It’s not always fair to judge baseball operations leaders for free agent signings. In many cases, the biggest contracts are negotiated to varying extents by ownership. The same can hold true of major extensions. It’s just tough to know from the outside.
There’s obviously involvement from above in trade scenarios as well. But, when it comes to exchanging rights to some players for others, it stands to reason the role of the general manager is all the more clear.
In any event, for what it’s worth, it seemed an opportune moment to take a look back at the trade track records of some of the general managers around the game. We’ve already covered the Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen, former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, the Brewers’ David Stearns, the Angels’ Billy Eppler, the Rockies’ Jeff Bridich, the White Sox’ Rick Hahn, the Tigers’ Al Avila, the Braves’ Alex Anthopoulos, and the Padres’ A.J. Preller. We’ll now turn our focus to Ross Atkins of the Blue Jays, who followed Jays president Mark Shapiro in moving to the Toronto organization from Cleveland. (Deals are in chronological order and exclude minor moves; full details at transaction link).
2015-16 Offseason
- Acquired RHP Jesse Chavez from Athletics for RHP Liam Hendriks
- Acquired RHP Drew Storen from Nationals for OF Ben Revere
- Acquired INF Cliff Pennington and cash for INF Dawel Lugo
2016 Season
- Acquired LHP Francisco Liriano, OF Harold Ramirez and C Reese McGuire from Pirates for RHP Drew Hutchison
- Acquired RHP Joaquin Benoit from Mariners for RHP Drew Storen and cash
- Acquired OF Melvin Upton and cash from Padres for RHP Hansel Rodriguez
2017 Season
- Acquired OF Nori Aoki and OF Teoscar Hernandez from Astros for LHP Francisco Liriano
- Acquired LHP Thomas Pannone and SS Samad Taylor from Indians for RHP Joe Smith
2017-18 Offseason
- Acquired OF Randal Grichuk from Cardinals for RHP Dominic Leone and RHP Conner Greene
- Acquired INF Yangervis Solarte from Padres for OF Edward Olivares and RHP Jared Carkuff
- Acquired INF Aledmys Diaz from Cardinals for OF J.B. Woodman
2018 Season
- Acquired RHP Julian Merryweather (as PTBNL) from Indians for 3B Josh Donaldson
- Acquired RHP Ken Giles, RHP Hector Perez and RHP David Paulino from Astros for RHP Roberto Osuna
- Acquired INF Brandon Drury and OF Billy McKinney from Yankees for LHP J.A. Happ
- Acquired 1B Chad Spanberger, 1B Sean Bouchard and INF/OF Forrest Wall from Rockies for RHP Seunghwan Oh
- Acquired RHP Jacob Waguespack from Phillies for LHP Aaron Loup
- Acquired RHP Corey Copping from Dodgers for RHP John Axford
2018-19 Offseason
- Acquired INF Jesus Lopez and international bonus capacity from Athletics for DH Kendrys Morales
- Acquired SS Ronny Brito and RHP Andrew Sopko from Dodgers for C Russell Martin and cash
- Acquired LHP Clayton Richard and cash from Padres for OF Connor Panas
2019 Season
- Acquired RHP Derek Law, INF Alen Hanson and RHP Juan De Paula from Giants for OF Kevin Pillar
- Acquired LHP Anthony Kay and RHP Simeon Woods Richardson from Mets for RHP Marcus Stroman
- Acquired OF Derek Fisher from Astros for RHP Aaron Sanchez and RHP Joe Biagini
- Acquired RHP Kyle Johnston from Nationals for RHP Daniel Hudson
- Acquired RHP Thomas Hatch from Cubs for RHP David Phelps
2019-20 Offseason
- Acquired RHP Chase Anderson from Brewers for 1B Chad Spanberger
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How do you grade the overall work on the trade market? (Poll link for app users.)
I don’t really see any true big time wins out there
I’d say the Hutchison trade to the pirates would be the biggest win out of any as if right now. McGuire from it and want to go further down the trade tree liriano to Astros for Teoscar. Both have yet to contribute enough for a big win but for who we have up for two big league pieces is a great win. IMO
Liriano was really good in 2016 as well and won the wild card game
Cliff Pennington was actually acquired by Anthopoulos at the 2015 trade deadline. He was signed by the Angels going into 2016 and I believe he actually got a 2 year deal somehow lmao. Go Jays.
There is also a couple small trades missing, Steve Pearce and Curtis Granderson for example.
