Bad Deals: Phillies Trades throughout History

Phillies fans love to lament the poor trades the Phillies have made over the years. They have a point. The Phillies have a history of trading away Hall of Fame talent for marginal players. It seems the Phillies consistently undervalue their own talent and overvalue the talent of other teams' prospects. And of course, there is the famous 5-for-1 deal involving Von Hayes that veteran rooters are still lamenting. Added to the long history of futility on the field, these trades fuel a fans' frustrations. The truth of these trades is a bit more complicated than it might first appear, however. Some trades are irredeemably bad. Some trades are only bad in retrospect. At least one traditionally condemned trade was not so bad at all. Here's a closer look.

The Really Bad Trades

Dec 1917: Grover Cleveland Alexander and Bill Killefer to the Chicago Cubs for Pickles Dillhoefer, Mike Prendergast, and $55,000

If this trade weren't so sad, it would be laughable. Parsimonious Phillies owner Wiliam F. Baker essentially sold Alexander, the best pitcher in baseball, the man who pitched his 1915 team to the World Series, a pitcher who was just 30 years old, for a few spare parts. Thrown into the deal was the starting catcher for his 1915 National League Champs, Bill Killefer. Alexander won 183 games after the trade. Killefer was a serviceable backstop for a few more seasons with the Cubs. Catcher Dillhoefer played in eight games for the Phillies before ending his career as a backup with the St. Louis Cardinals. Prendergast went 13-14 for the 1918 Phillies and was gone after a few games in 1919. No one knows what Baker did with the 55K.

November 1934: Chuck Klein to the Chicago Cubs for Harvey Hendrick, Ted Kleinhens, and Mark Koenig and $65,000.

When Phillies owner Baker died, he left the team to the care of Gerald Nugent, the husband of his secretary, who Baker had hired as an assistant. Nugent was not like the miserly Baker, and he cared about winning, but he was constantly in debt. This trade of the future Hall of Famer Klein, one of the greatest Phillies ever, was all about money. The three players Nugent received in return were either over the hill or marginal or both. Koenig, the only decent player of the bunch, never played for the Phillies. He was immediately traded to the Cincinnati Reds for two even more marginal players, Otto Bluege and Irv Jeffries. 

Dec. 1958: Jack Sanford to the San Francisco Giants for Ruben Gomez and Valmy Thomas

Jack Sanford was a late bloomer. It took him ten years in the Phillies minor league system to get his hard sinker under control. Once he did, at age 28, he was the Rookie of the Year in 1957, going 19-8 and appearing in the All-Star Game. Sanford had an up and down year for a very bad 1958 Phillies team and somehow the Phillies soured on him. Sanford went on to pitch seven solid years for the Giants, including a 24-7 year in 1962, when he pitched them to the National League Pennant. 

Ruben Gomez was disastrous as both a starter and reliever for the Phillies. In two seasons he compiled a 3-11 record and a 5.63 ERA. The 33-year-old Valmy Thomas hit .200 as a backup catcher and was gone after one year.

Dec. 2006: Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez to the Chicago White Sox for Freddy Garcia

The Phillies and general manager Pat Gillick thought the team needed an ace pitcher. To get one they traded away two former #1 draft picks, Floyd and Gonzalez, for the White Sox' Freddy Garcia. Garcia had a 17-9 record in 2006, despite a high 4.53 ERA. Apparently, someone forgot to check the condition of Garcia's arm. Freddy spent one injury plagued season with the Phillies and recorded exactly one win. Floyd became a serviceable starter for the White Sox. Gonzalez eventually emerged as the ace of the Washington Nationals staff and won 131 major league games.

The Bad in Retrospect Trades

April 1966 Ferguson Jenkins, Adolfo Phillips, and John Hernnstein to the Chicago Cubs for Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl.

Trading away a future Hall of Famer is never a good look. General Manager John Quinn, however, was following a philosophy he learned as a longtime assistant for the Yankees and as a successful GM with the Braves: Build from your farm system and then trade prospects for veterans when you have a chance to win. The Phillies had famously just missed in 1964 and then fallen on their collective faces in 1965. With the core of the team still in place (Dick Allen, Johnny Callison, Jim Bunning, Chris Short), Quinn felt that acquiring some veteran pitching would set him up to make another pennant run. It didn't work out, but the trade was not as bad as many believe.

