The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken alot heat when they
have traded theirs "stars" the last few years, and
much of that is without question deserved, but when
you take a look at these two trades, the only argument
you can against their decision to make the trades is
the garbage they got in return, not the players they
gave up in the trade.
Bryan Morris, Andy LaRoche, Craig Hansen and Brandon
Moss are the player received for Jason Bay on Jul 31st
in 2008 when they made a trade with the Red Sox, and
though there is no question Bay flourished for about
a year and a half, the Red Sox were fine with letting
him get a max contract elsewhere. That elsewhere turned
to be with the New York Mets, and though Bay is a great
team mate and pro by everyone's account, right now the
Mets couldn't get a tub of Bazooka bubblegum for him if
they tried. He's costing them an eight figure salary
and in his time in New York he has put together a .235
batting average with 31 Hr's and 118 Rbi's. If you were
to cut that up into a 162 game season it would work out
to 19 Hr's and 71 Rbi's with that stellar .235 batting
average. At $16Mil a year for 2012, it's fair to say
he's way overpriced and the Pirates are ahead of the
game on this one. The players they received may have
performed poorly, but they were paid that way too.
The other trade the Pirates took heat for was when the
Braves gave Pittsburgh outfielder Gorkys Hernandez,
one of its top prospects, along with pitchers Charlie
Morton and Jeff Locke on June 3rd 2009 for Nate McLouth.
Needless to say that trade did nothing for the Pirates
other than to incense their fans. I once again can't
blame the fans for feeling that way, but 3 years later
I think it's safe to say that McLouth was a McBust for
the Braves and the Pirates once again got away with
one. The Pirates even got Mclouth back, and got rid
of him again he was so bad after he left the 1st time.
The Pirates may have gotten lucky with these two, but
as Lefty Gomez once said "it's better to be lucky than
good". Now the Pirates need to get that "Good" part
together and their fans might forgive them for twenty
years of futility.
Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis
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