Philadelphia Phillies: 15 best trades in franchise history
By Tim Boyle
6) Best Philadelphia Phillies trade: Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell for Juan Samuel.
Some trades get bonus points because of the team involved. This one, with the rival Mets, feels even sweeter because of that.
In the middle of the 1989 season, these two clubs struck a trade that went down as one of the worst in Mets history. Three players went to New York in exchange for Juan Samuel. The longtime Phillies second baseman and replacement for Manny Trillo who you saw earlier on this list would hit only .228/.299/.300 for the Mets in his 370 trips to the plate. The club saw enough of him and traded Samuel again in the offseason.
This trade was more than humiliating the Mets. It gave the Phillies two very good players, Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell. Tom Edens was also thrown in the deal but he would hit free agency before ever pitching for the team before returning later in his career.
The other two parts were a different story. McDowell was terrific for the Phillies in his brief stint with the club through the middle of the 1991 season. He went 12-17 with a 2.90 ERA working exclusively out of the bullpen. This includes his 1.11 ERA he had in 44 games in the final months of the 1989 season when he first arrived.
Dykstra is the far more well-known part of this trade although he struggled in 1989. However, in 1990, he led the league with 192 hits and a .418 OBP. Dykstra would go on to hit .289/.388/.422 for the Phillies. His best year, the 1993 campaign, included a league-best 143 runs scored, 194 hits, and 129 walks. He finished second in the MVP race, too.