Just wanted to look back at some of my favorite trades in Dodger history. Some, I was very young for, others, not so much. They are in no particular order.
1. Gino Cimoli for Wally Moon. On December 4th, 1958, the Dodgers made the first trade that would impact the team significantly for several years. Gino Cimoli, a right-handed hitting outfielder, was traded to the Cardinals for former ROY Wally Moon and pitcher, Phil Paine. Cimoli would last in St. Louis for only a season before being traded to the Pirates and was out of the game by 1965. Moon became the Dodgers regular left fielder and during the 1959 Championship season, he hit .302/19/74. He used the screen in left field to his advantage and perfected what Vin Scully would call Moon Shots over the screen. Paine never played at the major league level. Moon would stay with the Dodgers for seven seasons hitting .286 with 64 homers and 330 RBI’s He was a member of three Championship teams.
2. Dick Gray for Chuck Essegian: On June 15th, 1959, the Dodgers sent Dick Gray, their opening day third baseman in 1958 to the Cardinals for reserve outfielder, Chuck Essegian. Chuck almost immediately became Walter Alston’s go to pinch hitter. Chuck would hit .304 in 50 plate appearances with 1 homer and five driven in. But in the World Series against the White Sox, he would slug two pinch-hit homers. Tying the Giants Dusty Rhodes for the most PH homers in a World Series. Chuck was not as successful in 1960 and was sold to the Orioles after the season. But he is always remembered as a key player in their victory over the Sox.
3. Don Zimmer for Lee Handley, John Goryl, and Ron Perranoski: With Maury Wills taking the job as the everyday SS, Zimmer had no place to play. So, on April 8th, he was traded. He went on to play 132 games for the Cubs and got his average to a respectable .256. Handley, a minor league pitcher, never made it to the majors. Goryl, a SS, was sent to AAA and played two seasons there before being selected by the Twins in the 1961 Rule 5 draft. The jewel of the trade turned out to be Perranoski. Perry would spend eight years in LA, recording a 51-41 record and 100 saves. Included in those stats was a stellar year in 1963, where he went 16-3 with a 1.67 ERA and 21 saves.
4. Darnell Sweeny and John Richy to Philadelphia for Chase Utley: On August 19th, 2015, the Dodgers sent Sweeny and minor league pitcher, Richy to the Phillies for Chase Utley. It was a deal designed to bring playoff experience into the Dodger dugout. While Utley did not exactly light up the stat sheet, his presence in the clubhouse was extremely helpful. He only had three at bats in the NLDS against the Mets, but his slide into second base, taking out the Mets SS, and breaking his leg, resulted in what has come to be known as “The Chase Utley Rule.” Players can no longer go out of the way to take out infielders. Utley would spend parts of four seasons in LA and have some other memorable moments. Especially the game where he hit two homers in Citi Field against the Mets.
5. Jesse Valdez, minor league pitcher, for David Freese: Another stretch run trade that panned out. One reason I miss the August 31 deadline for deals to help for the playoffs. Freese came over and was immediately impactful. He hit .385 with two homers and nine driven in. He also was one of the few Dodgers who had good stats in the postseason. He hit .417 against Boston in the 18 World Series and had two postseason homers. He re-signed with LA in 2019 and had a solid year, hitting .315 in 79 games with 11 homers and 29 RBIs. He had some injuries that limited his playing time. But he was 4-8 against DC in the NLDS loss. He retired after the season.
6. Dick Tracewski for Phil Regan: In Dec of 1965, the Dodgers traded Tracewski, a backup SS, for reliever, Phil Regan. Regan would go on to have one of the best seasons ever by a Dodger reliever and earn the nickname, “The Vulture.” Regan would go 14-1 with 21 saves and a 1.62 ERA. The Dodgers would win the pennant but lose the World Series to the Orioles in Koufax’s last season. But he and Regan were two bright spots for the year. Regan pitched one more year for LA and then was traded in 1968 with Jim Hickman to the Cubs for Ted Savage and Jim Ellis.
7. Ron Fairly and Paul Popovich to the Expos for Maury Wills and Manny Mota: June 1969. The Dodgers needed a SS, so they traded fan favorite Ron Fairly and SS Paul Popovich to the Expos to bring home a long-time Dodger fan favorite, Maury Wills. They got a PH supreme and backup outfielder in Manny Mota. Although Wills was 36 at the time of the trade, he would have three good seasons before fading in his age-39 season. He would be replaced by Bill Russell as “The Infield” began their run. Mota on the other hand, would become the Jim Gilliam of outfielders and the most prolific pinch hitter of his era. He would spend 13 years as a player and another 20 or so as a coach. Mota and Wills are both in the Legends of Dodger baseball.
