Five Worst Trades In Oakland Athletics’ History
Yoenis Cespedes for Jon Lester – 2014
A trade as stunning as the Canseco deal, 22 years later Billy Beane shocked fans by announcing that outfielder Yoenis Cespedes had been dealt for Jon Lester to boost pitching in the starting rotation.
At the time, the Athletics were the best team in baseball by no small margin. They were 57-33 after 90 games – the best record in baseball by 4.5 games, and rolling. They had already bolstered their pitching staff with a Fourth of July deal from the Cubs obtaining starters Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. The trade also didn’t make financial sense, because Cespedes still had a year on his contract while Lester was to be a free agent at season’s end.
Cespedes was hitting his prime in an All-Star season, with 17 home runs at the time of the trade. In his brief 2.5 seasons with the Athletics, he hit .262 with 66 home runs. He was second in 2012 Rookie of the Year balloting, trailing only the Angels’ Mike Trout.
The deal shook up the Oakland clubhouse and team dynamics. Following the trade, the offensive production plummeted and the A’s went 31-41 the rest of the way, the fourth worst record in the league – including going 15-28 in their last 43 games. The A’s saved themselves from missing the playoffs entirely by making the AL Wildcard Game with an end-of-the-season victory, but they went on to lose to the Royals in the one-game playoff.
It’s hard to judge how Cespedes would have turned out had he stayed with the A’s, but in the last two seasons his BA has hovered at the near .300 mark with an increase in both slugging percentage and OPS.
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