Jun 13, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher James Shields (25) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at U.S. Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports
After two rough starts with the Chicago White Sox, James Shields could join a long line of pitchers who disappointed their new teams after a trade. Here are six notable examples in recent memory.
It’s a frequent occurrence in the unpredictable world of Major League Baseball. A team trades for an established starting pitcher to provide a boost to its rotation, only to watch him fall well short of expectations. The common thread in such scenarios is often an anxious team reaching a bit too soon for the panic button.
The latest example might be James Shields, who was acquired by the Chicago White Sox on June 4. With the club’s postseason hopes rapidly sinking, they swung a deal with the San Diego Padres for the former All-Star hurler in hopes that he would provide a spark from the mound.
Well, the only things sparking so far are opposing hitters’ bats. Shields’ first two starts in the Windy City haven’t exactly gone according to plan. In his first outing with the ChiSox, the veteran right-hander was torn to shreds by the Nationals, combusting to the tune of seven runs on eight hits (including three homers) in only two innings. His follow-up five days later wasn’t much better, as he surrendered six earned runs on nine hits across five frames. In those two starts combined, Shields walked six while striking out just three.
It should be noted that these are only two starts, and Shields still has plenty of season left to turn himself around. However, the various factors at play here aren’t very encouraging. Shields is 34 years old and has shown signs of decline for a few years now. Moving him from a pitcher’s paradise like Petco Park into a homer-prone venue such as U.S. Cellular Field probably won’t do him many favors either.
If the deal winds up a bust, the White Sox certainly wouldn’t be alone in making a trade for a high-profile starting pitcher that didn’t quite pan out. Not everyone can strike midseason gold like the Brewers did with CC Sabathia in 2008. Let’s take a look at six memorable instances of a hurler missing the mark after swapping uniforms. For the sake of scope, we’ll stick to the year 2000 and onward.
Next: A Royal Conundrum
Johnny Cueto – Kansas City Royals
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports /
We don’t even have to go back a full year for the first example. Eager to return to the Fall Classic, the Kansas City Royals pulled the trigger on a deal with the Cincinnati Reds on July 26, 2015, that netted them star pitcher Johnny Cueto. The Royals achieved their goal in the end, of course, but they didn’t always see the performance quality they thought they would be getting from the ace right-hander.
Cueto was inconsistent at best during his tenure in Kansas City, posting a 4.76 ERA and 1.45 WHIP along with a 4-7 record in 13 regular season starts. That was a far cry from his numbers with the Reds just prior to the exchange: 2.62 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 4.14 K/BB ratio in 19 outings.
The erratic results continued into the postseason, although Royals fans may feel that Cueto’s final bow in a KC uniform made the trade all worth it. In Game 2 of the World Series, Cueto twirled a complete game gem, limiting the Mets to one run on two hits and staking the Royals to a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Cueto is back to his dominant self with the Giants this season (2.16 ERA), but the Royals definitely won’t lose much sleep over the situation considering they ended up adding long-awaited hardware to the trophy cabinet. Still, they probably would have liked to see more stat lines worthy of a frontline, number-one starter.
Next: Thrown to the Shark(s)
Jeff Samardzija – Chicago White Sox
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /
The Shields acquisition may not be the only starting pitching deal to bite the White Sox in recent memory. In December 2014, they plucked Jeff Samardzija from the A’s for a trade package that included shortstop Marcus Semien. Chicago hoped that the righty would form an imposing one-two punch with perennial Cy Young contender Chris Sale during the 2015 campaign.
Instead, Samardzija went on to have one of the worst seasons by a starter in the American League. Though he tied for the league lead with two shutouts, that was just about the only silver lining to an otherwise ugly year. Samardzija posted a 4.96 ERA, allowing an MLB-most 118 earned runs on an MLB-most 228 hits over 214 innings. He also served up an AL-high 29 long balls.
The dreadful showcase was especially disappointing considering Samardzija’s strong performance the year before. In 2014, he managed a 2.99 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 4.70 K/BB in 219.2 frames between the Cubs and A’s.
Like Cueto, Samardzija seems to have put himself back on track in pitcher-friendly San Francisco, posting a 3.36 ERA through his first 13 outings of 2016. The best the White Sox can do at this point is shake their heads.
