Nine years ago today, the Pirates signed Kenny Lofton to a one-year contract. After hitting .277/.333/.437 in 374 plate appearances for Pittsburgh, he was traded to the Cubs along with Aramis Ramirez for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill, and Matt Bruback at the deadline. Here's the latest from two of Lofton's many former divisions, the NL and AL Central…
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel that he has no plans to trade Logan Schafer despite the club's center field depth (Twitter link). The 25-year-old Schafer has had a strong spring but is stuck behind Nyjer Morgan and Carlos Gomez on the depth chart.
- The Astros and GM Jeff Luhnow intend to take a look at right-handed reliever Francisco Samuel, reports B.J. Rains of FOXSportsMidwest.com (on Twitter). The Cardinals – Luhnow's former team – released Samuel earlier today.
- Jack Cust has had a slow start to Spring Training, though Luhnow indicated to MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince that the slugger will continue to get chances with the Astros. They signed him to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal worth $500K with an option for 2013 this offseason.
- "We looked to see if we could acquire some of the game's most impactful young players," said White Sox GM Kenny Williams to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com when asked about the team's rebuilding plan. "Our target list was our target list. We set the price high, and we stuck with it."
Trading a guy like Schafer when guys like Morgan and Gomez are blocking him should get a guy fired.
Morgan and Gomez, as a platoon, are actually a pretty average to above average CF. In their 609 combined AB last year (albeit with some PH appearances for both) the pair produced a slash line of .275/.331/.414, stole 29 bases (CS 6), 12 HR, 61 RBI, along with tremendous defense.
All I’ve heard on Shafer is that he projects as a 4th OF–plus glove in the OF corners, decent to plus in CF– but without the power in his bat to stick. If his hot spring gives him a shot on the team and he builds some value, trading him is probably a smart move for Doug Melvin–especially if he gets infield prospect(s)/depth in return
That was a horrible return for the Pirates, trading a young 3rd baseman who was under control for a few more season along with a veteran who could lead-off and had tons of experience in the playoffs for just that? No idea what the Pirates had in mind other than shedding salary when making this deal.
The Aramis Ramirez trade was indeed a salary dump. However, it was mandated by MLB, not the Pirates’ ownership, as the Pirates didn’t meet MLB’s debt-to-equity ratio. Google the phrase “Pirates prez says debt is manageable” for more info. It’s easy to blame then-Pirates GM Dave Littlefield for not getting anything in return, but when a trade is forced like that you can’t expect much.
As a Pirates fan, I still hate the Ramirez trade, but clearly rules are rules. After all, when the Mets got into financial trouble in 2010, Bud Selig didn’t even think of giving the team a secret loan. Instead, he made them trade their 3B (David Wright) and veteran leadoff hitter (Jose Reyes) to shed salary, just like the Pirates had to in 2003. Fair is fair, right?
😡 😡 😡
note that there just might be some sarcasm in the second paragraph there
Melvin needs to be questioned! 2.5 million just for the rights to Akoi, plus his salary? This could get a guy fired. Schafer could possibly be better right now than Akoi, Morgan, and Gomez
Because of his hot start to Spring Training? Because that is one heck of a small sample size.
Why is Kenny Williams still talking when he should be cleaning out his office?
Yawn.
Anyone else been having trouble loading MLBTR these past few days? Anytime I load the website on Firefox, I run into numerous issues running scripts. I have to ask it to stop running some script numerous times before the browser will respond.
If you continue to have troubles with Firefox, Google Chrome is where its at. It’s pretty fast and easy to use.
Melvin also said he had no interest to pursue Morgan, right before the he went out and traded for him.
A-Ram can field and hit, him being called lazy by a few people isn’t going to change his production.
Gonzalez is better than what they had before.
Corey Hart is going to see a lot of time at first base this year, and if Gamel fails altogether, Hart will be the starter… and he is a good hitter.
Last year, Higher slugging than Nelson Cruz, Jay Bruce, and Hunter Pence. higher on base than Josh Hamilton, Victorino, Bourn, Cuddyer… Aoki is often referred to as the best hitter to come out Japan since Ichiro… I’m not saying he’s a sure thing, but he could be pretty good.
And I think Braun will do just fine…
Milwaukee will probably compete… won’t make the playoffs, but still
Just be prepared for the roller coaster that is rooting for Aramis Ramirez.
Bright future?
2012 ZIPS Projection: .259/.314/.370
Slap hitting fringe OF candidates are a dime a dozen. LoCain is not by any means a horrible player, but look at his career AAA numbers compared to David Lough (another 26 year old “prospect” and candidate for CF in Kansas City this year:)
Cain:.305/.377/.476
Lough: .299/.356/.460
Both players bring decent defense along with decent contact, below average walk rates, and extremely limited power. Otherwise known as…replacement level type players.