by Keith Glab, BaseballEvolution.com
August 4, 2009
The Pirates have spent the past decade-and-a-half overpaying for marginal
free-agents and signing their underwhelming homegrown talent to huge multi-year
deals after they are past their primes. Then they run out of money because
they are a small-market team with a historically unsupportive fanbase and settle
for a 70-win season. Now they are trying a different approach; trading all
of the bad contracts from the previous regime and even some players signed to
reasonable contracts while those players are at their highest value. A seemingly
sound strategy (though try telling frustrated/ignorant Pirates fans that), but
only if they are able to get some talent in return.
So how did the Pirates do in their many deals this summer? With
prospects involved, it's always hard to judge right away. But not
impossible.
Alongside the prospects listed in this piece, I have listed their
organizational ranking in the
2009 Scout.com
Prospects Guide Magazine. The magazine has the 20 best prospects in
each organization ranked.
Pirates trade LHP John Grabow and LHP Tom Gorzelanny to the Cubs for RHP
Kevin Hart (9), RHP Jose Ascanio (NR), and 2B Josh Harrison (NR)
The Cubs were desperate for left-handed pitching, as they had been using Sean
Marshall virtually every day since moving him into the bullpen (In fact, Lou
Piniella found a way to use him three times in a split double-header against the
Cardinals). John Grabow is a great lefty to have out of the pen, and
Gorzelanny should only be needed for a few weeks while the rest of the Cubs
staff gets healthy.
The Cubs relinquished Kevin Hart, who despite a couple of decent recent
starts, has walked nearly as many major league batters as he has fanned and
sports a minor league ERA of 4.08. That ERA has been better the past two
years, but then, you kind of hope that 26-year old pitchers post a sub-4.00 ERA
in the minors. The 24-year old Ascanio's numbers are good in both the
majors and the minors. His acquisition is sensible for the Pirates, who
just need competent relievers and could care lass as to whether they throw
lefty, righty, or head-butt the pitch towards the plate so long as the guy's
effective.
Harrison is currently a .319 career hitter in the minors. He can walk, steal
bases, and may even develop power. Considering that Cubs second baseman
have gone .227/.281/.327 so far this year, it's hard to figure why they let this
guy get away. Teams tend to overvalue left-handed relievers at the trade
deadline, and that seems to have been the case here once again.
Grades: Pirates - A, Cubs - C
Pirates trade Freddy Sanchez to the Giants for RHP Tim Alderson (4)
Alderson is the best prospect the Pirates acquired this year. This
22nd-overall pick in 2007 had a 20-6 professional record at the time of the
deal, and brings a good mix of stuff and command to the table. All they
had to relinquish in order to get him was Sanchez, who refused to sign a
contract extension at a hometown discount, then cried when he got traded to a
contending team.
It's hard to say whether the Giants were dazzled most by Freddy's resume of
being a three-time All-Star, his empty batting average, his bad contract, or the
fact that he is on the wrong side of 30. He does provide solid defense, a
bat that is unlikely to downgrade an underwhelming lineup, and good doubles
potential in a park that facilitates two-baggers, but when he reaches his 600th
plate appearance this year, his $8 million option for 2010 vests. At least
the Giants might not miss Alderson much, with Madison Bumgarner preparing to
overshadow Tim Lincecum in what is becoming a stacked rotation.
Grades: Pirates - A, Giants - C
Pirates trade Ian Snell and Jack Wilson to the Seattle Mariners for Jeff
Clement, Ronny Cedeno, RHP Nathan Adcock (17), RHP Aaron Pribanic (NR), and RHP Brett Lorin
(NR).
Wilson, like Sanchez, refused Neal Huntington's request to take a hometown
discount to stay in Pittsburgh. Monetarily, Wilson made the right move, as
the Mariners pretty much need to pick up Jack Rabbit's $8.4 M option for 2010
and hope he hits like he did in 2004 or 2007 in order to justify this deal,
seeing as how the Mariners are out of the race this year and even more so after
dealing away Jarrod Washburn. More likely, they will pay $8.4 M for a
good-field, no-hit shortstop. An upgrade over Yuniesky Betancourt to be
sure, but a total ripoff as well.
They do get Ian Snell in the deal, whom I had fallen in love with before he
had even reached the majors. He's been difficult to love over the past
year-and-a-half, however, and even though I still think he has potential (as
evidenced by his recent Triple-A stint that gave Snell his highest trade value
since he signed his contract extension), at the end of the day he is a 27-year
old pitcher who wasn't good enough to pitch for the Pirates and makes $4.25 M
next year.
Adcock is 11-25 in his minor league career. Pribanic's K/BB ratio is
less than 2:1. Ronny Cedeno is Ronny Cedeno. The only real losses
for the Mariners here are Lorin, who has fanned more than a batter per inning in
his career, and Clement, who was never going to get a legitimate shot at winning
a major league job in Seattle for whatever reason. The question becomes,
why the heck isn't Clement the everyday first baseman in Pittsburgh right now?
