A nice article about Randa (and not so nice about the Pirates):
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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/sports/pirateslive/s_322704.html
Losing Randa still a mistake
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By Guy Junker
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, April 11, 2005
Joe Randa played just one year for the Pirates, but that's their loss.
His numbers from 1997 aren't bad. He hit seven homers, drove in 60 runs and had a .302 batting average. Ideally, one would like more power from a third baseman, but the Pirates organization certainly is not one that can afford to just throw away a .300 hitter and get nobody in return. But the Pirates did just that when they allowed Randa to be taken in the expansion draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks in November of that year.
Economics had nothing to do with that decision. Randa was paid $220,000 in 1997. This was just a bad baseball decision.
Randa was selected in the second round of the expansion draft, but the Pirates could have protected Randa after he failed to be selected in the first round. He was taken with the 57th pick and immediately traded to the Detroit Tigers for Travis Fryman.
The Pirates' company line at the time was that Randa wasn't what they wanted defensively. He made 21 errors that year at third base, although had was error-free in the 13 games he played at second base.
I usually wait until later in the year to perform my perennial Randa rant, but when he started the season last week by winning his first game in a Cincinnati Reds uniform with a walk-off home run, then followed it up with a grand slam and six RBI the next game, there was no reason for me to hold back. By the end of their opening series, he was one of the main reasons the Reds swept three from the supposedly new and improved New York Mets.
When the Pirates let Randa go, Aramis Ramirez was the Bucs' third baseman of the future. But Ramirez was nowhere close to being ready to take over the job on a regular basis. In fact, he did not play in 100 games in a season until 2001.
In the meantime, we were treated to guys like Freddy Garcia, Doug Strange, Dale Sveum, Luis Sojo, Mike Benjamin, Enrique Wilson, Doug Strange and Ed Sprague. For the record, Sprague made 29 errors in 1999, eight more than Randa, the guy who wasn't good enough with the glove to stay here.
Sprague also made $1.3 million to play that year, more than a million dollars more than what Randa made when he committed eight fewer errors two seasons before. Heck, Ramirez, who made 25 errors for the Bucs in 2001, was young and slow to develop. From the time Randa left, until Ramirez was dealt to the Cubs the end of the 2003 season, Randa had 475 RBI to Ramirez's 355, and he only hit 11 fewer home runs (91 to 80). After one year with the Tigers, Randa hit over .300 two of his first three seasons in Kansas City. Before last year, Ramirez hit .300 only once -- and it was exactly .300 in 2001 for the Pirates.
There is no denying that Ramirez has seemingly developed into the star he always appeared to have the natural talent to become, and therein lies the rub for Pirate fans. Here was a guy who seemed to lack motivation, not talent, when he played here. In Chicago, he is almost considered a hustler, if you can believe that. He hit .318 with 36 homers and 103 RBI last year. And after averaging 24 errors a season the previous three years, he made only 10 in 2004, showing a willingness to get his uniform dirty on a regular basis. He was rewarded with a new four year, $42 million contract last week and is entering the prime of his career.
Randa is 35 and, despite a terrific start in Cincy, his best days most likely are behind him. But not only would Randa have been a much better choice to stay in Pittsburgh to play third base until Ramirez was ready, he might have been a better keeper.
Until last year his numbers were just as good, if not better than Ramirez's. And when you consider the junk the Pirates got in return from the Cubs in the Ramirez salary dump trade, the case grows even stronger.
By the way. Randa has settled into a more dependable role defensively as well. He made only 11 errors last year and has averaged just 10 per year the last four seasons. Randa's lifetime fielding percentage is .964; Ramirez's is .942.
When it comes to Cam Bonifay's tenure as Pirate general manager, everyone wants to point at his deals for Pat Meares and Derek Bell as his worst. Granted, the Bell acquisition was a awful, and it ultimately got Bonifay fired. Meares was a jerk, but the move would have paid off had he stayed healthy.
But nobody hardly ever mentions Joe Randa. Letting him go in the expansion draft was major mistake. I said so at the time, and I'm saying so now.
You remember Joe from that one summer at Three Rivers Stadium, don't you? He's no Chris Stynes. But then again, who is? But he was the guy they called the Joker because he never stopped smiling.
Good guy in the clubhouse. Good player on the field. But the joke in his case, most definitely, is on the Pirates.
Guy Junker is the co-host of the Junker and Crow Show, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. weekdays on ESPN Radio1250. You can e-mail Guy at
[email protected].