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The 15 worst trades in Seattle Mariners history (1977-2011 offseason)

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Trades are fun. You get shiny, new players to unpack and play with, just like Christmas morning. And if it's done well, all you lose in return are the old, worn-out toys of yesteryear, or the ones that you knew you never wanted in the first place.

Sometimes, of course, it doesn't go well. And this post is about those times. I aim to identify the fifteen worst trades in Mariners history.

A word on methodology before we get started. I am placing a limit of recentness on the 2011 offseason, as that gives us five seasons to look back on to determine value. Arguably, I should cut it off even further back than that, but putting the stopper here allows for the inclusion of a trade I suspected might make the list. (We'll see if it does)

This analysis looks only at player(s) for player(s) trades. Trades involving cash considerations are not considered, nor are trades where the player(s) received by one or both sides never cracked the majors. This is to filter out largely inconsequential trades where an aging veteran was acquired for a C-level prospect, the prospect never cracked the bigs, and the aging veteran put up 1 or 2 WAR. That's not a trade that loses 1 or 2 WAR, that's just an inconsequential trade.

And it will be WAR that is used to evaluate the trades. WAR (fWAR) put up by the traded players for the team involved in the trade only. That means David Ortiz's time with the Red Sox is not considered -- only his time with the Twins. One could extend this project to 'trade trees' but that is, bluntly, more work than I want to do.

With this methodology in mind, it bears pointing out that trades appearing on this list are not necessarily the result of bad process. A retrospection, five to thirty-nine years after the fact, is certainly not what was known or expected at the time of the trade. This is results-based analysis, and if that turns you off, I understand. This is not to evaluate the process of these trades. Just, what actually happened.

Now let's get started.

#15 - Mariners traded a player to be named later to the Chicago White Sox. Received Scott Bradley. The Seattle Mariners sent Ivan Calderon (July 1, 1986) to the Chicago White Sox to complete the trade.

Date of trade: June 26, 1986

WAR accumulated by Bradley for the Mariners: -1.2. WAR accumulated by Calderon for the White Sox: 8.5

TRADE: Mariners -9.7

Bradley was a third-round pick of the New York Yankees in the 1981 entry draft. and had been acquired by the White Sox earlier in 1986 in a large trade with the Yankees. Defensive numbers are always sketchy, especially for players from more than just a few years ago, but it looks like he had a decent glove. He just could not hit. At. All. As the Mariners' regular catcher from 1987 to 1991, he posted WRC+'s between 89 and an utterly abysmal 44.

Calderon was pretty young at the time of the trade, too -- '86 was his age-24 season. He'd shown some promise, including a slightly BABIP-inflated 132 WRC+ in 1985, but entered serious doldrums in his final year as a Mariner, sporting only a 60 WRC+ at the time he was sent off to Chicago. It was as if a light switched -- Calderon never posted a WRC+ below 100 in four and a half years on the 'South Side.' His best season came after the White Sox traded him to the Montreal Expos; he rocked a 139 WRC+ in 1991 and was voted to start in the All-Star Game. Not a bad career.

#14 - Mariners traded Matt Thornton to the Chicago White Sox. Received Joe Borchard.

Date of trade: March 20, 2006

WAR accumulated by Thornton for the White Sox: 10.6. WAR accumulated by Borchard for the Mariners: 0.1.

TRADE: Mariners -10.5

I remember this trade. As happy as I was to see Thornton go (he had had a truly awful 2005, a decent strikeout rate didn't offset a bad walk rate and a miserable home run rate), the return really didn't fit with the team the Mariners were building going forward. Borchard appeared in just six games (two as a starter, two as a pinch-hitter, two as a defensive replacement without batting) before being claimed on outright assignment waivers by the then-Florida Marlins. He had no place on the team and Thornton was effectively given away for nothing.

Thornton rebounded, to put it mildly. Including a 2010 All-Star selection, he was a mainstay of the White Sox bullpen for seven and a half years and aside from his partial season in 2013, never posted a negative WAR with them. While rarely flashy, he got his walk, strikeout, and home run rates to where you'd want any pitcher to have them before finishing his career as a journeyman, playing for five teams in his last four seasons.

