So how long before the Pirates have to trade McLouth to us?

[David]

He'd be a great fit on this team.

 

This is only semi-tongue-in-cheek.

 

How long till he can ask for big money and the Buccos have to dump him off...

[BCVM22]

Trade deadline 2010 is my guess.

[Jake]

You're assuming our two trades this month were salary dumps.

 

They were not.

 

They were about replenishing the minor leagues, and depth in general.

[Mike Aller]

You're assuming our two trades this month were salary dumps.

 

They were not.

 

They were about replenishing the minor leagues, and depth in general.

I don't know much of the history of the Pirates and their trades, but why wouldn't their minor leagues be pretty well stacked? They're a small market team.

[SouthSideRyan]

You're assuming our two trades this month were salary dumps.

 

They were not.

 

They were about replenishing the minor leagues, and depth in general.

I don't know much of the history of the Pirates and their trades, but why wouldn't their minor leagues be pretty well stacked? They're a small market team.

 

Ed Creech.

[Jake]

You're assuming our two trades this month were salary dumps.

 

They were not.

 

They were about replenishing the minor leagues, and depth in general.

I don't know much of the history of the Pirates and their trades, but why wouldn't their minor leagues be pretty well stacked? They're a small market team.

 

Ed Creech.

 

Not to take anything away from Ed Creech - his drafting was, to be kind, awful. But, some of the Dave Littlefield were just.... I don't have the words. Let's take the Aramis trade. Yeah, he had to trade him. Fine. But, couldn't he have gotten a bit more than what he got?

 

But, between awful drafts, and awful dumping of players, well..... you get the idea.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

You're assuming our two trades this month were salary dumps.

 

They were not.

 

They were about replenishing the minor leagues, and depth in general.

 

That may have been a side benefit, but the underlying reason they traded Bay was because there was no chance of being retained after next year. The same could apply to Nady and Marte, but you can give Huntington the benefit of the doubt since both of those guys had value beyond their true abilities.

[italianocubsfan7]

McLouth is the building block of that team, and he is also my favorite Pittsburgh Pirate!

[Jake]

You're assuming our two trades this month were salary dumps.

 

They were not.

 

They were about replenishing the minor leagues, and depth in general.

 

That may have been a side benefit, but the underlying reason they traded Bay was because there was no chance of being retained after next year. The same could apply to Nady and Marte, but you can give Huntington the benefit of the doubt since both of those guys had value beyond their true abilities.

 

There were some making the argument that we could retain Bay, especially after Nady was traded. If we extended him for two years @ 14 million/year, the cost of the outfield in '10 would be around @18 million, which should be affordable.

 

Last night, we had another high scoring defeat - 13-7. We have the offense, even without Bay and Nady (although it's certainly not as potent as it was.) 26 of our 50 wins this year have been come from behind. Certainly, this attests to both the strength of our hitting and the weakness of our starting pitching.

 

If the 8 players we traded for , We picked up two pitchers that can fill the back end of the rotation today. Two that potentially will be factors in the future. One outfielder who will, at the very least, compete for playing time. One with superstar potential who's added a lot of question marks to his resume. A relief pitcher who throws 97. And, a third baseman who used to be ranked very high.

 

Theoretically, next year, McCutcheon's bat will replace one of Bay or Nady, if not in power than in overall support. Pearce now has competition from Moss for the other outfield spot. We'll have three guys vying for time at 3B (as opposed to no one this year) with (hopefully) Alvarez pushing them a year from now.

 

And, our starting pitching is much deeper now.

 

There was a rumor back in January that you guys were asking about McClouth. That's when I changed my avatar to McClouth (From Kendall).

 

Trade him? Hardly. We may finally have a team that can compete now. (Emphasis on may )

 

The bottom line is we needed Pitching.

[twothousandfive]

I'd say 2010 is at least a year early. Given the moves they've made, I think it is reasonable to think they expect top finish around .450 this year (73-89), with an eye toward .500 or very close next year.

 

That's probably a touch ambitious for next year, given that it is tough to see who on their current roster might be poised for solid improvement into next year (Adam LaRouche, maybe). But they could very easily see bigger contributions from Snell, Karstens, maybe Maholm.

 

Into 2010, they'll have a much better sense of the guys they just traded for, and if they are progressing, 2011 could be a big year. They wouldn't really have to trade either McLouth or Doumit in 2010. The Pirates might be contenders in 2011, and building around a CF and C is a decent way to get there.

[SouthSideRyan]

If the Pirates are serious, and want to be taken seriously, they'd back up a dump truck full of cash to Sabathia's or Sheets's house this offseason. It might not work, but getting a Dempster, or someone along those lines as a backup plan wouldn't be too bad either.