Alex Dickerson Trade by Pirates Looks Smart

Feb 21, 2014; Peoria, AZ, USA; San Diego Padres outfielder Alex Dickerson (78) poses for a photo during photo day at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Early on in spring training one Pittsburgh Pirates offseason move looks really smart– trading Alex Dickerson.  The talented 1B-OF eventually brought two players in return, Jaff Decker and Chris McGuiness, who have looked sharp in Bradenton.  The offseason wasn’t impactful enough for us, but we’ve written about that at length so we are going to pull out the sniper rifle and do some overreacting to early spring training production.

Both of the trades were blown off locally.  Much like similar moves last season that brought Vin Mazzaro and Jeanmar Gomez.  We learned from our mistake and made no silly photoshops like we did last year when the Bucs grabbed the two right-handed pitchers.

While Decker has looked a bit rusty on fielding some balls cleanly in the outfield, he has put himself on the power ranking chart for  Best Arm out of the multitude of players vying for playing time in right field.  (But we still have no clue why Decker looks so sad in his Photo Day pic)

Feb 21, 2014; Bradenton, FL, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jaff Decker (14) poses for a photo at Pirate City. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Decker did it with a laser throw from right field, past Chris McGuiness who wisely let it go,  and catcher Chris Stewart did the rest.  It appeared that former Buccos hitting coach Dave Clark was trying to put up the stop sign up for Hernan Perez, but thankfully he didn’t because it was a sweet play by #14.

If you recall the moves, the Bucs sent Alex Dickerson to San Diego and picked up Decker who had been designated for assignment.   The Padres added reliever Miles Mikolas who was then moved to the Rangers for Chris McGuiness.  Mikolas is now injured and McGuiness is hitting piss rockets off AAAA left handed pitching.

We realize it’s early, but we like Decker and McGuiness more than Alex Dickerson.  Dickerson has had some trouble thus far in Padres camp.  From an MLB story a couple of days ago…

"Dickerson’s awe over his spring debut wore off quickly enough, though. He went 0-for-3, grounding into a double play. Dickerson also lost a fly ball in the sun. He wasn’t wearing sunglasses at the time, which was by design.“I have trouble with depth perception when I’m wearing sunglasses,” Dickerson explained. “So I think we are going to try some flip-down glasses.”"

Dickerson has two hits in 12 at bats thus far for the Padres.

The Pirates needed immediate help at first base and right field.  Dickerson wouldn’t have provided that short term for the Bucs, it’s still up in there if he can do it long term for San Diego–his hometown.  We are saying he won’t.

The question now is will Jaff Decker and Chris McGuiness actually produce for the Pirates.  So far, so good.