#13 - Mariners traded Vicente Campos (minors) and Michael Pineda to the New York Yankees. Received Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi.

Date of trade: January 23, 2012

WAR accumulated by Pineda for the Yankees: 8.9. WAR accumulated by Montero for the Mariners: -1.4. WAR accumulated by Noesi for the Mariners: -0.7

TRADE: Mariners -11.0

This is the most recent trade on the list. I included it in my compendium since it took place before the 2012 season began, and thus we are five full seasons removed from it.

There isn't much to say here, we've all hashed and rehashed this trade a million times. Despite Pineda missing two full seasons for the Yankees, he has still been the top performer in this trade by a large margin (Campos, thought by some back in 2012 to be the one who would truly make the M's regret this trade, has been very injured and has just 1 game at the Major League level to date). This trade will only move further up this list in the next few seasons, as Pineda is still only 28.

Montero and Noesi are both gone from the Mariners now, of course, and no one rues their absence. For exactly one day, it looked like "Trader Jack" had done it again and pulled the wool over his trading partner's eyes. It was literally all downhill from there.

#12 - Mariners traded Dave Burba, Michael Jackson and Bill Swift to the San Francisco Giants. Received Kevin Mitchell and Mike Remlinger.

Date of trade: December 11, 1991

WAR accumulated by Burba for the Giants: 1.3. WAR accumulated by Jackson for the Giants: 2.4. WAR accumulated by Swift for the Giants: 8.8. WAR accumulated by Mitchell for the Mariners: 0.2.

TRADE: Mariners -12.3

Remlinger never appeared for the Mariners at Major League-level, but Mitchell did, making this trade eligible for the list.

This was your classic "buy high" trade on the M's side, although Mitchell had already been clearly regressing from his 1989 NL MVP season. After leading the league that year in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, OPS, total bases, intentional walks (remind one of some other San Francisco Giants outfielder?) and, accordingly, WRC+, all said stats steadily declined in '90 and '91, though he was still a useful player. He was anything but for the Mariners. Only a 70-point jump in BABIP from '91 to '92 keeps his numbers looking remotely respectable, as his power and often mediocre ability to take a base on balls both all but vanished.

Burba and Jackson were both role-players for the Giants, Burba lasting three and a half seasons and Jackson three, putting up unremarkable (but solid) numbers all the while. The "steal" of the trade for the Giants was Swift. Similarly "dependable but unremarkable" in his career as a Mariner (10.9 WAR in 6 full seasons), he had his best seasons in San Fran. A very strong 1992, with (for what it's worth) a National League ERA title was followed in 1993 by a season where he finished second in the National League Cy Young voting (to Greg Maddux, who ran away with the award). Swift returned to the Mariners in 1998 for 29 largely forgettable appearances (0.9 WAR), but I'm sure everyone at the time rued missing his best years.

#11 - Mariners traded Wilson Delgado and Shawn Estes to the San Francisco Giants. Received Salomon Torres.

Date of trade: May 21, 1995

WAR accumulated by Delgado for the Giants: -0.7 WAR accumulated by Estes for the Giants: 14.4 WAR accumulated by Torres for the Mariners: 0.8

TRADE: Mariners -12.9

I'd always remembered the name Salomon Torres as having been on one of the most cherished Mariners teams in franchise history, though in retrospect he really didn't do much on it. In 16 games (13 starts) in '95, he pretty much did nothing. What little value he accrued for the Mariners mostly happened in '96. Once a hot prospect, he proved to be pretty forgettable throughout his career, topping 1 WAR in a season just twice, later in his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Delgado played only 59 games in 4 seasons with the Giants, each part-time season accruing negative WAR. The only really impactful player in this trade is Estes, who never put up a negative WAR in seven full or partial seasons with the Giants. His best year was probably 1997, where he was named to the National League All-Star team (despite eventually leading the league in walks with an even 100) and his 3.70 FIP was the best of his career. Probably the best individual night in his career came in 2000, when he pitched a complete game shutout *and* hit a grand slam. Isn't the National League neat sometimes?

