Prime 9 in Card Form: Evaluating Pirates Worse Trades at each position

As the trade deadline draws near, I figured it would make sense to show off the Pirates worse trades over the past decade.

I'm sure anyone who has the MLB Network has seen the show Prime 9.  Well it got me to thinking about who the top players at each position the Pirates have given up on since the new millennium began. I'll take a look at each position and say who I think the top player is.  I'll show off some cards I own of that player in a Bucs uniform and move on to the next position.

Why Prime 9?
9 Players
9 Innings

This is my Prime 9 of the Players the Bucs gave up on for nothing.

1) Pitcher
Jason Schmidt

When thinking about pitchers that the Pirates had let go for nothing 2 names came to mind and oddly enough they are both connected.

In 2001 the Pirates traded Jason Schmidt to the San Fransisco Giants for Ryan Vogelsong.  Schmidt went on to have 3 All-Star appearances and a 78-37 record with the Giants while averaging a strikeout per inning.  Damn! Imagine that type of pitcher taking the hill every 5th day with the bats of Kendall, Giles, Ramirez, and later Bay, Sanchez, and Wilson.  

Consequently the player the Pirates acquired Ryan Vogelsong went on to have a terrible career with the Bucs.  He appeared in 2 games before needing Tommy John surgery.  Once returned from the surgery he struggled mighty and was later sold to a Japanese team.  His return to the states though in 2010 showed vast improvement in his performance.  Since begining anew with the Giants, Ryan went on to become a 2011 All-Star and a key piece in the 2012 Giants World Series Championship run. 

The card pictured above is from 2006 Topps Update. There aren't any hits of Schmidt wearing the black and gold that I know of, but for $2.84 shipped I couldn't pass up this card of the former Bucco wearing the black and gold at the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh representing the National League and the Giants.

2) Catcher
Jason Kendall

2001 Upper Deck eVolve AUTO Bat/Jersey

Sure, Jason's career was on the downward path when the Bucs traded him to Oakland after the 2004 season.  He was a 30 year old catcher whose main offensive tools (contact and baserunning) were trending in the wrong direction.  In 9 seasons with the Bucs, Kendall had an average of .306 with 140 SB and 65 runners caught stealing.  Those are numbers you normally don't see come from the catcher's position.  However after leaving the Pirates, Kendall went on to hit .271 with 22SB and a .321 slugging percentage in 2 1/2 seasons with Oakland.  Good numbers, but nothing great.

A more interesting choice is a player the Pirates decided to non tender a contract that signed a one year deal with the Minnesota Twins last year, then a 2 year extension.  Yes I am talking about Ryan Doumit.
Doumit is one of those players that is made for AL baseball.  He can't play any position well, but can play corner outfield positions, 1B, and Catcher well enough so he doesn't make too much of an embarassment of himself.  Well then I remembered this play and it reminded me that Kendall was the player the Pirates wish they had probably kept.

3) 1st Base

2007 Allen & Ginter Adam Laroche

Adam LaRoche
Ok so Adam LaRoche is generally thought of as a slow starter.  His April and May numbers are generally down right awful.  However come mid summer, LaRoche is downright scary what he can do with the bat and glove.  He never gets recognized, but will put up 25+ homeruns every year and play above average defense at 1B.  The Pirates traded away LaRoche to the Boston Red Sox for two minor leaguers.  LaRoche lasted only 6 games with Boston before being traded to the Braves for Casey Kotchman.
The above 2007 Adam LaRoche was picked up for $1.40 from COMC and I gotta say I didn't overpay one penny for this card.

4) 2nd Base

2008 UD Jersey

Freddy Sanchez
When you ship out a player who won a batting title a few years after winning it, your organization is generally looked upon as dumping salary.  When that same player is a fan favorite, your organization is generally looked upon as not caring for the fans.  When that same player is traded for a failed prospect who hasn't pitched successfully at AA even at the age of 25, well you can be sure that you have made a pretty bad trade.  Such was the case in 2009 when the Pirates sent fan favorite Freddy Sanchez to the San Fransisco Giants for Tim Alderson.
The above Freddy Sanchez UD Jersey card was won for $2 with free shipping on ebay.  The seller tried to stuff the card into a normal size toploader, then must have realized the card wasn't going to fit properly so he proceed to ship it in a PWE with a piece of cardboard and half the card sticking out of the case.  The card above is the results of AN IDIOT.  It would have been a nice addition to my collection and I guess still is for the price paid, but c'mon use some common sense.  

