Baseball Thread 5 - #5 George Brett Has a Story to Tell

McCutchen seems like a way more exciting player than McLouth when he first came up.

I don't get Milledge's defect. He comes from a good family. His dad is or was in law enforcement or something of that nature.

 

What would your reaction be if the Mets re-acquired him? I think your attitude toward the Mets is comparable to mine regarding the Pirates. Not an exact match. Mine is more of a disgusted apathy while yours seems to involve actual hate, but close enough.

 

Multi-orgasmic joy at the reunion of two such deserving parties?

And it is a deep, sheer contempt that I typically save for strangers on a message board that I possess for the Mets, this much is certain.

 

That's what I figured. I guess it is different. I can't say it really upsets me when the Pirates do stupid shit. Just disgusts me to see a franchise run that badly.

Maybe I am so used to seeing them do horribly moronic drap that this one doesn't bother me. Hanrahan has some ability. So does Milledge. Burnett was a hell of a prospect before he blew his arm out, but now he is nothing special. Morgan never even had that time when he was a hell of a prospect. It's a roll of the dice and given how Milledge's history the odds are against it coming up a winner, but the deal is probably worth a shot.

But what's with the smiley faces?

 

Not sure Hernandez should be considered a mid-level prospect. Baseball America ranked him No. 62 before the season among all MLB prospects (McCutchen was No. 33). That's higher than guys like Nick Adenhart (RIP, No. 68), Taylor Teagarden (No. 73), Jose Tabata (No. 75) and Gio Gonzalez (No. 97). Obviously, he's someone than people other than the Pirates coveted. And he's still only 21 years old.

Bottom line, the Pirates won't be a consistent winner until the farm system is capable of providing players who actually have a long future in the bigs. Trading away Nady, Marte, Bay and McLouth have gone a long ways toward that, with 10 players in return.

In the past, the Bucs wouldn't have concerned themselves with getting talent in return -- they would've been happy with simply dumping salary and not bolstering a weak farm system. That's not the case with these trades.

 

Perhaps, though in the case of McLouth, there really wasn't that much salary to shed.

 

the mclouth deal sucked, plain and simple. they could've brought McCutcheon up to play with him. This deal's interesting. I love Morgan, and I think he could help a good team, but if you can roll the dice on Milledge, you should. Yeah, he's looked like a jerk, but that's a steal.

 

And that's why the McLouth trade isn't like the old model -- the Pirates made a move with longterm success in mind, not simply shedding money for the here and now.

 

Perhaps. I just didn't think they got enough, which definitely fits in the old pattern of suck.

 

Maybe, but McLouth was an average defensive player, at best. If his bat drops off any -- he's batting .264/.323/.448/.771 since the trade to the Braves -- he doesn't add much to a lineup. The Bucs did OK getting a prospect like Hernandez for what could be a one-year wonder in McLouth, plus maybe two pitchers who could turn into something. It's not like McLouth was putting up numbers anywhere near his 2008 season when he got traded.

 

Exactly. McLouth got off to a great start last year and faded badly in the second half.

When you take into account the total package, McLouth is an above-average CF ... nothing more, nothing less. He is, though, likely to lose some value down the road if moved to a corner in favor of Jordan Schafer.

While I didn't care much for the return at the time, I like it now, especially after watching a few of Morton's starts. The dude's got great stuff for a supposed fifth starter.

 

McCutcheon, Milledge and Gorkys Hernandez would have to be one of the fastest outfields in MLB history. I don't know how effective it would be, but damn, it would be fast.

Pirates still should have gotten more for McLouth. That was a bad, bad deal. This one ... I don't know ... it reeks of, "Let's swap some talented, underachieving outfielders and relievers and see if it will work out."