Trade Deadline Review: 1984-1987

This post is the first in a series taking a look at the trading deadline action in each season during the CFCL’s first 29 years. 

A few notes about these posts:

1) For our purposes here, “trade deadline” action will reflect the trades made in the 3-4 weeks prior to the trade deadline (which, as we noted in an earlier post, varied from season to season). 

2) For the most part, we’ll be looking at a team’s overall trading turnover in the weeks before the deadline, not individual deals.

3) Individual deals will continue to be listed (though not analyzed) in the “This Week in CFCL History” posts.

So let’s get started. This post will cover the trading deadline action in 1984 – 1987.

1984
Trade Deadline: June 15
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 2 teams, 1 trade
Number of Players Changing Hands: 6
Busiest Teams: Copperfields (1 trade) and ForGoetz Me Nots (1)
The 1984 trade deadline saw only one deal – the only trade of the 1984 season, it was made right at the deadline. Given the trade’s historic standing as the first trade in CFCL history, the deal was covered in detail in a post on June 15.

As noted in that post, the Copperfields really came out ahead on the stats side of the equation, and they picked up 14.5 points in the standings following the deal. The trade almost proved to be a disaster for the ForGoetz Me Nots, as they ended up finishing in first place by a single point.

1984 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

  

1985
Trade Deadline: June 22
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 2 teams, 1 trade
Number of Players Changing Hands: 2
Busiest Teams: Copperfields (1 trade) and Friars (1)

Yup – that’s right, we were a bunch or wild men in those early days. Two trade deadlines, two trades total. And for a second year in the row, the only deadline deal was made between teams in first and second place at the time. Hey, we were still feeling our way and hadn’t had to face option year decisions, etc. We hadn’t yet mastered the art of the dump deal.

In the case of this trade, made the day of the deadline, the first place Copperfields sent currently-DLed pitcher Bob Welch to the second place Friars for pitcher Larry McWilliams. As related in the This Week in CFCL History write-up, the Friars came out ahead on this one, and it may not be a coincidence that the Copperfields dropped 9 points in the pitching categories in the 5 weeks after this trade.

In the end, neither team came out on top, as the Copperfields finished the season in 3rd place and the Friars in 2nd, both behind the 1985 Champions the Mudville Sluggers.

1985 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

1986
Trade Deadline: August 5 (the first Tuesday after July 31)
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 3 teams, 3 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands: 7
Busiest Teams: Bald Eagles (3 trades)

A little more action in 1986, as Bob Monroe and his Bald Eagles entered the league. Still, though there may have been more trades in number, in terms of the players changing hands this deadline is largely a “meh” – not much going on.

All three teams in action were contenders in ’86: By the first full week of July the Copperfields led the league, three points ahead of the Rebels, while the Eagles trailed in 4th, 12 points out.

Only the Eagles/Rebels swap of Murphy and Dysktra, made the day of the deadline, was really noteworthy, but we won’t go into the detail here. Check back on August 5, when Rich will have the full story behind that deal.

BALD EAGLES

Acquired	Traded	Results
Steve Lake Jim Morrison Dale Murphy	Alan Knicely Graig Nettels Bill Madlock Lenny Dykstra	Powered by Morrison (11 HR, 39 RBI) and Murphy (12 HR, 38 RBI), the Eagles moved up to 2nd place by season’s end, finishing 7 points out.

DEM REBELS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Alan Knicely Lenny Dykstra	Steve Lake Dale Murphy	Not a good deadline for the Rebels.  Knicely barely played and Dykstra fizzled (1 HR, 6 SB).  They dropped to 4th by the end of the season.

 DAVID’S COPPERFIELDS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Graig Nettels Bill Madlock	Jim Morrison	Madlock hit for average and drove in 32 runs, but wasn’t a huge factor as the Copperfields held on for their first CFCL Championship.

 

1986 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

 

 

 

1987
Trade Deadline: July 21, trading between contiguous teams in standings allowed until August 31
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 6 teams, 7 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands: 26 players, 3 waiver choices
Busiest Teams: Copperfields (4 trades), Bald Eagles (3)
Contenders: Copperfields, Bald Eagles, Crocketts
Rebuilders: Ruffins, Dem Rebels, Aces To Win

Now that’s more like it – a fairly busy month leading up to the trade deadline, and for the first time there was a pretty clear delineation between the rebuilders and contenders.  Although trading was allowed after July 21 between teams next to each other in the standings, no such deals were made.

