Writer's note: I originally ran this history and analysis of Doug Melvin's trades at the helm of the Rangers in December of 1998, and I thought I might revisit the subject in light of the heat being thrown his way lately; thrown at him unfairly, in my opinion. The 1994-1998 trades are reprinted, with the analysis updated somewhat, and the several deals he has engineered since then are of course added.
1994 (he was hired in October of that year):
1. Traded Jose Canseco to Boston for Otis Nixon and Luis Ortiz.
2. Traded Rich Aurilia and Desi Wilson to San Francisco for John Burkett.
Not the greatest start, but Nixon was serviceable (.295 with 58 walks and 50 stolen bases plus solid defense in 1995) while Mickey Tettleton was signed to DH in Canseco's place. Tettleton hit 56 jacks over the next two seasons for Texas, while Canseco hit 52 for Boston. Ortiz did not pan out as planned. The Burkett deal was of course aborted when Texas non-tendered him at the beginning of the 1995 season, and he never really was a Ranger. (At least not yet.) Aurilia developed into a solid utility guy and ultimately a consistent
starting shortstop, while the 6'7" Wilson never developed power and never made it. Overall, Melvin had yet to make a truly positive impact.
1995:
1. Traded David Hulse to Milwaukee for Scott Taylor.
2. Traded John Dettmer to Baltimore for Jack Voigt.
3. Traded Roger Luce to Houston for Domingo Jean.
4. Traded Guillermo Mercedes to Cleveland for Dennis Cook.
5. Traded Hector Fajardo to Montreal for Lou Frazier.
6. Traded Wilson Heredia and Scott Podsednik to Florida for Bobby Witt.
7. Traded Stephen Larkin to Cincinnati for Craig Worthington.
8. Sent cash to Toronto for Candy Maldonado.
9. Traded Jack Voigt to Boston for Chris Howard.
10. Traded Darryl Kennedy to San Francisco (as PTBNL) for Rikkert Faneyte.
No huge deals in Melvin's first full year at the helm, but he began to make his mark as a scavenger. Several times he dealt for usable and sometimes valuable bit players, rarely giving up anything that would ever pan out in return. Getting Cook and Witt in particular were solid moves, especially since Melvin was able to get maximum value out of a couple low-ceiling prospects like Mercedes and Heredia. I really thought Howard was going to make it before he hurt his arm several months after joining Texas. Notable on this list is how many of the players who Melvin traded in 1995 eventually returned to the organization: Hulse, Heredia, Podsednik, Voigt, and Kennedy who returned as a manager for the rookie league Gulf Coast Rangers.
1996:
1. Traded Terrell Lowery to New York Mets for Damon Buford.
2. Traded Rudy Pemberton to Boston for Bryan Eversgerd.
3. Traded Mark Brandenburg and Kerry Lacy to Boston for Mike Stanton and Dwayne Hosey.
4. Traded Ryan Dempster and Rick Helling to Florida for John Burkett.
5. Traded David Chavarria to St. Louis for Cory Bailey.
The Stanton trade was vital. The Burkett trade was, too, at the time, even though the deal doesn't look so good in retrospect. Dempster is making a big impact right now in Florida, but if he were still in the Ranger organization I suspect he would just be knocking on the door (see my May 9 report.) Helling? Melvin fortunately found a way to develop a Ranger-drafted arm: let him pick up a few things first elsewhere and bring him back. The improved drafts have finally give the Rangers a number of homegrown starting pitching prospects, but try to think back a few years and recall how unusual it was for the Rangers to develop a starting pitcher. The Lowery deal for Buford, made just after Lowery had a huge Arizona Fall League season, was solid.
1997:
1. Traded Dean Palmer to Kansas City for Tom Goodwin.
2. Traded Cory Bailey to San Francisco for Chad Hartvigson.
3. Traded Ken Hill to Anaheim for Jim Leyritz and Rob Sasser.
4. Traded Mike Bell to Anaheim for Matt Perisho.
5. Traded Ed Vosberg to Florida for Rick Helling.
6. Traded Jim Leyritz and Damon Buford to Boston for Aaron Sele, Bill Haselman, and Mark Brandenburg.
7. Traded Benji Gil to Chicago White Sox for Al Levine and Larry Thomas.
For the most part, a terrific year of trades. The Deano/Goody deal was much maligned, but Tatis was ready and Goodwin actually stepped his game up a tad and was passable in CF and as a leadoff hitter in Texas, particularly in his first full season with the Rangers in 1998, when he posted career highs in batting average (.290), on-base percentage (.378), and runs scored (102). Huge salary-saving deal, and maybe one that didn't really hurt on the field,
either. The two big trades effectively cost Hill and Buford and brought aboard Sele, Haselman, Sasser, and Perisho. Spectacular. But not as spectacular as preying on Florida's win-now mentality and stealing Helling back for Vosberg. Getting the very serviceable Levine for Gil was solid as well.
