- 1952 - LHP Terry Forster was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He came over in the Richie Zisk deal and like his trademate, Goose Gossage, worked one season in Pittsburgh and was released after slashing 6-4-1, 4.43. The FO may have given up on him too soon; the 25-year-old never became a closer like Goose, but did pitch nine more seasons and put up a lifetime ERA of 3.70, mainly as a set-up guy. And you didn’t have to worry about replacing him with a pinch hitter; he posted a .397 career BA.
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| Joe Redfield 1992 Score |
- 1961 - 3B Joe Redfield was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Joe played 10 minor league campaigns after being drafted by the Mets in 1982; he got into a couple of games for the Angels in 1988 and got a month’s stay with Pittsburgh in 1991, called up from AAA Buffalo to replace an injured Jeff King. He went 2-for-18 in 11 games, spent the next season with the Bisons and retired at age 31.
- 1970 - LHP Steve Cooke was born in Lihue-Kauai, Hawaii. A 35th round draft pick in 1989, he spent five years with the Pirates (1992-97), going 26-36/4.31. 1993 looked like a breakout year when he went 10-10 with a 3.89 ERA and he was named to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team. But he had shoulder problems that surfaced in 1994, missed the 1995 season, and never again matched his rookie performance.
- 1986 - The Pirates selected OF Moises Alou as the second overall pick in the January draft, behind pitcher Jeff Shaw. He played two games for the Pirates in 1990 before being shipped to Montreal for Zane Smith. Moises went on to have a 17-year-career, with six All-Star berths and a lifetime .303 BA. He’s the nephew of former Pirate Matty Alou and the cousin of former Bucco farmhand Mel Rojas, Jr.
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| Adam LaRoche 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter |
- 1993 - RHP Dovydas Neverauskas was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. Dovy is a neat little story. He was signed out of the European Academy in 2009 by the Pirates as the first Lithuanian born-and-raised played to sign a pro baseball deal. The only other Lithuanian to play in the majors was OF Joe Zapustas, who was raised in Boston and played just two games for the Philadelphia A's back in 1933. In 2015, the Bucs converted the hard thrower into a reliever, and he played for the All-World Futures team in 2016. In 2017, he made his debut in the show, eventually appearing in 24 games and going 1-1, 3.91.
- 2008 - The Pirates re-signed 1B Adam LaRoche to a 1-year/$5M contract. He hit .270 with 25 homers, and was sent to Boston the following year. Baseball runs in his blood - literally. He’s the son of former MLB pitcher Dave and older brother of Andy, who is still bumping around in the minors.
- 2017 - The Bucs settled with all their arb-eligible players but LHP Tony Watson (he asked for $6M & the Bucs countered with $5.6M; the team won the hearing). Reaching one-year deals before the filing deadline were SS Jordy Mercer ($4.325M), RHP Gerrit Cole ($3.75M), RHP Juan Nicasio ($3.65M), RHP Jared Hughes ($2.825M), RHP Drew Hutchison ($2.3M) and LHP Wade LeBlanc ($800K), who agreed to on his contract earlier in the off season. LHP Jeff Locke was non-tendered and signed off on a $3M agreement with Miami in December.
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