Only in baseball, where every slump is matched by a correlating streak, every gut-wrenching defeat by a glorious victory, could the single worst trade in a franchise’s century-plus history reverse itself a dozen years and a day later.
Call it a grand reversion to the mean, if you know what I mean.
It was July 22, 2003, when the Kevin McClatchy/Dave Littlefield Pirates, their hand forced by deepening debt, dumpedAramis Ramirez and his $6 million salary plus Kenny Lofton and Randall Simon to the Cubs for — all together now — Matt Bruback, Jose Hernandez and a player to be named later who, unfortunately, would be named Bobby Hill.
It was astonishing, as brazen a clearance of cash as anyone in the game could recall.
It was tantamount to conceding that the Pirates couldn’t compete. Ever.
It so devastated the fan base that, only three years after the joyful construction of PNC Park, the sport was once again declared dead in our city.
So, uh, yeah, welcome back, Rammer. It’s kind of wonderful to have you back.
“It didn’t surprise me,” Ramirez told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak after being reacquired by the Pirates from the Brewers late Thursday afternoon for Class AAA reliever Yhonathan Barrios. “They’re playing well. They’re in a pennant race. … They’re in a pennant race, and that’s what counts, but that’s where I started my career, too. That’s the team that gave me the opportunity to be what I am today. Signed me as a 16-year-old Dominican kid. So it’s good to go back.”
Wild to even process those words, isn’t it?
Oh, almost forgot: There was a cash component to this exchange, too, only it was the Pirates picking up $3 million of the remaining prorated portion of Ramirez’s $14 million salary. It’s a low-risk assumption, sure, with Ramirez’s contract up this fall and his reiterating Thursday he intends to retire this year. But it’s a significant assumption nonetheless.
Wilder still, if one can still recall how it felt in 2003.
And just wait until Saturday night, when, according to Neal Huntington, Ramirez will join the Pirates for the home game against the Nationals. Here’s betting all the bizarre booing he’s received over the years from the less baseball-savvy patrons at PNC — as if he had anything to do with the original trade — will convert to one of the summer’s loudest roars.
Honestly, I can’t even picture the scene. Not after all that went down all those years ago and all the fatalism that followed. I came on the beat two-plus years after that trade, and it remained topic No. 1 on readers’ minds for my entire five-year tenure.
At the same time, don’t discount the possibility that Ramirez’s return could ultimately bring greater consequences than his departure. Because these Pirates, unlike those of Brian Giles, Jason Kendall, Reggie Sanderset al, are actual contenders, and Ramirez, though he’s 37 and isn’t what he was, remains eminently capable of helping them get to their goals.
Hungry, too.
“I want the playoffs,” he said. “This is my last year. That’s what I’m thinking about.”
“That was something we talked about,” Huntington said, “with Aramis’ connection to Pittsburgh in addition to the fact he’s said it’s his last year, that we could have a player who’s very comfortable in this situation overall. He’s been in big games. He’s handled them. He could have, in addition to what he brings us on the field, a real presence.”
This was Huntington’s full media session at PNC:
The on-the-field facet, obviously, will matter most.
For one, he’ll step immediately into a position of dire need at third base.
Ramirez’s range is extremely limited at this stage of his career, and I’m probably phrasing that generously. He won’t get to balls that Josh Harrison will, and he might not be able to participate in all the shifting the Pirates’ front office loves to do. But he also isn’t likely to hurt. In 74 games at third for Milwaukee this season, he had five errors. Pretty much a routine homestand for Pedro Alvarez.
For another, the man can still hit.
His overall numbers for the season won’t blow anyone away — .247/.295/.725 with 11 home runs, 42 RBIs — but he’s having a monster .352/.422/.922 July and was named National League player of the week at the outset of this month for a 12-for-22 tear. And when that’s happened in his heavily supported historical patterns — his 375 home runs rank fifth all-time among third basemen — it’s generally spelled a long, sustained breakout.
That picture actually brightens for the Pirates upon scrutiny:
• He’s a cleanup hitter. Not afraid of it, either. This lineup hasn’t seen that since … Giles?
