The Never Ending Trade

This is a story that would make Hunter S. Thompson proud.  Let's take some artistic liberties and assume it all begins in a smoky Mexico City bar over some tequila where a deal is struck.  It's May 30, 1997.  The Pirates just agreed to sign a 27 year old left hander from the Mexico City Reds named Ricardo Rincon.

Four days later, the lefty makes his major league debut.  A little over four months later, Rincon is part of a combined no-hitter with countryman Francisco Cordova.

Today Latin American prospects don't last to 17 let alone 27.  And they certainly don't head straight to the big leagues.  But this story is just getting started.

Rincon pitched well in his first major league action appearing in 62 games with a 3.45 ERA for the Freak Show team that nearly stole the division despite finishing under .500.  The next year, he followed up that with another strong season and sub-3 ERA.

The 1998 season wrapped up for the Cleveland Indians with a ALCS exit, following a heartbreaking Game 7 walk-off loss to the Marlins the year before in the World Series.  They had an embarrassment of riches, including young future All-Stars Richie Sexson and Brian Giles.  The Indians were anxious
for bullpen help, and the Pirates were looking to build an exciting offense as they got ready to enter a new ballpark in 2001.  Rincon was viewed as a potential setup man by the Indians, while the Pirates had lefty Jason Christiansen ready to take Rincon's place in their own pen.  The Pirates were pursing B.J. Surhoff, and probably envisioned a power hitting tandem in the middle of their lineup.  It was a win-win for both sides at the time.





Giles developed into a marquee player for the Bucs and one of the best players in the game, though his numbers flew under the radar on some terrible Pirates teams.

                                       
Flash forward to 2003, and the Padres are in a similar situation to the 1999 Pirates.  Preparing to open a new ballpark, they're looking for some name value.  And apparently when you want to put butts in seats, Brian Giles is your guy.  Original negotiations had Giles, a San Diego native, and Jason Kendall heading to the Padres for a package headlined by Xavier Nady and Oliver Perez (don't worry, much like the Mounties, Dave Littlefield always gets his man), but wind up being just Giles for Perez, Jason Bay, and a PTBNL.  The Pirates were in the midst of shedding salary like they were the 2018 Marlins due to some poor bookkeeping that put them in violation of allowed debt ratios.

Yet again, the Bucs would strike gold.  At least for a little while.  Jason Bay won the 2004 Rookie of the Year award, while Oliver Perez looked like a potential ace.  Throwing mid 90's heat as a lefty, Perez 239 K's with a 2.98 ERA in 2004 at the ripe age of 22

Perez would implode in 2005 before being traded to the Mets for Xavier Nady (see, I told you!).  Nady would eventually get flipped to the Yankees for Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf, Daniel McCutchen, and Jose Tabata.  The former three would eat up innings on some developing teams, while Tabata would stick around long enough to be part of playoff teams in 2013 and 2014.

But the more exciting story is with Bay, who would develop into a perennial all-star and a fixture in the middle of the Pirates lineup.

In a trade deadline shocker, Bay was traded to the Red Sox seemingly out of nowhere in 2008.  He still had a year and a half left on his contract.  Pirates GM Neal Huntington was in his first full year as GM, and basically got taken by more experienced executives as the vehicle to get the Manny Ramirez show out of Boston and into Hollywood.

The return?  A basket of supposed near-MLB ready prospects - Boston contributing 2005 1st round pick reliever Craig Hansen and (eventual) power hitting outfielder Brandon Moss while the Dodgers kicked in 2006 1st rounder Bryan Morris and top prospect Andy LaRoche.  Hansen, Moss, and LaRoche all flamed out amazingly fast with the Bucs given their pedigree.

Morris didn't develop as hoped, but made it to the majors as a reliever, putting up a 3.47 ERA with terrible peripherals for a 2013 playoff club.

But because this trade WIll.NOT.DIE, Morris was flipped to the Marlins early in the 2014 story for a newly-tradable Competative Balance draft pick.

That pick wound up being 39th overall pick Connor Joe, a college corner infielder with some pop who the Bucs were going to move to catcher.  He hurt his back shortly after being drafted, which canceled those plans.  The power never developed, and Joe had basically unanimously been labeled a bust.  And that is really, truly where this should have ended.  Joe spends another year or two in the Bucs system before leaving as a minor league free agent, and this twenty year odyssey comes to a close.

But nope.

On August 5, 2017, the Pirates traded for former Buc Sean Rodriguez, a utility player making $5.7M in 2017 AND 2018 hitting .162 at the time of the trade.  And the "return"?  Connor Joe.

So here we go, folks.  Will Sean Rodriguez bring a trade return this year, continuing this absurd adventure into its 4th decade?  Or will he merely leave as a free agent after the season, letting the trade of Ricardo Rincon finally rest in peace?

