Phillies: 3 trades where Dave Dombrowski screwed up, 3 where he was a genius
By Eric Cole
The trade for Miguel Cabrera is a career highlight for Dave Dombrowski
When the Detroit Tigers hired Dave Dombrowski, they were looking to swing for the fences in order to finally bring a World Series title back to Detroit. After a few years of rebuilding what was a truly terrible roster when he got there, Dombrowski swung a huge trade with the Marlins where he acquired future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera along with Dontrelle Willis for Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, Eulogio De La Cruz, Mike Rabelo, Burke Badenhop, and Dallas Trahern.
In fairness to the Marlins, there were some good players in this deal. Cameron Maybin was a very highly regarded young player at the time and ended up putting together a 15 year career in the majors. Andrew Miller took a while to get going, but ended up making two All-Star teams as a reliever. Neither did much with the Marlins, sadly.
Willis was decidedly not good in Detroit and never did regain the form he had early in his career with the Marlins, but the star of this trade was clearly Miggy. Sure, he is a shadow of his former self these days and the Tigers certainly shouldn't have given him the contract he is currently on, but Cabrera also won two MVP awards, a Triple Crown, and a slew of All-Star Game appearances in a Tigers uniform. That is a win.
Dave Dombrowski probably wishes he could take the Randy Johnson trade back
While Dombrowski is best known for his time with the Tigers, Red Sox, and Phillies, most people may not be aware that he got his start as a GM with the Montreal Expos in the late 80's. Dombrowski was the youngest GM in the league and during this time, he still was looking to make splashes and Mark Langston was one of the better pitchers available on the trade market at the time. So in 1989, the Expos swung a trade for Langston and Mike Campbell by sending Brian Holman, Gene Harris, and a young pitcher by the name of Randy Johnson to the Mariners.
Yeah, that Randy Johnson. Johnson famously took several years to be able to throw strikes consistently including his time with the Mariners. However, once he DID figure things out, he became one of the best pitchers of his generation (and certainly the most feared) that culminated in his induction into Cooperstown. We can't necessarily blame Dombrowski for making the move, but woof does this one look rough with the benefit of hindsight.