#10 - Mariners traded a player to be named later to the Kansas City Royals. Received Manny Castillo. The Seattle Mariners sent Bud Black (March 2, 1982) to the Kansas City Royals to complete the trade.

Date of trade: October 23, 1981

WAR accumulated by Castillo for the Mariners: -2.6. WAR accumulated by Black for the Royals: 10.6

TRADE: Mariners -13.2

This trade is the all-too-common tale of a prized prospect just never materialising into anything. Castillo, a Dominican, was signed by the New York Mets in 1973 as an international free agent, at the tender age of 15 if his listed date of birth is correct. The Cardinals selected him from the Mets in the minor-league Rule 5 draft two years later, the Royals likewise from the Cardinals in the major league portion in 1979. With just 10 Major League plate appearances to his name in 1980, the Mariners were certainly still banking on his future when they sent off the ole' PTBNL for him.

Castillo never did much. As the club's starting third baseman for most of '82 and about a third of '83, he accumulated negative WAR in both of those seasons. While he didn't strike out much, he walked even less and had no power. Probably as telling as anything of Castillo's value to the club was a 1983 blowout loss to the Toronto Blue Jays where manager Del Crandall sent him to the mound -- in the sixth inning.

Known these days mainly as a manager, Black had a 15 year career as a player, too. A left-handed pitcher, Black never really impressed (he never got Cy Young votes, never made an All-Star team), but you don't stick around for 15 years without doing something right. His best season was probably 1984, where he racked up a single season career high 4.3 WAR and had the American League's best WHIP mark at 1.128. Six and a half very solid seasons for the Royals definitely put them way ahead in this trade.

#9 - Mariners traded Asdrubal Cabrera to the Cleveland Indians. Received Eduardo Perez.

Date of trade: June 30, 2006

WAR accumulated by Cabrera for the Indians: 13.2. WAR accumulated by Perez for the Mariners: -0.8

TRADE: Mariners -14.0

This is not actually Bill Bavasi's first trade on the list (that'd be the Thornton trade), but it's one that's often held up as a shining example of his incompetence

Cabrera was a 20 year old in AAA at the time of the trade (and had had a brief cup of coffee in AAA in 2005 at age 19), something you don't see very often. One has to wonder why Bavasi thought so little of him (I'd at least do him the courtesy of not believing him to discard Cabrera out of hand simply because the previous regime had signed him). It took a few years for Cabrera to really get his act going with the Indians, but at the still young age of 25 in 2011, he earned his first of two All-Star nods with the Tribe and even got MVP votes, leading all American League shortstops with 25 home runs. While mediocre at best as a defender, his offensive production has steadily been enough to make him a suitable Major League starter, as he has played for four teams in the last three seasons.

Perez was 36 at the time of the trade and on his last legs (indeed, he would end his career as a Mariner). In seeking to buff the offence of a roughly .500 team (the club ended '06 at 78-84 after an 11-game losing streak in August), Perez posted just a 48 WRC+ in his 43 games in Mariner blue. This after a 145 WRC+ in a similar sample size for the Indians that year. While this trade was never good process and was probably always going to make its way onto lists like this one, Perez's complete nose-dive has to have been a bit of a surprise.

#8 - Mariners traded Randy Winn to the San Francisco Giants. Received Jesse Foppert and Yorvit Torrealba.

Date of trade: July 30, 2005

WAR accumulated by Winn for the Giants: 14.6. WAR accumulated by Torrealba for the Mariners: 0.1

TRADE: Mariners -14.5

This is a trade I was a little surprised to see land on the list. Foppert, thought to be the prize prospect of the trade, never appeared for the Mariners, but Torrealba did, appearing regularly at catcher to close out an eminently forgettable 2005 season. He was shipped off to Colorado once the season ended.

Winn was always a good player. He never posted a negative WAR until his final season in the Majors (2010). He was a steady presence for the Giants in his four and a half years there, appearing in every game for the Giants in the remainder of 2005 and between 149 and 155 games in the next four full seasons. This one largely boils down to WAR being a counting stat, as Winn's best season in San Francisco was 2008 where he racked up 5.2 WAR.

