3/29 From 1980: Varsho, Smith, Carrasco Deals; Anderson 5th Man; Hughes Cut; No Deal; Tracy Moves

• 1991 - In a depth swap, the Pirates traded Steve Carter to the Chicago Cubs for Gary Varsho. OF Carter, who had a couple of short Pittsburgh stays, never appeared in MLB again. Varsho hit .249 as a bench bat for the Bucs, was waived and claimed by the Reds for the next season, and returned to the coop in 1994. 

Gary Varsho - 1992 Studio

• 1994 - After being released the day before, Gary Varsho signed a $243,750 contract for a second go-around with the club, which he had played for in 1991-92 before joining the Reds. In his three years with the club, Gary batted .251 as a pinch hitter and extra outfielder. He returned one more time to serve as John Russell’s bench coach in 2008 before being let go in 2010, shortly before JR was shown the door. He came back to the fold in 2016 as a Bucco scout. 
• 1997 - The Pirates traded OF Trey Beamon and C Angelo Encarnacion to the San Diego Padres for 1B/OF Mark Smith and minor-league RHP Hal Garrett. It was a wash; Beaman had a couple of decent seasons from the pine while Smith hit .285 with nine homers off the bench for the Bucs in 1997 but faded in 1998. Smith’s highlight came in 1997 when he drilled a homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Pirates a 3-0 win over the Houston Astros at TRS, ending the first extra-inning, combined no-hitter (Francisco Cordoba, Ricardo Rincon) in MLB history. 
• 1999 - RHP DJ Carrasco, 33, signed a one-year/$950K free agent deal with the Pirates. He continued his workmanlike ways with a 2-2/3.88 slash. That performance earned him a deadline ticket to Arizona with Ryan Church and Bobby Crosby via the trade route for Pedro Ciriaco, Chris Snyder and cash. 
• 2000 - The Pirates picked Jimmy Anderson to break camp as their fifth starter and cut veteran LHP Pete Schourek, eating the final $2M of his contract. Schourek wasn’t taken by surprise; he was coming off a poor, injury-hindered 1999 and had been on the trade market for a couple of weeks. The Pirates suits thought Anderson had more upside, but a couple of the team leaders weren’t sold. Kevin Young said “A lot of the veteran players are disturbed...We don’t want people rewarded for mediocrity.” Brian Giles added that “He (Schourek) busts his butt. With Jimmy, you don’t know that...Jimmy needs to learn how to work and make himself better. From what we’ve seen, we haven’t seen him make that commitment.” As it ended up, Anderson’s career lasted through 2004 and he never posted a season after his ‘99 rookie campaign with an ERA south of 5.10 while Schourek tossed through 2001 for Boston, winning four games pitching to an ERA of 4.97. It ended up much ado about nothing; the Pirates wouldn’t find a fifth starter who had an ERA under five until 2011, when Kevin Correia put up a 4.72 mark. 

Craig Stays - 1996 Upper Deck Epic

• 2006 - It was a busy day at Jim Tracy’s first camp. First, the rumor mill was leaking out a UT Craig Wilson-for-RHP Joel Pineiro swap with Seattle, which eventually fell through (Piniero made twice the money that Wilson did, and went on to post an 8-13/6.36 with the Mariners during the season, so the Bucs dodged a bullet). The need for a starting pitcher was highlighted when Kip Wells, John Van Benschoten and Bryan Bullington were all placed on the DL this day. Additionally, a handful of non-pitching guys were sent to the minors, including Jose Bautista, Ronny Paulino and Mike Edwards. 
• 2017 - In a surprise move, the Pirates released RHP Jared Hughes, whom they had tendered months earlier and signed to a $2.175M contract. Hughes had been with the MLB club since 2011 and was a career-long member of the organization since 2006 when he was a fourth round draft pick. The release date had to do with a combination of declining performance and dollars; by letting him go before the season started, the Pirates were on the hook for just $695K. Hughes later signed as an FA with the Milwaukee Brewers for $950K. He followed that campaign by signing for two-years w/an option with the Reds and is now a free agent after opting out of a deal w/the ‘Stros.