Your Favorite Team's Worst Move

[NSL]

Get out the kleenex, this will not be a pretty thread for most of you. It's rather basic though: Of all your favorite teams, which one move was the absolute worst? This can either be in hindsight, or as it happened. After looking down the long list of horrible moves made by my respective favorite teams, I have only one that can be listed as the "worst.

The New York Mets were getting close to competing in the 90's, and seemed to only be one or two moves away from making a run. So, who do they trade for? Mo fucking Vaughn. He was a slugger in Boston, but he was never all that good at it. So we move him into a pitcher's park, hand him a glove, and watch our team quickly run down the tubes. There was nothing they could have done to quickly correct that move, and it set the team back a few seasons.

 

[Mr. TM]

Across sports, my favourite team is th Vancouver Canucks, and really we have been heavily blessed with incredible trades, getting Naslund for nothing, getting Luongo for cheap, and many other trades.

Originally I thought that our worst move might have been for keeping the sophomore Ryan Kesler for 2 million dollars, after Philadelphia offered him the same contract. But I am glad he is on the team still now, wasn't then, but he has come around.

But the worst was losing Cam Neely, before I was born. Getting Pederson for Neely wasn't a good trade at the time, and would turn out to be foolish. Glen Wesley also was part of the trade (being a draft pick), and it kept the Canucks altered for 5 more years from being a passable team.

 

[X]

But the worst was losing Cam Neely, before I was born. Getting Pederson for Neely wasn't a good trade at the time, and would turn out to be foolish. Glen Wesley also was part of the trade (being a draft pick), and it kept the Canucks altered for 5 more years from being a passable team.

Well as a Boston boy let me just say that one of your worst moves was one of our best. Thanks a million TM. Bless your Canadian heart.

My favorite teams worst move...man that's a tough one. As a Red Sox fan alot of people criticize the trading of Hanley Ramirez, but any Sox fan knows that without that trade we don't win the 2007 World Series. Beckett and Lowell brought us that title in large part, and though I'd kill to get Hanley back in a Boston uniform, I don't regret that trade.

One that comes to mind was the Celtics trading a young Joe Johnson for a few bench players in Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers. Rogers and Delk went on to accomplish nothing while Johnson is an all star.

The Babe Ruth trade of course haunts Boston to this day as well.

 

[NSL]

The Babe Ruth trade of course haunts Boston to this day as well.

Honestly, if I had remembered this, I might not have made the thread. I wasn't thinking about it. Sorry man. *bro-hugs*

I'm waiting for someone from Cincinnati to come in and bash the O' Neill trade, or a fellow Mets fan to slam the Seaver trade. This really should be an interesting thread. I'll stay on topic, and add another move here:

One move that always ranks as a huge bonehead front office move, was when the Giants signed the 40 (or 41) year old long snapper out of retirement from from grocery store because our Special Teams was an issue going into the post season. Not only did he under-perform as a god damned long snapper, but he made a shitty snap, sealing a 49ers win in the playoffs, ending our season. Wish I could remember his name. I'd probably go Ray Finkle on his ass.

 

[Baller]

I will do my two favorite teams the Marlins and the Dolphins.

For the Marlins I will go with their 2 firesales after winning the World Series. They had all the pieces together and instead of going for another run they disband the team and rebuild for 5-6 year every time. And now it looks like a mini firesale is about to begin after the Hermida deal.

Dolphins - I am sure there are alot but I will go with some of the more recent ones. Ted Ginn getting drafted 9th overall - I know Brady Quinn may not look good as a Brown but I think he would be fine as a Dolphin who actually has a good running game and they could be doing the same thing with Quinn as they are doing with Henne. Also honorable mentions are hiring Nick Saban and Cam Cameron.

 

[TheProdigy]

as a Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins fan there are a few:

Pirates...well, the Littlefield/McClatchy era says enough. The new GM team knows their stuff. Littlefield traded all stars for cheaper plug-in options that were marginally talented and signed aging players like Jeromy Burnitz...ugh.

