Pirates send Blake Taylor to Mets in Ike Davis deal

The Pirates have traded pitcher Blake Taylor to the Mets as the PTBNL in the Ike Davis deal. Taylor was the Pirates' second-round pick last year.

The PTBNL had been reported to be a 2013 draftee, which made sense, because you're not allowed to trade players for a year after you draft them. Losing Taylor hurts a bit and pretty much represents a worst-case scenario given that the player to be named wasn't going to be Austin Meadows or Reese McGuire. Still, the Pirates only gave up an interesting 18-year-old prospect and a minor-league reliever for a starting first baseman, and that's fine.

Taylor pitched 21 innings in the GCL last year, striking out 13 and walking nine. That doesn't mean much, though, given his age. We probably won't get much of a sense of whether he's a prospect for another couple years.