In the justified euphoria of the Buccos hot start, and God knows I don't want to rain on that parade, the team quietly announced that they have released pitcher Craig Hansen today. Hansen was one of the boatload of players obtained by the Bucs in the 2008 trade of Jason Bay.
If I am not mistaken, I believe that this leaves Bryan Morris as the last man standing to try to salvage something, anything, from GM Neal's biggest trade involving the best player that he inherited when he became GM. Morris will be a part of the Indianapolis starting rotation this season, and I am sure that Neal will be rolling his rosary beads every time Morris takes the bump in Indy. If Morris washes out, the Bay deal becomes a complete and total 100% bust.
Correction: Morris will be starting in Double-A Altoona this year, not Triple-A Indy.
ReplyDeleteDK posts on the PG+ site that the Bay trade is the worst Pirate trade since the Aramis Ramirez trade to the Cubs.
Which one do you rate as the worst? Or, do you have another nominee?
Now looking back 2 1/2 years later, it may be a blessing to be rid of Jason Bay no matter what the return. He'll be 33 this year, and now constant injuries limited him to 6 HR in 2010 and he starts 2011 on the DL. And under his current contract, if the Pirates resigned him for this, they would have had to pay him $18,125,000 this year! That's 18 as in MILLION per year for what is looking more and more like a broken down player on the downside. But that's the Mets problem now, not the Pirates. And for trades that don't work out there are those that do. I guess "DK" wanted to keep the negative spin on what was basically a Neal bashing column and not give the GM any props for the Xavier Nady trade made that same summer. That one brough back Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorg, Jeff Karstens and Daniel McCutcheon. And oh by the way, Nady has hit a grand total of 6 HR's in his 2 + years after leaving Pittsburgh. But no one want to remember that one. Just sayin'.....
ReplyDeleteDave, I will and have given NH full props for the Nady deal. Tabata alone makes that one a steal. And what has happened to Bay since the trade is, almost, irrelevant. At the time, Bay was an all-star caliber player that should have received a better return than what to this point has been just about nothing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is good that we keep giving NH credit for the Nady-Tabata et. al. deal, since some of his others haven't been too hot either. We got nothing for Jack Wilson, but that wasn't a trade so much as pure salary dump. Nate McLouth is showing himself to have been a one-hit wonder, so maybe we NH got what he deserved on that one, and Charlie Morton still has a chance to make that a good deal.
Well, the Andrew Lambo & James McDonald return for Octavio Dotel at the deadline last year looks pretty good right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd with the Bay trade, I understand the point about what you want to get for Bay at that time, and everyone would agree it didn't work. But at the time of the trade Andy LaRoche was rated as a MLB top 30 prospect by Baseball America. The fact that he didn't pan out would have been hard to predict for any GM at that time, but of course easy to be critical of now. And who could predict Hanson would have some crazy medical problem develop with his neck? Some things just happen that are out of your control.
And as we know, sometimes trades are best evaluated years down the road. The 24 year old Bryan Morris seems to be on track and is still thought of as a good prospect. I know at this point in time if the Mets offered the Pirates Bay straight up for Morris, (the last man standing from that deal), I wouldn't make that trade if I'm the Bucs.
I just think Neal gets more of a bad rap than is deserved.
Ok let's not get all gooey bout Neal. While we really got rid of nothing, it is not what you give up in the deal, but what you receive. Neal seems to forget this. He always deflect us away from what he received. Rather he tells us time and time again we got rid of nothing. Whether Bay has done something or not is not the point. He got nothing in return. Nothing. Morris supposedly one of our top prospects is still in AA. He is 24 years old now. By the time he makes it to the Pirates, (if he ever does), he will be at least 26. I understand about not wanting to rush players up. But if the Bucs had Pujols and Mig. Cabrera they wouldn't have made it to the majors til they were 26. Sometimes you just got to take a chance. I will give him credit for the Nady trade. Tabata alone is worth it. Ohlendorf is nothing. Karstens while he busts his butt, never seems to be in the Buc's plans every year. But he somehow ends up their best pitcher. Which pretty much says it all. McCutcheon is also a nothing. So Neal, quit telling us how you got rid of crap, and tell us truthfully what we received.
ReplyDelete