Trades Are All About Making a Move
Every time a baseball player is traded -- as undoubtedly will occur several times between now and Thursday's trade deadline -- a locker is somberly cleaned out. A house or apartment is quickly vacated. A family might be abruptly separated. Careers are altered and lives are changed. And from the general managers signing off on the deals to the players being shipped off to the wives picking up the p

Sunday, July 27, 2008

THE PROSPECT LHP B.J. Ryan

Traded with minor league RHP Jacobo Sequea from Cincinnati to Baltimore for RHP Juan Guzmán on July 31, 1999.

"That was the year I never unpacked my car. I went from [Class AA] Chattanooga [in the Reds' organization] to [Class AAA] Indianapolis, and then to the Futures Game [in Boston], then to Cincinnati, and then [after the trade] to [Class AAA] Rochester [in the Orioles' organization], and then to Baltimore.

"I was 23, and it was this unbelievable whirlwind, and I literally never unpacked my car the whole year. I wasn't sleeping in it -- I always had a place to stay, sometimes five guys in a house -- but I was pretty much living out of it. And it had been like that for me for two whole years, when you think about it, because [in 1998] I went from rookie ball to [Class] A ball to Double A -- three levels in a year. So I was used to the moving around, and the trade just felt like another move. It was: 'All right, let's pack up the car again and go. Time to go.'

"I was driving this sweet Mustang. And I remember at the end of the season, I was finally going to get to go home [to Louisiana]. I was driving out of Baltimore, and about 10 miles out of town I blew out the thermostat. So I'm sitting there on the side of the road, calling a tow truck. I had no idea where I was. So I had to stay in Baltimore a few extra days getting the car fixed.

"I was still single [at the time of the trade]. All I had to do was pack up the car and get on the road. I could get my whole life situated in a couple of hours, it seemed like. But now that I have a family, I can't imagine what it would be like [to get traded]. It's so much more complicated, especially if you've been somewhere for six or seven years.

"We sweated out a few [trade deadlines] when I was in Baltimore. My name was always out there, but thank God I never got traded again."

THE VETERAN 3B-OF Aubrey Huff

Traded with cash from Tampa Bay to Houston for minor league SS Ben Zobrist and minor league RHP Mitch Talbot on July 12, 2006.

"I was excited at the time because it was a welcome change for me. I mean, I was in Tampa for six years, and we'd been in last place pretty much the whole time, and I was frustrated with it.

"But it is a whirlwind. Your whole life is upside down, just like that, and one day you have to be from here to there. Bags, family, everything -- just like that. And the next day you're playing for another team and getting to know different people. And obviously, for me, it was different leagues, too. Just a lot of uncomfortable situations to deal with all at once. At least for me [the trade occurred] during the all-star break, so I had a full off-day to take care of the logistics and get to my new team.

"My wife and I decided to keep our place in Tampa, rather than put it on the market, so all I needed was an apartment or something in Houston. When you're traded, you get the first week [paid for by the new team] at a hotel to help you get situated. Sometimes a week isn't really enough, but I was lucky because Houston had a deal with this apartment complex, so I got a place soon enough.

"It was really strange walking into a new clubhouse. I walked in and went straight to the manager's office. If I had been traded to [an] American League [team], I would've known a lot of guys. But I went to [the NL], and I really didn't know anybody in there. They had [ex-Yankees] Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, but I didn't really know anyone. You definitely feel like the new kid showing up in kindergarten class, with everyone looking at you.

"But they all made me feel welcome, and in the first game I think I hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to put us ahead, and we won the game. So that definitely helped."

THE GENERAL MANAGER Jim Duquette

New York Mets general manager traded minor league LHP Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay for RHP Victor Zambrano on July 30, 2004.

"There are mixed emotions. You have the business side, that coldhearted business side of the decision, where you've talked yourself into something you think is right for the organization. Then you have that human element, where you're wrestling with it internally.

"In that particular case, [Kazmir] was definitely a guy who would help [the Mets] for a long time. But that's the nature of risk, and there are GMs [for whom] the risk of making a mistake paralyzes them -- it's paralysis by analysis -- and they end up not making any deals at all. [These trades] are not easy, and that's why you get paid the big bucks, and why you've put in all the time and studied all the angles of it. And if you can't deal with [the criticism], you shouldn't be in that position in the first place.

"Anytime the trade deadline comes around, you're not getting much sleep anyway. But in a case like that, you're sitting up all night wondering: Are you making the right decision for the organization? Did you do your due diligence? Is this right for the club? Any GM goes through that with a trade of this magnitude. There's a mental checklist you go through, over and over.

"When it's over, and the trade is made and announced, you have a sense of relief, but there's also an element of buyer's remorse -- this question of, 'Did we do the right thing?' I've never really asked other GMs about it, but it's there. You're moving forward. You feel good about it, but there's always that second-guess, that buyer's remorse. You wouldn't be human if you didn't question yourself."

THE WIFE Abby Kearns

Her husband, Austin Kearns, was traded with IF Felipe López and RHP Ryan Wagner from Cincinnati to Washington for RHP Gary Majewski, LHP Bill Bray, SS Royce Clayton, IF Brendan Harris and minor league RHP Daryl Thompson on July 13, 2006.

"It was right after the all-star break, and I had dropped Austin off at the ballpark [in Cincinnati], and I was driving back to our home in Kentucky. I was six or seven months pregnant, and I had our 1-year-old [son Aubrey] with me. I had unloaded the car, gotten all the toys out, and taken Aubrey out of his car seat. And as soon as I did that, Austin called me, and the first thing he said was, 'I've been traded.'

"I thought it was a joke at first. But he said: 'I'm serious. I'm traded to Washington.' I was just in shock. You feel like you want to be supportive, obviously, and want to be positive for your husband, but to be honest it feels like almost a letdown.

"I said, 'I'll pack [the car] back up, and you let me know what I need to do.' But in the meantime, I'm thinking, 'I have to do something about the lease here, I have to find a place in D.C., I have to find [a family member] to travel with me to help with the kids, I have to find somebody to house-sit in Kentucky.' It's overwhelming. And of course, the biggest thing is leaving your friends and family. We were so lucky [in Cincinnati] to be so close to home. It was almost too good to be true.

"We look at it as things happen for a reason, and it's been a great experience [in Washington] with the new ballpark and everything. But it's bittersweet. I've had a hard time from the family perspective. Austin and I had never gone more than two weeks without seeing each other. And now that he's in a different state, we sometimes go four weeks. We leave each other when he goes on a road trip not knowing when we'll reconnect. And it kills him not seeing the kids.

"We have our house outside of Lexington, and we rent an apartment in Alexandria. Buying a place -- you just don't know. It's a good thing we didn't buy in Cincinnati. Even though [the Reds] told us, 'Hey, we want you here for the next couple of years' -- and the next thing you know, he's traded. I think we both learned our lesson: Don't believe everything you hear.

"Every year, the whole month of July, everyone's on pins and needles, because you just don't know. That never really goes away."