Trade Deadline Review: 1990

This is the ninthin a series of posts taking a look at the trade deadline action in each season during the CFCL’s first 29 years. Specifically, for each season we’ll look at each team’s trading turnover in the 3-4 weeks before the trading deadline. Individual deals were listed (though not analyzed) in the “This Week in CFCL History” posts.

Previous posts in this series:

1984-1987
1988
1989
1998-1999
2000
2001
2002
2006

Here's what when on at the trade deadline in 1990.

1990
Trade Deadline: July 10 (final out of All Star Game), trading allowed between contiguous teams until August 31
Number of Teams / Number of Trades:  4 teams, 2 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands:  20 players, 1 draft pick
Busiest Teams:  4 teams with one trade each
Contenders:  Mr. Paul’s Swordfish, David’s Copperfields
Rebuilders:  Eric’s Lambchops, Bald Eagles

What a difference a year makes. After the busy trade deadline of 1989 (10 trades involving 40 players), 1990 was virtually silent. 

For the third straight year, the Constitution dictated that only teams adjacent to each other in the standings could make trades after the All Star Game. This year, only one contiguous deal was made – a 7-player swap between the 3rd place Swordfish (53 points) and 4th place Lambchops (49 points).

Even before that, trading had been very light with only one other deal being made in July and August 1990.

By the time the free-trading deadline hit in mid-July, McGuire’s Picks held a 5-point lead over the 2nd place David’s Copperfields, and led the 3rd place Mr Paul’s Swordfish by 12.5.

The Picks apparently felt secure with their roster, as they did not complete a single deal around the trade deadline, instead deciding to stand pat (owner name pun intended). To be fair, they had completed a fairly significant deal in mid-June, acquiring Barry Bonds, Dickie Thon, John Smoltz, and Joe Magrane (see June 19, 1990 in This Week in CFCL History).

For a while, it appeared their gamble had paid off, as their lead over the Copperfields grew to 18 points by the beginning of August. By the end of the season, though, the Picks may have regretted not making a deal or two at the deadline … but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Here’s a breakdown of the teams that WERE active at the 1990 deadline.

BALD EAGLES

Acquired	Traded	Results
Rick Parker Jerome Walton Jay Bell Keith Miller Craig Biggio Jeff Parrett Andujar Cedeno	Ron Jones Barry Larkin Eric Yelding Mike Lavalliere David Cone Darryl Kile	The Eagles picked up a bundle of players, but they waived Parker, Walton, Miller, Parrett, and Cedeno before the 1990 season ended.   That left them with Jay Bell and Craig Biggio as carry-overs for the 1991 season.   Both players turned in good seasons in 1991, with Bell setting career highs (to that point) in BA (.270), HR (16), RBI (67), and SB (10).  Biggio contributed a line of .296-4-46-19, helping lead the Eagles to the CFCL Championship in their final season.

ERIC’S LAMBCHOPS

Acquired	Traded	Results
John Burkett Mark Grant Lloyd McClendon Mickey Morandini 1st round pick	Neal Heaton Bill Sampen Greg Olson	In what had become a puzzling trend for the Lambchops, they acquired a bevy of players in a rebuilding deal, but kept only one of them the following season.   That player was John Burkett, who won 12 games with a 4.18 ERA for the Chops in 1991.   The 1st round minor league draft pick the Lambchops acquired in the deal ended up being the #1 pick overall, and the Chops used to to snag future slugger Ryan Klesko.  They ended up dealing Klesko to Dem Rebels before he made it to the bigs, though.

 MR. P’S SWORDFISH

Acquired	Traded	Results
Neal Heaton Bill Sampen Greg Olson	John Burkett Mark Grant Lloyd McClendon Mickey Morandini 1st round pick	The surprising Swordfish found themselves with the chance at a 3rd place money shot, and possibly more.   They took advantage of their standings placement next to the 4th place Lambchops to make a late-season contiguous trade.  The players they acquired didn’t stink, but they didn’t provide nearly enough firepower to make an impact.   Heaton won 2 games with a 2.13 ERA, while Sampen also won a couple.  Olson hit .271 with a homer and 10 RBI.   The Swordfish ended up dropping in the standings, and David’s Ruffins snuck past them into the 3rd place and the money.

