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He was through, but it still hurt when the Giants traded Willie Mays early
in the 1972 season. It wasn’t just that Mays was my favorite player; it was
that yet another seemingly permanent fixture of my youth was shown to be as
temporary as everything else.


Before that, the deal that really bothered me was when the Giants traded
Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy to the Indians for Sudden Sam McDowell. It’s not
that I had an inkling that Perry was going to be an instant Cy Young Award
winner for Cleveland, or that I knew that McDowell’s best days were long behind
him. I didn’t. I just knew that one of the familiar faces was leaving.


Perry. Mays. McCovey. Marichal. All gone, eventually. And not just them, of
course; they were the big ones, and frankly, the only one whose departure
really hurt the team was Perry — the rest were shadows of their former
selves.

The Bonds Chain
Bonds for Bobby Murcer
Murcer for Bill Madlock
Madlock for Al Holland
Holland for Mark Davis
Davis for Kevin Mitchell
Mitchell for Dave Burba
Burba for Rickey Pickett
Pickett for Chris Jones


Still full of life, though, was Bobby Bonds, an MVP candidate in 1973 who,
unaccountably, was sent to the Yankees in October 1974 for Bobby Murcer —
himself a fine player, but no Bobby Bonds. Sure, Bonds struck out
constantly, but Murcer didn’t have anything like Bonds’ speed or power, and
he was being asked to learn a new position, right field, which (as Glenallen
Hill proved) is no easy task at Candlestick. But someone inside the Giants
front office figured they knew more than we did, so, to my eternal
displeasure, a hike Bonds took, and with him left the hope of permanence.


But little did the Giants or I know how much fun this deal would provide: it
set off a chain of subsequent trades that has been unbroken to this day,
nearly 24 years later. By “chain” I mean, “Guy A is traded for Guy B; Guy B
is traded for Guy C; Guy C is traded for Guy D, etc.” Though this kind of
thing can’t be unique, I only know of two such long-term chains since the
Giants have been in San Francisco — the other one began with Tito Fuentes
just after the Bonds trade.


Take a look at the abbreviated chains to the right of this page.
See what’s happened lately?


Contrast these with this recent chain: Kirt Manwaring for Rick Wilkins
for… nobody — all within a year. I’m sure that this type of chain is much
more common, especially now that trades are more difficult to make, and
players often leave via free agency rather than trade.

The Fuentes Chain
Fuentes for Derrel Thomas
Thomas for Mike Ivie
Ivie for Jeffrey Leonard
Leonard for Ernie Riles
Riles for Darren Lewis
Lewis for Rickey Pickett
Pickett for Chris Jones


I’ve kept track of the Bonds and Fuentes “trade chains” for years, but do
they have any particular meaning in a “baseball sense”? Not likely. Are they
statistically significant? I don’t see how. Are they even relevant, really?
Nah. Heck, they’re not very Baseball Prospectus at all — except that
they’re fun. And after all, fun is what baseball’s about.


The hitch in this story now is that unfortunately it leads to a marginal
backup outfielder in the majors and, by all accounts, another one in the
minors. This does not bode well for the trade chain. It was a cool story in
1989, when the premise could’ve been, “Would you trade Bobby Bonds for Kevin
Mitchell? The Giants did — sort of….” I almost had this story sold in
1991, but the timing was hosed by the Giants trying to unload Kevin Mitchell
— which they did, eventually, and somehow a “Bonds for Swift, Jackson, and
Burba” piece didn’t have the same ring to it (to say nothing of a “Bonds for
Jones” piece).


Then once Swift and Jackson departed via free agency, only Burba kept the
chain alive, so I was convinced that the team needed to trade him.
Naturally I was thrilled that they did — if only to perpetuate the chain.
(Plus I wasn’t crazy about Burba anyway.) I was even more pleased — at
first — when I realized that including Darren Lewis in the deal meant that
the Fuentes chain was still alive and that the two chains had converged.
Later, however, I realized what this meant: if one chain dies, they both
die.


The two chains have involved over fifty players, with Lewis being the common
link. Other illustrious names include broadcasters Mike Krukow, Duane
Kuiper, and Joe Morgan; four-time batting champion (though none of those titles
came with the Giants) Bill Madlock; former Cy Young Award winner Mark Davis
(again, not an award won with the Giants); and Dave Dravecky. The player traded
with Fuentes, Butch Metzger, was in camp with the Giants as a replacement
player in 1995.


