The best trade made by every MLB franchise

The day after Christmas in 1919 the Yankees swung a deal with Boston that instantly changed both the short- and long-term fortunes of both franchises. Babe Ruth was one of the most popular players in the sport with the Red Sox, a dominant left-handed slugger who also was one of the best starting pitchers in the sport. Hoping to use his stature in the game to pressure Boston into giving him a sizable raise, Ruth threatened to sit out all of the 1920 season, which did not please owner Harry Frazee, a Broadway theater director who was currently looking for funding for his latest play, "No, No, Nanette." The Yankees saw the drama unfolding in New England as an incredible opportunity and managed to acquire arguably the best player in the history of the game for only $100,000. Over the next several years, Ruth led New York to seven AL pennants and four World Championships, while the Red Sox waited 86 frustrating years before they finally captured their first ring since making the ill-fated decision to deal the Bambino.

The Red Sox have made several deals to acquire high-profile starting pitchers, from Chris Sale to Curt Schilling to Josh Beckett. But the best deal they've ever made has to be the one in mid-November 1997 that brought Pedro Martinez to Fenway Park. As an Expo in '97 Pedro had dominated, pitching to a 1.90 ERA en route to winning the NL Cy Young Award. But with just a year remaining on his contract, Montreal decided to shop him in an attempt to bring back premier young talent instead of watching him ultimately depart as a free agent. The problem for the Expos was the two pitchers they acquired, righties Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr., would both go on to have uninspiring journeyman careers, while Martinez would win two Cy Youngs and one World Series with the Red Sox. 

It hasn't even been a full calendar year since Tampa Bay traded ace righty Chris Archer to Pittsburgh in exchange for outfielder Austin Meadows and pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz, but the move already has a chance to go down as one of the biggest heists in recent memory. As a rookie in the Rays outfield, Meadows is currently hitting over .300 with an OPS north of .900, while, prior to going on the IL around Mother's Day, Glasnow was 6-1 with a 1.86 ERA and an 0.91 WHIP. Meanwhile Baz has dominated in the Midwest League, working to a sub-2.00 ERA and punching out well over a batter/inning. 

On the last day of the 1990 winter meetings, the Blue Jays and Padres got together on a blockbuster deal that would serve as the linchpin for Toronto's back-to-back championships in '92 and '93. Toronto sent first baseman Fred McGriff and shortstop Tony Fernandez, two long tenured and highly productive players, to Southern California but brought back dynamic switch-hitting second baseman Robbie Alomar and outfielder Joe Carter. Alomar was an all-star in all five seasons he called Canada home, while Carter still owns arguably the most memorable home run in baseball history; a walk-off bomb that ended the 1993 Fall Classic. 

All the way back in 1965, the Orioles completed one of the most one-sided deals in league history when they pried right-handed slugger Frank Robinson away from Cincinnati. In the trade, Baltimore sent pitchers Milt Pappas and Jack Baldschun, as well as outfielder Dick Simpson to Ohio, but Pappas was the only real impact player of the trio. Robinson, meanwhile, won the Triple Crown and AL MVP in his first season as an Oriole, helped bring two World Series championships to Charm City and is currently enshrined in Cooperstown with an O's hat on his head. 

As the 2002 season neared its midway point, the Cleveland Indians jumped on an opportunity that drastically reshaped their outlook in the subsequent seasons. The Montreal Expos were surprising contenders in the National League despite constant rumblings they could be on the brink of contraction. Sensing his club could be in the midst of a do-or-die season, Montreal GM Omar Minaya swung one of the more one-sided deals in recent memory. The Expos sent first baseman Lee Stevens and prospects Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore, to Cleveland in exchange for half a season of Bartolo Colon and relief pitcher Tim Drew. Colon would earn the win in 10 of the 17 starts he made for Montreal down the stretch, but the three minor leaguers who went to Cleveland would go on to make a combined 10 All-Star Game appearances.

