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August 7, 1987

PIT⇄DET

PIT won this trade +$4.0M surplus PIT won this trade +0.9 WAR
PITPIT Syd Thrift net +$4.0M net +0.9
received +$23.2M+$23.2M ± $38M expected surplus · −$8.0M realized received 7.5 ± 5 expected · 0.2 realized WAR
Playoff odds: this deal moved PIT's 1987 odds 37% → 39% (+1.6 pts) — how trade timing is graded ↗
receives — most valuable first
Darnell Coles3B/OF·25y·R/R
+$22.2M+$22.2M± $30M exp surplusrealized −$5.6M 6.4± 4 exp WARrealized 0.4
Prior
no pedigree — league baseline → 0.21/yr
Evidence
recent form 2.5/yr over 1.1 season
Talent
1.29/yr blended
Horizon
5.0 control yrs
Morris MaddenP·26y·L/L
+$1.3M+$1.3M± $24M exp surplusrealized −$2.4M 1.1± 3 exp WARrealized -0.2
Prior
no pedigree — league baseline → 0.21/yr
Evidence
no MLB track record — leans on pedigree
Talent
0.21/yr blended
Horizon
5.5 control yrs × 0.94 age decline
DETDET Bill Lajoie net −$4.0M net -0.9
received +$9.6M+$9.6M ± $30M expected surplus · −$12.0M realized received 2.4 ± 4 expected · -0.7 realized WAR
Playoff odds: this deal moved DET's 1987 odds 85% → 84% (-0.9 pts) — how trade timing is graded ↗
receives — most valuable first
Jim Morrison2B/3B·34y·R/R
+$9.7M+$9.7M± $30M exp surplusrealized −$12.0M 2.4± 4 exp WARrealized -0.7
Prior
no pedigree — league baseline → 0.21/yr
Evidence
recent form 2.1/yr over 1.4 season
Talent
1.25/yr blended
Horizon
2.2 control yrs × 0.87 age decline

Each player is valued on what he was expected to produce at the time of the trade, versus what he actually produced for his new team.

Expected WAR blends a player's pedigree (composite top-100 rank / draft slot, or a baseline) with his recent track record, projected over the years of team control acquired. The ± figure is a historically calibrated predictive standard deviation, measuring how widely comparable forecasts have missed around their expected value. Surplus values that production at the FA market price of a win (~$8M/WAR) minus salary — so cost-controlled players carry large surplus and expensive ones little, even at the same WAR. Who won is descriptive, not a skill claim: ~99% of a trade's outcome is unforeseeable at the time.

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Decision-maker records extend to 1933; resource-controlled WAR and payroll metrics cover 1985–2026. Data sources include FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, the Chadwick Bureau register, the Lahman Database, prospect rankings from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and FanGraphs, and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0).
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