SI: Diamondbacks, Cardinals Interested in Jason Bay

by Charlie on Jul 11, 2008 9:41 PM EDT Comment 6 comments

Thanks to Basmati, who caught this:

"There's been a great amount of interest in a couple of our right-handed hitters,'' Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said on Thursday, apparently referring to Bay and Nady...

The value of both Bay and Nady, who is hitting .321 with 12 home runs and 55 RBIs, is enhanced by the fact both are contracted beyond this year and thus more than just "rental'' players...

One N.L. executive said he heard that Pittsburgh sought multiple upper-echelon prospects, exactly the sort teams don't like to trade. However, execs say it's understandable considering the recent performance of the pair.

The Pirates are believed to be seeking Arizona's top prospect Emilio Bonifacio, a second baseman, in a package. The Diamondbacks are reluctant to deal Bonifacio since Orlando Hudson may leave as a free agent after the year. From the Cardinals, who'd surely like to match the trades of Milwaukee (CC Sabathia) and the Cubs (Rich Harden), the likely target is top center field prospect Colby Rasmus, who's thought to be untouchable.

SI hasn't done much original reporting on prospective Pirates trades recently, and these rumors are strange ones indeed, so this article should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

Bonifacio is not the Diamondbacks' top prospect--just off the top of my head, Max Scherzer and Jarrod Parker are far beter regarded--and the best you can say about Bonifacio is that he runs fast and plays good defense. He's not much of a hitter and he has no power at all. It's unclear to me why the Pirates would be asking for him, or why the Diamondbacks would refuse to part with him.

Rasmus is a very good prospect, and there'd be a certain amount of appeal to trading with the Cardinals, who (as the writer notes) may be feeling some pressure to improve after recent trades by the Brewers and Cubs, but I doubt the Cardinals would trade him. After that, there isn't a lot of high-level talent in the Cardinals' system. Probably the closest they've got is catcher Bryan Anderson, a 21-year-old AAA catcher, who's having a great year, but he doesn't hit for power or draw many walks.

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Pirates trade desires

Have their been any articles about what the Pirates like in the Rays’ farm system? (Other than David Price.)

Do they like Ruggiano as a corner OF replacement for Bay? Do they like Reid Brignac as Jack Wilson’s replacement? Which of the non-Price pitching prospects do they like the most?

Also, how much do they value Damaso Marte? Would he come paired with Bay for not much extra?

by Sky Kalkman on Jul 13, 2008 6:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

pirate management has been silent on their trade desires and i don’t believe i’ve heard the specific name of any trade target since the season started. the last i remember hearing was that they’d expressed interest in chase headley during spring training. they’re a tight lipped bunch.

i don’t know about neal huntington but i’m not sold on brignac. obviously we’d take david price in a heartbeat as well as just about any of the rays’ top pitching prospects. others on this blog know the rays’ system much better than i do.

damaso marte is the top left handed relief pitcher on the market. as one of the few things management has openly stated, his value is compounded by the fact that as a type a free agent, they can just hold him for compensatory picks in next year’s draft. he’s no throw-in and he won’t come cheap.

by johnnycuff on Jul 13, 2008 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, johnny.

Brian Fuentes might have something to say about Marte being the best left-hander available in trade, though.

If Jason Bay is an 8 out of 10 on the “should demand hot prospects” scale, where do the Pirates (or their fans) put Xavier nady? Where would you put Holliday?

by Sky Kalkman on Jul 14, 2008 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

fuentes is good, but marte is better. though i’m occasionally guilty of it, i don’t see that as homer-ism this time. marte will command more in a trade if he is traded at all instead of held for draft picks.

nady would come in below bay on the scale (maybe a 6) mainly because of his injury history and because he’s a boras client. he’s always hit lefties well and his numbers against right handed pitchers have been good in the last season and a half but aren’t in line with his historical production. this is most likely his career season. he’s still eligible for arbitration after this year, which would make him a decent addition to the rays if they’re going to go for it all this year, which i think they should.

i would put the order holliday, bay and nady. holliday has dramatic home/road splits but bay is two years older. bay’s arm in left field is well below average and unacceptable for right field. he also has documented knee problems which have been blamed for his awful season last year. neither he or nady are above average fielders and both would benefit from spending at least part time as a DH to prevent injuries.

in an earlier post on this blog (link), geeves raised the following tampa pitchers as potential trade targets:

Mitch Talbot
Jeff Niemann
J.P. Howell
Jeff Hammel
Richard De Los Santos

can you tell us anything about them and/or tampa management’s stance on trading them?

by johnnycuff on Jul 14, 2008 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i'm no help on relative value of those guys

feel free to head on over to DRaysBay and ask, though. well, Howell and Niemann are probably the top two guys and the Rays would probably give you Hammel for free.

I agree that Holliday is the best player of the three, but with the extra year under contract for Bay and Nady, I’d rank Bay as the best trade target, then maybe Nady slightly ahead of Holliday.

If you look at the outfield arm ratings from The Hardball Times (just go to any outfielder’s player page), Bay comes out as average, while Holliday and Nady are both about -5 runs per season. In the field (ignoring arm), Nady and Bay rate about average by the advanced fielding metrics, while Holliday’s in the +5 to +10 runs range.

I agree Holliday gets a huge bonus from playing in Coors and deserves a large penalty when assessing his true talent, but quoting home/road splits is not the way to account for that.

by Sky Kalkman on Jul 16, 2008 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs