A Look Back to The Future

Turn on those flex compacitors and travel with me at a fast speed of 88mph cause we are going Back To The Future.

I've mentioned Back To The Future a few times on this blog before. Here. Here. Here.

Let's look back at what the future of the Pirates had to offer.

The Pirates transitioned out of their former management group in 2007 and hired Neal Huntington to be their General Manager for a rebuild in 2008.

The Pirates hadn't had a winning record since 1992, the last year they would make the playoffs too.

The team was focusing on drafting and developing their own players.

Their four previous draft picks prior to Huntington taking over were

(2004) Neil Walker, a switch hitting local product High School catcher in 2004.  He would later be turned into a utility player before settling in as a Silver Slugger second baseman.  He played in the majors with the Pirates from 2009 until 2015.  He was traded prior to the start of the 2016 season for Jon Norse.

(2005) Andrew McCutchen, a toolsy quick handed outfielder from high school in 2005.  He became the face of the franchise of the resurgent years for the Pirates.  He made 5 All-Star teams, won an MVP, won a Gold Glove award, 4 Silver Sluggers, and was the 2015 Roberto Clemente Award recipient for his charitable contributions and work with the community.  He will forever be an All-time Pirates great despite playing with the team for only 2009-2017.

(2006) Brad Lincoln, arguably one of the top college pitchers in the 2006 draft.  He made his debut with the team in 2010 after having multiple injuries in the minor leagues.  He started 22 games for the Pirates from 2010 to 2012 when he was eventually converted to a reliever.  Lincoln thrived in the bullpen for the Pirates that season, appearing as a late inning guy with a K/9 over 10 and an ERA under 2.25.  He was traded to Toronto for Travis Snider.  Pirates fans will forever be upset that Lincoln was selected in front of former Cy Young Winners Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, and Max Scherzer.

(2007) Daniel Moskos, a lefty college arm that the team thought could impact immediately at the professional levels in 2007.  This is arguably one of the most controversial picks in the history of the franchise because Matt Wieters, one of the most coveted catchers in recent memory, was available.

Just Minors is known to have produced A LOT of pairings of autograph subjects for minor league prospects.

This is just one of a dozen printing plates I have of Andrew McCutchen from a Just Minors product.  This pairing features Cutch, Jose Tabata, and Brad Lincoln.

I don't care if you're ugly, you're beautiful to me

Ever since Cutch's down year last year, people have been unloading his Just Minors autographs for pennies on the dollar.

And I am snatching them up like women after a clearance sale of LulaRoe (if any of you have significant others that buy LulaRoe you know exactly what I am talking about).

You may recall I grabbed a dual TriStar autograph of Cutch and Jason Heyward for under $8.  The auto had a Just Minors autograph on one side.

I've gotten some others as you may recall from my Biogenesis post.

This one may be my greatest coup though.

An uncirculated triple autograph of former top prospects Brad Lincoln and Jose Tabata.  This "beauty" is numbered to only 5 copies.  It ran me $20 shipped.

While it doesn't hold the same prestige as some of my other Just Minors combo autographs (Hamels, Price, Miller, Gonzalez) it has a lot of fond memories of rooting for the Pirates during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

The Pirates under new GM Neal Huntington were pushing for a youth movement.  Fan favorites Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay, Jack Wilson, and Tom Gorzelanny were all shipped out in 2009.  The Pirates had just called up Clutch in June 2009 and were hoping to see Jose Tabata, Brad Lincoln, and Pedro Alvarez graduate to the majors in 2010.  They all did.

Jose Tabata and Brad Lincoln both debuted together, the day after rookie phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg mowed down 14 Pirates hitters in his 7 inning debut.

Tabata singled in his first at bat and looked like he would be the leadoff hitter of the future for the Pirates.  They quickly signed him to a long term deal, which has not worked out for the team.

Lincoln had ups and downs, but really came into his own as a relief pitcher.  He looked like he could one day be a future closer, but at the 2012 Trade Deadline he was traded for former Blue Jays top prospect, Travis Snider.  Lincoln fell apart with Toronto and would try to catch on with the struggling Phillies.

Like Tabata, Lincoln hasn't appeared in the majors since 2015.