Wes Helms traded for $1
Well, this seems to have kind of gotten lost in the excitement of the start of the season, but did anyone else notice that the Phillies traded Wes Helms to the Florida Marlins for one dollar? And not only that, but the Phillies also agreed to pay all of Helms’ $2.15 million salary for this season.
It goes without saying that this is a pretty decent deal for the Marlins, but how ignominious is that for Wes Helms to be so unwanted by your old team that you get traded for a single dollar?
As far as crazy trades go, this one is right up there with the Braves getting reliever Kerry Ligtenberg from a Northern League team for a bucket of balls and some baseball bats.
Actually, I’m sure those balls and bats cost significantly more than $1.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Nice VORP.
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March 10th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Nice, I’ve also seen the BP tome used as a surface for breaking up weed on… umm… right before I threw it away and called the cops… um yeah, that’s the ticket
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April 14th, 2008 at 9:50 am
What a slap in the face for Wes Helms.
Really though, what kept Philadelphia from putting him on waivers? If they want to give him up for nothing, wouldn’t that have saved them $2.15 million? Or is Wes Helms so bad these days that no one would possibly pick him up?
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April 14th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I haven’t seen such a lopsided deal since the Red Sox sold Ruth’s contract to the Yankees :-)
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April 14th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Nobody was going to pick up Helm’s contract for $2.5 million. Wasn’t going to happen. But Florida will have to pay $750,000 to buy Helms out next season. So, this way, the Phillies save $750,000.
Having said all that, when you’re getting traded for $1, that’s gotta be a sign that your playing days are drawing to a close.
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April 14th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Still… at $1, wouldn’t he be the highest paid Marlin?
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April 14th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Actually, Reggie, I know you were joking, but Wes Helms is now officially the second highest paid Marlin, behind only closer Kevin Gregg.
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April 14th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Of course, the Marlins aren’t actually paying any of Helms’ salary, so I’m not sure that counts.
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March 2nd, 2009 at 9:44 am
[...] on the diamond, Dallas McPherson provides some nice left-handed pop, and Wes Helms, whom the Fish got for a single dollar last year, is a serviceable fill-in at the [...]
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May 4th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
[...] up a single to Chase Utley, then he walked Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell. Then he walked Wes Helms (the $1 man) to score Utley. Then he walked Aaron Rowand to score Howard. Then he hit Rod Barajas with a pitch [...]
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May 27th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
[...] in 40 more at-bats than he’d had the year before. At the start of the ‘07 season Helms was traded back to Florida for a dollar, and surely nobody here expected to hear from the mediocre journeyman again. That seemed like [...]
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