Let me start this blog by saying I hope that this summary is fair. What we're about to go over was a very early deal in FCM that caused a great deal of controversy. This deal's controversy, however, was largely outside the confines of the file. This was a deal that happened in FCM's inaugural year and seriously rocked the league for quite some time. If you've played mogul enough, you'll understand more as we discuss it.
I should also note that I was a big part of that controversy as one of the lead voices on one side of the disagreement. Let me also say, that in retrospect, I hope everyone involved can see where mistakes and valid positions were at the time. I know now that the GM still with us is an upstanding person who never meant any harm. I also know that my intentions were purely for the benefit of a league I thought had a lot of potential - and clearly it's lived up beyond my expectations. I won't deny that I think the hatchet on this deal was hard to bury, but it's fully buried as far as I'm concern. But I would be remiss if I didn't include it on this list. The deal, for all I hated it, pushed FCM to be stronger, better, and more prepared for anything in the future. And for that - it deserves to be on this list as incredibly impactful.
Now that I've thoroughly confused all of you who were there, the deal I'm referring to was actually two separate deals between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. Sounds innocent enough right? The problem is that the then Cubs GM, who built the Cubs into the league's greatest dynasty, was also the uncle of the then Tigers GM who was living with him at the time. As I said before, if you haven't played mogul long enough to hear that recipe and not have red flags - go join a donniebaseball league and you'll find out why it was so concerning to people. Mogul has a tendency to have people abuse friends or family to make lopsided deals before the other party leaves. It's why we have mods, it's why integrity is so important. Quite frankly, it's what sets FCM apart. In hindsight, we know now that the Cubs GM is a man of integrity 100% - there was never reason to worry. But in the first season of a mogul league, no one trusted anyone yet and the fallout of seeing two trades (largely acknowledged to be lopsided) between known relatives - was a huge controversy. The XAT board was lit up, insults were exchanged, integrity questioned, and bad blood developed quickly - and didn't die quickly either. The storm over the deal raged until it was finally buried with the Tiger GM resigning and the league moving forward. Without further ado....the trade:
In two separate deals the following players were exchanged:
To Chicago: Austin Jackson, Justin Verlander, Phil Coke, Rick Porcello, Jose Valverde, 7M
To Detroit: Josh Donaldson, Vernon Wells, Aaron Shafer, Gorkys Hernandez, Brian Schlitter, Jeff Samardzija, Hak-Ju Lee, Junior Lake, Angel Guzman, Blake Parker, and Chris Huseby.
The controversy of the deal was that the Cubs were getting three young stars (Verlander, Porcello, Jackson) and two other good players for a handful of crap (according to some). Because this is a lot of players, let me summarize quickly the result for both teams:
Chicago - The deal happened in the offseason and into the next year the Cubs improved by 9 games and made the NLCS. Austin Jackson played just one season batting .287 with an .818 OPS with 14 homeruns, 67 RBI, and 16 SB. He was dealt, just a year later with Justin Verlander who went 17-8 with a 3.01 ERA in one season, to Boston for Clay Bucholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Stolmy Pimentel, and Andy Konruff. Ellsbury was eventually flipped for Almanzar but the rest were of little note to the long-term impact of the Cubs. Valverde only made it to June of 2011 when he was packaged with Geovany Soto for V-Mart, Bard, and Mitchell Herold. V-Mart eventually became De'Lon Thomas - a crucial part the the Cub dynasty. Porcello and Coke flamed out.
In a few seasons time the Cubs would sell off all their pieces and begin a rebuild that resulted in FCM's greatest team. For all the concern at the time, the deal only landed the Cubs an NLCS appearance but no significant long term gains.
Detroit - was able to see a WS appearance in 2011. Three players in this deal helped them get there: Vernon Wells, Aaron Schafer, and Gorkys Hernandez. However, Wells was a contract dump and after that season was an expensive non-factor. Aaron Schafer also flamed out after 2012 and had no lasting impact. Gorkys Hernandez had two more poor seasons with Detroit before becoming a bench player in Arizona, Baltimore, and Philadelphia in his 10 year career. Jeff Samardzija and Brian Schlitter had only 20 appearances the rest of their careers. Josh Donaldson played in 9 seasons, including a very successful 2012 and 2013 but his career as a whole was disappointing. He was moved to the Mets a few years later in a deal that had little impact. Arguably he had the best career of this group of specs except for Hak-Ju Lee who was a two-time all-star and world series champion. Lee played only one season in Detroit before moving to Cincinatti for Greg Halman - a player the Tigers did have value with for several seasons. Lee was an elite defender with a decent bat, but none of that was a factor for Detroit. Husby, Lake and Parker? Flame-outs.
So why does this deal make the list? Two teams who benefited with only deep playoff runs a year later, no lasting impact. Well it's true that the package the Cubs gave up was awful to land the players they did. But what's also true is that they didn't benefit much from it, even though on paper it certainly looked like they did. The real reason this deal makes the list is because FCM instituted more thorough trade regulations and moderation, designed a more comprehensive administrative staff, and worked out a way to deal with controversies more directly before blow-ups occurred. Many, many leagues don't survive their first "trade-gate", much less come out stronger. FCM did. The bad blood and personal feelings were strong. Anyone who thinks their vetoed deal has been the end-all, be-all - wasn't here for this one. There was a borderline coup over the decision to process the trades even after the information about the relationship between the GMs was discussed.
In the end, thankfull, we kept a great GM in Chicago. The GMs upset about it (largely) stayed. Though the feud popped up again from time to time it sank to the background. But FCM got stronger from it. The bad blood has died, memory of it has faded, and everyone involved (I believe) has shown themselves to be a person of integrity. The battle was born out of passion for the league and it's survival - from both sides. That same passion has helped make FCM a wonderful league to be a part of. Controversies bubble from time to time, but cooler heads always prevail. This trade took longer to cool then others, but the lasting benefits to the league cannot be overstated.
And for that, it belongs on this list.
Next Up, Number 14: An Ace adds up to a nice package for a rebuilding contender.....
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