For a third overall draft pick not to be getting a fair shake at a big league
job after nearly three full successful Triple-A seasons is simply unheard of.
Grades: Pirates - B, Mariners - C
Pirates trade Adam LaRoche to the Red Sox for SS Argenis Diaz (13) and RHP Hunter Strickland
(NR)
Okay, now we are getting into some older trades that we can begin to evaluate
with some hindsight as well as projection. LaRoche was nothing special for
the Red Sox, though they were inexplicably able to parlay him into the
underrated/underpaid Casey Kotchman weeks later. I bet if the Pirates knew
that they could get Kotchman for LaRoche straight up, they'd have thrown in
Snell for free as a goodwill gesture.
As it is, they settled for two forgettable prospects. Diaz is
supposedly a great defender, but there is no reason to believe that he will ever
hit well enough to start at the major league level. Every minor league
system has a handful of Argenis Diazes. Strickland has done well as a
good-control/no-stuff pitcher at the low-A levels. Those kinds of pitchers
tend to get exposed long before they reach the majors. Still, getting
Boston to shoulder all of LaRoche's remaining $3 million was a feat in itself,
even if the returns were minimal at best.
Grades: Pirates - C, Red Sox - B
Pirates trade Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Nationals for Lastings
Milledge and Joel Hanrahan
This is the only recent Pirates trade that wasn't unbalanced in terms of
established major leaguers being dealt for prospects. All four players
dealt here are essentially fringe major leaguers, with the difference being that
the two players the Pirates received actually have some upside. Now
granted, Morgan has been unbelievably excellent for Washington, batting .387
with 14 stolen bases in 28 games. But the man is 29-years old and speed is
his best weapon. He is a player who might help in the short-term, but not
someone who is likely to have a lengthy major league career. So why the
last-place Nats would trade for him and a southpaw that is neither a power
pitcher nor a control pitcher is quite baffling.
Believe it or not, Lastings Milledge is still just 24-years old, and he's
already shown flashes of star ability in the majors. He's also shown flashes of
being a real jerk, but you know what? I bet if Barry Bonds had stayed in
Pittsburgh, the fans there would have overlooked all of his personal
shortcomings and cheered him like no one since Roberto Clemente. I'm not a
big Hanrahan fan, as he is nearly 28 and still has not learned how to throw
strikes, but he does throw heat and still has a slim chance of becoming a
plus-reliever.
Grades: Pirates - A, Nats - C
Pirates trade Eric Hinske to the Yankees for RHP Casey Erickson and OF/C
Eric Fryer
Hinske has been fabulous for the Yankees, smacking five home runs in his
first 21 at-bats with the club. To be fair, no GM - not even Brian Sabean
- would have thought that Hinske would have had this kind of an impact for a
team. So we can't fault the Pirates for not getting equal value in the
trade to what Hinske has suddenly become.
Fryer played a lot of outfield this year only because the Yankees are loaded
with catching prospects. His future is as a catcher, though it's hard to
project him as a starter in the big leagues. Erickson has put up stellar
minor league numbers, but generally as a guy too old for his level. He is
already 3-1 with a 0.87 ERA for the Pirates, but that's in Single-A. The
guy turns 24 this month... isn't it time to see what he can do at higher levels?
Grades: Pirates - C, Yankees - A
Pirates trade Nate McLouth to the Braves for Charlie Morton, OF Gorkys
Hernandez (7), and LHP Jeff Locke (10)
I wrote about this one before, claiming that while trading the overrated
McLouth at peak value was a great idea, that they had perhaps forgotten to get
that peak value in return. Since that time, Charlie Morton has been
one of their best starters, but Gorkys Hernandez and Jeff Locke have both been
terrible in the minors. On the other hand, McLouth has been just decent as
a leadoff man for the Braves. The Pirates will soon have an outfield that
features some combination of Andrew McCutcheon, Jose Tabata, Garrett Jones,
Lastings Miledge, Steve Pearce, and Delwyn Young. The three prospects they
got in return for McLouth aren't going to need to set any records for this to be
a decent trade, because by 2011, the Pirates will have three or more outfielders
outperforming McLouth at a much more affordable price.
Grades: Pirates - B, Braves - B
The Pirates have stockpiled enough young talent to allow for many of their
prospects to go bust and still field a competent team. They will need to
add some veteran help over the next two seasons to supplement this core, but
Neal Huntington has freed up enough salary to make doing so fairly easy.
Do not despair, Pirates fans. The end of your losing ways is nearly at an
end. When the team does start winning, please go watch them at beautiful
PNC Park.
Disagree with something? Got something to add? Wanna bring up something totally new? Keith resides in Chicago, Illinois and can be reached at keith@baseballevolution.com.