Curt Schilling
Philadelphia Phillies (1992 - 2000)
One of the best Phillies pitchers of my lifetime has been traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for first baseman Travis Lee and three pitchers: Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa and Vicente Padilla.
Curt was acquired in one of the best trades in franchise history in the spring of 1992 when we acquired him from the Houston Astros for Jason Grimsley. Grimsley never appeared in a major league game for Houston and was out of the organization by 1993. Meanwhile, Shilling developed into one of the most dominant starters in baseball. He helped lead the '93 Phillies to the World Series and broke Steve Carlton's franchise record for strikeouts in a single season four years later.
He requested a trade to a contender, and I can't really say that I blame him too much. Hopefully the package that the Phillies got in return will help to rebuild the team into contention. Daal went 16-9 last season, Lee finished third in the NL Rookie Of The Year voting two years ago, and Padilla is only 22 years old and has potential. I didn't want to see him go, but I suppose time will tell if this trade will be as beneficial to the Phillies as the one that brought Schilling to Philadelphia eight years ago.
