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“Bad trades are part of baseball. I mean, who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God’s sake?”
-Annie Savoy
Baseball sage Annie Savoy was 100% correct when she uttered those words in the open to Bull Durham and every team has had their share. But the New York Yankees of the 1980s were on another level when it came to trading away outstanding talent, often in exchange for marginal returns.
Here is an All-Star team made up of young players the Yankees dealt away between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 1989. Not all the trades were bad, especially at the time, but the Yankees traded enough really good young players to make a pretty good team.
Catcher: Brad Gulden
Acquired: via trade from the Dodgers on 2/15/79
Traded: to Seattle on 11/18/80 with $150,000 to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named later and Larry Milbourne
If there was one position that the Yankees did well with it was catcher. Admittedly, Gulden was not a star but there were very few candidates from which to choose. I also included Gulden because the deal that sent him to Seattle included a player to be named later. The player Seattle sent to the Yankees was, in fact, Gulden himself. The Yankees traded him again in 1982 for Bobby Ramos.
First Base: Fred McGriff
Acquired: 9th round of 1981 amateur draft
Traded: to Toronto on December 9th, 1982 with Dave Collins, Mike Morgan, and cash to the Toronto Blue Jays for Tom Dodd and Dale Murray.
This one is the worst of the batch though, to be fair, McGriff was just 18 when he was dealt and still four years away from the big leagues. HOWEVER, the man finished his career with 491 homers and was recently elected to the Hall of Fame. The Yankees released Dodd in May of 1983 and Murray won a total of three games in the remaining three years of his career.
Second Base: Damaso Garcia
Acquired: Signed as an amateur free agent in 1975
Traded: to Toronto on November 1st, 1979 with Chris Chambliss and Paul Mirabella for Rick Cerone, Tom Underwood, and Ted Wilborn.
Had Thurman Munson not tragically passed away in a place crash in 1979 the Yankees would not have needed a catcher heading into 1980 and this deal likey wouldn’t have happened. But with Willie Randolph entrenched at second base, there is a decent chance the Yankees would have dealt Garcia to someone else.
Once he got to Toronto, Garcia finished 4th in the 1980 Rookie of the Year balloting and helped the Jays win an A.L. East title in 1985. He also won a silver slugger and was twice named an All-Star.
Third Base: Pat Tabler
Acquired: 1st round of 1976 amateur draft
Traded: to the Cubs on August 19th, 1981 for PTBNL. Chicago sent Bill Caudill and Jay Howell to New York to complete the trade.
This deal is a bit murky. The Yankees sent Tabler to Chicago and there was speculation that Bill Buckner would be headed to New York after the season but it didn’t materialize. Tabler was batting .296 with 11 homers at Triple-A Columbus (OH) at the time of the deal. The Cubs inserted him into their lineup and he struggled a bit before being dealt to the White Sox in 1983, who flipped him to Cleveland a few months later where he turned into a solid major-league hitter, especially with the bases loaded.
Shortstop: Greg Gagne
Acquired: 5th round of 1979 amateur draft
Traded: to Minnesota Baltimore on April 10, 1982 with Paul Boris and Ron Davis for Roy Smalley.
This deal was extremely unpopular in Minnesota at the time. The Twins had just moved into the Metrodome and immediately began trading away some of their best players.
Smalley had a decent run in New York, batting .261 with 45 homers and 165 RBI over 339 games, but Gagne made his debut in 1983 and spent 15 years in the bigs and won two rings (1987 & 1991) with the Twins.
Outfield: Willie McGee
Acquired: 1st round of 1977 January amateur draft (Secondary Phase)
Traded: to St. Louis on October 21, 1981 for Bob Sykes.
This one rivals the McGriff deal trade for the worst of the decade and an argument could be made that it is the worst.
Skyes spent 1982 in the minor leagues, posted a combined E.R.A. of 5.18, and was out of baseball. McGee helped the Cardinals win a World Series in 1982, won the N.L. MVP in 1985, made four All-Star teams, won three Gold Gloves, and racked up 2,254 career hits.
Outfield: Otis Nixon
Acquired: 1st round of 1979 amateur draft (Secondary Phase)
Traded: to Cleveland on February 5th, 1984 with George Frazier for Toby Harrah.
Nixon was 24 when the deal was made and had hit .143 for the Yankees in 19 games in 1983. He would play 17 years in the big leagues and steal 620 bases.
Harrah hit .217 in his lone season in New York before being traded back to Texas the following spring.
Outfield: Jay Buhner
Acquired: via trade from Pittsburgh on December 20th, 1984 with Dale Berra and Alfonso Pulido for Tim Foli, Steve Kemp and cash.
Traded: to Seattle on July 21st, 1988 with a PTBNL and Rick Balabon (minors) for Ken Phelps. The Yankees sent Troy Evers to Seattle to complete the trade.
“We had to look at the deal from the standpoint of improving the club now,” said general manager Bob Quinn. “(Buhner) has great tools but there’s no guarantee he’ll make it.”
Turns out he did. While Phelps hit .240 with 17 homers before being traded to Oakland the following August, Buhner hit 307 homers over 14 seasons for Seattle.
DH: Steve Balboni
Acquired: 2nd round of 1978 amateur draft
Traded: to Kansas City on December 8th, 1983 with Roger Erickson for Duane Dewey and Mike Armstrong.
Balboni was a late bloomer to be sure. He had just finished his age-26 season when the Yankees made this deal, but once he got to Kansas City he started mashing.
From 1984 through 1988, Balboni hit 140 homers and drove in 379 runs. He also won a ring with the 1985 Royals.
The Yankees got him back in 1999 but his best days were behind him.
Starting Pitcher: Doug Drabek
Acquired: via trade from Chicago White Sox Pittsburgh on July 18th, 1984 with Kevin Hickey for Roy Smalley.
Traded: to Pittsburgh on November 26th, 1986 with Logan Easley and Brian Fisher for Pat Clements, Cecilio Guante, and Rick Rhoden.
I had the chance to build a five-man rotation with pitchers the Yankees dealt away but I opted to go with just one. Other candidates included AL Leiter, Bob Tewksbury, Tim Belcher, and Jose Rijo, though to be fair, the Yankees traded Rijo to get Rickey Henderson in 1984 so it’s tough to criticize that deal.
Rhoden won 28 games in two seasons in New York and even started a game or two at DH, but Drabek won a Cy Young with the Pirates and helped them win the N.L East three years in a row.
Closer: Tim Burke
Acquired: via trade from Pittsburgh on December 22nd, 1982 with Jerry Aubin, Bubba Holland, and Jose Rivera for Lee Mazzilli.
Traded: to Montreal on December 20th, 1983 for Pat Rooney.
Jay Howell was my original pick for this spot, but since he also went to Oakland in the Rickey Henderson deal I didn’t think it was fair to include him.
Burke won 13 games in the minor leagues in 1983 before being sent to Montreal for Rooney, who hit .193 in Triple-A in 1984 for the Yankees. He spent another year in the minor leagues with the Blue Jays and his career was over.
Burke made his big-league debut in 1985 and led the N.L. in appearances with 78. He spent eight years in the bigs and saved 102 games.
IN THE END
The eleven players on this team were all traded away by the Yankees in the interest of “improving the club now.” They didn’t. Not a single one of the players the Yankees acquired played a postseason game for them.
In contrast, this team made numerous playoff appearances and won a combined five World Series titles, an MVP, and a Cy Young.