8. Three-team trade involving the Dodgers, Pirates, and Red Sox: Dodgers received Manny Ramirez. The trade cost the Dodgers, Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pirates; the Pirates sent Jason Bay to the Red Sox and got Craig Hanson and Brandon Moss. Few trades at the deadline have impacted a team as much as this trade impacted the Dodgers. To put it simply, Ramirez went off. In his 53 games with the Dodgers, he slugged 17 home runs, drove in 53, and he hit .396. His OPS was 1.232. He brought instant excitement to Dodger Stadium and turned the left field seats into Mannywood. Fans bought Manny-style dreadlocks, and the Stadium was rocking every time he came to the plate. He would also shine in the playoffs, hitting over .500 in the two series with four homers and 10 RBIs. One of the more memorable moments was when he came off of the bench on his bobblehead night and had a pinch-hit homer. He of course ruined that legacy with his PED suspension the next season, but for one bright shining moment, he was maybe the most exciting player to ever don a Dodger uniform.
9. The Trade: August 25th, 2012. The new owners of the team, Guggenheim, wanted to make a splash and get a superstar player on the Dodgers. They made a pretty good choice in Adrian Gonzalez. With a large and loyal Hispanic fan base, Gonzalez, who had started his career with Texas and then been traded to the Padres, was definitely the face they were looking for. But he wasn’t the only piece. Carl Crawford, past his prime, but still a very good player when healthy, Josh Beckett, who had been with the Marlins and Red Sox when they won World Series in 03 and 07 respectively, would bolster the starting staff, and reserve infielder, Nick Punto. He quickly became Danny DeVito’s favorite player and DeVito could be seen wearing the #7 jersey at Dodger Stadium quite often. The cost? James Loney, Ivan De Jesus, Allen Webster. After the Season, Rubby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands were both sent to Boston.
Beckett spent three seasons with LA, winning eight and losing 14. One of his wins was a no-hitter against the Phillies. Crawford, injury-prone as usual, played parts of four seasons in LA, hitting .278 with 18 homers and 99 driven in. He did hit over .300 in all of his combined postseason at-bats. Punto spent two seasons in LA and had two homers and 21 RBIs. Gonzalez played six years in LA. He had 101 homers and 448 driven in. He was the Dodgers’ butter and egg man as so named by Vin Scully. He was later traded to the Braves in the salary dump that brought Matt Kemp back to LA.
10. Nathan Eovaldi and Scott McGough to Miami for Randy Choate and Hanley Ramirez. Another Ramirez trade. I loved this deal when it went down. Although Eovaldi would develop into a solid starter, at the time he was just another prospect. Choate was a solid lefty reliever and helped the pen a lot. Choate would eventually pitch in 36 games, usually to get out tough leftie hitters. This, of course, was before the three-batter rule. A lot of Choate’s appearances involved one hitter. Ramirez was solid in the 64 games he played. He hit .271 with ten homers and 44 driven in. He was a force through the following season. He hit .345 in 86 games. He was injured in the WBC and got a late start on the year. The Dodgers’ chances of getting to the World Series took a huge hit when his ribs were broken by a Joe Kelly pitch in the NLDS against the Cardinals. Hanley played for one more year in LA. He was then allowed to walk after the 2014 season as a free agent.
Well, there you have it, some of my favorite trades. Don’t ask me about my least favorites, I could write a book!
Although trading Mike Piazza was probably one of the least popular trades, Gary Sheffield was a great hitter who had great seasons in LA. Like Manny he had ‘management ‘ issues, but on the field he produced.
Shawn Greene–another great acquisition
Some of memories of Manny is he would look bad in the first inning against some pitcher he never faced before. The hit homer in second AB. Don’t know how true this is, or how many times, but i still like the thought
I lost all respect for Sheffield when he said in an interview that he did not give 100% all the time. As good as Sheffield was, he wasn’t a clubhouse leader. The Dodgers did not go to the playoffs at any point in his tenure with the club. There is a reason the guy was traded five times. As for Green, he did not cost them much in trade, Mondesi and Pedro Borbon, and he played well in his stint with the Dodgers. He had two excellent seasons, his two 40 homer years, but he was just ok the other three. He had 4 hits, 3 of them homers in his only Dodger postseason play. I saw Manny do that at least twice when he was with the Dodgers. Struck out in the first AB and homered in the second.
