Pittsburgh Pirates make three deals at the deadline

The Pittsburgh Pirates were on the outside of the wild card chase,but the distance was not so remarkable (four games) that it could not be made up.

Instead,the Pirates made what looks to be their most blatant salary dump in years and was dismaying to their fan base among three trades at the trade deadline.

The worst trade and most obvious salary dump came in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays as the Pirates traded struggling veteran pitcher Francisco Liriano and two players from the AA Altoona Curve for Drew Hutchison.
To begin,let's look at Hutchison,who did win 13 games for the Blue Jays last season,but did it with an ERA of five and half and a WHIP of 1.48 (not good),so clearly you don't to be Brian Kenny (who hates the win stat) to see that Hutchison was simply the by-product of a good hitting ball club.
The 25 year old has spent most of this season with AAA Buffalo and was a highly thought of prospect just a few years ago.
Hutchison has not had arm woes that I know of,so the Pirates are hoping to work that rehab magic one more time..

Francisco Liriano has been bad this season.
Really bad, with his ERA being almost as bad as Drew Hutchison's 2015 without the offense to make up for it hence Liriano's record being 6-11.
Liriano's velocity is down,his strikeouts are down and he was still owed 13 million for 2017,so I get why the Pirates wanted to move him,but they could have released him and kept two nice prospects.
Was a guy with a 5+ ERA last year that couldn't even make the team for much of this season that valuable to add?
In my opinion-a resounding no.
Reese McGuire hasn't hit for power (1 homer at AA Altoona),but has been outstanding defensively and leaves the Pirates farm system lacking any kind of a catching prospect...
Harold Ramirez hasn't hit for power either,but has hit over .300 at each of his last three stops in the system and at minimum could be a 4th outfielder type.
I know the Pirates are set in the outfield for a while with Austin Meadows on the way,but giving away possible players for the simple cost of saving money makes me think of the Dave Littlefield years-Never a good parallel!
Not happy with this deal at all...

Pittsburgh then continued a bizarre circle with the New York Mets as the team brought back reliever Antonio Bastardo,who left the team after last season to sign with the Mets in exchange for Jon Niese,who had been added from the Mets over the winter for Neil Walker.
Bastardo's ERA is over 4,but he's still striking out a batter an inning from the bullpen and should help a team that lost bullpen depth after dealing Mark Melancon to Washington.
Bastardo is signed for 2017 at six million.
Niese had struggled as well in Pittsburgh leaving at town with a record of 8-6,but an ERA of 4.91.
Niese had a club option for ten million for 2017 with a 500,000 buyout,so I can see this one a little.
If you didn't want to pick up the option for Niese,you saved the buyout cost and added a productive reliever in Bastardo,but doesn't that make the trade of Neil Walker look awful now?
The Pirates in the end lost Walker and got back a guy that they could have re-signed over the winter.
Hmmm.....

The final trade is the one that scares me as Pittsburgh added pitcher Ivan Nova from the Yankees for two players to be named later.
There has to be more on the surface that we know as Nova is 29,has an ERA around five for the second year in a row and is a free agent at the end of the year.
I would hope that the Pirates have a proviso of some type that the level of prospect or even number of prospects is subject to change if Nova would not re-sign with Pittsburgh,but I haven't read anything of that type.
I'm not against taking flyers on players,but this seems downright weird to me...

All and all,I'm just confused.
Salary dumping players,losing prospects just to say you are receiving something instead of nothing,bringing back players that you could have re-signed?
Making trades that make zero baseball sense because you need to shred salary?
These don't seem like the Neal Huntington Pirates-they seem like the Bonifay/Littlefield Buccos and I don't like that.
I don't like that at all.

Back later with a recap of the final team and their trades-the San Francisco Giants.

Hot Stove Pirates-Antonio Bastardo acquired!

Baseball's winter meetings are just about over and with the Giants not making any moves (although they tried) and the Indians already making their deal to acquire Brandon Moss,that leaves the Pirates,so I thought I would catch up with the hot stove in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates had made a few small moves before the winter meetings,but nothing worth mentioning in a full post,so I'll catch up with them after the biggest trade that was made today and a signing during the meetings.

The biggest news was the team re-signing lefty Francisco Liriano to a three year contract worth 13 million a year.
Most had expected the Pirates to lose both Liriano and Edinson Volquez,so this was a mild surprise.
Liriano notched almost identical numbers in 2014 to his return in 2013 in every category except wins,so I'm comfortable with the deal and it certainly isn't an overpay,but considering Liriano's years before Pittsburgh,I might have preferred a two year deal.


The Pirates made a move to upgrade the lefthanded side of their bullpen with a trade with the Phillies for Antonio Bastardo for Joely Rodriguez.
Rodriguez spent last season at AA Altoona and pitched well in the Arizona Fall League,so he is somewhat a prospect despite a nearly five ERA in the Eastern League.

The real catch is Antonio Bastardo,who at 29,might rank near the top of the list of pitchers most likely to terrify lefthanded hitters.
Bastardo ranks at the top of the league in strikeout to nine inning ratio and brings the heat with the best of the gas throwers in the game.
With the trading of Justin Wilson to the Yankees,there was a gap in the bullpen on the southpaw side and Bastardo not just fills the spot of Wilson,he improves it dramatically.
I've been a fan of Bastardo,since I saw him pitch at the Muni,so I really do like this deal for the Pirates...

The Pirates have been collecting utility infielders this off season as they claimed two off waivers in Jake Elmore from the Reds and Pedro Florimon (former Frederick Key) from the Nationals,picked up Justin Sellers from the Indians for cash and most recently traded for Sean Rodriguez from Tampa for a player to be named later,which will be announced after today's rule v draft.
Rodriguez might be the one that sticks after hitting 12 homers in a little over 200 at bats,despite hitting just .211 and with a career average of .226,I could see him as a power bat in a pinch hitting capacity.
Rodriguez wouldn't be a huge loss if he didn't turn out.

The Pirates claimed an interesting arm off waivers in Josh Lindblom from Oakland.
Lindblom,a one time excellent prospect in the Los Angeles system,pitched in just one game for the A's last season and is coming off an injury,so he is far from a sure thing,but for the waiver cost-I'm intrigued...

Pittsburgh will have Pedro Alvarez shifting to first base this season,but what to do with the platoon from last year?
Well,Neal Huntington was apparently not pleased with either as the Pirates designated both Gaby Sanchez and Ike Davis for assignment.
Davis was shipped to Oakland with the Pirates third international signing bonus slot for the A's first slot,so they got a little something for Davis,who was a disappointment in his one Pittsburgh season hitting .235 with 10 homers after costing the Pirates pitcher Blake Taylor,who was the second round pick by the Pirates in the 2013 draft.
No word on interest in Sanchez as his ten days to be DFAed has not expired as of this writing.

That takes the Pirates off the burner for now and I am at the road office,so I may still hammer out that Q and A that I promised....