12/18: Connor Joe Deal; Vogey, Lopez, Kuwata, Herrera, Otis Signed; Neverett Joins Booth; HBD Josh, Joker, Gino & Johnny

• 1915 - OF Johnny Barrett was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He played from 1942-46, with all but 24 games as a Pirate, and hit .251. His best years were 1944-45, when he swiped 53 bases (he led the NL in steals in 1944 with 28) and scored 196 runs. But when WW2 ended and the players returned from the service, Barrett’s career came to an end. He hit .193 in 1946, his last big league campaign that was split between the Buccos and the Boston Braves. 
• 1929 - OF Gino Cimoli was born in San Francisco. He only played a season and some change (1960-61) for the Bucs, but was their fourth outfielder for the 1960 Series champs, hitting .267 as a Pirate and .250 in the series. He scored the first tally in Pittsburgh’s five-run eighth inning in the deciding game seven and started several games in place of the injured Bob Skinner. After retiring from baseball, Cimoli worked as a delivery driver for UPS. 
• 1969 - IF Joe “The Joker” Randa was born in Milwaukee. Joe played early and late with the Pirates - he spent his third big league season, 1997, and his MLB finale in 2006 in Pittsburgh, hitting a solid .291. Tony Muser, Joe’s skipper in Kansas City, gave him his nickname because he reminded him of Batman’s “The Joker” character, always with a smile on his face. 
• 1983 - The Pirates signed 37-year-old free agent OF Amos Otis. A five-time All-Star with the Kansas City Royals, Otis was at the end of his road and hit .165 in 40 games for the Bucs. He was released in August and never played in the majors again. Ironically, the Royals had agreed to a deal sending him and Cookie Rojas to the Pirates for Al Oliver/Art Howe after the 1975 season per Charley Feeney of the Post Gazette, but Rojas killed the transaction by exercising his 5-and-10 year veto rights; Pittsburgh was that close to landing Otis in his heyday. 

Amos Otis - 1984 Fleer Update

• 1984 - IF Josh Rodriguez was born in Houston, Texas. His MLB career was short-lived; he went 1-for-12 in six games for the Bucs in 2011 and that was it for showtime. The Pirates took him from the Cleveland Indians as a Rule 5 selection and he beat out Pedro Ciriaco for the middle infield bench spot in camp. But Rodriguez couldn’t take advantage of sticking his foot in the door and the Bucs returned him to the Tribe in late April, replacing him on the roster with Brandon Wood. Josh returned to Pittsburgh in June in a cash deal with Cleveland and provided depth at Indy and Altoona. He then bounced around several minor league systems and has played in the Mexican League since 2018. 
• 2006 - Cuban RHP Yoslan Herrera, 25, agreed to a three-year/$1.92M contract with the Pirates, Pittsburgh’s first Cuban signing of the Castro era. He had defected in July of 2005 and was signed by scouts Rene Gayo and Louie Eljaua after posting a combined record of 18-7/3.27 between the Cuban Youth Team (1999-2000) and the Cuban National Team (2001-2004). His numbers didn’t translate in the US, and he won just one game for the Bucs. In a nice bounce-back tale, Herrera was signed to a minor league deal by the LA Angels in 2013 after last pitching in the majors in 2008, put together a nice run at the end of 2014 (1-1/2.70 in 20 outings) for the Halos, then moved across the Pacific to toss in the Nippon League for the final two years of his career. 
• 2006 - The Bucs announced another dip into the international market by inking 38-year-old Japanese RHP Masumi Kuwata to a one year/$500K minor-league contract. He chose the Pirates over the Red Sox and Dodgers because he thought he had a better shot at making the club, but an ankle injury in the spring delayed his MLB call until June. He was 39 then, the oldest rookie to appear since Diomedes Olivo and the first Japanese player to suit up for the Bucs. After 19 games, his ERA was 9.43 and he was sent down. He was invited to camp in 2008, failed to make the final roster, and after rejecting a coaching offer by the Bucs, returned home. He became a TV commentator and later coached the U of Tokyo. 
• 2008 - Tim Neverett was hired as the Pirate play-by-play man, replacing Lanny Frattare. Prior to joining the Pirates, Neverett worked four years for FSN Rocky Mountain, where he spent the 2008 campaign serving as both the pre and post-game studio host for Colorado Rockies games, along with calling many other sports. Neverett began his baseball on-air career in 1985 at the age of 19 with Pittsburgh's Class AA affiliate in the Eastern League, the Nashua Pirates. The New England native left here to join Boston after the 2015 campaign, but it was a short stay as he left their booth following the 2018 Sox season after a beef with management. He was out of work for just a week before he was hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers, his current employer. 

Javier Lopez - 2010 photo McClatchy Tribune/Getty

• 2009 - The Pirates signed LHP Javier Lopez to a one-year/$775K contract. The LOOGY reestablished his credentials (2-2/2.79) in Pittsburgh and then was traded to the Giants at the deadline for OF John Bowker and RHP Joe Martinez. The southpaw was the only active player to have played on four or more World Series championship teams, winning three times with the G-Men and once with Boston. He retired from the G-Men after the 2016 campaign (he slashed 17-8-10/2.47 during his Bay stint) and joined the SF broadcast team. 
• 2015 - The Pirates and RHP Ryan Vogelsong officially agreed to a one-year/$2M contract, bringing him back to Pittsburgh after he had been gone for a decade following stints in Japan and San Francisco. In what would prove to be his final MLB season, he went 3-7/4.81 as a starter/long man, with his season shortened when he broke an orbital bone after being beaned by then-Rockie Jordan Lyles. At the end of the 2017 campaign, after he had been released from AAA by the Minnesota Twins, the Giants signed him to a one-day contract in September and tossed a retirement tribute at AT&T Park for Vogey. 
• 2022 - The Pirates brought home 1B/OF Connor Joe, 30, from Colorado in exchange for 23-year-old RHP Nick Garcia. Joe was the Pirates 2014 Competitive Balance selection (39th overall pick) who was traded to Atlanta for Sean Rodriguez in August, 2017. He bats from the right side and hit .238 with seven homers for the Rockies last season with a lifetime .247 BA in three MLB seasons with the Rox and Giants. He’s also pretty handy with the mitt, so he’s hoped to be a good-fit platoon piece when a lefty bat is called for. Connor hit .247/11 HR in ‘23 while playing first and both outfield corners. Garcia, a third-round pick in 2020, went 4-4/3.66 with 109 whiffs in 113 IP over 25 outings (23 starts) for Hi-A Greensboro in ‘22. He’s raw and his ultimate ceiling is TBD as he’s a position player converted to the pen converted to the rotation and had a rough 2023 (3-9/7.35) tossing in AA. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Pirates DFA’ed RHP Nick Mears.