 DAVID’S COPPERFIELDS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Barry Larkin Eric Yelding Mike Lavalliere David Cone Ron Jones Darryl Kile	Rick Parker Jerome Walton Jay Bell Keith Miller Craig Biggio Jeff Parrett Andujar Cedeno	When the free-trading deadline hit in mid-July, the Copperfields were in 2nd place, but a distant 15 points behind the leading McGuire’s Picks.   They teamed up with the Bald Eagles on at the free-trading deadline and brought on a couple key parts for their second half effort.   Larkin hit for average (.295) and stole 9 bases, but didn’t deliver much power (3 HR, 29 RBI).  Yelding DIDN’T hit for power, but stole 33 bases after the deal.   Despite the significant influx of speed, the Copperfields picked up only one point in the SB category the rest of the season.   The big impact from this deal came from Cone’s 2.44 ERA and 9 Wins after the trade.  The Copperfields picked up 3 points in the ERA category in the second half of the season, edging ahead of the Picks by just 0.007 in the last week.    The edged the Picks in the overall standings, winning the 1990 CFCL Championship by a single point, though, truth be told, it was more the case of a Picks collapse than a Copperfield surge.  The Picks dropped 10 points in the second half.

1990 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

 

 

 

Trade Deadline Review: 1989

This is the eighth in a series of posts taking a look at the trade deadline action in each season during the CFCL’s first 29 years. Specifically, for each season we’ll look at each team’s trading turnover in the 3-4 weeks before the trading deadline. Individual deals were listed (though not analyzed) in the “This Week in CFCL History” posts.

Previous posts in this series:

1984-1987
1988
1998-1999
2000
2001
2002
2006

Here's what when on at the trade deadline in 1989.

1989
Trade Deadline: July 11 (final out of All Star Game), trading allowed between contiguous teams until August 31
Number of Teams / Number of Trades:  6 teams, 10 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands:  40 players, 6 draft picks
Busiest Teams:  McGuire's Picks (7 trades)
Contenders:  David's Copperfields, Dem Rebels
Rebuilders: McGuire’s Picks, David’s Ruffins, Eric’s Lambchops, Six Packs

1989 saw the continuation of the dual trade deadline instituted in 1988. There was free trading from Draft Day until mid-season, then between the All Star Game and August 31 only teams that were adjacent in the standings could trade with each other.

This year there was a little more of that contiguous dealing going on, as four trades were completed after the All Star Game deadline.

Here’s all the deadline action from 1989:

DAVID’S RUFFINS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Jose Uribe Dennis Cook	Kevin Elster Andy McGaffigan	The Ruffins acquired Uribe and Cook in mid July when the Ruffins were just 4 points out of last place, so it’s hard to believe this wasn’t an attempt at rebuilding.  They didn’t keep either player in 1990, so as rebuilding attempts go, it can’t be called a success.   Neither player contributed much to the Ruffin’s effort in 1989 either.  After the trade Cook won 4 games with a 4.50 ERA, while Uribe hit just .195 with 9 RBI.

