Tom Grieve Trade Analysis Part 8

The Texas Rangers traded Wes Littleton (who was DFA’d earlier) to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash considerations. It’s obviously too early to judge this trade but Littleton was a very good guy and I’m sorry to see him go. I hope he makes the Boston team out of spring training both because it would be good for Wes and because we would get more in return from the trade.

Hot Stove Rumors and Info:
Francisco Rodriguez’s agent has said that he expects that the serious talks about a contract will start at the Winter Meetings. Rafael Furcal’s agent, Paul Kinzer, said that Furcal will have it down to at least two teams on Monday or Tuesday. The A’s looked at Nick Johnson’s medical records. The Braves have increased their interest in AJ Burnett (I predicted that Burnett would go to the Braves).

This week I will complete the analysis of all the trades Tom Grieve made as the Rangers GM. I posted part 7 on August 24th of this year, if you want to see my last post of this. This time I will analyze all of the trades Tom Grieve made as GM in 1993 and 1994.

47. 7-17-93: The Florida Marlins traded Cris Carpenter to the Texas Rangers for Robb Nen and Kurt Miller.

Loss – Cris Carpenter only played one and a half seasons for us and he had a 4.22 ERA for us in his half season and a 5.03 ERA for us in his full season with the team. He had a 6-6 record with the Rangers. Robb Nen had 314 career saves and a 2.98 career ERA. He was a 3-time All-Star and led the league in saves in 2001 with 45. He also led the league in games finished in 1995, 1999, and 2001. He pitched 715 career innings while Cris Carpenter only pitched 91 innings with the Rangers. Kurt Miller really struggled, though, with a 7.48 career ERA.

Record – 10-12-25

48. 7-22-93: The Texas Rangers traded Todd Burns to the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Duff Brumley (July 30, 1993) to the Texas Rangers to complete the trade.

Tie - Burns only played another half-a-season in the majors and he had a 6.16 ERA in 30 and two-thirds innings, so he didn’t do much at all. Brumley only pitched 3 and a third innings in the majors and he allowed 6 runs, so he didn’t do much of anything either.

Record – 10-12-26

49. 1-13-94: The Milwaukee Brewers traded David Pike (minors) to the Texas Rangers for Jeff Bronkey.

Tie – David Pike never made it to the majors and Jeff Bronkey only pitched 33 innings after being traded.

Record – 10-12-27

50. 3-23-94: The Cleveland Indians traded Junior Ortiz to the Texas Rangers for players to be named later. The Texas Rangers sent Igor Oropeza (minors) (March 25, 1994) and Andreaus Lewis (minors) (May 9, 1994) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

Tie - Junior Ortiz only played 29 games for the Rangers and he had a .276 batting average with 9 RBI’s and no HR’s. Neither Igor Oropeza nor Andreaus Lewis made it to the majors.

Record – 10-12-28

51. 3-28-94: The Chicago White Sox traded Esteban Beltre to the Texas Rangers for Scott Eyre.

Loss - Esteban Beltre only had 223 at-bats for the Rangers split between two seasons. In ’94 he hit .282 and in ’95 he hit .217. Scott Eyre is still playing and has played for 12 seasons now. He is Willie Eyre’s brother. He has a 4.36 career ERA and 619 and a third career innings. He is a solid relief pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has had 4 years with an ERA under four, one of those years being a 2.63 ERA.

Final Record – 10-13-28

Results of last week’s poll:
Do you think the John Mayberry trade was a good or bad trade?
Good trade – 77%
Bad trade – 22%

Come back next week for a comparison of all the GM’s I’ve reviewed so far.