As Rangers arrive, we say: The Teixeira deal wasn’t that bad
Back in the day: Elvis Andrus as a Rome Brave.
The Texas Rangers arrive at Turner Field tonight for a three-game series, and no Braves fan will ever think of the Rangers as anything but the organization that remade itself by renting Mark Teixeira to the local team for a year.
Of the five prospects the Braves sent to Texas, three are big-league Rangers today. (A fourth, Jerrod Saltalamacchia, is Boston’s No. 1 catcher.)
Teixeira arrived in August 2007, played 157 games as a Brave and was traded to the Angels in July 2008 and signed with the Yankees — doesn’t everybody? — that winter.
For the Braves, the trade was a considered mistake. They knew what they were doing; it just didn’t work. Teixeira’s presence didn’t lift them above the Phillies in either of his partial seasons here. He wasn’t terrible. He was actually pretty darn good. But one year’s rental didn’t yield the desired result, and it came at great cost. That said …
The trade didn’t bankrupt the Braves’ farm system, which has gone on to produce Tommy Hanson, Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman, with Julio Terehan waiting in Gwinnett. And the Braves will argue that the two key everyday players they shipped to Texas — Saltalamacchia and shortstop Elvis Andrus — were blocked in this organization. (Salty by Brian McCann, Andrus by Yunel Escobar, who was traded to Toronto last summer for Alex Gonzalez.)
Bottom line: The Rangers reached the World Series last season with Andrus as their shortstop and Neftali Feliz as their closer, but the Braves made the playoffs, too. As nice as it would be to have a lefthander like Matt Harrison in the rotation — he’ll start against the Braves on Saturday — the Braves’ problems haven’t been pitching. (There’s no question Andrus would be useful here, though. He’s 22. Gonzalez is 34.)
Neither party to the big trade has gone to seed. The Rangers are good. They lead the American League despite having lost their past five games. The Braves are good, too. They have the third-best record in the National League.
The Rangers got exactly what they wanted from the Tex deal and the Braves did not, which means the Rangers won the trade. But that doesn’t mean this was the worst deal in Atlanta annals. It wasn’t even close to being the worst. Len Barker for Brett Butler, Brook Jacoby and Rick Behenna and $150,000 — don’t forget the $150k! –will always be the worst. Always.
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167 comments Add your comment
athdog
June 17th, 2011
12:45 pm
Mark, you need to lay off of the sauce, my friend. This was a horrible trade. Not the worst trade of the Bravos history, by any stretch, but the worst. Certainly the worst of the Schuerholtz era, with Wainwright/Drew a not too close second. We gave up a stud pitcher in that deal, and we’re pitching rich now. We gave up a stud closer, shortstop and a nice young catcher who would’ve been available to package in a trade for, say, a left fielder?
HAL
June 17th, 2011
12:46 pm
who ever wrote this trash should be spin doctoring foir the pres lol
DawginLex
June 17th, 2011
12:49 pm
It was a horrible trade made worse by not resigning Mark T to a long term deal.
Let’s not forget signing Jody Davis who is now coming back to memory since Uggla is Jody Davis all over again.
Braves killer while in another uniform and Braves killer in a Braves uniform
Nostradamus
June 17th, 2011
12:51 pm
Another big trade coming in July…be ready!
the truth...
June 17th, 2011
12:58 pm
This reasoning is so faulty it is hard to believe you came up with it….
To begin with…they have three starting players plus the fact that both Andrus and Perez were All Stars in 2010….
Your reasoning about Salty and Andrus being blocked is faulty in that even if they were blocked that does not mean they were worth nothing….the fact of the matter is that they were available for other trades….
So we got zip from Tex….bottom line we got zip… he did not take us to the promised land; who can say the Braves would not have gotten to the playoffs without him…all that is conjecture.
What did they get?…
They still have three every day players PLUS they traded Salty for Cash plus 3 no names (kinda like the lottery-Cash Plus)….
I hated the trade then and I hate it now….
Sure we have pitching….but is it unreasonable to think that we could have gotten more than a rental future Yankee? Like a right handed 3rd baseman…or outfielder…..
I think the logic is faulty because bottom line it assumes that there is NO UPSIDE on the three Rangers….and there definitely is NO UPSIDE to our rental of Tex….
Sonny Clusters
June 17th, 2011
12:59 pm
Anyone being traded for should have his adductor checked before they trade for him. Bad adductors can bring a team down. When we was playing ball we didn’t even know we had an adductor. Heck, we didn’t know about adductors until Chipper hurt his last night.
