Worst Trades in DFW History

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Doyle Alexander was quite a good pitcher in his day. Just ask the Detroit Tigers, who gave up a young prospect to acquire the veteran pitcher for the stretch run in 1987. That prospect’s name was John Smoltz.

Think the Tigers would like a do-over? The Rangers are hoping they don’t have that same feeling in about a decade after this Cole Hamels deal.

So what were the worst trades in DFW sports history in which the locals might like Doc’s DeLorean to change history? Glad you asked. Each of the four teams in our fair burg have made their share of trades. Here’s a listing of some of the worst.

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6. Mark AguirreMavericks — 1989: Mark Aguirre to Detroit for Adrian Dantley and a 1991 first-round pick. This trade is really terrible because of Aguirre, who basically quit on the Mavericks and forced them to trade him. He went on to win two rings with the Pistons while Dantley wanted to be in Dallas no more than Elway wanted to go to Baltimore. The first-round pick was dealt for Fat Lever, who was a disappointment as a Mav. Before this deal, I considered #24 a lock to have his number in the rafters. Afterwards, not so much.

adrian-gonzalezRangers — 2005: Adrian Gonzalez, Terrmel Sledge and Chris Young to San Diego for Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka and Billy Killian. Gonzalez had Mark Teixeira in front of him at first base and Buck Showalter thought Chris Young was somewhat fragile. Gonzalez went on to become a perennial All-Star while Young went on to arguably become San Diego’s best pitcher over the next three seasons. Eaton did not come close to expectations. Turn on a Dodgers game and you’ll still see Gonzalez being very productive in the big leagues.

roy-williams-wr-cowboysCowboys — 2008: A first round pick and third round pick to Detroit for WR Roy Williams. This trade was so bad, it edges out the Joey Galloway trade with Seattle in 2000 as the worst. That’s pretty bad. Williams never came close to living up to his potential as a former No. 1 pick out of Texas. Throw in the fact that Jerry Jones signed Williams to a $54 million contract extension and you have the makings of a pretty bad deal.

Stars — Upon doing research looking for the worst trade in the history of the Dallas Stars, I found myself yawning more than anything. There simply aren’t any lopsided trades in which the Stars got robbed. Oh sure, some have questioned the Alex Gologoski trade for James Neal and Matt Niskanen, but it’s not like Neal and Niskanen are setting the world on fire. It was about as close as I could find. Ladislav Nagy for a No. 1 pick in 2007? I know – who? Blah.

However,brett-hull-017065529 the Stars are not completely innocent when to comes down to questionable personnel decisions. When Bob Gainey decided to let Brett Hull walk and become a free agent in 2001 and join the Red Wings, regret was a feeling certainly felt around the office for a while. And when Hull scored his second goal of the night for Detroit – the game-winner – on Oct. 31, 2001, owner Tom Hicks asked Asst GM Doug Armstrong, “Tell me again why we let him go?”

 

Anyone else want to chime in? Hit us up via the comments section below.

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Rob Scichili (shick-lee) has worked in professional sports for over 31 years in PR and communications, including time with the Dallas Stars, Anaheim Ducks, MLB.com, Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks. A journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he is co-owner and editor at ScoreboardTx and VP at Tony Fay Public Relations. Scichili is a consultant to New York Islanders ownership and was recently named to the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame Selection Committee.