The Deadline Deals

More than a month has passed since the July 31 trade deadline in Major League Baseball.  Neal Huntington was criticized in some quarters for not giving up some of his prized prospects in order to obtain such big name and expensive players like Cole Hamels or David Price.  Instead, the critics said, the Pirates clung to their penny-pinching, dumpster-diving ways.

So how have the five players that Huntington procured done?  Here are the numbers, through the games of September 9:

HITTER	At Bats	Runs	HR	RBI	BA	OPS
Aramis Ramirez	136	12	5	26	0.250	0.716
Michael Morse	41	4	0	0	0.317	0.830
PITCHER	Games	IP	W-L	SAVES	ERA	K	BB
Joe Blanton	11	21.1	3-0	0	0.84	25	6
J.A. Happ	7	40.1	5-1	0	1.79	42	7
Joakim Soria	17	15.0	0-0	1	3.60	14	6

For comparison purposes, the three biggest name pitchers that were moved at the deadline have performed as follows:

David Price 5-1, 2.15 ERA

Johnny Cueto  2-5, 4.86 ERA

Cole Hamels 3-1, 4.07

Yeah, it would be nice to have David Price in a Pirates uniform, but Happ has done just as well, and at a much cheaper price.

As far as Ramirez is concerned, I wrote the following in The Grandstander last July when the trade was made:

Finally, there is the delicious karma of Ramirez coming BACK to the Pirates in the midst of a pennant race.  No need to recount the painful circumstances of the horrendous salary dump deal in 2003 when Kevin McClatchey forced Dave Littlefield to get rid of perhaps the team's best player and brightest young star in years for a collection of used jock straps and batting practice baseballs.  (Someday, I hope Dave Littlefield will write a book and explain HIS side of that awful transaction.)  If A-Ram can manage 8-10 home runs and 30 or so RBI's over what time he has here, it will be one terrific story.

Looks like Ramirez is going to come in right on those numbers, or damn close to it.

So, what do you think?  I'd say that considering what was given up for these players, Huntington gets an A grade for his deadline deals.