DAVID’S RUFFINS

Acquired	Traded	Results
John Smiley Casey Candaele	Doyle Alexander Mike Easler 1987 waiver choice	Not a great rebuilding job for the sophomore Ruffins.  They waived Smiley immediately upon acquiring him – he had a 5.15 ERA at the time - but he won 13 games with a 3.25 ERA the following year.  Candaele lasted the season, but the Ruffins released him prior to the ’88 draft, leaving them with nothing to show for this deal.

 DEM REBELS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Dwight Smith Matt Williams Chuck Jackson Fernando Valenzuela Lance McCullers Pat Pacillo 1987 waiver choice	Mike Schmidt Ron Darling John Franco Rich Gossage	The Rebels show ‘em how rebuilding is done.  They weren’t going to keep Schmidt at his .46 salary, and got out from under a couple oppressive long term contracts with Darling and Franco.  They acquired Williams, Valenzuela, and McCullers – all a penny each – and a promising minor leaguer in Smith.   In terms of rebuilding, the Rebels’ didn’t see much payoff from these deals.  They waived Pacillio and Jackson later in 1987, and dealt all the other players away during the off-season.   The Rebels apparently did see some benefit, though – they rose two places in the standings after the deadline to finish in 4th place.

 ACES TO WIN

Acquired	Traded	Results
Terry Leach	Bill Gullickson	Like the Ruffins, the Aces don’t come away with much to show for their rebuilding effort – they released Leach before the 1988 season.

 DAVIES’ CROCKETTS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Candy Maldonado Ken Griffey Sr Glenn Davis Doyle Alexander Rich Gossage 1987 waiver choice	Tim Raines Jim Lindeman Nick Esasky Nolan Ryan Dave Dravecky	The Crocketts were in 4th place the month of the deadline and were making a run at a money spot (the top 3 paid out in ’84).  Maldonado and Davis provided good power, combining for 22 HR and 84 RBI, but Alexander got dealt to the AL a few weeks after the CFCL trade deadline.   Gossage pitched in 5 Saves, but it wasn’t enough to help the Crocketts and they fell to 5th place in the final standings.

 BALD EAGLES

Acquired	Traded	Results
Tim Raines Jim Lindeman Nolan Ryan <Rich Gossage>	Ken Griffey Sr Candy Maldonado Rich Gossage Pat Pacillo 1987 waiver choice 1987 waiver choice	The Eagles entered July in first place, and acquiring Raines was huge – he hit .317 with 11 HR, 30 RBI and 23 SB after they picked him up.  Ryan pitched great (2.28 ERA), but playing for the Astros could only post 4 Wins.   In the end, Raines and Ryan helped but not enough to keep the Eagles from dropping into 2nd place.

 DAVID’S COPPERFIELDS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Mike Easler Nick Esasky Mike Schmidt Ron Darling Bill Gullickson <Doyle Alexander> Dave Dravecky John Franco 1987 waiver choice	Glenn Davis Matt Williams Casey Candaele Dwight Smith Chuck Jackson Fernando Valenzuela John Smiley Doyle Alexander Terry Leach Lance McCullers	Gullickson bombed and Easler’s contributions were marginal, but every other pickup was huge:  Esasky slammed 10 homers while Schmidt cranked 16 and drove in 55 runs; Darling and Dravecky combined for 14 Wins, and Franco added 15 Saves.   It all contributed to a huge second half for the defending Champion Copperfields, who rode their contributions to their second title and a then-CFCL record 73 points.

1987 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

 

 

The Jeff Stone Incident

Every CFCL season is littered with memorable events: a tense or entertaining moment on Draft Day, a brilliant trade, or a key tactical error by an owner. Most of these events are forgotten once the season passes, but others are so memorable, such defining moments, that they live on in CFCL history. It is these events that earn the label of “Incident” in CFCL lore.

Perhaps the earliest “Incident” resulted from one of the first times the Co-Commissioners Rich Bentel and David Mahlan squared off against each other in a D-Day bidding confrontation (though it was far from the last). It's also a classic illustration of the phenomenon of Hyper-Inflation resulting from Pre-Draft Obsession.

Kick back and relax as the CFCL’s founders recall The Jeff Stone Incident:

RICH:
It was 1985. We had just completed our first fantasy year and I thought I was getting the hang of building a team. I spent the early spring reading magazines and newspaper articles trying to glean some information that would vault me past my fellow owners and nab a superstar. And then I found it. Bill Mazeroski had written a blurb (or his editors did) in his magazine about a young Phee-Nom in Philadelphia that was the next Big Thing. Jeff Stone!