Penguins...not too many bad moves there...I mean the Jagr trade sucked, but needed to happen for many reasons. Nothing recently has pissed me off...I trust Ray Shero.

Steelers...well...nothing at least in my lifetime that upsets me. We've always been able to plug guys in and compete. If I had to pick something...it would be drafting Limas Sweed. I thought at that time he was a hot-head and a terrible pick, and he hasn't proven me wrong yet.

 

[the troop]

Well, I am a Cubs fan, so you know There are a lot of moves that were not very bright to say the least.

I am a diehard Cubs fan, but when I look at some of these moves, I question my loyalty. Where to begin. Well,there have been moves like Echersley for minor leaguers, Bruce Sutter for Leon Durham, but Ill talk about the few most notable for me.
First you got failing to sign Greg Maddux in '92. I mean, he had multiple 10+ win seasons, a NL cy young award, and what do the Cubs do, they let him slip into free agency with no signing. Next thing you know, he is fluorishing in Atlanta with Glavine, Smoltz and others. Who knows what he couldve done with the cubs.

Next, I think that most baseball fans will see this as one of the worst trades in baseball history(Behind Ruth for cash), and that is the trade of hall of fame outfielder Lou Brock for barely relevant Ernie Brogilo. The cubs werent impressed with Brock and felt that he wouldnt have much of a career, so they just gave up on him and made the infamous trade with the cardinals and let them deal with him. Now, he is regarded as one of the greatest players in cardinals history. And people wonder why the cubs havent one a WS title in over 100 years. Oy.

Another move I want to quickly mention is acquiring Milton Bradley. About 10 months ago, the cubs acquire Bradley and they are very excited about him after he had one decent year with the rangers and said he has changed his behavior. Stressful months later, now look where they are, they're trying to get rid of him. Im very surprised that four teams want to get him.

 

[CH David]

As the White Sox fan that I am, right now I have to go with the White Flag trade back in the late 90s. During the '97 campaign, the White Sox were only 3.5 games back of the Indians for the division. Then they pulled the trigger to trade three players from the major league roster, Roberto Hernandez, Danny Darwin, and Wilson Alvarez, all of whom were key pitchers on the team, for six minor league players from the Giants. Of the six minor league players, only three became part of the roster, Bob Howry, Keith Foulke, and Mike Caruso. The Giants would go on to win the division, and the White Sox would finish six games back of the Indians.

One boneheaded move from the Blackhawks also occurred in the 90s as a result of Bill Wirtz (RIP) being the cheapskate that he was so famously known as. Jeremy Roenick was one of the star players for the Blackhawks during his 8 seasons, and he wanted higher money than he was getting at the time. They traded him to the Coyotes for Alexei Zhamnov and Craig Mills, with Zhamnov even being named the Captain from 2002-2004. They got rid of a star, for mediocrity.

I'm not sure if this counts for this thread, so if not I apologize to NSL, but what about important non moves? The Blackhawks not giving Bobby Hull the kind of money he deserved as not only one of the franchise players, but also one of the faces of the league, so they let him walk and he signed a $1,000,000 deal with the Winnipeg Jets.

 

[Ty Burna]

Well I'm a Vikings fan and I have two moves actually, and they relate directly to each other. First was the horrible trading of Randy Moss to the Raiders for a first round pick and a linebacker due to an over reaction to his fake "mooning" of the Lambeau Field crowd during the playoffs (I thought it was hilarious to be honest). That hurt, as he was our best offensive weapon and we traded him away due to character issues. Who gives a damn? The guy always made big plays and we traded that away for a so so linebacker and a number one pick that we bungled (that's coming up). Meanwhile Moss ended up in New England and is still making the big plays that I had grown to love over the years when he was with Minnesota. Now you could classify it as a good move because we ended up building a very solid defense from the cap space we gained back by getting rid of him, and also allowing us to suck for a few years to build the team we have now. Still, that was like taking a backbreaker as a fan when your favorite player gets traded because of an overreaction.