 McGUIRE’S PICKS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Rolando Roomes David Martinez Geronimo Berroa Luis Salazar Terry Pendleton Jeff Treadway Tom Foley Dave Magadan Jody Davis Benito Santiago <Dennis Cook> <Scott Garrelts> Rick Aguilera Eric Show 1st round pick 1st round pick 1st round pick	Kevin McReynolds Oddibie McDowell Vance Law Ryne Sandberg Dave Magadan Randy Ready Glenn Davis Keith Hernandez Nelson Santovenia Mike Scioscia Mark Davis Dennis Cook Scott Garrelts Tom Browning 1st round pick 1st round pick	The Picts apparently took stock of their position on July 11, and finding themselves in 5th place (out of 8 teams), and nearly as close to last place as they were to 4th place, began a heavy rebuilding campaign, completing 7 trades and turning over half their active roster in the two and a half weeks between July 11 and August 1.   All that action yielded little in terms of results, though.  Ten of the players the Picks acquired were gone by Roster Freeze Day 1990, in fact the Picks waived half of those ten before the 1989 season had even ended.   The two who made it to the 1990 Picks Opening Day roster were Luis Salazar and Eric Show.   Salazar hit .254 that year, with 12 HR and 47 RBI, while Show imploded, winning just 6 games with a 5.76 ERA.   The Picks didn’t even use all of the minor league picks they received, selecting only pitcher Jay Aldrich in the 1990 minor league draft.  Aldrich never pitched for the Picks.

ERIC’S LAMBCHOPS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Von Hayes Oddibie McDowell Todd Benzinger Kevin Elster <Randy Ready> Sid Fernandez Rob Dibble <Dennis Cook> Scott Garrelts Andy McGaffigan	Geronimo Berroa Terry Pendleton Pedro Guerrero Randy Ready Jose Uribe Scott Terry Tim Burke Rick Aguilera Dennis Cook 1st round pick	By July of 1989, the Lambchops were seemingly securely ensconced in the second division, just 5 points out of last place, so they started picking up pieces for 1990.   Only one acquisition made it through to their roster the next year, Scott Garrelts.  Garrelts had a so-so season that year – he won 12 games, but supported it with a 4.15 ERA and 1.43 Ratio.   Garrelts actually helped the Lambchops more in 1989 than in 1990.  He won 8 games after they acquired him and posted at 1.69 ERA and an 0.82 Ratio.  Combined with the 0.99 Ratio they received from Fernandez and the 1.02 Ratio from Dibble, the Lambchops rose from last place in Ratio on July 10 to first place in the category by the end of the season.   That was enough to pull them up into 4th place overall, and secured the 1st overall minor league draft pick in 1990, which they used to select pitcher Steve Avery.

SIX PACKS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Vance Law Pedro Guerrero Scott Terry Tim Burke	Luis Salazar Todd Benzinger Sid Fernandez Rob Dibble 1st round pick	In 2nd place on July 10, the Six Packs put together a couple deals to try and catch the leading Dem Rebels.   They got mixed results from their acquisitions.  Law bombed, hitting just .235 with 4 HR; but Guerrero was a stud the final 2 and a half months, hitting .330 with 11 HR, 62 RBI, and even adding a couple SB.   On the pitching side, Terry was decent with a 3.40 ERA but only 2 Wins and 2 Saves.  Burke was solid though, with a 2.14 ERA, 0.91 Ratio, 4 Wins and 11 Saves.   Overall, though , the Six Packs were able to only pick up an additional half a point the rest of the season and ended up falling to 3rd place by the end of the year.

DAVID’S COPPERFIELDS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Ryne Sandberg Randy Ready <Dave Magadan> Keith Hernandez Glenn Davis Nelson Santovenia Tom Browning 1st round pick 1st round pick	Von Hayes Rolando Roomes Jeff Treadway Tom Foley Dave Magadan Benito Santiago Eric Show 1st round pick	The Copperfields came into 1989 having won three consecutive CFCL Championships, and were intent on adding a fourth.   For most of the season, though, they struggled to stay above 5th place.  By the end of July, they were locked in 4th place, just half a point ahead of the 5th place Lambchops, and trailing the 3rd place Picks by 2.5.   This place in the standings provided the Copperfields an opportunity, however.  The free-trading deadline had already passed, but the Copperfields could still trade with the teams directly above and below them in the standings, and the Lambchops and Picks had already started rebuilding for next year.   The Coppers took advantage of the opportunity, and completed four deals in the last two weeks of the season – three with the Picks and one with the Lambchops.   They didn’t get much of anything from Keith Hernandez or Nelson Santovenia (Hernandez was particularly disappointing, hitting just .165).  But the others helped the Copperfields put together a drive that took them from 4th to a tie for 1st by the end of August.  The Rebels pulled away after that, though, topping the Copperfields by 3 points at the end of the season.   The Copperfields used one of the first round picks they acquired to select Reggie Jefferson, who ended up having a few good years, but only after he had moved to the American League.   With the other pick the Coppers chose outfield prospect Moises Alou, who obviously went on to have a stellar career, but the Copperfields had cut him after an injury cost him the entire 1991 minor league season.

 DEM REBELS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Kevin McReynolds Mike Scioscia Mark Davis 1st round pick	David Martinez Jody Davis Dennis Cook Scott Garrelts 1st round pick	Dem Rebels made only one trade at the 1989 deadline – a 7-player, 2 draft pick deal with the Picks.    In 1st place by 6.5 points in mid-July, they set out to address the one category they were lagging in – Saves – and acquired reliever Mark Davis.   Davis delivered big time, nailing down 22 saves to go with his 1.10 ERA and 0.88 Ratio.  He helped the Rebels move from 6th in the category to 1st.  In addition, McReynolds contributed 15 HR and 45 RBI, while Scioscia hit 7 long balls and drove in 24.   The trade helped the Rebels solidify their hold on First Place and they beat the Copperfields by 3 points to take their first CFCL Championship.   In 1990, they selected catcher Todd Hundley with the 1st round pick they received from the … um … Picks.

1989 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

This Weekish in CFCL History

It's been a while since we've had a "This Week..." post.  The fact is, once the trade deadline passes, there aren't many transactions of a historic nature to report on.

The late August-early September period hasn't been completely bereft of notable moments, though, so here's a little catch-up, covering the action from August 11 through September 7:

Aug 12, 1994	DA PAUL MEISTERS are crowned 1994 CFCL Champions. See the earlier post, The 1994 Season Ends.
Aug 30, 1988	COPPERFIELDS trade Eric Davis, Lance Parrish, and Keith Moreland to DEM REBELS for David Martinez, Jody Davis, Mike Schmidt, and Dave Dravecky. See the post Trade Deadline Review:  1988
Sept 1, 1992	LAMBCHOPS trade Andy Benes to RUFFINS for Derrick May and their 1st round Rotation Draft pick in 1993. Made at the 1992 trade deadline, this is a puzzling one for the Ruffins. At the time of the deal, they were in 3rd place 6 points out of 1st, but only a point behind the second place Six Packs.  The Ruffins were 2nd in the Wins category, fully 6 Wins behind the first place team in that category. So why give up a hitter for a starting pitcher with just a month to go? Benes could have only been counted on for about 6 starts the rest of the season … it would have been rather optimistic of the Ruffins to expect Benes to win them all.  Perhaps acquiring Benes wasn’t so much about gaining a point in Wins, but about avoiding losing one to the Six Packs, who were just 2 Wins behind the Ruffins in the category.  Understanding that the Ruffins were limited in their trade partner options (under the rules, at this time of year teams could only trade with the teams directly above or below them in the standings), it’s puzzling that the Ruffins would choose to send a hitter to the Lambchops … the two teams were tied in Home Runs AND Runs Batted In at the time. A decent month by May for the Lambchops could have cost the Ruffins a point in a tight race.  So, how did things turn out?  Benes pitched great for the Ruffins – posting a 2.06 ERA and 1.08 Ratio in seven starts. He won only 3 games, though, and the Six Packs ended up passing the Ruffins in Wins. Bene’s ERA and Ratio didn’t help enough to make a difference.  May did well for the Lambchops as well, hitting .295 with 3 HR and 16 RBI for the month. Luckily for the Ruffins, the Lambchops got hardly any production from the rest of their team (only 4 HR for the rest of the team COMBINED for September), and the Ruffins were able to pull away and gain offensive points. Overall, they were able to pass the Six Packs and secure 2nd place.  As an additional perk, the Lambchops finished in 5th place, which means the 1st round pick they traded to the Ruffins ended up being the #1 pick overall. The Ruffins used it to select minor leaguer Phil Nevin, which would have been a great pick if Nevin didn’t end up being traded to the American League before he could produce for the Ruffins.
