Resident TSM Astros fan vivalaultra inspired me by his excitement over me mentioning Glenn Davis in the new TWiB thread and bringing up him being traded to the Orioles. During the '90/'91 offseason the Astros traded their slugging first baseman for three prospects named Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch. Davis played three injury filled years in Baltimore while Schilling and Finley are still active players. Quite the coup by the Astros but Schilling and Finley's best years would come away from Houston as they would both be traded within the next three years.

 

This gave me an idea, which I've actually thought of before, of looking at the evolution of a trade and see what other moves it spawned. I orignally was going to post this in the TWiB thread but there is an insane number of moves that that one trade created and changed the lives of many players. This is only from the Astros perspective or otherwise this would go on forever. Now since I'm lazy I'm only C&Ping the transactions from baseball-reference.com.

 

Fun Facts from the Evolution of the Glenn Davis Trade

-13 future trades, the last made in 2004

-61 Players traded

-Acquired Brad Ausmus from the Tigers, then traded him back to the Tigers, and then traded back for him. If he's never traded again by the Astros he will be the last connection to the Davis trade.

 

Glenn Davis

January 10, 1991: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Baltimore Orioles for Pete Harnisch, Curt Schilling, and Steve Finley.

 

Curt Schilling

April 2, 1992: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies for Jason Grimsley.

 

Jason Grimsley

March 30, 1993: Released by the Houston Astros.

 

Pete Harnisch

November 28, 1994: Traded by the Houston Astros to the New York Mets for players to be named later. The New York Mets sent Todd Beckerman (minors) (December 6, 1994) and Juan Castillo (April 12, 1995) to the Houston Astros to complete the trade.

 

Steve Finley

December 28, 1994: Traded by the Houston Astros with a player to be named later, Ken Caminiti, Andujar Cedeno, Roberto Petagine, and Brian Williams to the San Diego Padres for Derek Bell, Doug Brocail, Ricky Gutierrez, Pedro Martinez (the other one), Phil Plantier, and Craig Shipley. The Houston Astros sent Sean Fesh (minors) (May 1, 1995) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.

 

Phil Plantier

July 19, 1995: Traded by the Houston Astros to the San Diego Padres for Rich Loiselle and Jeff Tabaka.

 

Pedro A. Martinez

October 10, 1995: Traded by the Houston Astros to the San Diego Padres for Ray Holbert.

 

Ray Holbert

December 15, 1996: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.

 

Craig Shipley

January 5, 1996: Signed as a Free Agent with the San Diego Padres.

 

Rich Loiselle

July 23, 1996: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Danny Darwin.

 

Doug Brocail

December 10, 1996: Traded by the Houston Astros with Brian Hunter, Todd Jones, Orlando Miller, and cash to the Detroit Tigers for Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima, Trever Miller, C.J. Nitkowski, and Daryle Ward.

 

Jeff Tabaka

January 10, 1997: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cincinnati Reds.

 

Danny Darwin

February 7, 1997: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago White Sox.

 

Brad Ausmus & C.J. Nitkowski

January 14, 1999: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Detroit Tigers for Paul Bako, Dean Crow, Brian Powell, Carlos Villalobos (minors), and Mark Persails (minors).

 

Ricky Gutierrez

December 20, 1999: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago Cubs.

 

Derek Bell

December 23, 1999: Traded by the Houston Astros with Mike Hampton to the New York Mets for Roger Cedeno, Octavio Dotel, and Kyle Kessel (minors).

 

Trever Miller

March 29, 2000: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies for Yorkis Perez.

 

Paul Bako

April 11, 2000: Purchased by the Florida Marlins from the Houston Astros.

 

Yorkis Perez

July 24, 2000: Released by the Houston Astros.

 

Roger Cedeno

December 11, 2000: Traded by the Houston Astros with Chris Holt and Mitch Meluskey to the Detroit Tigers for Brad Ausmus, Doug Brocail, and Nelson Cruz.

 

Jose Lima

June 23, 2001: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Detroit Tigers for Dave Mlicki.

 

Brian Powell

November 30, 2001: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.

 

Doug Brocail

November 11, 2002: Granted Free Agency.

 

Nelson Cruz

December 16, 2002: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Colorado Rockies for Victor Hall (minors).

 

Daryle Ward

January 25, 2003: Traded by the Houston Astros to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Ruddy Lugo (minors).

 

Octavio Dotel

June 24, 2004: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Houston Astros to the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics sent Mike Wood and Mark Teahen (minors) to the Kansas City Royals. The Houston Astros sent John Buck and cash to the Kansas City Royals. The Kansas City Royals sent Carlos Beltran to the Houston Astros.

 

Carlos Beltran

January 11, 2005: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Mets.