Extreme makeover leaves the Pirates with a no-name lineup

PITTSBURGH (AP) — This might be the toughest current trivia question in baseball: Quickly, without looking at a box score, name one Pittsburgh Pirates everyday player.

Nate McLouth? Long gone to the Braves. Jack Wilson, the most-tenured Pirates player? Off to Seattle. Freddy Sanchez, the three-time NL All-Star? Now a Giant. Jason Bay? Prospering in Boston. Adam LaRoche, Ian Snell, Xavier Nady, Ronny Paulino, Njyer Morgan, John Grabow, Tom Gorzelanny, Jose Bautista? All gone from a team that has only one of its nine opening day starters from 2008 remaining.

After breaking up their last remaining area of strength by dealing the double-play combination of Wilson and Sanchez, the Pirates have become baseball’s version of “Extreme Makeover.” What’s left might be the majors’ thinnest 25-man roster, one of its lowest payrolls but, the Pirates hope, a glimmer of optimism for the future.

Whenever that future may be.

In less than two months, the Pirates have dealt their left fielder, center fielder, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, top left-handed reliever and their No. 1 & 2 starters going into last season, a radical shakeup even for a team that is 24 losses away from a record 17th consecutive losing season.

“We don’t feel like we’ve broken up the ’27 Yankees,” general manager Neal Huntington said after dealing Wilson and Sanchez in a six-hour span Wednesday that left the Pirates without a single accomplished position player.

One day after gutting their infield, the Pirates depleted their left-handed pitching depth by trading Grabow, one of the NL’s top situational relievers, and former 14-game winner Gorzelanny to the Cubs on Thursday for three players.

Huntington, in less than two years, has cast off virtually every experienced Pirates player with a substantial salary in a determined attempt to rebuild a farm system that was arguably the majors’ worst. That farm system has since grown deeper at every level but, as Pirates fans long ago came to realize, prospects are exactly that.

Now, Huntington said, it’s time for them to become players.

“We need to stop the cycle of losing, and to do that we need to break cycle of trading,” he said Thursday. “We’re going to tell the 25 men in the clubhouse, this is the group we’re going to build around.”

It’s a familiar story for a team that has largely lived off prospects since Willie Stargell retired in 1982, breaking up the We Are Family team that won the franchise’s last world championship 30 years ago.

Over the last quarter century, the Pirates have had an astoundingly low four winning seasons. A generation of fans has grown up watching the Steelers and Penguins consistently win but has yet to see the Pirates field even a .500 team.

Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, Charlie Morton, Ronny Cedeno, Steve Pearce, Delwyn Young and, soon, Lastings Milledge — none of whom were with Pittsburgh when the season started — suddenly are key players.

Remarkably, McCutchen, who was recalled to play center field after McLouth was traded to Atlanta on June 3, might be their best everyday player.

“People might wonder what we’re doing, but if you keep looking at all the names we’re getting and all the premier talent we’re getting, it’s going to equate to a very solid, very good ballclub in Pittsburgh,” manager John Russell said. “We have big names all over the diamond. That’s where we’re headed.”