Sept 2, 1997	COPPERFIELDS trade their 15th round Rotation Draft pick in 1998 to DEM REBELS for Ryne Sandberg. The Rebels show that, below the redneck persona they like to promote, they're really a classy organization.  See the earlier post, Ryno Returns, for the details on this one.
Sept 6, 1994	COPPERFIELDS trade Delino DeShields and Pedro A Martinez to DOORMATTS for Brad Ausmus. This trade was actually the first completed during the 1994-95 off-season. The player strike ended cut the 1994 season short, and once the rest of the season was officially cancelled, the off-season trading season began.  It seems like a ton to give up for a weak hitting catching prospect, but the first thing to understand is that this wasn’t THE Pedro Martinez, but his much less-talented namesake. The DoorMatts released him at Roster Freeze before the 1995 season.  DeShields carried a .28 salary, and the DoorMatts cut him in their initial set of Winter Waivers that year, so the DoorMatts didn’t get any return for the deal.  The best thing about this trade is that it put Brad Ausmus onto the Copperfields roster, and later that off-season he was the key component in the first-ever internet trade in CFCL history.
Sept 6, 1994	COPPERFIELDS trade Bruce Ruffin and Larry Walker to DEM REBELS for James Mouton and their 4th round Rotation Draft pick in 1995. The 1994 strike did the Copperfields out of the chance to make a late season comeback and pass the eventual ’94 Champion Da Paul Meisters, so they must have been itching for action – two deals as soon as the 1994 season was cancelled and the off-season started.  The Copperfields must have thought Walker’s .36 salary was too high, but the Rebels hit the jackpot when Walker, already a great hitter, went from Montreal to Colorado during the off-season. In the shortened 1995 season, Walker hit .306 with 36 HR, 101 RBI, and 16 SB.  Ruffin – also a Colorado Rockie – was able to somehow tame the altitude and posted a 2.12 ERA with 11 Saves for the Rebels in 1995.  The Copperfields cut Mouton prior to the 1995 Draft, and used the 4th round pick to select reliever Tim Scott who had a 3.98 ERA but only 2 Saves in 1995.

Ryno Returns

On this date in 1997, the CFCL was witness to one of the most truly kind-hearted gestures in the leagues’ first 30 years.

On that date, Dem Rebels traded future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg to David’s Copperfields for a 15th round Rotation Draft pick in 1998. A decade earlier, such a deal would have resulted in outrage among the league’s ownership, but with Sandberg on the verge of retirement, it was seen as a fitting and proper end to Sandberg’s CFCL career.

As I wrote in the Roster Change report on September 2:

Observers of this year’s pennant race may be scratching their collective heads at this one, as it’s doubtful Ryno will have much of an impact on the Copperfields’ pennant drive. What the trade does, though, is allow Sandberg to end his where he started it back in 1984. That year, he was drafted by the Copperfields in the CFCL’s inaugural draft for .34. A couple years later, he was signed to a 3-year guaranteed contract for a whopping .49. 

A few necessary elements were in place to make the deal possible.

• Sandberg was having a poor season. To date he had hit only .247 with 5 HR, 38 RBI, and 4 SB. This made him eminently expendable for the Rebels – in fact, at the time of the deal, Ryno had been sitting on the Rebel Reserved List, unable to break the starting lineup.
• The Copperfields’ current second baseman, Chris Gomez, was having just as poor a season … in fact it was nearly identical to Sandberg’s - .255 with 5 HR, 53 RBI, and 5 SB. The Copperfields were in a battle for first place, and wouldn’t have been able to take a significant hit in production at 2B.
• The trade deadline at the time was late enough in the season to allow this type of good will gesture. If this was one of the years where the trade deadline was mid- or even late-July, the Rebels probably wouldn’t have been so willing to give away a player for essentially nothing.