Those guys were signed not traded for. Read what the article is about
And then they were traded away, neither of which is listed. Don’t be a dick.
Should also do free agency and draft history for a gm (noteworthy draft picks).
Should also include where impactful draft picks went in trades
It would be nice to list the team the GM was working for at the time of the trade period. ie… 2019 Season-Toronto
The Hendriks move was an oops, albeit not a major one.
That was my first reaction too but Hendriks was designated by the A’s at one point. I think they kinda cancels out the trade. Any team could have gotten him
Hendricks wasnt really all that good until recently though
He drops down a full letter-grade for the Grichuk extension alone.
GM Trade History:
NOT
GM Extension History
GM Free Agent Signings History
GM Draft history.
GM Waiver Claim history.
Notice none of those are mentioned. Grichuk extension, smoak extension aren’t listed. Wonder why? Because that’s not the topic of discussion.
The only one I can really criticize is the Hendricks deal, maybe the Donaldson trade (he kinda sold low as I recall) but the rest of these are “meh.” No real solid wins.
He didn’t sell low on JD. In fact some owners tried to get MLB to rescind the trade as JD was hurt & shouldn’t have been eligible to be traded in the first place.
There’s been a long running theory in Toronto that ownership was heavily involved in the Donaldson deal. The rumour is the Atkins & Shapiro wanted to move him in the offseason prior however the Jays needed to sell season tickets and needed a star to do that. Apparently the Jays had a deal on the table with St. Louis where Donaldson was going to STL and Jack Flaherty was coming to Toronto and ownership shot it down.
I’m pretty surprised to see That B was second in the poll thus far. I was thinking C at best here. There were a couple small victories and maybe the Stroman deal ends up working out nicely if SWR pans out. But I don’t see B work here.
Yeah I see more of a C average. I’d give him a C- if that was an option.
Acquired when competitive, sold off when not. Nothing huge and no major genius or massive bonehead move. C is average, which makes sense for an average GM.
Pretty sure Bryan Baker was part of the Oh deal, not Sean Bouchard.
Not exactly a stellar track record. The Oh trade looks decent. Best trade is probably with Pittsburgh dealing Hutchison.
Yeah, should be Baker there. Also the link for Jesus Lopez is the wrong Jesus Lopez.
Ross Sauce!
The epitome of an average GM. Nothing too glaring positive or negative. They got very unlucky with Donadlson cratering health wise and production wise in a contract year or they probably could have gotten a good return.
Not really. They chose to hold JD a year longer than necessary. Should have been traded at the 2017 deadline or to St Louis during the 2017-18 offseason. Atkins holds his chips way too long.
There were many who wanted to trade JD the 17-18 offseason but I also recall a lot of fans along with the front office wanting to stay competitive. If they committed to a rebuild or small rebuild that offseason the return for JD would’ve been huge. Rumours the cardinals offered Flaherty in a package for JD you can probably help confirm or deny that. I do remember fans wanting to stay competitive when should’ve started to rebuild
From what I gathered the Jays were pushing for Flaherty but the Cards were reluctant. Ended up giving lesser pieces for Ozuna if I recall. Think if the Cards were actually willing to give up Flaherty (or Alex Reyes) at the time the deal would have got done.
Ahh ok I hope that is the case. If offered Flaherty I definitely hoped we would’ve took that offer! Thanks!
Pretty tough to compete when you don’t sign marquee free agents, cheap out on the fans and acquire multiple DHs like they did after the 2016 season. The run was done after 2017 and the front office did not act as though they wanted to compete in 2018.
I’m pretty sure the package was somewhat close to the Goldschmidt deal minus Carson Kelly. Weaver was definitely one of the names.
Interesting tidbit from a MLB.com article. Many were upset that the Jays were have rumored to reject an offer of Jack Flahtery for Josh Donaldson – well there is this;
mlb.com/news/paul-goldschmidt-cardinals-braves-con…
When the Braves agreed to a one-year, $23 million deal with Donaldson around Thanksgiving, the Cardinals were denied their bid to land the former American League MVP Award winner. They attempted to acquire the veteran third baseman from the Blue Jays during the 2017 season, but they were never willing to include Jack Flaherty in the trade. Another attempt was made to complete a waiver deal in August ’18.
If they don’t hold the chips too long, then they gave up too soon. No win situation.