One of the most epic heists in baseball history comes to us courtesy of the Minnesota Twins, who during the Rule 5 Draft in 1999 pulled off a mind-blowing swap with the newly formed Florida Marlins. As a minor leaguer in the Astros system, left-hander Johan Santana was somehow left unprotected entering the Rule 5 Draft, and the Twins were sitting in prime position to grab him with the top-overall pick. Instead they did even better. They worked out a deal ahead of time with the Marlins, who held the second pick, agreeing to draft pitcher Jared Camp first and then quickly trade him to Florida for $50,000 cash and Santana, whom the Marlins had just picked. Camp never made it to the big leagues, but Santana would go on to win two Cy Young Awards and three ERA titles while making four All-Star teams and even throwing a no-hitter at the game's highest level. 

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving in 1998, the Chicago White Sox made a deal with the Cincinnati Reds that drastically changed the South Siders next decade for the better. The Sox exchanged struggling center fielder Mike Cameron — who was coming off a season that watched him hit only .210 — for first baseman Paul Konerko. who'd yet to receive a legitimate opportunity in the big leagues. All the right-handed slugger would do is go on to hit over 400 homers in a Chicago uniform while earning a trip to six All-Star Games, taking home an ALCS MVP Award and playing a huge role in the White Sox 2005 World Championship. 

The Royals have spent most of the past quarter century as the laughingstock of the sport, but their seasons of magic, in '14 and '15, all began with a December 2010 trade with Milwaukee. With star pitcher Zack Greinke rapidly approaching free agency, the Royals looked to cash in on their biggest asset, and boy did they ever. The Royals sent Greinke, reserve infielder Yuniesky Betancourt, and cash to the Brewers in exchange for minor leaguers Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress. Cain and Escobar would ultimately go on to star on two different Royals American League champion teams, while Odorizzi would subsequently be traded to Tampa Bay for James Shields and Wade Davis, two pitchers who played a huge role on the successful Royals squads of the mid 2010s.

Few teams have a more obvious best trade ever than the Tigers, who somehow reeled in an incredibly big fish at the 2007 Winter Meetings. Looking to make an offseason splash, Detroit sent five prospects, Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop and Frankie De La Cruz, to Florida for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Cabrera was already a superstar, but he'd go on to cement his legacy as perhaps the greatest hitter of this generation in the Motor City, and while Miller and Maybin have at least enjoyed strong careers, both of them completely failed in Miami. 

Unlike Detroit, Texas did not have a clear and obvious answer here, and while the haul it brought back from the Braves for Mark Teixeira was certainly impressive, I'm giving that one an honorable mention and instead naming the club's December 2007 addition of Josh Hamilton as its best trade. The powerful left-handed slugger was a feel-good story in '07, leaving his issues with substance abuse in the past and coming back to baseball to hit .292 with 19 homers as a rookie for Cincinnati. The Reds, though, didn't really trust him and quickly tried to capitalize on his success by shipping him to Arlington in exchange for pitchers Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera. Herrera never amounted to anything at the game's highest level, and while Volquez enjoyed one tremendous season in Cincy, injuries ended up derailing what could have been a promising career. Meanwhile, Hamilton became a superstar in Texas, winning MVP in 2010 and making five consecutive All-Star teams. 

Shortly following the conclusion of the 1971 season, the Angels made a deal that at the time was critiqued but just a few years down the road looked like one of the best trades of all time. The California Angels, as they were known at the time, sent shortstop Jim Fregosi, the first-ever All-Star in franchise history and the face of the franchise at the time, to the New York Mets in exchange for four young players. One of them happened to be Nolan Ryan though, who would go on to throw four no-hitters and earn a trip to five All-Star Games while with the Halos. 

The best move the Athletics ever made was bringing a familiar face back to the Bay Area midway through the 1989 campaign. Outfielder Rickey Henderson had starred in Oakland for the first half-dozen years of his career before ending up in the Bronx, but midway through that '89 season the Yankees were facing a dilemma. New York was not eager to re-sign the free-agent to be at year's end and instead shopped him during the summer, ultimately finding a match with the A's that brought back pitchers Greg Cadaret, Eric Plunk and Luis Polonia. Henderson, meanwhile, led Oakland to a championship just a few months later and won American League MVP the next season when the A's again won the AL Pennant. 

When the Mariners sent Mark Langston and Mike Campbell to Montreal just before Memorial Day in 1989, they had no idea the trade would go down as the best one in franchise history. Seattle brought back three pitchers, Randy Johnson, Gene Harris and Brian Holman, and while the latter two were serviceable arms for the M's, the clear heist was Johnson. The Big Unit would win 130 games and a Cy Young Award in the Pacific Northwest and later became a World Series champion in Arizona. 