Torrealba certainly wasn't terrible in his brief stint as a Mariner -- he was probably one of the better defensive catchers the club had in their truly execrable middle 2000's -- but even at the time, there was a strong feeling that he was never bound to stay. That he was always just going to be dealt again in the offseason, which he was.

Foppert was one of the Giants' top prospects for several years in the early 2000's, but after an extended look in '03 and brief stints in '04 and '05, he never pitched in the Majors again after this trade. He pitched just 24.1 innings over parts of two seasons for the Tacoma Rainiers, and finished his professional career back in the Giants' system in '08 and '09.

#7 - Mariners traded Mike Felder and Mike Hampton to the Houston Astros. Received Eric Anthony.

Date of trade: December 10, 1993

WAR accumulated by Felder for the Astros: -0.5. WAR accumulated by Hampton for the Astros: 14.9. WAR accumulated by Anthony for the Mariners: -0.7

TRADE: Mariners -15.1

Much like the trade involving the coincidentally also "bats right, throws left" Shawn Estes, this one is all about the Mariners' current bullpen coach. He had a successful and lengthy career, racking up 28.0 WAR before he hung 'em up, and over half of them came with the Astros, where he made his name. 1999 was the best year for Hampton, as he got his only All-Star nod with Houston (he got one later in his career with the Colorado Rockies as well), won the Silver Slugger, finished a very close second to Randy Johnson in the Cy Young voting, and received MVP votes.

I'm inclined to say this trade was a prospect (Hampton pitched just 13 games for the Mariners in '93) for an established star, but Anthony was never much. Worth just 1.3 WAR over five full seasons in Houston, those were actually the high years of his career, as he barely finished on the happy side of replacement level for his career (0.3 WAR). Felder, likewise never much, was coming off a 41 WRC+ full~ish season with the Mariners, and after 58 almost-as-bad games in a part-time role with Houston, was out of the league for good following the tumultuous 1994 campaign.

#6 - Mariners traded Tino Martinez, Jim Mecir and Jeff Nelson to the New York Yankees. Received Russ Davis and Sterling Hitchcock.

Date of trade: December 7, 1995

WAR accumulated by Martinez for the Yankees: 15.7. WAR accumulated by Mecir for the Yankees: 0.0. WAR accumulated by Nelson for the Yankees: 4.3. WAR accumulated by Davis for the Mariners: 0.1. WAR accumulated by Hitchcock for the Mariners: 2.7.

TRADE: Mariners -17.2

I remember being confused by this trade, but don't give 9 year old me too much credit -- I was wondering why the Mariners were making a trade with the team they'd so spectacularly defeated just seven~ish weeks prior.

Davis was probably acquired with the thinking that he'd be a franchise cornerstone forever and ever. And if he ever learned to take a walk, he probably would have had a much more successful career. When he hit the ball, he hit it a long way, but he struck out an awful lot and was a bit of a butcher at the hot corner. 1.6 WAR in 1997 was his high-water mark, as his other Mariner seasons nearly counter-balanced that entirely. Hitchcock spent just the one season as a Mariner, putting up a season pretty much in line with his career averages.

Martinez flourished in the Bronx, such that he acquired the nauseating nickname "the ban-Tino." In six full seasons there, he never played fewer than 142 games, and leaving aside a mediocre 2000 season as an outlier, he was always a strong contributor. His best year was 1997, racking up 5.3 WAR, an All-Star selection, and a second-place finish in the MVP voting (first in the 'human beings' division, as Ken Griffey JR won the award unanimously).

Mecir made 51 forgettable relief appearances for the interlocking N-Y. In his initial five-season run with the Yanks, Nelson was a solid part of the bullpen that won four World Series rings, the envy of anyone. As an individual contributor, Nelson was pretty much the same pitcher his entire career.

#5 - Mariners traded Carlos Guillen to the Detroit Tigers. Received Juan Gonzalez (minors) and Ramon Santiago.

Date of trade: January 8, 2004

WAR accumulated by Guillen for the Tigers: 18.3. WAR accumulated by Santiago for the Mariners: -0.1

TRADE: Mariners -18.4

Well hey there again Bill Bavasi. I expected this trade to make the list, but I'm surprised it's this high.