Now, we did gain a first round pick (#7 overall) from the Raiders for Moss. And this is where it gets worse. We had the opportunity to take Shawne Merriman (who was picked #12 by the Chargers) or even Aaron Rodgers, who we could have gotten twice in that first round (Minnesota had the #18 pick as well but we had Culpepper at the time before his massive knee blowout). Instead we picked up Troy Williamson, who couldn't catch to save his life. Literally in a game against Denver there was no one within 30 yards of him, wide open and with his speed he could have been gone easily. He drops an easy catch and the next year he was traded to the Jaguars. Our 18th pick in that draft we selected Erasmus James, which was a bust, but that's not related to our story here. In the end we essentially traded moss for Napolean Harris (a decent linebacker but nothing special), and a huge draft day bust in Troy Williamson. Horrible move and it set the Vikings back into rebuilding mode for a few years after that.

 

[Theo Mays]

Lets not forget the Vikings trading for Herschel Walker. He was suppose to be the next big thing for us and he ended up sucking big time. And we traded a whole load for him. It was before my time, but it definitely ranks up there. But I agree with the Moss trade, I was heartbroken when we shipped him to Oakland.

 

[Ty Burna]

Lets not forget the Vikings trading for Herschel Walker. He was suppose to be the next big thing for us and he ended up sucking big time. And we traded a whole load for him. It was before my time, but it definitely ranks up there. But I agree with the Moss trade, I was heartbroken when we shipped him to Oakland.

I wasn't really old enough at the time of the Herschel Walker trade to really grasp the impact of that trade, I was only 2 at the time. The reason I chose the Randy Moss one was because we had a great player and traded him for nothing essentially, and it's a trade that I was old enough to comprehend.

But you're absolutely right, the Herschel Walker trade was by far the worst trade/move that the Vikings have done ever. It ranks above the Moss trade and letting Tarkenton go. Essentially the Vikings built the 90's Cowboys Dynasty for them with that one trade. It resulted in the following selections for the Cowboys: Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson. Now think about that for a moment. Instead of Emmitt being on the Cowboys, he could have been a Viking, Maryland would have been a force on our Dline along with John Randle, Kevin Smith was a solid Cornerback, and Darren Woodson was an outstanding Safety for the Boy's in the 90's. Suddenly the Vikings would have an outstanding team for the 90's, and probably would have helped Warren Moon achieve far more success when he took over for the Vikings. A lot of what if's in play there, like if the Vikings would make the proper draft choices to get those players, but one thing is for sure, the Cowboys would not have been as dominate in the 90's as they would have been, and possibly never even played in a Super Bowl if Minnesota didn't trade for Herschel.

 

[jmt225]

My favorite team of all time is the New Orleans Saints, and their worst move was most definitely getting rid of Bobby Hebert.

First of all, Hebert at the time was by far and away the greatest quarterback in the history of the team. So, to treat someone like that the way they did was absolutely a shame. But also... Hebert was still very good. I mean, he just came off to leading the Saints to a 12-4 regular season record, and you get rid of him? What the fuck?

And after that, the Saints would try to build the team around Steve Walsh, and of course he ended up being as bust, and so did every quarterback the Saints acquired until the 1999/2000 season when they got Jeff Black and Aaron Brooks. But that was 8 years of terrible quarterback after terrible quarterback, and it all started with the Saints getting rid of the Cajun Cannon.

 

[Big Sexy]

Detroit Pistons- I'm not going to say drafting Darko because Wade and Carmelo would not have played in front of Chauncey, Rip, and Tayshaun. We also might not have traded for Rasheed if we drafted someone else. I'm not going to say trading Chauncey because a move had to be made. AI obviously wasn't the best guy to get in return but shit happens.

I'm going to go with hiring Flip Saunders. He isn't the type of coach the Pistons needed. They needed a defense first guy. I don't like the theory that a great defensive team should get an offensive coach so they can be great at both. It doesn't work that way. It just takes away from what the team is great at. The Pistons went from back to back finals appearances and a title, to a team that couldn't get past the East finals.

