On The Pirates' Trade Deadline

Where to begin? How about we start with the meaningless, senseless comments from Pirates fans on Twitter today. There were rumors that the Pirates are only in the trade talks to make it seem like they are trying to appease the masses... WHAT? If you believe this for one second I have a question for you, what's that word written on the ceiling? The Pirates were out there trying to make trades, even big names like Ken Rosenthal were reporting how involved they were (his Twitter handle is @Ken_Rosenthal, for all of you who fell for fake accounts, which admittedly I did once too). I will no longer justify this inane notion anymore by talking about it. The other big idea of the day was that the Pirates needed to add a David Price, Jon Lester or Lackey and I cannot think of a single reason why people wanted that. Actually, scratch that, I can. Pittsburgh and the muckrakers that surround Pittsburgh sports like to latch on to certain things and then complain about them when they don't happen, ala Penguins and Steelers deals also. The largest of these being Mark Madden, who has somehow has managed to ingrain himself in the culture of Pittsburgh even after being fired by ESPN for saying he wished Senator Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated. Mark Madden has showed his lack of baseball knowledge many times as of late, most notably when he called for a trade that would send Polanco (the same Polanco he has championed this year) away for Alex Rios. Madden is strictly around to stir the pot and gain listeners and followers by leading the charge of hate towards ownership and management of Pittsburgh sports teams. However, aside from all that I believe today was the best trade deadline a Pittsburgh team has had in a long time and I'll explain why.

David Price went for MLB-level talent, we don't have excess of that. Jon Lester went for an insane return as did John Lackey. The Pirates did not have the goods to trade for one of these guys as they would have had to have bundled three to four top prospects to over come an insane offer like Craig and Kelly for Lackey. The other reason we didn't pull a trade like that is because we don't need to. When Cole comes back we will have choice to make and it's not which poor starter to we get rid of. The choice we will be faced with is whether or not to have a five man or six man rotation and if we go with a five man which one of these guys goes to the bullpen. Bringing in a Price would have made the rotation better but what would we do with the other guys? Sure Locke has options left but he's been a solid number three stater. Morton is killing it this year, Frankie is back, Volquez has turned out to be our best off-season move and Worley is doing incredibly with his return to his mechanics. And that's ignoring Cole who would still be coming back with or without Price. It does not make sense for the Pirates to go and get another starter. Repeat after me, our rotation is fine.

Another incomprehensible aspect of the trade talks was the willingness to give up a Bell, Glasnow, or Kingham for someone who we have no chance of keeping for 2015 and beyond. Josh Bell is the guy that broke the MLB draft when we shelled out five million dollars to sign him, the kid is special. He could be moved to first base and be with the Pirates next June. Glasnow is our number one prospect, enough said. Kingham could be up later this year if he is needed and will be a cornerstone of the future rotation, with him Taillon, Glasnow, Locke and Cole. Any trade involving any of those three names would be a lose no matter what return we got.

The price for the players at the deadline this year was obscenely high. Like, Alex Goligoski for James Neal and Matt Niskanen high. Joe Kelly and Alan Craig for John Lackey? That's mental. Cespedes and a draft pick for Lester and Gomes is a little more reasonable but still really expensive for a rental. I give all the credit in the world to the Red Sox for working such a deal but man what terrible trades. The A's are all in this year and I don't mind their strategy but the Cards may have just traded themselves out of contention this year.The prices were way to high for a team like the Pirates, who thrive on waiver wire pick-ups and smart talent trades to make a splash this year.

The Pirates did the right thing this year by not making any moves. The current team is poised to make the playoffs and maybe win a series, however, I don't believe we'll see a world series this year. But the best part is by not trading away our farm this could be the lineup in mid-2015:

Polanco (a year better)
Marte (healthy)
McCutchen (a TWO-time NL MVP)
Martin (re-signed for the longhaul)
Walker
Bell
Mercer
Harrison (3B)
(Hanson)
(Sanchez, T.)
(Lambo)

With a rotation of:
Cole
Morton
Locke
Taillon
Kingham
(Worley)
(Sadler)
(Pimentel)

And mid-2016 looks even better:
Polanco
Marte
McCutchen
Martin
Walker
Bell
Hanson
Harrison
(Sanchez, T.)
(Lambo)

With a rotation of:
Cole
Locke
Taillon
Kingham
Glasnow
(Worley)
(Sadler)
(Pimentel)

I don't want to hear any more woes from Pirates fans. Its time to sit back, relax and watch Neal Huntington do his work.