Cleveland Indians: Looking back at the trade of Roberto Alomar

Back in 1998, the Cleveland Indians had just won their fourth straight division title but lost in six games to the New York Yankees in the ALCS. General manager John Hart was looking for some offense that offseason and set his sights on Roberto Alomar.

The perpetual All-Star and Gold Glove candidate was more than happy to listen as brother Sandy had been with Cleveland for a long time. Robbie was also likely one of the best in-his-prime signings ever by the Tribe. He inked a deal with Cleveland in December 1998.

The move paid off handsomely in 1999 as the team's collective OPS+ rose from 103 to 111 while Robbie led the league in runs scored, finished third in MVP voting, made another All-Star game, and won Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove. But the Tribe was knocked out of the ALDS by the Boston Red Sox three games to two.

The Tribe missed the playoffs by five games in 2000, but won another division title in 2001, this time falling to the 116-win Seattle Mariners in the ALDS three games to two. Alomar played his part in both of those seasons. In 2001, he slashed .336/.415/.541 (150 OPS+) and finished fourth in MVP voting.

The following offseason, Mark Shapiro took over for John Hart. He saw a very good roster, but also one that had an aging core with only one starter under 30; the entire outfield of Marty Cordova, Kenny Lofton, and Juan Gonzalez were free agents. He had a lot of work to do.

Shapiro's first big move ended up being the trade of 34-year-old Robbie Alomar to the New York Mets along with pitcher Mike Bacsik and minor leaguer Danny Peoples for outfielder Matt Lawton, outfielder Alex Escobar, pitcher Jerrod Riggan and two players to be named later who turned out to be Billy Traber and Earl Snyder.

Lawton was well known for his earlier stint with the Minnesota Twins and was a good, but not spectacular, outfielder for the Indians for three seasons before getting traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Arthur Rhodes.

Escobar was a highly touted outfielder who had three straight seasons in Baseball America's top 100 but would end up missing all of 2002 with an injury. He played well in limited time in 2003 and 2004 before missing all of 2005 with another injury after the Chicago White Sox claimed him on waivers and then traded to the Washington Nationals.

Riggan did not do much in his two years in Cleveland and was cut in May of 2003. Snyder got into just 18 games with the Tribe before the Red Sox claimed him on waivers. Traber pitched in Cleveland in 2004 but missed all of 2005 with an injury before leaving as a free agent.

Somehow, Shapiro knew something about Robbie. Or he just plain lucked out. Either way, 2002 would be the worst of Alomar's career. In fact, he completely dropped off the proverbial cliff. Midway through 2003, the Mets dealt him to the White Sox for Royce Ring, Edwin Almonte and minor leaguer Andrew Salvo. He played in Arizona in 2004 before being traded back to the White Sox midseason. Before Cleveland dealt him, he accumulated 66.8 bWAR. After the deal, he was worth 0.0 bWAR in three seasons before hanging it up at 37.

Peoples never even played in the Mets minor league system and was out of baseball. Bacsik spent two years in New York before bouncing around from team to team. He actually got it to click in 2007 with the Nationals and ended up being a footnote in major league history as he gave up Barry Bonds 756 career home run.

The final totals on the deal:

Mets

Indians

Net Result:

The Tribe wins this transaction, but that is mainly because Alomar's skills eroded so quickly. If Escobar had stayed healthy, I think they might have doubled their WAR output.