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Pittsburgh Pirates Complete Confusing Trade With The Toronto Blue Jays
By Marty Leap
A day that saw the Pittsburgh Pirates make a flurry of moves ended with a very confusing trade with the Toronto Blue Jays.
In what was a very confusing move, to say the least, the Pittsburgh Pirates have traded left-handed starting pitcher Francisco Liriano to the Toronto Blue Jays. While trading Liriano is not the confusing part, he has been awful this season and is owed a boatload of money next season after all, the confusing part is the what else the Pittsburgh Pirates parted with and what they got in return.
The Pittsburgh Pirates also traded a pair of their top ten prospects to the Toronto Blue Jays in this trade. These prospects were catcher Reese McGuire and outfielder Harold Ramirez. Adding to the confusion is that all the Pittsburgh Pirates got in return is right-handed starting pitcher Drew Hutchison.
Drew Hutchison has spend most of this season at Triple-A, where he has put up solid numbers. In 102 innings pitched he has a 3.26 ERA, 3.60 FIP, and a 1.11 WHIP. Hutchison is also averaging 9.71 K/9, 3.09 BB/9, and just 0.97 HR/9 at Triple-A.
However, Drew Hutchison’s Major League career has not gone so swimmingly. In 406 1/3 career Major League innings Hutchison has a 4.92 ERA, but he has been a better pitcher than that. His 4.23 FIP, 4.01 xFIP, 8.28 K/9, 2.84 BB/9, and 1.36 WHIP all indicate that. Hutchison’s biggest problem is he has allowed too many home runs in his Major League career, but a lot of that can be attributed to the American League Eastern Division. Not only was he pitching in a launching pad in Toronto, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and Camden Yards are not exactly pitcher friendly either.
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Drew Hutchison is a pitcher who really intrigues. Especially since he will now get to work with Ray Searage. And that is something I will get into more in an article tomorrow. For the time being, Hutchison will report to Triple-A Indianapolis.
A swap of Francisco Liriano for Drew Hutchison would have made a lot of sense. After all, Francisco Liriano is having the worst season of his career. This season Liriano has a 5.46 ERA, 5.27 FIP, 4.51 xFIP, he’s averaging 1.50 HR/9, and he has issued a Major League leading 69 (nice) walks. But throwing a pair of top 10, and former top 100 overall, prospects in this trade is what does not make sense.
Now, yes, the Toronto Blue Jays are eating all of the money left on Francisco Liriano’s contract which is roughly 18 million dollars. This will give the Pittsburgh Pirates a lot of, here comes everyone’s favorite term, financial flexibility going into next season. But I still am not a huge fan of moving a pair of top 10 prospects in this trade.
I, personally, have never been very high on Reese McGuire or Harold Ramirez. While McGuire is a plus defender behind the plate, there are serious questions about his ability to hit. This year at Double-A Altoona McGuire has just a .319 wOBA and a wRC+ of 95. His career Minor League slash line is just .234/.279/.304/.584, with a walk rate of just 5.3 percent.
As for Harold Ramirez, while he has a cannon of an outfield arm I am worrying his power may not develop. Ramirez has turned into a singles hitter, and he is not a small guy so this is concerning. Honestly, I would not be surprised if Ramirez turned out to be Jose Tabata 2.0.
Now all of that said, scouts around baseball that know a lot more than I do are very high on both of these players. That is why they were both top 10 prospects in the Pirates’ system, and former top 100 overall prospects. And, in my opinion, that is too much to give up for Drew Hutchison. Even if it does get you out from underneath Francisco Liriano’s contract.
Next: The Pirates Roster Management Has Been Infuriating
Today’s trade between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays was a very confusing one. On paper, the Pirates seem to have given up way too much in this trade. While the upside of Drew Hutchison is intriguing and shedding Francisco Liriano’s contract is awesome, I do not think this was worth a pair of top ten prospects. And this is coming from someone who is not overly high on Reese McGuire or Harold Ramirez.