All those elements came together in 1997, Ryno’s last year in the league. To my mind, that means this was fated to happen. Of course, it still required that Sandberg’s current owner be a willing trading partner, and in that I had the perfect guy. Rich had been in the league with me since the beginning, so not only appreciated the nostalgic nature of the deal, but knew what Sandberg meant to me, not only as a fantasy league owner, but as a Cub fan. He could have held out, he could have haggled over the level of the draft pick, or even demanded a minor leaguer or keeper in return, but as I recall, he immediately accepted my proposal. To top things off, he didn’t even end up using the 15th round pick in 1998, having filled his Reserve Roster earlier in the Draft.

Sandberg had zero impact on the Copperfields’ title run, hitting just .246 with 2 HR and 11 RBI in September (in fact he may have cost the Coppers a point in batting average, as they finished .0007 behind the ForGoetz Me Nots, but finished in first by 8 points overall. Owning him for that final month meant a lot to me though, and I remain grateful to Rich for giving me the chance.

Eight years later, as Sandberg was preparing to enter the Hall of Fame, I published a summary of his CFCL career with stats accumulated for each franchise and chronology of his transactions. You can read it on page 3 of the Roster Change report from July 30, 2005.

Trade Deadline Review: 1988

This is the seventh in a series of posts taking a look at the trade deadline action in each season during the CFCL’s first 29 years. Specifically, for each season we’ll look at each team’s trading turnover in the 3-4 weeks before the trading deadline. Individual deals will continue to be listed (though not analyzed) in the “This Week in CFCL History” posts.

Previous posts in this series:

1984-1987
1998-1999
2000
2001
2002
2006

Jumping back to the early days, here’s the deadline action from 1988.

1988
Trade Deadline: July 14 (Thursday of All Star Break), trading allowed between contiguous teams until August 31
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 5 teams, 4 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands: 24 players
Busiest Teams: David’s Copperfields (3 trades)
Contenders: Dem Rebels, Bald Eagles, David’s Copperfields
Rebuilders: McGuire’s Picks, Aces To Win

In 1987 the Official Rotisserie League Constitution had instituted a new wrinkle in the rules - dual trade deadlines. The first came midway through the season, specifically the Thursday of the All-Star Break. In general, trading was not allowed after that date. Exceptions were made, however, for contiguous teams … those teams that were next to each other in the most recently publish standings report.

Not much usually happened after that first trade deadline, as teams that were adjacent in the standings were generally afraid of helping each other out. The exception is where teams were contiguous place-wise but separated by a large number of points.

In 1998, there was only one contiguous trade … a 7-player deal on August 30 between the 2nd place Copperfields (68 points) and Dem Rebels (tied with the Picks for 3rd place with 62 points).

The following breakdown looks at teams that were active in the trading market in July and August 1988.

ACES TO WIN

Acquired	Traded	Results
Lenny Dykstra Mitch Webster Tracy Jones	Jim Lindeman Albert Hall Rafael Palmiero	The Aces with a half-hearted rebuilding attempt in which they pick up two players on long term contracts in Webster and Jones.  The only thing this trio contributed in 1989 was SB, as they stole 47 combined.   They did it for other teams, though, as the Aces withdrew from the league after the 1988 season.

McGUIRE’S PICKS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Juan Samuel Mike Scioscia Kevin Gross	Hubie Brooks Lance Parrish Roger McDowell	This was a cost-cutting move for the Picks as they looked toward 1989.  Parris (.20) and McDowell (.30) were both too expensive to keep, while Scioscia (.03) and Gross (.01) were much more economical.    Samuel was playing out the final year of his contract, and was included in the deal just to balance out the expiring contract of Brooks.   The 3-cent Scioscia provided a decent return in 1989, with 10 HR and 44 RBI, with Gross contributed 11 Wins, though with a high ERA (4.38).

