Good Players the Pittsburgh Pirates Have Traded Since 1999

Every Pirates fan can tell you how long it's been since the Pirates have contended. Sine 1992. Over the year, the Pirates have traded some very good players. Exhibit A: Jason Bay. Bay has been great for Boston since the trade last July.

The Pirates could've had an All-Star line-up, but they decided that prospects were more important than Major League players. Here's a list of all the good players Pittsburgh has traded over the years. This article is in chronological order.

If you think I've left anyone off, leave me a comment.

Jose Guillen | Pirates: 1997-1999 | Traded with Jeff Sparks to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Humberto Cota and Joe Oliver

Jose Guillen has had trouble sticking with a team (he's played on 9 teams—two shy of Mike Morgan's record for most teams played on—and he's only 33).

However through Aug. 2, The Royals' outfielder has 195 homers and 1452 hits with a .272 career batting average. Cota has a career .233 average with 12 career home runs and 61 career RBI.

Oliver played just one season with Pittsburgh in 1999, and retired in 2002. In his one season with the Pirates, Oliver had one home run and 13 RBI with a .202 average.

Jason Schmidt | Pirates 1996-2001 | Traded with Jon Vander Wal to San Francisco Giants for Armando Rios and Ron Vogelsong

Vogelsong and Rios. Not very good players at all. Jason Schmidt was an All-Star with the Giants, and was a dominant pitcher. The Pirates could've gotten some good years out of Schmidt, but instead they traded him for some bad players.

However, Schmidt has been consistently injured with the Dodgers, appearing in nine games with them.

Schmidt's best season with Pittsburgh was a 13-7 record he put up in 2001. He was 6-6 with the Pirates before he was picked up by the Giants.

Aramis Ramirez | Pirates 1998-2003 | Traded with Kenny Lofton to the Chicago Cubs for Matt Bruback, Jose Hernandez and Bobby Hill

Now this is a bad one. A-Ram has turned into a great player for the Cubbies, while Bruback, Hill, and Hernandez did not.

Brian Giles | Pirates 1999-2003 | Traded with Cory Stewart to the San Diego Padres for Oliver Perez and Jason Bay

Brian Giles still had some good years left in him when he was traded mid-season to the Padres. Bay and Perez were good players (but they both ended up being traded, more on that later), but Giles was also a good player.

It very easily could've turned into a much worse trade for the Bucs (with Bay and Perez ending up like Oliver and Cota: terrible) and they were lucky there weren't any adverse affects from the deal.

Jason Kendall | Pirates 1996-2004| Traded to the Oakland A's for Mark Redman and Arthur Rhodes

The Pirates traded a good catcher in his prime for relief help. Kendall's production has gone down over the years, but he's still a good clubhouse leader.

Rhodes was traded a month after he was acquired for Matt Lawton, and Redman was traded after the 2004 season for some minor league pitchers.

Xavier Nady | Pirates 2006-2008 | Traded to the Yankees with Damaso Marte for Danie McCutchern, Jose Tabta, Jeff Katstens and Ross Ohlendorf

Nady was an All-Star potential player. He hasn't played much this season due to injury, but seriously, the Pirates traded a good, young outfielder for Ohlendorf and Karstens, who haven't been good at all with the Pirates?

McCutchern Tabata, Ohlendorf and Karstens for Nady? Only the Pirates could pull off a trade this bad.

Jason Bay | Pirates 2003-2008 | Traded to the Boston Red Sox for Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss, also recieved Andy LaRoche from the LA Dodgers to complete the 3-team trade

Jason Bay. Another one that got away. Shame, he's really leading the Red Sox offensively. The Bucs could've had him.

The players the Pirates got in return aren't good at all. Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen couldn't be straightened out by the Red Sox's elite farm system, then the Pirates can't help them.

Nate McLouth | Pirates 2005-2009 | Traded to the Atlanta Braves for Gorkys Hernandez, Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke

Nate McLouth was an All-Star and Gold Glover in 2008. The Pirates excuse (I'm paraphrasing) "We thought his defense was going to decline, so we wanted to trade him while his stock was high."

McLouth was a GOLD GLOVER! To think that his defense was going to decline dramatically over the course of one season is preposterous.

Gorkys, Morton and Locke aren't necessarily terrible, I just think the Bucs could've gotten more for McLouth.

Adam LaRoche | 2007-2009 | Traded to the Boston Red Sox for Argenis Diaz and Hunter Strickland

LaRoche was traded by the Red Sox 10 days after he was acquired by Boston. He was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Casey Kotchman.

Anyway, I know that it was likely that LaRoche's power and production are likely going down, but come on. LaRoche was a leader in the clubhouse, and still has one or two good years ahead of him. Diaz isn't a good hitter, and has trouble with easy plays.

Jack Wilson and Ian Snell | Pirates 2001-2009 (Wilson) and 2004-2009 (Snell) | Traded to the Seattle Mariners for Ronny Cedeno, Jeff Clement, Nathan Adcock, Aaron Pribanic and Brett Lorin

Jack Wilson had led the Pirates with his grit. He played his heart out for the Bucs. I added this trade because Wilson was an All-Star and among the Pirates best players.

I really don't know anything about Lorin, Pribanic and Adcock, but I imagine they're pretty good.

Cedeno and Clement suck.

Freddy Sanchez | Pirates 2004-2009 | Traded to the Giants for Tim Alderson

First off, I know Tim Alderson could be the next Josh Beckett. However, Sanchez won a batting title for the Pirates, and was the face of their franchise since 2005.

On a team that has no faces anymore, trading Sanchez was a forfeit of the 2009 and 2010 seasons.