The great part about only virtually losing your job as a GM if you make bad trades is you can afford to be petty. On our forums, OS user Kotter started a topic in The Show forum that asks the question, “what’s the silliest reason you’ve ever traded a player?”
There are some real good posts so far, and people have really covered a lot of territory here. I expected the stories to mostly involve real-life distaste for a player being the reason a lot of the trades happened, but the pettiness goes way beyond just that.
We can start right off the bat with the more salacious posts. OS user adambaseball mentioned in the first reply that “nothing will beat why the Cubs traded Rafael Palmeiro and Dave Martinez in 88-89 in real life.” I won’t get into those rumors (you can look them up though), but I will point out that later in the thread OS user franch1se wrote that “I traded someone because my GF back then went on a date with him in high school.” That’s some good pettiness and your hint for why some think the Cubs made those real trades back in the ’80s.
In of the most OS of OS moves, OS user djflock gives his reason for trading prospects in MLB The Show:
“Every year I trade any of my top prospects without face scans for top prospects with scans.”
Sticking with blaming just the video game, certain versions of MLB The Show have fallen into the trap where they replay certain commentary lines for walk-ups so often that people lose their minds and don’t want to hear them anymore. OS user Mikey6189 calls one of those out by writing, “I traded Max Muncy so I wouldn’t have to hear ‘that Funky Muncy’”’ every game.”
But it’s the Mets fans who have been the stars of the show so far. A Mets fan named reyes the roof is on his last nerves with Jeff McNeil right now and is contemplating making the trade. “I’m about to dump Jeff McNeil because of his whiny antics. Always bellyaching after he makes an out and his tantrum after a totally legal slide by Hoskins pushed me over the edge.”
Sticking with the Mets, OS user Ghost Of The Year has maybe the pettiest story to share in the thread so far:
“Topic is giving me unpleasant flashbacks of the Mets-Royals WS. After the season, the real life Mets traded Jon Niese away for Neil Walker. But I wanted to do that, I wanted to be the one to dump Niese. Lotsa blame to go around after the Series (and credit to KC) but Niese really struck a nerve with me in October. Fast-forward to MLBTS16 release, when I started my 2016 season, I traded Walker back to Pittsburgh for Niese just so I could be the one to get rid of the bum…Niese though, a good guy, but still a bum. I also blame Carlos Beltran a bit for Niese. Maybe if Beltran hadn’t paid for Niese to get a nose job, his old nose would have a been a lucky nose and kept him just angry enough to pitch better.”
Feel free to head to the topic and share your own pettiness.
