranger fans will never forget this trade that General Manager Jon Daniels made back in 2007. The Rangers still have 3 of the 4 major pieces from this trade, including Andrus, Feliz & Harrison. While Harrison's career may be in jeopardy, Andrus continues to be a corner stone of the Texas Rangers franchise, while Feliz has dealt with arm issues over the last couple of seasons, he has earned a save in his first 3 appearances since being named closer following the trade that sent Joakim Soria to Detroit last week.
While giving up a haul, Atlanta received power hitting first-baseman Mark Teixeira in the trade. Big Tex went to college at Georgia Tech, and Frank Wren was hoping to sign him to an extension, but things didn't work out. The team didn't make the playoffs in 2007 and traded Teixeira to the Angels at the 2008 trade deadline.
2000 - The Arizona D'backs traded Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Travis Lee & Vicente Padilla to the Phillies for Curt Schilling.
This trade may go down in D'backs history as the greatest trade they've ever made. The one-two punch of Schilling and Randy Johnson resulted in a World Series Championship in 2001 for Arizona. While the Phillies didn't get much to pan out for them.
1993 - The Atlanta Braves received Fred McGriff; Padres get Vince Moore, Donnie Elliott and Melvin Nieves.
McGriff was a huge coup for the Braves at the 1993 trade deadline. He hit 19 home runs the remainder of that season and was a beast for Atlanta for the next four seasons. The Padres definitely didn't get their monies worth out of this deal.
1997 - Oakland A's trade Mark McGwire to St. Louis for Eric Ludwich, T.J. Mathews & Blake Stein.
Mark McGwire went on to hit a MLB record-breaking 70 home runs in 1998, while the A's return never amounted to anything. The 1998 season brought the entire baseball fan base to life, with the home run race between Big Mac and Sammy Sosa. McGwire spent 4 1/2 seasons in St. Louis before retiring after the 2001 season.
2010 - The Texas Rangers traded Justin Smoak, Blake Beavan, Josh Lueke and Matthew Lawson to Seattle for Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe.
The second biggest trade in Ranger's franchise history, and another splash for Ranger's GM Jon Daniels. Lee led the Rangers to their first world-series birth, while the Seattle Mariners package still hasn't burned Texas, and it doesn't look like it ever will.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Sports Stories You May Also Be Interested In: