by Jeff Moore, Dugout Central

Comment

And if the big free-agent signings are the corn casserole and apple pie of the day, then blockbuster trades are the turkey. No matter how much attention is given to $100 million-plus contracts, no event gets the minds and mouths of baseball fans moving more than a swap of players.

The biggest name on the move thus far has been Matt Holliday, acquired by the Oakland A's, and it remains to be seen if he will still be by the bay come April. We have seen the smoke coming from the San Diego Padres regarding their ace Jake Peavy, but thus far it's been nothing but food spilling on the burner, with nothing to show for it.

So with the lack of action thus far, there is no time like the present to look back on the top trades from the past three off-seasons, as ranked by their impact on the baseball world in the time since. As expected, hindsight is a powerful thing.

10. Houston/Baltimore (2008): Miguel Tejada to Houston for Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Troy Patton, Dennis Sarfate and Mike Costanzo

This trade gets bonus points for a couple of reasons. One, because five-for-one trades are rare, rare enough to sometimes get you a nickname (see Hayes, Von), but they are even more rare when the "one" coming back in return is an aging 34-year-old shortstop with declining range and power. It goes from rare to devastating when that aging process is sped up by two years when it becomes public that the aging shortstop is actually two years older than his publically reported age. That's the baseball equivalent to driving a new car off the lot and watching its value immediately plummet.

Trading for Miguel Tejada wasn't such a bright idea for Houston. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

The question of who ultimately wins this trade, however, is still up in the air. Sarfate contributed in the bullpen and Scott had a nice season, but it doesn't appear the Orioles got any major pieces to their rebuilding plan in return for what had been the centerpiece of their franchise. The O's likely will be the victor here, but they will have to get something productive out of Albers and Patton for this to be anything more than an unexciting draw.

9. Rangers/White Sox (2007): John Danks, Nick Masset and Jacob Rasner to Chicago for Brandon McCarthy and David Paisano

An under-the-radar trade at the time, the first-glance winner when the trade went down was actually the Rangers. After the 2006 season, McCarthy was an up-and-coming pitcher with the White Sox who had showed some potential during Chicago's World Series run in 2005, yet a year removed was still without a spot in the rotation. Danks had been considered one of the Rangers top pitching prospects, but his 2006 season was a disappointment in Double and Triple-A and he simply was not progressing the way the Rangers had hoped.

Without a doubt, McCarthy was, at the time, considered to be more "major-league ready" The immediate evidence showed that neither pitcher seemed to be ready to be a Major League starting pitcher, as McCarthy 5-10 with a 4.87 ERA in the Bandbox at Arlington and Danks did even worse to the tune of 6-15 and 5.50. Ultimately, however, White Sox GM Kenny Williams proved why general managers will almost always take talent and a higher ceiling over "major-league readiness" in a trade, as Danks went out in 2008 and was one of the best pitchers in the American League, while McCarthy made only five starts, battling both injuries and ineffectiveness.

8a. Mets/Marlins (2006): Carlos Delgado to the Mets for Mike Jacobs, Yusmeiro Petit and Grand Posmas

8b. Mets/O's (2006): Kris Benson to the Orioles for Jorge Julio and John Maine

The Mets made two moves leading into the 2006 season which have helped shaped their current team. These moves would be higher on the list if the Mets had actually managed to make the playoffs in either of the last two seasons, but regardless of the team's shortcomings, John Maine and Carlos Delgado have played vital roles in the Mets' relative success.

The Mets capitalized on the Marlins financial shortcomings, taking Delgado and his salary off their hands, with Jacobs being the only significant piece surrendered by the Mets. In the trade with Baltimore, the Mets had to relinquish Kris Benson after one of his trademark league-average seasons for Maine, a highly regarded pitching prospect for the Orioles who had not yet been given a real chance to compete at the big league level. He got that chance in the second half of 2006, and proved in 2007 to be a reliable big league starter, as Benson struggled in 2006 and hasn't pitched since.

7. Rangers/Padres (2006): Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Young, and Terrmel Sledge to San Diego for Adam Eaton Akinori Otsuka, and Billy Killian

In another episode of trading for a pitcher who has never lived up to his hype, the Rangers sold the farm for Adam Eaton, without anyone really understanding why. The Rangers, always desperate for pitching, added Otsuka, coming off a nice year of middle relief in San Diego, and Adam Eaton, whose value had been inflated by an 11-4 record despite a WHIP of 1.43 in a notorious pitcher's ballpark.

In return, the Rangers parted ways with Adrian Gonzalez, the former first overall pick who had done little at the Major League level at that point (although had not really been given a chance). Gonzalez was coming off two very good minor league seasons but was blocked at first by Mark Teixeira. They also parted ways with Chris Young, whose performance since would have been difficult to predict, but had better numbers in 2005 than Eaton despite pitching in Texas as compared to San Diego. While hindsight makes this trade look even more lopsided than it seemed at the time, is it not the job of scouts to do some predicting and projecting of talents so that these kinds of deals don't happen?

Adrian Gonzalez has been a steal for the Pads. (Doug Pensinger / Getty Images)

6. Reds/Rangers (2008): Josh Hamilton to the Rangers for Edinson Volquez

One year removed, it appears there are no losers in this trade as both players appear to have established themselves as cornerstones of their new franchises. Volquez turned himself into a Cy Young candidate, and Hamilton did the same thing in the MVP race. One aspect to consider however — for those of you scoring at home (just going by my crude list), the Rangers have traded away a starting rotation of John Danks, Chris Young and Edinson Volquez, and have essentially only Josh Hamilton to show for it. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but for a team perennially desperate for pitching, they sure have traded a lot of it away.