• He’s right-handed. That hasn’t helped his splits this season, as he’s batting .170 vs. lefties, .265 vs. righties, but he also has solid career numbers vs. two prominent lefties the Pirates could face in the fall: 6 for 18 vs. Madison Bumgarner, 3 for 7 vs. Jon Lester.
• He doesn’t strike out much, especially in the context of a power hitter. He has only 42 in 279 at-bats this season, a rate of one every 6.6 at-bats that is immediately the best of the Pirates’ healthy regulars. The Pirates’ 761 strikeouts are fifth-most in the majors.
How Ramirez fits into the lineup once Harrison and Jordy Mercer return is a call Huntington smartly is conceding doesn’t matter right now.
“We did this primarily to help our club right now,” the GM said. “Clint Hurdle makes the decisions from the dugout, and he’ll have more options when Josh and Jordy are back than he does now. We’ll all have to see how that plays out.”
This much is clear: Ramirez won’t be moving across the diamond. The Brewers had bugged him about that for a couple of seasons, and the veteran wanted nothing to do with it after two decades of manning third. Judging from Huntington’s response on that count — “He’ll be our third baseman” — the Pirates won’t push that button, either.
So in one fell swoop, the Pirates got the player they wanted at the position where they most lacked and gave up nothing other than money in return. And they did it now rather than at the July 31 deadline.
Hurdle sounded delighted: “What we wanted to get was an established, experienced player who’s been a run producer and is looking to do something significant in his last season. You like the player. You like the man. He’s got two months to lay it out. Hopefully three months. And he’s probably coming back to a place that has a lot of fond memories. There are some people within our organization that still speak very highly of the man.”
The players, too:
Kudos all-around, then.
Bob Nutting, the owner who gets pilloried on opening day each year for a payroll figure that means nothing — it’s just the addition of the 25 salaries on the roster that one day — just added $3 million that few will bother to count into their future payroll references. And Huntington repeated he still has financial flexibility — and a desire — to make more moves.
That’s why you don’t spend it all up front.
Huntington, the GM who gets pilloried for being too passive at the deadline — he deserved every bit of that last year, but not in previous years — rose above his peers in this pursuit. Doug Melvin, his counterpart with the Brewers, acknowledged that other teams were interested in Ramirez but added, “Pittsburgh had a little more of a need.”
Translation: Huntington offered more.
Throw one out to Latin American scouting director Rene Gayo, as well, for producing yet another prospect who blossoms into a trade chip. Barrios is a raw, hard thrower, but he’s also a converted shortstop from the not-all-that-fertile talent pool in Colombia. Gayo and Colombian scout Orlando Covo — a banker in his day job, believe it or not — nurtured the kid from childhood to become a big-leaguer.
Give Hurdle a nod, too. His frustration on this 1-5 road trip was visible to those of us on the outside. I can only imagine what he was expressing on the inside. As I wrote from Kansas City, his push will be needed.
And why not a bone for plain old karma while we’re at it?
Here’s some trivia: By having been acquired once as a 16-year-old international free agent on Nov. 7, 1994, then again now as a 37-year-old, Ramirez has the greatest gap between being acquired by the Pirates with a mind-blowing 21 years.
Never a bad number with which to associate around here.
Love the symbolism on this trade for all the reasons you mentioned about our collective psyche the last time A-Ram was involved in a Pirates trade! Now, another OF bench piece and a starter next week, please.
When ARam last played here, a good night at PNC would be 18,000, of whom maybe 6,000 paid attention. My guess is he'll get a nice hand from 1/3 of the crowd with the other 2/3 looking at each other and asking, "Who's he and why are people applauding?"
Eric Bowser
7-23-2015, 6:10 pm
Love the deal.
I have no illusion about Ramirez being anything more than a good veteran who can play the game and produce some offense. It means, we won't be forced to watch Florimon, Morel, and any other AAA player the team signed to fill out their weak AAA roster.
Living in Boston in the early 2000s I recall telling all the Sox fans here that Aramis was going to be a better Ramirez than Manny. Well that didn't exactly pan out, but I'm still pumped for the return of Aramis.