Not when the franchise gave up on competing, which they did. They are currently holding Giles for too long. They’ll screw this one up too.
They gambled Donaldson would return to form health wise and be worth more at the 2018 deadline, than he was during the 17/18 offseason. He didn’t. Happens. Trading JD that offseason was really unpopular with the fans at the time.
Gamble? No, it was plain stupid. Then instead of holding on and giving him a QO after the 2018 season they dealt him at a low point. Dumb all around. Gambling? Yeah, with zero hand to play.
Narrator: They did indeed hold Giles too long and screwed it up too.
Thanks, Jeff, for a great concise summary. Nice for generating debate. He’s made some good trades.
The only bad trade was the Astros Sanchez/Biagini/Fischer trade.
Minor point, didn’t prospect Cal Stevenson also go to the Astros in that trade as well? (making it even ‘badder’)
Why do you believe that to be the worst trade?
Not that bad. Sanchez got dropped after the season and Biagini probably doesn’t even crack the opening day roster for the astros.
His first trade (Chavez for Hendricks); in retrospect, not the greatest. Besides that, his trade history is just kind of average. Though what surprised me was how little they got back for Donaldson in 18′, I just didn’t realize it was a PTBNL. Overall, I gave it him a C.
Literally after Atkins talked about the 2016 budget and wanting players with team control, he makes this deal for a pitcher costing way more money with less years of control.
No massive losses but no big wins
The Hendricks trade— ouch babe
Am surpriced no one mentioned the A Sanches as a bad trade fisher has never even played a full season and the Osuna trade will end up being his worse trade ever osuna could end up being one of the best closers for years to come. Just my opinion but very low risk trades frpm a very average GM.
Gonna say the Sanchez deal is more of a lose-lose situation, since the Astros didn’t get much from him and Biagini doesn’t look to be returning to his former glory.
Derek Fisher, still has some chances of growing but also looks like he won’t amount to anything.
As for the Osuna deal… it was obviously about PR with that deal and Giles ended up pitching better anyways. The Jays win this trade if they either are able to extend Giles and get some more strong seasons out of him, or if they trade Giles for a good haul.
The Jays had to move Osuna as PR move. Giles worked out well for the Jays.
Sanchez is garbage. Injured garbage at that. Osuna really!? You honestly think a publicly traded company was going to keep him on the roster?
They might have got the better pitcher anyways
Hendricks was a bum much of his career. He may never have improved if kept.
Nothing devastating or awesome on the trade front. He inherited an aging core that soon would need to be rebuilt. He squeezed another ALCS appearance out of them, then was very unpopular when the rebuild began. His best work has been the June draft. Bichette, Biggio, Pearson among others. Gurriel in amateur free agency. Future looks very bright.
I gave Ross Atkins a ‘D”.
The Jays are winning no championships with Ross Atkins and Shapiro making decisions. They are like minnows swimming around with great whites.
The Jays need an elite GM. Been saying that for years.
The Jays need smarter fans. Patience grasshopper. Maybe use all this stay at home time to brush up on how to build a sustainable winner…or at the very least use the time to learn how to construct a proper sentence.
Who might that be?
Bruce, at the moment, I would say the list starts and ends with Dave Dombrowski.
42 Years of Control!!!
Couldn’t help myself & I love Shapkins.
Nobody cares when the 42 years sits controlled in the basement.
Only a demented GM cares about that and quotes it to the press.
@JImmertee
Are you saying NONE of the other 29 GM’s care about years of control? That’s a bet I’d take.
@WereAllGuestsHere
Are you suggesting they should rush the kids to the show? Then what? Ah yes, then y’all would have something else to complain about. I get the average fan doesn’t care about issues such as control. and Ross certainly didn’t gain any fans when he said it, but from a business perspective I can see why it excited him.
What part of what I said had ANYTHING to do with rushing kids to the show? Absurd comment on your part. My point was it does not matter how much control you have if the players (ie. Fisher) can’t play at the major league level.
As of this writing, the Adkins article has 45 comments and the Hazen video has five. Both were posted at roughly the same time four hours ago.
Either readers have very strong feelings regarding Adkins as opposed to Hazen. Or the videos are not getting views.
I enjoy both but something to think about MLBTR.
There was an earlier entry on Hazen a few days back.
More Jays fans than Dbacks fans likely. At least on here. Jays have a whole country to draw from.
I know this is based on trades only, but if trading too late was part of it, then he goes to a C for not trading Donaldson. He was a beast for three years. His value had to be close to what Betts was this year.
