Pirates Acquire Jason Michaels

Well, I guess I was wrong about Kevin Thompson. The Pirates have traded a player to be named to the Indians for outfielder Jason Michaels. Thunder actually predicted this a few days ago in a comment thread.

I've spent the past few days wishing the Pirates would send Nyjer Morgan down and add a couple of real hitters to their bench. Michaels doesn't qualify, I'm afraid; he was once a solid, undervalued contributor for the Phillies, but he hasn't done much of anything with the Indians the past few years. He draws fewer walks and hits for less average than he used to, and he's never had much power. This year he's hit .207/.258/.276 in 58 at bats. If he had done that for the Pirates, he'd have been adding to the stink emanating from the Bucs' bench. He's probably better than he's showed so far, but he's still more like unwashed socks than a can of Lysol. I'd rather have Thompson, frankly, but the article reports that he's suffering from "wrist soreness."

The Pirates aren't saying how much of Michaels' contract they're taking on, but it presumably isn't a whole lot, and I'm sure the PTBNL isn't a prospect. Still, this move probably has as much to do with Neal Huntington's Cleveland connections as with Michaels' ability.