The Streak: Loveable Losers Countdown, 15-11

Remember how I used to think countdowns are kind of trivial?  Well, turns I was wrong.  They're kind of fun to do (though I still think the difference between 16 and 11 is pretty subjective), and turns out the blogosphere likes 'em too.  I think my pageviews yesterday doubled what they had been for the rest of the month combined.  If you write it, they will come?

Anyway, we're back into the second installment of the countdown.  This was actually pretty fun to put together.  Pittsburgh has always been an interesting sports town - sure, there are lots of fair weather fans, but there the city also has a strong streak of rooting for the blue collar, hard nosed guy who just...isn't all that great.  Think of Rudy without the annoying Notre Dame connections.

15) Pokey Reese - 2002-03

Reese was one of those "latest, greatest" free agent signings.  The Bucs were coming off an incredibly underwhelming 2001 season, and Reese himself had been pretty disappointing in '01 just a year after the Reds had refused including him as the centerpiece of the Ken Griffey trade.  Speed, decent pop, and amazing defense.  Good bounceback candidate, right?

Well...kind of.  His average continued to slip, and with it went the pop and steals.  Pokey played some fantastic defense, and was a blast to watch.  But we all know Gold Gloves aren't reeeally about defense. 

He managed to win a ring with the Sox in '04, but like so many other Bucco free agent signings, he was out of baseball after that.

14) Ricardo Rincon - 1997-98

Rincon didn't even play in the states until his age 27 season, jumping to the Bucs from Mexico.  But he undoubtedly proved to be the gift that keep on giving.

Before the '99 season the Bucs traded Rincon to an insanely deep Cleveland team for Brian Giles.  Giles put up some of the best single seasons in franchise history before being dealt for Jason Bay and Oliver Perez.

Perez kicked a laundry cart, was banished from the face of the planet, only to work his way back into the graces of the universe where he was allowed to become a lefty specialist.  Jason Bay his balls really far (though never into a river nor a bay), until being traded for a bunch of players who didn't pan out and current late innings reliever Bryan Morris.

So for those of you keeping score at home: Ricardo Rincon = Brian Giles, Jason Bay, Oliver Perez, and Bryan Morris.

We can only hope eventually Morris will be dealt for another wave of prospects, keeping the Legend of Ricardo alive.

Along the way he also delivered the greatest moment of the late 90's for the Pirates, teaming up with fellow Mexican League import Francisco Cordova for a no hitter

13) Jose Bautista - 2004-08

Admittedly it is a bit strange to see a former MVP on the list of lovable losers.  But Bautista spent pretty his entire Pirates career in the dog house.  GM Dave Littlefield decided to leave Bautista unprotected during the 2004 Rule 5 draft, setting in motion a comedy of errors that would see him suit up for 4 teams and rack up just 88 ab's during the 2004 season.

Bautista always looked like a solid player (though nowhere near the level he would reach with the Blue Jays), but was always blocked by...somebody.  Despite his versatility, able to play the corner positions, he managed to get blocked by Jeromy Burnitz, Matt Lawton, Joe Randa, Jody Gerut, Nyjer Morgan, and the Energizer fucking Bunny at various points in his career.  He saw significant action for a few seasons, but was set to be a non-tender candidate before being traded up north.

The lesson here?  The Pirates aren't allowed to have nice things.

12) Delwyn Young - 2009-10

Delwyn Young makes the list for pure effort.  Young came to the Bucs from the Dodgers in exchange for $1.  No there aren't zeroes after that.

You know how sometimes trades say PTBNL or cash considerations?  Sometimes that's the nice way of saying, "here, take him."

Delwyn Young came to the Pirates as an outfielder.  And not a great one at that.  But the combination of sheer desperation on both parts (Aki Iwamura came to the club looking more like Hideki Irabu, and Delwyn recognized that he had to do anything and everything if he wanted to stay in baseball) ended up in Delwyn Young making 52 starts at second base.

You know, the one that is definitely not in the outfield.

You couldn't help but cheer for a guy who was willing to quite literally do anything he could to stick on a big league roster, even if the results occasionally left something to be desired.

11) Josh Fogg - 2002-05

He's just one of those pitchers that...existed.  He didn't do anything exceptionally well.  He didn't throw hard.  Or even average.  He didn't have great movement.  Or stuff.  Or...any talent that would appear to make you a successful baseball player.

And some days that showed.  But Fogg was perhaps the Pirates most consistent starter for most of the mid 00's.  He was fun to watch, because he didn't seem to be too far from that 3rd starter you faced in high school.  Yet...this guy was in the big leagues.

And yes, if you're still keeping score that is yet another player in the "Unspectacular Ex-Pirate Who Managed to Have Postseason Success for Another Team" category.