Before joining Giants, Kontos almost traded to Pirates

Editor's note: The above video is from Oct. 4, 2015.

SCOTTSDALE — The Internet has created a sports world where players often find out about trades in odd ways, and those experiences are hard to forget. While taping a podcast Monday, I asked George Kontos if he had any good stories from his minor league days. Without skipping a beat, Kontos started talking about — in perfect detail — the time a reporter told him he had been traded.

“I was in, very briefly, the 2008 trade from the Yankees to the Pirates that sent Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen, Jose Tabata and I think one other person for Xavier Nady and the lefty reliever (Damaso) Marte,” he said. “I was in that trade for about 12 hours. It…