Nostradamus
June 17th, 2011
1:02 pm
‘the truth” has spoken..Nostra agree 110%
realistic
June 17th, 2011
1:04 pm
Mark, weren’t the Braves once offered Lenny Dykstra, Howard Johnson and Rick Aguilera for Dale Murphy in his declining years and passed on it. That was the worst trade never made.
Hankie Aron
June 17th, 2011
1:05 pm
MB- you can’t really believe your headline, i think you just need some traffic on here knowing that is a lie. I was too young to know the Len Barker trade but for my generation, the worst JS ever made.
Vomax
June 17th, 2011
1:05 pm
The only sense this article makes is to create tension/controversy with an unsupportable position, thereby attracting page views and making advertisers happy.
Well done, Bradley. You’ve just made the marketing department very happy with the addition of more “unique visitors” to your page.
Trying to attact a sponsor? Pen more of this foundationless drivel.
Coop
June 17th, 2011
1:11 pm
I was in college when the Len Barker deal was made and I’ll never forget reading the headline in the AJC. That, Herschel leaving school early for the USFL, and watching in person as Lonnie Smith forgot how to find 3rd base in the 1991 WS are the worst sports moments of my life.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
June 17th, 2011
1:27 pm
Barker for Butler worst in Braves History?
No Andrus is a All Star for the next Decade…
Feliz is going to be the #1 Starter for the Rangers next season and possibly anchor the rotation for a decade….
Nique for Manning correct, was the WORST Atlanta trade…
Also at the time Detroit was smart for making that deal. Alexander closed that season out I believe 9-0 for them and was a pivetol for them getting to the ALCS.
That trade pales in comparison the Red Soxs made in trading a young Jeff Bagwell to the Astro’s for Middle Reliever Larry Anderson in ‘90 I believe. That was a bad deal….
IE80
June 17th, 2011
1:33 pm
From our (Braves) perspective, Alexander for Smoltz was definitely the best trade ever. But the Tigers got what they wanted out of the deal. In a very tight pennant race, they traded a minor-leaguer for a starter. Alexander went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA and may be the biggest reason the Tigers won their division that year. A prime example of short-term vs long-term benefit. But I’m sure glad the trade was made.
seabass
June 17th, 2011
1:35 pm
I remember a trade for Bruce Sutter, the best closer in the game at the time. He stunk in Atlanta, then got hurt. I think the Braves having a six million dollar pitcher in double A is worst than all the trades or acquisitions.
cantondawg
June 17th, 2011
1:38 pm
Todd Grantham,
Mcgriff wasn’t a free agent pickup…The braves actually traded for him in 1993 for Melvin Nieves and a couple of more players. Arguably the best trade ever with Smoltz trade. I can remember that the Braves were 9 or 10 games out of first place with SF when the Braves made this trade.
cantondawg
June 17th, 2011
1:39 pm
Anybody remember the Mcgriff trade when we were about 9 games out from SF in 1993. The first night he was a Brave the press box caught on fire in atlanta-fulton co stadium…Soon after, the Braves caught on fire and caught up to the Giants and won it on the last day..
cantondawg
June 17th, 2011
1:41 pm
I still think that Grissom and Justice for Lofton and Embree was the worst trade ever in braves. People forget that Justice was a clutch player and Grissom was solid. I still believe that the Braves would have won a few more WS if they had kept them together
bvillebaron
June 17th, 2011
1:41 pm
Truth, Vomax and others:
You got this absolutely right; worse trade I can remember. I was furious then and still remain so now. All the clamor about Texeira being interested in signing an extension was just marketing by Boras. Anyone with half a brain knows (or should know) that Boras takes his clients to free agency and once that happens and the Yankees start bidding, the Braves had two chances of signing Texeira–fat and none.
Recall also that the Rangers obtained this King’s ransom from a desperate Braves’ team (JS thought Texeira could be the key guy to eke out one more playoff spot at a time when he should have been rebuilding because the core of the team, especially the pitching, was obviously getting old. The fact that the Braves recovered from that flat out fiasco to make the playoffs last year by finding capable replacements is a credit to the job Wren has done since. So what if the Braves now have capable replacements for these players; had JS kept them, he could have traded them for something of value rather than trading for what what everyone else seemed to know was a one year mercenary who wasn’t and still isn’t a difference maker.
