RealGM

That was quite the strange quote from general manager Neal Huntington yesterday.

Before the Pirates played the Toronto Blue Jays, Huntington was asked if he had any regrets about trading Jose Bautista in August of 2008. Bautista hit 54 home runs for Toronto last year.

Huntington’s response:

"Any time somebody hits 54 home runs and he used to be in your organization, sure ... But I think the reality of it was that his time had come and gone here."

This begs the question: Did his time deserve to have come and gone?

In fairness, Bautista had plenty of opportunity with the Pirates and showed, at best, to have some pop but not much else. He was the starting third baseman for the better part of three seasons, 2006-2008, and his numbers looked like this: HRs: 16, 15, 15. RBIs: 51, 63, 54; OPS: .755, .753, . 718.

The Pirates had dealt for Andy LaRoche, who they believed to be a high-end prospect. It turns out LaRoche was awful, worse than Bautista. But in 2008 he deserved to be the starting third baseman, based on his promise and Bautista’s below-average production.

Where the Pirates went wrong was for whom they dealt Bautista. They traded him to Toronto for catcher Robinzon Diaz, who had decent numbers in a bit of playing time with the Pirates but in reality is a career minor-leaguer.