Top 25 MLB trades of all time

4. John Smoltz to the Braves, 1987

• Braves get: John Smoltz
• Tigers get: Doyle Alexander

It could have been an all-time great baseball story — John Smoltz, the local Michigan high schooler drafted in the late rounds by the Detroit Tigers who shocks the world and develops into a Hall of Famer. Would have been nice. Instead, the Tigers traded Smoltz to the Atlanta Braves for veteran starter Doyle Alexander to help them in the playoff race in 1987.

The Tigers looked like the early winners of the trade. Alexander went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA in 11 starts down the stretch. That’s one of the better performances ever by a rental starter in a pennant race. Smoltz had a record of 11-19 in the minor leagues at the time of the trade, but he was still young and had upside.

Smoltz’s career with the Braves did not begin taking off until 1989. They had begun figuring him out and getting him on track in 1988, and he had his first real success in the minor leagues. Still, no one was thinking Hall of Fame after he went 2-7 with a 5.48 ERA and 1.67 WHIP when given his first taste of MLB action.

In 1989, things clicked for Smoltz at the MLB level, and he went 12-11 with a 2.94 ERA and made the All-Star Game. Along with Tom Glavine, he was laying the foundation for what would develop into one of the best starting rotations in MLB history. Greg Maddux came to the Braves in 1993 and the rest is history. Smoltz won the Cy Young in 1996 and is the only pitcher in MLB history with over 200 wins and 150 saves.