1998:
1. Traded catcher Kevin Brown to Toronto for Tim Crabtree.
2. Traded Andrew Vessel to Cincinnati for Chad Mottola.
3. Traded Bobby Witt to St. Louis for Scar Green.
4. Traded Warren Morris and Todd Van Poppel to Pittsburgh for Esteban Loaiza.
5. Traded Darren Oliver, Fernando Tatis, and Mark Little (as PTBNL) to St. Louis for Todd Stottlemyre and Royce Clayton.
6. Traded Jose Santos and Dan DeYoung to Florida for Todd Zeile.
7. Sent cash to Florida for Gregg Zaun.
Another solid year despite the controversial St. Louis deal. The Crabtree deal was terrific, especially considering Brown's uselessness to the organization. The Loaiza deal has its proponents and detractors to this day, but with Jason Romano on the way, Morris was arguably expendable. Loaiza was inexpensive, helped in the stretch run in 1998, and emerged as a potential big winner in 1999. Losing Tatis was tough, but as strong as third base is right now in the system (Lamb, Grabowski, Blalock), it can be argued that getting a Clayton-caliber shortstop was more critical than hanging onto the high ceiling that Tatis promised (and almost immediately delivered for the Cardinals). Plus, there's no doubt that bringing Clayton and Stottlemyre and Zeile aboard significantly helped to put Texas in the playoffs, and while Stottlemyre did not return, his departure netted the Rangers two premium
draft picks that turned into Colby Lewis and Kevin Mench. DeYoung flopped (and retired following the season) and Santos didn't hit with nearly the authority he showed in the first half with Savannah. After reaching Class A in 1996, Santos still has not reached AA. He is hitting .175/2/11 in 103 at-bats for Brevard County of the Florida State League this season.
1999:
1. Sold Rafael Bournigal to Seattle.
2. Traded Adrian Myers (as PTBNL) for Jeff Fassero.
3. Traded Juan Gonzalez, Danny Patterson, and Gregg Zaun to Detroit for Justin Thompson, Francisco Cordero, Gabe Kapler, Frank Catalanotto, Bill Haselman, and Alan Webb.
4. Traded Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek to New York Yankees for Chad Curtis.
They don't get much bigger than the Detroit trade Melvin made in November 1999, and it's tough throwing a ticker tape parade at this point due to the injuries that have beset Thompson, Kapler, and Catalanotto, but when the trade was made there was not a baseball person in the nation who believed Detroit got the better end of the deal. With the April and early May that the Texas pen had to begin the 2000 season, it's frightening to imagine where
the club would be without Cordero, and it is looking fairly certain that Gonzalez, who is hitting .225 with nine RBI in 111 at-bats and has not driven in a runner in scoring position since the season's first week will not re-sign with Tigers, which will effectively end his career in Detroit and probably that of Tiger GM Randy Smith. For much, much more analysis on the trade, check pages 29-31 of your 1999 bound edition of the NMLR. The Fassero deal was a low-risk effort to rejuvenate an old warrior that did not pan out, but Myers had reached his ceiling in the Ranger organization at AA. He is hitting .250 for the AA New Haven Ravens. The Curtis deal has helped Texas tremendously, as the Rangers did not want to risk arbitration with Roberto Kelly, and Curtis has not been overexposed in full-time duty necessitated by injuries to Rusty Greer and Gabe Kapler. Knight is at 2-4, 6.64 for AAA
Columbus, and the oft-injured Marsonek has yet to pitch this season.
2000:
1. Traded Lee Stevens to Montreal and received David Segui from Toronto in three-way trade.
Nobody is complaining about this deal, the least of which the Rangers as Segui is second in the American League in hitting and has been invaluable at first base as Rafael Palmeiro has needed plenty of days off defensively. Stevens has given the Expos some lineup protection for Vlad Guerrero, and Fullmer has been among the league leaders in RBI while giving the Jays some payroll relief and a player they could justify DH'ing behind Carlos Delgado. Having Segui DH while Delgado played first was nearly absurd.
How do you grade Melvin, then? He has made two front-page trades, with one (the Tatis deal) that will be debated for a long time and another (the Gonzalez deal) that ought to prove to be decidedly in the Rangers' favor. He has done an outstanding job turning marginal and/or expendable players into significant value (for instance, the trades netting Crabtree, Sele, Cook, Stanton, Curtis, Zeile, and Helling). The two deals that look the worst in retrospect both involved John Burkett, as Melvin dealt Rich Aurilia, Ryan Dempster, and Helling in his two efforts to acquire Burkett, although it should not be forgotten that Burkett was pivotal in getting Texas to its first post-season and responsible for the franchise's lone playoff win. There is not one disaster in his trade history, and plenty (Crabtree-for-Brown, the Sele trade, Helling-for-Vosberg) that have to be considered complete failures by the other organization.
There is no general manager in the majors who has a spotless record, but in my opinion Doug Melvin's ledger has as good a win-loss percentage as any GM's in baseball.