In late August 1990 the Astros made what at the time looked like a minor waiver trade, sending reliever Larry Anderson to Boston to aid the Red Sox in their playoff push in exchange for the relatively unknown Jeff Bagwell. Unfortunately for Boston, the move is still talked about today as one of the worst of all time. Bagwell was a young third baseman whom Houston moved across the diamond to first, where he would become one of the most dangerous hitters of his generation. In 15 Major League seasons (all with Houston), Bagwell hit .297 with 449 home runs. He won Rookie of the Year, an MVP, a Gold Glove and made four All-Star teams before ultimately ending up in Cooperstown. Anderson, meanwhile, did help Boston make the playoffs in '90, but after just a few weeks in New England he departed as a free agent at year's end.

Late in the 1987 season, the Atlanta Braves stole a future Hall-of-Famer from the Detroit Tigers in a deal that is still lamented heavily in the Motor City. Right-hander Doyle Alexander was struggling for the Braves, but the Tigers thought he could help them down the stretch, and while he did pitch well after the trade and help lead Detroit to the postseason, the young prospect sent to Atlanta was John Smoltz. All he would do was go on to win 211 games in a Braves uniform and save 154 more, and along with Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, Smoltz helped form the core of the Atlanta dynasty in the '90s. 

One of the best trades in not only Phillies history but baseball in general was the spring training 1972 deal that brought southpaw Steve Carlton to the City of Brotherly Love. The veteran was in the midst of a salary dispute with Cardinals brass, as St. Louis ownership flat out refused to give him the modest $10,000 raise he requested. Instead, the Redbirds shopped Carlton and found a taker in Philly, and while the pitcher the Cardinals brought back, Rick Wise, was a pretty good Major Leaguer, he was not a future Hall-of-Famer. Carlton won four Cy Young Awards with the Phillies and helped lead them to their 1980 World Series win. 

The Fish don't exactly have a plethora of slam dunk trades on their resume, but the '99 deal that brought third baseman Mike Lowell to south Florida in exchange for pitchers Ed Yarnall, Mark Johnson and Todd Noel sure seems like their best one. In the Bronx, Scott Brosius was capably manning the hot corner on championship-caliber Yankees teams, making them comfortable dealing their talented prospect, and Lowell would go on to become a borderline star with his hometown team. In seven seasons with the Marlins, he hit 143 homers, made three All-Star teams and won a World Series ring in 2003, coincidentally, against the Bombers.

For the sake of this piece we are not including when this club was in Montreal, instead focusing on the franchise since it moved to the nation's capital in 2005. The 2011 trade that sent Gio Gonzalez to D.C. was obviously an impact move, but the Nationals did give up some quality talent. So instead I'm focusing on the under-the-radar deadline deal in 2010 that landed Washington its starting catcher for the next seven seasons. Wilson Ramos was blocked in Minnesota by Joe Mauer, so the Twins felt comfortable moving him for a rental reliever in Matt Capps, but it's quite obvious they gave up quite a bit more than they got back. 

The Mets had three legitimate options to choose from here, as the additions of Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter spearheaded the Amazins' championship in '86 and both would have been worthy. But in terms of sheer impact both on and off the field, the May 1998 deal that brought catcher Mike Piazza to Queens takes the cake. The greatest offensive catcher in the history of the sport crushed 220 homers in a Mets uniform while earning seven All-Star game selections and leading New York to the 2000 NL pennant. He's currently enshrined in Cooperstown with a Mets hat on his head. 

In July 2013 the Cubs used a trade with the Orioles to lay the groundwork for a return to relevance that would culminate with a curse-busting World Series win in 2016. Chicago sent pitcher Scott Feldman and catcher Steve Clevenger to the O's in exchange for right-handers Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop. Arrieta was struggling, to say the least, in Baltimore but turned his career around in the Windy City, posting a sub 3.00 ERA during his five seasons with the Cubs and winning a Cy Young Award. Strop is still in Chicago, and during the last half-dozen years he's become arguably the most dependable relief pitcher in the history of the franchise.

