10 all-time worst trades in Baltimore Orioles history

Trading away Eddie Murray did not work out well for the Orioles

Eddie Murray needs no introduction. He was the hitter's hitter who assembled the bulk of his Hall of Fame resume with the Orioles from 1977 to 1988. During that time, Murray slashed .295/.372/.500 with 333 home runs in 1,820 games for Baltimore. That is what made it all the more shocking when the Orioles decided to trade him to the Dodgers before the 1989 season for Juan Bell, Ken Howell, and Brian Holton.

There were a couple factors in play with this move. Murray's relationship with the team was at an all-time low after there was some disagreement over whether he was being pushed too hard to return from an injury and Baltimore's owner questioning his play considering how much money he was making. Murray's contract also made it difficult for the team to build their roster the way they wanted. Unfortunately, none of the guys they got in return for him amounted to much and Murray would play in the league until 1997 and add another 171 homers to his tally and slash .275/.341/.440 the rest of his career.

The Orioles trade for Reggie Jackson was a disaster

A lot of younger fans won't remember that Reggie Jackson actually played for the Orioles for the 1976 season, but he absolutely did and he was quite good for them. To acquire his services for that one season, Baltimore had to trade away Don Baylor, Mike Torrez, and Paul Mitchell and that is where the fundamental problem with this deal comes.

Jackson was legitimately good for the Orioles in 1976 as he slashed .277/.351/.502 with 27 home runs in 134 games in Baltimore. The issue was that he was almost always going to be a rental and was a mortal lock to hit free agency and command big-time money. Meanwhile, Baylor would go on to have a very nice 19 year career including winning MVP in 1979 with the Angels. Torrez would remain a rotation staple through the 1983 and remain very solid in the nine seasons he played after leaving Baltimore.

The Orioles traded away Frank Robinson after getting him as a gift

This is a wild one as the Orioles getting Frank Robinson in the first place was an absolute gift when they were able to make a trade with the Reds to acquire him. In his six seasons with the Orioles from 1966 to 1971, Robinson put up video game numbers including a .300/.401/.543 line with 179 home runs. However, Baltimore decided late in his career that Frank was becoming expendable and ultimately decided to trade him along with pitcher Pete Richert to the Dodgers for Doyle Alexander, Sergio Robles, Bob O'Brien, and Royle Stillman.

Robinson was definitely in the twilight of his career, but he remained productive for a couple more seasons after the trade including the 1973 season where he posted an .861 OPS. Unfortunately for the Orioles, none of the guys they got back for the future Hall of Famer did much in Baltimore with only Doyle Alexander seeing much time in the big leagues and even then, the bulk of his success came after he left the organization during the 1976 season.

Orioles traded away Jayson Werth way too early

Frankly, this is a move that was perfectly reasonable at the time. While the Orioles did spend a first round pick on Jayson Werth out of high school, Werth just wasn't hitting in the minor leagues and the Orioles needed some reinforcements for their bullpen. So, Baltimore decided to send him out of town in a trade with the Blue Jays for reliever John Bale.

Bale was just objectively not good for Baltimore as he only made a handful of appearances for them and struggled to find the strike zone. Werth took a little while to find his stride as a hitter in the big leagues, but he would eventually figure things out with the Phillies and Nationals where he was a fantastic all-around hitter for the better part of eight seasons. Again, this move made all the sense in the world at the time, but sometimes players end up surprising us all.

Trading away Dennis Martinez did not end well for the Orioles

Another understandable trade here as Dennis Martinez was coming off several sub-par seasons for the Orioles in the mid-1980's. It was clear that Martinez didn't really have a role with the team anymore, so they decided to ship him to the Montreal Expos for infielder Rene Gonzales. Gonzales never really amounted to much as a part-time player, but this deal is more about what Martinez did after he left the organization.

From 1987 to 1998 after he left Baltimore, Martinez would make 354 appearances including 304 starts and post a 3.27 ERA across over 2,000 innings pitched and make four All-Star teams. For a guy that certainly looked liked he was completely washed out, Dennis definitely made the Orioles wish they had kept him around given that he turned into one of the more consistent performers in the late 80's and 1990's.

