The Miami Marlins did an interesting trade back in the day

The Fish traded Carlos Delgado after just one season

Carlos Delgado
Carlos Delgado | Kirby Lee/GettyImages

The 2005 Miami Marlins (actually the Florida Marlins), actually tried to compete that season. The team even made big free agent signings! I'm of course talking about 1B Carlos Delgado. The reason why the team was going all-in is due to winning the 2003 World Series. After sadly missing the playoffs, The Fish traded Delgado to the New York Mets for 1B Mike Jacobs, Minor League IF Grant Psomas and Minor League RHP Yusmeiro Petit.

How did the Miami Marlins do in the forgotten trade?

Let's start off with remembering how Carlos Delgado did in 2005. He batted .301/.399/.582, with 33 home runs and 115 RBI in 144 games and 521 AB. While these results look phenomenal, they came with an atrocious -2.9 dWAR. He was a top 5 worst defender in the Majors, and easily the worst in the Majors at first base. This is why his ultimate WAR was just 2.8 WAR. Solid and above average but not great.

After the trade, Delgado batted .267/.352/.506 from 2006-2009, being worth 4.8 WAR for that time period. Grant Psomas never actually pitched in the Majors. Yusmeiro Petit had one horrible season for the then Florida Marlins in 2006. He delivered a 9.57 ERA/6.11 FIP, with 6.8 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 15 games and 26.1 innings pitched. He was worth a dreadful -0.8 WAR.

Mike Jacobs was obviously the big return for The Fish. The first baseman played for the team from 2006 to 2008. He batted .258/.314/.483 in 391 games and 1372 AB during that time period. 2008 was actually his best season. He batted a poor .247/.299/.514, but with an impressive 32 home runs and 93 RBI, in 141 games and 477 AB. He was worth a surprising perhaps -2.0 WAR for that season and -2.9 WAR for his entire time on the team. The culprit was his horrible defense that was especially bad in 2008, with it receiving a -3.2 dWAR mark.

It's safe to say that the trade between the then Florida Marlins and the New York Mets, did not work out well for The Fish. Mike Jacobs was actually worse than Carlos Delgado and the two pitchers didn't work out. With no DH in the National League at the time, it made sense to move on from the then 33 year old Delgado, but the return should've been better.

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