Good Deals: The Trades the Phillies Got Right

Steve Carlton                Rick Wise   

Last week's post, Bad Deals: Phillies Trades Throughout History, generated a lot of comments from readers and requests that I look at the good deals the Phillies made through the years. I admit that I might have a bit of a different view of what makes a good deal than others. Perhaps it is my background as a labor negotiator from both sides of the table, union and later in my career, management, that leads me to the conclusion that the best deals are those that are Win/Win. That is, trades where all participants get something that they wanted. Why? Because Win/Win deals build relationships of trust. When you build a trust relationship with an opposing general manager, you develop opportunities to make other deals when your team has a need. Of course, most general managers think the deals they make are Win/Win when they make them. They don't always turn out that way.

For the purpose of this analysis, I have divided the Phillies "good trades" into Win/Win and We Win/You Lose. We can all feel good about the Win/Wins. And those We Win/You Lose trades do give us long suffering fans a chance to gloat. Here is how they breakdown to me.

Win/Win Trades

Feb 1972: Rick Wise (Phillies) for Steve Carlton (St. Louis Cardinals)

This trade is probably the single most important in Phillies history and yet it truly was a Win/Win. It is also useful to remember that the trade was not a popular one in Philadelphia when it was made. Rick Wise had been with the Phillies since he was an 18-year-old bonus baby on the 1964 team. The 1971 season was his finest yet. He went 17-14 with a 2.88 ERA. He pitched a no-hitter at Cincinnati in a game where he also hit two home runs. Wise was one of the few positives on that 1971 team. Willie Montanez was another (more on him later). 

At this point in their careers, Wise and Carlton looked pretty similar on paper. Carlton was 27 and had a 77-62 record. Wise was 26 and had a 75-76 record. Tim McCarver, who had caught both pitchers said the trade was "a good one, for a good one." Not really. It was a good one for a great one as history would prove. Carlton had far superior "stuff" to Wise. In time, as he got greater command of that "stuff", the difference became clear. Still after Carlton's spectacular 1972 season when he went 27-10 on a bad Phillies team, he followed with a down 1973 when he went 13-20. leading the league in losses. In 1973, Wise was 16-12 for the Cardinals and made the All-Star team.

The trade came about because both players were in salary disputes with their respective teams. It was the second such dispute between Carlton and the Cardinals and Cardinal general manager Bing Devine thought that he detected a pattern. Signing Carlton was going to be a recurring problem. Wise had asked the notably parsimonious John Quinn of the Phillies for a 100% raise coming off his finest season. Quinn balked and called Devine. The rest, as they say, is history. Very good history for the Phillies.

Dec 1963: Don Demeter and Jack Hamilton (Phillies) for Jim Bunning and Gus Triandos (Detroit Tigers)

Jim Bunning had won 118 games for the Detroit Tigers in his nine years with the team. He was a perennial American League All-Star. But the Tigers thought that Bunning was embarking on the downside of his career. He was coming off his worst season ever in 1963, 12-13. His ERA had risen in each of the previous three years. 

Don Demeter was an excellent all-around player for the Phillies after coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade that sent Turk Farrell to LA. Demeter had good power and good speed. He had averaged 24 homers and 85 RBIs as the Phillies chief right-handed power threat. Demeter was also speedy enough to play center field and even spent time at third base for the Phillies. The Tigers were in the market for an outfielder after trading away Rocky Colavito. Detroit general manager Bob Campbell said "Demeter is a better all-around player than Colavito. He is a better runner and a better fielder."

Demeter was a solid if not spectacular performer for the Tigers in 2+ seasons. Bunning, of course, became the mainstay of a young Phillies staff that just failed to carry the Phillies to the 1964 pennant. Bunning won 89 games in a Phillies career 1964-1967 and 1970-71.

Pitcher Jack Hamilton, who Tiger manager called "the real dark horse" in the deal, never did much for the Tigers or anybody else in his eight-year career. Catcher Triandos was a capable backup to Clay Dalrymple for the Phillies for one+ season. 

