[DC 86]

Well, how about Shields to the White Sox for some guy named Fernando Tatis Jr.

The world is littered with trades that look ridiculous in hindsight, but statistically, a young player who is already one of major league’s bests is a surer bet than a prospect, no matter how promising.

BC

The problem is that at the time Shields was already 34 years old. The previous season he had an ERA+ of 95 (meaning 5% under league average) and at the time of the trade his ERA+ was 93 (7% under league average), so you're giving up a promising prospect (albeit one that wasn't expected to reach the heights that he has) for an aging, below average, declining player.

Beltran was indeed an elite player but strictly a rental; he played a total of 44 games for San Francisco. Wheeler was an elite prospect (he'd been picked #6 overall in the 2009 amateur draft and selected for the 2010 all-star futures game consisting of the best prospects in the entire minor leagues) so trading him in 2011 in exchange for a short term rental was an overly high cost to pay.

I've been strongly arguing the logic of parting with prospects for proven young players as you said, but Shields/Tatis and Beltran/Wheeler don't fit that paradigm; they were examples of teams using their prospect capital foolishly. Trading Marco Luciano, Kyle Harrison for Juan Soto, yes. But for 44 games of someone, even an all star? no thanks.

[DC 86]

Well, how about Shields to the White Sox for some guy named Fernando Tatis Jr.

The world is littered with trades that look ridiculous in hindsight, but statistically, a young player who is already one of major league’s bests is a surer bet than a prospect, no matter how promising.

BC

The problem is that at the time Shields was already 34 years old. The previous season he had an ERA+ of 95 (meaning 5% under league average) and at the time of the trade his ERA+ was 93 (7% under league average), so you're giving up a promising prospect (albeit one that wasn't expected to reach the heights that he has) for an aging, below average, declining player.

Beltran was indeed an elite player but strictly a rental; he played a total of 44 games for San Francisco. Wheeler was an elite prospect (he'd been picked #6 overall in the 2009 amateur draft and selected for the 2010 all-star futures game consisting of the best prospects in the entire minor leagues) so trading him in 2011 in exchange for a short term rental was an overly high cost to pay.

I've been strongly arguing the logic of parting with prospects for proven young players as you said, but Shields/Tatis and Beltran/Wheeler don't fit that paradigm; they were examples of teams using their prospect capital foolishly. Trading Marco Luciano, Kyle Harrison for Juan Soto, yes. But for 44 games of someone, even an all star? no thanks.