July 31, 2006: Greg Maddux, Cubs to Dodgers

The Smartest Pitcher Who Ever Lived had already bagged his four Cy Youngs and 327 wins when the Dodgers rescued him from a Cubs team bound for 96 losses. To get

The Smartest Pitcher Who Ever Lived had already bagged his four Cy Youngs and 327 wins when the Dodgers rescued him from a Cubs team bound for 96 losses. To get the 40-year-old righty, a pending free agent, Los Angeles traded good-field/no-hit shortstop Cesar Izturis straight up. Despite striking out just 4.4 batters per nine innings, Maddux went 6-3 with a 3.30 ERA in 12 starts for the Dodgers, who won the NL West, but both he and they were steamrolled by the Mets in the Division Series. Maddux signed with the Padres that winter and wound up returning for a second stint with the Dodgers after an August 2008 waiver deal that marked the final stop of his 23-year big league career. He finished with 355 wins, the eighth-highest total all time and the highest of any post-World War II righty, and received 97.2% of the vote in 2014.