Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Littlefield’s Looneys - 2003
The year of 2003 proved to be the most entertaining (in other words, the one filled with the most ugly transactions) for Dave Littlefield and his Pittsburgh Pirates. The year started dubiously, with Littlefield signing consistently mediocre innings-eater Jeff Suppan
to a free agent contract with an option for 2004. The signing was a very good one, as Suppan posted a solid season for the Pirates, but in order to add the pitcher to the 40-man roster, Bronson Arroyo was designated for assignment. Arroyo went on to become an all-star pitcher who played a part on the Boston Red Sox World Series champion team (he was the one whose glove A-Rod slapped). There is no denying that Arroyo would have looked good in the Pirate rotation the past four seasons, but there is no guarantee that he would have received the coaching that turned him into a success in Pittsburgh.
No matter what, Littlefield made two consecutive transactions that dumped all-star pitchers by designating Arroyo for assignment and trading Chris Young for Matt Herges. Those two moves have probably had more of a negative effect on the current franchise than any others, simply because this is an organization that claims to be built around young pitching and Littlefield dumped two young pitchers with a ton of potential for absolutely nothing.
2003 was also the year of the Aging Free Agents, as shown by Suppan. The first position player that Littlefield signed was Reggie Sanders, who ended up having one of the best seasons of his career in a Pirate uniform. Sanders’ 31 homeruns and veteran influence in the locker room were very important to the young team and Littlefield was an idiot for not resigning the outfielder after the 2003 season. Sanders is still an effective player with solid 
trade value now, three and a half seasons later. He’s one of those guys who is just good to have around on a young team or a winning team simply because he has a positive and calming influence on young players. The next Aging Free Agent was Kenny Lofton, who ended up having a decent half-season or so for the Pirates, but was traded later in the season. Sanders was definitely more important to the Pirates, but Lofton was a valuable stopgap for the Cubs, helping fulfill Steve Bartman’s destiny.
Littlefield released Matt Herges on March 26, effectively surrendering the Chris Young trade. This needs no more comment.
The next semi-important (but not at all) personnel moves occurred in May, as Jeff Reboulet and Pat Mahomes made their Pirate debuts. Both men were awful major league players (think Matt Kata and Josh Sharpless, but somehow worse) who never should have set foot on the dirt at PNC Park. They were, however, apparently the best options at the time. Oh well. They can’t have done too much damage simply because I don’t remember anything egregious involving either one of them. And calling up Mahomes got rid of Denys Reyes, who was the Blimp before the Blimp came to Pittsburgh.
Littlefield’s draft in 2003 was headlined by Paul Maholm in the first round and Tom Gorzelanny in the second round, two pitchers who are seemingly on their way to becoming mainstays in the Pirates’ rotation. The rest of the draft, however, featured a whole lot of nothing. Other notables included:
- Pedro Powell, who has 44 stolen bases but a .240 average at Lynchburg
- Steve Lerud, who was supposed to be one of the next catching prospects but has a .216 average and one home run at Lynchburg
- Craig Stansberry, who was born in Saudi Arabia and had some success with the bat and glove in the Pirate organization only to be released before this season. Stanberry has had significant success this year, as he has a .289 average with nine home runs, 54 RBIs and nine stolen bases at San Diego’s AAA team.
- Adam Boeve, the hitter who seems to be a somewhat interesting prospect (but not really), who was turned into another product of the Pirates’ hype machine due to his 56 homeruns in 2004-05 only to disappoint in 2006. He’s actually having a decent year this season and will probably pop up in Pittsburgh as a bench player for a short stint eventually.
- And Josh Sharpless, the local product who looks like a potential prospect if you look at his stats, but is legitimately awful if you see him in person. He is a AAAA pitcher.
The See If You Can Eat a Pizza Before Mike Williams Ends This Inning Game came to an official end on July 20. For the record, I only saw the feat accomplished once, but it occurred with a technicality because Williams didn’t get out of the inning. The pizza was still gone before the inning ended, though . . . As for important matters, the Pirates received Frank Brooks in the trade. Brooks was a AAAA reliever, essentially unimportant, but it always seemed like he could have been decent. The important part was just that the Pirates were no longer paying Mike Williams, who should have had a contract with UPMC concerning the baserunners he let on because I’m certain that he gave a significant number of people blood pressure problems.
