There's a human side to being traded that fans don't think about much

Jordan Montgomery of the Yankees leaves a game in the fifth inning against the Royals at Yankee Stadium on July 31. Credit: Jim McIsaac
“Remember, behind all today’s trades are a player & their family saying goodbye to friends, rushing to move out, scrambling to find new housing, and often leaving a city they loved. As exciting as this day is, it can be brutal for players & families.”
— Erica Scherzer, wife of Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, on Twitter on Tuesday, which was baseball’s trade deadline day
When you were waiting for your favorite team to make a move by Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline, did you think for a second about how getting traded might affect the player or his family?
Didn't think so.
We know the counterarguments to caring, and the players do, too. They are highly paid athletes and “boo-hoo” if they have to uproot their families in the middle of the season to join a new team in a new city.
Scherzer, who was traded from the Nationals to the Dodgers on July 30 last season, signed a three-year, $130 million contract with the Mets in the offseason.
Another very good argument: Don't forget military members, who aren’t paid anywhere near as well as professional athletes but have to be ready to move around at a minute’s notice — and with stakes that are much higher than a baseball game or pennant race.
Both are excellent points. But it doesn’t change the fact that getting traded at or near the deadline is a big deal for players and their families, and not just because of the baseball stuff.
There’s what Aaron Boone calls "the life stuff," too.
On July 31, 2003, Boone was traded from the Reds to the Yankees. You may be aware of a certain big home run he hit later that year to send the Yankees to the World Series.
But on July 31, 2003, Boone wasn’t thinking about October glory. He was thinking about the baseball stuff, but he also was thinking about relocating from Cincinnati, the only major-league city he had ever lived in, the city where he had put down roots starting in 1997.
“[You think about] all of it,” the Yankees' manager said this past week. “Where am I going to live? Am I married? Do I have a family? How do I get there? Do I know anyone on the team? For a position player like me, what [batting practice] group am I hitting in? Who am I hitting off of in BP every day? What’s the cage routine like?
“There’s so much to get situated baseball-wise and getting acclimated, but there’s the life stuff, too, of packing up a place you’ve been and been living for sometimes years, sometimes months, and where do I go next? Where do I live? How do I survive outside of the baseball? What’s my routine? Where do I go eat? Where do I get groceries? All of it.”
Boone’s Yankees acquired five players during the week leading up to the deadline: outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Harrison Bader and pitchers Frankie Montas, Scott Effross and Lou Trivino. From the big-league roster, the Yankees traded away Jordan Montgomery and Joey Gallo.

The Dodgers' Joey Gallo walks in the dugout before the team's game against the Giants in San Francisco on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
Montgomery and Gallo were the most public with their feelings about getting traded. Gallo, who suffered through a miserable year-plus in New York, couldn’t wait to get traded. In the days leading up to his deadline-day trade to the Dodgers, he even talked about his Yankees tenure in the past tense.
Montgomery was the exact opposite. The trade that sent him to the Cardinals on Tuesday for Bader (a Bronxville native who is injured and won’t make his Yankees debut until next month) was a last-minute shocker.
Montgomery, a lifelong Yankee who had not been mentioned in any of the thousands of rumors (true or not) around the deadline, appeared devastated as he met with the media. His eyes were still red from crying.
“This is my family,” Montgomery said. “This is all I know.”
How much did Montgomery love being a Yankee? Just four days before he was traded, Montgomery’s fiancée, McKenzie Dirr, shared on social media pictures from an engagement photo shoot that the couple had taken at Yankee Stadium. The deliriously happy duo is shown embracing on the field and in the dugout in advance of their wedding, which is going to take place in Kentucky in December.
Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon, who is going to be in the wedding party, was told about his buddy being dealt away about an hour before he had to pitch against Seattle. Taillon did not pitch well, although he didn’t cite his emotions as a reason.
“That [trade] hurt, caught me off guard,” Taillon said. “He was definitely a best friend for me here. I’m going to be in his wedding this offseason. We sat next to each other on the flights, shared a love for bourbon and coffee, and we’re pretty much inseparable at the field. It’s going to be tough not having him, for sure.”
Montgomery was scheduled to make his first Cardinals start on Saturday night in St. Louis. Naturally, it was against the Yankees.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Montgomery said after joining his new team. “Honestly, coming up with the Yankees, it happened unexpectedly, but if it’s going to happen, I’m excited about it being here. I’ve heard nothing but good things. A lot of former teammates of mine who have also played here have reached out and told me how great it is. I’m just ready to get to work.”
The Yankees felt as if they could afford to trade Montgomery because they acquired Montas on Monday from Oakland, but the righthander’s Yankees debut was delayed because of the death of his mother-in-law. Instead of joining his new team and being activated, Montas tended to his family and was placed on the bereavement list by the Yankees. He was expected to join the team in St. Louis on Saturday and pitch on Sunday.
Effross was acquired earlier on Monday in a trade with the Cubs. He was in New York by Monday night and made his Yankees debut on Tuesday, as did Trivino, who was part of the Montas deal.
Effross and Trivino were as excited as Montgomery was upset. Effross said the first person he told was his wife.
“She’s like, ‘What?’ “ he said. “She was working. I called her. I’m like, ‘I just got traded to the Yankees.’ Pretty shocking news for me and then for her to hear that, it was somewhat [like] when I got called up for the first time. That’s kind of how it felt. I called her and then my parents right after that and then a couple of my buddies and then the floodgates kind of opened as far as texts and everything.”
Effross said he wasn’t expecting to be traded. Benintendi definitely was.
“When your name’s being I guess floated around like this, there’s nothing you can do,” he said. “That’s out of my control and whatever happens happens. I wasn’t really too worried about it. I thought I was going to get traded at some point, and when the time came, it didn’t surprise me.”

The Dodgers' Joey Gallo walks in the dugout before the team's game against the Giants in San Francisco on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
Benintendi had the easiest trip of all: He was traded from the Royals to the Yankees the day before Kansas City flew to New York to play a four-game series at Yankee Stadium. So Benintendi flew with his old team, stayed at the Royals' Manhattan hotel and reported to his new workplace in the Bronx.
Benintendi is not married, so he didn’t have some of the same issues as the others. But he still had personal stuff to attend to while also playing leftfield in front of 40,000 people a night for a team that expects to win the World Series.
“It definitely happens fast,” he said. “I’ve still got my place in Kansas City. I’ve got to pack it up and ship everything. Got to figure out how to do all that stuff.”
The Yankees have people who can help players and their families with the off-field logistical issues. It’s help that is needed and appreciated.
“I’m certainly always empathetic to that and what they’re going through,” Boone said. “I feel like one of my jobs and our staff’s jobs and our players’ jobs is to help make the transition as easy as possible and make them as comfortable as possible. I think there’s kind of a human touch, human element to that that’s real important.”