The Trades

Less than a month ago, July 9 to be precise, I expounded in this space about the awfulness of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the ineptitude of the team's front office, which, in the person of GM Neal Huntington, all but gave up on the team and gave indications that they would be selling assets come the July 31 trade deadline.  Since that pronouncement on Huntington's July 8  radio show, you all know what has happened.  The team has gone 16-4, including an eleven game winning  streak, and has propelled itself at the very least back into the race for a Wild Card spot in the post-season.  The players themselves called the Front Office's bluff and yesterday the suits delivered, making two huge trades.  

On Monday evening I was out at an event and a friend asked if I thought the Pirates would make any significant deals at the deadline.  My answer was that they would probably get some middling relief pitcher just to say that they did something, but that I doubted that it would have any significance whatsoever.

Well, I was wrong.  A minor league pitching prospect was sent to Texas for relief pitcher Keone Kela.  I admit that until this trade was announced, I had never heard of Keone Kela, but his credentials as a top flight reliever/closer are impeccable.  

Kela

Then the stunner came yesterday afternoon, right at the 4:00 deadline.  Starting pitcher Chris Archer comes from Tampa Bay in exchange for Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and the always popular Player To Be Named Later.

Archer

Despite what his number say, no one throughout baseball disputes that Archer is a genuine top if the rotation starter.    Without question, the Pirates are a better team today than they were the day before with the addition these two guys to the team.

Will it be enough to make a difference this year?  I am not so sure, but before these deals, I didn't see any chance of the team making the playoffs.  That equation has changed now.  Also, Archer and Kela, who come to the Bucs with three and two years of control, respectively, and with "team friendly contracts" (always important to the Pirates), the team looks to be improved going into 2019 and beyond as well.

Both deals represent a shocking change in philosophy for Huntington and the Pirates, who would never part with prized prospects.  Meadows has made the big leagues and has proved that he can play at this level.  He was destined to be the guy who would replace Andrew McCutchen, and now he's gone.  Will he ever achieve Cutch-like status?  Maybe he will, and it will hurt of we see him in multiple All-Star games over the next decade or so wearing a Rays uniform, but he may not, either.  As we all know, baseball history is littered with Can't Miss Prospects who have, you know, Missed.  Glasnow was projected as a dominant Ace of the future, and he has not panned out up until now.  Of course, he could turn out to be a future Cy Young candidate like Charlie Morton and Gerrit Cole are now, or he could remain what he currently is, a middling relief pitcher.  Oh, and we'll see about the Player To Be Named.

But we know what the Pirates have gotten in Archer and Kela.  Two proven major league pitchers who will be an immediate help to this team, both this year and for a couple of years to come.

We have all been burying GM Neal for his inaction and salary dumping this season, so it's only fair to give him some props for what he has pulled off in the last forty-eight hours.  Time will be the ultimate judge of these deals, of course, but as of right now, I like what the Pirates have done here.