Pirates Deal Another Lefty As Redman Goes To Royals

By Will Kimmey
December 8, 2005

Another day, another veteran lefthander traded away by the Pirates.

Pittsburgh sent Mark Redman to the Royals for righthander Jonah Bayliss and a player to be named, a day after the Pirates traded Dave Williams to the Reds on Monday for first baseman Sean Casey.

The deals still leave five lefthanders 25 or younger--Oliver Perez, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Burnett--to compete with righthanders Kip Wells and Josh Fogg for spots in the Pittsburgh rotation.

Redman turns 32 in January as he enters the final year of a contract that will pay him $4 million in 2006. A first-round pick of the Twins out of Oklahoma in 1995, Redman will join his sixth team in six years. The 6-foot-5 lefthander throws his fastball in the upper 80s, and his best pitch is a changeup. He also uses a curveball and split-finger.

He went a disappointing 5-15, 4.90 with a 101-56 strikeout-walk ratio in 178 innings for the Pirates in 2005 after coming from the Athletics in a trade for Jason Kendall. Redman's best year came in 2003 as he went 14-9, 3.59 with a 151-61 K-BB ratio in 192 innings to help the Marlins win the World Series as a wild-card entry. It marked the only season Redman posted an ERA less than 4.00, and he is 66-53, 4.47 with a 2-1 K-BB ratio in 985 career innings.

Bayliss, 25, will have a chance to step into the Pirates bullpen. A 2002 seventh-round pick from Division III Trinity (Conn.) College, Bayliss found scattered success as a starter over his first three minor league seasons, going 17-26, 4.56 in 322 innings. He moved to the bullpen in 2005, and his fastball jumped from 90 mph to an easy, consistent 93 mph pitch that runs and rides in on righthanders. His changeup, which fades and sinks away from righties, offers a nice complement.

Bayliss also added depth to his slider, which rates as a strikeout pitch. He went 1-2, 2.84 with eight saves and a 63-26 strikeout-walk ratio in 57 innings for Double-A Tulsa before posting a 0-0, 4.63 record with a 10-4 K-BB mark in 12 innings at the major league level.

Rumors after the trade indicated the player to be named in the deal would be the first pick in Thursday's Rule 5 draft, which turned out to be lefthander Fabio Castro from the White Sox. But the Royals were apparently fielding multiple offers for Castro, so it's not clear where he will end up.

Dec. 8 update: The Royals completed the trade by sending righthanded reliever Chad Blackwell to the Pirates. The 22-year-old Blackwell, a sixth-round pick out of South Carolina in 2004, went 7-4, 2.55 with 14 saves at low Class A Burlington this season. He finished the year with a single appearance at high Class A High Desert. Blackwell led NCAA Division I with 20 saves for the Gamecocks in 2004, and features a funky, low three-quarters delivery that creates a lot of deception. His repertoire includes a 88-91 mph fastball and a late-diving slider, and he commands both pitches to both sides of the plate. Durable and resilient, Blackwell also throws a changeup that has proven effective against lefthanders.