Back at the start of the year, I ran down the most memorable trades of the preceding decade. It was tough to nail down the swaps that I found most compelling; many folks wrote in with others that I added in an honorable mention section. In some cases, people suggested deals that were highly notable to them but relatively unexciting to me. Just as with the game itself, we all experience the hot stove differently.
At the time, I was gathering up the most notable deals. I thought about doing a ranking, but dismissed the idea. It was tough enough to pull together a list. Now I’ve come to wonder … in spite of our differing experiences, and the inherent subjectivity of it all, can we find some amount of consensus on the topic?
I don’t want to spread this too thin, so I’m not going to include every deal mentioned in the original post. Oh, and I went ahead and included a new entrant! You should read the original post on the subject — or click the links below to the deals themselves — for more details on the swaps. I’ll present them here in chronological order.
Brewers Acquire Zack Greinke (12/19/10)
Royals Acquire James Shields, Wade Davis (12/9/12)
Red Sox, Dodgers Complete Nine-Player Blockbuster (8/25/12)
Blue Jays, Marlins Complete 12-Player Blockbuster (11/13/12)
Blue Jays Acquire Josh Donaldson (11/28/14)
Padres Acquire Craig Kimbrel (4/5/15)
Wilmer’s Tears: Astros Acquire Carlos Gomez, Mike Fiers / Mets Acquire Yoenis Cespedes (7/31/15)
Diamondbacks Acquire Shelby Miller (12/9/15)
Cubs Acquire Aroldis Chapman (7/25/16)
Red Sox Acquire Chris Sale (12/6/16)
Astros Acquire Justin Verlander (9/1/17)
Marlins Trio: Yankees Acquire Giancarlo Stanton / Cardinals Acquire Marcell Ozuna / Brewers Acquire Christian Yelich (12/17-1/18)
Dodgers Acquire Mookie Betts, David Price (2/9/20)
You have a baker’s dozen to choose from. The response order is randomized in the poll. Let’s name the defining trade of the past decade! (Poll link for app users.)