Pittsburgh Pirates – What Might Have Been

 I fell in love with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971, when my dad was relocated there, and I was 11. The second game I saw of theirs was in the World Series, out in right field, watching Roberto Clemente have one of the best WS games ever.

Man, they were so good back then. Roberto, Willie Stargell, Maz, Steve Blass, Dave Parker, the Candy Man, Teke …

Of course, those All Stars were then followed by players like Dale Berra, Marvell Wynn, Steve Kemp, Mario Mendoza, Lee Tunnell, Jim Winn, Mike Brown & Jeff King …

Yeah, it’s been a little rough lately. And, yes, they did indeed finish in last place again this year.

Watching the other teams in the playoffs got me thinking about how many ex-Pirates there were – Gerrit Cole, Tyler Glasnow, Clay Holmes, David Bednar, Aroldis Chapman …

Which got me thinking … What would the Bucs’ lineup look like if it included ex-Bucs.

NOTES:

• I’m going to do a standard, 25-man fantasy roster
• Players actually on the 2025 Pirate roster are underlined

Catcher

Tyler Heineman, Toronto

• 2025 highlights:  1.5 WAR, 289 avg
• Career highlights:  6 years
• Who we got in return:  Vinny Capra (career:  -0.7 WAR, 133 avg, 1 HR)

Henry Davis

• 2025 highlights:  0.7 WAR, 7 HRs
• Career highlights:  3 years, 660 PAs, 15 HRs

1B

Spencer Horwitz

• 2025 highlights:  1.6 WAR, 272 avg
• Career highlights:  3 years, 731 PAs

2B

Jared Triolo

• 2025 highlights:  2.4 WAR, 11 SBs
• Career highlights:  3 years, 906 ABs, Gold Glove

SS

Oneil Cruz

• 2025 highlights:  38 SBs (led league), 20 HRs
• Career highlights:  5 years, 1553 PAs, 198 RBIs, 188 runs, 73 SBs

 

3B

Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cincinnati

• 2025 highlights:  1.5 WAR, 527 ABs, 12 SBs
• Career highlights:  6 years, 2542 PAs, 274 runs, 63 SBs, Gold Glove
• Who we got in return:  Sammy Stafura (minors), Taylor Rogers (2025:  age 34, 3-2)

Corner Infielder

Josh Bell, Washington

• 2025 highlights:  22 HRs, 63 RBIs
• Career highlights:  10 years, 193 HRs, 676 RBIs, All Star, Silver Slugger
• Who we got in return:  Eddy Yean (minors), Wil Crowe (career:  -0.4 WHIP, 10-21, 5.30 ERA, 1.862 WHIP)

Middle Infielder

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Toronto

• 2025 highlights:  1.7 WAR, 431 ABs, 15 SBs
• Career highlights:  8 years, 15.9 WAR, 3109 PAs, 815 hits, 371 runs, 100 SBs, Gold Glove
• Who we got in return:  Charles McAdoo (minors)

OF

Bryan Reynolds

• 2025 highlights:  1.4 WAR, 587 ABs, 16 HRs, 73 RBIs
• Career highlights:  7 years, 21.1 WAR, 3560 ABs, 500 runs, 966 hits, All Star (2)

Andrew McCutchen

• 1995 highlights:  477 ABs, 13 HRs, 57 RBIs
• Career highlights:  17 years, 2266 hits, 1290 runs, 332 HRs, 1152 RBIs, 220 SBs, MVP, All Star (5), Gold Glove, Silver Slugger (4)

Starling Marte, NY Mets

• 2025 highlights:  1.0 WAR, 270 avg
• Career highlights:  14 years, 39.3 WAR, 285 avg, 1639 hits, 877 runs, 677 RBIs, 361 SBs, All Star (2), Gold Glove (2)
• Who we got in return:  Brennan Malone (minors), Liover Peguero (career:  4 years, -0.3 WAR, 227 average)

Adam Frazier

• 2025 highlights:  1.4 WAR, 419 ABs
• Career highlights:  10 years, 1200 games, 1015 hits, 511 runs, All Star

Michael Taylor, White Sox

• 2025 highlights:  295 ABs, 
• Career highlights:  12 years, 3480 ABs, 427 runs, 388 RBIs
• Who we got in return:  nada (released)

DH

Carlos Santana, Cubs

• 1995 highlights:  1.1 WAR, 415 ABs
• Career highlights:  39.3 WAR, 2204 games, 1880 hits, 335 HRs, 1107 runs, 1136 RBIs, All Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger
• Who’d we get in return:  Jhonny Severino (minors)

