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.

Kenny Lofton

By the time Kenny Lofton made his way to the Pittsburgh Pirates, he was a long-established veteran of the sport. For 10 seasons from 1992 to 2001, Lofton was a premiere center fielder for (mostly) the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves.

He wasn’t the biggest hitter, turning in a productive 303/.379/.428 line and 112 wRC+, but he could sure run and field. He led the American League in stolen bases every year from ‘92 to ‘96 and in total, stole 477 bags. He racked up 15 defensive WAR in this time as well and won four Gold Glove Awards for his efforts. With a 47.7 fWAR in this 10 season span, Lofton ranked as the 5th most valuable outfielder in baseball among the likes of Bernie Williams, Gary Sheffield and Larry Walker.

Lofton left Cleveland in 2002, splitting the season with the rival Chicago Cubs before eventually being traded to the San Francisco Giants. That’s when the Pirates signed the speedy outfielder to a one-year deal.

Lofton put up his typical low power, high contact numbers with a .277/.333/.437 line and 99 wRC+ in 374 plate appearances. Though Lofton was no longer the defensive wizard he was in his prime with the Indians, he could still get it done in center field with a 5.0 UZR/150 and 3.8 outfield arm runs above average across the entire season. Lofton was approaching his late 30’s at this point, as this was his age 36-season, but that didn’t seem to slow him down. He stole 18 bases in 84 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

However, Lofton would end up being part of one of the most ill-fated trades in Pirate history. Along with Lofton, the Bucs sent young third baseman Aramis Ramirez to the Chicago Cubs for Matt Brubak, Jose Hernandez and Bobby Hill. Brubak never appeared in the Majors, and Hill and Hernandez combined for -0.1 bWAR in their Pirates tenure. We all know that Ramirez became one of the best third basemen in the league, but Lofton was also very productive for the third of the season he was with the Cubs. In 236 plate appearances, he hit .327/.381/.471 with a 120 OPS+ and 1.8 bWAR. He tacked on 12 more stolen bases and his defense improved moving to Wrigley.

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.