Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Pirates Being the Best Minor League Farm Team in the Majors

Hey Guys,

Not trying to kill the religion topic with a topic about sports, but if anyone hasn't heard Pirates traded Nate McLouth (possibly the Pirates best player) to the Atlanta Braves for 3 minor league prospects. I also heard that the money saved from having to pay McLouth will go to another firework show. I think the organization might as well buy the players lawn chairs and kegs so that the players sitting around drinking beers and watching the fireworks. Even the Pirate players can't afford the beer at the stadium with their salaries. The Pirates are starting their moves a little early this year (must be the economy). At least last year they managed to wait to trade away all of their good players until after the All Star break.

Chances of the Pirates getting to 500 - 0.00001%...all the other players would have to drop dead from steroids

Big Dave

6 comments:

James R said...

On the other side, the Pirates are 3 games under 500 without Ryan Doumit. It was only a matter of time before Andrew McCutcheon became the Pirates centerfielder (He was batting over .300 in Indianapolis.) He is much faster than McClouth and possibly a better fielder and hitter--time will tell. With McCutcheon and Morgan as 1-2, it gives the Pirates the fastest, possibly the most feared top of the lineup in baseball.

This trade was definitely NOT about money. As a matter of fact they will lose money, having to pay McClouth's bonus without him playing.

The heartbreak of the trade is about people. Nate was possibly the most beloved Pirate. It is sad when Pirate management points out that they do not care about people, team chemistry, or fan feelings, but only about what they think is winning.

Do I like the trade? Not especially. I like Nate McClouth. Andrew McCutcheon is probably a better player and the Pirates will probably be a better team, but I like how hard Nate worked and got the most out of his ability. I want the Pirates to keep their nice guys.

James R said...

By the way, this has almost nothing to do with the success or failure of the trade, but Andrew McCutchen was 2 for 4 with 3 runs and 1 RBI in his major league debut, as the Pirates won 11-6.

James R said...

I forgot to add that Andrew McCutchen also had a stolen base in his first major league game today. He is so fast that the catcher didn't bother making the throw. (I also misspelled McCutchen above) He is so fast it is hard to read his name on the back of his uniform.

Big Dave said...

Jim,

You are sort of right. He is signed through 2011 at 5 million dollars a year. 5 million dollars a year for an all-star calliber player is a steal to almost every other team in the majors, but to the pirates it is 1/8 of their total salary. If you noticed in the trade the Pirates didn't even pick up Atlanta's top prospect(even though it is rumored that they could have) maybe because the Pirates were afraid that they would have to pay him to much.

Big Dave

Big Dave said...

I will agree that McCutchen may be the better center fielder, but wouldn't they have just moved McLouth to left or right field. I guess that McLouth is also so fast that you couldn't catch his name of the back of his jersey either, or maybe today was the first Pirate game you've seen. (Hence you wouldn't have seen McLouth unless you were watching the Braves game.) Either way you aren't missing anything.

Big Dave

James R said...

Ha! Ha! I butchered the names.