Mocking the Bucs. “They are down to seven players.” Cubs “feasting on the carcass that is the Pirates.” Geez, I mean I try not to get worked up over the national media, but could they at least analyze the deal and give an informed opinion rather than taking pot shots?

bit of a meh trade… dont really know what to expect… we wont know who got the better part in this one, and maybe we’ll never know… could turn out “meh” on both sides… but gorzo has very significant upside, enough to be #2-3 SP, and has shown it in the majors!

grabow will help the cubs immediately… maybe they had to throw in gorzo to get anything significant back!

NH hasnt been v high on gorzo, for the most part, not sure why. I realli liked Gorzo, though I have no talent evaluating ability (sort of liked him like the yinzers loved jack and freddy- he pitched the first ballgame i went to see ever, lost 2-1 to the astros in 07)

@kingclip After you tweeted that I was told Jackson was “untouchable.”

Then it’s a good trade.

I’ll buy that, at this point in time, Hart = Gorzo – I think their most likely paths (6 years as a 4-5 guy, 3 years as a 3-4 guy) are about equal in value.

Harrison is a warm body – I refuse to get excited about an A-ball player unless he’s got a serious pedigree.

So it hinges on Ascanio. Although if Gorzo comes around and becomes a #2 starter for the next 3 years (beating us 3X a year), I think it’s hard to call it a win regardless.

But the Cubs wouldn’t give him to us….I mean come on here.

It should be interesting to see who gets bumped from the organization to make room for all of the new guys. Maybe the Pirates should start another Single A and Double A farm team.
Anyone remeber the good old days when there were B,C and D level farm teams?

Seriously, someome ought to start a list of players released to make room for these dudes. Might be interesting to see if any get picked up by other teams. Revisit the list in a few years. That is the other side of the coin. Looks like State College will be stacked, and the Pirates haven’t even finished up the draft signings.

I’m not even so worried about being in contention this yr or that. I’m just looking at getting better from game to game from this point on. I think Neil finally has this organization (at least in terms of solid depth w/ upside) where it needs to be…now its up to the players from Low-A to the big league club to play like they seem capable of and prove all the naysayers wrong and NH’s plan right!!! The next person I hear say “They’ll just trade McCutchen when he gets good too…” I’m seriously gonna throttle.

Odds he is our closer two years from now? I gotta assume they are about 30% from here.

Enjoy Harrison. I was hoping he wouldn’t be included, but there was obviously going to be a middle infielder. He should hit for you. I hope he is productive for you.

Hart should do well getting the ball every fifth day. Ascanio is a good enough reliever. I will miss Harrison, though.

we needed another position player.

Indy’s announcer reports that Milledge is definitely on his way to Pittsburgh. Clement expected to report to Indy tomorrow.

http://indyindians.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/07/good_morningmore_moves_coming.html

Here’s a write-up on Harrison after the Cubs drafted him last year….

- Josh Harrison is not necessarily a late round pick or a tough signing in all likelihood, but undoubtedly a smart pick. The college second baseman was impressive in the Cape Cod League, showing the ability to hit with the wood bat and play stellar defense, drawing comparisons to Eric Young along the way.

on the moves Huntington has made over at Baseball Prospectus (subscription required):

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9315#30601

Money quote:

Neal Huntington has executed a tear-down of a condemned franchise and started over at the bottom, making the kind of bloodless transactions that his predecessors never did. As all GMs are, Huntington will be judge by what goes up in its place, but make no mistake about this: He did his job. Huntington was hired to do exactly what he’s done, reboot a baseball team that had been in fail mode since the winter of 1992. Whatever you think of the plan, you can’t argue that he executed it wholeheartedly, and that alone puts the Pirates ahead of a third of MLB teams.

i love the uproar coming from some of the pirates blogs about trading gorzo. on even likened it to the A-ram deal in ’03.

I think you guys are getting a solid position player down the road in Harrison. I, for one, think he will be a solid 2B in maybe 2 years with you. Hart has good stuff but, like many pitchers, his strike zone moves all over and he isn’t someone who can overcome wildness with his stuff. Ascenio can bring it. He has had a tough time in the Cubs pen this first time moving between AAA and Chicago. Next year he should be a solid reliever with the added maturity of experience.