J-Man
June 17th, 2011
1:41 pm
The only reason the Texieria deal was bad was because we didn’t resign him long term
Lowcountry Bulldawg
June 17th, 2011
1:44 pm
Sutter also was not a trade, he was a Free Agent signing. I believe he is still getting paid by the Braves….
J-Man
June 17th, 2011
1:45 pm
I hope we trade for Matt Kemp but only if we resign him long term
J-Man
June 17th, 2011
1:46 pm
@Lowcountry was that a Bobby Bonillia/Mets reference lol
Lowcountry Bulldawg
June 17th, 2011
1:52 pm
@J-Man,
Seriously, I was thinking at one point he was the 1st Million Dollar reliever so I Wiki’ed Sutter. This is a quote from the bio on Sutter..”
He was momentarily the highest paid player in baseball, although he agreed to have his Atlanta contract configured so that he was paid $750,000 for six years with the rest going into an insurance fund that was to be structured to pay him $1,000,000 for 30 years.”
Now it made no mention of him being the 1st million dollar reliever maybe that was Gossage or Fingers, but the Braves are still paying Sutter 1 Million Dollars a year! WOW!
“
Rakish Knave
June 17th, 2011
1:54 pm
Really looking forward to this series. As much as I initially disliked inter-league play (maybe still too many), it’s really become fun.
Man I hope the Mariners can cool off the Phils this weekend. BTW Mark, who do you think will pick up J.C. Romero?
Najeh Davenpoop
June 17th, 2011
2:01 pm
This is like saying the Kirk Hinrich trade wasn’t that bad because Jordan Crawford was blocked by Joe Johnson. The Braves got Tex to get them over the hump for the playoffs, and it didn’t work. Period. Those assets may or may not have contributed for the Braves on the field for any number of reasons, but at least they could have been used in a trade for a different player who might have stayed here longer or succeeded in putting the Braves over the hump that year. And compounding the mistake is the fact that in the subsequent Tex trade to the Angels, the Braves got jack sh-t.
ed simmons
June 17th, 2011
2:02 pm
Just ruins any day to think about it.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 17th, 2011
2:04 pm
Oh yeah, and I’d much rather have Andrus at SS than Alex Gonzalez right now, without question.
Oregon Brave
June 17th, 2011
2:11 pm
Can’t remember the name of that fat reliever that Letterman called a “fat tub of goo.” Was he in a trade or a free agent? Think his 1st name might have been Terry, not sure. My old age is really playing games with my memory. But I still remember Andy Pafko as my 1st Braves hero until Hank came along.
papadawg
June 17th, 2011
2:13 pm
Who are you kidding, the DA Braves management as they’ve done many many times have NOTHING to show for these players they gave up.
Mitchell
June 17th, 2011
2:18 pm
For the Braves, the trade was a considered mistake. They knew what they were doing; it just didn’t work. Teixeira’s presence didn’t lift them above the Phillies in either of his partial seasons here. He wasn’t terrible. He was actually pretty darn good.
Mark Teixeira in his two half seasons for the Braves didn’t come close to making the kind of total contributions Jason Heyward made in just his first two months in the major leagues.
He sucked then, he sucks now. He is a douche.
Terrible trade.
The Braves made the playoffs as well but the Rangers won their division. They won the pennant.
As terrible as losing four World Series was, and as terrible as a fifth would be, just making the World Series at this point for the Braves would validate all of the work done by Braves scouts and the front office since the Teixeira trade and really since the organization was a serious contender in the National League.
The Rangers at least got there and getting there is to not squander the vast amount of talent on your roster.
The Braves on the other hand have achieved the absolute least of any of the top teams in baseball over the past three seasons.
Since mid-July of 2009 the Braves have the third most wins in the majors and have almost nothing to show for it. One playoff victory. One win out of four post-season games in five years.
The Rangers and Braves are not as close as Mark Bradley would have you believe.
Not even.
DawgDad
June 17th, 2011
2:19 pm
Common problem with the Drew and Teixeira deals was the Braves failure to make the deals contingent on the players signing new contracts with the Braves. They wanted those players here long-term but took on all of the long-term risk. Stupid is as stupid does.
No Mas!
June 17th, 2011
2:29 pm
Didn’t we already know Escobar was a prima donna? Why rely on a guy that couldn’t live up to Bobby’s very lenient standards and trade away your top prospect at SS.
I’m ok shipping Salty b/c of McCann, but all the other players made Shuerholz look like a guy with short timers syndrome looking for one last hurrah. Oh right, he was a guy with short timers syndrome looking for one last hurrah.
