As Neil Huntington's first year as General Manager of the Pirates came to a close, one would struggle to call it anything but tumultuous. Despite the Pedro Alvarez saga, the failure to sign second round pick Tanner Scheppers, and the struggles of many newly acquired players, Huntington is still saved in the eye of public opinion based on one fact: He is not Cam Bonifay or Dave Littlefield.
Bonifay and Littlefield represent a very dark period of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. Their tenure, 1993-2007, netted zero playoff appearances and zero winning seasons. They were recently lumped together on a list of the all time worst GMs and placed sixth.
While it is unfair to lump them together, both men certainly belonged on the list. Both men were terrible in very different ways.
Let's start with Bonifay.
Cam Bonifay took over as Pirates' GM after the sudden death of Ted Simmons. He inherited a team that had only just lost, what many call, the most crushing defeat in baseball history against the Braves in Game Seven of the NLCS, but that's another article all together.
The odds were stacked against him as the Pirates best player, Barry Bonds, had just signed a lucrative deal with the San Francisco Giants in the offseason. However Bonifay only made the situation worse.
One of Bonifay's biggest flaws was that he was a terrible judge of talent, and this was demonstrated in the countless drafts where he failed to net a good number of prospects. In 1994, Bonifay drafted Mark Farris, a young shortstop out of high school. Farris was only able to reach double-A before his career was over.
The three players selected directly after Mark Farris were Nomar Garciaparra, Paul Konerko, and Jason Varitek. In 1995, Bonifay selected Chad Hermansen. Hermansen did make it to the majors and played for about five years, but he was never very productive and was taken before Roy Halladay.
In 1996, the Pirates owned the first pick the draft and Bonifay used it on Kris Benson. While Benson proved to be a solid starter for some years in the majors, he was never the star that the Pirates expected him to be when Bonifay took him first overall.
In 1997, Bonifay took first baseman J.J. Davis over fellow first baseman Lance Berkman. Let's just say that Berkman's been slightly better than Davis. In 1998, Bonifay took Clint Johnson, a first baseman who never made it past double-A.
Some of the players taken later in that first round were CC Sabathia and Brad Lidge. In 1999, Bonifay took pitcher Bobby Bradley, who only made it to triple A before ending his career. The three pitchers taken right after Bradley were Barry Zito, Ben Sheets, and Brett Myers.
In 2000, Bonifay selected pitcher Sean Burnett. After years of injuries and struggling, Burnett finally made his mark in the majors as a reliever in 2008. Burnett could serve to be the saving grace of Bonifay's drafting reputation.
In 2001, Bonifay took, with his last pick ever, pitcher John Van Benshcoten. While Benschoten was always dominant in the minors, he was never able to translate that to big league success. The moment Benschoten left Pittsburgh in 2008, he immediately became one of the biggest busts in Pirates history. Bonifay was fired just seven days after the 2001 draft.
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about 1 month ago
Great thoughts, Malcolm, you seem to be pretty knowledgeable of the team. I couldn't agree more with your assessments of Bonifay and Littlefield, but I think the guys that kept them around share some accountability, as well.
One question though: you wrote: "The trade was universally criticized because the Pirates not only took on Morris' huge contract, but they also gave up two legitimate prospects in return."
I agree that the trade was highly criticized throughout the league - especially because it was known that the Giants were trying to dump Morris. However, I wouldn't consider Stephen McFarland or Rajaj Davis "legitimate" - though Davis is still playing (with the A's?). I think the few highlight-reel catches he made in center in the days after the trade made the trade seem even more lopsided.
So while he shouldn't have given up prospects and taken on the hefty contract, I don't think he really did too much harm giving up Davis and McFarland.
Well done! Keep up the good work.
about 1 month ago
haha, you're totally right.
i was trying to emphasize how terrible the trade was and took some liberties.
davis was pretty good. he was stealing 30 bags a season in the minors
mcfarland was pretty much a nobody.
still a horrible trade. the idea that we gave up anybody is just awful.
about 1 month ago
yeah that we gave up anyone with a pulse for morris is disturbing...littlefield was wayyy worse..both were unbeleivably bad at drafting (not only 1st rounders, but look at how little we have in our system from any round of the draft esp from Littlefield) but littlefield's ramirez trade was unbelievable. I will never in my life understand what he possibly saw in that trade...we got nobody, and hernandez was leading the league in strikeouts at the time...hopefully huntington's trades work out, i like andy laroche and tabata and hope they can get it together
about 1 month ago
Ted Simmons didn't die, he came down with illness. Simmons currently working for the Brewers.
I think no matter who the Pirates GM is, their hands are tied because the ownership refuses to spend money. I don't think the Pirates ownership want to win, they would rather line their pockets.
Big deal they change managers once in a while and trade their stars away claiming they are rebuilding.
It's been going on for about 15 years! Real baseball fans don't buy into their B.S.!
about 1 month ago
I listen to MLB homeplate on XM radio. They don't even mention the Pirates ever!
That's how bad they think the Pirates are. The Pirates are content to fielding a triple A team and fill their stands by having fireworks and bobble head nights. What are they doing with the revenue money they are receiving? Putting it in their pockets! The Nutting family and their shareholders are a disgrace to a once proud franchise. MLB needs to step in to this situation and demand some results.
about 1 month ago
that all may be true, but i will always believe.
about 1 month ago
Yeah, some interesting thoughts there. I don't think it's all about money. Other teams have had stingy owners the last 15 years, the Rays and Twins come to mind, and that hasn't prevented them from winning. Other teams have spent a lot of money and still lost (The Orioles, for example). The Rays had success this year mostly because they scouted well, they drafted well and they developed their players well. They also made some smart trades and then did some good free agent signings, but really their farm system built that team and I hope that's what Huntington is doing here. Some are suggesting that the Pirates should have signed Bay and Nady to long term contracts and spend some big money on free agents. Doing that back in 99 and 2000 lead to a 100 loss season and forced the Pirates to trade away Aramis Ramirez long before they should have, if at all.
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