? No. 5: Trade happy

All this talk of the White Sox trading Mark Buehrle has my interest peaked, mostly because the Cardinals are one of the discussed suitors. That's been long rumored, as Buehrle has openly discussed his desire to play in St. Louis, having grown up a Cardinals fan. A big part of me wants him; he's having a very solid year and would give me one reason to get excited to watch the Redbirds once every five games. (I need all the reasons I can get. This team is hard to watch.) But a bigger part of me wants him to go to a big-spending team like the Red Sox, eat up 50-some million dollars of their payroll over the next four years, and trend downward. In that scenario, the Cardinals become sellers — not buyers — this July and actually attempt to lure some cheap, decent talent to the Lou. Anyone remember the last veteran, "proven winner" lefty the Cards traded for? Mark Mulder. And who did we give up to get him? Dan Haren. Ouch.

Which brings me to today's question. Name this starting pitcher: He was first traded in June of 1976 from the Twins to the Rangers. The following winter the Rangers dealt him in a four-team trade that has to be one of the most massive deals in MLB history — at least from a personnel standpoint. In a ten-person trade, the Rangers shipped him to the Pirates. In 1980 he was then traded to the Indians, who traded him five seasons later back to the Twins to complete the circle. Finally, in 1988, he was traded to the Angles. Final clue: he's given up more home runs, 50, in a single season than any other starter.

Yesterday's Answer: The seven active players who have hit more home runs than Gary Sheffield's 475 are Barry Bonds (751), Sammy Sosa (602), Ken Griffey Jr. (586), Frank Thomas (501), Alex Rodriguez (493), Manny Ramirez (481), and the most difficult one to figure out, Jim Thome (485). Of those guys, the only player in addition to Sheffield to have never won a home run crown is Thomas.