I CANNOT believe this. A part of me just died. Why in the world would the Pirates trade our All-Star Gold Glove centerpiece?? The Pirates will never compete again until MLB cracks the union and gets a salary cap like every other sport has.
Wow, i thought they would wait till the night of the trade deadline to deal nate. i also thought the yankees would grab him...good addition for the braves. he can play baseball, he can also spend a whole lot of time looking in the mirror and brushing that bleached blonde hair of his...now, if the rays can deal for freddy sanchez!
Gold Glove centerpiece? McLouth couldn't field worth a lick, awards be danged. He had his career year last year. Now you'll get to see a real centerfielder man the position in McCutchen.
I think the Pirates definitely get the better part of this deal. Wasn't this 3/4 of the package offered for Peavy (I think Escobar was the 4th player)? Is McLouth 1/3 the player Peavy is?
Mad Guru: I see you live in Lancaster but do you watch the Pirates every day? Try watching McClouth play every day and then get back to me about his defensive play. But don't worry, once he starts making plays in Atlanta he'll be on ESPN 360 everyday where you can see him. As for his career year last year, he's currently leading all NL centerfielders in RBI. As for McCutchen need I remind you of Midre Cummings, William Pennyfeather, Jacob Brumfield, Mike Kingery, Trey Beamon, Jermaine Allensworth, Turner Ward, Emil Brown, Adrian Brown, Chad Hermansen and Tike Redman. These are just a few of the centerfielders we trotted out there between Andy Van Slyke and Nate McClouth. I suspect I can already add McCuthen to that list. I understand that the Pirates are trying to acquire young building blocks but McClouth was one and he was signed to a long term deal last winter. I hope you are right Mad Guru, I hope that what we got in return was worth it.
This trade works for both teams. The Braves desperately needed power in the outfield and McLouth has it. He's already got more homers than Garret, Frenchy and Schafer combined. He's locked up till 2011 with an option for 2012 with a good contract. He also gives the Braves some good options in the outfield for next year. If Schafer's ready, he can come up and push McLouth over to left. If not, he can stay in center. He's also Frenchy insurance in right in case Francoeur finally completely flops.
The guys the Pirates got are decent. Morton has looked fantastic in the minors, but wilted when he got called up to the trainwrecked team last year. He might be able to relax and pitch up in Pittsburgh. Gorkys is a hell of a leadoff prospect, but was blocked by Schafer. Locke could be good or he could suck, but he's a lefty with good stuff and you can't have too many of them in teh minors. McCutcheon should do fine in Pittsburgh and the Pirates may as well let him start to prove it now instead of later.
Yes. absolutely. I got home today and got spun by the Glavine move, spun again by the Hanson move and then a cyclone hit with McLouth. Even if we don't challenge for a playoff spot the Braves are going to be seriously tough in 2010.
The old "I watch him every day and see his greatness" argument....what about the 29 guys you aren't watching?
I hate to say this because I don't want to make Dave upset with his new centerfielder but you can't find a statistical measure that says McLouth can field (I'm not talking fielding percentage, I'm talking range).
Check out 2008: http://www.billjamesonline.net/fieldingbible/charts/leaders2-08.gif
That's just one measure but you won't find anything anywhere that suggests McLouth can cover his position.
As for RBI, it's well known they are as much a function of batting order and surrounding players as it is skill and there are much better metrics do measure hitting performance.
I wrote a buddy of mine who is a Pirates fan the other day and told him the Pirates would be moving McLouth to left soon anyway to make room for McCutcheon. McLouth, offensively, is not a leftfielder. Trust me, this move improves the Pirates.
The move improves both teams. The pirates get a starting pitcher and two good prospect and allow Andrew McCutcheon to get in the game now and get some experience.
The Braves massively improve their outfield (although that wasn't hard to do) and get a young player with power who is locked up through his prime. I don't care if he's actually a good defender or not. You can't be abysmal and win a gold glove, and we needed a power bat to go along with Chipper and McCann desperately. At this point I would have put Dave Kingman out there in center if he could hit 30 dingers.
Good trade for both, although it would be nice the Pirates decided to actually try for a winning record ONCE this century.
10 comments:
I CANNOT believe this. A part of me just died. Why in the world would the Pirates trade our All-Star Gold Glove centerpiece?? The Pirates will never compete again until MLB cracks the union and gets a salary cap like every other sport has.
