Daniel McCutchen, Jeff Karstens Added to Deal; Steve Pearce Coming Up

on pirates.com…40 man roster only lists 39. Dejan figured out who is missing…it’s Nyjer Morgan. Maybe another trade behind this one??? Or just a clerical error?

Ross Ohlendorf, not Russ.

Morgan’s agent thinks something is up. Morgan is off the 40-man roster. That does not necessarily mean a trade. It could mean the Pirates want to add another of these new pitchers to the 40-man and, ultimately, the 25-man. To repeat, Ohlendorf and Karstens already are on the 40-man. Daniel McCutchen would have to be added.

I`ve got a good place for Nyjer: Send Mr. Excitement to play CF at Altoona if he clears waivers because Duffy can`t stay on the field.

Dejan said it was a clerical error:

The Pirates confirm - emphatically - that nothing is up with Morgan. Just a clerical error. Apparently, one site’s error spreads to the next in the MLB Advanced Media system.

I sure am relieved to know that everything has been figured out about Nyjer`s status on the 40-man roster. We wouldn`t want to have a Larry Doughty moment and just leave him hanging out there for another team to claim.

“Officially, the Pirates have a trade in place to send Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to some team for some players. (Today)”

http://www.post-gazette.com/pirates/

I don`t know that it`s my place to do it, but since Charlie is so busy, I`d like to remind you that if you quote Dejan`s material, you need to at least use some quotation marks or something that clearly identifies the parts you have copied from the PG blog.

I remember Charlie being very clear about this after some problems with another poster last year.

Sorry about that … not trying to get anyone in trouble.

Low-upside, low-upside, low-upside, and Tabata. What the hell happened to the notion that the PBC could “get whatever they want” for Marte, as an unnamed GM said the other day? I thought the first iteration was fair, the switch downgraded two of the pieces we got.

The Indians sent Casey Blake AND CASH to the Dodgers for Meloan, a AAA pitcher who looks meh, and Carlos “Caravanserai” Santana, A-ball terror who looks like he might be the real deal but of course is till three levels away from proving anything.

My only point is, Blake’s a fairly good player and the Indians still had to throw in money to get this done.

Not thrilled, but OK. NH built this around one “bigtime” prospect and the pitching depth we are desperate for. I’m not a fan of Tabata as the “bigtime” prospect. Its hard to be excited about him with his injury history (wrist, hamstring) and attitude problems.

However, I actually do feel pretty good about the pitchers. Yes, they are old for prospects. I know these are minor league stats, but McCutchen has a 110K/29BB ratio in 120.1 IPs and Karstens has a 55K/15BB ratio in 68.2IPs. Considering our staff will walk anyone with a bat, these guys have to be an improvement. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

One of these guys, most likely McCutchen, could immediately be our second best starter.

From yahoo sports:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors;_ylt=AgRpaX5TOVm1IGS1A.z_YYyFCLcF

“The New York Mets have narrowed their trade focus to acquiring a corner outfielder, and one team insider expressed optimism that Cleveland’s Casey Blake, Seattle’s Raul Ibanez or Pittsburgh’s Jason Bay could be obtained next week. “

“The belief is that those teams’ demands, currently exorbitant, will relax as Thursday’s trading deadline approaches. GM Omar Minaya wouldn’t discuss individual players, but acknowledged the organization has started to focus on particular targets. The Pirates’ trade of Xavier Nady Friday night might change Pittsburgh’s plans about trading Bay”

I don’t see the Buc’s relaxing their demands much, but maybe they did on the Nady/Marte trade somewhat. I suspect the Braves have more to offer the Bucs than the Mets, but the Mets management is more likely to make the crazy moves, ala the Dodgers.

While I think Jason Bay is the best player since Giles and I could see management building a team around him and moving him to first, now is the best time to send him along and get the most for him. There are only a few more good bats available to be had and he is the cheapest of them and most available for prospects. Though trading with the Braves again scares me after LaRoche, at least he plays half a year where Gonzalez can’t seem to stay on the field for a whole seaon at all.

barely missed making the olympic team. But now that Rasmus is out for the tournament, isn’t it possible that McCutcheon will be added to the squad?

Obviously, that would have an impact on the recent and coming decision making.

Good day.

The Pirates end up 1 prospect short in this deal. Kennedy needed to be in this deal to make it even. Marte is worth more to the Yanks than other teams as they will pick up his option without a second thought. So they get 1+ years of both players. Nady was performing as a top 5 NL outfielder both offensively & defensively & Marte was arguably the best lefty reliever out there. After looking at a somewhat compareable deal from last year, consider this. Last year the Rangers traded Texiera & LH reliever Mahay for Atlanta’s #1,2,3, 14th & 18th prospects(per BA – in order of rank: ages 22, 18, 19, 18 & 20 at the time). Lots of upside for the Rangers in that deal. I’m not putting Nady on the same level as Texiera, however it should be noted that Marte is younger than Mahay w/ better career numbers & an option while Mahay was headed towards FA. Texiera obviously has better power numbers overall vs Nady, hitters ball park or not. However, since Nady has been given the opportunity to play vs. rts & lfts he has held his own & his splits are pretty even despite a park designed for lefties. Again, Nady isn’t the same player as Texiera, but would NY’s #3,4 & 9th best prospects (per BA) along with Karstens be a stretch in comparison? Huntington didn’t maximize the return as there are fewer bats on the market this year vs. LY. Tabata has a lot of baggage & there is little upside as all 3 pitchers will be 26 in Spring training next year. So much for selling high. The return should have substituted Kennedy for McCutchen giving the Bucs a 23 year old starter with upside. Cashman out GM’d Huntington here by flexing his financial muscle, getting the Bucs 2 most tradeable assets in the same deal & giving up only 1 high risk high reward player with three 25 year old pitchers not likely to see significant time with the Yanks. What GM wouldn’t make that trade?

I think you overvalue Nady and Marte, though, especially with concern to Nady`s OF defense. Also, Marte was one of the top lefty relievers on the market, but he is not THAT good.

I think people are going a little far with this constant emphasis on the fact that the three pitchers we got are in their mid-20s, and not early-20s. We know we are getting 3 guys who will be pitching in PNC Park soon. I`m not particularly enthused about Karstens, and I think everyone would`ve liked to see Kennedy in a Pirate uniform, but it didn`t happen.

We have improved our pitching depth on the 40-man roster-how much remains to be seen. Huntington inherited a situation with a farm system devoid of pitching talent, and then had to watch as a couple starters that he was counting on-Gorzo and Snell-imploded.

You can`t even attempt to win most games with crap like JVB, Herrera and some of the others we`ve put on the mound as starters, and our bullpen depth is not there, either.

Hopefully the three new guys will help us the next couple of years to improve our overall pitching situation, but this is only a start. We need to find a way to get a few more major-league ready, quality arms onto the roster before next season.

Lincoln is the only talented starter that I can see in the minors now, and even if we sign Scheppers out of this draft, he will take time to develop, too. And there is always the injury factor with pitching to take into account.

I’ve never heard the voices here applauding “depth” the way they are right now. It’s true, but it’s a depth of JAGs as far as I can see.

Also, regarding some of the knocks on pundits who are calling it a steal or great trade for the Yankees, well, it was. Our perspective should be our return for the two players given, without factoring who they were given to. Their perspective should be the same—the Yankees made a great trade, period. We won’t know for years whether they gave up a single player of consequence to them. The pitchers they gave are nothing to their org.

My hunch is we’ll find out pretty soon that they’re nothing to ours either.