For your enjoyment on the day of Cam Bonifay's dismissal, we offer a few excerpts from Bonifay's biography in the Pittsburgh Pirates 2001 Media Guide ...
Cam Bonifay was named Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 19, 1993, after serving the club for three years as Assistant General Manager. On September 1, 1998, the club extended his contract through 2003.
That's right, folks. One of baseball's worst general managers -- well, now he's an ex-general manager -- will spend the next two-and-a-half years drawing a paycheck for doing absolutely nothing. What a country.
With Bonifay in his current role, the Pirates have been committed to scouting and signing amateur players while continuing to improve the club through key trades and acquisitions. Most recently Cam and his staff worked hard to acquire free agents Derek Bell and Terry Mulholland, slugger Brian Giles from the Indians, 1999 Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Warren Morris from Texas and lefthander Scott Sauerbeck in the 1998 Rule Five draft.
Ah, Derek Bell. In 31 games with the Pirates this season, Bell batted .136 and scored four runs. Sent to Triple-A Nashville on a "rehab assignment," Bell is hitting .164 in 17 games. Oh, and here's the punch line: Bell's "earning" $5 million this season ... and he's signed for next season, too!
Terry Mulholland is a 38-year-old left-handed pitcher who posted a 5.11 ERA for Atlanta last year. This year, he's pitched fairly well in middle relief, but do last-place teams have any business paying nearly $3 million to a middle reliever?
Speaking of left-handed middle relievers, Scott Sauerbeck is one of those, too. He's not doing quite as well as Mulholland, though; in 28 games, he's got a 6.56 ERA. And his 4.04 ERA last year masked the fact that he allowed nearly two baserunners for every inning that he pitched.
Warren Morris was, indeed a Rookie of the Year candidate in 1999. Then his hitting stats went down the tubes in 2000, and he's spent the spring of 2001 in Nashville (where he's doing quite well).
And yes, there's Brian Giles. If Cam Bonifay is lucky, 50 years from now his trade for Brian Giles is what people will remember him for. On November 18, 1998, Bonifay received Giles in exchange for left-handed reliever Ricardo Rincon, in what now stands as one of the more lopsided deals of the last decade (at least).
But what does it say about a general manager, that when the author of his club's annual media guide is writing that general manager's bio, the positive accomplishments include the acquisitions of two left-handed middle relievers, and two guys currently stuck in the bush leagues?
In a series of seven trades between July and December of 1996, the Pirates acquired 17 prospects in an effort to strengthen an already promising player development system. Bonifay and his staff received national notice as Baseball America recognized the club as having the best minor league system in all of baseball prior to the season, and USA Today named the Pirates its organization of the year in September of '97.
Great ... So what the hell happened to all of those great prospects? Pittsburgh's two best hitters are Brian Giles and John Vander Wal, both of them imports from other organizations ... and before this season, Bonifay tried to replace Vander Wal with Bell. After three seasons on the Nashville-Pittsburgh shuttle, it looks like Aramis Ramirez has established himself at third base. And of course, organizational product Jason Kendall is a wonderful player (his current struggles notwithstanding). And he needs to remain so, because Bonifay signed Kendall to a contract that runs through 2007.
Regrettably, Bonifay's media-guide bio doesn't mention the long-term contracts he gave to mediocre veterans like Kevin Young, Pat Meares and Mike Benjamin. Here's how those three are faring this season, along with their salaries:
Games OBP Slug Salary
Young 47 .298 .373 $6.1 million
Meares 47 .268 .338 $3.8 million
Benjamin Disabled List $ .9 million
And Pittsburgh's next general manager? That lucky fellow is stuck with Young and Meares for two more seasons, because both are signed through the 2003 season.
Cam Bonifay made many, many mistakes, but they boil down to this ... Bonifay utterly failed to understand that teams with limited financial means have absolutely no business signing average or below-average veterans to long-term contracts. Bonifay's legacy could have been Jason Kendall and Brian Giles, but instead it will be Kevin Young, Pat Meares, and Derek Bell.
Rob Neyer is a Senior Writer for ESPN.com.
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