Original Draft Series: #12 – Pittsburgh Pirates

For those that missed the guidelines I am using for this series of posts, you can find them here.

Team #12: Pittsburgh Pirates

General Managers(since 1994)

Cam Bonifay (1994-2001): 541-688
Dave Littlefield (2002-2007): 349-549
Neal Huntington (2008-Current): 129-194

Team Performance

Playoffs			Division Finish
WC	League	Playoff App	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Last
0	0	0	0	1	2	2	11

All information is drawn from Baseball Reference.

Position	Name	Acquired	Years with Org.	Stats with Organization	Left?
C	Jason Kendall	1992 – 1st Rd (23)	12	3 All-Star Appearances 1252 gm, .306/.387/.418, 67 HR, 471 RBI, 140 SB	Traded to OAK – 11/27/04
1B	Jose Bautista	2000 – 20th Rd	3+4	400 gm, .241/.329/.403, 43 HR, 159 RBI, 10 SB	Selected by BAL – 12/15/03
2B	Neil Walker	2004 – 1st Rd (11)	6	74 gm, .287/.332/.421, 5 HR, 31 RBI, 3 SB	Currently with Org.
3B	Aramis Ramirez	Int’l FA – 1994	9	559 gm, .263/.312/.435, 76 HR, 316 RBI	Traded to CHC – 7/23/03
SS	Jeff Keppinger	2001 – 4th Rd	3	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to NYM – 7/30/04
LF	Nate McLouth	2000 – 25th Rd	9	1 All Star Appearance, 1 Gold Glove 481 gm, .261/.339/.462, 60 HR, 194 RBI, 64 SB	Traded to ATL – 6/3/09
CF	Andrew McCutchen	2005 – 1st Rd (11)	5	209 gm, .286/.362/.454, 21 HR, 87 RBI, 43 SB	Currently with Org.
RF	Nyjer Morgan	2002 – 33rd Rd	7	157 gm, .286/.351/.376, 3 HR, 41 RBI, 34 SB	Traded to WAS – 6/30/09
DH	Jose Guillen	Int’l FA – 1992	7	336 gm, .267/.301/.406, 29 HR, 172 RBI	Traded to TAM- 7/23/99
SP	Ian Snell	2000 – 26th Rd	9	33-46, 4.75 ERA, 576 K, 308 BB, 693 IP	Traded to SEA – 7/29/09
SP	Tim Wakefield	1988 – 8th Rd	7	14-12, 4.17 ERA, 110 K, 110 BB, 220.1 IP	Released – 4/20/05
SP	Bronson Arroyo	1995 – 3rd Rd	7	9-14, 5.44 ERA, 111 K, 85 BB, 187 IP	Selected by BOS – 2/4/03
SP	Paul Maholm	2003 – 1st Rd (8)	7	45-53, 4.37 ERA, 570 K, 317 BB, 927.1 IP	Currently with Org.
SP	Zach Duke	2001 – 20th Rd	9	1 All Star Appearance 42-65, 4.42 ERA, 477 K, 244 BB, 913.2 IP	Currently with Org.
RP	John Grabow	1997 – 3rd Rd	12	20-15, 4.09 ERA, 326 K, 167 BB, 363.1 IP	Traded to CHC – 7/30/09
RP	Sean Burnett	2000 – 1st Rd (19)	9	7-8, 4.54 ERA, 95 K, 77 BB, 160.2 IP	Traded to WAS – 6/30/09
RP	Mike Gonzalez	1997 – 30th Rd	9	7-9, 2.37 ERA, 287 SV, 183 K, 74 BB, 155.2 IP	Traded to ATL – 1/19/07
RP	Tom Gorzelanny	2003 – 2nd Rd	6	25-25, 4.79 ERA, 252 K, 176 BB, 383.1 IP	Traded to CHC – 7/30/09
RP	Leo Nunez	Int’l FA – 2000	4	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to KC – 12/16/04
CL	Matt Capps	2002 – 7th Rd	7	19-19, 67 SV, 3.61 ERA, 208 K, 50 BB, 271.2 IP	Non-tendered – 12/12/09
BN	Rajai Davis	2001 – 38th Rd	6	44 gm, .242/.333/.323, 2 RBI, 6 SB	Traded to SF – 7/31/07
BN	Ryan Doumit	1999 – 2nd Rd	11	490 gm, .270/.332/.441, 54 HR, 223 RBI, 10 SB	Currently with Org.
BN	Steven Pearce	2005 – 8th Rd	5	135 gm, .240/.313/.394, 8 HR, 42 RBI, 5 SB	Currently with Org.
BN	Ronny Paulino	Int’l FA – 1997	11	304 gm, .278/.331/.382, 19 HR, 128 RBI	Traded to PHI – 12/10/08
BN	Pedro Alvarez	2008 – 1st Rd (2)	2	44 gm, .229/.307/.439, 9 HR, 26 RBI	Currently with Org.

June Amateur Draft

This team has had a lot of high first round picks in the last 15 years, and they are finally starting to see some production from the,. While they had players like Sean Burnett and Paul Maholm , both of whom provided value but were definitely not the high end players that they had hoped, they are now seeing top tier players in Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez make an impact at the Major League level. Getting some late round values like Zack Duke and Ian Snell has definitely helped also.

International Free Agency

The Pirates have a few high-profile international free agent signees in Aramis Ramirez and Jose Guillen, but unfortunately many of their international free agents have not had a large positive impact with the Pirates. It seems at this point that their most well known international free agents have done well, just not in Pittsburgh. They have been active in a lot of markets, including India.

Overall Grade

B. I like the level of talent that has gone through the organization. But the fact that so many of these players either were given away (Rajai Davis, Aramis Ramirez, Leo Nunez), or did not have any success with the team itself shows why the success level in these past 15 seasons has been less than acceptable. I actually like the progress that the team is making, and with honegrown talents Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez locked in for the next few seasons, the team should start to see improvement in the standings as soon as next season.