In 2020 Cincinnati earned their spot on our list once again. At the time the Reds had gone from a 96 win season in 2018 to 75 and then 73 wins. The team was tanking but wanted to rebuild around star player Steve Miller. Their top trade piece? Ace Greg Mainwaring who had a tremendous 2018 season but was struggling to find that magic again. The result was dangling Mainwaring on the trade block and the bait was taken by the Oakland A's.
Oakland was coming off a 58 win season and had the third pick in the coming draft. Their team was still rebuilding but the pieces were there and the division was weak. So before the draft in 2020 the Oakland A's offered their top two picks in the draft - the 3rd and 33rd overall - for Greg Mainwaring. The offer was accepted and Oakland had their ace.
Oakland rode Mainwaring to a division title in 2021 , 2022, 2023, and 2025 - twice topping 90 wins. Mainwaring hasn't pulled in any hardware, but he has won 74 games for the A's against 71 losses. He has gone 2-4 in the playoffs with a 3.30 ERA including a surprise run to the World Series in 2022. Mainwaring has struggled to live up to his role as an ace, but there is no denying that his acquisition established a new leader in the AL West.
Cincinnati, on the other hand, used their picks wisely. They took third baseman Marv Eason with their pick at three and pitcher Vaughn Greensite at 33. Marv Eason has gone on to become an absolute monster and the perfect complement to the aforementioned Steve Miller. An all-star already once in his young career and 4 seasons under his belt - Eason already has 118 career homeruns and a career .957 OPS. Widely regarded as the best hitting third baseman in the league he has become a cornerstone for the best team in the national league. As a GM, there isn't much more you can say then taking a pitcher who goes every five days and turning that player into an everyday, MVP-caliber star.
But that isn't all. Vaughn Greensite spent three years in the Cincinnati farm system before being flipped for yet another crucial player to the Red Rise. In 2023 Greensite was sent to Boston for Carlos Marinas. In two and a half years in Cincy, Marinas has hit 58 home runs and drove in 246 runs including a 35 homerun-114 rbi season in 2024. Marinas has been a solid outfielder who has posted a .850+ OPS in his time in Cincy and is yet another crucial member of the thunderous Reds lineup.
So the deal? One quasi-ace for two offensive cornerstones. Oakland has ridden that quasi-ace to a World Series appearance and 4 division titles, changing the outcome of the NL West for over half a decade. Hard to argue with that impact.
For Cincy, they got two key elements of the Steve Miller Band that has caused them to go from near contender to NL juggernaut, powered largely by an offense driven by two players directly tied to this deal. That's two divisions that changed dramatically in one deal and the formation of one of the best 1-2 combinations in the middle of any FCM order all-time.
Next Up: Nice and simple....Number 15: "FCM's Most Controversial Trade"
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