The 2004 offseason was certainly a very productive one for the Pirates, but certainly not a good one. Jason Kendallwas dealt for Arthur Rhodes and Mark Redmanaround late November and neither of them played a role for the Pirates that season. Rhodes ended up getting traded two weeks later to Cleveland in return for Matt Lawton, a player who got dealt at the deadline that upcoming July, and Redman who went 5-15 for the Pirates, while having an ERA around five. Kendall was a 30 year old at the time of the trade, and was definitely getting towards the end of his days, but the Pirates still didn't get the better end of this trade. Pretty bad move for the Pirates, but suprisingly, this wasn't even the worst deal the Pirates made that offseason.
With the departure of Jason Kendall, the Pirates needed to find a replacement at the catcher position. Instead of going out and finding a young, talented one, the Pirates decided to acquire Benito Santiago from the Kansas City Royals. Santiago was 40 years old at the time of the trade and was a five time all star, three time silver slugger, three time gold glover, and former National League Rookie of the Year. He received the Rookie of the Year award in 1987. The Pirates picked him up in 2004. Four of his five all star campaigns came from 1989-1992 and his silver slugger days were in 1987, 1988 and 1990. He tripled in his first at bat at PNC Park and ended up getting 22 more at bats on the season, before he got a virus a week into the 2005 regular season, forcing him to go onto the disabled list. A couple weeks later the Pirates tried to send Santiago on a rehab assignment, but he refused. He was released eight days later, after collecting six hits in a Pirates uniform, and not driving in a single run. I have to make sure I throw in there that the Pirates agreed to pay part of his salary as well, which was over a million dollars.
Okay, so we get it. Benito Santiago sucked. But who did the Pirates give up for him? It couldn't have been somebody that good, right? The answer is Leo Nunez.
Incase you are unaware, Leo Nunez is now known as Juan Ovideo, due to a naming controversy this past offseason, but that's irrelevant to this topic.
Nunez, at the time of the trade, was a full time starting pitcher in the Pirates minor league system. He hadn't seen any major league time, but had a ton of potential, and a fantastic arm at a young age of 24. He is now a Miami Marlin, and will not be a closer anymore due to them singing Heath Bell this offseason, but he still would have been a lot better of a player for the Pirates than Benito Santiago was. Nunez, or Oveido, has converted close to 100 saves these past three seasons and was one of the league leaders in saves last season at the all star break. Hanging on to him would have made the Pirates avoid having to use guys such as Salomon Torres and Matt Capps at the closer position these past couple seasons, and if we still had him, the Pirates would be looking at one of the more solid bullpens in the league.
Just like last weeks Flashback Friday, the Pirates screwed up. They can't do anything about going out and trading away a 24 year old, shutdown reliever, in return for a washed up, 40 year old, over the hill catcher who didn't play a single game in the Major Leagues after his six games with the Pirates in 2004. We just have to suck it up and accept the fact the Pirates basically paid over a million dollars to give away one of the top relievers in the game today.
Here's a video I put together for Leo Nunez's last two seasons with the Marlins. Just think if the Pirates could have kept this guy.
