9 Current MLB All-Stars' Past Teams You Didn't Know They Played for

Adrian Gonzalez
Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Can you imagine Jeff Bagwell playing for the Boston Red Sox in the 1990s, Jeff Kent playing for the Blue Jays during their World Series runs of the early 1990s or David Eckstein playing for the Red Sox in the early 2000s?

Well, at some point, each of them played for those teams or their minor league affiliate.

While these prominent MVPs, World Series MVPs and All-Stars may have all retired, here are 10 players still active who started off on a team not many people know about.

Francisco Liriano: San Francisco Giants

Francisco Liriano pitching for the Twins
Nick Laham/Getty Images

Before he was the 22-year-old who burst onto the scene with a 12-3 record and a 2.16 ERA in 2006, he was the teenager who signed with the Giants as an international free agent in 2000.

After the 2003 season, Liriano, along with fellow All-Star Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser, was traded to the Twins for A.J. Pierzynski.

Pierzynski spent one season in San Francisco before being traded back to the American League Central as a member of the Chicago White Sox. 

Nathan has saved 254 games in 7 seasons with the Twins, posting a 2.08 ERA, striking out 544 batters in 449 innings.

After the 2006 season, Liriano underwent Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss the 2007 season.

Since 2008, Liriano has gone 32-36 with a 4.59 ERA, as he tries to regain his 2006 form.

Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek: Seattle Mariners

Derek Lowe pitching during Game 4 of the 2004 World Series
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Before winning the 2004 World Series with the Red Sox, Lowe and Varitek were teammates on the Mariners in the mid-1990s.

Lowe was 2-4 with a 6.96 ERA in 53 innings with the M's in 1997 before being traded along with Varitek, who was still in the minor league in that time.

Slocumb had gone 5-10 in 130 innings pitched over two years in Boston before being sent to the Mariners.

Slocumb struggled in Seattle as well, going 2-9 with a 4.97 ERA in 96 innings pitched over another two seasons. 

This trade has been cited as one of the key trades that eventually led to the Red Sox 2004 World Series title.

Brandon Phillips: Cleveland Indians and Montreal Expos

Brandon Phillips playing for the Reds during the 2011 season
Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The two-time All-Star second baseman was signed by the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) in 1999.

He played in the minors for three seasons before being dealt to the Indians with two players we will see later in this list for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew.

Phillips had a dismal four years in Cleveland.

In 135 games, Phillips managed to hit all of .206 with six home runs and 38 RBI.

Colon, who had been 75-45 with a 3.92 ERA in six seasons with the Indians, had a decent second half of '02 with the Expos, going 10-4 with a 3.31 ERA.

Drew was less than stellar for Montreal, going 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA in 13 appearances for the Expos in 2002 and 2003.

On April 7, 2006, Phillips was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for a player to be named later, which wound up being Jeff Stevens.

Stevens spent the next three seasons in the Indians farm system before being traded to the Cubs at the end of the 2008 season.

In three seasons with the Cubs, Stevens had recorded a 1-0 record with a 6.27 ERA in 37 innings pitched.

Phillips, in his five seasons in Cincy, has rapidly improved from his days in Cleveland, hitting .277 with 116 home runs and 466 RBI in five-and-a-half seasons, as well as winning the 2008 and 2010 N.L. Gold Glove Award for second basemen.

Jason Bay: San Diego Padres

By playing for the Pirates during his 2004 N.L. Rookie of the Year campaign
Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

Before winning the 2004 Rookie of the Year Award with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bay was the San Diego Padre who played in three games in 2003 and went two-for-eight before suffering a broken right wrist when he was hit by a pitch on his hand. 

Bay was traded in August of 2003 to the Pirates along with Oliver Perez for Brian Giles.

Perez succeeded at first, but finished his four years in Pittsburgh with a 21-28 record and a 4.59 ERA.

He was traded to the Mets and spent four years there, flaming out in 2010.

Stewart was never able to make it past Triple-A and left baseball after the 2005 season.

Giles spent seven moderately successful seasons in San Diego, batting .279 with 83 homers and 415 RBI before retiring from baseball after the 2009 season.

Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore: Montreal Expos

Cliff Lee pitching for the Indians in 2009
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

These two three-time All-Stars were the other two pieces of the trade puzzle that included Brandon Phillips.