DAVID:
No CFCL team owned Jeff Stone in 1984, when he hit .362 and stole 27 bases in 51 games. This is surprising until you consider the following: 1) with only 6 CFCL teams, we only used a maximum of 36 OFs; 2) most of the 36 OFs we owned were players who started the 1984 season in a starting role -- Stone did not -- and the only way to pick up a free agent was if you had an injured player to replace.

In 1985, Bill Mazeroski's Baseball magazine was the ultimate draft prep tool. Even so, only a few of our owners used it. But when it comes to Hyper-Inflation resulting from Pre-Draft Obsession, a few owners is all it takes. The 1985 edition of Bill Mazeroski's Baseball had this to say about Jeff Stone:  

RICH:
Once again, keep in mind this was 1985 and ESPN at best was making us watch Australian Rules Football. There really wasn’t national coverage of all teams. Somehow Stone went unnoticed by the Original 6 in 1984. His numbers were good, but he was an unknown to our league. Until the spring of 1985 when the newly named Dem Rebels were looking for a face for their franchise, someone who would lead them to the Promised Land. I . . . Could . . . Not . . . Wait for Draft Day.

DAVID:
It was fairly easy to "backdoor" a player in the early days. For the majority of the owners, Draft Day research consisted of browsing the previous year's stats the day before the Draft. Rich and I, however, had both read the comment about Jeff Stone in early March. As Draft Day drew nearer we spoke to each other and dropped heavily veiled hints about a "sleeper", little realizing that we had the same player in mind. 

RICH:
I made the mistake of talking about draft prep with David. I remember trying to be coy and point out that I had my eye on a real stud and I thought I could backdoor him for a really low price.

David has always been more low-key than me and I was surprised he even commented on my statement. He said he also had his eye on a Special Someone but he wouldn’t go any further. Through the course of the late winter/early spring I would try to get David to elaborate. We would exchange sly grins in a way that said each of us thought we knew more than the other.

DAVID:
In our own minds, we spent the weeks before the Draft visualizing the moment late in the auction when we would say, "Jeff Stone for a penny," and then watch as the other owners all dropped out of the bidding on this unknown quantity. We both knew we would come out of the Draft with Jeff Stone -- and therein laid the danger.

RICH:
As we got closer to the draft we both must have felt bolder as we started making statements. Rich: “My guy plays on offense.” David: “So does mine.” Eventually our momentum carried out to where we had identified we were both looking at an outfielder who played in the National League East. I think at that point we both feared/assumed we were shooting for the same guy.

DAVID:
The obsession grew so deep and so frenzied in the days before the Draft that Rich and I were both willing pay any price to own Jeff Stone. When the day arrived, almost four rounds of the Draft went by before Stone was nominated. The bidding started innocently enough, with most reasonable owners dropping out early on.  

RICH:
I don’t recall who brought up Stone but after about two bids each we knew this was the guy we were both targeting.  

DAVID:
Things began to seem fishy as the bidding went over ten and into the low teens. Rich and I grinned at each other as we realized we both had same thing in mind. When we were the only two left bidding in the high teens, the grins were gone and it became clear where things were headed. The rest of the league looked on in shocked silence as the founding fathers and the leaders of the CFCL batted bids for a reserve Philadelphia outfielder back and forth into the high .20s.

RICH:
The Rebels won the battle by outlasting the Copperfields and getting Stone for .32, but lost the war because Stone had all of 3 homeruns, 15 RBIs, 15 stolen bases and a batting average of .265.  

DAVID
Jeff Stone was the highest-priced player in the 1985 Draft. To illustrate just how far out of hand things got, Andre Dawson was the player drafted immediately before Stone and he went for all of .22.

RICH:
Turns out 1984 was Stone’s pinnacle and Mazeroski and Dem Rebels were way off. The Copperfields dodged a bullet, but wouldn’t be so lucky the following year.

DAVID
Ouch. Leave it to Rich to get a final dig in. Check back later in the year for the tale of The Will Clark Incident...

POSTSCRIPT: Many, many years later, on the anniversary of the 1985 Draft, David celebrated the event by sponsoring Jeff Stone's page at Baseball-Reference.com for a year in Rich's honor.