Yeah I could see that. Actually, for sake of argument, I'll run with it. Because in a way is the nightmare scenario: Trade a top prospect on the doorstep of a HoF career for a guy who never again regains the form of his thrilling days of yesteryear. Obviously everything would be different. Mauer's career would have been different. Maybe he never gets bilateral leg weakness. Maybe Pierzynski dyes his hair black instead of going with blonde tips. But to keep it simple, assume that nothing would have gone differently production-wise and... Who would have won the WAR? bb-Ref WAR: 28.9 to 43.5 - A's wins the WAR Fangraphs WAR: 40.9 to 43.0 - A's wins the WAR So even in a borderline nightmare scenario like this, the trade still could have worked out fairly close to being a wash. -- Other guys traded the offseason following 2003: Javier Vazquez Alfonso Soriano Arod Livan Hernandez Carlos Guillen Billy Wagner Nick Johnson Randy Choate Juan Rivera Maicer Izturis Chris Reitsma edit: I should clarify, those are the combined WAR totals of Hudson + Pierzynski versus Mauer over 2004-2013. Strictly judging the trade in terms of Mauer's WAR versus Hudson, its a lot more lopsided bb-ref: 14.6 to 43.5 fangraphs: 25.5 to 43.0