Pirates Trade Jose Veras for Casey McGehee

The Pittsburgh Pirates

made a baseball trade yesterday with the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Pirates traded from a position of strength, to address a position of weakness.

Jose Veras was signed from the scrapheap last season, rebounded strongly for the Pirates and was flipped for a player that had some of the worst luck in the game in 2011.  His BABIP fell from .330 in 2009 to just .249 in 2011.

McGehee was no longer needed when the Brewers acquired Aramis Ramirez yesterday.  It’s hard to not at least like this deal a little bit if you’re a Pirates fan, as it gives the Pirates – at the very least – a bench player that can hit a fastball, but not always  a breaking ball.  In 2011, McGehee saw fewer fastballs as pitchers paid attention to his thumb injury.

McGehee went from having a strong season in 2009 (when he was a 3.3 WAR), and even 2010 to a lesser extent, and then tanked in 2011 after a thumb injury.  Clint Hurdle should be able to help McGehee rebound to somewhere near his 2010 form and for us that is a positive sign.

The Bucs went to the scrap heap last season, fixed the clunker up, and flipped him for a player that has put up over three wins above replacement in his young career.

We call it a win. And it might be another sign; that the Pirates feel good about the return of Evan Meek,  and the overall confidence they have in their bullpen now that Jason Grilli has been signed for $1.1 million dollars. Maybe this deal is as simple as this…the Bucs must feel that Veras won’t repeat the year he had last year and McGehee can’t possibly repeat his?

Above all else, we know McEffect will be happy about this deal.