With two huge deals in the National League Central this past week, the trade deadline has gotten some much earlier hype than it usually does.  Both the Sabathia and the Harden trades have a possibility to become horrible for any of the teams involved—the Brewers miss the playoffs, Sabathia walks after the season, and Matt LaPorta dominates for years; Harden snaps his arm in half this Sunday.  But the thing about most every trade that is made is that you really don’t know how good or bad that they will turn out for, in many cases, years afterwards.  Since the decade is already winding down, it is now possible to look back at the worst trades that have been made since 2000 in baseball.

7. Paul DePodesta’s debacle, 2004
As a new GM and wanting to mix it up even though his team was in first, DePodesta traded Paul LoDuca, Guillermo Mota, and Juan Encarnacion to the Marlins for Hee Seop Choi and Brad Penny.  The Dodgers ended up making the playoffs anyways, but this trade makes it just for its gratuitous nature and the fact that it severely pissed off the fans that loved LoDuca.

6. Cardinals/Angels, 2000
This has been covered before just because it’s underrated how lucky this season was, but Kent Bottenfield won 18 games for the Cards in 1999…and no one can still explain how.  The next spring, the Cards took advantage of that and an itchy Angel team to turn Bottenfield and Adam Kennedy into Jim Edmonds, who they promptly signed to a long-term deal and watched him become the greatest center fielder in club history.   

5. Cubs/Pirates, 2003
Needing some extra pop for their 2003 run, the Cubs got it for many more years, getting Aramis Ramirez from the Pirates, who inexplicably still had two years left on his contract after the season.  The Cubs also gained Kenny Lofton who helped immensely in their stretch run.  They gave up Jose Hernandez, who left the Pirates after the year, Matt Bruback, who never has played in the majors, and a guy named Bobby, who was a part-timer for two years and hasn’t played since.

4. Cardinals/A’s, late 2004
In what could end up being a learning experience for the Cubs (Billy Beane calls offering a pitcher!?  Don’t answer the phone!), the Cardinals, needing another top starter, trade future top starter Danny Haren, good setup guy Kiko Calero, and prospect Daric Barton to the A’s for Mark Mulder.  To call it a disappointing trade for the Cards is quite the understatement.  He played no part in the World Series that they won and may have thrown his last pitch this past Wednesday.  Haren was one of the best starters in the majors just two years later, and Barton has hit the majors (though hasn’t been very effective yet).

3. Mets/Devil Rays, 2004
Take your pick—Victor Zambrano or Scott Kazmir.  This is similar to the Cards/A’s deal, except Cards fans at least got a World Series since then and don’t have to watch Kazmir consistently throw some of the nastiest pitches of the decade while playing for Tampa Bay.

2. Cubs/Marlins, late 2003
Hee Seop Choi hit .218 with 8 homers for the Cubs in 2003.  The Marlins felt that was enough for them to accept him for rising star Derrek Lee, who had just played a huge part in upsetting the Cubs in the NLCS and winning the World Series.  The next season, Choi made it just over half the season in Miami before being traded again, and Lee was enjoying another solid season that led into one of the best seasons anyone has had this decade.

1. Giants/Twins
Giants receive: A.J. Pierzynski
Twins receive: Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano, and Joe Nathan

Brian Sabean must have been on crack.

The Top 7 List is written by Jason Major.  He's pretty sure  Boof Bonser has the best name in baseball.  Email him at jason@joesportsfan.com