5) 3rd Base
Aramis Ramirez

2002 Stadium Club License to Drive Bat Relic

Aramis Ramirez was still very young and had his prime years ahead of him when the Pirates dumped his salary to the Chicago Cubs in 2003.  He was traded with Kenny Lofton and became part of the Chicago Cubs team that would reach the NLCS that year after losing 95 games the year before.
Ramirez committed the most errors at the hot corner among all 3B in 2003, but would go on to hit 239 HRs in 9 seasons with the Cubs before joining the Milwaukee Brewers as a free agent in 2012.  He currently has the 9th most career homeruns at the hot corner with 342 round trippers.

The License to Drive card above is one of my favorite ARam in my collection.  Something about the simple design made to mimic a Pennsylvania driver's license with the bat relic just makes me love this card.  The fact that it was just a couple bucks makes me appreciate it even more.


6) Shortstop
When you think of the Pirates shortstops over the past decade, there is one name that stands out above the rest...Jack Wilson.  Jack was a fan favorite and one of the most undervalued players at the position.  He deserved to win gold gloves, but was never considered.  He was traded to Seattle in 2009 for a bunch of players that didn't work out for the Pirates.
However, the player the Pirates should have held onto, but was never given a fair chance to perform is a guy the Red Sox picked up for nothing.  NOTHING!!!!
Pedro Ciriaco

1/1 Blank Back 2011 Topps Heritage Pedro Ciriaco

Ciriaco was acquired from the Diamondbacks in 2010 when we traded 3 bad offseason signs for the expensive contract of Chris Snyder.  Ciriaco was a throw in and immediately became our top fielding SS prospect in the organization.  He played in only a handful of games in 2010, but had clutch hits and stellar defense.  In 2011, the same thing happened, BUT was never put in the game.  He really racked up frequent travel miles though going from Indy to Pittsburgh.
The Red Sox grabbed Ciriaco and he played in 76 games for the team as they battled through injuries at 2B, SS, 3B, and the outfield.  In only 76 games he posted a .293/.315/.390 line which means his OPS was .705.  Pedro is a slap hitter that doesn't take many walks, but he does have a habit of turning singles into doubles by swiping 16 bags and being caught only 3 times while with Boston.  Pedro has since gone on to be acquired and released with 3 teams this year (Boston, San Diego, Kansas City).  If John McDonald can continue to get work, I'm sure the speedy Ciriaco will continue to find a role as a super utility pinch runner, defensive substitution with some team.

I don't have many cards of Ciriaco, but this blank back 1/1 Topps Gimmick card seemed appropriate to highlight.  I won it a few years ago for $9.99 when I was trying to put together the entire 2011 Heritage Blank Back Pirates set..

7) Right Field
This is probably the hardest one because there are two players that went on to have successful careers at the corner outfield position after being traded by the Bucs
Brian Giles and Jose Bautista

2011 Topps All-Star Jersey Relic 19/60 (jersey number)

I honestly have to give it to Joey Bats though just because he is still playing and the Pirates got practically nothing for Joey Bats who has gone on to hit 160 HR since leaving the Steel City.

I picked up the above Joey Bats jersey relic for less than $10 a year ago.  It's an "ebay 1/1" cause the card is numbered 19/60 which is his jersey number.

8) Center Field
It's hard to imagine the Pirates without a good centerfielder since Cutch arrived.  Before Cutch there was Nate McLouth who was also pretty good (All-Star, Gold Glove, 20/20 production).  Before McLouth though there was Tike Redman who was not so good.  However if you can go way back to 2003 there was the speedy Kenny Lofton patrolling center for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

2003 Donruss Signature Series 125/500

Lofton was already in his age 36 season when he signed with the Pirates during the 2002 off season.  Proving that he still had plenty of gas left in his tank he went on to hit .305 with 96 stolen bases through the next 4 years.  What I find to be the most impressive though is that Lofton stole bases at a 82% rate from his age 36-40 seasons.  That's incredible!  Lofton went on to finish his career with the Indians, but was part of the "Salary Dump" to the Cubs in the 2003 season along with 3B Aramis Ramirez.

The above Lofton is from 2003 Donruss Signature Series and is numbered 125/150.  I managed to grab this auto of the potential HOFer for a small fee of $14 shipped.  I've often seen this card sell in the $40 range so I was pretty excited to grab it for such a great price.  

