On Chris Shelton

by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 7, 2006 4:06 PM EDT in News

I feel like revisiting this, so here's Brian Graham:

"Shelton fits the new wave of evaluation -- on-base percentage, slugging percentage," Pirates director of player development Brian Graham said. "Does that play on the Major League level with a player who had a month and a half in Double-A? We'll see."

Well, apparently it does. Oops.

Shelton is no Albert Pujols. But he's a solid slugger, far better than any hitter except the Pirates currently have except Jason Bay. If the Pirates had kept Shelton, they could have started him along with Jason Bay and Craig Wilson at the corners and pooled the money used to acquire Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa and Sean Casey to get a real slugger.

In the past five years or so, have there been any stupider baseball decisions than leaving Shelton unprotected? Certainly there have been decisions that were more costly, and there have been decisions that have turned out worse, but I'm talking about decisions that were incredibly stupid based on the information available at the time. Here is a non-complete list of some other candidates:

Diamondbacks sign Russ Ortiz to a four-year, $45 million contract.
Tigers sign Magglio Ordonez to a contract for up to seven years and $105 million.
Mets trade Scott Kazmir to the D-Rays for Victor Zambrano.
Yankees sign Jaret Wright to a three-year, $21 million contract.
Dodgers sign Derek Lowe to a four-year, $36 million contract.
Rockies sign Mike Hampton to an eight-year, $121 million contract.
White Sox trade Kip Wells, Josh Fogg and Sean Lowe to the Bucs for Todd Ritchie and Lee Evans.

Any other ideas?

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More Dumb Moves

The Atlanta Braves trade Jose Capellan for Dan Kolb.
The Reds sign Eric Milton to a 3 year, $25.5 million contract.

Speaking of which, the Pirates face the Reds' lefty meat puppet tonight. I'm surprised you forgot this transaction.

by Willton on Apr 7, 2006 6:05 PM EDT reply actions

Milton

Just an oversight. I was thinking about that one earlier. Yeah, that was incredibly dumb. Of the Reds, I mean.

Capellan for Kolb is a pretty good one.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 7, 2006 6:17 PM EDT up reply actions

"A good one"

By which I mean a good example of a bad trade.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 7, 2006 6:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Ooh! Ooh! I have another one!

2005. Washington Nationals trade Brad Wilkerson and Termel Sledge for Alfonso Soriano.

by Willton on Apr 7, 2006 6:56 PM EDT reply actions

I honestly think this is the worst

2003:

San Francisco Giants trade Pitchers Joe Nathan, Francisco Lirano, and Boof Bonser for catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

The aftermath:

Joe Nathan immediatly goes on to become one of the top closers in the game. Giants have terrible bullpen in 2004 that undeniably costs themdivision champitonship, as the lead the league in blown saves.

Liriano goes on to become the best left-handed pitching prospect in the game. And aside from that, imagine the marketing gimicks possible with a guy named Francisco playing for the Giants.

Boof Bonser is currently 23 years of age and in AAA with a career 3.58 ERA and 9.38 K/9 in 149 games (148 starts). Should be okay.

Pierzynski hits .272/.319/.410 in 471 ABs for the Giants (after posting an .824 OPS the year before), gets in fights with his teammates, is labeled a cancer, and signs with the White Sox to win a World Series the next year.

...Beat that.

by Fett42 @ Bucs Dugout on Apr 7, 2006 8:28 PM EDT reply actions

Pierzynski trade

That one was horrible and I thought about it, but I think it was at least somewhat defensible at the time. Pierzynski was a slightly above-average and fairly young catcher, and those types don't grow on trees. Liriano was nowhere near the prospect he is now, and I think at that point Nathan was not young and had had one good season.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Apr 7, 2006 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions