5 Players You Forgot Played for the Pirates

Perhaps we should have called this series "teams you forgot that Kenny Lofton played for." The six-time All-Star spent a decade of his career with the Cleveland Indians, but even that came across three separate stints. In addition to memorable tenures in Cleveland, Lofton spent time with 10 other MLB franchises, including the Pirates. The four-time Gold Glove Award winner signed a one-year/$1 million deal to join the Pirates in free agency after the 2002 season, a campaign that he split with the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants. In his age-36 season, Lofton hit .277, homered nine times and stole 18 bases in 84 games with the Pirates. Lofton was ultimately dealt to the Chicago Cubs ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, as the team attempted to snap a World Series drought that was approaching 100 years long.

Mondesí was one of the more underappreciated players of the mid-to-late 1990s, as he won the 1995 National League Rookie of the Year Award, and later added an All-Star appearance and two Gold Glove Awards. For as impressive as the cannon-armed outfielder was during his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, he fell off rather abruptly and bounced around in the final few years of his career. After splitting the 2003 season with the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks, Mondesí landed with the Pirates for the 2004 season, but lasted just 26 games with the team before being released.

Santiago was one of the better catchers of his era, winning the 1987 National League Rookie of the Year and making five All-Star appearances. However, while Santiago had very productive stints with the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants, the Pirates didn't land him until what turned out to be the final week's worth of games in his MLB career. In 2005, a 40-year-old Santiago played in just six games for the Pirates before being released. Those were the final six games of a major league career that spanned two decades.

Between 2000 and 2010, FanGraphs says that Lee was the seventh-most valuable first baseman in baseball, accumulating 33.7 fWAR during a period that he mostly spent with the Florida Marlins and Chicago Cubs. After a middling stint with the Baltimore Orioles in the first half of the 2011 season, the Pirates acquired Lee ahead of the trade deadline. Lee was actually extremely productive for the Pirates in 101 at-bats, hitting .337 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs. Strangely enough, his age-35 season proved to be his final big league campaign.

The 2006 American League MVP was traded to the Pirates ahead of the Aug. 31 waiver trade deadline in 2013. In 70 at-bats for the Pirates in the regular season, Morneau hit .260 with zero home runs and three RBIs. Though the Pirates would win the National League Wild Card Game, they ultimately fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. Morneau would sign with the Colorado Rockies ahead of the 2014 season, and actually had a career resurgence playing at Coors Field, as he won the batting title that season.