If you are implying that in any way the timing of the trade was engineered to give a boost to the team on the field, I don't think it really works that way. Discussions go on pretty much all season and trades happen when the sides finally agree on the price. Obviously Huntington got to an offer that Melvin felt he had to take now rather than wait for others to offer more.... and that's when the deal happened. But if timing meant anything, I don't think you'd see trades made that required players to be removed from games while they were still being played, etc. They happen when they happen
Milo Hamilton
7-23-2015, 6:20 pm
So what's Aramis Ramirez been up to the last 12 years. How about making a case for Cooperstown.
Of all Hall Of Fame third basemen he would rank 3rd in homers (only Schmidt & Mathews have more). 3rd in slugging (Schmidt & Mathews). And 4th in RBI (Schmidt, Brett & Mathews).
I truly believe the trade 12 years ago today was the worst in Pirates history.
Taken into consideration the symbolism of it, absolutely.
LuckyNKentucky
7-23-2015, 6:48 pm
Couldn't agree more, Milo.
Milo Hamilton
7-23-2015, 7:08 pm
Hey Lucky, new addition to the family I hear ?
Gary
7-23-2015, 8:22 pm
Well said
Walter White
7-25-2015, 12:47 am
A BIG Thanks to Kevin McClatchy!
paldrich2
7-23-2015, 6:21 pm
I remember being at Three Rivers for Aramis' first hit as a Pirate -- a two-run double vs. Mets to end a lengthy 0-fer to begin his MLB career (I think he started 0-for-20). DK, you were there.
I was there for his home debut. He hit some gorgeous foul balls, and could have been charged with several errors, or at least that's what my best friend's dad said. I knew almost nothing about baseball then.
Sisyphus
7-23-2015, 6:21 pm
A fine trade, but everybody please keep in mind that Ramirez and Alvarez are virtually interchangeable as hitters this year.
Ramirez is certainly an upgrade over Morel, though, and that's the point of the deal.
When everybody gets healthy, I'll take Kang at third against all comers, including Ramirez.
Except that Ramirez is trending strongly upward after having gotten off to a horrible start.
Rik
7-23-2015, 6:38 pm
This protects us against left-handers because he can play 3rd and Harrison goes to right. I don't know who the hell plays 1B.
Sisyphus
7-23-2015, 7:07 pm
Yes, he's trending sharply upward for one month. Nevertheless, the best we should probably hope for is something between this seasons .725 OPS and last year's .757. Pedro territory, in other words.
cmat0829
7-23-2015, 7:48 pm
Wrong. Unlike Pedro he doesn't strikeout and he can be respectable vs left handers.
Sisyphus
7-23-2015, 8:06 pm
No, right. However they got there, their results are still very similar. Pedro strikes out more? Yes. But note that Pedro has grounded into two double plays. Ramirez has grounded into TWELVE. That's a huge difference in Pedro's favor.
cmat0829
7-24-2015, 10:58 am
Sisyphus, no reason to compare Ramirez to Pedro except if you want to make a biased point about not liking the trade. Compare Ramirez to Morel and Florimon, be happy for that upgrade, and move on.
Assuming that Barrios doesn't some day give an induction speech in Cooperstown, I don't see any downside here. And, this may help the team focus on baseball, as opposed to the post ASG train wreck they've been on.
Giles is an all-time Pirate as far as I'm concerned. He put up numbers comparable to the best power hitters of his generation while in Pittsburgh on some pretty bad teams, nonetheless. He was feared by many a pitcher (just look at his walk numbers). One of the few bright spots for those of us who remember the dark days of the franchise.
Goose
7-23-2015, 6:47 pm
Have u ever heard of Ralph Kiner?
Lumbergh
7-23-2015, 7:18 pm
Giles carries too much of the Steroid Era baggage for my taste. When I see highlights of him I get that sad pang that I used to get when I admitted the truth to myself about the McGwire/Sosa HR Chase in '98. I often wonder how many Buccos took part in that, given how terrible they were during most/all of that era.
