A Long-term Trade Deficit

The worst trade in the 50 years that the Dodgers have been in Los Angeles?

From casual fans to dedicated seamheads, no prompting is needed.

The 1993 trade that sent Pedro Martinez to Montreal for Delino DeShields continues to produce the loudest moans, with obvious justification.

Second baseman DeShields was a three-year bust in Los Angeles while Martinez, caught amid varying opinions by Dodgers officials regarding his long-term durability and whether he was best suited to start or relieve, has won two Cy Young awards in the American League, one in the National, and posted a 199-87 record in 14 seasons since the trade.

Then-general manager Fred Claire pulled the trigger on the deal. Claire wasn't operating in a vacuum, but he has always accepted responsibility. The trade is the biggest blemish on his tenure, but is it really the worst in L.A. Dodgers history?

A closer look shows that it was merely the culmination of a 12-year series of trades that stripped the impatient Dodgers of five of their most promising pitching prospects and brought little in return.

Rick Sutcliffe, two years after he won the rookie-of-the-year award, was traded in 1981 for Jorge Orta.

Dave Stewart and John Franco were traded in 1983 for Rick Honeycutt and Rafael Landestoy, respectively.

John Wetteland was packaged with Tim Belcher in 1991 and traded for Eric Davis and Kip Gross.

Then, two years later, Martinez was traded.

Martinez, Sutcliffe and Stewart went on to become three of baseball's best starters. Sutcliffe won a Cy Young Award and Stewart had four consecutive 20-win seasons (but no Cy Young Awards). In addition, Franco and Wetteland went on to become two of baseball's best closers, the bottom lines on championship teams in New York.

The Sutcliffe, Franco and Stewart trades were negotiated by Al Campanis, Claire's predecessor. Claire negotiated the Wetteland and Martinez trades.

The one Dodgers constant in each was Manager Tom Lasorda, who has never been shy about offering an opinion and who often said that the Dodgers couldn't afford to operate a developmental camp in the major market that is Los Angeles.

Each of those trades ranks high on the 50-year list of the club's worst.

But if Martinez/DeShields is the runaway No. 1, part of the blame goes to Jody Reed, DeShields' predecessor at second base. When Reed, slightly better than a journeyman at best, rejected a three-year, $7.8-million free-agent offer to stay with the Dodgers after the '93 season, Claire and Lasorda were left with an absence of speed and a gaping hole in the infield of what they hoped would be a contending club.