In the world of trading in sports there have been some questionable deals made by teams over the years and without ranking them in any order the short list nominees would be the Red Sox sending Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees for cash only.

– The Atlanta Falcons shipping a young Brett Favre to Green Bay for a first round draft pick (RB Tony Smith if you’re wondering).

– Montreal sending Patrick Roy to Colorado as a favour in exchange for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko.

– Dallas sends Herschel Walker to the Vikings for five players and eight draft picks, one of which wound up to be Emmitt Smith.

The list goes on but the common thread here was both teams did at least get something in return with the universe unfolding as it did so comparisons could be made at the end of the players’ careers.

That’s the normal way of making and then evaluating trades but then this story emerges.

Enter Mike Cisco.

This baseball player now has his name attached to a sports trivia question which I can’t recall having an answer to until now.

The question would read: What player was traded to another team for absolutely nothing in return?

The 25-year-old right-handed pitcher with the Phillies was sent packing to the Los Angeles Angels recently and the Phillies got zip in return. Nada. Zilch. A big zero. Not even the standard future considerations in this deal which can only be considered as a donation of sorts.

It’s not even like the free box at a neighbourhood garage sale. Yep, you buy the candlestick holders and we’ll toss in the right-handed reliever. The Angels didn’t even have to pay for the phone call.

It’s not as if this guy is a rubber–armed bum either, posting a 1.70 ERA in 137 and a third innings in AA and AAA play.

But to send him to a team with a $145 million payroll and not even get a bag of balls or a bat in return is puzzling to say the least.

Young Mike can take solace in knowing he will be the answer to a trivia question at least and the Phillies’ fans won’t be able to compare his career to anything.

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