The Pirates sure know how to make news in the midst of a Stanley Cup Final. And all it took was a surprising trade of one of their most popular and productive players.
OF Nate McLouth, a 2008 All Star and Gold Glove winner, was just dealt to Atlanta for Class A pitcher Jeff Locke, AA OF Gorkys Hernandez, and AAA pitcher Charlie Morton. McLouth was batting .256 with 9 HR and 34 RBI for the 24-28 Pirates, who will recall highly-touted OF Andrew McCutchen to take McLouth's place. McCutchen was hitting .303 with 4 HR, 20 RBI, and 10 SB in 49 games in AAA.
Morton is a power pitcher who is close to big-league-ready as a starter. Locke is a bit further away from the bigs, but he was Baseball America's 7th-ranked prospect in the Braves' system this year. The 21-year-old Hernandez was Atlanta's 4th-ranked prospect after coming over in the 2007 Edgar Renteria-Jair Jurrjens trade. He projects as a top-of-the lineup place-setter who seems to be developing nicely, although some power would be nice.
Some faction of Pirate fans will undoubtedly speak out against this trade. In fact, it only took Bob Smizik about an hour to declare the Pirates have given up on the present. But let's be honest here. The Pirates, despite their proximity to .500, are not going anywhere this year. And McLouth was a lifetime .261 hitter who's played one full season in the majors and was battling for a job not too long ago. It's not as if they just traded Roberto Clemente in his prime. In the short term, the Pirates and their remaining fans will probably miss him; in the grander scheme of things, this could turn out to be a very good trade for the Bucs, if they netted two of the Braves' top 10 prospects and another arm to legitimately compete for a spot in the rotation. And don't forget, this also clears the way for McCutchen, who clearly has a much higher ceiling than McLouth.
There is no doubt that it took some serious stones for Neal Huntington to make this deal at this time. McLouth was just signed to a reasonable three-year, $15.75 million contract, so it wasn't like he was a financial albatross around the franchise's neck a la Kevin Young or Jason Kendall. (although I'm sure the Pirates don't mind getting that money off the books). Huntington clearly has a plan in building the depth of the franchise, and once again, he's getting multiple players in return. Most trades aren't properly evaluated at the time they're made, they're evaluated months or years down the road. This is one of those trades. But for now, at least, I think I like it.
McLouth traded to Atlanta for three prospects; McCutchen coming to Pittsburgh [PBC Blog]
OF Nate McLouth, a 2008 All Star and Gold Glove winner, was just dealt to Atlanta for Class A pitcher Jeff Locke, AA OF Gorkys Hernandez, and AAA pitcher Charlie Morton. McLouth was batting .256 with 9 HR and 34 RBI for the 24-28 Pirates, who will recall highly-touted OF Andrew McCutchen to take McLouth's place. McCutchen was hitting .303 with 4 HR, 20 RBI, and 10 SB in 49 games in AAA.
Morton is a power pitcher who is close to big-league-ready as a starter. Locke is a bit further away from the bigs, but he was Baseball America's 7th-ranked prospect in the Braves' system this year. The 21-year-old Hernandez was Atlanta's 4th-ranked prospect after coming over in the 2007 Edgar Renteria-Jair Jurrjens trade. He projects as a top-of-the lineup place-setter who seems to be developing nicely, although some power would be nice.
Some faction of Pirate fans will undoubtedly speak out against this trade. In fact, it only took Bob Smizik about an hour to declare the Pirates have given up on the present. But let's be honest here. The Pirates, despite their proximity to .500, are not going anywhere this year. And McLouth was a lifetime .261 hitter who's played one full season in the majors and was battling for a job not too long ago. It's not as if they just traded Roberto Clemente in his prime. In the short term, the Pirates and their remaining fans will probably miss him; in the grander scheme of things, this could turn out to be a very good trade for the Bucs, if they netted two of the Braves' top 10 prospects and another arm to legitimately compete for a spot in the rotation. And don't forget, this also clears the way for McCutchen, who clearly has a much higher ceiling than McLouth.
There is no doubt that it took some serious stones for Neal Huntington to make this deal at this time. McLouth was just signed to a reasonable three-year, $15.75 million contract, so it wasn't like he was a financial albatross around the franchise's neck a la Kevin Young or Jason Kendall. (although I'm sure the Pirates don't mind getting that money off the books). Huntington clearly has a plan in building the depth of the franchise, and once again, he's getting multiple players in return. Most trades aren't properly evaluated at the time they're made, they're evaluated months or years down the road. This is one of those trades. But for now, at least, I think I like it.
McLouth traded to Atlanta for three prospects; McCutchen coming to Pittsburgh [PBC Blog]
