Worst baseball roster decision (40-man, waive, release) ever (no trades, please)

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

No trades.

Just roster decisions. The Santana one is perfect.

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

Oops.

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

Was the envelope frozen?

That is a great story as well.

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

This is Nos. 1-10 in bad decisions. I don't look at dropping Santana in Rule 5 or that sort of thing as a "bad decision," because at least at the time it was defensible. The worst ones, to me, are the ones that are head-scratchers from the get-go.

Like Boston trading Sparky Lyle to New York for Danny Cater. (Not only getting rid of a pitcher who had already performed very well, but also sending him to their biggest freakin' rival)

Or Cincinnati declaring Frank Robinson over the hill and trading him for Milt Pappas (who, to be fair, had some productive seasons, but didn't, say, win a Triple Crown or any equivalent, which Robinson did the year after the trade)

Or the infamous Ernie Broglio-for-Lou Brock. You can say Brock was a middling outfielder (which he was with the Cubs), but Broglio, just off a 20-win season, was clearly sore-armed and broken-down. Oh, and Brock hit .348 with the Cardinals the rest of that season and helped them win a World Series.

Or Rocky Colavito-for-Harvey Kuenn. Sure, Kuenn had a string of All-Star years going, but what made the trade inexplicable was its timing (right as the season started) and why you would trade a popular, younger player for an older one. And what makes it even worse was the cascade of dunderheaded moves that deal spawned, starting with trading Kuenn to San Francisco THE NEXT FREAKING YEAR for the immortal Willie Kirkland and Johnny Antonelli, and then Cleveland trading back with the White Sox for a now over-the-hill Colavito for the low, low price of... Tommy John.

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

Looks like Bob Cook missed this post.

 

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I got thrown off when mustang mentioned Alexander Doyle.

 

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We have just talked so much about bad trades in the past, I thought 40-man roster decisions would be pretty interesting.

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

George Foster for Frank Duffy.

Gaylord Perry for Sam McDowell.

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

Any team voluntarily putting Neifi Perez on an active roster.

 

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Back to the original question, Chris Carpenter was just horrible for the Blue Jays. In six seasons he never once had an ERA below 4.00, and three times it was above 5.00. It turned out he was injured at the end of that run, so he took a year to rehab and then put together a three-year stretch that ranks as one of this decade's best. But given his maddening inconsistency and then the arm trouble, I don't think anyone could rightly argue with Toronto's decision at the time.

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

"Alexander Doyle"--that's what happens when you get a guy with two first names.

Wanda had a baby,
1961.
Father was a stranger,
Stranger was the son.
Call that child James Lewis,
Call these rooms a home,
Change all them diapers,
Polish all that chrome.

Come on Baby,
Spend the night with me.
John Prine

 

Re: Worst baseball roster decision ever

Based on this post and several of yours elsewhere, you seem to have your mind made up on this one. But no matter how well he hits for the Mets (or how poorly Church does for the Braves), Francoeur is the ultimate case of addition by subtraction.

He was a near-automatic out, Cox felt pressure/an obligation to play him because he was an Atlanta kid, and he was about to get REALLY expensive. Dumping Frenchy was a no-brainer in my opinion.