Rays Family Tree: The Dead Trade Strings of 2000

The year 2000 featured the end of two more trade strings for the Rays.

 Bobby Abreu traded for Kevin Stocker (released 2000)

Pre-Trade

At the time of his selection in the expansion draft, Bobby Abreu was a 23-year-old right fielder who had started 46 games for the Astros in 1997. In his two seasons with Houston, Abreu posted a slash of .248/.325/.362. Immediately upon selection he was traded to the Phillies for 27-year-old shortstop Kevin Stocker who over 5 years with the Phils put up a slash line of .262/.347/.350.

Post-Trade

The Rays paid Stocker $7.5 million over 3 years for .250/.329/.347 despite releasing him in May of 2000 ending the Abreu trade string for them. Stocker was picked up by the Angels where started 63 games in 2000 with a line of .197/.299/.279. 2000 also represented the end of Stocker's major league career.

Abreu made $580k over his first two seasons with the Phillies while he OPSed .906 and .995. In 2000, was time for Abreu to get paid, and pay him the Phillies did to the tune of $51 million through 2006 where he OPSed between .877 and .970. In  July of 2006, they extened the Abreu string by trading Abreu and Cory Lidle to the Yankees in exchange for C.J. Henry, Carlos Monasterios, Jesus Sanchez, and Matt Smith. Matt Smith needed Tommy John Surgery in 2007 after just 23 relief appearances with the Phils and is now out of baseball. Sanchez is now 22 and in A Ball with the Phils.  Monasterios pitched for the Phils in A+ this year, before having a cup of coffee in AA.  C.J. Henry is now a reshirt freshman for the Kansas Jayhawk BASKETBALL team with the Yankees footing his tuition. The Stocker string is being held onto by a thread  for the Phils in the form of Monasterios and Sanchez, but it was dead for the Rays in 2000.

Scott Aldred traded for Marty Barnett (Released 2000)

Pre-Trade: Scott Aldred was a 29-year-old signed prior to the inaugural season. In 19988, he had served as a left-handed starter for the Twins. He would set a major league record in 2008 out of the pen with the Rays with 48 consecutive appearances without a decision. This record would remain in tact until 1998 when Trever Miller, also on the Rays went an astonishing 121 games in a row. The move to the pen on the Rays did Aldred a lot of good as his FIP dropped from 6.82 with the Twins to 3.55 and 3.79 in 1998-99, thanks to a lower than .4 HR/9 in both years.

Marty Barnett was a 25-year-old right hander pitching out of the pen in AA for the Phillies organization. Barnett had struck out 33 while walking 24 in 53.1 innings prior to the trade in 1999.

Post-Trade: On July 29, 1999, Aldred was traded to the Phillies as a player to be named later in exchange for 25. Marty Barnett was immediately elevated to AAA Durham where he struck out 30 and walked 30 in 37 innings of work. He was released from the organzation in July 2000 without making it to the big show. He would never make it back to AAA again and by 2004, he was out of baseball entirely.

Scott Aldred would pitch through 2000 with Philidephia before becoming a free agent. A career 5/6 K/9 pitcher, he increased his K/9 to 9.3 with the Phils, However, he may have been doing so at the expense of the long ball which increased to 1.33 HR/9. He did not make it back to the majors beyond 2000.  Today, Aldred is the pitching coach for the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.