Journeyman
EOG Master
Mike Cuellar and Frank Robinson are the "Favorites in retrospect". But neither one of those was a "Favorite when it happened". They proved to be among the greatest trades of all-time, but at the time they happened, who knew?
Mike Cuellar is one of the greatest pitchers 'no one remembers' , his career as a starter started very late, but once he became established he was damn good.
Cuellar showed up as a 31-yr-old journeyman starter who, despite his age, had only 42 W's and who had pitched more minor league innings than major league innings. To get him, we gave up Curt Blefary, our 25-yr-old LF'er who was coming off 1 bad season after 3 good ones, including the one that made him AL-ROY. Exactly what was there to like about that trade at the time? How many fans predicted that Blefary would soon crap out, and that Cuellar would win a Cy Young immediately and would *average* 20 wins and 275+ innings per-season over the next *7 years*? I'll tell you how many: Exactly zero.
Frank Robinson was rumored to be "an old 30", a bad clubhouse influence, and a scary black guy who carried a gun. Baltimore was not used to this. To get him, the Orioles gave up their best starting pitcher (Milt Pappas), our 1B-man (Norm Siebern who went to the Angels for OF Dick Simpson, who was immediately traded for Frank), our CF (Jackie Brandt who was sent to the Phillies for P Jack Baldschun who was then immediately traded for Frank), and a promising 23-yr-old P who was about to start a five-year streak of being a damn good reliever (Darold Knowles, who went to the Phillies along the Brandt). To a lot of people, that looked a whole lot like giving up 4 important players for somebody who was aging trouble. People were kinda nervous reading the paper about ST that year. Frank immediately won the Triple Crown and MVP, led the way to the O's 1st WS, and taught the team to be serious about winning ballgames. Wanna guess how many fans predicted all of that when the trade happened? Probably none
These are among the best two trades by any team ever. Both of them paid huge immediate high-impact dividends, as well as lasting goodness. But they sure didn't seem steals at the time they were made. The FO knew what they were doing, or got very lucky, or both. (I think it's safe to say "both".)
Mike Cuellar is one of the greatest pitchers 'no one remembers' , his career as a starter started very late, but once he became established he was damn good.
Cuellar showed up as a 31-yr-old journeyman starter who, despite his age, had only 42 W's and who had pitched more minor league innings than major league innings. To get him, we gave up Curt Blefary, our 25-yr-old LF'er who was coming off 1 bad season after 3 good ones, including the one that made him AL-ROY. Exactly what was there to like about that trade at the time? How many fans predicted that Blefary would soon crap out, and that Cuellar would win a Cy Young immediately and would *average* 20 wins and 275+ innings per-season over the next *7 years*? I'll tell you how many: Exactly zero.
Frank Robinson was rumored to be "an old 30", a bad clubhouse influence, and a scary black guy who carried a gun. Baltimore was not used to this. To get him, the Orioles gave up their best starting pitcher (Milt Pappas), our 1B-man (Norm Siebern who went to the Angels for OF Dick Simpson, who was immediately traded for Frank), our CF (Jackie Brandt who was sent to the Phillies for P Jack Baldschun who was then immediately traded for Frank), and a promising 23-yr-old P who was about to start a five-year streak of being a damn good reliever (Darold Knowles, who went to the Phillies along the Brandt). To a lot of people, that looked a whole lot like giving up 4 important players for somebody who was aging trouble. People were kinda nervous reading the paper about ST that year. Frank immediately won the Triple Crown and MVP, led the way to the O's 1st WS, and taught the team to be serious about winning ballgames. Wanna guess how many fans predicted all of that when the trade happened? Probably none
These are among the best two trades by any team ever. Both of them paid huge immediate high-impact dividends, as well as lasting goodness. But they sure didn't seem steals at the time they were made. The FO knew what they were doing, or got very lucky, or both. (I think it's safe to say "both".)