They were all traded for Bartolo Colon in 2002.

Lee is 114-68 in his career with a 3.74 ERA and a WHIP of 1.237.

He won the 2008 A.L. Cy Young Award, going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and a WHIP of 1.110.

In 882 career games, Sizemore is batting .270 with 139 home runs and 455 RBI, with an OPS of .835 and 134 stolen bases.

Jose Bautista: Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Royals, New York Mets, and Pirates

Bautista competing in the 2011 State Farm Home Run Derby
Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Yes, you read that headline right.

The Orioles, the Rays, the Royals and the Mets have all, at one point in time, had Jose Bautista.

And they all let him slip away and fall right into the Blue Jays' hands.

In fact, all four of those teams had Bautista in the same season, 2004. 

Originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 20th round of the 2000 amateur draft, Bautista was selected by the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft and made his debut with Baltimore on April 4, 2004.

He was claimed off waivers by Tampa Bay on June 3, then traded to Kansas City on June 28.

He was then sent to the Mets on July 30, and without playing a game for New York, was traded back to Pittsburgh, where he played for five seasons before being traded to the Blue Jays on August 21, 2008.

Before the 2010 season, Bautista had 59 career home runs in 571 career games played.

In the 271 games he's played since the start of the 2010 season, Bautista leads all of baseball with 89 home runs.

Five teams had the man at one time, and five teams made a huge mistake letting him go.

Hanley Ramirez: Boston Red Sox

Hanley Ramirez in June of 2011
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Ramirez was involved in one of the more recent "both teams getting exactly what they want" trades in baseball.

Ramirez was traded along with Anibal Sanchez from the Red Sox to the Marlins in exchange for Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett and Guillermo Mota.

Sanchez has gone 37-45 with a 3.80 ERA in his five-and-a-half seasons with the Marlins, though he's missed parts of two seasons due to a labrum tear in his shoulder.

He hasn't quite returned to his 2006 form, where he threw a no-hitter and went 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA.

In 612 games with the Sox, Lowell hit .290 with 80 home runs and 374 RBI.

He was named the 2007 World Series MVP, hitting .400 with a 1.300 OPS during the series against the Colorado Rockies.

Beckett, in 166 games pitched, is 80-45 with a 4.02 ERA. He's struck out 972 and walked just 288, making three All-Star teams.

Mota never played for the Sox, as he was traded two months after the original trade, on January 27, 2006 to the Cleveland Indians.

Adrian Gonzalez: Florida Marlins and Texas Rangers

Gonzalez representing the Red Sox at the 2011 All-Star Game
Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Finally, we come to this article's cover boy.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2000 draft spent four seasons in the Marlins farm system and two seasons with the Rangers before becoming the star he is today.

After suffering a wrist injury in 2003, Gonzalez was traded to the Rangers for Ugueth Urbina.

Urbina pitched in 33 games for the Marlins, going 3-0 with six saves with a 1.41 ERA.

After the 2005 season, Gonzalez was traded with Chris Young and Terrmel Sledge for Akinori Otsuka and Adam Eaton.

Since the trade, Young has gone 34-25 with a 3.52 ERA in six injury- filled years. 

Sledge was disappointing in his two seasons with the Padres, hitting .215 with nine home runs and 30 RBI, with an OPS of .669. 

Eaton, a starter, was sub-par after the trade, going 24-27 with a 6.19 ERA in four seasons after the trade, before retiring after the 2009 season. 

Otsuka, a reliever, fared somewhat better, going 4-5 with a 2.25 ERA and 36 saves in two seasons before retiring after the 2007 season. 

What Does It All Mean?

Where might any of the aforementioned teams be if these star players had never left?

Would the Giants have won a World Series earlier with Liriano and Lincecum and Cain in their rotation?

Would the Red Sox have ever won a World Series without Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek, and on the other hand, would Lowe and Varitek have helped the Mariners over the Yankees in 2001?

Would the Indians have beaten the Red Sox in 2007 with Brandon Phillips added to their lineup?

Would Phillips, as well as Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore, have saved the Expos?

Would the Red Sox have been better off with Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez instead of Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell?

Would the Rangers have gotten to a World Series sooner with Adrian Gonzalez?

I guess it's something we'll just have to wonder about.

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