Today we go back to 2012 and the July 31st Trade Deadline. Our seventh deal on the list involved an inner-division deal between the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros.
Cincy was well on their way to a dreadful 53 win season and had only two assets worth anything for a rebuild: Joey Votto and The Cuban Missile: Aroldis Chapman. Votto was dealt at the deadline to the eventual NL East champion Atlanta Braves. Chapman, however, went to a divisional rival in the Houston Astros.
So before we talk about the impact to Houston, here was the deal: OF Greg Halman, 3B Pedro Alvarez, P Patrick Urckfitz, P Daniel Barr, P Pedro Borrero, P Luis Heredia for 3B Neftali Soto, P Jason Arundale, and P Aroldis Chapman.
Where this deal gets interesting is breaking down all the subsequent deals this resulted in. Virtually none of these players had any kind of significant stay in Cincy. With their rebuild still in full swing, here is what each of these players eventually netted for Cincy:
Greg Halman moved to Detroit for: SS Hak-Ju Lee, P Tim Collins, P Jeff Bishop, OF Fred Sharp, and OF Vicmar de la Cruz.
Analysis: Halman ended his career in 2024 but not before posting a career .825 OPS with a severely underrated 458 career homeruns. That's right, Greg Halman actually pushed 500 FCM homeruns. He was a 6 time all-star, the 2019 MVP, and had three playoff runs in his career. For Cincy they netted an elite defensive shortstop in Lee who hit over .300 in all 7 seasons as a Red and was a two-time all-star and a gold glove winner. He was eventually given a massive contract he couldn't live up to that hurt the Reds. Collins, Bishop, and Sharp were non-factors. But Vicmar was moved to Seattle for Gabriel Gamora and others that helped form the package they used to get Ubaldo Jimenez and James Darnell.
2013 - Daniel Barr, Joe Nielson, and Randy Weeks moved to St. Louis for Jose Bonilla, Donavan Tate, and Alvaro Aristy
Cincy moved three mediocre players here for Jose Bonilla who was a very good defensive catcher who won a gold glove with Cincy and turned into a solid piece for their rebuilding effort. Tate was used along with Eric Hosmer to acquire Yovani Gallardo to pair with Ubaldo as they tried to go quickly from rebuild to contender.
Luis Heredia was dealt to Chicago but managed only 5 career start. Patrick Urckfitz made 134 career starts but his underwhelming 43-50 record with a 4.47 ERA is not worth spending much time on. Pedro Alvarez bounced around the league and hit 137 homeruns, but he was a roleplayer at best for every team he played for. Pedro Borrero was able to notch 185 saves in his career, but for Cincy he was dealt early in his career for Don Cutting and cash.
So for Cincy they were able to add the pieces that helped them land Ubaldo Jimenez, Yovani Gallardo, James Darnell, Hak Ju-Lee and a few other pieces that pushed them nearly into the playoffs on several occassions. It was also that backdrop that gave them the resources that would eventually turn into a full, prolonged rebuild that manifested itself almost a decade later.
For Houston, it's hard not to see them as the winner of this deal. Jason Arundale has gone on to a successful career as a reliever in FCM notching 89 saves and a few fat FA contracts, but his impact in Houston and his subsequent deal for Devarious Strange-Gordon were minimal.
The second big piece in this deal was Soto. You could argue that Houston got the first and second most valuable players in this deal at the time. Soto blew up in 2013 hitting 31 home runs and driving in 131 runs and also helped the Astros to a World Series ring in 2012 by winning the NLCS MVP award with a .985 OPS, 2 home runs, and 6 RBI in 6 games. He continued to be a significant playoff threat for Houston and was part of two world championships. Unfortunately, his year in 2013 was a total fluke. From that point on he became a role-player for Houston and was never able to have another significant impact for the franchise.
Aroldis Chapman had a short stay in Houston. The Cuban Missile had 3 full seasons in Houston and two partial seasons - one after this deal and another before he was dealt to Minnesota in 2016. Aroldis struggled with Houston at first, only going 6-3 with a 4.30 ERA in 2012. His struggles in the playoffs were even worse going 3-1, but with an ERA over 5.00. Even still, it's hard not to argue his presence adding to Lindbolm, Braddick, and Trinidad was essential to the Astros winning the 2012 World Series.
He also went on to post 54 wins with Houston in the subsequent seasons for a total of 60. His 20-4, 3.69 ERA, 223 strikeout season in 2014 was enough to earn him a Cy Young. However, Aroldis was never able to become the dominant post-season starter like some of his Houston counterparts. As a result, Houston dealt him in 2016 to Minnesota along with Sean Wood for Chris Hanson, Paulo Gentinetta, and the top three choices in Minnesota's draft. Those three players were:
Ty Auxier, Reid DePino, and Nat Raeburn. Raeburn, Hanson, Gentinetta, Wood, and Auxier all had a cup of tea at the big leagues and some were better than others, but all were non-factors. DePino, however, has gone on to become one of FCM's greatest middle infielders for the Arizona Diamondbacks. A multi-time all-star and gold-glove winner he was also central to the efforts of Arizona in winning an FCM World Series in 2024. He landed in Arizona when Houston dealt him for a rental of Yu Darvish.
Wow...long and winding was the story of this trade. In the end it had a trickle down effect on the league that we only brushed over here in this summary. There is no doubt that the 2012 championship was decided by this deal and the ramifications from it extended for many seasons throughout the league. It also marked the first big splash move for Houston on their way to becoming FCM's most decorated team.
Next Up:FCM's 6th Most Impactful Trade: "The Drunks get Drunker with JT on Board"
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