Remembering Pirates All-Star Kevin Correia

Minnesota Twins right-hander Kevin Correia arrives in Bradenton a bit early this morning to start in a ‘B’ game opposite Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Gerrit Cole.  The Twins starter got off to a hot start this spring when he fired three hitless innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 3 in his spring debut

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Prior to Russell Martin’s arrival in PNC Park, Kevin Correia was Neal Huntington’s best free agent signing.   Even if he did doze off when the Bucs were getting crushed by the freaking Baltimore Orioles.

Corriea collected 24 wins with the black and gold, the other 44 came in eight years with the Giants and Padres. The California craft beer lover signed a ten million dollar deal with Minnesota prior to last season and had this to say after he put his autograph on the contract.

"“I’m probably not going to strike out 250 guys but I think at the end of the day you’ve got to look at wins and losses. That’s what’s important,”"

Our photoshop rememberance of The Win Collector

So long Kevin Correia

The most ignored man on the Pittsburgh Pirates the past two seasons will now be searching for gastropubs and golf courses in Minnesota.

Kevin Correia.

The Win Collector.

You will be missed.

The pitcher who was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen at the trade deadline, demanded to be traded, was placed back in the rotation only because of injury, and pitched better than most of the 18 pitchers on the roster down the awful stretch that was the end of the 2012 season just got himself a two-year, $10 million dollar deal with the Twins.

Hold on, I have to catch my breath–that was my longest run-on sentence of my life.  So do you now understand why Kevin Correia wanted to stay in the rotation now?

Correia is as competitive as anyone I’ve met. The Bucs right hander has a baby on the way, and tried his damndest to keep the Buccos in the middle of a race for a wild card spot last season. It always blew my mind why getting into the playoffs wouldn’t motivate the entire team. But heh whatever… Correia fired his 88 mile per hour fastball with more conviction than most pitchers perhaps because he was staring at the prospect of needing to get another deal before his time in the game ends.

We always wondered how much losing his brother impacted him. Don’t forget to re-read this story on Correia. It’s something he never talked about, but damn… we’ve been through that, it’s tough stuff. We always admired KC for his strength regarding his brother.

"I would quit baseball right now to have [Trevor] back. Nothing will be able to compare to that."

Correia was Neal Huntington’s best free agent signing. That sentence is probably all we need to say on the topic, but since KC is gone forever–off to the land of castoff Pirates in the Twin Cities–we will cherry pick some nuggets for everyone.

We wrote this on September 18, 2012:

"In Correia’s last 31.2 innings pitched he has allowed 30 hits and just seven earned runs. He has won nine of his past twelve decisions. In his past sixteen starts, Correia has pitched 93.2 innings and gave up 42 earned runs in his last 17 starts.Correia lost five straight starts from the end of April until May 20. In his past 17 starts he has been charged with three or fewer runs 14 times. The Bucs are 12-5 in those games."

Correia was an All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates. An All-Star, I tell you!

It looks like Kevin Correia will be named to the NL All-Star team. Close the shop.

Don’t bore me with the details around the All-Star selection! Who cares that he replaced Matt Cain, or was it Cole Hamels?

Step back…Kevin Correia will replace a talented pitcher in the All-Star Game

We felt, that at one point, he was a Cy Young candidate.

Correia talked to Johnny Utah when he was on a roll.

Woooooooooooooooooooo!

Kevin Correia has been two different animals this season.

The one thing that worries me about the deal is where in the hell is KC going to play golf in Minnesota?