DEM REBELS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Roger McDowell Shawn Hillegas Brad Brink Eric Davis Lance Parrish Keith Moreland	David Martinez Mike Schmidt Jody Davis Jim Deshaies Jeff Pico Danny Cox Dave Dravecky	Early July found the Rebels in third place, but in a close race with the Copperfields and Eagles – with only 6 points separating the three teams.   They traded for some pitching help in McDowell and Hillegas in mid-July.   McDowell saved 6 games for them the rest of the way, with a 3.20 ERA.  Hillegas had one good start and four disasters for them (5.91 ERA) before he was lost in a deal to the American League.   By the time the end of August rolled around, the Rebels had fallen off the pace a tad, and were tied with the Picks for 3rd place, so they completed a deal with the 2nd place Copperfields for the offense they needed to solidify their hold on 3rd.   Over the final month, Davis drove in 18 runs and stole 4 bases, but Parrish and Moreland combined for a .200 BA, 4 HR and 15 RBI.   Still, the Rebels were able to hold onto sole possession of 3rd place as the Picks fell off the pace to finish a distant 4th.   Side note:  The Rebels deadline dealings in 1988 included both of the 2013 Cubs Color Analysts – Keith Moreland and Jim Deshaies.

BALD EAGLES

Acquired	Traded	Results
Jim Lindeman Albert Hall Rafael Palmiero	Lenny Dykstra Mitch Webster Tracy Jones	The Eagles entered July in 2nd place, just a point and a half behind the 1st place Copperfields, so this would seem to be an odd trio of players to pick up.   A closer look reveals their ultimate intent, though.  Lindeman and Hall were both injured at the time the Eagles acquired them.  They-reserved Lindeman so they could activate Tim Raines without having to waive Raines’ replacement, Otis Nixon.  They reserved Hall to claim Jeff Hamilton on waivers.   Nixon was well worth keeping – despite a low batting average, he stole 28 bases after the deal that allowed the Eagles to keep him, helping the Eagles to set a new single season record for Stolen Bases – a record that still stands a quarter of a century later.   Hamilton wasn’t quite as productive, hitting just 3 HR with 13 RBI.   Palmiero was the big acquisition for the Eagles, though.  In his first full season, he was blossoming as a star, and hit .301 with 24 RBI after the deal.  He would have been a keeper for the Eagles had he not been dealt to the AL during the off-season.   How did things pan out for the Eagles in 1988?  The offense they acquired wasn’t quite enough.  They ended up losing a point in RBI to the Rebels between the time of the trade and the end of the season, and a single point proved to be the amount they trailed the Copperfields by at the end of the season.

DAVID’S COPPERFIELDS

Acquired	Traded	Results
David Martinez Hubie Brooks Mike Schmidt Jody Davis <Lance Parrish> <Roger McDowell> Jim Deshaies Jeff Pico Danny Cox Dave Dravecky	Eric Davis Juan Samuel Mike Scioscia Lance Parrish Kevin Gross Roger McDowell Shawn Hillegas Brad Brink Keith Moreland	The Copperfields entered July holding a tenuous lead over the Bald Eagles.  They made a deal early in the month to acquire Brooks, Parrish, and McDowell from the Picks.   Brooks had a solid second half for the Coppers, hitting .293 with 11 HR and 40 RBI.   Parrish and McDowell weren’t long for the team, as they were dealt two weeks later to Dem Rebels in a deal that brought Jim Deshaies in return, who went on to win 5 games with a 3.14 ERA for the Copperfields.   At the end of August, the Copperfields took advantage of the rule allowing teams to make late-season trades with teams they were adjacent to in the standings, and acquired Dave Martinez, Jody Davis, and Mike Schmidt from the Rebels.   Martinez hit .304 with 8 SB over the last month, but Davis hit only .200.  Schmidt was injured, but the Copperfields used his roster spot to call up Matt Williams who was a non-factor.   Despite the lack of a major impact from that final deal, the rest of the Copperfields rallied to edge out the Eagles by a single point for the 1988 Championship.

1988 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)