By Jim Callis
November 25, 2002

As further evidence that Kevin Young's four-year, $24 million contract was ill-advised, the Pirates traded for a first baseman on Monday. Pittsburgh added Randall Simon from Detroit at the cost of minor league lefthander Adrian Burnside and two players to be named later.

Simon, 27, had been a regular for the Tigers at first base and DH first baseman since mid-2001. In 130 games this season, he batted .301-19-82 and led Detroit in all three triple-crown categories. However, he's mainly a line-drive hitter who doesn't have much loft to his swing, and he's allergic to walks (just 13 in 2002). That gives him mediocre power for a first baseman and not much of an on-base percentage (.320). He led the American League with 16.9 plate appearances per strikeout, and finished last with 38.9 plate appearances per walk. He'll be an upgrade for the Pirates over Young (.246-16-51), who probably will be relegated to platoon duty as he makes $6.5 million in the final year of his contract. Simon's running and defensive skills are below average. In 321 major league games, he has hit .305-30-149. He's not a bad player, but the Tigers didn't want to pay him what he'll make in arbitration (he'll probably at least quadruple his $290,000 salary) and have multiple first-base options in Robert Fick, Eric Munson, Dean Palmer, Carlos Pena and Dmitri Young.

Burnside, 25, has switched organizations four times in less than three years. Originally signed out of Australia by the Dodgers in 1995, he was claimed by the Reds in the 1999 major league Rule 5 draft, returned to Los Angeles the following spring and then traded to the Pirates in July 2001 for Terry Mulholland. He has more stuff to work with than most lefthanders, with a low-90s fastball and a hard slider. He never has had much success developing a changeup, so his major league role may come in the bullpen. Burnside went 6-9, 4.55 in 32 games (23 starts) at Double-A Altoona in 2002, with a 122-67 strikeout-walk ratio in 131 innings.

Dec. 16 update: Righthander Roberto Novoa became the first of the two players to be named. Novoa signed out of the Dominican Republic in 1999. He was one of the hardest throwers in the Pittsburgh system, but he also had to repeat short-season Williamsport after getting hammered at low Class A Hickory in 2002. Considering his age had been revised upward two years, making him 23, that demotion was a major setback. Novoa's fastball that reaches 97 mph and sits comfortably at 94-95. He also throws a hard slider with good late bite and has little trouble finding the strike zone. He needs better command within the zone and must fine-tune his changeup. Novoa went 9-8, 4.36 in 22 starts last season, with 85 strikeouts and 23 walks in 109 innings.

May 24 update: The Pirates completed the deal by sending third baseman Kody Kirkland to Detroit. Kirkland, 19, was in extended spring training with Pittsburgh. He hit .306-0-18 in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League in his pro debut last summer after signing as a 30th-round draft-and-follow from the JC of Southern Idaho. At 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, he's a tremendous athlete with projectable power. A righthanded hitter, he stays inside the ball and shows the ability to drive pitches to the right-center field gap. With Scott Moore, Detroit's 2002 first-rounder, occupying third base in low Class A West Michigan, the Tigers likely will assign Kirkland to short-season Oneonta, which opens play June 17.