Delmon Young trade tree is still feeding the Rays, ESPN analysis says
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle traced MLB’s famous trade trees, with Tampa Bay’s Delmon Young chain still producing value ahead of the deadline.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Delmon Young’s MLB afterlife is still busy, according to ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle: the former No. 1 draft pick sits at the root of a Tampa Bay Rays trade tree that TradeChains credits with 71.5 bWAR through last season.
Doolittle’s July 20 analysis looked at baseball’s famous transaction chains ahead of the 2026 MLB trade deadline, which he said is set for Aug. 3. The idea is deliciously baseball: one trade leads to another, then another, as teams turn the returns from an old deal into new players, picks and prospects.
Young shares that strange bit of baseball bookkeeping fame with Jerry Dybzinski, a journeyman infielder who played in MLB from 1980 to 1985 and finished with 2.0 bWAR, according to Doolittle. Young, meanwhile, was the top pick in the 2003 amateur draft.
The first big branch
Doolittle pointed to Dec. 15, 1900, as the start of the first notable modern trade tree. That day, the Cincinnati Reds sent Christy Mathewson, whom they had recently selected in the Rule 5 draft, to the New York Giants for Amos Rusie.
Both pitchers are Hall of Famers, but the deal became lopsided fast. Doolittle wrote that Rusie appeared in only three games for Cincinnati, while Mathewson produced 100.9 bWAR for Giants manager John McGraw.
The tree kept growing after McGraw later sent Mathewson back to Cincinnati so he could manage. The Giants received Buck Herzog, who was later moved for Larry Doyle and Jesse Barnes. Barnes was eventually part of another trade that brought in players including Hank Gowdy, who remained with the Giants until 1925, according to Doolittle.
That Mathewson-Rusie chain lasted roughly a quarter century. Doolittle also noted that Edd Roush went to Cincinnati in the deal that returned Mathewson to the Reds. Roush then hit .334 over 11 seasons and produced 40.7 bWAR for Cincinnati before McGraw brought him back in 1927.
The Rays’ Delmon Young machine
The Young tree is the modern monster. ESPN’s Sam Miller wrote about it in 2018, and Doolittle said it has kept producing since then.
According to TradeChains, cited by Doolittle, Tampa Bay’s side of the Young tree had reached 71.5 bWAR through last season. Minnesota’s return for Young and other pieces in the original deal was listed at 0.2 bWAR.
The key branch began when the Rays received Matt Garza in the Young trade. Tampa Bay later moved Garza to the Chicago Cubs in a package that included Chris Archer. Seven years after that, the Rays sent Archer to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and a player to be named later, who became Shane Baz.
- Doolittle wrote that Meadows was later traded to the Detroit Tigers for Isaac Paredes.
- Paredes was then sent to the Cubs for Ty Johnson, Hunter Bigge and Christopher Morel.
- Johnson and Bigge remain in the Rays organization, while Doolittle wrote that Morel did not pan out for Tampa Bay.
- Baz was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for four minor leaguers, including catcher Caden Bodine.
Doolittle reported that Bodine is hitting .351 across three leagues this season and is ranked as Tampa Bay’s No. 4 prospect by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. The Rays also received a compensation pick, No. 33 in the recent draft, and used it on infielder Taj Marchand, according to the ESPN analysis.
With the deadline approaching, Doolittle wrote that some active trade trees could add new branches, while others may fade if players with expiring deals leave in free agency without compensation.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.