1 trade every MLB team would like to have back
By Drew Koch
1 trade the Pittsburgh Pirates want to take back: Jose Bautista
Much like the Kansas City Royals did with David Cone, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost Jose Bautista twice. Bautista was originally part of the Bucs organization in 2000 after being selected with the 599th-overall pick that year’s draft.
Bautista was left unprotected in the 2003 Rule 5 Draft was snatched up by the Baltimore Orioles. Bautista played just 16 games in Baltimore before being claimed off waivers by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
After 12 games in Tampa Bay, Bautista was sent to the Kansas City Royals who promptly traded him to the New York Mets after 13 games in KC. Strangely, the Mets turned around and then traded Bautista back to the Pirates at the trade deadline. That’s five different organizations in just one season.
But for some odd reason, the Pittsburgh Pirates did not hang on to Jose Bautista. The slugger, who only hit .241/.329/.403 during his five years in the Steel City was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later in August of 2008.
From 2009-2015, Bautista became one of the most feared hitters in the game. The right-handed hitting slugger smacked 240 homers during that time, leading the league in the category on two occasions, and went to the All-Star Game six times.