I think Shawn got that shoulder injury, and was never the same layer after that
I think you are right.
Sometimes my stupidity even amazes myself. Yesterday I asked what kind of a contract will Freeman and Peralta command next season. I meant Heyward and Peralta. I’m doing a do over. What kind of a contract will Heyward and Peralta get next season?
I’d resign Heyward if I had to pick one. He has found his hitting game in LA and I like the way he plays the outfield. Not sure how much he is worth though.
I doubt there would be a big market for either, given their age and related limitations. They may be more valuable as role players on a loaded team like the Dodgers than teams looking for youth and upside at a discount.
Both are having good seasons but both are now platoon players. Peralta’s deal this year was reported as $6.5 million, but perhaps some of that was based on meeting minimums in plate appearances, etc . Anyway, something in that ballpark–maybe $5-7million– might make sense.
I think the brass tries to keep Heyward because his ability to play quality RF enables Mookie to play 2B against righties.
Eventually, Mookie will move to 2B full-time, but that could be a few years away. Mookie’s versatility has been simply great for this team. He’s the team’s best option in RF and the best option in 2B. Should he play SS? Maybe. But I think that’s Lux’s job to lose. Too bad we can’t clone Mookie.
I hope DeLuca, Busch and Vargas get a lot of experience in LF over the next few months, because that strikes me as the most likely vacancy in ’24.
Some folks here, of course, think the much-maligned Max should be traded and Busch or Vargas should take over 3B, but I seriously doubt the Dodger brass shares that opinion.
For starters, neither Vargas or Busch has demonstrated they can consistently hit major league pitching, and there’s zero indication that either could play 3B better than Max. Think about this, Max critics. Would you really move a guy with Max’s track record to make room for an unproven prospect? (If the Dodgers fail to land Ohtani and sign Chapman as Plan B, Max moves to DH.)
Busch has been up for a few days now, but the only time he played 3B was when Max got thrown out of the game. Plus, Max has a reasonable contract for a guy likely to finish with more than 35 HRs and 100 RBI.
Peralta has less chance of being re-signed. He is 36. Heyward is 34. I could see LA offering Jason a one and one. One year with an option. He would be an excellent fourth outfielder. But I think and believe the Dodgers might seriously consider moving Betts permanently to the infield this offseason and getting some younger legs in the outfield along with Outman. DeLuca could be one of those guys. Betts moving to second opens all sorts of possibilities roster wise and gives them some trade options too.
I’m no GM and I seldom discuss next year’s potential team, but the Heyward, Peralta conversation interests me. The reason is they have both been great additions on the field and especially in the clubhouse. Both have assumed whatever role was asked and have put their egos aside to win. This team’s chemistry is unusually good. That’s not easy to duplicate.
Peralta is a career .280 hitter and was a fixture in Az. He’s obviously a FA at the end of the season. He’s been a bargain at $6.5 million. I don’t believe much in home-town discounts but I wonder at 36 what his value is league wide? I wonder if his success in LA would make him affordable for another year?
Heyward as well. He’s been a freebie, making the minimum with the Cubs picking up the tab. Same question with him.
I’d sign both if they were affordable but I doubt both will be. Sign the least expensive perhaps?
Looking down into AAA and AA, I don’t see that many outfield prospects that would make me eager to part with either Heyward or Peralta next season. Outman is a lock in center and DeLuca should get a look and perhaps Pages making the jump from AA. Is Vargas an outfield candidate and his year has been a bust. So I’m seeing a need for Peralta or Heyward or both. Suggesting any trades is way out of my GM level.
I really like the idea of Mookie moving into the infield to open up the outfield more often.
Then there’s the CT3 – Kike conversation. Keeping both seems redundant. I would do my best to deal CT3 but his bloated $15 million a year contract through 2025, would be tough. I would considering sweetening that with a prospect or eat some salary. I’d keep Kike, assuming re would resign for something close to his current $10 deal.
So, it’s Outman, DeLuca?, Peralta?, Heyward? Pages?, and Kike. With Moolie a pretty fair platoon option.
What am I missing?
Pages is on the 60-day IL at AAA. He has not played in quite a while and most likely is out until spring. He tore the labrum in his shoulder. I doubt he jumps to the majors next season.
So, that’s one less candidate for 2024, Bear.
That makes sense too.