Detroit Lions- Sooooo fucking many to choose from, but I'm going with the hiring of Matt Millen as the GM. Every other bad move after that was because of him. Horrible draft pick after horrible draft pick. Bad decisions when hiring coaches. He had no fucking clue what he was doing and it showed. We went from a decent team that would go 10-6 and get a wild card spot every once in a while to a laughing stock that can't do anything right.

 

[Southwind]

Hmm, probably the Eagles decision to let two hall of fame defensive players go, in Reggie White (RIP) and Brian Dawkins.

Lots of people don't know how good the Eagles defense was with White. They are the only team in NFL history, to be ranked number one in pass defense, number one in rush defense, and number one in total defense, for a whole season. White was a huge part of that.

Weapon X Brain Dawkins was the heart and soul of the Eagles and they let him walk, it alienated Eagles fans like myself everywhere, and I still don't forgive management.

The Eagles haven't had that much awful decisions in their history, but these two stand out to me,

 

[Tastycles]

My team is Liverpool, who have had pretty continued success in recent years, but there are a few stand out mistakes in the last 20 years or so. The first was hiring Graeham Souness, who really wasn't good enough for the job and bought a lot of shockingly bad players and alienated what was there.

The next is a series of poor signings made by Houllier and Benitez, notable shoutouts to the Greek piece of shit at centre half now and Djimi Traore, who may be the worst player ever to win major silverware or even play professionally.

However, I think what will prove to be a catastrophic mistake was selling Xabi Alonso. Liverpool were finally on the cusp of being challengers with realistic hopes of winning, and now they are drawing to Birmingham. Alonso was the third best player on a 3 man team, and he's gone. The jury is still out with Aquilani, but right now this decision looks ******ed.

 

[Freddy4190]

Giants. Worse move was paying Eli all that fucking money. Same with everyone else whom got outlandish contracts. They're playing terrible. They don't even have their heart in it anymore it seems like. At least in the early 2000s, they had an excuse. The squad sucked. Now they don't have one but they let that phat paycheck get to them and it's aggravating.

 

[Pimpin]

Lets not forget the Vikings trading for Herschel Walker. He was suppose to be the next big thing for us and he ended up sucking big time. And we traded a whole load for him. It was before my time, but it definitely ranks up there.

Greatest trade ever. As a Cowboys fan, I give the Vikings a big thank you for that trade. It definitely helped build our dynasty for sure.

Cowboys: Speaking of my Cowboys. There's a few moves that stand out in my mind. The entire 2000 draft was possibly the worst draft class in history. We didn't get shit & we traded our 1st round picks for 2000 & 2001 for Joey Galloway (who proved to be injury prone & set us back for a while).

The next move that pissed me off was when we picked Quincy Carter in the 2001 draft. Granted he was the Quarterback of the team when we made the playoffs in 2003, but I contribute our playoff berth to the defense than I do the offense. The quarterbacks that we picked up during Quincy's tenure was not pretty as we employed Chad Hutchinson, Anthony Wright & of course the biggest bust in NFL history in Ryan Leaf (this is why the Cowboys need an actual GM).

Speaking about that. One of the more horrible moves was letting Emmitt Smith walk away & allow him to play for the Cardinals so that talentless Troy Hambrick can be the starter. I wonder how that decision panned out for them? Oh wait yeah that decision proved to be a bust because Hambrick is shit & seeing Emmitt play in another uniform other than a Cowboys uniform hurt me deeply as Emmitt was my favorite Cowboy. That's one of the few things that I can't forgive our ignorant owner Jerry Jones for allowing to happen. Thank god the Cowboys now have Marion Barber, Felix Jones & Tashard Choice to help ease the pain.

