1 trade the Washington Nationals want to take back: Randy Johnson
American poet John Greenleaf Whittier once wrote, “For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, it might have been.” If you were a fan of the Montreal Expos, the Randy Johnson trade will haunt you in your sleep.
Yes, Johnson appears on this list twice as well. But while the Big Unit was dealt more than GMs would like to remember, the worst trade involving the Hall of Famer has to be the deal in 1989 that saw Johnson shipped to the Seattle Mariners.
For those who are unaware, the Washington Nationals were once the Montreal Expos. Following the MLB strike in 1994, the Expos fanbase began to dwindle and a massive firesale was underway. The franchise eventually collapsed and was relocated to Washington D.C.
But can you imagine how passionate the fanbase in Montreal would have been if the Expos had hung on to Randy Johnson? The southpaw ended his career with 4,875 strikeouts, 303 wins, 10 trips to the All-Star Games, and five Cy Young Awards.
And if you think trading one Hall of Fame pitcher with multiple Cy Young Awards is bad, the Montreal Expos did it twice. The organization traded Pedro Martinez to the Boston Red Sox in 1997.