Wow, i thought they would wait till the night of the trade deadline to deal nate. i also thought the yankees would grab him...good addition for the braves. he can play baseball, he can also spend a whole lot of time looking in the mirror and brushing that bleached blonde hair of his...now, if the rays can deal for freddy sanchez!
Gold Glove centerpiece? McLouth couldn't field worth a lick, awards be danged. He had his career year last year. Now you'll get to see a real centerfielder man the position in McCutchen.
I think the Pirates definitely get the better part of this deal. Wasn't this 3/4 of the package offered for Peavy (I think Escobar was the 4th player)? Is McLouth 1/3 the player Peavy is?
The Braves do get Schafer out of there, though.
Mad Guru: I see you live in Lancaster but do you watch the Pirates every day? Try watching McClouth play every day and then get back to me about his defensive play. But don't worry, once he starts making plays in Atlanta he'll be on ESPN 360 everyday where you can see him. As for his career year last year, he's currently leading all NL centerfielders in RBI. As for McCutchen need I remind you of Midre Cummings, William Pennyfeather, Jacob Brumfield, Mike Kingery, Trey Beamon, Jermaine Allensworth, Turner Ward, Emil Brown, Adrian Brown, Chad Hermansen and Tike Redman. These are just a few of the centerfielders we trotted out there between Andy Van Slyke and Nate McClouth. I suspect I can already add McCuthen to that list. I understand that the Pirates are trying to acquire young building blocks but McClouth was one and he was signed to a long term deal last winter. I hope you are right Mad Guru, I hope that what we got in return was worth it.
Yikes. Is your head spinning?
This trade works for both teams. The Braves desperately needed power in the outfield and McLouth has it. He's already got more homers than Garret, Frenchy and Schafer combined. He's locked up till 2011 with an option for 2012 with a good contract. He also gives the Braves some good options in the outfield for next year. If Schafer's ready, he can come up and push McLouth over to left. If not, he can stay in center. He's also Frenchy insurance in right in case Francoeur finally completely flops.
The guys the Pirates got are decent. Morton has looked fantastic in the minors, but wilted when he got called up to the trainwrecked team last year. He might be able to relax and pitch up in Pittsburgh. Gorkys is a hell of a leadoff prospect, but was blocked by Schafer. Locke could be good or he could suck, but he's a lefty with good stuff and you can't have too many of them in teh minors. McCutcheon should do fine in Pittsburgh and the Pirates may as well let him start to prove it now instead of later.
DC:
Yes. absolutely. I got home today and got spun by the Glavine move, spun again by the Hanson move and then a cyclone hit with McLouth. Even if we don't challenge for a playoff spot the Braves are going to be seriously tough in 2010.
This is definately an upgrade. The Braves outfield with McLouth, Anderson, Diaz, and Frenchy still isn't a murderer's row, but it's a lot better now.
By the way, "Francoeur" is a french word meaning "Maker of outs".
I'm with Mad Guru on the fielding. Michael Young just won a Gold Glove too. He was so good they moved him to 3rd.
Jeffrey,
The old "I watch him every day and see his greatness" argument....what about the 29 guys you aren't watching?
I hate to say this because I don't want to make Dave upset with his new centerfielder but you can't find a statistical measure that says McLouth can field (I'm not talking fielding percentage, I'm talking range).
Check out 2008:
http://www.billjamesonline.net/fieldingbible/charts/leaders2-08.gif
That's just one measure but you won't find anything anywhere that suggests McLouth can cover his position.
As for RBI, it's well known they are as much a function of batting order and surrounding players as it is skill and there are much better metrics do measure hitting performance.
I wrote a buddy of mine who is a Pirates fan the other day and told him the Pirates would be moving McLouth to left soon anyway to make room for McCutcheon. McLouth, offensively, is not a leftfielder. Trust me, this move improves the Pirates.
The move improves both teams. The pirates get a starting pitcher and two good prospect and allow Andrew McCutcheon to get in the game now and get some experience.
The Braves massively improve their outfield (although that wasn't hard to do) and get a young player with power who is locked up through his prime. I don't care if he's actually a good defender or not. You can't be abysmal and win a gold glove, and we needed a power bat to go along with Chipper and McCann desperately. At this point I would have put Dave Kingman out there in center if he could hit 30 dingers.
Good trade for both, although it would be nice the Pirates decided to actually try for a winning record ONCE this century.
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