This trade never made sense, particularly as it accompanied the signing of Rich Aurilia, who did less than nothing as a Mariner. Carlos "I played through tuberculosis" Guillen was starting to show signs of the contributor he'd become. After part-time duty from '98 to 2000 (partially because of injury), Guillen posted 6.4 WAR in his final three seasons with the Mariners. His offensive output was steadily improving each year, and as a young man, he was considered a whiz with the glove too. Still, he didn't fit into Bavasi's vision for the Mariners, so off he went to rack up the majority of his 25.4 career WAR with the Detroit Tigers. Three All-Star selections and a top-10 finish in the MVP voting in his 5.8 WAR 2006 season were constant reminders to Mariners fans of how much this trade hurt.

And maybe if the Mariners had acquired that Juan Gonzalez, this trade would have had a chance (although he was on his last legs by this point). Santiago had just 58 plate appearances in parts of two seasons for the Mariners -- before he went right back to the Tigers as a free agent! Not that he was ever much, just 5.2 career WAR, but that's as galling as anything.

#4 - Mariners traded a player to be named later and Shin-Soo Choo to the Cleveland Indians. Received Ben Broussard and cash. The Seattle Mariners sent Shawn Nottingham (minors) (August 24, 2006) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

Date of trade: July 26, 2006

WAR accumulated by Choo for the Indians: 19.4. WAR accumulated by Broussard for the Mariners: -0.8

TRADE: Mariners -20.2

The Bill Bavasi greatest hits tour continues. This trade came a few weeks after the earlier mentioned Eduardo Perez trade, and actually managed to be even worse. Broussard, known for playing a mean rock guitar, was a pretty typical middle-2000's Mariner. Solid power, never walked, struck out like it was going out of style. In a season and a half he was history, dealt for LL darling Tug Hulett.

In two of the briefest cups of coffee with the Mariners at the Major League level, Choo was not very good, but he was only 23 at the time of the trade and had consistently gotten the better of Minor League pitching at each level. He put it together nicely in Cleveland, which pretty much everyone except Bavasi saw coming. A 2010 6.0 WAR season where he got MVP votes was probably Choo's high point with the Tribe, and later in his career with Cincinnati and Texas, he has continued to be a strong contributor.

#3 - Mariners traded Omar Vizquel to the Cleveland Indians. Received Felix Fermin, Reggie Jefferson and cash.

Date of trade: December 20, 1993

WAR accumulated by Vizquel for the Indians: 27.5. WAR accumulated by Fermin for the Mariners: -2.1. WAR accumulated by Jefferson for the Mariners: 1.2

TRADE: Mariners -28.4

This is the trade I really remember growing up being the one horrible albatross on the M's record. One of the finest defensive shortstops ever, Vizquel won nine consecutive Gold Gloves from 1993 to 2001 (and two more later in his career). At least the M's got the first one of those. He was rarely much of a threat at the plate, but his glove-work more than made up for it, and this was somewhat apparent even in his time with the Mariners (8.6 WAR in five seasons, all of it with the glove). Vizquel rarely missed time either, appearing in less than 144 games with Cleveland just once in his 11 seasons there. A three-time All-Star, he received MVP votes in 1999 when he had a rare strong offensive season (115 WRC+).

All this would be bad enough. But Felix Fermin was just awful as a Mariner. Awful at the plate (like Vizquel, he was never much as a batter, but unlike Vizquel, he did not even have the season or two of outliers), and even awful with the glove while a Mariner. He was pretty much done in the Majors after how hard he flopped in Seattle -- he played just 8 games with the Chicago Cubs in '96 before hanging 'em up.

A bat-first 1B/DH type, Jefferson actually had one of the best seasons of his career with Seattle, posting a 135 WRC+ and 1.2 WAR. But it was just the one season for him, as he was off to Boston in free agency the next year. Compared to what Vizquel gave the Indians, it sure hurts.

#2 - Mariners traded Tony Butler (minors), Adam Jones, Kam Mickolio, George Sherrill and Chris Tillman to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Erik Bedard.

