The Pirates have announced that they’ve acquired Michael Morse and cash from the Dodgers for outfielder Jose Tabata. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com was the first to tweet that a deal had been struck.
The Dodgers recently acquired Morse in the 13-player Mat Latos / Hector Olivera deal, although Morse was seemingly included in the deal mostly so that the Marlins could shed his salary. He’s making $7MM this year and $8MM next, and is in the midst of a bad season, batting .213/.276/.313, a very poor line, particularly given that he provides little defensive value. Nonetheless, he’s right-handed and hit well in 2014, and the Pirates have struggled to find right-handed hitting depth, given injuries to Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer and Corey Hart, along with Hart’s own poor performance. The Pirates also might hope that Morse can help the left-handed Pedro Alvarez at first base.
Tabata’s is surely headed the Dodgers’ way largely to offset Morse’s salary. The Pirates had already repeatedly outrighted the disappointing Tabata, who has about $6.75MM remaining on the long-term deal he signed with the Bucs in 2011. He’s spent most of the season with Triple-A Indianapolis, where he’s batted .291/.364/.345 in 165 plate appearances. Nonetheless, he’s young enough (with a listed age of 26) and has enough on-base ability that he might be able to help someone in a bench role. He will not need to be added to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster.
did.. what… no.. wait.. type-o right that cant.. huh? who…. In the words of Microsoft.. “Something Happened”
Someone took Tabata…
Good luck Jose!
have to assume dodgers are paying most of the salary; what would they want with Tabata? does he have minor league options left?
Probably not. Looks like he is signed through 2017 with options for the two seasons after.
Good trade. If Morse can do what he did last year, this will be a great trade. Jose had no value to us anyway.
I don’t think this really affects the Dodgers much, Pirates could get a nice boost if Morse returns to his 2014 form. But from a Giants fan kudos Dodgers for trading him!
Good deal. Hopefully Morse can replicate what he did last year. Jose had no value for the Bucs anyway.
Awesome – Morse had no spot on this team. Tabata can be a reserve or wait until Crawford goes down again with an injury.
Good trade for the Pirates.. I know the Dodgers designated him for assignment right after the trade, so smart on the Pirates to look into him. I kind of wish the Cardinals at least made a move for Morse until Holiday comes back. He can play 1st and OF and provides a decent bat..
This is not much of a trade from the Dodger perspective, but it might help the Pirates.
Getting anything more than a wet paper towel for Tabata is a win, and the Bucs desperately needed a right-handed power bat. Great move.
Morse could once again be the random player who does crazy things with the bat in the postseason. Gotta like taking a flier on him, almost as much as you’ve gotta like ending the Tabata era.
Why so down on Tabata? His batting line looks quite serviceable.
1) He only hits singles, even in AAA. 2) His effort is not consistent. 3) He has been rumored to be a negative clubhouse influence on Starling Marte. 4) He does a lot of things OK, but nothing really all that well. Runs the bases well, but doesn’t steal. Has decent range in the OF, but takes terrible angles to the ball. Really, he turned out to be a 4th or 5th OF.
I guess that would be a problem if we also got Starling Marte. Who knows, the day isn’t over yet! Seriously, I have no idea how the Dodgers plan on using Tabata (we are over the legal limit for starting outfielders already), but my guess is he is DFA’d, clears waivers, and is assigned to AAA. I assume part of the attraction is he doesn’t have the service years to refuse assignment.
That is how we used him, he has cleared waivers several times.
Bad contract for Bad contract.
The Dodgers can safely stash some depth in AAA.
The Pirates try to get some RH pop at 1st base.
Tabata had already cleared waivers with the Pirates and was assigned to AAA. Don’t believe the Dodgers would need to do it again themselves. They don’t have to find a spot for him on the 40-man, they should be able to tuck him away at AAA as-is.
When did singles become a negative thing? Tony Gwynn was a singles hitter. I’m not saying Tabata is Tony Gwynn by any means, but a singles hitter can be a success in the majors.
Amen, brother.
He has arguable the worst tattoo known to manking #NeckLips
What this trade is, is a swap of 2 bad contracts, with Morse’s being owed slightly a bit more, hence the Dodgers picking up a bit of Morse’s contract. The Pirates are hoping that Morse can be the equivalent of what they thought they might get when they signed Corey Hart in the off-season. The Dodgers are just happy to get out from under a bit of Morse’s contract (that they had to take from Miami), and can stash Tabata in AAA in the event of an injury, and as a best case scenario a glimmer of hope that a change of scenery will do him well and potentially re-establish some value in order to trade him in the off-season and be fully shed of his contract.
good bench move by pittsburgh. rather pay for morse than pay for tabata in indy
Another washed up player that costs millions when Bell is just wasting away in the minors. We have internal solutions that can bat 200+ and give you semi defense at the minimum and they do this crap? Neil your an absolute retard. Should have just taken cash for Tabata and called bell up. Now you have a few million to play with and we get to see what the future star can do. I bet he can play better than Pedro and his negative WAR. I am sorry but we are on the verge of yet another wild card because our GM is a god damn prospect hoarder. We have great out field prospects still could have been used in trades since well our outfield is locked up for the next 4-5 years. Our GM is a dip shit.
Wow. Huntington isn’t any of those words you used to describe him. I think he’s done a great job. That’s before I even consider his small budget. Small markets sometimes have to take it slower with prospects if they want what’s best for the team’s future. Jose Tabata’s contract/early promotion shoulders some blame for Neil’s caution. As much as Pirates fans despise the deal now they loved it when he signed it. It’s not like Josh Bell is without holes, and only has 2 games above AA. I like Bell but reports from Pittsburgh prospect experts say his defense isn’t ready. His batting eye looks legit but the lack of power (from 1B) would be enough for me to see how he handles a month of AAA. Bell reminds me a lot of a switch hitting James Loney. For what it’s worth. Jose Tabata was as highly ranked as both Bell and Loney at one time.
This is amazing. Glad huntington finally came to his senses. Tabata was a sunk cost and not providing any value at his position. I feel like Neil was only keeping him around to say ” look at the value i got for Xavier Nady”.
Help me out on the timeline of Morse… He pinch hit for the Marlins Thursday night.
I don’t understand why he was available. I thought he was involved in a trade to the Dodgers before that.