Huntington pulls the trigger

Pirate Gm Neal Huntington has finally pulled the trigger on his first major deal by sending Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Yankees of the Big Cesspool and bringing four prospects to the organization.

When the news broke Friday evening,the rumored Pirate return was different than the actual deal.
Outfielder Jose Tabata is the centerpiece of the deal and righty Ross Ohlendorf is the most likely player to see action in Pittsburgh first,but minor league pitchers Phil Coke and George Kontos were supposedly in the deal,but were replaced by pitchers Daniel McCutchen and Jeff Karstens.

In my opinion (and this seems to be a minority),the rumored trade was better than the actual swap.
I think in the end,Huntington did what we always criticized Captain Dave for-knuckling under to get players closer to Pittsburgh instead of getting more talented players.
Perhaps it is because I am pretty high on Kontos,but apparently the hang up was that either Kontos or Coke had problems passing the physical and that is why the deal needed to be touched up.
However,I still would have rather brought in pitchers with a bit more upside to replace the two new hurlers,although I have no real issues with McCutchen.
It would not be out of the question that all three of the new pitchers could be seen in Pittsburgh sometime over the remainder of the season.

I am surprised about hearing some negatives about Tabata,who is currently sidelined with a groin pull.
Some are critical of his lack of numbers at AA Trenton (only hitting .240),but he does not turn 20 until next month and could be simply too young to take care of the advanced pitching that one faces at the AA level.
Tabata has always been compared to Fernando Martinez,as both are the same age,have been advanced quickly to the same levels and were New York prospects and Tabata never paled by comparison to Martinez.
Tabata is projected (always the key word) to be a potential five tool player and could be a future star,if all continues to form.

More on the deal tomorrow when I have more time to write.

The Pirates used dumb baserunning and an inability to shut down the Padres when they were going for insurance runs to lose 6-5 on another tomato red uniform night.
Running very short of time,so the base running incident came in the sixth .
Chris Gomez (pinch hitting for Zach Duke) blooped a single to right to score Adam LaRoche and cut the lead to 5-4 with an out.
But Doug Mienkiewicz tried to move to third and was easily thrown out and Gomez attempted to take second on the throw to third and he too was tossed out.
End of inning.
I know the Mienkiewicz is a fun player to watch and he plays the game hard,but his aggressiveness sometimes bites the Buccos and on this night,it did.
Zach Duke was the loser(4-8) allowing 5 runs in six innings,but failed twice to end innings that resulted in San Diego runs,while Tyler Yates allowed the final run that looked like no big deal at the time,but was eventually the game winner.
Adam LaRoche homered in his first two plate appearances (13 and 14) to lead the Pittsburgh offense.
Series continues tonight with JVB at 7

Pitching Matchup
San Diego:Josh Banks (2-4 3.51 ERA) at Pittsburgh:John Van Benschoten (1-2 8.27 ERA) 7:05

Great fight tonight for the WBA Welterweight title between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
Looks to be a real action fight and the kind well worth watching.
We like Cotto by decision.

Photo Credits
Tabata-Jerry Hale
Play at third-Gene Puskar-AP photo