Can anyone tell me about the current velocity of both Grabow and Gorzelanny? I hear Gorz speed is picking up at Indy, but haven’t heard any real numbers. What does he top out at? What about Grabow? His WHIP is too high but do your people think he’ll be a quality loogy. Thanks for any input.

Boy, I wish! :-)

grabow? why do we need him right now? he was the set-up to capps, but guess what! you have to actually be ahead in a game to have a set-up man and a closer! and gorzo hasnt been good since 07 and probablly wont be again. i like hart he should take VV’s spot in the rotation next time he is scheduled to start. i think harrison is the best prospect we got. those numbers seem solid. i haveto say another trade that makes sense i just cant believe it .

anyone hear that Dave Littlefield is a special advisor to cub’s GM. i think that is a pretty good indication that this is a good deal for the pirates and a bad one for us. I mean its almost a proven fact that any trade littlefield thinks is good for his team is always better for the other team involve.

how you guys have never seen any of these prospects we’ve received this year play and yet seem to be experts as to where they rank. It amuses me to no end.

I love the deal for the Cubs, but it’s not bad for you guys, IMO. Decent. I’ve been a NH fan so far (I don’t think he’s had the best chips to work with and he’s made solid deals with what he’s had … perhaps not home runs, but solid). That said, for you guys, I think this is the iffiest deal so far.

What you probably got was two pen arms, a decent middle relief/long man/spot starter type (rubber arm guy) in Kevin Hart. He’s had problems finding his stuff the last couple of seasons, needing to be stretched out as a starter in the minors before finding a rhythm. He needs innings.

Ascanio has good raw stuff and the report has been quite good this year. Some control problems in the past crept up while in the bigs, but that said, he didn’t get that much work in the bigs. He’s done well as a starter in the minors this year, and he has a starter’s arsenal (fast/change, coupled with a curve that’s gotten better and a slider). I’m not sure he’s anything more than a mid-end of the rotation guy as a starter, and he has to iron out his control and improve the curve a bit more. As a pen arm, he has the potential to be a 7th/8th inning type, borderline closer type if things go right for him.

Harrison is a bit like … well … a better Jim Negrych perhaps. From a Cubs perspective, I always say, a dash of Mike Fontenot (little guy with some pop), with a bit of Sam Fuld’s speed (good speed, not great), and some Mark DeRosa versatility. Harrison had good reports on his baseball IQ. Problem is … what position? Cubs were basically grooming him as a utility guy, and we were grooming other guys similar to him, so it was no loss to us. Best case is Harrison sticks at 2nd and develops into a solid 2 hole hitter, a guy who moves the runner over, gets on base, can steal a couple bags, and has enough pop to make sure teams don’t get lazy.

Is it an awesome package? No. That said … Huntington hasn’t exactly had great chips to play with. In this case, Grabow wasn’t exactly dominating lefties, and Gorzelanny was in the minors. Not a bad return for the value, although out of all of NH’s trades so far, I think I don’t like this one because I wonder if he could’ve moved them later.

hard to tell with all the trade posts, but Millege is making trip to Pittsburgh for tomorrows game. Millege, Cutch, Jones….aka Snap, Crackle, Pop

Gorzo is in the Cubs rotation in 2 weeks…when becoming a “Super Two” is no longer an issue.

Trading Gorzo was the smartest move Neil has made.

I really don’t like this trade I feel like we was jus dealing to be dealing on this one, I don’t see how we benifited from this one, I’d rather have gorzo and the comp picks but I still like all of nh moves so far and I hope he proves me wrong on this one

Not that Grabow’s the hottest pitcher in the world or anything, but it just seems crazy to me that he could sit idle (and the Pirates would be vigilant about any wink-wink MiL contracts) for almost half the season just to protect future draft picks.

I mean, I understand the logic of protecting the picks, but, whatever value you place on Grabow, you’re giving up half a season of him for some pretty far down the road considerations (that aren’t free anyway).

That said, if this becomes a trend, expect a change in the bargaining agreement ASAP. MLBPA is not going to stand for its members sitting unemployed to protect management.