5. Mets/Twins (2008): Johan Santana to the Mets for Carlos Gomez, Phillip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra

There is no doubt that the jury is still out on this trade, and ultimately the winner will be determined by the eventually success of the four players Minnesota received. Opinions are still mixed on Gomez, who received the first significant playing time of his career in 2008 and showed flashes of brilliance mixed in with youthful inconsistency. The pitchers the Twins received will ultimately tell the tale, and so far the results are mixed, as Humber had a disappointing year repeating Triple-A, Guerra had an awful year and Mulvey was just ok in 2008. The Mets know what they have in Santana — a true ace who they have locked up for the prime of his career, and who is the type of player who upon arrival changed the dynamic in the entire National League.

4. D-backs/A's (2008): Dan Haren and Connor Robinson to Arizona for Brett Anderson, Dana Eveland, Greg Smith, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham and Carlos Gonzalez

This trade gets bonus points for the sheer number of players involved and the ripple effect it continues to cause. The acquisition of Haren by the Diamondbacks was the initial wave, giving Arizona a 1-2 punch (along with Brandon Webb) that has yet to be rivaled in the National League. But this trade continues to evolve, as the A's have since traded Smith and Gonzalez to the Rockies in the Holliday trade that thus far has marked this off-season.

Carter continues to develop his power, and Eveland will be a rotation member for the A's in 2009, but we could see further ripples if the A's flip Holliday around to another team for more prospects. The final count on this trade has yet to be tallied, but for right now, it's the trade that keeps on giving.

3. O's/Mariners (2008): Erik Bedard to the Mariners for Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler

The Orioles make the list with their second five-for-one deal of the 2008 offseason, but this one will have far more significance than the Tejada deal. The influence of this trade is magnified by the total ineptitude of Erik Bedard and the rest of the Mariners team this past season, but even if Bedard had won the AL Cy Young, the Mariners might ultimately still have given up too much.

Perhaps the O's were smart to deal Erik Bedard. (Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images)

As far as the Orioles rebuilding plan goes, they got two solid potential cornerstones in this deal, as well as two more players who will be factors. Jones showed why he was so highly touted in his first full season, and while his numbers were relatively pedestrian, he showed flashes of brilliance that have the Charm City excited. Chris Tillman broke out in Double-A and is on track to be a staple in the Baltimore rotation in the not too distant future.

Sherrill emerged as a reliable closer for the Orioles, and while he is not likely the long term answer for the back of the Birds bullpen, his value has never been higher and it wouldn't shock anyone to see him traded at some point between now and July 31st, 2009 and should bring back at least one solid piece of the Baltimore future in return. The O's might even have hit on prospect Kam Mickolio, a 6-9 behemoth of a pitcher with a power arm who could figure into the Orioles bullpen sometime next year. That's a lot of building blocks given up by a franchise now desperately in need of them, and little to show for it in return.

2. Phillies/Astros (2008): Brad Lidge to Philadelphia for Michael Bourn, Mike Costanzo and Geoff Geary

Has any single acquisition in the past decade so directly and immediately led to a World Series victory the way Brad Lidge did for the Phillies in 2008? There is no discounting the ripple effect Lidge had on the Phillies. Between reorganizing the Philadelphia bullpen so the other members were in their proper places to (reluctantly) sending de facto closer Brett Myers back to the starting rotation where he belonged, the simple acquisition of Lidge solidified an entire pitching staff. Lidge, simply put, was perfect.

Houston, on the other hand, got only 64 innings of middle relief (from Geary) out of their end of the deal, as Bourn failed to produce as the starting CF, hitting only .229 on the season and losing his job down the stretch. At least they managed to flip Costanzo as a throw-in in the Tejada deal. Certainly Lidge outperformed anybody's expectations, but this was about as one-sided of a deal as we have seen in years.

1. Red Sox/Marlins (2006): Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota to Boston for Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Jesus Delgado and Harvey Garcia

Where do we start? At first glance, it's easy to put this in the category of a wealthy team poaching the fire-sale Marlins of their expensive veteran talent, until you remember that Hanley Ramirez could be baseball's best all-around offensive player. This was hardly a case of the Red Sox raiding the old man's liquor cabinet. But the Red Sox could not have asked for more definitive results from a trade than getting the 2007 ALCS (Beckett) and WS MVP (Lowell) in the same deal.

What made this deal so astonishing was the re-emergence of Lowell after it took place. Remember that Lowell was a throw-in to make the trade happen. The only way the Marlins would part with Beckett was if the Red Sox would take Lowell and his remaining $18 million dollars (over two years) of salary off their hands. That's how bad Lowell's 2005 season had been, when he fell off the proverbial cliff batting only .236 with 8 HRs, after three straight years with at least 24 homers. No one anticipated Lowell's resurgence upon arrival at Fenway, as he responded with two of his best seasons, and was rewarded with another big contract.

Ramirez continues to produce phenomenal all around numbers in front of crowds more appropriate for professional bowling and the national spelling bee. What would the baseball landscape look like if Ramirez was being protected by David Ortiz in the heart of the Boston order and hitting balls off a Monster that is dark green rather than teal? Would the Red Sox have won the World Series in 2007 with a 3-4-5 of Hanley Ramirez, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, but no Josh Beckett? Would they have been able to come back in the ALCS without Beckett's unbelievable performances? With that offense, would they be down 3-1 in the first place?

These are the questions we love to ask. They are the questions that have no answer, but spark debate while we wait for pitchers and catchers to report. This is why we love trades, and love the hot stove, and this is why we hang on every rumor and every move. Enjoy the trades and enjoy the turkey.