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| Cone, Manny and CC all moved in historic July trades. (Getty Images) |
By Matt Snyder and Dayn Perry
So here we are. July 31. The trade deadline happens at 4 p.m. ET. Will there be any blockbusters that become part of baseball history? Time will tell. But here are the top 15 trade-deadline blockbusters since the deadline was moved to July 31.
What is a blockbuster? Historical impact and big names changing teams are really the only criteria.
Before we dive in, a few notes. First of all, only trades in July were considered. Thus, you won't see mention of Rick Sutcliff, Keith Hernandez or Bartolo Colon (Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips included with the latter). Those famous deals happened in June. In fact, you won't see any deals from before 1986, as that is when the deadline was moved back from June 15 to July 31. Nor will you see Jeff Bagwell or John Smoltz. Those notorious trades happened in August.
These 15 all happened in July, with pretty much the same rules as are in place nowadays. We'll list them chronologically. - Snyder
July 18, 1993 - Braves get: Fred McGriff; Padres get: Vince Moore, Donnie Elliott and Melvin Nieves.
Down the stretch in '93, McGriff proved to be perhaps the most valuable deadline acquisition ever, as he hit a scorching .310/.392/.612 with 19 home runs in 68 games. He went on to be a middle-of-the-order force for Atlanta for another four seasons. The Padres haul? Scarcely worth mentioning. - Perry
July 28, 1995 - Yankees get: David Cone; Blue Jays get: Jason Jarvis, Mike Gordon and Marty Janzen
Cone posted a middling 3.82 for the Yankees after the trade, but his 9-2 record over that span endeared him to Yankee fans forevermore. The Yanks captured the wild card by a single game and thus broke a long playoff drought. On the other side, only Janzen ever reached the majors, and he was good for just 98.2 career innings. - Perry
July 31, 1997 - Cardinals get: Mark McGwire; A's get: Eric Ludwick, T.J. Mathews and Blake Stein
You'll recall that McGwire went on to break Roger Maris's single-season home run record in '98. He also hit .270/.427/.683 in a Cardinal uniform. That's … really good. Meantime, Ludwick, Mathews and Stein amounted to little of consequence at the highest level. - Perry
July 31, 1997 - Red Sox get: Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe; Mariners get: Heathcliff Slocumb
| MLB trade deadline |
Varitek spent 15 seasons in a Boston uniform and was an essential presence on those curse-busting Red Sox teams of the aughts. Lowe did a little of everything for the Sox. In 2000, he led the AL in saves, and two years later he finished third in the Cy Young voting as a member of the rotation. Slocumb? He posted a 4.97 ERA during his season-plus run in Seattle. What makes the deal even more puzzling is that Slocumb had an ERA of 5.79 (!) at the time of the trade. - Perry
July 31, 1998 - Astros get: Randy Johnson; Mariners get: Carlos Guillen, Freddy Garcia and John Halama (player to be named later at the time).
The future Hall of Famer Johnson had already won a Cy Young and made a handful of All-Star teams in Seattle before being shipped to Houston. For the Astros that season, all he did was go 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA and four complete-game shutouts in 11 starts. Houston would win a franchise-record 102 games that season. Seattle's return was pretty solid, too. - Snyder
July 26, 2000 - Diamondbacks get: Curt Schilling; Phillies get: Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa, Travis Lee and Vicente Padilla
Schilling enjoyed an outstanding three-year-plus stint in the desert and, along with co-uber-ace Randy Johnson, pitched the Snakes to the belt and the title in 2001. Needless to say, the Phillies' end of the deal didn't go as well. - Perry
July 29, 2002 - Cardinals get: Scott Rolen and Doug Nickel; Phillies get: Placido Polanco, Mike Timlin and Bud Smith
Rolen had a .915 OPS in 2002 after the deal and went on to make the All-Star team four times as a Cardinal. While Smith never pitched an inning in the majors after the trade and Timlin was in Boston by '03, Polanco had a useful run in Philly. - Perry
July 23, 2003 - Cubs get: Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton; Pirates get: Jose Hernandez, Matt Bruback and Bobby Hill (player to be named later at the time)
This move helped get the Cubs to the brink of history, as they ended up five outs from their first World Series since 1945. Alas, it fell apart (and please blame Alex Gonzalez and a host of other players/coaches/managers before a fan). Still, Lofton and Ramirez were huge in the run and Ramirez went on to anchor the Cubs' lineup for nearly a decade, being an integral part in three playoff teams in the span of six seasons. - Snyder
July 31, 2004 - Cubs get: Nomar Garciaparra and Matt Murton; Red Sox get: Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera; Expos get: Francis Beltran, Alex Gonzalez and Brendan Harris; Twins get: Justin Jones
At the time, the story was the Red Sox and Nomar Garciaparra parting ways, in addition to the Cubs making a big splash in landing the five-time All-Star. In the end, though, the story was novice executive Theo Epstein improving the Red Sox defensively -- and possibly in the clubhouse -- and helping lead them to their first World Series title since 1918. - Snyder
July 31, 2007 - Braves get: Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay; Rangers get: Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
This deal makes the list not because of the biggest name in the deal -- and Teixeira was a huge name at the time -- but because of how it helped to build the foundation for the Rangers' future. Andrus, Harrison and Feliz are all All-Stars who helped the Rangers make two straight World Series. Meanwhile, the Braves traded Teixeira less than a year later ... for Casey Kotchman and Steve Marek. - Snyder
July 7, 2008 - Brewers get: CC Sabathia; Indians get: Michael Brantley (player to be named later at the time), Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson and Rob Bryson.
CC was an absolute monster for the Brewers down the stretch. He went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA, seven complete games and three shutouts in 17 starts -- finishing fifth in Cy Young voting despite only about a half season in the NL. He went on short rest as needed just to get the Brewers to the playoffs. And they made it, too, for the first time since 1982. - Snyder
July 31, 2008 - Dodgers get: Manny Ramirez; Red Sox get: Jason Bay, Pirates get: Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen and Bryan Morris
The deal that led to the creation of Mannywood. Ramirez would be crazy-hot for the Dodgers, propelling them to the NL West title and an NLDS upset of the NL's top regular-season team, the Cubs (wow, that seems like a long time ago, huh?). Lost in a shuffle a bit: Bay was pretty good for the Red Sox before signing with the Mets. - Snyder
July 31, 2009 - White Sox get: Jake Peavy; Padres get: Dexter Carter, Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard and Adam Russell
For a while, the Sox's decision to trade for Peavy and then sign him to an extension looked like a mistake. This season, however, Peavy has looked like the ace of yore. From the Padres' standpoint, Richard has been tolerable, but otherwise their return package hasn't amounted to much. - Perry
July 9, 2010 - Rangers get: Cliff Lee, Mark Lowe; Mariners get: Justin Smoak, Blake Beavan, Josh Lueke and Matthew Lawson
Really, Lee could be on here twice, as the Indians dealt him to the Phillies July 29, 2009 along with Ben Francisco for Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Jason Knapp. The reason the move to Texas gets the call here is that Lee helped the Rangers make their first World Series in franchise history. Lee made the World Series with the Phillies in '09, too, but they were defending World Champions that year. - Snyder
July 29, 2010 - Phillies get: Roy Oswalt; Astros get: Jonathan Villar, Anthony Gose and J.A. Happ
Oswalt was outstanding in Philly after the trade (1.74 ERA in 13 games/12 starts) and turned in a strong season in 2011, as well. The Astros later flipped Gose for Brett Wallace, which clearly hasn't worked out for the best. - Perry
