- 1903 - RHP Big Jim Weaver was born in Obion County, Tennessee. He spent the middle of his eight-year career in Pittsburgh (1935-37) posting a 36-21, 3.76 line, splitting his time between starting and the pen. Big Jim earned his nickname honestly: he was 6'6" and weighed 230 pounds.
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| Jim Waugh 1953 Topps |
- 1933 - RHP Jim Waugh was born in Lancaster, Ohio. His MLB career lasted just two seasons (1952-53), both with the Bucs, with a slash of 5-11/6.43. After getting his feet wet out of the pen, Waugh became youngest pitcher at age 18 to win a game in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates when he went the distance at Forbes Field in a 4-3 victory over the Cubs in August of 1952. It was the first start of his MLB career.
- 1972 - Roberto Clemente won his 12th straight Sporting News Golden Glove award, a string of recognition dating back to 1961. He and “Say Hey” Willie Mays are tied for the most GG’s earned by an outfielder with a dozen apiece. In his 2,433 game career, Roberto handled 5,102 chances with a .973 fielding %, threw out 266 runners and put fear of the Lord into countless others. He was such a versatile fielder that in 1956, he actually subbed at third base for a game and at second for two more. Clemente also played center field 63 times.
- 2002 - Detroit sent 1B Randall Simon to the Pirates for LHP Adrian Burnside and a player to be named later (RHP Roberto Novoa.) Novoa pitched three MLB seasons; Burnside went to Japan to play. Simon ended up better at swatting sausages (his “Sausagegate” escapade in Milwaukee cost him a $432.10 Milwaukee city fine for disorderly conduct while MLB suspended him for three games and fined him $2,000) than baseballs, hitting .245 with 13 HR in 152 games as a Bucco between 2003-04.
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| Jaff Decker (photo via MLB.com) |
- 2013 - In a prospects depth deal, the Bucs acquired OF Jaff Decker and RHP Miles Mikolas from San Diego for 1B/OF Alex Dickerson. All three have since had cups of coffee in the show, with Dickerson on the verge of becoming an everyday player.
I didn't understand the Dickerson trade when it went down, and if he becomes a regular with the Padres and is any good at all, it's a bad deal. Decker is a fringe fifth outfielder type and is no longer in the Pirates' organization. I don't know what Mikolas has done. Dickerson was thought to be a typical college player without much upside, but he is a true first baseman and the Pirates have had no end of problems filling that position. Why they didn't hang onto him long enough to at least give him a shot is beyond me. Yet another example of why Neal Huntington is NOT a great GM. Competent? Yes. Better than most of what we had around here (with the notable exception of Ted Simmons) during the Twenty Year Drought? Definitely. Great? Not even close.
ReplyDeleteThis will be the telling year, Will; looks like LF is Dickerson's to take in SD so he'll get his full-time shot. My guess is that the FO thought he was AL material as he came here as a man w/o a position, although he seems to have taken to the pasture OK. The OF is a tough place to break into in Pgh, but it seems like the Padres guessed right on Alex and the Bucs wrong on Decker.
ReplyDeleteHmm, you just said something I didn't know. You say Dickerson is playing the outfield for the Padres? Okay, that might alter the calculus on the trade just a bit. I thought he was still a first baseman, which was his collegiate position.
ReplyDeleteAlex did pretty good. 253 AB, .257 ave, 16 doubles, 2 triples, 10 home runs .455 slg. He was a left fielder in college, not 1B. The Pirates moved him to first base. While he will never be an Andrew McCutchen in the field, he proved to be much better than the negative punditry. We should wish both Alex and Jaff the best of luck. It's a long road to just get a cup a coffee in the show!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, HF. Dickerson and/or Decker I think were both legit fourth OF material, considering that Marte/Polanco were set in the corners. Seems like they gave up too soon on Dickerson, while Decker was behind Snider/Tabata in 2014, but prob deserved more of a shot in 2015.Alex will be interesting to watch going forward - he's 26, and it looks like the Padres plan to use him as a platoon guy at LF/1B. His sample size is small, but he's got even splits, a 9% walk rate,.192 ISO, and pretty fair K rate (16%) so his hitting indicators are all in line.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction, HF, I wasn't aware that Dickerson was primarily or maybe even entirely an outfielder in college.
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