In a previous post from our series on Detroit Tigers trades, we looked at the trade for Damion Easley, which worked out pretty well. A few years later, Randy Smith made a trade that turned out much worse when they swapped outfielders with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Prior to the 1998 season, the Tigers signed Luis Gonzalez to a free agent contract. Gonzalez had split his career to that point with the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs and was a pretty average player. With the Tigers that year, the 30-year-old Gonzalez set career highs in home runs (23) and nearly set one in OPS (.