- 1982 - RHP Ty Taubenheim was born in Bellingham, Washington. The Bucs picked Ty up from Toronto in the 2007 off season; he got one start in 2008, his last in the majors, and it was a good outing. He didn’t get the decision, but went six innings of two-run ball in an eventual 4-3 win over Tampa. The Bucs released him in early September, and he continued through 2010 in the minors and with a Mexican Winter League stint before stepping off the rubber for the last time.
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| Ty Taubenheim 2008 (photo Joe Robbins/Getty) |
- 1990 - C Elias Diaz was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He debuted with Pittsburgh in 2015 and was up briefly in 2016, but an elbow injury and later a case of cellulitis derailed the season. He was considered a strong defensive catcher though an iffy hitter, and saw more action in 2017 when Francisco Cervelli was injured. He showed the ability to handle the stick in 2018 after a slow campaign the previous two seasons, batting .286 with 10 homers.
- 1992 - The Pirates lost OF Alex Cole to the Colorado Rockies, along with P Danny Jackson and IF Ramon Martinez to the Florida Marlins, in the expansion draft. The Fish flipped Jackson to the Phils, where he won 26 games in 1993-94 and earned an All-Star nod.
- 1998 - The Bucs signed free agent IF Mike Benjamin to a two-year contract worth $924K. He later signed a two-year extension worth $1.4M and played for Pittsburgh through the 2002 campaign, missing ‘01 due to injury, and hit .239 while manning all four infield positions.
- 2000 - C Jason Kendall signed the richest contract in team history. The $60M, six-year contract extension w/$4M signing bonus had a base salary of $6M in 2002 and peaked at $13M in 2007. To this point from his rookie year of 1996, Kendall had hit .300 or better every season except 1997, when he hit .294. He became the second highest paid active catcher in baseball, behind only Mike Piazza. He was traded to the Oakland A’s in 2004 before his salary jumped to seven figures.
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| Jason Kendall 2000 Pacific Crown Royale |
- 2005 - Jason Bay agreed to an $18.25M, four-year contract that ran through his arbitration-eligible seasons after making $355K in 2005. He hit .296 with 58 HR and 183 RBI in 2004-05 and began his career by winning the NL Rookie of the Year award. The only sticking point was a fifth year that would have been during Bay’s first free agent season; his side wanted a guaranteed renewal to give it up while the Bucs preferred to make it an option year. At loggerheads on that issue, the deal was settled after a four-year term was struck. Jay Bay was traded to Boston in 2008, before the contract ran out, and had a couple of solid years with the Red Sox before moving on to the NY Mets, where injuries effectively derailed his career.
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