Cubs paid his salary this year, I believe it was around 20 million.
The Cubs are paying 21.28 million of his deal. The Dodgers signed him for the MLB minimum of 720,000 dollars. I would think he would command at least 10 mil plus next season. He hit his 12th homer last night. Cody Bellinger is hitting himself right into the top of the free agent market. Boras said he thinks Cody could get a 7–8-year deal. At his age, 28, I would expect that to be very true. Possibly in the 200 mil or more range. Gonsolin out for this and probably next season, He will have TJ surgery this week. Just think how different the Dodger starting staff is going to be next year.
Ok, someone’s gonna ask. It may as well be me: Is there any chance the Dodgers will consider re-signing Cody Bellinger? I assume there’s bad blood plus Boras and it’s a hard no but the fans would go absolutely nuts. He plus Outman in the outfield could be very potent.
According to Boras, the Dodgers did not give Belli the proper medical care and asked him to play when his shoulder was at 35% of it’s normal strength. Do not know if any bad blood exists between Belli and the team. But at age 28, with his prime really ahead of him, he could command at least a 7- or 8-year deal. Dodgers would have to have some interest in bringing him back.
Maybe a snowball’s chance… that’s all.
#1 HAS to be the Mookie trade???
Not even listed!?!??!?
No, and simply because it happened only a couple of years ago and everyone loved the deal. Most of the players I mentioned were short term rentals. Only Moon and Gonzalez spent more than a couple of seasons in LA. Mookie is going to be here for a long time. All of the others were pretty much unexpected. We all knew Freidman was targeting Mookie. He had been for a while. It is a list of my favorite trades, not a list of the best trades. The Chris Taylor deal is not even on the list, and it was one of the better trades Freidman has made.
I take anything Boras says with a grain of salt. One equal to the rock of Gibraltar. He has only one goal and it doesn’t involve providing fans with truthful insight.
If Cody played hurt, that would only happen if he agreed. And if he protested, and the Dodgers pushed him to play hurt; Boras would have leaked that info to the press. Guaranteed. And would have certainly made that widely known when he became a free agent. He’s having a monster comeback year but was out for a length of time. Boras is just trying alleviate fears that he could regress and, as always, try to squeeze every last nickel out whichever team signs him.
I think a reunion with the Dodgers is unlikely. Given the thin market for any type of impact player not names Ohtani or Bellinger, some team is likely to massively overpay for Cody. I think he will get $200m+.
Agree about Boras 100%. This story is BS
Well, that is his story, and he is sticking to it. Not sure how Belli reacted to playing hurt. But we all knew something was dreadfully wrong with him. Many accused him of being hard to coach. I always thought the injuries were bad enough to affect him for a long time. Look at Muncy. He might still hit homers, but he has not been the same player since he was hurt at the end of the 21 season.
The 294:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8YyR6ha/
Ok your POV.
I just dont know how a trade involving Mookie Betts to the Dodgers is not one of your top 10 favorites.
But its your list!!
Happy Kershaw day.
Hey, I was happy when they got him. If I made a list of the top 10 trades in Dodger history, Mookie would be at the top. I just like it when they got guys that mattered. Mookie was a huge reason for the 2020 win. But Moon, he played for 3 championship teams. They also made some stinkers at the deadline like Granderson.
This is beyond weird:
The Angels have put Lucas Giolito, who they just traded for, on waivers.
WTF??
And Renfroe and Grichuk….
Not that we need any of those guys but some playoffs clubs will snatch those guys up before we ever get a chance…
And more….
Maybe Moreno knows he can’t keep Ohtani and is stripping the team down for a sale.
If all are claimed, i think they get under the luxury tax
I’ve read a lot of speculation, including $cott Boras’, about injuries causing Cody Bellinger’s hitting woes, which began the 2nd half of 2019.
I personally question that Cody’s spiral into the toilet had very little, if anything, to do with injuries.
2019 – In the first 82 games of 2019, Belli was unconscious. He hit .346 / 1137, with 27 dingers and striking out only 17% of AB’s. The remainder of the 2019 season, he hit .259 / .921 and his strike out rate increased to 22%. He still had MVP stats for the season and finished up at .305 / 1035 with 47 dingers.
In the 2019, 5 game post season, Bellinger hit .211 / .549 with 0 homers.
2020 – Bellinger dropped in batting average and OPS from .305/1035 in 2019 to .239 / .789 in 2020. It was explained by his constant experimentation with his swing.
