In An Alternate Universe, Judge Is Traded For ... Matthew Stafford?
In today's issue, we explore the fantastical possibility of cities swapping stars between different sports leagues and who might be in those hypothetical trades.
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Did you know…
. . . Though no MLB players have ever actually been traded for a rival city’s NFL quarterback, there have been many strange trades sprinkled throughout baseball history that might leave today’s fans scratching their heads. Here’s a few:
Legendary Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell made history outside of the booth before he landed in the Motor City when, while working as a Minor League announcer in 1948, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Minor League catcher Cliff Dapper. This all came about while regular Dodgers voice Red Barber was on a leave of absence due to an ulcer. To date, Harwell is still the only announcer ever traded for another team’s player.
Hall of Fame pitcher Lefty Grove was once traded, essentially, for a fence. This occurred well before his MLB playing days in 1920, when the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the Blue Ridge League sold him to the Baltimore Orioles (then a team in the International League) for $3,500, the exact price of a fence at the Mountaineer’s home ballpark that had been recently destroyed in a storm.
In the spring of 2013, pitcher Mike Cisco, a former 36th-round Draft pick, was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Los Angeles Angels for the grand total of … nothing. Literally zilch. The Angels gave absolutely no compensation to the Phillies in exchange for acquiring Cisco, who never did make it to the Majors but finished his Minor League career with a very respectable 3.06 ERA over 173 appearances.
Leading Off
Swapping City Stars: What If There Was Another Way To Acquire Someone Like Aaron Judge?
By David Kropp
Imagine professional sports franchises trading players’ contracts to another city. This would create chaos, but endless possibilities. For example, Los Angeles trades Matthew Stafford (NFL – Rams) to New York for Aaron Judge (Yankees). Judge is in the final year of his current contract, and reportedly turned down a $213.5 million contract from the Yanks. He is having one of the greatest seasons ever at the plate with a borderline 11 fWAR. Plus, he is destined to make a nine-figure contract with a number that begins with a three.
What if the Yankees still swung a trade outside of the baseball realm to bolster their football market? Television deals are ever changing, especially with the streaming revolution, and Stafford could balance out the Judge loss.
How about trading Jacob deGrom (MLB – New York Mets), Zach Wilson (NFL – New York Jets), and future first round picks in baseball and football for Aaron Nola (MLB – Philadelphia Phillies), and Jalen Hurts (NFL – Philadelphia Eagles)?
deGrom is another New York sports star that could potentially jettison the area in the offseason for “greener” pastures. Would you do that deal?
Sounds crazy, right?
No matter the unique exchange, a union and seemingly endless guidelines are absolutely necessary. Here are some guidelines on how trades, such as the two above, could eventuate:
Cities carrying two or more professional franchises under the same city and/or state name are eligible to form a City-Swapping Union (CSU).
An owner of a team that is the only franchise within the area (i.e., the San Diego Padres, San Jose Sharks, etc.) or has a state/other name as their location (i.e., the Golden State Warriors) can choose to agree on a pact with a nearby area (i.e., the Golden State Warriors agree to join the San Francisco pact)
Franchises can only join one pact
All general managers involved in such trades must be in full agreement for the deal to proceed
Here is another hypothetical trade:
The Baltimore CSU trades Lamar Jackson (NFL – Baltimore Ravens) to the Phoenix CSU for Zac Gallen (MLB – Arizona Diamondbacks), and Kyler Murray (NFL – Arizona Cardinals).
The Cardinals may regret signing Murray to a $230.5 million contract, and the Ravens are struggling with signing Jackson. The football-only trade favors Arizona, but adding Gallen to the deal is much more enticing. Surely, Gallen will complement the Baltimore Orioles’ pitching core, and Baltimore’s offensive football identity would not drastically vary from years past.
These types of trades could give you a glimpse as to which market truly believes title contention is a possibility. And, these deals would surely fuel the competitive fire amongst rival areas.
David is an IBWAA contributor, and member of SABR’s Connie Mack-Dick Allen Chapter. His background includes a MA in communications from Southern New Hampshire University, SABR analytics certification, creating baseball, and other sports content under the following username: @kroppskorner.
I thought the alternative reality here would not be City Swapping Unions, but a model like European Soccer Clubs. The clubs themselves sponsor teams in other sports. For example, the team that won the top Spanish basketball league last season was FC Barcelona. Yep, the soccer team too. And handball, FC Barcelona has apparently started the handball season 5-0. So I guess this would have BC Boston trading Rafael Devers to the Phoenix Athletic Club for Chris Paul so they basketball team could over the top this season.