Pirates Rumors: Nady, Marte, Bay

What part of "two quality players" was so confusing it lead to a suggestion of Chuck James and Will Ohman?

As a Braves fan, I have to admit that deal is ridiculous. I do think something along the lines of Jo Jo Reyes or Charlie Morton along with Brandon Jones or Lillibridge would be a good starting point. The Braves might need to do a little better, but it seems fairly reasonable to me. Any other opinions?

Thundersticks, the only problem with your argument is that Nady isn't a rental. He's not a free agent until after next year. Which is why his value is being driven up more than you might think.

If he were a free agent at the end of this year, the Pirates wouldn't be holding out for such a good deal.

Joelcards, I'm not big on what our FO is doing right now either. As far as Drew went we had someone to replace him in Jeff Francoeur, so he wasn't resigned. And the last time I checked Tex hadn't signed with another team so he's still under our control, and we still have a shot (albeit a long one) at resigning him. And if you think we don't do anything great, look at our pitching. The pitching has been very good, but our offense has struggled immensely.

While I love reading all these Braves' fans commenting on this, let us all accept something that, in the words of Metallica, is sad but true: the Braves aren't going to the playoffs. They'll be selling off players, not adding, in a couple weeks. So who really cares what Atlanta could offer? They're not going to be offering anything.

To me it's more intriguing what the Pirates can get from a team like Tampa Bay, which has a lot of good pitching prospects, or even the Yankees, who are getting desperate and might be willing to give up something good.

Of course, these being the Pirates, I still have to see it to believe it when it comes to the Buccos making a good trade...

bravesfan91,

I didn't say that was a trade I wanted to make, I was just suggesting what a starting point might be if the Braves do decide to look into making a deal. As for who would take Morton or Reyes' place in the rotation, I think the hope would be that they could plug in someone like Carlyle or James could be plugged in until Glavine and/or Hampton are able to return. Personally, I don't think it would be a bad idea to sell high on Morton right now. His BB/9 rate has dropped a lot this year and I wonder if he can maintain it at its current level or if he'll eventually revert to his previous form.

Joelcards,

A big part of the reason that the Braves are unafraid to take on "rentals" is that they are incredibly successful drafting and developing players. It doesn't hurt as much to lose a guy to free agency as long as you hit on at least 1 of the 2 picks you get in return. The reason they want "rentals" is that they can compete in the short term while also adding prospects in the long term with the compensation picks for the guys they lose.

I can understand why you would term the Tex trade last year questionable, as it doesn't look like it will lead to any playoff appearances, but the two main pieces that Atlanta gave up aren't exactly living up their billing yet. Andrus just went on a tear recently to up his OPS over .700 in AA and Saltalamacchia hasn't hit at all at the major league level and there will always be questions about whether he can stay behind the plate longterm with his size. I think the Braves did a good job selling high on both those guys. I have no idea how you could call the JD Drew trade questionable. The Braves don't win the division in 2004 without Drew and all they gave up was Adam Wainwright, who despite great talent has yet to hit the 400 IP mark for his career in the 4.5 years since the trade.