People still hate Paul DePodesta

Written by Greg Fertel | 23 April 2008

By Ross Newhan of the LA Times, via MLB Trade Rumors. He's counting down the worst trades in Dodger history.

No.4 -- It is hard to overlook the 1998 trade that cost the club Paul Konerko for Jeff Shaw or the April 4 deal in 2004 that brought the destructive Milton Bradley for Franklin Gutierrez, who has since fulfilled his promise in the Cleveland outfield, but Paul DePodesta may have compounded Bradley's eventual chemistry implosion four months later when he traded Paul Lo Duca, Guillermo Mota and Juan Encarnacion to Florida for Brad Penny, Hee-Seop Choi and Bill Murphy, the Dodgers never regaining the roll they had been on at the time.

Really? Really? You are still complaining about that trade? Ladies and gentleman, Ross Newhan is proof that human beings lose their rational thinking skills when exposed to news rooms for too long. Let's look at the trade:

Bill Murphy was packaged for Steve Finley, who hit .263/.324/.491 for the Dodgers after the trade.
Hee Sop Choi flopped.
Brad Penny up until 2008 had pitched 614 innings with an ERA of 3.70, and was third place for the friggin Cy Young award.

vs.

Juan Encarnacion, who went on to hit a pedestrian .274/.347/.430 before departing for free agency.
Paul Lo Duca, hit .283/.334/.380 in 2005. His OPS+ rates since the trade? 82, 92, 102, 80. The "heart and soul" man also had a not-so-nice encounter with the Mitchell Report, whatever that means.
Guillermo Mota, also with steroid problems, posted ERA+ rates of 85, 99, and 74 in subsequent stops.

Oh, and the Dodgers still made the playoffs that year. Yeah, the 2005 Dodgers sucked, but that was largely due to an injured bullpen and starting lineup. It happens to the best GMs. Never mind the fact that Depo can be thanked for Matt Kemp, Derek Lowe, Jeff Kent, James Loney, and did not sign Nomar Garciaparra or Juan Pierre. He traded Paul Lo Duca because Russell Martin was ready to break out. Ross Newhan basically was writing a column and said, "You know, I could talk about the horrible trade where the Dodgers missed out on Paul Konerko, but instead I think that I'll take a moment to hit Paul DePodesta again." Newhan should be asking the question, "Why the hell does Ned Coletti have a job after signing Juan Pierre to a 5 year deal?", not still complaining about Paul DePodesta. I'm amazed sometimes that these idiots in news rooms have jobs.