How All Of The Pirates Hitters Were Acquired: 2014 Roster Tree

The Pittsburgh Pirates organization havebeen looking a lot better over the last few years. They had 20 Losing seasons in a row finally end in 2013, – and at the time were one of the 3 teams to not make the playoffs since the 1994 Player Strike (KC and Toronto) and were the only National League team to hold this distinction until they clinched a wildcard berth in last year’s postseason. The squad even won a game at PNC Park for the 1st time ever in playoffs against the Reds in the NL Wildcard game.  They were ousted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 5 games during the NLDS round.   The club was one of the best franchises around the game of the MLB in the 1970’s. Their recent struggles (prior to 2013) have been because of drafting prior to the Huntington reign as GM.  This Roster Tree will show you they have done well via the trade route for several years.

How All Of The Pirates Hitters Were Acquired:

By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024

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Neil Huntington has done a great job assembling this Pirates team – and has spun some great trades in order to see his club actually be competitive over the last few years.

He may have taken some flak over not spending any money over the 2013 off season, but let’s see if he is active towards the Trade Deadline.

If the club has money to spend, they could really do some damage with picking up some help to bolster the squad.

Making the playoffs is just not good enough anymore.

You have been given a gift with the longterm deals that Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte have inked, and with the service clock just starting on Gregory Polanco.

It is an OF that hasn’t seen this much talent in Steeltown since the days of Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke.

McCutchen is signed for about an average of 8.5 Million Dollars a year until he hits FA in 2018. If he can be amongst the running for NL MVP every year like 2012 and winning the Award in 2013, this will bode well for the Pirates value in his salary. He is the best player the franchise has drafted since Barry Bonds. Coincidentally, these guys were the best players on the last 2 playoff teams. Having a guy like this at sch a fantastic rate, along with Marte, and Polanco under team control for several years gives the team great flexibility to add players every season.

For those that have never seen one of our Roster Trees, we go over how all of the players were acquired.

It works like 6 degrees of separation. By searching back to the origin of all the way back until a player is signed, drafted or purchased.

It totally gives you an idea on how the franchise has fared.

Pittsburgh Pirates 2014 Hitters Age/Position (Roster Tree)

Russell Martin C (31) –  Signed a 2 YR/$15 MIL deal with Pittsburgh before the 2013 Year.

Neil Walker 2B (28) – Drafted in the 1st Round of the 2004 MLB Amateur Draft (11th overall). 

Clint Barmes 2B/2B (35) – Was signed as a Free Agent in the winter of 2011 for 2 YRs/$10 MIL. Resigned for one year again this season.

Pedro Alvarez 3B (27)  – Drafted 2nd overall in the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft. 

Starling Marte  OF (25) – Signed as an amateur Free Agent in 2007.

Travis Snider OF (26) Acquired by Pittsburgh for the Brad Lincoln in July of 2012.

Brad Lincoln P (29):  Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 2006 amateur draft.

Andrew McCutchen OF (27) Drafted in the 1st Round of the 2005 MLB Amateur Draft.

Gaby Sanchez  1B (29) –  . Was traded with Kyle Kaminska (Minors) to the Pirates for Gorkys Hernandez – and a 2013 compensation Draft Pick – A. 

Gorkys Hernandez (26) OF:  June 3, 2009: Traded by the Atlanta Braves with Jeff Locke and Charlie Morton to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Nate McLouth.

Jeff Locke (26) SP:  Is with the Big club starting again.

Charlie Morton (30) SP:  Started for the last 6 years with Pittsburgh.

Nate McLouth (30) OF:  Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 25th round of the 2000 amateur draft.

Kyle Kaminska (25) P: November 28, 2012: Acquired by the Boston Red Sox to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Zach Stewart.

Zach Stewart (27) SP:  January 24, 2013: Selected off waivers by the Chicago White Sox from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jordy Mercer  INF (27) – Drafted in the 3rd Round of the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft. 

Josh Harrison UT (25) – Was Traded by the Cubs, along with Jose Ascaino and Kevin Hart for Tom Gorzelanny (Drafted in the 2nd Round of the 2003 MLB Amateur Draft by the Pirates  – and John Grabow (Drafted in the 3rd Round of the 1997 MLB Amateur Draft by the Pirates). 

Gregory Polanco (22) OF:  March 25, 2009: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent.

Chris Stewart (32) C: December 2, 2013: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later. The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Kyle Haynes (minors) (December 11, 2013) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.

Kyle Haynes (23) P:  Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 20th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Ike Davis (27) 1B:  April 18, 2014: Traded by the New York Mets to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later and Zack Thornton (minors). The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Blake Taylor (minors) (June 15, 2014) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

Zack Thornton (26) November.30/2012: Acquired by the Pirates for Chris Resop.

Chris Resop (31) RP:  Aug.04/2010:  Was claimed off of waivers from Atlanta by Pittsburgh.

Blake Taylor (18) P:  Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2nd round of the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft .

Tony Sanchez (26) C:  Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 2009 amateur draft.

Jaff Decker (24) LF/PH:  November 25, 2013: Traded by the San Diego Padres with Miles Mikolas to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Alex Dickerson (minors).

