With the Pirates about to fall into the NL Central cellar, unless new acquisition Cesar Izturis will rescue them, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at how the current crop of players came to Pittsburgh.
• Fans were excited this past off-season when the team acquired Adam LaRoche from the Braves. Although he's been somewhat of a disappointment - who wouldn't be, with a .236 batting average - LaRoche is having a better season than the other major-leaguer in the deal. Mike Gonzalez is out for the season after having elbow surgery, but pitched well for the Braves before he went under the knife: 2-0, 1.59 ERA in 17 innings. Pirates fans might want to keep an eye on the third man in the deal, minor-league shortstop Brent Lillibridge, who was promoted from AA to AAA by the Braves this season. Overall, he is hitting .265 with 6 homers, 26 RBI and 28 stolen bases.
• Freddy Sanchez wowed Pittsburgh and at least made a name for himself around baseball by winning the NL batting title last year, after starting the season on the bench behind free-agent bust Joe Randa (whom the Pirates originally let go in the '98 expansion draft). Sanchez became a Pirate by accident. In 2003, Pittsburgh made a deal with Boston involving reliever Brandon Lyon, who turned out to be injured. The Red Sox took him back and decided they'd like to have starting pitcher Jeff Suppan, too. So they shipped Sanchez to Pittsburgh.
• Jose Bautista, who is spending time on the disabled list, is indicative of the Pirates' recent history of administrative snafus. The Orioles snagged him from Pittsburgh in the Rule 5 draft in late 2003, and he spent the first half of the 2004 season bouncing from Baltimore to Kansas City to the New York Mets. Finally, when the Pirates were looking to unload Kris Benson, the Mets included Bautista in the deal. (Also on board was Ty Wiggington, who stunk in Pittsburgh and eventually was released. He since has hit 38 home runs in a season and a half as a Devil Ray.)
• When the Pirates dealt reliever Jason Christiansen to the Cardinals for Jack Wilson, Christiansen reportedly was extremely happy to be leaving Pittsburgh. As for Wilson, the acquisition of Izturis points to the probability of Jack leaving town imminently. And at this point, he'll probably be happy.
• Ex-GM Cam Bonifay pulled off one great trade during his tenure with the Pirates, acquiring Brian Giles for Ricardo Rincon. Giles' salary eventually wore out its welcome, and Pittsburgh dealt him to San Diego in a 2003 deal that included Jason Bay. In 2004, Bay became the Pirates' first Rookie of the Year, and for three straight years he was an All-Star. That's not quite the case this year, as he's struggled at the plate and runners have taken considerable advantage of his questionable ability to throw.
• The Pirates reportedly were more interested in Xavier Nady than Bay when they made the Giles deal. In the short term, it looked like not comparison between the two. But this year, Nady has been the Pirates' most consistent hitter, at .283-14-51. Pirates fans, though, can't help but keep a close watch on the Oliver Perez, whom the Mets acquired for Nady. Perez has spent time on the disabled list this year, but his 8-6 record with a 3.13 ERA indicates that he's still able to pitch well.
• Shawn Chacon has pitched well at times out of the bullpen this year, posting a fairly respectable 3.58 ERA. He certainly is having a better season than the guy he was traded for: After spending half a season with the Yankees, Craig Wilson was signed by Atlanta, but was released in May when his batting average dipped to .172.
Trivia question 51: Which owner of a baseball team was fined $15,000 and suspended two years for making illegal political campaign contributions to Richard M. Nixon?
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