Osuna trade is 100 times better than the Chapman trade and Osuna is a much nicer guy so B+
Acquired INF Cliff Pennington and cash for INF Dawel Lugo on August 8, 2015
Pennington was acquired before the August deadline by Alex Anthopoulos in response to Devon Travis’ injury. Goins was the starting 2B and Pennington was brought in to be a bench option.
Not a Ross Atkins trade.
mlbtraderumors.com/2015/08/blue-jays-close-to-acqu…
Acquired RHP Jesse Chavez from Athletics for RHP Liam Hendriks on November 20, 2015
This is also Not a Ross Atkins trade.
mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/blue-jays-to-acquire-je…
Shapiro was named President on November 1, 2015. Tony Lacava was made interim GM on the same day. This trade was made on November 20, 2015.
Ross Atkins was not named GM until December 3, 2015.
mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/blue-jays-hire-ross-atk…
Forgetting 2 important trades.
In 2016 Atkins traded prospect Sean Ratcliffe for Jason Grilli who was a huge arm for the Jays down the stretch and into the 2016 playoffs.
Early last off season the Jays traded their starting shortstop from 2018 in Aledmys Diaz for prospect Trent Thornton.
In 2018, Thornton was the Jays starting leader in wins, innings pitched, games started and strike out. That’s a pretty notable trade.
Another two trades were missed. Espinal for Pearce. Pearce was a monster for the Red Sox when they won the Worlds Series. Espinal looks to be the Jays utility infielder when play resumes.
Jays good a pretty good return for Sogard too. Turn a minor league signing of Sogard into a reliever in Taylor and a upside lottery ticket in Edisson Gonzalez. Both from a strong Tampa farm system.
I know it was 5 years ago but I’m positive that Pennington was actually acquired by AA at the 2015 deadline. He was not acquired by Atkins/Shapiro.
I gave him a D cause his best trade was the Stroman deal which wasn’t even a good trade. He got so little for probably the best pitcher at the trade deadline who also had another year of control.
How can you say he got so little? SWR hasn’t even made the bigs & his stock is rising quickly.
Minnesota wanted Stroman, and was upset Atkins didn’t bother calling them before the Stroman deal was completed with the Mets. Instead of leveraging a better deal with the Twins or the Mets, Atkins settled. There was more to be had.
I feel that “more to be had” was Brudsar Graterol, and we all know how it turned out with him included in the Betts trade. They made it clear they werent including other top OF/SP prospects, so the Jays took the package they felt presented them more value.and what they needed we dont know they didnt use the Twins as leverage for the Mets, all we know is the Twins were mad the Jays didnt choose them. Mets could have been close to pulling SWR or Kay for another deal too if they didnt complete it, we dont know.
No, we don’t know. So why bring up Graterol if you don’t know? Atkins certainly had the window to call the Twins, or have an Assistant GM make that call when the names were confirmed before finalizing the deal. Twins make a better offer, let the Mets knows they need to up theirs. Leveraging a better deal, that’s the name of the game.
Please do not excuse the Blue Jays negligence here. Minnesota was furious they didn’t have a chance to counter.
Atkins made it clear to other GM’s that Stroman was going to be traded on July 28th. The Twins got played by the Mets when BVW said Thor was on the block.. The Twins then lied to cover their @ss when BVW pulled Thor off the table. The Twins lied, just like they lied when they told their fans that Cole & Ryu wanted to stay in California & didn’t want to sign in the mid west.
Ryu even called them out publicly on their b.s..
Don’t try to be reasonable
So Atkins made it clear he was going to make a trade July 28th and on the morning of July 28th, all 29 teams saw they were losing leverage thanks to losing on time. Thank you for showing us Atkins was negotiating from a position of weakness. That was the point all along, regardless of what Minnesota was doing. Instead of using Minnesota to leverage a better deal from the Mets he pulled the trigger too soon. As I already stated. Now that you’ve seen the light, you’re welcome.
He also traded Diaz for Trent Thornton
and Pearce for Espinal
we have chance to see on sportsnet old game from 2015 this week
after that look at a whatever game 2017 an up after that
hard to give more than a D too those pair of clown
or give big A for cutting payroll ,not resigning anyone that Xanthopoulos have bring in ,for bullshiting all fans across canada
they where probably hired by cheap ass rogers communication to do this
thank you