Nady, Marte Traded To Yankees

"Molina is fine. With the staff they have, they need a guy who handles pitchers well, and Molina's bat control makes him valuable in the 9 slot."

I know he is a great catcher, from a defencive stand point. And i have nothing against him. He makes a great backup catcher, and has nothing to give on offence.

He's only batting .219 in 183 AB's with just 11 RBI's.

Also agree on Ohlendorf. Yankees probably didn't have the ability to develop him in the rotation but he could very possibly slot in as a nice #4 or a good bullpen guy. Good arm and a real good sinker.

You can't judge Ohlendorf by reading a scouting report on Wikipedia. He doesn't work at 97, he hits 97 once in a blue moon and he can't maintain his velocity as a starter. He 's going to be a reliever at the major league level...possibly a set up man, more likely a middle reliever.

Kontos and Coke are dime a dozen guys, C or D level prospects. They probably each have about a 5-10% chance of doing anything of note at the major league level...they are most likely cup of coffee guys.

Tabata probably winds up becoming a fourth outfielder. He's an overhyped, lazy headcase that tried to quit baseball a few months ago. He has an exceptionally high bust factor.

So negative CBZ. LOL

Those guys arent as bad as you're saying.

I would like to congratulate Huntington for going for the only record he could possibly grasp this year by guaranteeing the Pirates and solidifying them as the worst team ever after this year and seasons to come. So much for hope - we trade for prospects that have "Littlefield scouting department" written all over them. I hope at least the Yankees offered to pay Huntington's salary for the rest of the year and gave him a big foam finger and some pinstripes to wear. I understand the need to build up a weak minor league system - but you can't expect to win when you put more AAAA ball players into the system. The worst part is Tabata is struggling and plays CF - if there is one place the Pirates have some depth it is in the outfield and at CF - Duffy - McCutcheon (Other OF Pearce - maybe Walker if Alavarez signs). Thank you Yankees for your version of our Bullington's, Burnett's, and Van Bentenschoten's.

If their is any hope left for the Pirates it rests on signing and a heathly #2 pick Tanner Scheppers, and them deciding to up the offer and grab #5 Wilson to upgrade the minor leagues

All I have to say is go RAYS!!! and GO RED SOX!!!

Will someone please drive over to PNC Park and yank Huntington's phone out of the wall? Confiscate his cell phone while you're at it.

Horrible trade, and a horrible precedent being set by NH (we want top prospects, we'll hold on to these guys and take the picks... oh hell, we'll take a 6 pack of Iron City and a Primanti's sub).

Craig Wilson brought a better return.

Here we go Steelers, Here we go!

A’s closer Street to Dodgers?
A new rumor regarding A’s closer Huston Street seems to surface daily, and Friday’s speculation du jour, courtesy of a scout working Oakland’s game against the visiting Rangers, had the A’s sending Street to the Dodgers for third baseman Andy LaRoche “and change.” LaRoche

http://trades.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/07/as_closer_street_to_dodgers.html

"A new rumor regarding A’s closer Huston Street seems to surface daily, and Friday’s speculation du jour, courtesy of a scout working Oakland’s game against the visiting Rangers, had the A’s sending Street to the Dodgers for third baseman Andy LaRoche “and change.”"

Ugh. LaRoche is overpaying, albeit slightly, for Street. Adding "change" makes the deal worse, unless they are sending over someone really unlikely to be anything but a minor league filler. Further, if the Dodgers do pick up Street, I hope he sets up Broxton, not the other way around.

"I also had to laugh at the return the Pirates got on both Nady and Marte after the proposed deal ChicagoBucco was laying out last night"

Hell yeah. I love it. This Chicagobucco guy was going around putting down everybody elses team as if the Pirates are some model franchise. Time for him to eat crow.

V,

People are railing on the trade because:

1. Two out of the three pitchers in the deal project as relievers, not starters. When you're as far out of contention as the Pirates have been, relievers serve a mop-up function and little else.
2. Coke is 26, and Ohlendorf will be very soon.
3. Only Kontos has a career minor-league WHIP under 1.25.
4. Tabata has shown up to camp overweight, had multiple disciplinary issues, is coming off wrist surgery with obvious lingering effects, and has not had success at any level. He's young, but he's all upside (plus the baggage).