Texas Rangers: Now we move onto the Texas Rangers. There's a shit load of ignorant moves that they've made that makes me uneasy like signing Chan Ho Park to a huge deal, trading John Danks to the White Sox for an injury prone pitcher, giving Armando Galarraga to the Tigers for basically nothing at all, trading Adrian Gonzalez & Chris Young to the Padres for ineffective pitchers Adam Eaton & some Japanese guy who proved to be a pile of shit.

There are more bad moves for the Rangers, but i'm too lazy to post the rest.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I'm a Miami Heat fan so I'll have to go with the Shaq trade. I know they won the championship, but It really fucked up the team in the long run. After they won the championship, they were swept out the first round the very next year by the Chicago Bulls.

The Heat should've tried to build around Wade,Caron Butler, and Lamar Odom. They had a very solid big three. But instead, Pat Riley wanted to sell the Heat franchise's soul for 1 championship. And now look at us. There's plenty speculation Dwayne Wade will leave the Heat after this season, and if that happens, we will be shit for years.

 

[I Will Fart In Your Mouth]

I'm a Miami Heat fan so I'll have to go with the Shaq trade.

I'm a Phoenix Suns fan so I'll have to go with the Shaq trade. lol
At least Miami got a title out of it.

Seriously tho, we were a bench clearing suspension away from a title(probably) and we give up and trade for a chemistry killer. Shaq's addition to the Suns was the worst move made by any of my favorite teams in any sport.
Were just now 2 years later getting back to being where we were before we traded for Shaq.

Personality wise I think Shaq is cool as hell. I'd love to hang out with him but GET OFF MY TEAM!!!

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I normally put up with what Belichick does for personnel decisions, as usually he's dead on about players not being worth the money, aging, and so on and so forth.

However, after last night, for the first time, I really missed Asante Samuel. As Jonathan Wilhite, Leigh Bodden, and the rest of the secondary got embarrassed by Drew Brees, I wondered to myself if things would have been different if Asante was in uniform.

Yes, he wanted a lot of money, and he is a dick, but an elite cornerback like that is something that is worth top dollar. He has 7 picks so far this year for Philly, and he's a reason why the Eagles are still very much in contention. It kills me that for the price of Shawn Springs and Matt Light (who has SUCKED since the Giants Super Bowl), we could still have Asante.

I really miss Asante Samuel a lot. And yes, he is the difference between the Patriots having a sub-elite defense and what they have right now, which is a pedestrian defense.

 

[Tenta]

My Team is the Falcons, and there's no doubt about it... My team's worst move was the trade for Michael Vick. Now, let me just state, I know that Michael Vick did plenty for the Falcons. He was the most exciting player in the NFL for a while, and he is quite possibly the best running quarterback in the NFL. But consider this; With the draft picks San Diego received from Atlanta, they picked LaDanian Tomlinson and Drew Brees.

Consider it for a second; The Falcons could have had both of these players. They, more or less, could have been what the Chargers are now; a team that always in the hunt for a Super Bowl. I know hindsight is twenty twenty, but Drew Brees is arguably playing the best quarterback for any guy not named Brett Favre. And while LT isn't what he used to be, consider what it would be like to have him for nine or ten years. The NFC South is always an inconsistent division... I think it's possible with those two players, The Falcons could have been the powehouse of the NFC South.

Now, instead, we have nothing to show for our trade. We're out one franchise quarterback, and ot plenty of salary, and we have nothing to show for it at all. In the end, Vick proved to be an inconsistent passer with the ability to run. And while he brought electricity to the Falcons, I still can't help but wonder what the NFL would have been like with LT and Drew Brees as Falcons.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

I'm a Pacers' fan. And I kid you not...1999 we traded for a top-5 draft pick named Jonathan Bender. Yeah. Who the heck is that guy? He was supposed to be the cat's pajamas. Instead, he was always hurt and never did a thing.

Who was drafted after this guy?

-Rip Hamilton
-Andre Miller
-Ron Artest
-Andrei Kirilenko
-Shawn Marion

Bravo, Donnie Walsh