Tuesday: Ugly Trade #6

We opened Ugly Trade Week up with a Boston Red Sox deal that had unforeseeable repercussions. Now we turn out heads to Boston's favorite rivals, the New York Yankees. Back in 2008 the Tampa Bay Rays were steamrolling the competition, and the Red Sox were right behind them. The Yankees had fallen to third place and looked awful. Right at the trade deadline they decided to do something drastic. And so this ugly trade was born.

Marte still haunts Cashman

The leadoff man who got away

The Pittsburgh Pirates send: Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte
The New York Yankees send: Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen, Ross Ohlendorf, and Jose Tabata


At the time the deal looked like a steal. Karstens and Ohlendorf had both struggled in the Bronx, and Tabata was having a horrible season at AA; meanwhile Marte was a dominate lefty and Nady was having his best season yet, hitting .330 and posting a .919 OPS. However, things quickly fell apart on this deal.

Whatever magic Marte had in his wild arm at Pittsburgh he lost when he got to New York. In 18.1 innings for the Yankees, in 2008, Marte had an ERA 5.40; for the next two seasons he would struggle with injuries and end up having a career ERA, with the Yankees, of 6.02, and a record of 2-6. Nady would struggle as well; after the trade he hit .268 with an OPS of .794.  Mid-April of 2009, Nady would require the second Tommy John Surgery of his career (as a position player, that's insane!) and miss the rest of the season, ending his tenure with New York.


For Pittsburgh the trade seemed a dud as well. Jeff Karstens almost pitched a perfect game through 7.2 innings on August 6th of 2008, but he hasn't shown any flash of brilliance since. Both Ohlendorf and McCutchen have been mediocre pitchers as well. However, the true gem of this deal, has been Jose Tabata. After hitting .248 with a .630 OPS for New York's AA team he would finish his 2008 season batting .348 with a .964 OPS for Pittsburgh's AA team. In 2010 he got his first taste of action at the big leagues, hitting .299 with 19 SBs in 102 games, while playing above-average defense. So far Tabata has kept that success rolling in 2011, starting the season off hitting .342, with 5 SBs, 2 HRs (he only hit 4 in 2010 so the power is developing), and an OBP of .457. Imagine if this deal had never gone down; the Yankees would have one of the most dangerous batting orders with Brett Gardner and Jose Tabata leading off. Both have great patience and speed; they would absolutely wreak havoc on teams. Instead, Tabata is demolishing pitching in the NL while developing into a 5-tool player, and the Yankees had to suffer through three seasons of Damaso Marte.