Oops – wrong one

SP

Injured List

Gerrit Cole, Yankees 

• Career highlights:  12 years, 43.2 WAR, 153-80, 2251 Ks, 3.18 ERA, 1.089 WHIP, Cy Young, All Star [6])
• Who’d we get in return:  Colin Moran (Bucs: 4 years,  0.1 WAR, 269 average), Joe Musgrove (Bucs:  3 years, 18-26, 4.23 ERA), Michael Feliz (4 years, -0.4 WAR, 5.00 ERA), Jason Martin (Bucs: 3 years, -0.5 WAR, 200 average, 0 HRs)

Jared Jones

• 2024:  1.7 WAR, 132 Ks, 1.192 WHIP

Paul Skenes

• 2025 highlights:  7.6 WAR, 1.97 ERA (led league), 0.948 WHIP, All Star
• Career highlights:  2 years, 21-13, 13.5 WAR, 1.96 ERA, 0.948 WHIP, 386 Ks, RoY, All Star (2)

Tyler Glasnow, LA Dodgers

• 2025 highlights:  1.9 WAR, 3.19 ERA, 1.096 WHIP
• Career highlights:  10 years, 10.8 WAR, 1.147 WHIP, 952 Ks, All Star
• Who we got in return:  Chris Archer (Bucs:  2 years, 6-12, 4.92 ERA, 1.395 WHIP)
• NOTE:  Pirates also sent Austin Meadows (Rays:  4 years, 1360 PAs, 212 RBIs, All Star) & Shane Baz (Rays:  4 years, 166 IPs, 176 Ks, 1.227 WHIP)

Hey, where’s the hair?

Jameson Taillon, Cubs

• 2025 highlights:  1.3 WAR, 11-7, 1.057 WHIP
• Career highlights:  9 years, 15.4 WAR, 82-60, 1.193 WHIP, 1073 Ks
• Who we got in return:  Roansy Contreras (Bucs:  4 years, 9-12, 4.83 ERA, 1.418 WHIP), Canaan Smith-Njigba (Bucs:  2 years, -0.2 WAR, 37 ABs, 135 average, 0 HRs), Miguel Yajure (Bucs:  2 years, -1.4 WAR, 8.69 ERA, 1.805 WHIP), Maikol Escotto (minors)

Bailey Falter, KC

• 2025 highlights:  1.5 WAR, 1.182 WHIP
• Career highlights:  5 years, 466 IPs, 1.288 WHIP, 346 Ks
• Who we got in return:  Evan Sisk (Bucs:  12 IPs, 4.38 ERA), Callan Moss (minors)

Quinn Priester, Milwaukee

• 1995 highlights:  3.0 WAR, 13-3, 3.32 ERA, 1.239 WHIP, 201 Ks
• Career highlights:  3 years, 19-12
• Who’d we get in return:  Nick Yorke (minors)

RP

Aroldis Chapman, Boston

• 2025 highlights:  3.5 WAR, 32 saves, 1.17 ERA, 0.707 WHIP, All Star
• Career highlights:  24.3 WAR, 60-48, 367 saves, 2.52 ERA, 1.075 WHIP, 1331 Ks, All Star (8)
• Who we got in return:  zilch (free agent)

David Bednar, NY Yankees

• 2025 highlights:  2.2 WAR, 27 saves, 2.30 ERA, 1.037 WHIP
• Career highlights:  7 years, 111 saves, 3.01 ERA, 1.153 WHIP, All Star (2)
• Who we got in return:  Rafael Florez (2025: 0.0 WAR, 15 ABs, 200 average), Edgleen Perez (minors), Brian Sanchez (minors)

Clay Holmes, NY Mets

• 2025 highlights:  2.0 WAR, 12-8, 1.304 WHIP
• Career highlights:  8 years, 74 saves, 1.302 WHIP, All Star (2)
• Who we got in return:  Diego Castillo (career:  3 years, -0.5 WAR, 208 average), Hoy Park (minors)

Justin Wilson, Boston

• 2025 highlights:  4-1, 3.35 ERA
• Career highlights:  13 years, 7.5 WAR, 38-30, 1.310 WHIP, 618 Ks
• Who we got in return:  Francisco Cervelli (Bucs:  5 years, 8.8 WAR, 450 games, 179 runs, 169 RBIs)
• NOTE:  A good trade for once

Whoops, wrong guy

Dennis Santana

• 2025 highlights:  2.7 WAR, 16 saves, 2.18 ERA, 0.867 WHIP
• Career highlights:  8 years, 20 saves, 1.210 WHIP

Isaac Mattson

• 2025 highlights:  1.5 WAR, 2.45 ERA, 1.113 WHIP
• Career highlights:  3 years, 2.98 ERA, 1.221 WHIP

US Namesake Towns That Didn’t Quite Live Up to The Hype

There sure are a lotta “inhabited places” in the ol’ US of A. So, what to call ‘em all?