The Cardinals best trade was one of the easiest on this list to peg. Midway through the '64 campaign, the Redbirds swung a deal with their archrivals in Chicago to bring future Hall-of-Fame outfielder Lou Brock to Missouri, along with pitchers Paul Toth and Jack Spring. Three players went back to the Cubs, Bobby Shantz, Ernie Broglio and Doug Clemens, and none of the trio enjoyed any sustained success with the new team. 

The Pirates were one of the better teams in baseball in the early '90s, and one of the biggest reasons their run of sustained success was possible was the 1986 blockbuster trade they completed with the Yankees. Right around Thanksgiving, the Bucs dealt pitchers Pat Clements, Cecilio Guante and Rick Rhoden to the Bronx in exchange for hurlers Logan Easley, Brian Fisher and, most importantly, Doug Drabek. Drabek brought Pittsburgh a legitimate ace to its rotation. All told he won just under 100 games in Pittsburgh over parts of six seasons while winning the 1990 Cy Young Award. 

Cincinnati is one of the most prestigious franchises in the game and has made a laundry list of successful trades in its history. But the most one-sided deal the Reds ever pulled off in their favor would have to be the May 1971 swap with the Giants that landed home run machine George Foster in western Ohio. The big right-handed slugger won an MVP Award with the Reds and played a critical role in the club's back-to-back championships in the mid '70s. Considering the price to acquire him was only Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert, it's certainly a trade the Giants would like to have back. 

This might be influenced by a little bit of recency bias, but the best deal in Brewers history may be the blockbuster Christian Yelich trade they pulled off roughly 18 months ago. Capitalizing on Miami's complete teardown, Milwaukee acquired Yelich for prospects Lewis Brinson, Isan Diaz, Monte Harrison and Jordan Yamamoto. The quartet has done little to establish themselves in Miami to date, while Yelich enjoyed the best season of his career last year en route to being named National League MVP. He's backed up his breakout season during this year's first half as well, and the left-handed slugger may very well win the award yet again in 2019. 

A week into January back in 2006, the Padres completed a deal with Texas that, looking back, was about as one-sided as a trade can be. San Diego sent catcher Billy Killian and pitchers Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka to the Lone Star state, and brought back first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, starting pitcher Chris Young and outfielder Terrmel Sledge. Gonzalez would become the most prolific offensive player the Friars had employed since Tony Gwynn, Young was an important member of their rotation for five years, and Sledge was a serviceable reserve outfielder for a brief time.

The Dodgers have obviously been around forever and have been involved in their fair share of noteworthy transactions. But in terms of pure impact, their 2008 deadline deal to bring Manny Ramirez to Hollywood was hard to top. In the season's final two months, Ramirez hit nearly .400 for the Dodgers and completely dominated in the playoffs. Considering L.A. sent only Bryan Morris and Andy LaRoche back to Boston in the deal, it's easy to look at the trade as a success, even knowing what we know now: that Ramirez would end up being suspended for PEDs the following year.

Early in July during the 1987 season, the Giants completed a seven-player swap with the Padres that notably brought slugger Kevin Mitchell to the Bay Area. The right-handed hitter was accompanied by pitchers Dave Dravecky and Craig Lefferts, with hurlers Mark Davis, Mark Grant and Keith Comstock, as well as third baseman Chris Brown, headed south. Mitchell would go on to hit just shy of 150 homers as a Giant and win an MVP Award in the orange and black, while Lefferts contributed a trio of solid seasons in the San Francisco bullpen and Dravecky provided a serviceable rotation presence for a short time. 

The expansion Rockies had not even played a game yet when they acquired outfielder Dante Bichette from the Brewers for fellow outfielder Kevin Reimer, but the move would set the stage for some powerful Colorado lineups during the team's infancy. Bichette qualified for four All-Star Games during his time in Denver and crushed just over 200 homers in purple and black.

Just after Christmas in 1998, the Diamondbacks sent promising young outfield prospect Karim Garcia to Detroit for veteran outfielder Luis Gonzalez in a move that will go down in Arizona history. Garcia never became quite as good as scouts had predicted he would, while Gonzalez became one of the most prolific offensive players in club history and memorably delivered a walk-off World Series-winning hit against the Yankees' Mariano Rivera in 2001.