There are only 3 types of people who know who Doyle Alexander is: old sad Tigers fans, Braves fans with any sense of history, and MLB transaction sickos. Welcome to group 3 everyone! As the Phillies play the Tigers this weekend, we need to look to their past to have some perspective about what we do at this year’s MLB Trade Deadline. Let’s go back to 1987…
Friday, July 10 at 6:40p – Aaron Nola v Jack Flaherty (R)
Comerica Park – Detroit, MI
Saturday, July 11 at 6:10p – Cristopher Sanchez v Casey Mize (R)
Sunday, July 12 at 1:40p – Zack Wheeler v Tarik Skubal (L)
The Tigers were only two years removed from winning the World Series and looking to get back. On August 12th, 1987 the Tigers were doing great at 65-46 but they were still 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East. The problem was the backend of the pitching staff. Jack Morris was the ace of the staff and followed competently by Walt Terrell and Frank Tanana in the rotation. After them though, Dan Petry and Jeff Robinson were both posting 5+ ERAs with negative WARs. It was killing them. Sound familiar Phillies fans?
Well, that was the day the Tigers did something about it and traded for journeyman pitcher Doyle Alexander. All they gave up was a recent late round draftee who wasn’t impressing in the low minors. Alexander lit the Tigers on fire immediately. The 36-year-old made 11 starts down the stretch, going 9-0 with 1.53 ERA. They were still down a game in the division to Toronto heading into the final series of the year which just happened to be against the Blue Jays. Alexander pitched into the 11th inning in the first game, a 13 inning Detroit win. The Tigers swept and won the division by 2 games. They could not have done it without the trade for Doyle Alexander.
Alexander would make two starts in the ALCS against the Twins that year and sadly lose both of them. In fact, they were probably the two worst starts of his short tenure with the Tigers: 6 runs in 7 innings in Game 1 and then 4 runs in less than 2 innings in Game 5. The Tigers would lose in 5 games and the Twins would go on to win the World Series against the Cardinals 7 games later.
After 1987, the Tigers wouldn’t go back to the playoffs for 20 years. As for Alexander, he would spend two more mediocre seasons in Detroit before retiring. Do you know who did make the playoffs a few times during those 20 years? The Atlanta Braves. 14 times they made the post season and it was in large part to that recent late round draftee who wasn’t impressing in the low minors… John Smoltz.
A year after posting a 5.73 ERA in the minors, Smoltz leveled up in AAA in 1988 and made a late season MLB debut for the Braves. Over his next 20 years in Atlanta he would win a Cy Young Award, go to 8 All-Star Games, get MVP votes 4x, and pitch in the World Series 5x. He was an elite starter then became an elite closer when they needed him and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.
Does this mean the Phillies shouldn’t make any trades to improve the team this year? Of course not. Just before everyone says we should go “all-in” and trade everyone, just remember Doyle Alexander and just how quickly things can go bad for a franchise.
Stats: Baseball Reference
Photo: Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Leave a Reply