We also knew we weren’t going to throw big time money at Tex.
the truth...
June 17th, 2011
2:33 pm
“Sign and Trade” …..that’s what they call it…. the trade is contingent on an actual signing and not some pack of lies by Boros and the like…..
If you believe that siimebag you’ve been smoking way too much green stuff….
I am always skeptical of these last minute trades especially when the player is in his last year and will be a free agent next year.
I do remember the Barker-Butler deal and it was abysmal as well-the Justice and Grissom for Lofton and others was horrible ….but the Tex deal topped them all…
I didn’t know that $1 mil a year thing with Sutter was still paying out…he really hit the lottery didn’t he…?
Top Dawg
June 17th, 2011
2:33 pm
What ever happend to Al Rhabosky, “the mad Hungarian?”
bvillebaron
June 17th, 2011
2:40 pm
J-man:
Didn’t like the Texeira trade even if they signed him long-term. However, as I mentioned above, JS was fooling himself if he thought he could sign him to an extension given (1) he was a Boras client; and (2) the reason why the Rangers traded him to the Braves in the first place is because he and Boras turned down a lucrative offer from the Rangers the year before to sign an extension (if memory serves the Rangers actually offered more than the Braves did to try to get him to sign an extension).
bfred
June 17th, 2011
3:10 pm
If nothing else, the Tex trade seems to have made two tremendously positive lasting impressions:
1. Build your team by sticking to your knitting – scout, draft and develop quality young players. Expensive free agents are risky (cough, Uggla)
2. Don’t deal with Boras.
Look at the current team. McLouth, Uggla, Gonzales – imports. McCann, Heyward, Freeman, Chipper, Marteeeeeeeeeeeeeen – home grown. Hanson, Jurrjens, Minor, Beachy, Medlen, Kimbrel – same thing. Hudson is the only major signing that has worked well; Lowe has been fine but not $15MM good. Almost every good thing about this team is the result of a superior scouting and minor league organization.
MatthewH
June 17th, 2011
3:17 pm
Oregon Brave,
His name is Terry Forrester
what of it?
June 17th, 2011
3:18 pm
Javier Vasquez for Melky Cabrera may have been the worst deal ever
Marc Schneider
June 17th, 2011
3:21 pm
It was bad in retrospect but I guarantee everyone was excited about it at the time. I think this actually looked worse a couple of years agon when the Braves pitching was struggling. They really aren’t missing Feliz–Venters and Kimbrel are just as good and, let’s face it, closers are a dime a dozen. Harrison is a decent pitcher but hardly irreplaceable and certainly not as good as what the Braves have now. Salty is mediocre and why would you want to hold on to a guy just to be a backup. Andrus is the real loss–but only because the Braves decided to get rid of Escobar. And it’s not clear that Andrus is THAT good. It was far from the worse trade the Braves have made–that would be Wainwright for J.D. Drew IMO.
There is a lot of criticism here of the Braves for various trades, but I would bet that the Braves’ trades stack up as well or better than most organizations. How about Renteria for Jurrjens? How about Dan Meyer, et. al for Tim Hudson? How many times did JS trade a pitching “prospect” for immediate help and the pitcher either ended up hurt or was lousy? People act as if the Braves are the Pittsburgh Pirates or something.
And I agree with someone above; if the Braves had gone to the World Series with Tex, no one would be complaining. At the time, they were close and it seemed logical to try to upgrade the offense.
bfred
June 17th, 2011
3:33 pm
Marc, I’m on board with that. It was a calculated risk that didn’t pay off. Only in retrospect can we say that it was a bad idea. If Tex had played the way he did before and after his time with the Braves it might be a different discussion. Plus we hadn’t had a true first baseman since Galarraga retired and our sure-fire prospects were petering out one after the next (e.g. Helms, Thorman). It met our biggest need and made us more competitive in a tight race. We also didn’t have the track record dealing with Boras clients at that point, a lesson the team has learned well.
fred
June 17th, 2011
3:49 pm
Mark,
Your logic, or lack therof, is flawed as usual. Just because they were blocked doesnt mean they should be thrown away. They could have commanded value in the form of other needed players(like an outfielder who can hit). The fact that the Braves still have a good farm system doesn’t make this trade any better either. It was an extremely risky trade even if Texiera had stayed, which we all knew wouldnt happen given he was a Boras client.
braves fan forever
June 17th, 2011
3:49 pm
Ross is a better catcher than Salty.I never like texeria.He always looked like a mule eating those health bars in the dugout.All he wanted was money,money,money.We should never give up that much talent to get one player for a season and a half.Right now we need a big righthanded bat to come off the bench.Just when I wanted to axe Conrad he comes up with a big hit.Uggla needs to go down to triple A to get his swing down.Despite Fredi lazy ass Gonzalez saying its too early its almost too late.We got to hit this weekend to stand a chance against the rangers and next week against toronto.Hicks is a waste of human flesh.SEnd him packing.
