Pirates Acquire Tyler Yates From Braves
10:23am: Byung-Hyun Kim's gone, in the accompanying move. So is Jaret Wright, according to RotoWorld.
8:40am: Dave O'Brien was right - the Braves chose Tyler Yates as the out of options reliever to deal. They sent him to the Pirates today for a minor league hurler named Todd Redmond. On Monday, O'Brien said he expected the Braves to trade one of Scott Thorman or Brayan Pena as well.
Yates, a 30 year-old Hawaiin, has a solid 8.3 per nine innings strikeout rate in his 162 inning career. He needs to work on his control though. Yates was drafted by the A's and dealt to the Mets in the Dave Justice deal. Baseball America says he began '04 as the Mets' fifth starter but was shortly converted to relief. He missed the '05 season with rotator cuff surgery. His acquisition may push Jaret Wright or Byung-Hyun Kim out of Pittsburgh.
Redmond, 23 in May, was ranked as the Pirates' #27 prospect by Baseball America. They note his "outstanding control" but lack of dominant stuff. BA believes he profiles as a middle reliever in the long term.
Hey, at least the Bravos got something for him. A minor leaguer with potential is just fine with me. I am glad they kept Boyer, though I think Ring could still go.
Posted by: Andy Braves Fan | March 26, 2008 at 09:00 AM
Yep I hate to see him go. Bobby was high on him. I wonder if he got overridden in the meetings or if something else happened. Ring could go along with Thorman. I still want to see some pinch hit power on the bench. I'm hearing Jose Cruz Jr. but nothing to back that up.
Posted by: Banjodr | March 26, 2008 at 09:06 AM
Thank you, God.
Posted by: beeniez | March 26, 2008 at 09:15 AM
Hey Tim...update to this post.
According to Pittsburgh Post Gazette....
Pirates expected to announce that Byung-Hyun Kim has been bought out for 300K.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08086/867911-63.stm
Posted by: ripiceman | March 26, 2008 at 09:32 AM
not bad, 3 year total for minors 22w 21 loses 3.3 era bout 3:1 k/bb rate. im pretty happy with the deal. we get something for a guy that we would have lost for nothing
Posted by: thedeuce | March 26, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Yes! No one made me more uncomfortable during the mid and late innings than Yates. Basically the Braves got something for nothing.
For what I've heard about Redmond, I like his potential. Everyone said he has really good control so as he ages and gets smarter (with some help from Braves' veterans), then he should be pretty good.
Posted by: Victor | March 26, 2008 at 10:32 AM
"Basically the Braves got something for nothing."
Yates brings serious heat and has been improving. Everything I've heard about Redmond says he can't handle the upper levels of the minor leagues, much less the majors.
Posted by: Land-Man | March 26, 2008 at 10:39 AM
As a Pirate fan, I like the strikeout ratio of Yates in the majors and the minors. Yates will be a good change after the Pirates soft tossing lefty starters. Neil Huntington, the new Pirate GM, probably deserves some credit for putting the Pirates in a good position to make cuts in the bullpen for the right reasons. He picked up Dumatrait, Meek, Carrasco, and now Yates for little money and a lower potential minor leaguer. Carrasco won't make the team, but the others will definitely even after the Torres trade.
Posted by: kett08 | March 26, 2008 at 10:48 AM
i have to echo an agreement that i am glad we did get someone with potential for yates, i just hope that we first exhausted all possible efforts to get a major league contributor for him from the bench before we settled on this trade
Posted by: bravesbeast | March 26, 2008 at 11:06 AM
I wasn't clear but the something for nothing was more in reference to the excess number of out of option of Braves' relievers. Any of them can do what Yates did, and likely more.
Yes, Yates has a good strikeout rate and throws hard. but it doesn't really matter how hard you throw it if you miss your target by half a foot. 1.439 WHIP is nothing special. Yates is average, at best. And most of the time he's just ugly.
Like I said, Redmond will be effective as he gets older and more experienced. He just needs to figure out how to take advantage of his control.
Posted by: Victor | March 26, 2008 at 11:22 AM
picking up dumatrait is not something anyone deserves credit for.
that guy has nothing
Posted by: braineater5000 | March 26, 2008 at 11:39 AM
At this point the Pirates will take anyone with a pulse and some experience as a right-handed reliever. Their pen looked awful save for Capps and the two lefties. I'm not saying Yates is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he can throw strikes and hopefully the low-pressure environment in Pittsburgh will help.
Actually, you know it's bad as a fan when a little move like this gets you a bit excited. (sigh) Gonna be a long season... again.
Posted by: CJax33 | March 26, 2008 at 02:35 PM
As long as it's Todd Redmond and not Mike Redman, I'm happy. Yates was kinda "eh" to me, and certainly no better than the other guys we have lying around. Maybe not worse, but definitely not better. Good to move him and get something in return.
Redmond seems like he has some potential, a little in the Greg Maddux mold (although there's no way he's THAT good, but just a smiliar style), as a guy who can put the ball anywhere he wants and get the groundout.
Posted by: FineHamAbounds | March 26, 2008 at 03:17 PM
You guys remember Yates right? I would have been happy if they just released him.
Posted by: beeniez | March 26, 2008 at 05:28 PM
I loved Tyler Yates.
With that said, I'd much rather wait nervously for the results of a pee test than see him in the game in an important situation.
Posted by: ksesxe | March 26, 2008 at 07:51 PM