December 1974: John Stearns, Mac Scarce, and Del Unser (Phillies) for Tug McGraw, Don Hahn, and Dave Schneck

The Mets got future All-Star catcher Stearns and the Phillies got the heart and soul of their championship team of the future, Tug McGraw. McGraw racked up 94 saves for the Phillies over his 10 years in Philadelphia and won the heart of the city. Don Hahn played nine games in a Phillies uniform, which was nine more than Dave Schneck. Mac Scarce pitched in one game for the Mets. Unser came back to the Phillies to become a key bench player for the 1980 World Champions. 

May 1975: Willie Montanez (Phillies) for Garry Maddox (San Francisco Giants) 

After three fine seasons in centerfield for the San Francisco Giants, Garry Maddox was in a hitting slump and languishing unhappily on manager Wes Westrum's bench. Willie Montanez was the Phillies lone left-handed hitting regular. Paul Owens made the deal anyway. Phillies manager Danny Ozark had called Maddox "Secretariat" for the way he could run down fly balls. The Phillies got the "Secretary of Defense" for their future run at the World Championship and a player who burst out of his slump to become a reliable line drive hitter for many seasons The Giants got the slick fielding Montanez, who hit .306 for them over 2+ seasons before going on to Atlanta and becoming an All-Star. "Willie the Phillie" did not want to leave Philadelphia. "I hate to leave, but that's the game. It's a good ball club. A bunch of good guys. They gonna' win." They did.

We Win/You Lose

Dec 1917: Dode Paskert (Phillies) for Cy Williams (Cubs)

Dedicated Phillies fans know that the team has a poor history of trades with the Chicago Cubs. Any mention of Hall of Fame players Ferguson Jenkins or Ryne Sandberg can bring howls of pain from Phillies faithful. Perhaps those trades were Karma coming back to bite the Phillies for this trade. Dode Paskert was a popular 37-year-old fly chaser who had seven solid years as the Phillies centerfielder. Fred "Cy" Williams was a fleet left-handed outfielder with a weak throwing arm and lots of power potential, who was coming off a down year in 1916.

The trade was not immediately popular in Philadelphia, but most pundits of the day felt the Phillies got far the better of the deal. They indeed did. Paskert had two decent seasons in Chicago before age caught up with him. Williams became one of the National League's premiere sluggers as the Live Ball Era dawned. He took full advantage of the short right field wall in the Baker Bowl to lead the league in home runs in 1920, 1923, and 1927. He finished second two other times and third four times. When he retired, Cy Williams was briefly the National League leader in home runs hit with 251. He was surpassed by Rogers Hornsby. Williams' swing was so honed to the Baker Bowl's dimensions that he once said, "I couldn't hit the ball to left field if my life depended on it." Williams was more than just a home run hitter, however, in his thirteen years in a Phillies uniform he averaged .306.

December 1959: Gene Freese (Phillies) for Johnny Callison (White Sox)

Gene Freese played only one season with the Phillies. It was a good one. He hit 23 home runs and hit .268. Freese was a good offensive player and defensive liability. The White Sox felt they needed to add some right-handed power to their lineup, and the highly publicized phenom Johnny Callison had been a bust in his first major league opportunity. The Phillies were trying to build a contender, so general manager John Quinn was willing to take a chance on a player that many felt was the next Mickey Mantle.

While Callison never quite lived up to the Mickey Mantle label, he was a very, very good player for many years as the Phillies became pennant contenders in the 1960s. He is still pointed to by Phillies fans of a certain age as their favorite Phillies player ever. Freese had two solid years with the White Sox and then drifted from team to team as a bench player/pinch-hitter for a few seasons.

June 1989: Juan Samuel (Phillies) for Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell, and Tom Edens (New York Mets)

The Phillies needed a leadoff hitter. Manager Nick Leyva tried Juan Samuel in that spot, but Sammy struck out too often and was having a hard time adjusting to his new position in centerfield. The Phillies had just traded closer Steve Bedrosian to the San Francisco Giants for a young infielder named Charlie Hayes. They needed relief help. General manager Lee Thomas filled both needs when he traded Samuel to the Mets for Dykstra and McDowell and a player to be named later (Tom Edens). The Mets sought out Samuel as someone that manager Davey Johnson said, "Could jump start our offense."

