The Top 16 franchise-making trades in Atlanta Braves history
By Fred Owens
3. The Crime Dog
1993 – FRED McGRIFF / SAN DIEGO PADRES
After back-to-back league titles, the 1993 Braves found themselves 9.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants in July and in need of a bat. The San Diego Padres wanted to clear payroll and their first baseman earned a big chunk of that payroll.
As a result, Fred McGriff joined the Braves and in what many consider one of the most one-sided deals of the post-war era. The Braves sent Vince Moore, Donnie Elliot and Melvin Nieves to the Padres for McGriff.
Those prospects made little to no impact; McGriff put the Braves on his back and carried them to the postseason.
The press box caught fire before McGriff’s first game and after the St. Louis Cardinals treated Tom Glavine badly for five innings, the Braves – led by McGriff – returned the favor.
That win started a 51-18 record run over the rest of the season. McGriff hit 19 homers, 18 doubles, a triple, drove in 55 runs and batted .310/.392/.612/1.004 with a 165 ERA+ in that stretch. Fangraphs says that’s worth a .431 wOBA,162 wRC+, and 3.1 fWAR.
The Philadelphia Phillies won the NLCS in six games, but McGriff did his best to prevent that, batting .435/.519/.696/.1.214 with a homer and four RBI.
After the season, outfielder Ron Gant told Claire Smith, ” . . . He just makes everyone else better.”
The 1995 World Series-winning season saw more of the same from McGriff. He played every game that year and posted video-game numbers in all three postseason series that year and again in 1996. McGriff left the Braves as a free agent after the 1997 MLB season.
As a Brave, McGriff batted .293/.369/.516/.885, with a 128 OPS+. Baseball-Reference shows him as a 12 rWAR player during that time, while Fangraphs gives him 13.3 fWAR
Next: The Braves declined after the 1948 MLB season, but not for long. The next player added to an already strong roster and sparked another World Series win in 1957.