Redleg Trade Review: John Franco, To and Fro

May 9, 1983: John Franco is traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Brett Wise (minors) to the Cincinnati Reds for Rafael Landestoy. December 6, 1989: John Franco is traded by the Cincinnati Reds with Don Brown (minors) to the New York Mets for Kip Gross and Randy Myers. The Reds have had a rich history of baseball closers. Big Red Machine manager Sparky Anderson was known as Captain Hook for extensive use of his bullpen. Pete Rose was the first Reds manager to start the modern usage one-inning usage pattern for the team’s closer. John Franco was the chief beneficiary of this role change. In 1983, the Reds were a train wreck of a team. The bullpen was by committee, and Bill Scherrer was the 1983 team leader with 10 saves, Tom Hume had nine, and Ben Hayes had seven. During the 1983 season, the Reds traded utility infielder Rafael Landestoy to the Dodgers for Franco, and he made the team out of spring training in 1984. He had 12 saves in 1985, and by 1986 was the team’s chief...