9) Left Field
Jason Bay

2005 UD Artifacts AUTO 317/599

The single worse trade the Pirates have done in the past 5 years.  Bay should have brought in a good return, but instead he failed to bring in even one top 10 organizational prospect.  Only one player remains with the Bucs from that trade (Bryan Morris) and he just got called up last year. Granted Morris has been a quality late inning bullpen arm, but the Bucs needed more for a guy that went on to hit 45 HRs in 200 games for the Red Sox.  To make matters worse, you guys all know that Jason Bay is one of my favorite players.

The above 2005 UD Artifacts (on card) AUTO of Jason Bay is the cheapest Bay AUTO I've ever purchased.  Numbered 317/599 this gem cost me a measly .99.  I love buying AUTOs off the dollar menu.  

ADDED BONUS: Relief Pitcher
Juan Carlos Oviedo aka Leo Nunez

2003 Just Minors x/25

Ok so "Leo Nunez" may have been an illegal immigrant and the subject of controversy once it was revealed that his name wasn't really Leo Nunez, but the Pirates had the one time shutdown closer signed as a teenager before trading him to the Kansas City Royals for Benito Santiago who played in only 6 games as a Bucco.  Talk about giving away something for free basically.

The above 2003Just Minors Leo Nunez was purchased from COMC over a year ago when everything came out about Juan Carlos Oviedo.  I decided to use that opportunity to grab an autograph because most likely his stock would never be lower.  I was right as I managed to grab the above card for $2.25.  


So to recap who took the Pirates Prime 9 players.

Looking at this makes me really happy that the deal with the Red Sox this offseason for All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt for the best setupman in baseball (Mark Melancon) and prospects is working out well.  Our Red Sox trades never work out in the past.
Boston Red Sox:
Pedro Ciriaco, Adam Laroche, Jason Bay

San Fransisco Giants:
Freddy Sanchez, Jason Schmidt

Chicago Cubs:
Aramis Ramirez & Kenny Lofton (same trade!!!)

Oakland A's:
Jason Kendall

Toronto Blue Jays:
Jose Bautista

McCutchen Monday: Dimwit's break & Contest Update

Sam from The Daily Dimwit busted a couple boxes in his latest group break.  I chose the Pirates and got the Expos as my random.  All the Expos are for trade if anyone is interested or you can win what's not grabbed in trades by cheering on the Pirates as they face off against the formerly called Expos, Washington Nationals.

Sam also included this Andrew McCutchen 2012 Topps Museum base card that I had expressed interest in.  Cutch has been given a couple days off as he was fighting off flu like symptoms, but is expected to return in Tuesday's game against the Nationals.  Don't forget to root for the Pirates to win some great cards of Expos/Nationals.  Cards given away will be listed after I show off the group break stuff.  

Here's my Pirates from Topps Gallery.  Topps Gallery was a beautiful set.  Kenny Lofton played for lots of teams over his MLB career, but only half a season was with the Bucs.  This is without a doubt the nicest Lofton I have in a Pirates uniform.

 Also in the break was Topps HD.  This is a set that I had never collected, but now I have the complete team set plus a numbered Brian Giles parallel.

2001 Fleer Game Time was also included in the group break.  I managed to get only 3 Pirates in the break, which oddly enough is the complete team set.    

Bazooka baseball cards are a lot like their gum.  Not exactly the tastiest, but certainly fun and you get value for what you pay for it.  I managed to only get a few of the Pirates collecting 40% of the team set.  I still need Jason Bay, Kip Wells, and Jack Wilson.

 

The final box that got busted was Upper Deck Vintage.  Vintage looks awfully similar to 1971 Topps.  I got 5 of the 9 cards in the team set.   

From the Expos side, I got 18 cards which are all pictured below.  If you're interested in any of them let me know.

 

Any cards not claimed by Tuesday evening will be included in the Let's Go Bucs Contest! along with these two relic cards and Strasburg mini pictured below.  The Randy Johnson Topps Gallery card is stunning!

LET'S GO BUCS!!!! BEAT THE NATIONALS!!!!

