1/20 From 1960: Adam, Octavio, DJ Inked; Al Martin Takes Over; PC'$; HBD Brian & Cecil

• 1963 - OF Cecil Espy was born in San Diego. He hit .254 in his two Bucco campaigns of 1991-92, part of Jim Leyland’s title clubs’ bench corps. Cecil was a highly touted guy who never quite panned out; the speedster was the eighth overall selection in the 1980 draft. The Pirates had originally landed Espy in 1985 as part of the Bill Madlock deal with LA. He spent the next season in AAA Hawaii, then the Rangers took him in the Rule 5 draft before Cecil reunited with the Pirates as a free agent in early 1991. 

Al Martin 1993 Score Boys of Summer

• 1993 - The Barry Bonds era officially ended with Jim Leyland’s announcement that rookie Al Martin, 25, would man left field this season to replace BB, who took his heart (and bat) to San Francisco in the off season. “I’m not really looking at it as replacing Barry,” Martin said. “Hopefully, I can start a name for myself.” Al had gotten a September cup of coffee in ‘92 and went on to have a solid rookie campaign, batting .289 w/18 HR, coming in fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting. His Achilles heel became apparent though, as the lefty swinger had a big L/R split (.191 v LHP, .302 v RHP), a gap that would prove consistent over his career. Even with that split, he got 113 games/425 PAs or better in six of his eight Bucco campaigns and hit .280. 
• 1971 - RF Brian Giles was born in El Cajon, California. In five years with Pittsburgh (1999-2003), he put up a line of .308/.426/.591 with 165 HR/506 RBI and three All-Star berths. A power guy who hit 35+ homers for four straight Bucco seasons, Giles also had a great eye, walking nearly 350 more times during his career than he whiffed. He retired in 2010 after a couple of rough seasons with San Diego while trying to play through an arthritic knee. 
• 2000 - Big league baseball does occasionally think forward. The team owners voted to cede their digital rights to the Commissioner's office, allowing for the creation of a new cash cow, mlb.com. Commish Bud Selig split the new pot of cyber gold equally among the franchises, tossing the low-revenue markets a life preserver. 
• 2009 - 1B Adam LaRoche, 29, signed a one-year/$7.05M contract to avoid arbitration. Adam then hit .247 with 12 homers, 40 RBIs and 81 strikeouts in 87 games, slumping badly after a hot ‘09 start, and was shipped to the Red Sox on July 22nd for SS Argenis Diaz and RHP Hunter Strickland. 

Octavio Dotel 2010 (photo Jonathan Daniel/Getty)

• 2010: Free agent RHP Octavio Dotel was signed to a one-year/$3.5M deal w/an option by the Bucs, the only team that offered the right-hander the opportunity to save games rather than be a set-up guy (they needed a replacement for Matt Capps). The 36-year-old reliever hadn't been a closer since 2007 with Kansas City, but reclaimed the role, saving 21 games (in 26 opportunities w/4.28 ERA) before being traded at the deadline to the Dodgers for Andrew Lambo and James McDonald. Dotel worked into the 2013 season and appeared in two WS after leaving the ‘Burg. J-Mac showed early promise before flaming out and Lambo couldn’t beat a series of injuries. 
• 2010 - RHP DJ Carrasco was signed to a one-year/$950K contract. The reliever stuck around (2-2/3.88) until the deadline, and was packaged as part of a deal with Arizona. His last MLB gig was in 2012 with the NY Mets. Carrasco was a part of the Pirate organization back in 2002, before KC took him in that year’s Rule 5 draft from Pittsburgh’s High A Carolina League club, Lynchburg.