This was before any injuries that are now blamed for his demise.
He did have a history of shoulder issues throughout his pro career. Cody was moved to the outfield to keep him from diving for balls in the infield. It hadn’t effected his swing mechanics up to that point.
In October of 2020, he exacerbated the shoulder while celebrating his NLCS-winning homer, forearm bumping with Kike. Cody had the shoulder repaired post-season, in an hour-long, outpatient procedure with recovery in 3 to 6 weeks. It’s a pretty common procedure for players with a dislocation problem.
2021 – Cody was hitting .211 / .654 when he suffered a hairline fracture in his left tibia on April 6 after colliding with an Oakland pitcher. He returned May 29th. The rest of the 2021 season, Bellinger hit .162 / .537. in 95 games.
If you want to attribute his struggles in 2021 to a hairline fracture, have at it.
2022 – In 144 games, Cody hit .210 / .654 with 19 homers and a 30% K rate. Cody’s contract was not extended for 18 million +/- by the Dodgers. He was signed by the Cubs in Nov of 2022.
I’m unaware of any injuries that effected his performance in 2022.
I’m happy for Bellinger. I don’t know why he has found his game in Chicago. I can tell you what is different with his swing. Why is a different conversation. But I do not believe that injuries played a significant role in his struggles in LA. Take that $cott.
I think the shoulder surgery also caused some problems for him in 21. I doubt seriously that his shoulder was 100% anytime during that season. It takes a while for the shoulder to get stronger. I do not know what the problem was in 22, but by then his mechanics were totally out of whack. Muncy has not been the same since he was injured the last day of the 21 season. He has just started to look like his old self the last week or so.
Just a minor point. I think Boras said Cody had a 35% deficiency- meaning he was playing at 65%. Not playing at 35%
But as shown above he had declined before that
Phil –
Thanks for your documentation of the Cody Bellinger Dodger saga over his last few years. It is consistent with my recollection because I followed his Dodger career closely.
He was a favorite of mine because I thought his athleticism was as good as anyone I have seen in a Dodger uniform. The only Dodger player I have seen with as much overall athletic talent was Willie Davis from the 1960s.
I too am happy that he has rejuvenated his career and wish him the best moving forward – except when he is playing the Dodgers!
We have lost 2 players that I thought would carry us for the next 10 years! Seaver and belli are playing great but they should be in Dodger Blue.
10:10 PM ET
Diamondbacks (69-63)
Dodgers (81-49)
SP Merrill Kelly R
10-5 2.97 ERA
SP Clayton Kershaw L
11-4 2.52 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
2B Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
DH D. Peralta L
RF J. Heyward L
CF James Outman L
LF Chris Taylor R
SS Miguel Rojas R
81° Wind 9 mph Out
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
Dave Roberts said JD Martinez will rejoin #Dodgers next week on the MIA-WASH road trip.
I’d offer Heyward 8 million with incentives that can be reasonable obtained. Peralta 6 milllion with incentives. Our front office is fantastic of finding players and signing them on pillow contracts. I think it’s important for the team’s long term health to get under the luxury tax. Next season seems we could do it with all our young pitching. If I were the GM the only place I’d spurge is at the catching position so LA can move Smith to third preferably or the outfield.
Who is the best catcher available as a free agent?
The market looks pretty thin. Maybe the Mets’ Narvaez is best.
Well, we just crushed Arizona 2 Aces…
Mookie has taken his game to another level. Betts should now be the favorite to win the NL MVP.
Whatever was wrong with Bellinger, he has it figured out now. He still, even though he was not playing up to his 2019 production, had some key hits in the post season. He game winning single against the Giants in the NLDS. Hia homer against the Braves that saved LA from going down 3-0 in the NLCS. But the only person who really knows what happened is Cody, and he hasn’t said much.
I doubt that Cody really knows.
He would have his own perspective, certainly. But we all are gifted in self-deception.
Couldn’t re sign Cody after those two years. No way.
Guys here who know the game like Phil were making observations continuously about his poor mechanics but for some reason it was only a change of scenery and probably the realisation that he was at rock bottom, possibly the worst hitter in the whole of MLB, that forced his hand.
Personally I’m pleased for him, but I don’t believe it would have happened if he’d remained in LA.
Amazing how few comments there are when we do well compared to the number after a defeat!!
Thanks for another interesting piece Michael.
Great win.
Kershaw gutted thru 5 and the offense picked him up. That is why he is great, even without his best stuff he wins…
This TEAM!