One card - 6 hits

I recently saw this card on ebay and knew I had to add it to my collection.  I'm a fan of multiplayer relics unless they feature players that have nothing to do with one another.  Then I just scratch my head and say, um ok?  This card has one trait in common and that's about it....they all played for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  At no point were all these players on the same Pirates team though.  Oddly enough, none of them have anything that they did historically together either.  I went as far as to reseach if maybe they all might have lead off an inning with a homerun, nope.  So I can safely say the following statement is true and that's about it.  They all played with the Pittsburgh Pirates and are no longer a member of the organization.  Let's see whose on this 6 Bat relic hit, shall we?

Up first is Bill Madlock.  Mad Dog is a player I like to collect relics, autos, and parallels of.  He was really good with the Pirates.  Madlock came over to the Pirates in the summer of 1979 and was a key part of the offense that helped win the 1979 World Series.  Madlock would become a member of the 1981 and 1983 All-Star teams as a member of the Pirates.  Those same years he would win his 3rd and 4th batting titles.  Only Wade Boggs won more batting titles as a third basemen in his career than Bill Madlock.  Madlock's 1981 batting title made him the first player to win two batting titles with two different teams.  A lot of people remember Bill Madlock for his short temper which resulted in him getting ejected 18 times during his 15 year career. 

On the same side of the card is Kenny Lofton.  Sweet!!!!  When I was younger, I used to love watching Kenny Lofton steal bases.  I even got a chance to meet him really early in his career when he was a member of the Houston Astros.  I didn't know at the time that he would go on to swipe close to 60 bases a year during his prime as a member of the Cleveland Indians though.  Lofton joined the Pirates for the 2003 season and was past his prime and played in only 84 for the Bucs.  He put up decent numbers for a 36 year old, but would be moved to Chicago to close out the season.  During his 17 year career, Kenny Lofton played for 11 teams.  I remember there was even a commercial mocking Kenny for playing in so many different cities. 

At the bottom of the front of the card is my first "hit" featuring the surfer looking Craig Wilson.  Wilson started out as utility bench player for the Pirates in 2001.  He would finally earn the starting role in 2004 when he posted career highs in every offensive category except batting average.  Wilson was a power presence in the lineup, but would later be traded from Pittsburgh to the NY Yankees in 2006 where his career quickly collapsed.  The Atlanta Braves would sign him to a one year deal a year later, where he continued to freefall until being released by the team in 2007.  The most interesting thing about Craig Wilson is that he lead the league in hit by pitches in 2002 (as a pinch hitter too) and 2004. 

On the back are two Pirates who are still fan favorites in Pittsburgh, but who got traded when Neal Huntington took over in 2007.  They are also two of the more recent Pirates to win a major award.  Yes I'm talking about Freddy Sanchez and Jason Bay.

Freddy Sanchez came to the Pirates from the Boston Red Sox and transitioned from 3B to 2B.  In 2007 Freddy lead the league in batting average to make him the most recent Pirate to win a batting title.  Freddy would be traded in the summer of 2009 for SF Giants pitching prospect Tim Alderson.  Alderson has yet to make it out of AA and looks like he is no longer considered to be a prospect despite being taken in the 2006 first round.

Jason Bay. Everyone here should know by now that I really like Jason Bay.  He's a classy guy and a really good ball player.  Bay is now with the Mets enjoying the big time money he received and performing like every other elite free agent that signs with the Mets.  Yup, he is not the Jason Bay of old, but that's ok because I remember him when he was good and remember seeing him in 2009 as a Red Sox.

On the bottom of the card is Jose Castillo.  Jose was supposed to be the 2nd basemen of the future for the Pirates.  In 2004 he was ranked as the number 3 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America.  2005 and 2006 saw injuries to Jose and he only had about 350 plate appearances each season.  His potential continued to impress the front office and he remained the starting 2nd basemen going into the 2007 season.  However, with the emergence of Jose Bautista at 3B and Freddy Sanchez moving to 2B, that left Jose Castillo to fight to remain on the Pirates radar and get playing time.  Castillo finished the 2007 season batting only .244 and would sign a contract with the Florida Marlins the following season after being released on December 6th. 

NOW BACK TO THE CARD!!!!

The 2005 Playoff Team Six six bat relic is numbered to 150.  This card features some good memories of the Pirates and some not so good memories of the Pirates.  Nevertheless it's a cool card for $10.  Not bad for $1.66 per bat.  After doing some research I see that there is a 4 relic card from the same series featuring many of the same players (no Castillo or Madlock).  I may have to pick that up to add to my Jason Bay collection.