1996 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1996 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Central Division (since 1994)
Location
Three Rivers Stadium (since 1970)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (since 1907)
Results
Record	73–89 (.451)
Divisional place	5th
Other information
Owner(s)	Kevin McClatchy
General manager(s)	Cam Bonifay
Manager(s)	Jim Leyland
Local television	WPXI Steve Blass Lanny Frattare Greg Brown Bob Walk Prime Sports KBL Steve Blass Lanny Frattare Greg Brown Bob Walk
Local radio	KDKA Steve Blass Lanny Frattare Greg Brown Bob Walk
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The 1996 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 115th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 110th in the National League. The Pirates finished fifth and last in the National League Central with a record of 73–89.

Offseason

• December 28, 1995: Charlie Hayes was signed as a free agent by the Pirates.
• February 2, 1996: Dale Sveum was signed as a free agent by the Pirates.
• February 4, 1996: Danny Darwin was signed as a free agent by the Pirates.
• February 17, 1996: Zane Smith was signed as a free agent by the Pirates.

Regular season

Season standings

NL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	88	74	0.543	—	48–33	40–41
Houston Astros	82	80	0.506	6	48–33	34–47
Cincinnati Reds	81	81	0.500	7	46–35	35–46
Chicago Cubs	76	86	0.469	12	43–38	33–48
Pittsburgh Pirates	73	89	0.451	15	36–44	37–45

Record vs. opponents

1996 National League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	7–5	7–5	5–7	6–7	6–6	5–7	10–3	7–6	9–4	9–3	9–4	7–5	9–4
Chicago	5–7	—	5–8	5–7	6–6	5–8	8–5	6–6	7–5	7–6	4–9	6–6	7–5	5–8
Cincinnati	5–7	8–5	—	7–6	3–9	7–6	4–8	3–9	6–6	10–2	5–8	9–3	9–4	5–8
Colorado	7–5	7–5	6–7	—	5–8	8–5	6–7	3–9	7–5	6–6	7–5	8–5	5–8	8–4
Florida	7–6	6–6	9–3	8–5	—	7–5	6–7	5–8	7–6	6–7	5–7	3–9	5–7	6–6
Houston	6–6	8–5	6–7	5–8	5–7	—	6–6	4–9	8–4	10–2	8–5	6–6	8–4	2–11
Los Angeles	7–5	5–8	8–4	7–6	7–6	6–6	—	9–3	8–4	7–6	6–6	5–8	7–6	8–4
Montreal	3–10	6–6	9–3	9–3	8–5	9–4	3–9	—	7–6	6–7	7–5	4–8	9–4	8–4
New York	6–7	5–7	6–6	5–7	6–7	4–8	4–8	6–7	—	7–6	8–5	3–10	6–6	5–7
Philadelphia	4-9	6–7	2–10	6–6	7–6	2–10	6–7	7–6	6–7	—	7–5	4–8	6–6	4–8
Pittsburgh	3–9	9–4	8–5	5–7	7–5	5–8	6–6	5–7	5–8	5–7	—	4–9	8–4	3–10
San Diego	4–9	6–6	3–9	5–8	9–3	6–6	8–5	8–4	10–3	8–4	9–4	—	11–2	4–8
San Francisco	5–7	5–7	4–9	8–5	7–5	4–8	6–7	4–9	6–6	6–6	4–8	2–11	—	7–6
St. Louis	4–9	8–5	8–5	4–8	6–6	11-2	4–8	4–8	7–5	8–4	10–3	8–4	6–7	—

Transactions

• April 27, 1996: Joe Boever was selected off waivers by the Pirates from the Detroit Tigers.
• May 15, 1996: Jacob Brumfield was traded by the Pirates to the Toronto Blue Jays for D. J. Boston (minors).
• June 4, 1996: Kris Benson was drafted by the Pirates in the 1st round (1st pick). Player signed August 11, 1996.
• July 6, 1996: Zane Smith was released by the Pirates.
• July 23, 1996: Danny Darwin was traded by the Pirates to the Houston Astros for Rich Loiselle.
• August 28, 1996: Denny Neagle was traded by the Pirates to the Atlanta Braves for Ron Wright, Corey Pointer (minors) and a player to be named later. The Braves completed the deal by sending Jason Schmidt to the Pirates on August 30.
• August 30, 1996: Charlie Hayes was traded by the Pirates to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Chris Corn (minors) to the Pirates on August 31.

Roster

1996 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers 44 Joe Boever 41 Jason Christiansen 26 Steve Cooke 67 Francisco Córdova 44 Danny Darwin 71 Elmer Dessens 57 John Ericks 42 Lee Hancock 29 John Hope 47 Jon Lieber 34 Esteban Loaiza 75 Rich Loiselle 61 Darrell May 32 Dan Miceli 55 Ramón Morel 15 Denny Neagle 27 Steve Parris 38 Chris Peters 19 Dan Plesac 49 Matt Ruebel 42 Jason Schmidt 24 Zane Smith 43 Paul Wagner 53 Dave Wainhouse 62 Marc Wilkins		Catchers  2 Angelo Encarnación 18 Jason Kendall 63 Keith Osik Infielders 48 Rich Aude  3 Jay Bell 13 Carlos García 17 Charlie Hayes 36 Mark Johnson  7 Jeff King 16 Nelson Liriano 17 Dale Sveum		Outfielders 46 Jermaine Allensworth 25 Trey Beamon  5 Jacob Brumfield 35 Dave Clark 30 Midre Cummings 11 Mike Kingery 28 Al Martin  6 Orlando Merced 12 John Wehner 51 Tony Womack		Manager 10 Jim Leyland Coaches 45 Rich Donnelly (bench) 23 Gene Lamont (third base) 39 Milt May (hitting) 31 Ray Miller (pitching) 37 Tommy Sandt (first base) 54 Spin Williams (bullpen)

