Trade Notes

Well…

Pretty much what one should have expected.  Nothing to get overly excited over, or overly upset about.  Brad Lincoln might be a future closer, but Travis Snider still has more potential upside.  Which is precisely Neal Huntington’s MO.  The kid young man is only 24 years of age and is in his 3rd MLB season.  The Bucs were desperate for a more consistent hitter with power.  Is Snider consistent?  Better than Casey McGehee even if that isn’t saying much.  As consistent as Alex Presley, but with more power.  Presley and Snider both rake AAA hitting, so both still have potential to be very solid contributors going forward.  

The Snider pick-up also gives them a potential solid OF for the next three years since the Bucs will have control for that long.  With Garrett Jones moving to 1B, it allowed them to dump Casey McGehee.  Gaby Sanchez was picked up for the now irrelevant Gorkys Hernandez, giving them more power off the bench than they had previously.  This provides enough depth that should Starling Marte fall flat, they can pick up the pieces.  Should Marte not fall flat, the future building blocks are in place for next season.

As for this season, everything hinges on the pitching.  Anymore performances from Erik Bedard and James McDonald like the last two, not only will the playoffs be a pipe dream, a .500 record will be in jeopardy.  Wandy Rodriguez upgraded the staff, and I feel pretty safe that the dreaded sub-.500 streak will end.  But, I’m not confident about making the playoffs.  

Overall, I am pleased with how the trades ended up.  The Pirates are a better team this season, and next season, now than what they were a week ago.