The Bonds chain is fairly complicated, as you’ll see in the figure, while
the Fuentes chain is fairly linear. Here are the full details:

The Complete Bonds Chain
Date Giants trade To For
10/22/74 OF Bobby Bonds Yankees OF Bobby Murcer
2/11/77 OF Bobby Murcer
IF-OF Steve Ontiveros
Cubs 3b Bill Madlock
IF Rob Sperring
3/26/77 IF Rob Sperring
OF Willie Crawford
Astros 2b Rob Andrews
6/28/79 3b Bill Madlock
P Dave Roberts
Pirates P Ed Whitson
P Al Holland
P Fred Breining
11/15/81 P Ed Whitson Indians 2b Duane Kuiper
12/14/82 P Al Holland
2b Joe Morgan
Phillies P Mike Krukow
P Mark Davis
OF C.L. Penigar (minor leaguer)
2/27/84 P Fred Breining
P Andy McGaffigan
OF Max Venable
Expos 1b Al Oliver
9/1/84 1b Al Oliver
P Renie Martin
Phillies P Kelly Downs
P George Riley
10/24/85 P George Riley Expos P Bill Laskey
7/4/87 P Mark Davis
P Mark Grant
P Keith Comstock
3b Chris Brown
Padres P Dave Dravecky
P Craig Lefferts
3b Kevin Mitchell
12/11/91 OF Kevin Mitchell
P Mike Remlinger
Mariners P Bill Swift
P Mike Jackson
P Dave Burba
7/21/95 P Dave Burba
P Mark Portugal
OF Darren Lewis
Reds OF Deion Sanders
P Scott Service
P John Roper (minor leaguer)
P Ricky Pickett (minor leaguer)
1b Dave McCarty (minor leaguer)
1/29/98 1b Dave McCarty (minor leaguer) Mariners OF Jalal Leach (minor leaguer)
OF Scott Smith (minor leaguer)
4/27/98 P Ricky Pickett (minor leaguer) Diamondbacks OF Chris Jones
The Complete Fuentes Chain
Date Giants trade To For
12/8/74 2b Tito Fuentes
P Butch Metzger
Padres 2b Derrel Thomas
2/28/78 OF-IF Derrel Thomas Padres 1b Mike Ivie
4/20/81 1b Mike Ivie Astros OF Jeffrey Leonard
1b Dave Bergman
3/21/84 1b Dave Bergman Phillies OF Alejandro Sanchez
6/8/88 OF Jeffrey Leonard Brewers IF Ernest Riles
12/3/90 IF Ernest Riles Athletics OF Darren Lewis
P Pedro Pena (minor leaguer)
7/21/95 P Dave Burba
P Mark Portugal
OF Darren Lewis
Reds OF Deion Sanders
P Scott Service
P John Roper (minor leaguer)
P Ricky Pickett (minor leaguer)
1b Dave McCarty (minor leaguer)
1/29/98 1b Dave McCarty (minor leaguer) Mariners OF Jalal Leach (minor leaguer)
OF Scott Smith (minor leaguer)
4/27/98 P Ricky Pickett (minor leaguer) Diamondbacks OF Chris Jones


Solely for entertainment’s sake, it’s important to me for the Giants to keep
the chain intact, and since 1995 it’s looked as though it would be harder
and harder to do. Dave McCarty? Jalal Leach? Rickey Pickett? How are you
supposed to keep this thing alive with those guys?


But alive it is, with Chris Jones being the chain’s only by-product in the
major leagues right now — not only that, but every other link in the chain
had been acquired for someone who had played for the Giants at the major
league level. (Pickett later broke through with the Diamondbacks, to their
eventual chagrin, but they dumped him quickly.) Scott Smith is still in the
Giants’ system, but I can’t imagine the team has high hopes for him. Jalal
Leach got a long look in spring training, but he doesn’t look much like a
prospect either.


So now, somehow, some way, the Giants must trade Chris Jones for somebody
with some staying power. I’m thinking he needs to be part of the team’s next
big trade, and that the guys the Giants pick up have to be seriously
marketable major leaguers who aren’t in the last year of their contracts (and
thus about to enter the free agent market).


Otherwise, the trade chain will die, and that’s just not right.

Thank you for reading

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