Remember Jose Bautista?

The non-waiver trade deadline came and went yesterday.  The Pirates were very smart in upgrading their offense for practically nothing.  They got veteran 1B Derrek Lee from Baltimore for Low-A 1B Aaron Baker.  They also were able to pickup veteran outfielder Ryan Ludwick for a PTBNL or cash considerations.  The PTBNL is going to be selected on January 1st, 2012 so I suspect that it may be someone that will not be protected by the Rule 5 draft.

The Pirates in the past have often been criticized for "trading away all their good players."  Sometimes I support the trades, other times I don't.  Clearly the Jason Bay trade could have worked out better and that stands out more than any other trade in recent memory.  However, I think a lot of the other trades the current front office has made benefited the team's future.  What has Nate McLouth done recently?  Xavier Nady? Jack Wilson? Ian Snell? Demaso Marte? The list goes on and on, but does anyone remember a power hitting 3B that struck out a lot named Jose Bautista? He seemed like he would have a lot of potential when he was playing for the Bucs in the mid-late 2000s.  Jose was traded during midseason of 2008 for Robinzon Diaz and a box of crayons.  I wonder what he's doing these days....

UPDATE: Evidently he's still playing in Toronto and doing fairly well.  He has a line of .324/.459/.656 and an OPS of 1.115.  Seems fairly respectable by today's standards. Oh and he also has 31 HR and 71 RBI through only 97 games in 2011.  I want a bat like that in the Bucs struggling offense so bad.  I hope the Pirates don't give up on Pedro Alvarez too soon, because I think he could have Bautista like numbers in the not too distant future.

Here's a 2005 Bowman Futures Game jersey card of Jose Bautista that I recently won off eBay for $9 shipped.