Fansided

Each MLB team’s best trade ever

By Joshua Sadlock

SEATTLE, WA - JUNE 19: Miguel Cabrera #24 of the Detroit Tigers takes a swing during an at-bat in a game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on June 19, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners won the game 6-2. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - JUNE 19: Miguel Cabrera #24 of the Detroit Tigers takes a swing during an at-bat in a game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on June 19, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners won the game 6-2. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /
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PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 11: Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros takes a practice swing before batting during a Major League Baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on September 11, 2004 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 11: Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros takes a practice swing before batting during a Major League Baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on September 11, 2004 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images) /

Houston Astros: Jeff Bagwell from the Red Sox, 1990

  • Astros get: Jeff Bagwell
  • Red Sox get: Larry Andersen

Had Jeff Bagwell played out his entire career with the Boston Red Sox, it would have been one of the best New England sports tales ever. Bagwell was born in Boston, grew up in Connecticut and went to the University of Hartford, hardly an NCAA baseball powerhouse. Instead, the Red Sox traded him at the end of a solid season at Double-A for a rental reliever. They made the playoffs, but lost in the ALCS. Andersen left at the end of the year and Bagwell blossomed into a Hall of Famer with the Astros.

Bagwell was a fourth-round pick by the Red Sox, so they obviously saw something in him. In 136 games at Double-A in 1990, Bagwell had hit .333/.422/.457 with 34 doubles and 73 walks against only 57 strikeouts. He hit only four home runs, however, which may have been what caused the Red Sox to deal him so easily.

The rest of the story is known by everyone. Bagwell won the NL Rookie of the Year in 1991 and became the best first baseman in the National League for most of the 1990s. He hit .304/.416/.545 in the decade with 314 doubles, 236 home runs, 961 RBI, 158 stolen bases and only 21 more strikeouts than walks. Bagwell won the 1994 NL MVP and Gold Glove and is the only first baseman in MLB history with multiple 30-30 seasons.

Trades like this one get made every year (although the prospect does not always turn into a Hall of Famer). The Red Sox could not project the power that would one day emerge from Bagwell’s squatty batting stance. He will finally be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame, an honor that was a long time coming.

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