Huntington’s Forced Hand
Posted by Seth Walder | Posted in MLB | Posted: June 7, 2009 at 10:01 pm
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Just ignore the fact that you know the Pirates are bad. What if I told you that a certain team traded away one of its players, and the outcry from the fans was so great that the GM had to write a letter to the fans explaining why he made the trade and why its going to be good for the franchise. Doesn’t sound like things are going to well for that team.
Well on Saturday, Pirates GM Neal Huntington had to write that exact letter, after he traded away the team’s prized possession, 27-year old outfielder Nate McLouth to Atlanta for three prospects. Well things aren’t going well for Bucs. They’ve had 15 straight seasons of losing baseball, and there is no end in sight. If I was a fan, I would be a little disgruntled too.
But you know what, I’m going to back up Huntington on this one. And I’m surprised at myself too, when I saw the headline “Pirates GM tries to explain McLouth deal in letter” I was going to come out attacking him. But think about it this way: the Pirates have a lot of work to do to win a championship. A lot. And while the fans and the organization might hope that they can do it soon, they really can’t. So the best way forward is to rebuild. Again. Therefore, trading McLouth after his breakout season, even when he’s only 27, isn’t so bad. I can’t say I know about the quality of the prospects they got, but they sound good if San Diego was looking at them for Peavy, and thats a better option than hanging onto McLouth. McLouth’s average is down a little bit, and what if it’s going to stay there? Plus, they can get the most value for him now while he is in the prime of his career and about to enter his best years of production. So they did. Instead of getting to the point when he is 30-years old, losing him to free agency or just having him but not having a winning team around him.
Huntington does a hard job. He works with a struggling team under what I’ve heard is one of the worst owners in baseball, Bob Nutting, and he has to continually rebuild. And they weren’t going to be ready in 2 years. So what did he do, he pounced when he had a good offer, and the Pirates might now have a chance in a few years. With a bit of luck (and a good draft) the Pirates can fill their farm system and rise to the top. So back off Huntington, he’s making the moves he has to.
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I completely disagree with you.
You fail to mention that Huntington, when he resigned McLouth to a 3 yr extension, stated to the Pirate fanbase that this was a sign that the Pirates were there to compete and weren’t going to let talent like McLouth leave the team.
Yet he trades away McLouth for Gorkys Hernandez, who has a lot of tools but hasn’t put up good numbers this season or last (except for an incredibly hollow .316 avg this season) and two minor league pitchers in Jeff Locke (who is getting lit up in high A ball and didnt really impress in low A last year) and Charlie Morton (a 25 year old Quad A player who, in his 75 MLB innings last year, proved he still has a long way to go to succeed in the majors). The fact that Huntington didn’t even snatch away a GOOD prospect like Heyward or Hanson from the Braves when he traded away his best player is nothing short of embarrassing.
This division is still wide open and trading away your best hitter (who also occupies the crucial 3 spot in the lineup) is sending the message to both the fans AND the players that you are giving up on the season already.
No players are going to want to stick around long enough to try and help the Pirates rebuild if they pull stupid stunts like this.
Huntington not getting Hanson or Heyward isn’t embarassing. McClouth isn’t good enough to get either of those prospects. Yes he was the best player, but in a very shallow organization. The situation Huntington found himself in was lose-lose. Keeping McClouth wouldn’t have led the Pirates to an NL Central title this year by any means. So he was forced to take a risk on a guy like Hernandez.
This was not even close to a lose-lose situation.
Huntington did not have his hand forced by any means. McLouth has several years left on his contract and is very affordable. Furthermore, he’s the most productive player on the bloody team. Regardless of whether or not you will win the fucking division this season, keeping him shows you are at least TRYING to compete. He’s a significant cog in the lineup, and his absence just creates another fucking hole that has to be filled by prospects, who very often don’t pan out as they should. IF you look at Gorky’s comparables, you see a bunch of scrubs or guys who had a ton of tools but didnt do anything with them. So why create a hole when there was no fucking reason to make one in the first place?
They already have an improved pitching staff, and studs who are MLB ready in Alvarez and McCutchen, so the Pirates shouldn’t be trying to rebuild yet again. They already have the necessary pieces. This franchise is becoming a fucking joke, and the fans in Pittsburgh have come to realize that, hence their displeasure with this move
Four F-bomb’s in a mild discussion about the Pirates? Someone needs to get laid..
I personally know Bob Nutting (not kidding) – he is an asshat. Fuck that guy.
McLouth went 3 for 7 with a home run and two runs scored in a 15 inning game last night. Who was that game against? Oh, that’s right, the Pirates. The Braves won by the way.
He also had a stolen base.
Talk about biting you in the ass
[...] that just days after I wrote the Huntington article that has some people fired up, I get to write about the Pirates again. This time though, in a less favorable light. Yesterday was [...]
[...] that just days after I wrote the Huntington article that has some people fired up, I get to write about the Pirates again. This time though, in a less favorable light. Yesterday was [...]