In short, the Pirates didn't pick up a single can't-miss prospect even though they surrendered two independently coveted players in a year when there are a lot of teams in contention and looking to upgrade.

Meanwhile, the Yankees get Marte and Nady (an above-average hitter even before this year) through the 2009 season, if they so choose. If all goes well, they may even get draft picks out of it.

As a Pirates fan, I'm not blaming the Yankees in any way for this mess. They made a great trade and Brian Cashman deserves a contract extension for spinning nothing into 2 viable players who fill 2 big needs (RH bat, LH relief).

The Pirates are just being, well, the Pirates again. Now when they don't sign Pedro Alvarez and Tanner Scheppers it will only guarantee another 15 years of misery. And you know they won't, because Bob Nutting won't spend money. We all hoped NH would be a good GM, but he's either A) an idiot or B) under orders to cut salary (a la the A-Ram trade in '03). Actually, he's probably both.

Ohlendorf is not going to make it as a starter. Coke should be in AAA but can't even get there. Kontos might turn out OK, but he could easily flame out. And Tabata is a mess right now, another overrated player from Venezuela with "great tools" and absolutely no clue how to use them.

And what do the Pirates have too many of already? Oh, right, OUTFIELDERS.

T-minus 36 hours till the Steelers start and we all forget about the Pirates for another year...

cjax, dbacks fan? keep in mind, jose got to AA on his hitting tool alone; has an above average mlb arm, has lost some speed through his teenager years; (in Tampa, FL) seems the hamate surgery set him back in the power department; def a prospect, still.

From what I have been hearing, Ohlendorf was the key piece for NH. Tabata is 1a.

Ross has the potential to be a bottom of the rotation starter for most clubs...let alone the Pirates. He doesnt have much service time on his arm for being 26 yrs old. The guy has the stuff to be a starter in the bigs.

Lets evaluate what the Pirates got rid of:

1) An injury prone Xavier Nady whom has NEVER hit more than 20 HR's in one season. And is having a breakout yr in part because of the offensive ability that has surrended him in the pirates lineup. (In 2-3 yrs their is a very good chance that Tabata will be putting up similar numbers.) I for one dont have superstar expectations out of Tabata.

2) Damaso Marte, who is, well...lights out.
He is a bigger loss to the club than Nady. (With McCutcheon or Pearce in waiting) But he did have a 6 mill option that would have limited NH's ability to pickup
1-2 Free Agents. (Assuming Marte accepted the offering at arbitration.)

All in all, the pirates could have gotten more due to the interest for both players. But, I seem to think we landed 1 above average SP, 1 above average future bullpen guy, 1 organizational pitcher, and 1 big question mark in Tabata.

The smart thing to do is sit back, be patient, and see how things pan out.

I feel we are still moving in the right direction to get the franchise in order.

But if he is smart, he should NOT try and move Bay...the few fans remaining would most likely lose their minds.

Not a fan of either club. Just don't see this as lopsided as other fans.

Nady is a fringe 3rd outfielder. You can count on an OPS near 800. Not horrible, but nothing special either. This year he has played way over his head. The Yanks can hope that he continues the recent trend. I wouldn't bet on it. Moving from the NL Central over to the AL East is going to sting a bit.

Also, I'm not sure where they are going to play the guy. Between the OF, 1B and DH they have:

Giambi
Posada
Damon
Abreu
Cabrera
Matsui
Sexson
Gardner

Add in Nady and you now have 9 players for 5 spots. I know that Gardner and Sexson can easily be dropped and reassigned. You also don't know what you will get from Posada and Matsui. Still, this just doesn't seem to be a glaring weakness - especially to have it filled by a LA player.

Marte, on the otherhand, does fill a nice whole with the Yankees. With Joba in the rotation now the Yanks do have a need for a solid set-up guy. Great fit there.

It's hard to be down on Tabata. Writing off a kid with his tools who is only 19 seems a little premature. The others have some upside but are hardly impressive. They most likely didn't have a future in NY but could help out a cost conscience Pirates team.

All in all this was a good trade for both teams. Pirates fans are just a little tweaked because the rumors for Nady and Marte sounded so promising.