First of all, Jenkins was not the Hall of Fame Jenkins yet. The Phillies certainly drastically underestimated his potential, but it is telling that Cubs manager Leo Durocher didn't know what to do with Jenkins either. Fergie was languishing in the Cubs bullpen all season, until one Robin Roberts arrived as the Cubs pitching coach and talked Jenkins into using his fastball more and talked Durocher into using Jenkins as a starter. The rest is history, of course. Adolfo Phillips never achieved his considerable potential and as for Herrnstein - by this time in his career, everyone knew he was not a major leaguer.

Contrary to the popular narrative about this trade, the Phillies got one pretty good pitcher out of the deal. In 1966, Larry Jackson won 15 games for the Phillies and posted an excellent 2.99 ERA. From 1966 to 1968, Jackson won 41 games for the Phillies, second on the staff only to Chris Short's 48. Buhl was indeed washed up, and despite adding a spitter to his repertoire (according to catcher Clay Dalrymple), he generally pitched poorly in his one+ year with the team.

January 1982: Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg to the Chicago Cubs for Ivan DeJesus

New Cubs general manager Dallas Green, recently the manager of the Phillies, pulled a fast one on the Phillies here, insisting that the young and untested Sandberg be included in the deal. What may be forgotten about this deal is that it only came about because Larry Bowa, at 36 years of age, was insisting on a three-year contract. The Phillies wanted to sign him to a one-year deal. Bowa said that the previous owner, Ruly Carpenter, had promised him a big deal for his final contract. The day after the trade, the Cubs signed Bowa to that three-year deal. Bowa fulfilled that deal, playing a fairly high level of shortstop for his new team. 

But if this deal were just Bowa for DeJesus it would not still be talked about. Bowa for DeJesus was pretty much a wash. Ivan had three years with the Phillies that were comparable to Bowa's three years in Chicago, and DeJesus was a key member of the 1983 pennant winners. What makes this trade a stinker, of course, was the throw in, Ryne Sandberg. The Phillies did not want to let Sandberg go, but they also had determined he could not play shortstop and they already had a pretty good third baseman in Mike Schmidt and a pretty good second baseman in Manny Trillo. They offered Luis Aguayo. Green insisted on Sandberg. His persistence got him a Hall of Famer. 

The Not as Bad as You Think Trades

Dec. 1982 Julio Franco, Manny Trillo, Jay Baller, George Vukovich, and Jerry Willard to the Cleveland Indians for Von Hayes

This infamous 5-for-1 trade is often pointed to as a shining example of the terrible trades the Phillies made over the years. It isn't. While I suppose the visual of trading five players, including the popular Trillo and prize of the farm system Franco, for one player is not good, the trade is not nearly as bad as many paint it to be. While Hayes never developed into the superstar the Phillies front office projected for him, he was a very good player for the Phillies for nine years. He was a solid contributor to the 1983 pennant winners. In his best year, 1986, he led the league with 46 doubles and hit .305. For much of his career he was a doubles machine. He played all three outfield positions and first base. He was a good, not great, player. playing under the burden of the constant reminder that he was Mr. 5-for-1.

Meanwhile, Trillo was pretty much a part-time player after leaving the Phillies, changing teams frequently. Baller never developed into a major league pitcher. Willard was a marginal backup catcher. Vukovich had three solid seasons as a platoon outfielder for Cleveland and then went to play in Japan. The total WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for these four players after they left the Phillies was 8.9. 

The 5-for-1 trade really boils down to a straight up deal: Julio Franco for Von Hayes. Franco turned out to be a better player than Hayes. He had six very good seasons with the Indians followed by five mostly very good seasons with the Rangers, followed by several seasons as a valued role player for Atlanta. So yes, the Phillies got the worst of this trade. But they still got one good player and gave up one very good player, which is more than can be said for the other trades discussed here. 

July 2000: Curt Schilling to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Vincente Padilla, and Travis Lee

July 2002: Scott Rolen and Doug Nickle to the St. Louis Cardinals for Placido Polanco, Bud Smith, and Mike Timlin

I group these final two trades together because they had something in common: The two superstars the Phillies traded away forced the team into these trades. Schilling and Rolen were both loud and persistent in stating their desire to get out of town, Schilling to play for a winner and Rolen to get away from Philadelphia. All the other teams in both leagues knew that the Phillies were in a weakened bargaining position, which is why the Phillies came away with so little return for two great players. Of the players the Phillies got in return Polanco was very good, but needed to be moved to make room for the young Chase Utley, and Padilla was a serviceable starter for a few years. The Phillies didn't get much for Schilling and Rolen, but they get a partial pass from me because their star players put them over a barrel.

I haven't mentioned here the Dick Allen for Curt Flood trade. That trade deserves a post of its own and I will get to that someday. For now, let's conclude that when it comes to the Phillies and trades, it's complicated.