1981 Pittsburgh Pirates Trades and Transactions

Transactions listed are from October 1 of previous year to April 1 of the following year.

• December 9, 1980

  Traded Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillén to the Cleveland Indians. Received Gary Alexander, Víctor Cruz, Bob Owchinko and Rafael Vásquez.

• January 13, 1981

  Drafted John Kruk in the 3rd round of the 1981 amateur draft (January), but did not sign the player.

• January 19, 1981

  Signed Larvell Blanks as a free agent.

• January 20, 1981

  Signed Rusty Torres as a free agent.

• January 23, 1981

  Signed John Milner as a free agent.

• February 23, 1981

  Signed Luis Tiant as a free agent.

• April 1, 1981

  Traded Mickey Mahler and Ed Ott to the California Angels. Received Jason Thompson.

• April 5, 1981

  Purchased Jim Smith from the Baltimore Orioles.

  Traded Dave Dravecky to the San Diego Padres. Received Bobby Mitchell (minors).

• April 6, 1981

  Traded Bob Owchinko to the Oakland Athletics. Received a player to be named later and cash. The Oakland Athletics sent Ernie Camacho (April 10, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.

• May 4, 1981

  Signed Willie Horton as a free agent.

• June 8, 1981

  Drafted Ray Krawczyk in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft (June Secondary).

  Drafted Jim Winn in the 1st round (14th pick) of the 1981 amateur draft.

  Drafted Lee Tunnell in the 2nd round of the 1981 amateur draft.

  Drafted Bip Roberts in the 5th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.

  Drafted Scott Bankhead in the 17th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.

  Drafted Chris Bosio in the 29th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.

  Drafted Lance Johnson in the 30th round of the 1981 amateur draft, but did not sign the player.

• June 25, 1981

  Signed Denny González as an amateur free agent.

• July 11, 1981

  Signed Bobby Bonilla as an amateur free agent.

• August 20, 1981

  Traded John Milner to the Montreal Expos. Received Willie Montañez.

• August 31, 1981

  Traded Phil Garner to the Houston Astros. Received players to be named later and Johnny Ray. The Houston Astros sent Randy Niemann (September 9, 1981) and Kevin Houston (minors) (September 9, 1981) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.

• September 1, 1981

  Grant Jackson player rights sold to the Montreal Expos for $50,000.

• October 5, 1981

  Released Luis Tiant.

• October 23, 1981

  Purchased Manny Sarmiento from the Boston Red Sox.

• October 26, 1981

  Released Kurt Bevacqua.

• November 6, 1981

  Signed Rubén Rodríguez as an amateur free agent.

• December 11, 1981

  Signed Dorn Taylor as an amateur free agent.

  Traded Doe Boyland to the San Francisco Giants. Received Tom Griffin.

  Traded Tim Foli to the California Angels. Received Brian Harper.

• December 17, 1981

  Craig Cacek player rights sold to the California Angels.

• January 12, 1982

  Drafted Benny Distefano in the 2nd round of the 1982 amateur draft (January Secondary).

• February 2, 1982

  The Chicago White Sox chose Joel Skinner as a free agent compensation pick.

• March 10, 1982

  Mark Lee player rights sold to the Detroit Tigers.

• March 21, 1982

  Traded Ernie Camacho and Vance Law to the Chicago White Sox. Received Ross Baumgarten and Butch Edge.

• March 29, 1982

  Matt Alexander player rights sold to Mexico City Tigers (Mexican).

• April 1, 1982

  Traded Víctor Cruz to the Texas Rangers. Received Nelson Norman.