"Also, I'm not sure where they are going to play the guy. Between the OF, 1B and DH they have:

Giambi
Posada
Damon
Abreu
Cabrera
Matsui
Sexson
Gardner

Add in Nady and you now have 9 players for 5 spots. I know that Gardner and Sexson can easily be dropped and reassigned. You also don't know what you will get from Posada and Matsui. Still, this just doesn't seem to be a glaring weakness - especially to have it filled by a LA player."

I think this trade is the Yankees admitting that Matsui's done for the season. Nady gets LF for 2008, Damon DH's (his shoulder is not great, and let's face it, he's nothing special defensively).

Posada's also out for the year.

In 2009, either Abreu or Nady's gone.

"Damaso Marte
Bartolo Colon

to Boston
for

Daniel Bard
Josh Reddick
Charlie Zink"

I think the Red Sox have begun to like Reddick too much to move him for a rental reliever and a injured older Colon.

I could see Bard, Zink and Brandon Moss though, but I think that Reddick is too good of a prospect now.

This trade reminds me a bit of the trade the Yankees made a few years back when they stole Bobby Abreu from the Phillies.

I'm not saying that Tabata won't be a good player, but I think he's far too unproven to be the centerpiece of a deal where, in my opinion, the Pirates could have gotten more. In the Abreu trade, C.J. Henry was the centerpiece based on his tremendous upside and how did that work out for the Phils?

Kennedy / Ajax / Montero

2 of these three guys are most likely gong to go in the trade with Seattle whent they geet the details of the trade worked out .

Local sportstalk this morning in Ohio said even though the Yankees made the trade with the Pirates that rumors are they are still about to pick up Washburn and Ibanez even with just picking up Nady.

Rumors are thought to be that the Yankes would send Kennedy / Montero / Gardner and 1 lower A Ball Pitcher. For the pair.

Looks like the Yankees are loading up not only for this year but next also .

One thing you guys haven't mentioned is: what if Matsui can't come back? He'll be 35 next year with 2 knee surgeries back to back -- that's rough to come back from.

Next year also; they won't have Sexson and they were talking about dropping Giambi's option to resign him at a lower rate. It's possible you see Nady or Damon/Melky or Garnder/Abreu in LF/CF/RF.. Along with a DH rotation like they were doing this year:

Posada: C, 1B, DH
Nady: playing LF/1B/DH
Giambi: 1B/DH
Damon: LF/DH
Matsui: Retired/LF/DH

This way Girardi gets to keep the old guys nice and rested for the year... Matsui hasn't proved to be someone we can count on to be healthy the last 3 years, Johnny and Nady can use the days off and Posada is an older catcher.

I think this could work fine. I for one hope Abreu stays in NY; when he's hitting he is great in front of Arod...

I don't know why we would need Ibanez, except to try to flip him to another team. But, I don't think a trade for Kennedy, Gardner and 2 other prospects is worth Washburn/Ibanez. Kennedy I still think is going to be a great pitcher in the majors once he remembers how to attack the strike zone in Yankee stadium. And I think we need Gardner for the speed threat; and I think he's going to develop into a strong hitter.. If he hits 280-300 and steals 50 bases a year - i'd be happy with him; better then what Melky is doin...

"I couldn't find a source on club options BUT I am fairly certain that this is how it works with Martes situation. Marte has a club option for 2009. If the Yankees choose to NOT exercise that option they will void any compensation that would have been awarded based off Marte's Elias rankings."

I didn't read all 150 or so posts to see if this was mentioned or not but reading some message boards this morning, some people are saying other media outlets are reporting different prospects going to the Pirates. Someone said on Sickels' site that the NY Post and WFAN both reported that Daniel McCutchen and Jeff Karstens are being sent to Pittsburgh in this deal, not Coke and Kontos.

Anyone who updates the site hear anything like that?

We don't even know if Burnett will opt out of his contract let alone put him in a Yankee uniform already.

Instead of Washburn, has anyone heard about Padilla?

I know he's another righty... but he isn't to bad himself.. Vicente strikes out more guys, better ERA and has given up more then 3 runs in 6 of 20 starts vs Washburns 5 in 20 starts... and he has averaged 6 innings a start vs Washburns 5 1/2... without much difference in $$...

PS - Isn't Washburn a Yankee killer? How have other Yankee-killer acquisitions done when they've gotten them?

This second half stuff is not going past this year. I think Cano will get a regiment to train in different climates during the offseason. He's too good to slump so long.