IN 18 DAYS, baseball's trading deadline will be upon us.
Despite the fact that the Phillies have the best record in baseball, our fan base is frantic and desperately wants the team to trade for a "bat."
Well, hold on a minute. There is simply no guarantee that a trade will turn out well. It could be great and our "bat" could power us to a world championship, or he could turn out to be a bust and the players we traded to get him could go on to be All-Stars.
To understand the risk/reward involved in such a midseason move, let's look at some of the best and worst trades in Phils' history.
1. Rick Wise for Steve Carlton (1972): A trade of aces. Rick Wise went on to have a fair career in 11 seasons after the trade (113-105), but Steve Carlton went on to win four Cy Young awards on his way to the Hall of Fame. He won 241 games, completed 185 games, threw 39 shutouts and struck out 3,031 batters in the 15 years he pitched for the Phils.
Grade: A+
2. Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis d'Arnaud for Roy Halladay (2009): Halladay could turn out to have a Phillies career that surpasses even Carlton's. He has been unbelievable these last 2 years and this level of production should continue for years to come. Of the four players we gave up, only Drabek has seen major league action and he has gone just 4-8 with an ERA of 5.52 in 17 starts for the Blue Jays.
Grade: A
3. Don Demeter for Jim Bunning (1963): In his 3 years with the Phillies before the trade, Demeter had hit 71 home runs, so it was somewhat risky to deal him. But Bunning was a true ace for the Tigers. In the seven seasons before the trade, Bunning won 110 games (20, 19 and 17 twice). But in 1963 he fell to 12-13. The trade turned out to be a real steal. Demeter played for 4 more years and hit 58 homers, and Bunning went on to almost win us a pennant in '64, going 19-8 with a 2.63 ERA. In 6 years with the Phillies, he won 89 games, completed 65 and threw 23 shutouts. He won 19 games 3 years in a row and his ERA in four seasons was 2.63, 2.60, 2.41 and 2.29.
Grade: A
