Lessons of Carl Pavano, Scott Kazmir

The July 31 trade deadline creates a good deal of buzz and excitement — and grades — but it’s a bit of a false premise.

Although trades become harder to make after July 31 passes, deals do get made in August; teams find trading partners after putting their players on waivers. Given the reluctance of many teams to take on additional payroll, we likely will see even more trades this month than usual — any player with a decent-sized paycheck likely will clear waivers and be eligible for a postdeadline trade.

Some of the big names floating out there right now have included Manny Ramirez and Adam Dunn.

Throughout the years, some interesting deals have been made after July 31. Although some clubs have found bargains with late acquisitions, others have been stuck with ridiculous contracts they never should have taken in the first place.

Here are the best — and worst — August deals of recent vintage.

2009: Cleveland Indians trade Carl Pavano to the Minnesota Twins for Yohan Pino
Teams were scared off by Pavano’s high ERA in Cleveland, but that was more a function of his teammates’ defensive abilities than his own poor pitching. His move to Minnesota proved a boon for the Twins and for Pavano, and he has even continued to pay dividends this season after accepting the Twins’ arbitration offer this past winter.

2009: Tampa Bay Rays trade Scott Kazmir to Los Angeles Angels for Sean Rodriguez, Alex Torres and Matt Sweeney
This one was regrettable. The Angels inherited the remainder of Kazmir’s bloated salary hoping that he would find his previous velocity — but he’s been downright terrible since joining the team. In addition to paying him $8 million this year, the Angels are on the hook for $12 million in salary next season plus a $2.5 million buyout of his 2012 option after the season ends. All told, they’ll end up paying more than $25 million for Kazmir, who has pitched about as well as a random Triple-A arm.

2004: Colorado Rockies trade Larry Walker to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jason Burch, Luis Martinez and Chris Narveson
The Cardinals needed an outfielder for the stretch run, and the Rockies were willing to move 37-year-old Walker to get out from under the final year of his contract — even though he was still one of their best players at the time. Walker proved he could hit outside Coors Field, more than justifying his salary, and helped push St. Louis into the World Series in 2004. None of the three players Colorado acquired panned out.

1998: Toronto Blue Jays trade Randy Myers to the San Diego Padres for Brian Loyd
Myers, a formerly dominant reliever who was battling injury problems, was given to the Padres because of his inflated salary — a total of more than $13.5 million due in 1999 and 2000. Myers would pitch just 14 innings for San Diego after the deal, posting a 6.28 ERA, then spend the next two seasons attempting to get healthy on the Padres’ dime. He would never pitch in baseball again, and San Diego ended up paying Myers more than $1 million per inning they received from the one-time Nasty Boy.

1990: Houston Astros trade Larry Andersen to the Boston Red Sox for Jeff Bagwell
This trade lives on in infamy as a caution against trading prospects for rental players, but it should be noted that Andersen was tremendous for the Red Sox in the final month of the season. He threw 22 innings and allowed just three runs down the stretch, and Boston held on to win the American League East title, edging the Blue Jays by just two games. Still, I’d guess that Boston wouldn’t have made that deal had it known what Bagwell would become.

1987: Atlanta Braves trade Doyle Alexander to the Detroit Tigers for John Smoltz
As with the Bagwell-Andersen trade, history does not remember this one fondly for Detroit, but Alexander was unbelievably good for the Tigers down the stretch. In 11 starts, he threw an amazing 88.1 innings with just a 1.53 ERA and pitched his new team into the playoffs. However, the Tigers were eliminated by Kirby Puckett and the Twins in the American League Championship Series and Smoltz went on to have a great career for the Braves, so this deal is remembered as a disaster for the Tigers.