Former New York Yankees, A's Slugger's Interesting Career
Former New York Yankee and Oakland A's outfielder Rubén Sierra played 20 years in the big leagues, beginning in 1986 and going all the way through 2006. He was a four-time All Star, a Home Run Derby champion, and a Silver Slugger.
Earlier this week, the Twitter account BrooksGate posted a graphic of each MLB team's all-time home run leader that also had a negative career WAR with that team.
Sierra appeared on the list for both the A's and Yankees, although he played for a total of nine teams in his career. Outside of the Texas Rangers, where he spent ten seasons, New York and Oakland were the only other locations he spent more than a season.
each MLB teams all-time HR leader, but only players with a negative career WAR with that team pic.twitter.com/PJ9ZycebCP
— BrooksGate (@Brooks_Gate) February 13, 2025
With the Yankees, Sierra clubbed 45 home runs, including 17 as a 38-year-old in 2004. He was worth 0.2 fWAR that season. As a member of the A's, he mashed 60 home runs across four seasons, but the best production they received from him was in 1992 when he played in 27 games and put up 0.8 fWAR.
The following year he'd drive in 101 RBI with 22 home runs, but he was also worth -2.6 fWAR due to some truly awful defense in the field.
Sierra was acquired by the Athletics as part of the return for José Canseco in 1992, with Bobby Witt Sr. also headed to Oakland in that deal. The A's traded Sierra to the Yankees in 1995 for Danny Tartabull.
The slugger finished his career with 306 home runs, with the 30 he hit as a 21-year-old in 1987 being his personal best. From 1986-1991 with the Rangers, Sierra had racked up 17.3 bWAR, averaging over three wins per season. The 1992 campaign would be the final year that he would tally more than one win above replacement in any of his 13 remaining years.
One standout that is funny from the list that was provided by BrooksGate is that another former A's and Yankees outfielder also made the list, but for a third team, the Cleveland Guardians.
Nick Swisher, who was drafted by Oakland in the first round of the 2002 MLB Draft, then traded to the Chicago White Sox before making his way to the New York Yankees, finished his career with two and a half seasons with Cleveland. Swisher hails from Ohio.
For a bit of A's trade history, Swisher was traded to Chicago and received Gio Gonzalez as part of the return. After an All Star season with Oakland, Gonzalez was traded to the Washington Nationals in exchange for catcher Derek Norris, who hit a big home run in Game 162 (a pivotal moment for A's fans) and Brad Peacock.
Peacock was later dealt to a rebuilding Houston Astros team, along with Chris Carter, in exchange for Jed Lowrie, who went on to have many great seasons with the A's before retiring.
As for Rubén Sierra, he can be found attending Fans Fest at Raimondi Park in Oakland on March 1, along with the player that the A's traded for him, José Canseco.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.