David Price, Justin Upton, James Shields and Yoenis Cespedes are high-profile hired guns still on the market, capable of propelling teams from the playoff bubble to post-season bubbly. The Guardian looks back at six in-season rentals who paid off handsomely

1) Marco Scutaro to the San Francisco Giants, 2012

When the undersized journeyman second baseman was acquired from the Colorado Rockies for Charlie Culberson and promptly nicknamed ‘The Blockbuster’ by his teammates, it was said with 24 Giant tongues firmly planted in their 48 cheeks. A solid and steady contact hitter with legitimate leadership qualities, Scutaro wasn’t expected to displace Ryan Theriot at second base, or to have the sort of impact, say, a Yoenis Cespedes type could have, but to bring experience and flexibility to the Giants bench.

And that’s about it.

Instead, Scutaro wasn’t a piece, he was the piece, transforming into a dominant, beast of player that he never ever was during the then-36-year-old’s first 10-plus seasons in the majors.

In his 61 regular-season games as a Giant, Scutaro failed to hit in just eight. In his first 198 plate appearances, he swung and missed just nine times. The Los Angeles Dodgers brought in sexy names – Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez – but it was a 5ft 10in middle infielder who was making the difference in the lineup and in the clubhouse, becoming a go-to for advice for all comers. Scutaro posted a .859 OPS while the Giants broke away in the National League West before pulling off a great escape against the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Divisional Series. Scutaro carried San Francisco against the St Louis Cardinals in their seven-game NLCS victory, tallying 14 knocks during a record-setting six multi-hit games. Said team-mate Hunter Pence: “He was the rock for us. He was the foundation, he started all of this.”

Scutaro’s run of play was as unlikely as a second Giants title in three seasons, but by the time the he drove in the World Series-winning run in Game 4 against the Detroit Tigers, we’d seen enough for it to all make sense.



The Bay Area hero re-signed with San Francisco for three years at $20m in the off-season, but back issues derailed much of the stint and the Giants released him in January, but not before arguably becoming the greatest MLB rental of all-time.

2) CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers, 2008

Facebook Twitter Pinterest CC Sabathia was money with Milwaukee before getting paid by the Yankees. Photograph: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

When the Kansas City Royals traded for Johnny Cueto, they were fantasizing about Sabathia.

The baseball world wasn’t used to watching the Brew Crew go for it all, but that’s exactly what happened when Milwaukee dealt for the future elite free agent in early July 2008. The husky southpaw had won 106 games in parts of eight seasons in Cleveland before the Indians sought returns on their outbound ace – when Brewers general manager Doug Melvin dangled prospect Matt Laporta as the chief piece of a deal, Tribe counterpart Mark Shapiro took him up on it.

Sabathia turned in one of the more insane stretches we’ve ever seen - starting 17 games, winning 11 and losing just two - while posting a 1.65 ERA and striking out 128 batters in 130-plus innings. Yes, CC certainly enjoyed life in the more pitcher-friendly NL Central, but that can’t take away from what was an stellar second-half performance.

Sabathia finished it off with a flurry, starting three consecutive games on just three days rest. On the final day of the season, he threw a complete game (one of seven thrown after landing in Milwaukee) against the Chicago Cubs, allowing a run while striking out eight. Because the New York Mets dropped their season finale, the win was enough for the Brewers to clinch a wild card spot, Milwaukee’s first playoff berth in 26 years.

Sabathia was smoked in Game 2 of the NLDS by a Philadelphia Phillies, a team that went on to win the World Series, but not before helping the organization snap their lengthy post-season drought. Less than a month later Sabathia made the move to New York, inking an eight-year, $182m deal to suit up in those slimming Yankees pinstripes.

3) Carlos Beltrán to the Houston Astros, 2004



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Carlos Beltrán was a bad bad man during the 2004 post-season. Photograph: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

The Houston Astros were on a run of four playoff appearances in seven years heading into the 2004 season, but they had yet to win that elusive World Series title. Asterisks aside, the team had Hall of Fame-level talent in Roger Clemens and Jeff Bagwell, along with the just-inducted Craig Biggio and Jeff Kent, who should absolutely, positively already be enshrined (another story). Throw in Roy Oswalt, Andy Petitte and Brad Lidge, who posted a 1.90 ERA with 29 saves, and there was expensive, veteran quality throughout the roster.

Still, the Astros were spinning their wheels - their rival St Louis Cardinals were running away with the NL Central while the Chicago Cubs enjoyed a five-game wild card cushion. Houston were no spring chickens, and the acquisition of Carlos Beltrán became the win-now move designed to put the team over the top. It was a late-June, three-team deal that brought Beltrán in from Kansas City for a bargain: pitcher Octavio Dotel and catcher John Buck.

General manager Gerry Hunsicker called the future free-agent center fielder “the prototype we’ve been looking for for a long time,” and Beltrán more than measured up. After six-plus seasons of wasting away with the Royals, the Puerto Rican slugger upped his production, pumping out a .926 OPS and stealing 28 bases in 28 tries as Houston clinched the fourth spot in the NL on the final day of the season, just pipping the Giants.

What came next doesn’t really have an adequate descriptor. Beltrán blasted four home runs against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, two in the series-deciding Game 5, to pair with a 1.591 OPS. That stat declined v the Cards ... to 1.521 ... while Beltrán battered another four jacks.