Well, there’s all sorts of possibilities: original Indian names (Chicago, Omaha, Miami), descriptives (Las Vegas, Long Beach, Salt Lake City), famous people (Washington, St Louis, Raleigh) …

Another possibility is to call them after other places. A lot of these are simply after cities or towns where the original settlers came from – Boston, Hartford, Newark …

Some of these, though, are a little more aspirational. Memphis, Syracuse, Troy & Athens, for example, are all named after famous places from the ancient past. 

Egypt or Tennessee?

Unfortunately, things don’t always turn out as the town fathers had hoped. Imagine, for example, calling yourself Rome, then having a population of 17. Or, how about an Athens in the middle of the flatlands of Kansas?

Methodology

1. Identify the most famous cities around the world
2. Find the smallest similarly-named town I can in the US
3. Compare them in a table

London

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
UK	9M	43	Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Bucking-ham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, British Museum, Wimbledon	Chaucer, Elizabeth I, Victoria, Dickens, William Blake, Virginia Woolf, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, David Beckham, Alfred Hitchcock	Capital
Indiana	65	1852			Site of mid-air collision that killed 78 people

 

Paris

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
France	2.1M	250 BC	Eifel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Champs-Elysees, Pere Lachaise, Louvre, Sorbonne	Joan of Arc, Louis XIV, Napoleon, DeGaulle, Voltaire, Descartes, Sartre, Pasteur, Marie Curie, Debussy	Capital, City of Light
Virginia	44	1810	Ashby Inn & Restaurant, Lavender Green Florist

Rome

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
Italy	2.7M	753 BC	Forum, Coliseum, Pantheon, Vatican, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps	Augustus, Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Virgil, Cicero, Ovid, Raphael, Fellini, Maria Montessori	Capital, Eternal City
Ohio	83	1835	Methodist church, post office	Melissa Jones, mayor	Also known as “Stout”

Athens

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
Greece	3.6M	3000 BC	Acropolis, Parthenon, Agora, Lyceum, Temple of Zeus	Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pericles, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides	Capital, cradle of Western civilization, birthplace of democracy
Kansas	62	1872		Fred Beckler, E.D. Plumb, Richard Albertson, Robert White, John McAffee (1st settlers); Thomas B. Johns, Robert Day, Jacob Gilmore, A.S. Hoag (1st town officers)	“The people are moral, intelligent, industrious and prosperous, and the society is unsurpassed.” [ksgenweb.org]

 

Florence

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
Italy	362K	9th Cent. BC	Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Uffizi, David, Bargello, Boboli Gardens, Santa Croce, Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio	Medicis, Dante, Machiavelli, Boccaccio, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Galileo	Cradle of the Renaissance
Illinois	17		Bridge across Illinois River		2nd-least populated municipality in Illinois

Cairo

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
Egypt	10.3M	300	Pyramids, Sphinx, Memphis, Heliopolis, National Museum	Amenhotep, Tutankhamun, Nasser, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, Omar Sharif	Capital
West Virginia	174	1895	Town hall (on National Register of Historic Places), North Bend Rail Trail, Cairo Suspension Foot Bridge		“A hidden gem known for its natural beauty, historic sites, and outdoor activities” [onlyinyourstate. com]

Berlin

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
Germany	3.9M	1200s	Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Berlin Wall Memorial, Charlottenburg Palace, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church	Frederick the Great, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Red Baron (Manfred von Richtofen), Gropius, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Witt	Capital
North Dakota	31	1887	Grain elevators	Milton Young, US senator

Moscow

Location	Pop	Founded	Sites	Notable People	Notes
Russia	13.1M	Neolithic period	Kremlin, Red Square, St Basil’s Cathedral, Metro stations, GUM department store, Gorky Park, Bolshoi Theatre	Peter the Great, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Wasilly Kandinsky, Alexander Scriabin, Boris Pasternak, Sergey Brin	Capital, the Third Rome
Arkansas	8	Pre Civil War	Methodist Church & Cemetery (Arkansas Register of Historic Places)		Site of Civil War battle, the Action at Moscow