Mike Mikolas (25) P:  December 30, 2013: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Texas Rangers for Chris McGuiness.

Chris McGuinness (26) 1B:  Is currently with Indianapolis with AAA.

Alex Dickerson (24) LF/1B: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 3rd round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft

Jose Tabata (25) OF: RHP Jeff Karstens – Acquired from the Yankees with RHP Daniel McCutchen, RHP Ross Ohlendorf, and OF Jose Tabata, on July 26, 2008, for LHP Damaso Marte.

Marte was Acquired from the White Sox on December 13, 2005, for OF Rob Mackowiak (Drafted by the Pirates in 53rd Round of 1996 Draft).and OF Xavier Nady (Acquired from the Mets on July 13, 2006, for RHP Roberto Hernandez (Signed as a Free Agent on December 15, 2005) and LHP Oliver Perez.

Perez was acquired from the Padres – with OF Jason Bay and LHP Cory Stewart (never made the club), on August 26, 2003, for OF Brian Giles (Acquired from the Indians on November 18, 1998, for LHP Ricardo Rincon (Purchased from the Mexico City Reds on March 30, 1997).

Roberto Hernandez pitched in 22 Games for the Mets (3.48 ERA) – and was part of their 2006 NLCS series.  He retired after 2007.

Damaso Marte helped the New York Yankees win a World Series before he retired.

Daniel McCutchen was a key member of Pittsburgh’s Relief Core in 2011 , appearing in 73 Games, logging 84.2 IP – and having a 3.72 ERA.  He tested positive for PED use in the spring of 2012 .  After a one outing performance in Aug. of 2012, he was sent packing and then outright DFA’d.

Ross Ohlendorf  (Pitched well in 2010 (11 – 10 , 3.92 ERA) and can’t be blamed for 2011 record of 1 – 10 when ERA was 4.01.) 

He signed with the Padres team as an FA in 2012, but petered out.  He since has pitched for the Nationals in 2013, and is now on their 60 day DL with a bad back in 2014.

Jose Tabata is a pretty damn good Utility guy, and could be traded with the emergence of Polanco.

Rob Mackowiak had a nice stretch with the White Sox for 2 years (.770 OPS in 492 AB) before fading away.

Jason Bay was traded essentially for 4 players:  Bryan Morris, Andy LaRoche, Craig Hansen (never made the majors) and Brandon Moss. 

Bay had a great run with the Boston Red Sox – before signing a 4 YR/$64 MIL deal with the Mets. 

New York bought him out of his deal after abysmal results – freeing the Canadian to also play in Seattle, before he was done with the game. 

Huntington pulled a great move having the injury plagued OF off the team before he crippled their salary.

Brandon Moss struggled in his Pirates Career (OPS of .667) – but has flourished in Oakland with the Athletics (.894 OPS in 1003 AB – with 70 HRs, 201 RBI).

After Xavier Nady had a decent stint with the New York Yankees in 2008, he fizzled out of baseball – putting up anemic numbers after and is now a FA out of baseball.

Andy LaRoche  had one decent year with Pittsburgh in 2009 (hitting .258 with 12 HRs and 64 RBI).  He was granted Free Agency after the 2010 year and played for Oakland briefly before retiring.

Ricardo Rincon was a pretty solid arm out of the Bullpen for many years, but not the caliber of play – when you trade his services for the likes of Brian Giles (who was flipped for Jason Bay).  Basically , that is 8 years of +1.000 OPS and ALL – Star play from those two players.

Oliver Perez signed a brutal contract by the NYM management before they released him – costing the franchise heartache and Millions. 

He has since resurrected his pitching career in Seattle – and now Arizona as a LHP Bullpen specialist.

Brian Giles was a brilliant get by the Pirates for Ricardo Rincon (holy cow).  After an OPS for the Bucs of 1.018, he went on to post just a .815 clip OPS wise for the San Diego Padres. 

The Padres paid him $60 MIL for 6 Years – and that was too rich for the Pittsburgh team.

Basically here you turned Ricardo Rincon, ( Amateur FA signing) Roberto Hernandez (FA signing) and the only player to be drafted by the club in this tree (Mackowiak) turned into the assets left for Bryan Morris,  and Jose Tabata is still left on the current club.

Jeff Karstens (30) P: October 31, 2013: Granted Free Agency.

Bryan Morris (27) RP: June 1, 2014: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Miami Marlins for 2014 round A competitive balance pick.

However, you had MVP type like numbers from Bay and Giles in their Pittsburgh days – that came from Rincon, while you missed out on about $150 MIL of salary flushed out the door by the contracts of Perez, Bay and Giles.

Start the cycle over again with a decent pick for the Bucs.

Mr Huntington..  Bravo to you.. To previous management… While your drafting record has been bad, your trades for the last 15 years have not been.  Come back in a few weeks for the Hitters portion of this tree.

www.baseballreference.com – the source behind all roster transactions.

Neal Huntington was named General Manager by the Pirates in 2007 and was yet to have a playoff berth heading into last year. This club has improved a great deal over the last 5 years, and under his watch, they are in great shape for 5 – 7 more.  With payroll to spend. and a fan base expecting results, the 2014 Trade Deadline comes within 4 weeks.

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