Said Beltrán: “There were times it was like, I couldn’t believe it.”

He wasn’t alone.

Overall, Beltrán hit .435 with eight homers, 14 RBIs along with six stolen bases in 12 games. In the end the Astros were frustrated in a seventh-game NLCS loss, something the Cards would treat Beltrán to again just two years later as a member of the Mets.

New York wrapped up Beltrán for seven years at $116m less than three months after his wild playoff run, a stretch that was just the beginning for a player now recognized as one of the fiercest post-season performers in MLB history.

4) David Cone to the Toronto Blue Jays, 1992

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Toronto’s trade for David Cone was a coup for the Jays in 1992. Photograph: Focus On Sport/Getty Images

This was a deal of the post-non-waiver trade-deadline variety - David Cone joining Toronto from the New York Mets in exchange for a young and prickly Jeff Kent along with Ryan Thompson back on 27 August 1992. The Blue Jays were seeking out their first World Series title since entering the league in 1977, and were up 2.5 games over the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East. Cone, hadn’t quite been the player of 1988 when he was 20-3 and a 2.22 ERA, but remained among the best arms in the league, and represented an enormous boost to a team that featured aging franchise stalwart Dave Stieb as their fifth starter.

Cone was incredible down the stretch, posting a 2.55 ERA. With the Jays down a game in the ALCS against the Oakland A’s, he allowed just a single run in eight vital innings. Cone took a loss in Game 5 but was solid during Toronto’s World Series win over the Atlanta Braves in a pair of decision-less starts.

Cone would leave Toronto for his hometown of Kansas City for a deal of three years and $18m, half of which was a signing bonus, just months after the Fall Classic, but he would ultimately head back across the border in a 1995 trade. Cone would once again assume the hired-gun role for the Yankees later that season, before settling down with New York long enough to pick up four more World Series rings.

5) Ugueth Urbina to the Florida Marlins, 2003



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ugueth Urbina was smoking hot for the Florida Marlins after his 2003 trade from Texas. Photograph: Vick McKenzie/NewSport/Corbis

After some reasonable success for the Montreal Expos and a pair of strong seasons with the Boston Red Sox, Urbina’s latest gig in Texas wasn’t working out. The Venezuelan closer had a 4.19 ERA while the Rangers rolled out of contention, setting up a sale earlier in the season than usual. Meanwhile, the Florida Marlins were 27 games into the Jack McKeon era and still stuck in fourth place in the NL East. In a bid to build a bridge to then closer Braden Looper, Florida beat out the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Cardinals, Giants and other clubs in a race to land Urbina, mostly thanks to general manager Larry Beinfest including some guy named Adrian Gonzalez in the deal. Considering the Marlins history as sellers, especially during seasons slow to start, the move ranks as one of their most unusual and best.

Urbina would lay down the law in the Marlins bullpen, posting a silly WHIP of 0.939 and a 1.41 ERA in 33 appearances, eventually taking over the closer role from Looper. Florida swam up the standings with young Miguel Cabrera, Josh Beckett, Ivan Rodriguez, Dontrelle Willis and company coming together to win 91 games and a wild card spot. Urbina blew two games in 10 post-season appearances, including Game 4 of the World Series against the Yankees, but overall, his acquisition was one of the keys to the Marlins second championship.

Urbina left Florida for the Tigers just before the 2004 season. In October 2005 the hurler was accused of pouring gasoline on several workers at his ranch and chasing them with a machete, which is not permitted in Venezuela. He was sentenced to 14 years for attempted murder and released in 2012.

6) Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers, 2010

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cliff Lee’s time in Texas was a whirlwind. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters/Corbis

Cliff Lee has had an interesting career. He was drafted three times and traded four times, once as part of one of the more discussed deals in recent baseball history: the 2002 transaction that sent him from Montreal to Cleveland with Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens for Bartolo Colón and Tim Drew.

In 2010 Lee was dealt yet again, this time in a six-player trade that moved the lefty from the Seattle Mariners to Texas, a deal that wasn’t straightforward because the Rangers were going through bankruptcy and had limited financial flexibility. The M’s chucked in $2.25m to subsidize the $4.2m that was remaining on the deal along with players including the touted Justin Smoak.

Texas, a team that were mostly doormats over their first 50 years, weren’t supposed to be able to land a bona fide ace at the expense of a team like the Yankees, but GM Jon Daniels, who pulled off another massive move on Wednesday by dealing for Cole Hamels, also shocked the baseball world by out-offering New York in a huge move the brought them their first Cy Young talent since Gaylord Perry.

Lee’s ERA says otherwise but he pitched well in Texas: in 15 starts he threw at least eight innings on eight occasions, and at least seven innings in 10 games. His numbers were inflated by a rough four-game stretch during the summer dog days.

One of the reasons Lee was so hotly pursued by Yanks general manager Brian Cashman was that he beat them twice in the 2009 World Series even as New York topped Philly in six games. In the 2010 playoffs, Lee dominated the Tampa Bay Rays twice in the ALDS, posting a 0.688 WHIP and going the distance in a decisive Game 5. Then he shut out the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS, and was set to pitch in Game 7 before Texas clinched the series in six.

Lee was roughed up by a San Francisco Giants team which was building a modern baseball dynasty, but by then had helped the franchise reach their first ever World Series. That winter Lee landed back in Philadelphia after the Phils snatched him up for five years at $107.5m.