Gary
7-23-2015, 8:26 pm
That would be hall of famer Ralph Kiner
Sean
7-24-2015, 2:45 am
Giles was far and away my favorite Bucco growing up. His acquisition was actually one of the few fleece jobs the Pirates front office pulled during the Ignominy.
Walter White
7-25-2015, 12:45 am
Giles was a great player ... his HR rob still is the best ever in PNC ... fortunately for the Pirates we got rid of him just as the who steriod thing blew up ... and as soon as he came off the juice he turned into a normal outfielder ... but while on the juice ... the Clemente Wall was his!
Aramis Ramirez was batting .247 with 11 home runs for the Brewers this season. -- GETTY
July 23, 2015
Column: Horrible history has chance to reverse
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Pirates
Only in baseball, where every slump is matched by a correlating streak, every gut-wrenching defeat by a glorious victory, could the single worst trade in a franchise’s century-plus history reverse itself a dozen years and a day later.
Call it a grand reversion to the mean, if you know what I mean.
It was July 22, 2003, when the Kevin McClatchy/Dave Littlefield Pirates, their hand forced by deepening debt, dumped Aramis Ramirez and his $6 million salary plus Kenny Lofton and Randall Simon to the Cubs for — all together now — Matt Bruback, Jose Hernandez and a player to be named later who, unfortunately, would be named Bobby Hill.
It was astonishing, as brazen a clearance of cash as anyone in the game could recall.
It was tantamount to conceding that the Pirates couldn’t compete. Ever.
It so devastated the fan base that, only three years after the joyful construction of PNC Park, the sport was once again declared dead in our city.
So, uh, yeah, welcome back, Rammer. It’s kind of wonderful to have you back.
“It didn’t surprise me,” Ramirez told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak after being reacquired by the Pirates from the Brewers late Thursday afternoon for Class AAA reliever Yhonathan Barrios. “They’re playing well. They’re in a pennant race. … They’re in a pennant race, and that’s what counts, but that’s where I started my career, too. That’s the team that gave me the opportunity to be what I am today. Signed me as a 16-year-old Dominican kid. So it’s good to go back.”
Wild to even process those words, isn’t it?
Oh, almost forgot: There was a cash component to this exchange, too, only it was the Pirates picking up $3 million of the remaining prorated portion of Ramirez’s $14 million salary. It’s a low-risk assumption, sure, with Ramirez’s contract up this fall and his reiterating Thursday he intends to retire this year. But it’s a significant assumption nonetheless.
Wilder still, if one can still recall how it felt in 2003.
And just wait until Saturday night, when, according to Neal Huntington, Ramirez will join the Pirates for the home game against the Nationals. Here’s betting all the bizarre booing he’s received over the years from the less baseball-savvy patrons at PNC — as if he had anything to do with the original trade — will convert to one of the summer’s loudest roars.
Honestly, I can’t even picture the scene. Not after all that went down all those years ago and all the fatalism that followed. I came on the beat two-plus years after that trade, and it remained topic No. 1 on readers’ minds for my entire five-year tenure.
At the same time, don’t discount the possibility that Ramirez’s return could ultimately bring greater consequences than his departure. Because these Pirates, unlike those of Brian Giles, Jason Kendall, Reggie Sanders et al, are actual contenders, and Ramirez, though he’s 37 and isn’t what he was, remains eminently capable of helping them get to their goals.
Hungry, too.
“I want the playoffs,” he said. “This is my last year. That’s what I’m thinking about.”
“That was something we talked about,” Huntington said, “with Aramis’ connection to Pittsburgh in addition to the fact he’s said it’s his last year, that we could have a player who’s very comfortable in this situation overall. He’s been in big games. He’s handled them. He could have, in addition to what he brings us on the field, a real presence.”
This was Huntington’s full media session at PNC:
The on-the-field facet, obviously, will matter most.
For one, he’ll step immediately into a position of dire need at third base.
