Doyle Alexander for Who?

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Bud Selig is having a nice laugh right.

Sure, the NL MVP and star of his hometown team recently tested positive for PEDs, but Selig has been made to look good by one man: David Stern.

This NBA trade fiasco with Chris Paul has been laughable. And the reason Selig can have a good laugh about it is the endless trades baseball teams make throughout the year, in season and out. Selig has even allowed trades of teams MLB has taken ownership of; much like the NBA has with the Hornets.

Just look at what the MLB-owned Montreal Expos gave away to get Bartolo Colon back in 2002: future all-stars in Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore and a Cy Young Award winner in Cliff Lee.

Maybe those guys weren’t superstars at the time, but that is one of the great things about baseball trades. Those minor league prospects that few people of have heard of can turn into franchise icons.

John Smoltz and Jeff Bagwell were both prospects in the minors traded at the deadline. Smoltz went from the Tigers organization to Atlanta for Doyle Alexander (sounds like a President from the late 1800’s). Sure, Alexander had an immediate impact for Detroit, going 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA to help the Tigers win the 1987 AL East Pennant, but which name is going to live on longer in that trade?

Bagwell was sent packing to Houston from the Red Sox as double-A third baseman. The player the Red Sox got in return, relief pitcher Larry Andersen. Anderson had limited success in Boston, while Bagwell become one of the best players in the 90’s with a possible induction into Cooperstown on the way.

Mark McGwire’s magical (now tainted) chase of Roger Maris in 1998 would have happened in Oakland instead of St. Louis if not for a trade that sent Big Mac to the Cards for T.J. Mathews, Eric Ludwick and Blake Stein.

But it is not just the deadline deals that are so great, some great and not so great moves have been made in the months leading up to Spring Training.

How did Ozzie Smith end up with the Cardinals? In December of 1981, Smith along with Steve Mura, and Al Olmsted came from San Diego for Garry Templeton, Sixto Lezcano and Luis DeLeon.

Ten years earlier, during the holiday season of 1971, Hall of Famer and strikeout king Nolan Ryan wound up with the Angels in a trade that sent Jim Fregosi to the Mets for Ryan, Frank Estrada, Don Rose, and Leroy Stanton.

Another superstar traded in the offseason: Ken Griffey, Jr. He was sent from Seattle to the Reds for four players in February of 2000. While Junior never had the big impact in Cincinatti that Reds fans hoped for, the move shows that anyone can be moved anytime in baseball.

Theo Epstein made one his better moves in the offseason, when he acquired Josh Beckett from the Marlins in November of 2005. Two years later, Beckett helped lead the Red Sox to the World Series going 4-0 in the playoffs with an era under 2.00.

Trades like these are just one of the things that makes baseball so great. The offseason is never really “off” with the constant watch for players on the move. At anytime Brian Cashman of the Yankees or Jon Daniels of the Rangers could be looking for that next Nolan Ryan or Ozzie Smith.

Sure, your team may lose that great pitching prospect, but in return you get that leadoff hitting centerfielder that you have been wanting for years.

So while the NBA and David Stern figure out how many trades they can veto or how many four-team trades they allow, baseball fans can watch the proverbial hot stove for the player who will help their team to the pennant and anticipate who exactly is going to be the “player to be named later”.