Pittsburgh Pirates: Trade Deadline Report Card
Wow. As of 3:50 PM Monday afternoon , it looked like the 2016 MLB Trading deadline would be a dull one for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, things didn’t turn out that way. Let’s breakdown what I think the Pirates did write, and what they did wrong, move by move.
The shots started on Saturday when the Pirates sent their 3x All-Star closer, Mark Melancon, to Washington in return for reliever Felipe Rivero and prospect Taylor Hearn. Rivero’s era would tell you that he is mediocre, but his FIP (fielding independent pitching) is a solid 3.25, his WHIP is a solid 1.168 and he throws in the upper 90s consistently to go along with a killer change-up. Taylor Hearn is not a top prospect, but he is a flamethrower who flirts with triple digits on the gun and, was drafted by the Pirates in 2012 but did not sign with the team.
The most important thing is that Melancon’s contract was expiring after the season, and the Pirates will have Rivero under control for five more years. As with Joel Hanrahan and Jason Grilli in the past, the Pirates have proven that closers are easily replaceable. Hopefully, Tony Watson shows that once more.
Trade Grade: B
Next: Huntington calls the Yanks again
Breakdown: 7-6, 4.90 ERA, 5.09 FIP, 1.8 HR/9, 1.356 WHIP
Meh. That’s all that needs to be said. If Nova becomes Ray Searage’s latest reclamation project, great. But he will be a free agent after this season. So Nova is, essentially, a rental player and an uninspiring one at that. I don’t see how the Pirates can get a positive result out of this trade. At worst, Nova will stink. At best, he will be JA Happ 2.0. Lame. If the Pirates wanted to get a Yankee starting pitcher, I would have preferred for them to go after Nathan Eovaldi or Michael Pineda. Both of those guys have more upside than Nova and would have been better long-term options for this team.
I’ll be the good guy and give Neil Huntington the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t seem to understand why Evoldi or Pineda would have come with a hefty asking price. Is Nova, at the very least, an upgrade over Ryan Vogelsong or Fransisco Liriano? Probably, but what does that say? Not a whole lot if you ask me. Unless the Pirates spoke about those two and were asked to give up too much, I don’t see why the Pirates felt the need to settle for Nova.
Trade Grade: C-
Next: Out with the new, in with the old
Jon Niese is gone. Hopefully, the Pirates can get Bastardo back to where he was before he bolted for the big apple last winter. But Jon Niese is gone. That’s the important thing. Bastardo did a solid job out of the Pirates bullpen last season but has fallen on hard times in Queens. Hopefully, Ray Serage can work with him, and Bastardo can once again be an asset in the Pirates bullpen. The fact that the Pirates rid themselves on Jon Niese is the important thing. So, unless Bastardo is just god awful out of the ‘pen, I don’t see why this trade wouldn’t be a positive thing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I have seen many fans on twitter angry about this trade because it signifies that the Pirates made a mistake in dealing the great Neil Walker. So what? It was a bad deal. We get it. It happened in December. Walker is not Joe Morgan. He is not Roberto Alomar. He is not an all-time great, and, guess what? He’s been having the worst season of his career from June 1st. But none of that matters. Why? He played high school baseball at Pine-Richland, that’s why.
Trade Grade: B
Next: Bad Trade with Toronto?
And now we go from boring to stupid. It started out just fine. It looked like the Pirates were unloading Francisco Liriano and his big contract to the Toronto Blue Jays. Then we found out that the Bucs were acquiring Drew Hutchison. Okay, not an impressive get, but still a win for the Pirates. Then we found out that the Pirates were unloading their #5 prospect in outfielder Harold Ramirez. Ok, a bit of an overpay, but Ramirez had a blocked path to Pittsburgh. Then we found out that, along with Ramirez, the Pirates were including prized catching prospect Reese McGuire. Oh dear.
Losing Ramirez and McGuire doesn’t affect much as far as the future of the franchise goes. Ramirez is a talented outfield prospect who is in the worst place in the world to be for a talented outfield prospect, so he wasn’t going to get a fair shake. McGuire had more of a chance than Ramirez did, but a combination of poor progress as a professional hitter, as well as the promise of Elias Diaz, there’s a good chance that Reese was never going to be in the fold either.
So when you break things down that way, they make a little more sense. But, no matter how you slice it, trading away two of your top 10 prospects for a pitcher who has failed to live up to expectations is stupid. It must be said that this trade deadline period wasn’t a great time to go get a starting pitcher, as the Baltimore Orioles proved when they got the underwhelming Wade Miley, in spite of needing starting pitching almost as badly as the Pirates do. However, you’ve got to think that the ransom the Pirates gave Toronto for Hutchison would have netted them either Matt Moore or Jake Odorizzi from the Rays, or Nathan Evoldi from the Yankees. As I have said many times over the past 24 hours: Drew Hutchison. Bloody hell.
Trade Grade: D
Next: More important issues
But as puzzling as the trade deadline was, the biggest problem with the Pittsburgh Pirates is the way they handle their pre-deadline roster.
The fact that Jung Ho Kang and Josh Harrison continue to be put on the field while Adam Frazier rides the pine is not Neil Huntington’s fault. The fact that John Jaso continues to hit in the leadoff role instead of Frazier or Jordy Mercer is not Neil Huntington’s fault. The fact that Andrew McCutchen is not in a platoon role with Matt Joyce (or at least moved down in the batting order) is not Neil Huntington’s fault. That’s Clint Hurdle’s fault. The skipper is a great guy, and his record speaks for itself, but his management of the lineup has been curious at times.
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But the fact that the pedestrian play of John Jaso is keeping Josh Bell in the minors is Neil Huntington’s fault. The fact that this rotation still consists of scrubs Jeff Locke and Ryan Vogelsong, rather than young pitchers who have room to improve, is Neil Huntington’s fault. It’s partly Huntington/Nutting’s fault that JA Happ is no longer with the team.
The Pirates did themselves no favors at the trade deadline. But that’s in the past now. It’s time to look for what the Pirates can change. All of the things mentioned above should be no brainers. But to the ones who’s opinions matter on this topic, they aren’t. And that, Pirates fans, is where your rage should be focused.
Overall Deadline Grade: C-