Worst Trade Ever?

--Throughout the season I have been tracking some trends...

• Home teams in extra-inning games: 50-29 (63.3 winning %)  This is almost 10% higher than home teams winning percentage in 9 inning games.
• Teams committing 3 or more errors than their opponents are 7-30 (18.9 %)
• Teams committing 2 more errors than their opponents are 53-114 (31.7%)
• Teams committing 2 or more errors than their opponents are 60-144 (29.4%)

--November 14, 2003 will be a day that the San Francisco Giants will look back on and cringe everytime.  The reason?  That is the day that they traded Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser, and Francisco Liriano to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for AJ Pierzynski and cash.  This is a real quick look at what that trade has done in a few years...

• Trading away AJ gave the Twins room to start their catching phenom Joe Mauer, who is currently leading all of the Major Leagues at hitting at .368.
• Joe Nathan replaced closer Eddie Guardado and has evolved into one of the premier dominating closers in all of baseball.
• Boof Bonser has cracked his way into the Twins starting rotation and is a good young pitcher that the Twins are high on.
• Francisco Liriano may already (at age 22) be the second best lefty starting pitcher in all of baseball (behind his own teammate Johan Santana).   
• AJ became a clubhouse cancer for the Giants in his first and only season for the San Francisco.

Let's now take a closer look on the trade...

AJ Pierzynski's 2004 Season 

• 131 G 
• 471 AB
• 45 R
• 128 H
• 28 2B
• 11 HR
• 77 RBI
• 19 BB
• .272 AVG
• .319 OBP
• .410 SLG
• .729 OPS

While for a catcher this season constitutes as a good year, it was a poor season as far as AJ and the Giants were concerned.  Not only that, but supposedly AJ was a "clubhouse cancer" for San Francisco that season.  What's more important here is what the Twins gave up for only 1 year of services from AJ.

Joe Nathan 2004: 

• 73 G
• 72.1 IP
• 48 H
• 13 ER
• 3 HR Allowed
• 23 BB
• 89 K
• 44 SV
• 1.62 ERA

Nathan was excellent in 2005 as well and continues to strike out a ton of batters while putting up great ERA and Save numbers.  When Nathan won 12 games out of the bullpen, striking out 83 in 79 innings (and with an ERA under 3.00) the red-flag should have popped up and told them to hang onto this guy.

Boof Bonser:

• Bonser is still only 24 years old and is a good young hurler for the Twins.  He stepped into the rotation this season in place of the struggling Kyle Lohse.  He has good control and some good stuff.  However, the key in this deal is Francisco Liriano...

Francisco Liriano:

Liriano (somehow) was considered a "throw-in" in this trade.  Nice throw-in.  Liriano did fight some arm troubles in the minor leagues but he was striking out hitters at a high rate and was a young lefty and should never have been simply tossed in a trade for anybody.  Let's see what he's done so far this year...

• 19 G (7 starts)
• 66.1 IP
• 51 H
• 16 R
• 3 HR
• 19 BB
• 74 K
• 7 W
• 1 L
• 2.17 ERA

SInce moving into the rotation Liriano has been terrific.  Here are his starts.

1. 5/19:  5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 5 K (win)
2. 5/26: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (win)
3. 5/31: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K (win)
4. 6/6: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K (loss)
5. 6/11:  7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K (win)
6. 6/16:  7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 11 K (win)
7. 6/22:  8 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K (win)

It's not really about the numbers.  This kid (he really is just a kid at 22 yrs old) has PHENOMENAL stuff.  His fastball is blazing for a lefty at 95-97 MPH. His slider is absolutely devastating at 90 MPH.  His change up is also terrific as he throws it at 87 MPH.  He really has three strikeout pitches, much like Johan Santana.  This kids future is unlimited and we are looking at potentially the greatest, most dominant  1-2 lefty combo in Major League history.  They're clearly not there yet, but it's a mortal lock.

Speaking of greatness, how about David Wright.  This young man is already perhaps the greatest third baseman in New York Mets history.  Relatively speaking, third base has not produced a lot of legendary players.  Most will agree that Mike Schmidt is the greatest third baseman of all time.  I think when David Wright's career is over that most will agree that is no longer the case...

Wright's 2004 rookie season:                   

• 69 G                                                   
• 263 AB
• 41 R
• 77 H
• 17 2B
• 14 HR
• 40 RBI
• 14 BB
• 6 SB
• .293 AVG
• .332 OBP
• .525 SLG
• .857 OPS

Wright's 2005 season:   

• 160 G
• 575 AB
• 99 R
• 176 H
• 42 2B
• 27 HR
• 102 RBI
• 72 BB
• 17 SB
• .306 AVG
• .388 OBP
• .523 SLG
• .911 OPS

Wright's 2006 season (on pace for):   

• 161 G
• 627 AB
• 109 R
• 211 H
• 41 2B
• 7 3B
• 39 HR
• 139 RBI
• 24 SB
• .337 AVG
• .404 OBP
• .611 SLG
• 1.015 OPS

It's not just the offense either.  It's the defense.  We all remember that play he made last year diving backwards grabbing the ball mid-air bare handed.  And of course this year he made another play bare-handed when the ball bounced off the third base bag.  He comes through in all the clutch situations as well.  He's not Ortiz-like but he's had so many key game-winning hits this year for the Metropolitans.  I know it's early in this guys career.  But my god.