Date of trade: February 8, 2008

WAR accumulated by Jones for the Orioles: 26.9. WAR accumulated by Mickolio for the Orioles: 0.5. WAR accumulated by Sherrill for the Orioles: 1.4. WAR accumulated by Tillman for the Orioles: 10.3. WAR accumulated by Bedard for the Mariners: 3.9.

TRADE: Mariners -35.2.

Well Bill, at least you're spared having #1 on the list. For now, that is. Just like the Pineda trade, the story for this one isn't over yet, with Jones and Tillman still around to rack up more wins for Baltimore (how is Tillman still only 28 years old?).

Give 22 year old me even less credit than 9 year old me. I didn't think this trade was so bad when it happened. I was happy the Mariners had managed to keep Carlos Triunfel (whose name it honestly took me a minute to remember) and, viewing the trade as an inevitability given how open Bavasi was in his coveting of Bedard, thought it could have gone worse. It honestly couldn't have gone much worse.

Jones of course has been a beast, with five All-Star nods, four Gold Gloves, three seasons in the MVP voting, and a Silver Slugger. He will probably get a smattering of Hall of Fame support when he retires, if he keeps it up for another 6 or 7 years (not that he'll be elected, but he'll get votes). I didn't truly appreciate at the time how much losing him was gonna hurt, so I guess Bill's not the only one! He will be a strong Major League contributor for years to come.

Tillman started slow and may never be a superstar (though as mentioned, he is only 28 years old even now), but he's developed into a dependable middle of the rotation starter, and those certainly don't grow on trees. He received his one All-Star selection in 2013, but by WAR he's just coming off his best season -- 2.4 in 2016.

Sherrill and Mickolio were both Orioles for only a short time, but both accrued value (Sherrill also got an All-Star selection of his own in his one season with Baltimore). Sherrill, like the never-made-it-to-MLB Tony Butler, later returned to the Mariners organisation, but only for 2 appearances.

Certainly, Bedard wasn't bad as a Mariner. But injuries, lack of durability (he averaged just 5 2/3 innings per start as a Mariner), and way too much hype/cost meant he never really stood a chance. His best season in Mariner blue was probably his last, when he came back in free agency for no real reason other than to prove himself, and wound up being flipped at the trade deadline for prospects.

All right.

You all know what #1 is.

Brace yourselves.

It's probably gonna hurt even more than you think.

#1 - Mariners traded Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Boston Red Sox. Received Heathcliff Slocumb.

Date of trade: July 31, 1997

WAR accumulated by Lowe for the Red Sox: 18.2 WAR accumulated by Varitek for the Red Sox: 24.3. WAR accumulated by Slocumb for the Mariners: 0.6

TRADE: Mariners -41.9

Yikes.

There's every chance the Jones/Bedard trade will take the top slot if this analysis is done again in five years time, but holy hot hell, this one is even worse by the numbers than I expected it would be.

There's not much to be said here. Lowe and Varitek were both key components to the Red Sox' historic 2004 World Series championship season. Varitek, who remained in Beantown his entire career, added a second ring in 2007, while Lowe spent seven and a half seasons calling Fenway his home prior to playing for five teams in the next nine years. Lowe also etched his name in the history books in 2002 with a no-hitter at Fenway, with just a lone walk separating him from perfection. He is one of only two players in history to lead his league in saves in one season while also having a no-hitter to his name (Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is the other).

Were it not for the cost to acquire him, Slocumb probably would have been forgotten to history by now. He wasn't terrible as a Mariner -- 0.4 WAR in just 27 appearances down the stretch in 1997, as he anchored the bullpen in the Mariners' second-ever march to the postseason. After 57 unremarkable appearances in '98 (0.2 WAR), he pitched for three teams in his final two seasons in the bigs and then retired.

Who can say what Lowe and Varitek could have done as Mariners -- Varitek had yet to even crack the Majors at the time of the trade, and Lowe had made just 12 appearances for Seattle earlier in 1997 -- but after seeing the excellent careers they had after the trade, this one's always gonna feel like it changed history for the worse.