Esteban Loaiza wasn’t exactly a great pitcher when the Toronto Blue Jays acquired him from the Texas Rangers on July 19, 2000. At that point the 28-year-old owned a career 4.76 ERA through five seasons in the big leagues. But the Jays evidently felt he would help their rotation, especially over a struggling youngster by the name of Roy Halladay who had a 10.90 ERA at the time.
Loaiza fared well enough in the latter part of 2000, posting a 3.62 ERA in 14 starts, though Toronto failed to make the postseason. The following two seasons weren’t very fun, however. The right-hander sputtered to a 5.33 ERA and 1.49 WHIP over the 2001 and 2002 campaigns. When he hit free agency the next year, the Jays had little reason to re-sign him.
It’s what happened next that made this one of the most regrettable trades in Blue Jays franchise history, at least until the R.A. Dickey / Noah Syndergaard debacle. One of the two prospects Toronto sent to Texas in the Loaiza deal was none other than infielder Michael Young, who went on to appear in seven All-Star Games, win the 2005 batting title and become one of the best players to ever put on a Rangers uniform.
To add insult to injury, Loaiza went on to win 21 games with a 2.90 ERA for the White Sox in 2003, leading the AL in strikeouts (207) and finishing second in Cy Young voting. He never scaled those heights again, but in case you’d forgotten, consider this your annual reminder that Esteban Loaiza once won 21 games and was the runner-up for the Cy Young Award.
Here’s a two-for-one special the Mets likely wish they could undo. Deciding to make an improbable push for the playoffs in 2004, they made a pair of big additions to their rotation on the day before the trade deadline, acquiring Victor Zambrano from the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Kris Benson from the Pittsburgh Pirates. The club hoped the two hurlers would help lighten the load for 38-year-olds Tom Glavine and Al Leiter.
In the forgettable early years of the Devil Rays franchise, Zambrano was pretty much as good as it got when it came to starting pitching. The right-hander led the team with nine wins and a 4.43 ERA upon being traded. He made only three starts for the Mets in 2004 before elbow trouble shut him down for the rest of the year.
Upon returning in 2005, he managed a mediocre 4.17 ERA in 31 appearances, and in 2006 he was limited to five outings and a bloated 6.75 ERA before a torn flexor tendon ended his season. By the next year, he had signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays.
Benson wasn’t much better, putting up a 4.23 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in parts of two seasons with the Mets in 2004-2005. In January 2006, he was shipped to the Orioles amidst rumors that team officials had grown tired of his model wife’s antics.
The most maligned part of the whole ordeal is that the Mets gave up top prospect Scott Kazmir in the Zambrano trade. It took a little while for the coveted lefty to establish himself at the major league level, but by 2008 he was a two-time All-Star with a career 3.61 ERA and a World Series appearance under his belt.
While the Mets certainly aren’t lacking for talented young arms right now, they surely would have preferred to have Kazmir back then over the lackluster combination of Zambrano and Benson.
If it makes the Mets feel any better, their crosstown foes also know a thing or two about underwhelming trades for starting pitchers.
After Curt Schilling guided their bitter rivals the Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years, it seemed only natural that the New York Yankees would try to one-up them by raiding the Arizona Diamondbacks for their other ace, future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. After weeks of rumors, the Yanks secured their prize on the final day of 2004 for a package headlined by catching prospect Dioner Navarro.
The famously ornery left-hander immediately got off on the wrong foot in his new home, clashing with a TV cameraman shortly after arriving. New York City certainly isn’t Phoenix. Regardless, the Yankees hoped Johnson’s dominance would shine through on the mound and lead to another championship. However, that may have been a bit too much to ask for: the five-time Cy Young winner was 41 years old by this time, an age at which even the most prolific hurlers usually don’t have much left in the tank.
Johnson’s first year in pinstripes wasn’t bad, but decidedly below his usual lofty standard. He posted a 3.79 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 4.49 K/BB in 2005 en route to 17 wins. He collected another 17 wins the following year, but that had more to do with abundant run support than any effectiveness on his part. Johnson put up a 5.00 ERA that season, his highest mark in that category in any full season of his career.
Prior to the 2007 campaign, the Yankees dealt Johnson back to Arizona and the grand experiment was over. All things considered, it had more in common with the Yanks’ failed Kevin Brown trade (another transaction which could have easily been included on this list) than the Red Sox’s acquisition of Schilling. Ultimately, the Big Apple just didn’t agree with the Big Unit.
Any other examples you think are deserving of a mention? Feel free to share them in the comment section below.