The fun really began in earnest, however, on July 22. That was the day that Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton were shipped out to Chicago, a place where Ramirez still terrorizes the Pirates, for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill, and a bag of balls better known as Matt Brubeck. The Pirates made the trade because they needed to save $6 million somewhere for the next season, and Ramirez and Kris Benson were the two players with the six million dollar contracts. The issue, though, is that Littlefield was somehow only able to receive three scrubs for one of the premier young third basemen in baseball. Honestly, that’s the type of trade that a small market team simply can not afford to make. If they were going to dump one of the players, it would have been much more beneficial to the team to dump Kris Benson, his faux-injury troubles, and his wife instead of Aramis Ramirez and his ideal #5 in the order bat. Think about Jason Bay’s stats the last two and a half seasons if he has Ramirez protecting him. They would be that much more impressive. This was simply an idiotic trade forced by cheap management where damage was increased because Littlefield picked the wrong player to trade away for nothing.
Littlefield proceeded to outsmart himself in his dealings with the Boston Red Sox. The first trade he made with the Ole Towne Team occurred on July 22, with Scott Sauerbeck and Mike Gonzalez (yes, that Mike Gonzalez) heading to Boston in exchange for relievers Brandon Lyon and Anastacio Martinez. It turned out that Lyon’s arm was ready for massive surgery, something that Littlefield apparently didn’t know about until the pitcher was already in Pittsburgh. This resulted in a grievance being filed by the Pirates against the Red Sox and what amounted to a trade-back occurring. In this trade, the Pirates threw Jeff Suppan (meaning they didn’t get the pitcher in 2004) in, along with the two pitchers that they received from the Red Sox in the first trade (Lyon and Martinez) and received Gonzalez and Freddy Sanchez, along with cash, from the Red Sox. If Brandon Lyon’s arm had been fully healthy, therefore, the Pirates would not have had Freddy Sanchez or Mike Gonzalez last season and the year would have been that much more miserable. Dave Littlefield received a huge break with that series of dealings, but the fact that he messed them up in the first place can not be underestimated simply because it was such an awful deal before Lyon’s injury.
The Brian Giles trade went down on August 31, the last possible day. The trade of the franchise’s cornerstone netted future All-Star Jason Bay and enigmatic pitcher Oliver Perez, along with Cory Stewart. Considering that Littlefield went into the negotiations trying to get Jake Peavy and Xavier Nady, the trade can be considered something (but only something) of a disappointment. It is unfair to call this trade one of Littlefield’s better ones, however, as any time a perennial all-star is traded, two very good prospects should be the minimum that is received in return. I give Littlefield a B on the trade and I have the right to change that grade at any point, depending on how Jason Bay is hitting, especially considering that the trade ended up being Brian Giles and Roberto Hernandez for Xavier Nady and Jason Bay due to the deals at last year’s trade deadline. Essentially, Giles netted the Pirates 2/3 of their starting outfield, and that is a successful (but not great, considering the potential he could have received) trade.
On October 1, the Pirates claimed Jason Boyd off of waivers. Wow. Yup, that’s a typical Pirate move. Pick up a reliever off of the waivers, stick him out there, realize after we have him that he is a terrible player, keep him around for a while because we’re paying him, disappoint the fans, release him at last and claim that the next option is better. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Another ugly day occurred on November 20, as three Pirates were claimed off of waivers: Walter Young (essentially a Ryan Howard who completely failed to develop), Duaner Sanchez (the reliever who never really got a chance here, but was somehow good enough for this season’s and last season’s version of the New York Mets), and Matt Guerrier (the stats say it all).
The next genius move was not offering arbitration to about five players (including Tavarez, Sanders, Stairs, and Pokey Reese). These guys could have at least gotten some supplemental draft picks and to not give any one of them arbitration is just lazy management and how to avoid making a small market winner in order to save money. It was just ridiculous.
The year ended on a fantastic note, as the Pirates signed Chris Stynes to be their everyday third baseman the next year. We all know how that turned out. If fans want to look at one year as being the downfall of this franchise, it has to be 2003. From letting potential draft picks walk away to dumping off budding superstars in order to save money, this season is the defining one of the Littlefield/Nutting/McClatchy regime.
And there are at least four more to go in the series.
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