The best and worst moves of the Pirates' Syd Thrift era

1985 is arguably the most consequential year in Pittsburgh Pirates history. Coming off their first 100-loss season since 1954 and the scandal of the Pittsburgh drug trials, there was a serious chance the team would be sold and moved by ownership. Before that situation reached its worrisome apex, though, the Galbreaths made a deal with the Pittsburgh Associates, a group led by Mayor Richard Caliguiri that was committed to keeping the team in the Steel City.

Major changes were on the horizon, as Syd Thrift, once a scout for the Pirates and founder of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy, was later announced as the next vice president and general manager of baseball operations. The position had been previously held by Joe L. Brown, the team's GM from 1956 to 1976, who had briefly filled the role after Hardy Peterson was fired during the season. Chuck Tanner had also been let go, and Thrift had the tough task of filling this vacancy ahead of him.

At the time, Jim Leyland was a relative unknown. Before becoming the next Pirates skipper, he was the third base coach for the Chicago White Sox under manager Tony La Russa. Leyland had been a manager in the minor leagues. He won the American Division twice as the leader of the Evansville Triplets, then the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Hired at age 40, Leyland was one of the younger managers in the league and had big shoes to fill. Though recent years had been plagued by mediocrity, it hadn't been long since the Pirates were one of the best teams in the National League. The team that was once so dominant the previous decade had fallen on hard times, and it was up to Thrift and Leyland to turn the ship around. While not every move Thrift made as general manager was great, what he accomplished in his short tenure set Pittsburgh up for success in the years to come.

How Syd Thrift and Jim Leyland saved the Pirates

In addition to hiring Leyland, Syd Thrift acquired many of the players central to the Pirates core that won the NL East division for three consecutive seasons. These include Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke and Doug Drabek. Bonilla had signed with Pittsburgh as an amateur free agent as far back as 1981, and remained in the minors for several seasons before being claimed by the White Sox in the 1985 Rule 5 Draft. He played just 75 games in Chicago before the Pirates wisely reacquired him in exchange for struggling starter Jose DeLeón, who had a great rookie campaign in '83 but could never recapture his past excellence. Bonilla, the All-Star slugger, split time between third base and right field throughout his short but storied Pirates career. Like teammate Barry Bonds, a contract dispute led to his eventual departure in free agency.

Thrift made another smart move by trading their All-Star catcher Tony Peña for Andy Van Slyke, Mike LaValliere and pitcher Mike Dunne. Peña was one of the Pirates' best players, and had few more good years after leaving Pittsburgh with St. Louis and Boston. However, the value the Pirates received in return for Peña weighed heavily in their favor. Van Slyke was amongst the best center fielders in the game during his peak, taking home numerous Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards. LaValliere, splitting games with Don Slaught behind the dish, had a solid career, putting up 13.9 bWAR; he was also a Gold Glove winner. Dunne debuted with the Pirates and was a member of the starting rotation for two and a half seasons, with his rookie year being his best, owning a 13-6 record and 3.03 ERA in '87.

The acquisition of Doug Drabek from the New York Yankees is one of the best in team history. The deal featured Drabek, alongside Logan Easley and Brian Fisher, being exchanged for Pat Clements, Cecilio Guante and Rick Rhoden. While Rhoden had a good career with the Pirates, his best days were behind him. Drabek became an elite starter in Pittsburgh, one the franchise had not seen since the days of Bob Friend and Vern Law. He became just the second Pirate to ever win the Cy Young award, after his league-leading 22-win season in 1990, a year in which he also received MVP votes. There are a few other players worth mentioning that Thrift added. These include drafting Stan Belinda, selecting Jim Gott off waivers from the Giants, and trading for Gary Redus.

Another success of the Thrift era was drafting Moisés Alou second overall in the 1986 January draft. While his successor Larry Doughty would later trade Alou as part of the Zane Smith deal, selecting Alou was still an objectively good move. Considering who else was taken in that January draft, Alou was by far the best player added. Some credit is due for scouting and evaluating him. Alou had reached elite prospect status by the time he made it to Double-A Harrisburg in '89. In hindsight, keeping him would have been the right decision, but Smith still had a respectable tenure with the Pirates. He was in Pittsburgh for five seasons, and other than his 1994 season, was consistently an above-average pitcher that helped the team compete for the pennant. Smith was certainly a valuable member of those playoff teams.

Now, let's consider the bad ones. There are no glaring, historically bad moves, e.g. Chris Archer, but some shakeups definitely made the team worse. The biggest one was likely drafting Jeff King first overall in the 1986 June Draft. King wasn't a bad player, but there were several others within the top 10 taken that year that were so much better, like Matt Williams (third), Kevin Brown (fourth) and Gary Sheffield (eighth). These weren't obscure players that every team passed on multiple times; they were essentially selected immediately after King. Imagine what a Bonilla, Bonds, and Sheffield-led Pirates team could have done. Or, you could have had Williams at third instead of Steve Buechele and somehow convinced Bonilla to stay and remain in right. Having Brown as your No. 2 starter behind Drabek could have made the difference, too.

The Pirates drafted Ben Shelton in the second round, 34th overall in the 1987 June draft. Cleveland selected Albert Belle 13 picks later. Shelton only played 15 games in a Pirates uniform in 1993. Belle hit 381 home runs, had a .295 career average, and put up 40.1 WAR. Again, this choice is more of a hypothetical, given that the Pirates weren't the only team to pass on Belle. We can only speculate on what could have happened had the Pirates taken him.

There are a few other deals worth pointing out. None of them were major, but all were trades you could say the Pirates easily lost. Pittsburgh essentially got nothing, no offense, for players that all contributed to their next teams. These trades included sending Rick Reuschel to the Giants, Johnny Ray to the Angels, Joe Orsulak to the Orioles and Mike Bielecki to the Cubs. None of these are huge names, but the point remains.

If you look at the entire scope of Syd Thrift's time as the Pirates GM, it's one that consisted of more wins than losses, in the sense of value, that laid the foundation for future greatness. With Leyland at the helm, the Pirates went from worst to first, but ultimately failed in their quest to reclaim the Commissioner's Trophy. You can't win 'em all. As Pirates fans, we know this all too well.