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Philadelphia Phillies: Dave Dombrowski’s history of win-now trades

By George Stockburger

FT. MYERS, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Chris Sale #41 talks with Craig Kimbrel #46 of the Boston Red Sox during a team workout on February 17, 2017 at Fenway South in Fort Myers, Florida . (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
FT. MYERS, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Chris Sale #41 talks with Craig Kimbrel #46 of the Boston Red Sox during a team workout on February 17, 2017 at Fenway South in Fort Myers, Florida . (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /
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COOPERSTOWN, NY – JULY 24: Mike Piazza gives his induction speech at Clark Sports Center during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 24, 2016 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
COOPERSTOWN, NY – JULY 24: Mike Piazza gives his induction speech at Clark Sports Center during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 24, 2016 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

The time Dave Dombrowski acquired and traded Mike Piazza in less than 10 days.

Just five years into his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Piazza was already a superstar, making the All-Star game in each of his first five years and finishing as the MVP runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

After 37 games in 1998, Dombrowski traded Garry Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Manuel Barrios, and Charles Johnson to the Dodgers for Piazza and Todd Zeile, a middle-aged infielder with a career .265 batting average.

Once again, Dombrowski showed his willingness to acquire one of the game’s biggest stars while slightly mortgaging the future. Pitcher Manuel Barrios was just 23 at the time, though he never materialized into an established big league arm.

Bonilla had already signed his infamous contract with the Mets and was at the end of his career at this point. Phillies fan-favorite Jim Eisenreich was also towards the end of his career when he was traded at 39-years-old, retiring at the end of the ’98 season.

At this point, Sheffield wasn’t implicated in the Mitchell Report, which alleged he used performance-enhancing drugs. He was still an All-Star and MVP candidate when Dombrowski traded him to Los Angeles, hitting 202 home runs in 1,066 games. After the trade, he’d hit 307 home runs in 1,510 games, including the 2007-8 seasons when Dombrowski acquired him from the Yankees.

Eight days after the trade with Los Angeles, Dombrowski flipped Piazza to the New York Mets for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz.

There, Piazza continued his stellar Hall of Fame career hitting .296 with 220 home runs in eight seasons with the Mets. He’s considered one of the great catchers of his era and a legend in New York, a sign of what could have been in Florida.

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