Ramirez’s range is extremely limited at this stage of his career, and I’m probably phrasing that generously. He won’t get to balls that Josh Harrison will, and he might not be able to participate in all the shifting the Pirates’ front office loves to do. But he also isn’t likely to hurt. In 74 games at third for Milwaukee this season, he had five errors. Pretty much a routine homestand for Pedro Alvarez.
For another, the man can still hit.
His overall numbers for the season won’t blow anyone away — .247/.295/.725 with 11 home runs, 42 RBIs — but he’s having a monster .352/.422/.922 July and was named National League player of the week at the outset of this month for a 12-for-22 tear. And when that’s happened in his heavily supported historical patterns — his 375 home runs rank fifth all-time among third basemen — it’s generally spelled a long, sustained breakout.
That picture actually brightens for the Pirates upon scrutiny:
• He’s a cleanup hitter. Not afraid of it, either. This lineup hasn’t seen that since … Giles?
• He’s right-handed. That hasn’t helped his splits this season, as he’s batting .170 vs. lefties, .265 vs. righties, but he also has solid career numbers vs. two prominent lefties the Pirates could face in the fall: 6 for 18 vs. Madison Bumgarner, 3 for 7 vs. Jon Lester.
• He doesn’t strike out much, especially in the context of a power hitter. He has only 42 in 279 at-bats this season, a rate of one every 6.6 at-bats that is immediately the best of the Pirates’ healthy regulars. The Pirates’ 761 strikeouts are fifth-most in the majors.
How Ramirez fits into the lineup once Harrison and Jordy Mercer return is a call Huntington smartly is conceding doesn’t matter right now.
“We did this primarily to help our club right now,” the GM said. “Clint Hurdle makes the decisions from the dugout, and he’ll have more options when Josh and Jordy are back than he does now. We’ll all have to see how that plays out.”
This much is clear: Ramirez won’t be moving across the diamond. The Brewers had bugged him about that for a couple of seasons, and the veteran wanted nothing to do with it after two decades of manning third. Judging from Huntington’s response on that count — “He’ll be our third baseman” — the Pirates won’t push that button, either.
So in one fell swoop, the Pirates got the player they wanted at the position where they most lacked and gave up nothing other than money in return. And they did it now rather than at the July 31 deadline.
Hurdle sounded delighted: “What we wanted to get was an established, experienced player who’s been a run producer and is looking to do something significant in his last season. You like the player. You like the man. He’s got two months to lay it out. Hopefully three months. And he’s probably coming back to a place that has a lot of fond memories. There are some people within our organization that still speak very highly of the man.”
The players, too:
Kudos all-around, then.
Bob Nutting, the owner who gets pilloried on opening day each year for a payroll figure that means nothing — it’s just the addition of the 25 salaries on the roster that one day — just added $3 million that few will bother to count into their future payroll references. And Huntington repeated he still has financial flexibility — and a desire — to make more moves.
That’s why you don’t spend it all up front.
Huntington, the GM who gets pilloried for being too passive at the deadline — he deserved every bit of that last year, but not in previous years — rose above his peers in this pursuit. Doug Melvin, his counterpart with the Brewers, acknowledged that other teams were interested in Ramirez but added, “Pittsburgh had a little more of a need.”
Translation: Huntington offered more.
Throw one out to Latin American scouting director Rene Gayo, as well, for producing yet another prospect who blossoms into a trade chip. Barrios is a raw, hard thrower, but he’s also a converted shortstop from the not-all-that-fertile talent pool in Colombia. Gayo and Colombian scout Orlando Covo — a banker in his day job, believe it or not — nurtured the kid from childhood to become a big-leaguer.
Give Hurdle a nod, too. His frustration on this 1-5 road trip was visible to those of us on the outside. I can only imagine what he was expressing on the inside. As I wrote from Kansas City, his push will be needed.
And why not a bone for plain old karma while we’re at it?
Here’s some trivia: By having been acquired once as a 16-year-old international free agent on Nov. 7, 1994, then again now as a 37-year-old, Ramirez has the greatest gap between being acquired by the Pirates with a mind-blowing 21 years.
Never a bad number with which to associate around here.