Giants trade for Casey McGehee,Pirates win right to negotiate with Korean star

Two notes from the baseball world,one that is a few days old and the other from yesterday with both having the potential to affect seasons in San Francisco and Pittsburgh....

First,the Giants made two moves,the team addressed their third base situation with a less than scintillating addition in my opinion as the team traded two minor league pitchers to the Miami Marlins in return for veteran Casey McGehee.
I thought I had seen the last of McGhee after a disappointing half season as a Pirate that frustrated me to no end and that saw me happy to see him leave to the Yankees in mid-2012.
McGhee would spent 2013 in Japan before winning National League Comeback Player of the year last,albeit over a very weak field.
McGehee did hit .287,but hit just four home runs in 160 games and making me wonder if a team thirsty of power has added any at all.
The Giants traded Kendry Flores and Luis Castillo to Miami,so the cost for McGehee wasn't extreme.
Flores had an excellent 2013 in Augusta,but his numbers dipped a bit at High A San Jose last season while Castillo has good stats last season out of the Augusta bullpen.
Neither are top prospects,but I'd be surprised if Casey McGehee was the answer to the Giants third base questions in 2015.
Even if he is,McGehee is a free agent at the end of the season,..

The Giants also re-signed Jake Peavy to keep in their pitching rotation for two years at 24 million.
Peavy pitched well for the Giants after being acquired from Boston in his twelve starts as a Giant (2.12 ERA) and 12 million isn't excessive (which says so much about the state of the game) and even though there are some questions,I'm OK with it since there is such a dearth of middle level pitchers on the free agent market.
There were a lot available at the top and always a lot at the bottom,but few at the middle level,so I'm ok with the contract,although I wouldn't be surprised at all if this does not work out.

Meanwhile,the big surprise came from Pittsburgh as the Pirates were the surprise winner of the posting bid and the right to negotiate with the Korean MVP shortstop  Jung-Ho Kang.
Kang hit .359 with 39 homers and those are tremendous numbers,but keep in mind that Korean baseball is lower than Japanese baseball and on the whole is roughly on the AA to maybe low AAA level,so who knows how good Kang really is.
Is he a full time shortstop and battle Jordy Mercer? Or his talents more of a third baseman or even a utilityman?
I couldn't tell you,but the Pirates thinking progressively and trying to sign Kang is the type of risk that I like to see teams like the Pirates attempt to make.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in both the board room and the baseball field.....

Swapping for Arms,Peavy in SF,Masterson out of Cleveland

 On a day that saw one arm leave one team,I realized that I had never written about a deal a few days old,so I'll catch up with both deals at once!

The freshest news is the Indians sending Justin Masterson away to the St.Louis Cardinals in exchange for a former first round selection in outfielder James Ramsey.
Masterson won double digit games for the Tribe in the last three seasons,but had struggled for Cleveland in 2014 with a 4-6 injury-plagued season and an ERA over five in his contract season.
The issue for the Indians before the season was should they attempt to re-sign Masterson as the best pitcher on the staff.
The final decision was made by the ineffectiveness of Masterson and with the Indians still needing
bats in the system that could be productive power producers-The trade was an easy one for the Indians to make,despite the team being on the edge of playoff contention.

As far as the 24 year old Ramsey goes,he was hitting .300 with 13 homers at the Cardinals AA affiliate in Springfield and was the first round pick by St.Louis in 2012 out of Florida State.
Ramsey is well thought of as a "high makeup" guy and has always been noted as a leader in the locker room,but for whatever reason repeated AA and that is a red flag to me.
Ramsey also strikes out a lot (108 times last year),so that might been one reason for his AA return along with batting average that improved from .251 to .300 in the repeat year.
The Indians must have decided that they wanted to see what Ramsey had immediately as he was assigned to AAA Columbus.

I'm OK with this deal,especially when you consider two things-the dearth of power prospects close to the majors (Maybe Jesus Aguilar could turn out) and the poor performance of Masterson dropped the potential return for the pitcher.
The deal depends on how James Ramsey does whether the return is reasonable enough....

Meanwhile,the Giants needed to add arm strength with the potential loss of Matt Cain for the season and struck quickly with the acquisition of lefthander Jake Peavy from Boston in return for AAA pitchers Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree.

Peavy,a past Cy Young award winner,had struggled this season like most of the defending World Champion Red Sox,but brings a live arm to San Francisco,even if Peavy is not quite the electric powerhouse of seasons past.
Peavy wobbled to a 1-9 record in Boston,but his ERA was similar to 2013 when he went 12-5 combined with the White and Red Sox (4.71 to 4.72) and that tells me that he was one of the players most affected by the Red Sox poor record.
Peavy allowed four runs in six innings in his first start vs the Dodgers,but didn't look awful doing so.

The pitchers that the Giants shipped away were both once highly thought of but had reached faded prospect status of recent times.
Heath Hembree had once been thought of as the Giants closer of the future,but various issues kept Hembree from reaching the big club and despite nice save numbers in AAA Fresno over the last two and a half years,the peripheral numbers were not up to snuff.
Despite Hembree's arm and potential,the Giants would only use him for nine games last season and not at all this season.
Hembree might be one of those players that needed a fresh start and new organization in order to thrive because I just don't think it was likely as a Giant.

22 year old Edwin Escobar looked like a comer after an excellent 2013 split between High A San Jose and AA Richmond.
However,the lefthander had issues this season with AAA Fresno and unlike his results rising through the system,his strikeouts fell and walks rose a bit.
Escobar's ERA with the Grizzlies was over five,but with the solid prospects waiting at AA Richmond,the team might have just decided to avoid a logjam in the 2015 Fresno rotation and move Escobar while the getting was good.
It seems to me that the Giants may be giving up on Escobar a little early,but sometimes these things have to be done.

Peavy could be a free agent at the end of the year,but he does have a player option,so if he triggers the option,the Giants could get another year out of this deal.
I believe the Red Sox could get mileage out of both the pitchers that they obtained in the trade,but the Giants were in a position that they had to do something when you consider the potential loss of Matt Cain to bolster their rotation.

Hope to be back tomorrow with more.....