What's the worst move you've ever made?

[Field]

Without a doubt, dropping Johan late May or early June of 2004 when he was boasting a 5+ ERA. My primary competition that year picked him up sometime in June and Johan went on to post a second half line of: 104 IP, 129 Ks, 1.21 ERA, and a 0.75 WHIP . Probably the best run of his very accomplished career. I do think I ended up winning the league inspite of that mistake, but it was a lot closer than it should have been had I kept Santana.

[ROC AllStars]

Two come to mind:

'06, drafted Morneau in the 2nd to last round, but dropped him after about 3 weeks of poor performance. Went on to hit .321/34/130 and win the MVP. I had Howard, the NL MVP that season as well, but my UTIL spot was a disaster all year.

Also '06, thought I needed a pitcher more than a 2B unhappily transitioning to the OF that might or might not actually play the season... Turns out Rich Harden made only 9 starts and Alfonso Soriano hit .277/46/95 with 41 SB. I came in 3rd that year, but would have trounced the league with those two in my lineup.

[Art Vandelay]

Dropped Hanley Ramirez his rookie year in a keeper league.

Traded Zambrano for Thome a couple years ago because I needed another good bat for my playoff push.

Kept Bary Zito last year thinking his move to SF and the NL would make him more valuable.

[spacehamster01]

One that comes to mind...I also asked about it in the Cafe last year too and most people told me to do it.

I traded away Eric Byrnes for Rocco Baldelli the beginning of the '07 season.

Baldelli ended up out for the season...Eric Byrnes went 20-50.

[daniel80111]

Picked up and played Matt Garza today against the Cardinals.

[jdsun1]

We've all made mistakes, none of us are invincible. Some of us get wasted and for some reason operate fantasy baseball teams while drunk. Post the most regrettable trade you've made, what year it was, and what part of the season it was in. Or post a regrettable drop you made, like dropping Fielder in April of '07, or a blatantly bad draft pick, like Harden in the 6th round. Mine was:

A-Rod

for

Beltran
Oswalt
Konerko

This was last year, about 2 weeks into the season when A-Rod already had like 10 home runs. I have NO idea what I was thinking, but I was unaware of Oswalt's and Konerko's impending crappiness. Still, even at the time I got crushed in that trade.

And it doesn't count if you traded for a player with legitimate expectations but wound up disappointing. I'm talking about trades and moves where, 5 seconds later, you were frantically scrambling for an "undo" button.

How is that a bad trade? Konerko still hit 30 homers, Oswalt was serviceable and Beltran of course put up the stats we thought he would.

I would say dropping Dye for Rios in 06 was a bad move after Dye went on a tear to finish with a career year and then Rios went down with some freak injury.

[pokerplaya]

Dropped Morneau before he would break out and become the MVP.

This year, in my keeper I dealt Brandon Webb and Tim Lincecum for Johan Santana. I wasn't sold that Lincecum would be an ace for another year or two, and that we would have considerable growing pains. All I've gotten is a mediocre start from Santana followed by 9-0 Webb and 1.7 ERA TIMMMAY.

[pangbones]

My SS got hurt early in 2006, (can't even remember who it was), so I grabbed Hanley Ramirez to help with steals and fill the void. He was pretty good while I had him, but then I traded for J Rollins. He got ice cold in June, and then I dropped him cuz I needed a pitcher. Can't remember who I picked up, but we all know what he did the 2nd half of 2006!! That was probably the worst move I've ever made.

Although taking Todd Helton in the first round of 2005 may be a close 2nd!!

[cordscords]

I've made plenty of dumb moves. The one that stands out most recently was passing up Prince Fielder to draft Todd Helton. I'm not kidding when I say I quoted Ron Burgundy about 5 seconds after I made the pick. "I immediately regret this decision."

[ab]

Dropped Jermaine Dye two years ago at the beginning of his career year for Ty Wigginton because my 2b was on the DL (we're in an obp league, so Dye was an avg of up until that point).

This year, in one round of the draft, I had a choice between Smoltz and Hamels. I drafted Smoltz. In the draft chat room, my friend who is the league commish asked, "You drafted Smoltz before Hamels? Wow. He's like 100." And I responded, "I don't trust Hamels' arm this year."

And we know the rest of that story...