Yes, I am on twitter.
The first major in-season trade was completed on Wednesday with Nate McLouth going from Pittsburgh to Atlanta for three prospects: centerfielder Gorkys Hernandez, and starters Charlie Morton, a righty, and Jeff Locke, a lefty. Here is our 3 UP thoughts on this:
1. In less than a calendar year, the Pirates have traded a starting outfield — and a pretty good one of McLouth, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady — for 10 prospects. That haul is going to say everything about the administration of GM Neal Huntington/Team President Frank Coonelly. All of these trades, however, feel mostly like what one AL executive called “volume deals;” trades made to stock organizational depth more than to add difference makers.
I understand this to some degree since the current Pirate administration took over such a bare cupboard of talent up and down the system. However, the Pirates are in the midst of putting together a record 17th straight losing season. I wonder if a team with McLouth, Bay and Nady plus a rotation fronted by Zach Duke and Paul Maholm might have been able to contend in 2009 in the tepid NL Central.
Also, McLouth signed a three-year $15.75 million deal in February. What is the message that the Pirates are sending to their players: We will make you feel like a core guy in February and then trade you in June. And this is what an AL executive said: “McLouth is a very good player who is 27 years old and has a very reasonable contract. A very good player in his prime who is locked up, isn’t that what small-market teams are looking for?”
Also, another AL official whose team would consider a bat said he does not believe McLouth was shopped, which – if accurate – means that the Pirates took one of their best assets and heard an offer from one team so too their liking that they never shopped to see if they could get better than that.
2. We are in a period in baseball history in which teams protect prospects more than ever for a variety of reasons, including cost certainty and the fear that stricter drug testing means the value of younger players over older players is greater than ever. But the Braves have shown a greater willingness to trade prospects than any organization. They most notably gave up five prospects for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay, a deal that for the Rangers is akin to what the Herschel Walker trade was for the Cowboys because it has so helped Texas with high-level organizational talent. Atlanta used four more prospects to obtain Javier Vazquez in the offseason. And now the Braves gave up three more pieces here.
Rival executives say the Braves have a long-time philosophy of deciding the best of their best prospects they think will play in Atlanta and make all others available for what will help the big team win. That strategy only works because over the long haul Atlanta has done such a strong job of bringing young talent into the organization.
There are some organizations that think very highly of Hernandez as an outfield prospect and some that do not value him quite so much. But Atlanta had Jason Heyward (one of the top outfield prospects in baseball) plus Jordan Schafer, which enabled the Braves to use Hernandez to get a still young player (McLouth) to address a desperate need. Atlanta’s outfield has been among the least productive in the majors, in part because Schafer proved not yet ready for primetime.
The Braves also saw the ability to make two young pitchers available because they restocked their rotation in the offseason with the additions of Vazquez, Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami. Plus in Tommy Hanson they have, perhaps, the majors’ best pitching prospect ready any time. And from talking to manager Bobby Cox, I know how much he likes prospect Kris Medlen, who is currently in the rotation.
On the same day they obtained McLouth, the Braves released organizational icon Tommy Glavine, in part to save the $1 million he would have received by being put on the 25-man roster. It was the kind of cold-hearted move that says Atlanta is going for it now after missing the playoffs three years in a row.
3. The Mets desperately need to add an outfield/first base type – at least as badly as Atlanta did – so the first significant salvo in the NL East has been fired by the Braves. Now I wonder if this is the finger out of the dike unleashing a gush of trades and, specifically, forces the Mets to counter the move.
However, with that being said I should admit that I do not like McLouth as a player nearly as much as his general perception around the game. In specific he won a Gold Glove last year, but whenever I saw him play I always felt he was taking questionable routes to the ball. Also, I am always worried about a player who has known nothing but a losing culture being asked to quickly switch into meaningful games. Some players are elevated by that challenge (think Bay with the Red Sox), but some players are cowed by the pressures. I don’t know enough about McLouth to even offer a hit.
That being said he has good control of the strike zone, some impact ability with his bat, throws well and runs well, and that makes him a significant upgrade for Atlanta at a time when the NL East is in play.