Joey
June 17th, 2011
3:56 pm
“Mark Teixeira in his two half seasons for the Braves didn’t come close to making the kind of total contributions Jason Heyward made in just his first two months in the major leagues.”
*********************************
Mitchell – now, I like Jason Heyward, a lot. But what does that mean? Look at the stats. It ain’t even close. Tex was head and shoulders above Heyward in every offensive stat, especially in HRs 37-18, and RBI 134-72, and the other stats as well.
Tex did what he was supposed to do here, nobody else much did. Plus our pitching was terrible while he was here.
Heyward has the potential to put up numbers like Tex has for many years, but his penchant for injury may prevent it.
bvillebaron
June 17th, 2011
4:07 pm
Marc:
Closers are a dime a dozen, huh? If memory serves me correctly that was pretty much the attitude that the Braves had when they recycled closers and managed to win 1 World Series while winning 14 straight divisions. Most people I talk to think that the lack of a dominant closer was the biggest weakness of those teams. Feliz is a dominant closer and even if Kimbrel or Venters are as good, the loss of him and Andrus (who is THAT good), prevented the Braves from trading them (or someone else) for something useful rather than a one year rental player who wasn’t good enough to get a team in need of rebuilding to the playoffs and wasn’t going to re-up with the Braves.
I agree that Schueholz was one of the great GMs and made many good trades over the years. However, that is irrelevant to the current topic which is an evaluation of the Texeira trade. I and many others thought it was a terrible trade then and think that various attempts to try to rationalize the trade now by claiming it “wasn’t that bad” because the Braves have managed to find and bring up suitable if not equivalent players in the meantime are nonsensical. It was a lousy trade then and remains a lousy trade now.
J-Man
June 17th, 2011
4:35 pm
@what of it? “Javier Vasquez for Melky Cabrera may have been the worst deal ever”…..well we have Vizicainio in the minors from it since neither guy is on their respective team now I’d say we won that trade
J-Man
June 17th, 2011
4:36 pm
Schueholts made that trade because he knew he was stepping down as GM and went for it and didnt think of long term effects
Rowsdower
June 17th, 2011
4:42 pm
doyle alexander to detroit for minor league pitcher john smoltz will forever be the best trade atlanta ever made.if i remeber correctly that tarde was made at the of that season. i am not sure how detroit fared with alexander.
Detroit won the East that year thanks to Alexander, so the trade worked out for both teams. Smoltz was an unknown commodity at the time. No way Detroit knew he was a 1st ballot Hall of Famer.
StingerSplash
June 17th, 2011
4:44 pm
Aside from Salty (who looks like he’s finding a groove with Boston … like they needed somebody else in that lineup), every one of those players dealt could help the Braves right now. Andrus or Gonzalez? Sorry, but Elvis is the king of that comparison. Feliz? Maybe not supplant Venters/Kimbrel as the closer but having another arm that can hit 98 consistently and know where it’s going is never, ever a bad thing. Harrison? He’d sure be a fifth starter option at this point, and D Lowe and Huddy aren’t exactly Maddux and Smoltz right now. Well, maybe the Maddux and Smoltz of right now, not the Maddux and Smoltz of 10 years ago.
Besides, Tex came to the Braves in 2007 – right after Heyward and Freeman were drafted. Can’t trade away what you really don’t have. 2007 was also Teheran’s first year in the Braves system. Sorry, Mark, but the math doesn’t work out. The deal for Tex depleted the Braves farm system at the time. They managed to re-stock it in the interim.
And what of Stephen Marek, whom the Braves acquired in the deal that sent Tex to the Halos? This is all they got for a perennial Gold Glove, All Star first baseman? In essence, they got a guy on the DL and gave the Rangers a gold mine. Yep. Great trade.
Worm
June 17th, 2011
4:47 pm
Andrus would make a great shortstop with Escobar playing second..That 60 million on UGGLA could buy Chipper’s replacement or a CF…
Time
June 17th, 2011
5:01 pm
Hunter Pence would look good in the Braves OF.