Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Players With Notable Short Stints

Throughout the Pittsburgh Pirates history, they’ve came across some pretty big name players. But not every single one played most of their career in Pittsburgh.

For being around as long as the Pittsburgh Pirates have, you’re bound to have some legendary players. Guys like Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Ralph Kiner played most, if not all their career in a Pirate uniform.

However, there are a handful of very good players who aren’t necessarily famous for their stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Many times throughout their history, a very good player, who’s mostly known for their tenure with another team, spent a short stint with the Bucs at one point.

Today, let’s take a look at three of those players. These three have played a year or less in a Pirate uniform. Because their stints were so short, you may have forgotten they were even Pirates at one point. But even though their tenures with the Pirates might be just a footnote in their career, each have had long, very successful professions in Major League Baseball.

Rich Gossage

Rich Gossage, famously known by his iconic mustache and nickname Goose, is one of the best relievers to ever play the game. His 31.1 career fWAR is the second most by any relief pitcher. He played from the early 70’s up to the mid-90’s, and the intimidating right hander is best known for his seven season tenure with the New York Yankees. But before he was one of the most dominant Yankee relief pitchers of all time, he was once the Pirates’ lockdown closer.

The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Gossage in a 1976-1977 offseason trade that sent the closer and fellow pitcher Terry Foster to Pittsburgh in exchange for Silvio Martinez and the underrated Richie Zisk to the Chicago White Sox.

Up to that point, Gossage had been used in almost every role. From 1972 to 1974, Gossage was a swing man. He appeared in 95 games, eight of which were starts, but overall put up mixed numbers. In 1975, he was a shutdown closer with a 1.84 ERA, 2.62 FIP and 1.19 WHIP in 141.2 innings while leading the league in saves. Gossage was moved to the rotation almost full-time the next season, but the results were overall middling with a 3.94 ERA, 3.68 FIP and 1.35 WHIP in 224 innings.

That was when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite this being his only season in Pittsburgh, it’s arguably the best season of his career. Goose was absolutely dominant, putting together a 1.62 FIP, 2.50 FIP and 0.95 WHIP in 133 innings of work. He and Kent Tekulve made a formidable duo in the Bucs’ pen. Gossage struck out batters at an insane 28.9% rate, over double the league average that year, while only allowing 9 home runs. Though he wasn’t a control freak, he kept his walk rate below 10% at 9.4%, which was right around league average.

Among seasons where Gossage pitched at least 50 innings, it’s the best year of his career in terms of ERA, FIP, WHIP, ERA+, ERA-,  strikeout rate, hits/9, and fWAR.

Justin Morneau

Justin Morneau was one of the premier first basemen in the late-2000s and early 2010s. Considered one of the Twins’ best players of all-time, Morneau looked like one of the brightest hitters in baseball in the years 2006 to 2010.

In these five years, Morneau hit .298/.372/.528 with 136 home runs, 133 wRC+ and 17.6 fWAR. He was also quite the defender at first too with +9 DRS, a 3.2 UZR/150 and 5.6 range runs above average. Morneau took home the 2006 American League MVP, two Silver Sluggers and went to four straight MLB All-Star Games from 2007 to 2010.

However, Morneau missed half of the 2010 season due to a concussion, and was affected by multiple other injuries in 2011. It was the second straight season Morneau failed to play even 100 games. He was able to stay healthy for most of 2012 appearing in 134 games and collecting 570 plate appearances, but the production was no longer there. He hit for a respectable .267/.333/.440 line, 19 long balls and 107 wRC+, but it was a far cry from his numbers between ‘06-’10.

By 2013, Morneau’s contract was nearing its end. In his first 543 plate appearances of the season, he hit .259/.315/.426 with 17 long balls and a 102 OPS+. That was when he was traded to the Pirates for Alex Presley and Duke Welker.

Though Morneau had a solid .260/.370 BA/OBP, the power was completely non-existent Only four of the 20 hits he had in 92 plate appearances with the Pirates went for extras, and none of them left the park. Still, he was the starting first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their first ever playoff game at PNC Park, and the first in 20 years, that being the legendary 2013 National League Wild Card Game.

After 2013, the Pittsburgh Pirates let Morneau go in free agency, making him one of the multiple first basemen who started for the Pirates in the 2010’s. He signed on with the Colorado Rockies and had an outstanding bounceback season hitting .314/.364/.496 with 17 long balls and 32 doubles in 550 plate appearances, putting together a 122 wRC+. However, this was the last time Morneau would play a full season. The former Twins’ MVP only played 107 games across the next two years with the Rockies and Chicago White Sox. After the 2017 season, he retired and was hired by the Twins as a special assistant.