Baltimore traded away Jake Arrieta

When a pitcher averages a 5.33 ERA across three seasons and 334.1 innings for any team, the writing is on the wall that things are probably not going to work out for that pitcher. So, Baltimore decided to send such a pitcher to the Cubs in a midseason deal that brought back Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger. However, the bad news is that pitcher turned out to be Jake Arrieta.

Arrieta's star in the league burned hot and quickly as he put up a four year run of dominance with the Cubs from 2014 to 2017 with a 2.67 ERA and 756 strikeouts in 751.1 innings and won the NL Cy Young in 2015. His production would certainly drop off after he left Chicago, but he was still a steal for the Cubs as not only was he awesome, but Feldman and Clevenger were quite bad in their limited time with the Orioles.

The Orioles traded for Sammy Sosa

Sammy Sosa's name coming up in conversations always brings with it some strong mixed feelings. He was, without question, one of the more exciting players in the league when he played and his at-bats during his home run record chasing prime were appointment television even if the most ardent PED opponents would prefer to forget that they were tuning in to all of them back then. However, the Orioles trade for Sosa before the 2005 season had a lot of red flags beforehand even if you take out the PED accusations.

Not only did Baltimore give up Jerry Hairston and Scott Fontenot who put up some useful seasons away from the Orioles, but Sosa was in a clear decline before Baltimore acquired him and that is exactly how things played out. In his one season with the Orioles in 2005, Sosa was banged up and posted just a .221/.295/.376 line with 14 homers. Sosa would take the next season off from baseball altogether before finishing his career out with the Rangers in 2007.

Orioles trade away Josh Hader

In fairness to the Orioles, they were not the only team to bail on Josh Hader too early as the Astros mucked their opportunity from this deal up. Hader was just a 19th round pick by the Orioles back in 2012 and while he pitched well early in his pro career with the organization as a starting pitching prospect, he ended up getting packaged in the deal with the Astros that brought Bud Norris to Baltimore in 2013.

Funnily enough, the Astros messed things up with Hader, too, as they traded Hader to Milwaukee in the Carlos Gomez trade. The rest of the story is well-known. Hader would go on to give up starting and has become one of the better relievers of this generation. Meanwhile, Norris would put up 48 meh to bad starts with the Orioles before getting DFAed during the 2015 season.

The Orioles trade Doug DeCinces for Dan Ford was a blunder

This is an older move, but woof was it bad. For the young Orioles fans out there, Doug DeCinces had put a decent, if unremarkable run with Baltimore from 1973-1981 with a .751 OPS during that span. Again, not a player one would think Baltimore would miss too much, so they ended up trading him to the Angels along with John Schneider to acquire outfielder Dan Ford in the hopes of beefing up their lineup.

Schneider didn't amount to anything, but Ford would only end up with a .683 OPS in almost 1,100 plate appearances for Baltimore with just 21 home runs across those four seasons. Meanwhile, DeCinces would immediately have a breakout season with the Angels in 1982 where he posted a .300/.369/.548 line and finish in the top 3 of the MVP vote. He would also make the All-Star team the following season. That...is not great.

The Orioles traded Curt Schilling and Steve Finley to the Astros

Finally, we come to pretty much universally agreed upon worst trade in franchise history which, oddly enough, also is another move that the Astros managed to screw up very similarly to how they messed up the Hader trade. Baltimore was looking to add some pop to their lineup and when Glenn Davis, who had a track record of success in Houston, became available before the 1991 season, the Orioles pounced. To acquire Davis, Baltimore had to send Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch to the Astros.

Schilling wasn't anywhere near the height of his powers back then and was actually coming off a pretty nice season out of the bullpen. Finley hadn't been particularly good in his two seasons with the Orioles and was deemed expendable. Well, Schilling would go on to assemble a borderline Hall of Fame worthy career (but not before the Astros, too, traded him away too early) and Finley would play another 17 years in the big leagues and accumulate 44.2 rWAR in his career. As for Davis, he would play parts of three seasons with Baltimore, posted a .713 OPS with just 24 homers, and was out of the league by 1993.

More Orioles News from Birds Watcher