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I don't know that his value is clearly reflected in the return the Pirates received here. My guess is it is, but it's quite possible they settled for less than what they could have gotten in another deal, especially if they waited until the deadline. Well there are three possible explanations here: a) this deal accurately reflects the trade value McLouth has around baseball; b) Huntington didn't perform the due diligence necessary to gauge the trade value McLouth has around baseball, and a better deal was out there that he didn't discover; c) Huntington knowingly took less than the best offer for his player. C) is laughable, and b) is highly unlikely IMO, especially when we're talking about the Pirates' marquee player. Huntington himself said it was a very difficult decision to trade McLouth, so I doubt he went about the process haphazardly. Trading McLouth now limits the pool of players they could get for him significantly, there are many more teams actively seeking an outfielder in mid to late July than there are at the beginning of June. Not to mention that those additional teams would drive the price up for him. In a sense you can say they got decent value for him, it is after all two Top 10 prospects in Atlanta's system plus a ML ready starter. Problem is that Gorkys Hernandez is a particularly terrible Top 10 prospect, and the other arm isn't stellar either. That's why waiting until another team entered the fray would've been a smarter move. That deal isn't likely to go away by waiting, and if it does, who cares? It was awful to begin with. I trust you won't be offended that given the choice between you and Neil Huntington, I'm going to go ahead and assume that Huntington has a better pulse on the value Pirates players have around MLB. He gets to actually talk with other GMs, and stuff. Conceivably anyway, he might have a better handle on where things stand, what other teams are interested in McLouth, what they're willing to give up, etc. etc. Just spitballing of course. Maybe I'm wrong and you're the better authority. :D) the whole "he's a gm and you're not" argument is the biggest copout ever. as if the fact that he's a gm means you can't criticize the move. a gm that knows more than us gave p juanna pierre 5/50. a gm gave GMJ 5/50. andruw jones got 2/40. barry zito got 126. a gm traded scott kazmir for victor zambrano. were we supposed to shut up and give the gm's that made those moves the benefit of the doubt? i mean, they're gms! we're just internet posters. gm's make awful moves all the time....awful moves that look awful even right when they're made. to give a horrible organization like the pirates any benefit of the doubt when talking about a trade that looks crappy is pretty foolish.

will ramirez hit enough for a 1B at the time vitters is ready? plus he'll have reached free agency by then most likely.

"may be out for at least another month" doesn't really make sense

Sorry but delaying play for 6 minutes after a goal is irrational and sickening... the league love for Crosby is reaching sickening heights. youve got issues this would be like me rooting for the cards in the world series over the rays because of some creepy hatred i have for evan longoria

oh my

cyno it's pretty sad that you're rooting for the wings. really sad actually. your irrational hatred for crosby is reaching sickening heights.

That's not really true at all

I like how you leave out the most obvious choice, which is that the Pirates FO are poor at their jobs and don't know how to correctly evaluate talent

So does the game of baseball in general. I really don't see the point in flipping out over someone using a corked bat when most players are doing every little thing they can to gain an advantage. It's part of baseball. Keeping someone out of the hall for that would be like keeping out one of the best pitchers of an era because he got caught once with sandpaper. Like I said, he got caught for the bat and was suspended. That shouldn't keep him out. Like it or not, nothing and nobody has come even remotely close to busting him when it comes to steroids. That doesn't mean he didn't use them, but for now he should be judged based on his performance. The corked bat should have negligable impact in that regard since use of them over his career would have been detrimental to his numbers. I just meant that the cork incident is relevant in the speculation of him using drugs because it shows that he has cheated before

i don't think i'd trade fontenot for sanchez or cantu

Which actually doesn't help hitters. lol...which one?...because the last time i checked they both did Numerous studies have shown that corked bats generally don't improve hitting, especially in regards to power. At the most it's going to increase the speed of the swing, but it still ultimately comes down to the hitter's eye and timing so that's arguably a wash. Besides, he got caught, he served his time. Done and done, plus it's unlikely he was using them before the downward slide after the shattered helmet. The point is that he has a history of cheating

hahahaha

in 2004 they had a good supporting cast. there is no reason that team shouldn't have made the playoffs. if we had a bullpen that year we probably would have won like 95 games

it's amazing how quickly tt's numbers have imploded

What makes you think this team is capable of playing .600 ball like they did last year? Is Dempster going to have an ERA under 3 the rest of the way like last season? Are we going to trade for DeRosa and get an .857 OPS from him again? Is Fontenot going to OPS over .900 again? Is Wood going to come back and be the closer again? Is Edmonds going to sign and give us like a .950 OPS again? Is Soto going to put up an .870 OPS again? Is Ramirez going to come back tomorrow and start mashing again? This is not 2008. It's 2009. This is a completely different team. Also stop comparing them to the 2004 Cardinals. It's pointless. That team was way better.

i think he already was a day or 2 ago

and then frenchy wonders why he sucks so bad

But I'm saying that I don't think there is any miconception about Dunn. The only time I've ever heard anything about him not wanting to win was when Ricciardi said it.

Branyan seems like one of those guys who gets hot, becomes trade bait, and then goes back to being like a .780 OPS guy as soon as he gets traded. I'd only want him if he were really cheap.

how? that team won 89 games and had a lot of things to like. what is there to be excited about this season? randy wells? fukudome? neat.

He didn't have to bring up at all that he slacked off some last year. The fact that he brought it up and then said what he did about the Cubs leads me to believe he's sincere. I think it's more comparable to a person with sick days calling into work when they are legitimately sick but could still work if they had to. I dont know, to me the cubs would have been better off with Adam Dunn. Bradley is much to fragile and or doesnt have the right character for this team. Sure he brings fire but he also brings that of someone who slacks off when he isint feeling great. Thats not what any team needs Dunn's been accused of not caring in the past as well, keep in mind. lol are people still acting like that BS remark from ricciardi actually meant something? jesus not to mention that the "so and so doesn't really care about winning" argument is dumb, especially when talking about proven players. yeah, dunn doesn't care all the way to a .900 OPS for 150+ games every season

i usually don't like to speculate about roids when there's no evidence at all, but it's to deny that he's a prime candidate. i just don't understand how he could have let himself get fat again after he attributed to much of his recent success to shedding the weight. it makes me think about how you sometimes gain weight when you come off steroids.

I don't agree with that. Bradley hasn't shown anything to me that makes me think he doesn't care and if he's not hitting because he doesn't care, I have to ask why he hit so well the past few years. Mostly because of Arlington Without getting into another debate on Bradley's production potential, he's had OPS+s over .900 outside of Arlington. .923 in Cleveland and .947 between Oakland and San Diego. He can do it, and the wind blowing out of Wrigley in the summer can only help. i never said he couldn't do it. i said arlington is the main reason his stats were so juiced up last year. he had like an .870 OPS on the road. not saying that's bad or anything.

Which is why it's comical when people defended the Bradley signing by saying "well it's only 30 mil guaranteed if he stays healthy." yeah, not really.

over/under- 50% chance that soto was juicing the last 2 years?