The date was December 21, 2007.

The Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers decided to make a trade. A winter trade that was not necissarly significant at the time. The experts said there would be bigger ones, and there were right. Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren were just a few names to hit the market this past winter and help change the landscape of the American and National Leagues.

However, who could have predicted the outcome of that late December day?

The trade: Josh Hamilton to the Rangers for Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera to the Reds. As we progress into June, it strikes importance to examine the players in this trade, and just give a little insight into how big an impact two of these players, Edinson Volquez and Josh Hamilton, have had on their respective teams, and in their respective leagues.

And, it should be mentioned on the weekend after we saw Big Brown lay an egg and miss the triple crown, these two players are each chasing their own “triple crowns”:

Edinson Volquez SP CIN

Young ace Edinson Volquez is just three wins behind the remarkable Brandon Webb for the National League lead. What is significant about this number? Volquez leads the league in ERA and strikeouts, and wins is the only category he needs to possibly capture a pitching triple crown.

Volquez has started 12 games. He has yet to give up more than 2 earned runs in any start, which leads to an ERA of 1.32 through 12 starts. YES! 1.32! He leads the majors in strikeouts with 91, and his K/9 ratio is 10.92.

Based on his dominance, it is a shame Volquez only has 8 wins to go with his ratios, but pitching for a medicore team like Cincinnati, fantasy owners can live with the win total, if Edinson continues to pitch out of this world. Based on his season projections, Volquez is expected to finish with 20 wins, have an ERA of 1.32, and strikeout 227.

Even though Volquez will likely come back to earth, I am rooting for Volquez to join the likes of Jake Peavy, Randy Johnson, and Johan Santana (just to name a few of recent memory) to capture a pitching triple crown, and make his mark as one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Josh Hamilton CF TEX

We have all heard about the troublesome past of Josh Hamilton, which is why most people are cheering for the kid to have some success in the big leagues. But this kind of success!

While Volquez is busy dominating National League hitters, Hamilton is busy blasting American League pitching. As of this weekend, Hamilton has a line of .315 AVG/17 HR/69 RBI. He leads the AL in homers, leads the majors in RBI, and is 7th in the American League in hitting, which makes Hamilton in the thick of the American League triple crown race.

Hamilton is projected to finish with a line of a .315 average, 43 homers, and a whopping 176 RBI’s. Even though the natural might not finish with that many runs batted in, Hamilton has the swing and plays in the right ballpark to continue his torrid pace. If he can raise his batting average (which has just recently dipped from the .330 range), Hamilton can make a push to be the first triple crown winner since Carlton Yastrzemski.

General managers could not plan a better trade. The Rangers wanted a future centerfielder. The Reds wanted a young ace.

However, I don’t think anybody would have expected the true impact the players in this trade have had in their respective leagues, especially not this quickly. After Belmont got me into the triple crown mood, it is also unique and strange that one trade of promising players are both chasing their own “triple crowns” well into the month of June. Even though I do not think Volquez will have enough wins or Hamilton will have the average to pull off baseball’s version of the triple crown, I will enjoy watching two players linked from December 21, 2007 chase baseball immortality.

DRang

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