Dykstra, though beset by injuries during his time in Philadelphia, became one of the best leadoff hitters in Phillies history and the catalyst for the 1993 surprise pennant winners. McDowell revived his career and pitched very effectively for the Phillies for most of his 2+ seasons in South Philly. The popular Samuel was a bust in New York, hitting only .228. The Mets traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of the season. Tom Edens pitched in three games for the Phillies in 1994.

April 1992: Jason Grimsley (Phillies) for Curt Schilling (Houston Astros)

The Phillies had run out of patience with Jason Grimsley and Grimsley had run out of patience with the Phillies. When he was optioned to the minors at the end of spring training in 1992, Grimsley asked to be traded. The Phillies obliged and in return they got a future Hall of Famer. Schilling, who had bounced between four organizations in his brief career, was pleased to be coming to the Phillies with the promise that he would eventually move into the starting rotation. Schilling was known for having great stuff and erratic control. In Philadelphia he found his control and became a dominant pitcher, leading the Phillies to the 1993 National League pennant and pitching memorable games in the playoffs and World Series.

Grimsley bounced around among seven different organizations and never did realize his considerable potential, but he hung around for 15 years and was often in the headlines.  In 1999, he confessed to being the thief who stole Albert Belle's bat in the famous 1994 "Batgate" incident. Grimsley was pitching for the Cleveland Indians, whose star slugger was Albert Belle. White Sox manager, Gene Lamont, had been tipped off that Belle's bat was corked and asked the umpires to confiscate it. They did and stored it in their locker room for inspection. Grimsley, in a maneuver he called "Mission Impossible, snuck into the umpire's room and stole the bat back.  Eventually, the bat was recovered and was found to be corked. Belle was suspended for seven games. 

Grimsley had a brief resurgence with the Yankees in the late 90s, which brought accusations that he was doctoring the baseball. His career ended when, while pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, his house was raided by the FBI. He was accused of procuring and using illegal Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Grimsley confessed and left baseball for good.

November 1997: Kevin Stocker (Phillies) for Bobby Abreu (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)

This trade is likely the biggest steal in Phillies history. Stocker had been a savior to the Phillies in 1993, when as a rookie he hit .324 and provided steadying defense at shortstop for the surprise pennant winners. In the subsequent four years, Stocker maintained his starting role, but his hitting fell off precipitously. The Devil Rays had chosen Abreu in the recent expansion draft, but felt they needed an established big-league shortstop for their new team. 

Abreu, of course went on to become one of the finest offensive players in the game over his 8+ years with the Phillies, slashing .303/.416/.513 with 348 doubles, 195 home runs and 254 stolen bases. Stocker struggled from the outset with the Devil Rays and was out of baseball by 2000.

December 2009: Travis d'Arnaud, Michael Taylor, and Kyle Drabek (Phillies) for Roy Halladay (Toronto Blue Jays)

The Phillies sent their three top prospects to the Blue Jays for the best pitcher in baseball. Drabek and Taylor never did make the major league grade. d'Arnaud became a very good, if inconsistent, catcher for the Mets and Atlanta Braves. Halladay was everything the Philles thought he would be, albeit for a shorter time than most expected. Halladay pitched some of the most memorable games in Phillies history, including the second Phillies perfect game ever and the second no-hitter in major league playoff history. An aging Phillies offense prevented Halladay from taking the Phillies to another World Series.

Honorable Mention:

June 1977: Tom Underwood, Dane Iorg, and Rick Bosetti (Phillies) for Bake McBride and Steve Waterbury (St. Louis Cardinals)

February 1979: Henry Mack, Derek Botelho, Barry Foote, Jerry Martin, Ted Sizemore (Phillies) for Manny Trillo, Greg Gross and Dave Rader (Chicago Cubs)

June 1989: Chris James (Phillies) for John Kruk and Randy Ready (San Diego Padres)

While fans may lament the many bad trades the Phillies have made over the years, a glance at this list shows that they have taken as well as they have given.