Trades. The complexity is unbelievable, yet the goal is simple. Throughout the years, thousands of trades have taken place. In some situations, a trade works out great for both teams involved. For example, prior to the 2008 season, Josh Hamilton was traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Edinson Volquez. Hamilton played fantastically in 2008, hitting .304 with 32 home runs and 130 RBI's, which led baseball. Though Cincinnati would have loved to have had Josh Hamilton's hot bat, they were just as pleased with the pitching of Edinson Volquez, as he went 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA, including 206 strikeouts in 196 innings. Then there are those trades that don't seem to work out for either team, such as the 1994 trade that sent Terry Mulholland and Jeff Patterson to the Yankees in exchange for Kevin Jordan, Bobby Munoz and Ryan Karp to the Phillies. Mulholland played just one season with the Yanks and was awful, and Patterson only pitched three games in pinstripes. Karp pitched just 16 games for the Phils over two years, Munoz was 8-15 with an ERA near 5 in his four seasons in Philly, and Kevin Jordan was a decent utility man over the course of seven seasons. With the exception of Jordan, who was mediocre at best, this was a completely ineffective trade, even including Jordan. Then there's that third kind of trade. The kind that one team will talk about for years to come, and the other will try to forget about. In this list, you will see the 10 greatest/worst trades in baseball history. If you are confused, there is one list. I phrase the list as greatest/worst because for one team it's a great trade, and for another it's terrible. So, before I attempt to confuse you any further, let's take a peek at this list, shall we?
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