Kris Benson's 11 wins as a rookie in 1999 is still his career high. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Three years ago, the Pirates traded away a career underachiever on the verge of free agency.

Jason Schmidt, upon becoming a member of the Giants, instantly became the top-of-the-rotation workhorse the Pirates had been lacking. Schmidt went 7-1 for San Francisco down the stretch in 2001 and followed with 13-8 and 17-5 records in 2002 and '03, respectively.

That was the first trade made by Pittsburgh GM Dave Littlefield, and he's prepared to do it again with another underachiever eligible for free agency -- Kris Benson.

Benson's career looked promising until 2001, when he had Tommy John surgery to fix his ailing elbow. But a 37-42 career record and 4.26 ERA were not what the Pirates were expecting when they used the No. 1 overall pick of the 1996 draft on Benson and gave him a then-record $2 million bonus.

As fate would have it, Benson may be showing signs of blossoming. He is 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA, winning two of his first three starts this season before losing to the Reds on Saturday. His fastball still hums in there at 95-plus mph. It won't take long before big-market contenders will be lining up to court Littlefield for Benson's services. (Gee, you think the Yankees could use another arm?) And considering what it would take to keep Benson in Pirates colors -- a big-money, multiyear contract -- there is a very real possibility that another Schmidt situation is brewing.

"When you're paying players a substantial amount of money, you need to get performance and production out of those players," Littlefield said. "For whatever reasons, Kris hasn't reached those type of performance numbers in the past.

"One of the issues we have in getting this franchise back on track and competing for championships is that we have to get a return on our investment. As players get older and have more experience, that potential you expect from them should translate into performance, but that's something we haven't seen from Kris at this point."

Packing a Punchout Top pitchers in Pittsburgh's farm system Pitcher Age Level Acquired J. VanBenschoten 24 AAA Draft (1st) Comment: 24-12 minor-league record thru 2003 Sean Burnett 21 AAA Draft (1st) Comment: Eastern League's 2003 top pitcher Bryan Bullington 23 AA Draft (1st) Comment: 13-5 in 2003, first pro season Blair Johnson 20 A Draft (2nd) Comment: Career .211 batting average against Ian Snell 22 AA Draft (26th) Comment: 36-9, 2.48 ERA in first three seasons Paul Maholm 21 A Draft (1st) Comment: Crafty lefty in Tom Glavine mold Corey Stewart 24 AAA Trade Comment: Formerly Padres' top pitching prospect

Littlefield was quick to point out that Schmidt's tenure with the Giants has been interrupted by injuries, forcing a stint on the DL in 2002 and offseason elbow surgery that delayed his first start of 2004.

Even without Benson, the Pirates have a stable of young arms to build around in current major leaguers Kip Wells and Oliver Perez and highly touted first-round draft picks such as John VanBenschoten, Sean Burnett, Bryan Bullington and Paul Maholm. Seven of the club's top 10 prospects, as listed by Baseball America, are pitchers. Suffice it to say, it makes sense for the Pirates to get what they can for Benson at the trade deadline.

But the Schmidt-Benson cases are a perfect example of a larger issue: When teams pour resources into someone they believe to be a top-flight pitching prospect, whose ace are they developing? Sometimes, it's not their own.

Kevin Brown, the fourth overall pick of the 1986 draft, went 78-64 in Texas before leaving as a free agent. Since then, Brown's record is 122-67 with five All-Star appearances and two league ERA titles (1996, 2000). The Expos traded Pedro Martinez to the Red Sox and Javier Vazquez to the Yankees during their walk years. Esteban Loaiza didn't do much of anything for three clubs -- Pirates, Rangers and Blue Jays -- before going 21-9 and placing second in Cy Young voting for the White Sox last season. The Blue Jays used a second-round pick on David Wells and traded Jesse Barfield to the Yankees for a young Al Leiter. Neither Wells nor Leiter excelled in Toronto but posted big numbers shortly after leaving.

Maybe another ballclub will luck out this way with Benson, too.