Player stats

Batting

Regular Season

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
E. Dessens	15	5	2	0.400	0	2
D. Sveum	12	34	12	0.353	1	5
D. May	5	3	1	0.333	0	0
T. Womack	17	30	10	0.333	0	7
A. Encarnación	7	22	7	0.318	0	1
A. Martin	155	630	189	0.300	18	72
J. Kendall	130	414	124	0.300	3	42
K. Osik	48	140	41	0.293	1	14
O. Merced	120	453	130	0.287	17	80
C. García	101	390	111	0.285	6	44
D. Clark	92	211	58	0.275	8	35
M. Johnson	127	343	94	0.274	13	47
J. King	155	591	160	0.271	30	111
N. Liriano	112	217	58	0.267	3	30
J. Allensworth	61	229	60	0.262	4	31
J. Wehner	86	139	36	0.259	2	13
J. Bell	151	527	132	0.250	13	71
R. Aude	7	16	4	0.250	0	1
J. Brumfield	29	80	20	0.250	2	8
R. Loiselle	5	8	2	0.250	0	2
C. Hayes	128	459	114	0.248	10	62
M. Kingery	117	276	68	0.246	3	27
M. Ruebel	26	13	3	0.231	0	0
M. Cummings	24	85	19	0.224	3	7
M. Wilkins	47	9	2	0.222	0	1
T. Beamon	24	51	11	0.216	0	6
C. Peters	16	19	4	0.211	0	1
D. Darwin	19	39	8	0.205	1	3
J. Hope	5	5	1	0.200	0	0
J. Lieber	51	36	7	0.194	0	3
D. Neagle	30	55	10	0.182	0	2
S. Parris	8	6	1	0.167	0	0
Z. Smith	16	26	4	0.154	0	3
F. Córdova	59	16	2	0.125	0	2
E. Loaiza	11	17	2	0.118	0	1
J. Schmidt	6	12	1	0.083	0	2
P. Wagner	17	25	1	0.040	0	2
J. Boever	13	1	0	0.000	0	0
J. Christiansen	33	4	0	0.000	0	0
S. Cooke	3	1	0	0.000	0	0
J. Ericks	28	5	0	0.000	0	0
D. Miceli	44	13	0	0.000	0	0
R. Morel	29	4	0	0.000	0	0
D. Plesac	73	5	0	0.000	0	0
D. Wainhouse	17	1	0	0.000	0	0
L. Hancock	13	0	0	—	0	0

Pitching

Regular Season

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
D. Darwin	19	1221⁄3	7	9	3.02	69
R. Loiselle	5	202⁄3	1	0	3.05	9
D. Neagle	27	1822⁄3	14	6	3.05	131
M. Wilkins	47	75	4	3	3.84	62
J. Lieber	51	142	9	5	3.99	94
J. Schmidt	6	372⁄3	2	2	4.06	26
F. Córdova	59	99	4	7	4.09	95
D. Plesac	73	701⁄3	6	5	4.09	76
M. Ruebel	26	582⁄3	1	1	4.60	22
E. Loaiza	10	522⁄3	2	3	4.96	32
Z. Smith	16	831⁄3	4	6	5.08	47
R. Morel	29	42	2	1	5.36	22
J. Boever	13	15	0	2	5.40	6
P. Wagner	16	812⁄3	4	8	5.40	81
C. Peters	16	64	2	4	5.63	28
D. Wainhouse	17	232⁄3	1	0	5.70	16
D. Miceli	44	852⁄3	2	10	5.78	66
J. Ericks	28	462⁄3	4	5	5.79	46
L. Hancock	13	181⁄3	0	0	6.38	13
J. Christiansen	33	441⁄3	3	3	6.70	38
J. Hope	5	191⁄3	1	3	6.98	13
S. Parris	8	261⁄3	0	3	7.18	27
S. Cooke	3	81⁄3	0	0	7.56	7
E. Dessens	15	25	0	2	8.28	13
D. May	5	82⁄3	0	1	9.35	5

Awards and honors

1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Jason Kendall, C, Reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Calgary Cannons	Pacific Coast League	Trent Jewett
AA	Carolina Mudcats	Southern League	Marc Hill
A	Lynchburg Hillcats	Carolina League	Jeff Banister
A	Augusta Greenjackets	South Atlantic League	Jay Loviglio
Short-Season A	Erie Seawolves	New York–Penn League	Jeff Richardson
Rookie	GCL Pirates	Gulf Coast League	Woody Huyke

References

• 1996 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
• 1996 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at www.baseball-almanac.com