Dejan Kovacevic, the Post-Gazette's Pirates beat writer, ranks Dave Littlefield's best and worst moves since succeeding Cam Bonifay:

Best

1. Trading Brian Giles to the Padres for Jason Bay, Oliver Perez and Cory Stewart, Aug. 26, 2003. A deal that comes along once a decade, even for the best of executives.

2: Hiring Jim Tracy, Oct. 11, 2005. Littlefield aggressively took advantage of chaos in the Dodgers' front office and stole away an experienced, winning manager.

3. Trading Todd Ritchie and Lee Evans to the White Sox for Kip Wells, Josh Fogg and Sean Lowe, Dec. 13, 2001. Sure, Wells was 8-18 last season and Fogg was released. But the Pirates got 240 starts and 74 victories in exchange for a fading veteran.

4. Signing Bay to a four-year, $18.25 million extension, Nov. 17, 2005. Littlefield?s first contract longer than three years for any player shows trademark fiscal patience.

5. Trading Mark Redman to the Kansas City Royals for Jonah Bayliss, Dec. 7, 2005. Executives at the Winter Meetings were impressed Littlefield was able to dump Redman?s $4.5 million salary. The next day, he put the funds toward acquiring Sean Casey.

Worst

1. Trading Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to the Cubs for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill and Matt Bruback, July 22, 2003. This was forced by ownership, it is now clear, but that did not require Littlefield to make what might be the worst deal in franchise history.

2. Losing Chris Shelton, Jose Bautista, Frank Brooks, Jeff Bennett and Rich Thompson in the Rule 5 draft, Dec. 15, 2003. No Littlefield move is more inexplicable and indefensible, given the Pirates' need to build from within. Shelton is coming off an outstanding rookie year in Detroit.

3. Releasing Matt Herges, March 26, 2003. It was not that Herges had a 1.93 ERA that spring. Nor that he went on to pitch well elsewhere. It was that the Pirates had given up top prospect Chris Young to acquire him. Young, a Pirates draft pick who received a $1.5 million signing bonus, now is in the Padres' rotation.

4. Trading Jason Schmidt to the San Francisco Giants for Ryan Vogelsong and Armando Rios, July 30, 2001. Littlefield knew the team would not keep Schmidt as a free agent, but much more should have been reaped for a starter of this caliber.

5. Trading Kris Benson and Jeff Keppinger to the New York Mets for Ty Wigginton and Bautista, July 30, 2004. Wigginton was a bust, and Bautista had to be reacquired because of the Rule 5 fiasco. And now, Keppinger is on the verge of breaking into the Mets? lineup.