Goodbye Grabow and Gorzelanny

John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny traded to Cubs.  Those two names have a lot of ‘what if’s’ attached to them.  Grabow has bone chips in his elbow.  Gorzo, well, he was out of shape and we have no slack for players not professional enough to keep in shape.

Personally, I really liked Grabow.  He was great when we went to the Allegheny Conference/Meet the Pirates lunch.  He loves Pittsburgh.  Bought a house.  Met his wife here.  All around nice guy.

Grabow will be missed, but again another player with question marks after this season.

Gorzelanny comes down to this for me…I just am not buying the assumption that Gorzo he has it all together already.  Sorry.  Can’t trust him.  He and his wife get to go back home to Chicago.  Great shopping there Mrs. G.  We will miss both of you as well.

The Pirates traded more players than they had hits in the past 48 hours.  Impressive stuff.

Bring on the Nats.

Bring on Lastings.

Bring on Jo Dee Messina.

Bring on the Doumit jersey’s for the kids.

Blogosphere Reactions to the southpaws blowing out to Chicago:

IS THIS THING ON:  [Scott- AAA Indians Announcer works tirelessly]

"rumors swirling aournd Indians pitcher Tom Gorzelanny.  All I can tell you is as of 4:45 pm he was still a Pirate and not a member of the Chicago Cubs.  Tommy was preparing to enjoy a late afternoon dinner with a few of his teammates at the Norfolk Outback Steakhouse."

"7:30 UPDATE:"

"I just finished eating my dinner at Outback and was there when Gorzelanny received the call that he has been traded from the Pirates to the Chicago Cubs.  He was with about a dozen or so of his Indians teammates and went around the table shaking their hands and saying his good-byes.  He is really excited about joining his home town team and hopefully he will have a chance to pitch in October.  I don’t know much about the players that are coming to the Pirates, but a few of the current Indians have faced them at Triple-A Iowa and tell me the two pitchers are legit.  RHP Jose Ascanio will be joining the Indians and may become a starter.  Don’t hold me to that, but from what I was told he will be tried as a starter."

RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER[Always the best writing and analysis]

"no need to fret…Grabow’s a free agent at the end of the season so we only lose him for the rest of the year. Hart (a young guy who’s already pitching in the majors) and Ascanio (reliever who has also broken into the majors and has great stuff) alone are far better than compensation picks. Harrison looks like an interesting prospect as well. The real key to this deal is Tom Gorzelanny. If he turns out to be garbage, the Bucs are huge winners"

BUCCO FANS [Love this blog, Get your Dave Kerwin gear before it’s gone!]

"The Pirates get two major league ready pitchers who can either start, or pitch from the back of the bullpen. They also get a second base project in A ball, an area where they’re weak at talent. The simple breakdown is that the Pirates traded a major league left handed reliever, and a AAA starter for a major league right handed starter, a AAA starter, and a lower level infielder.Hart and Ascanio each have five years of service time remaining at the least, so each will be fixtures in the Pirates system through the 2014 season. Grabow was making $2.3 M this season, which means the Pirates owed about $834 K on the remainder of the deal."

"The deal leaves the Pirates short of left handed relievers, although they do have Daniel Moskos and Kyle Bloom in the AA rotation, and I’ve always felt that their futures were in the major league bullpen."

BUCS DUGOUT [Best quote of the 48 hour whirlwind of trades below]

"Obviously, Harrison is a long way from the majors, but he’s still a good prospect, although he probably won’t be the best athlete named J. Harrison in Pittsburgh history.  {great joke!}Grabow could have gotten the Pirates compensation picks, but if last year was any indication, teams have gotten wise to the fact that signing a free agent reliever can cost them draft choices. The Pirates would have had to offer him arbitration to have a chance at getting the picks, and I’d say it’s fairly likely he would have taken it, which means he would’ve been on the trading block again next year. He’s a good reliever, but not a great one, and he’s shown signs of getting a little too walk-happy this year.I’m happy to see the team moving on, and I think what’s in the farm system is finally strong enough that the Pirates can build a solidly competitive team in the next few years.____________________________________________________Did Reggie Bush leave Kim for this? Good Lord! All this and She is President of South Beach Exotic Rentals too! ladies and gentleman. Nice cars, nice mansions, nice..uhhh yachts…yeh.  We do it all here at Rumbunter, your full service blog if you will…Lawrence Timmons messed up his car on the Latrobe potholes.  Heh 94 if you need a guy to take care of those little to do lists, we are here for you man.  Check out the videos…good Lord he is in great shape…heh Baltimore you better find some WR’s quick, or Flacco is going to be getting introduced to the Heinz Field Kentucky Blue Grass much more often this season."