Ranking 3 best LA Angels trades in franchise history

The LA Angels may have made some poor trades in the past that I went over recently, but they've also made some really great ones.

Some of them still have effects on this franchise today. A few of them really stand out, however, and are proud moments in our team's history.

Here's to many more that Perry Minasian will be pulling off. Starting with the most recent gem of a trade, the countdown begins now:

No. 3 best LA Angels trade in franchise history: The Mark Teixeira trade (2008)

Curious as to how the LA Angels' third-best trade was for Mark Teixeira due to him not playing a full season with the team? You're not thinking hard enough. This trade is not just because Teixeira was a key piece to our run to get in the playoffs, as he hit .358/.449/.632 (1.081 OPS) with 13 home runs, 43 RBIs, and 39 runs in his 54 games with us after he was traded for during the year.

It's what happened AFTER that year. And I'm not just talking about his dominant postseason play, where he hit .467/.550/.467 (1.017 OPS) with four runs scored in our four playoff games. It's that he played so well that he scored a MASSIVE offseason deal with the New York Yankees after the season.

How does that benefit the Angels? Well, we got a compensation draft pick from that transaction, which we used on a guy who ended up being the best player in franchise history. Not only did we benefit in our playoff run from GREAT performance from Tex, but the move ended up resulting in our selection of the great Mike Trout.

No. 2 best LA Angels trade in franchise history: The Rod Carew trade (1979)

Rod Carew was truly a remarkable player for the LA Angels. He's the type of player that's impossible not to like. We traded pitchers Paul Hartzell and Brad Havens, along with outfielder Ken Landreaux, and infielder Dave Engle for Carew.

With all due respect to those names, I'm taking the Hall of Famer. In the first six years of Carew's Angels career, he made six straight All-Star Games. He hit .314 and got on 39.3% of the time.

Sure, Carew didn't have a lot of power, but the 3,053 hits makes me forget about that pretty quickly. Carew was a bit better on the Twins than the Angels, but nobody will ever forget what he brought to Anaheim. Besides, while he didn't bring any of his batting titles here, he still brought a great swing that was still in its prime.

His 119 OPS+ with Anaheim was solid, and it's safe to say we won the trade. Carew remains a fan favorite of this fan base, despite retiring after the 1985 season. Carew hit over .300 in five out of his seven years with this club.