-P- The Post-Gazette reports that Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche were both hurt today. Both have back spasms (weird--did they both take Greyhound to the game or something?). Sanchez's don't appear to be serious, but LaRoche "[struggled] to tie his shoes" after the game."
-P- Daniel McCutchen made his Indianapolis Indians debut today against Syracuse. He allowed four earned runs in six innings, striking out three and walking two. (Incidentally, Jonah Bayliss earned the save for Syracuse.)
-P- Via Primer, another reaction to the trade:
"For Pittsburgh, it's not a great trade talent-wise, but I like what it represents," an AL executive said. "A lot rides on Tabata, who is a tool shed. Although there are concerns about his health, power and perhaps his makeup, he has the potential to be an impact player at a premium position by the time the Pirates should be competing again... [I]t is precisely the type of deal the Pirates should be making: That is, one that exchanges impending free agents for potentially premier talent that is more suited to their time horizon. It is also the type of deal that the Pittsburgh club had not been making in recent years, despite it being in its best interest."
Agreed there, but much of the rest of the article is negative, with one farm director going so far as to call Tabata a "bum." (The article does say some nice things about Ohlendorf and Daniel McCutchen.)
Incidentally, I'm always amused by stuff like this:
An AL personnel head said, "Tabata is the wild card in this trade. He has a big offensive upside, but... my biggest worry of all is that the Yankees know him best of all and traded him. That willingness says something to me."
By that logic, the Pirates can never win a trade. Never mind that in the past decade the Yankees have traded all kinds of relatively unproven players who turned out to be useful, including Mike Lowell, Jake Westbrook, Ted Lilly, Marcus Thames, Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera, Jose Contreras and Dioner Navarro. The Yankees' trade record isn't bad, but it's certainly not spotless. They'll trade talented players in order to get guys who can help them win sooner. They do it all the time.
But yeah, any player who has a bad season in Class AA at age 19 is a bum, and the Pirates took a "bag of [bleep]." I know the Post is basically a tabloid and that its writer probably specifically went looking for quotes like these, but this still annoys me.