General Managers Gone Wild: List of Bad AL Transactions in the 21st Century

This article will list free agent signings and trades completed since 2000 that were initially perceived as pivotal moves to benefit the team. The player didn't match his prior success or justify his new contract.

Aside from the NY Yankees and the Seattle Mariners, it wasn't as easy to identify "bad" transactions performed by AL GMs as it was for their counterparts in the NL.

New York Yankees

• (Dec. 13, 2003) Traded Jeff Weaver, Yhency Brazoban, Brandon Weeden, and cash to the Dodgers for Kevin Brown.
• (Dec. 16, 2003) Traded Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera, and Randy Choate to the Montreal Expos for Javier Vazquez.

After losing the World Series to the Florida Marlins, the Yankees had to decide if they were going to keep Andy Pettitte and David Wells or bring in new faces. Also, they did not expect to keep Roger Clemens, who was threatening to retire.

They decided to sign two new potential "aces" to head their rotation in 2004.

The Yankees were so willing to trade underachiever Jeff Weaver to obtain Kevin Brown and his remaining $31 million that they gave the Dodgers cash aside from the two other players.

Kevin Brown would win only 14 games in his two years of service, and when it counted the most, the postseason, he would give up eight earned runs to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS.

Javier Vazquez would match Kevin Brown's win totals in his lone year in pinstripes. But similar to Brown, he wouldn't produce when it counted. Vazquez gave up a total of 12 earned runs in the 11 postseason innings he pitched.

• (Dec. 20, 2004) Signed Carl Pavano for four years, $40 million.
• (Dec. 28, 2004) Signed Jaret Wright for three years, $21 million.
• (Jan. 11, 2005) Traded Javier Vazquez, Brad Halsey, Dioner Navarro, and $9 million to the Diamondbacks for Randy Johnson.

Wanting to forget their last two moves, the Yankees traded away Vazquez and his recently signed four-year extension ($45 million) to the Diamondbacks to get future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

This trade would cost the NY Yankees a total of $41 million, which included the two-year extension to Johnson for $32 million.

Though costly, Randy did win 17 games each of his two years in pinstripes. Unlike his World Series performance in 2001 against the NY Yankees, Randy gave up 10 earned runs in 13 innings in the '05 and '06 ALDS losses.

Prior to the Randy Johnson trade, the Yankees signed two free agent pitchers who also beat them in the past. The Yankees' motto that winter was: IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM, BUY THEM.

For these two charitable contracts, the Yankees received a total of 25 wins from Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright. No one really can second guess the Pavano deal, as he was coming off an 18-8 season at the age of 28. But the Wright deal was puzzling from the moment they signed the contract.

Wright was also 28, but had a long history of arm problems. Prior to the 2004 season, when he won 15 games, Jaret pitched approximately 150 innings the last four years combined.

It is apparent that the NY Yankees feel that pitching wins championships. They threw good money after bad money, time and time again, trying to recapture the glory that they last felt in 2000.

Only time will tell if their two latest pitching signings will be included in this list or bring them glory.

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