While I consider the Jon Niese trade to be a separate deal on it’s own, and one that I thought was good, I don’t consider the other two deals made on Monday to be separate. Neal Huntington even said afterwards that they brought in Nova to be a veteran in the rotation with Liriano leaving. I assumed as much once the Liriano deal was announced, so it’s hard for me to look at them as two different deals. One was made due to the other one leaving a hole. You can read much more, including quotes on the Liriano deal, in the First Pitch article from late last night. I’m just giving some quick thoughts and a different angle, though I was writing this at the same time Tim Williams wrote his article, so there could be some repeated info/ideas.
Unless Ivan Nova gets the Pirates to the postseason, then it’s going to make the Francisco Liriano trade look even worse. I don’t think getting rid of Liriano was a bad move, but I think it would have been a lot better to get the worst prospect the Blue Jays have as a trade filler and throw in money to get rid of him. Toronto could have kept Drew Hutchison, while Pirates kept Harold Ramirez/Reese McGuire and still saved money. I don’t like when trades are called “dealing from strength/blocked players” to gloss over the fact you didn’t get good value for them. It is possible to deal from a strength AND get good value.
The reason I say that Nova would make it look worse is because he was only brought in to fill in for Liriano. So with him here, it’s less money saved and more prospects sent out. I won’t speculate on who the players to be named later could be, but you would hope they aren’t any legit prospects just for a Liriano-spot filler. That’s a spot that could have been taken by any Indianapolis starter. Unless Nova is a miracle worker, I look at it as Hutchison and cash for four prospects, and we know two of them are pretty good players.
Nova’s 11-12 starts he will make for the Pirates could have been made by an in-house option, so unless he pitches well and it ends in a playoff berth, they have no trade value to me. The could possibly happen, but the Pirates at 52-51 don’t feel like contenders to me. They aren’t far out of the wild card, though it’s not good when you have to pass multiple teams.
Because the cash part is something you can’t evaluate until you see if/how it’s spent, I can’t really even put a grade on the deal. Hutchison will likely be in the rotation for September and then three full seasons. They Pirates have liked him for awhile and there could be some fix they see with him that turns him into a valuable player. One note on him and it is based on the assumption (which I think is very safe) that he won’t be up until September due to his service time. I couldn’t imagine him coming up sometime in August for less than a month and the Pirates losing a year of control just for a couple starts. That would be insane to do. If they call him up before August 31st, they lose a year of service time.
With that in mind, he will need to do well, because we are talking about someone who is making $2.2M this season, and has three years of arbitration left. If the Pirates do get the most out of him, he won’t be cheap, and if looks like a #5 starter, then there will probably be multiple better options by 2018 with all of the prospects they have in the upper levels (for now).
I think it’s safe to say that the Pirates will need a lot to go right for fans to forget this trade and the prospects they gave up. That goes for the rest of this season and the off-season.
** Just some quick minor league playoff notes. Indianapolis is falling back in their league. Altoona is tied for first place, but they just lost the best defensive catcher in the league, the #2 hitter in their lineup and their best reliever. Morgantown has a long climb to first place, but that’s what they did last year and they ended up winning the league title. The GCL Pirates are in first place with a 15-18 record, and the DSL Pirates will probably be eliminated this week. Remember that the minor league season has just 35 days left, or less for some of these teams. I’ll start adding elimination numbers to the Playoff Push section soon and I’ll add the Pirates at the top of that section even sooner.
PLAYOFF PUSH
Indianapolis is in second place in their division, trailing by six games. They trail by 12.5 games for the lone wild card spot.
Altoona is tied for their division lead. The top two teams in the division go to the playoffs, with the first place team getting the home field advantage in the first round.
Bradenton won the first half title. They have home field advantage in the playoffs.
West Virginia is in sixth place in their division, trailing first by 3.5 games.
Morgantown is in third place in their division, trailing first place by nine games. They are seven games back for the lone wild card spot.
Bristol is in fourth place, trailing by five games. The top two teams in each division go to the playoffs.
The GCL Pirates lead their division by a one game. This is the only league where you have to win your division to make the playoffs.
The DSL Pirates trail their division by 18 games. They trail in the wild card by 17.5 games.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
The Pirates were off on Monday.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates were off yesterday. They now take on the Braves for three games in Atlanta. Gerrit Cole starts tonight, fresh off of his first career complete game. He gave up one run on three hits, with no walks and six strikeouts in that game. In his previous start, Cole allowed one run over six innings. The Braves will counter with Mike Foltynewicz, who has a 4.30 ERA in 67 innings, with 58 strikeouts and a 1.30 WHIP. He faced the Pirates back in May and got knocked out after three innings, allowing five runs on seven hits.
In the minors, Frank Duncan gets the start tonight. He threw five shutout innings in his last outing, though he walked a career-high four batters and ran up his pitch count, which limited his innings. The GCL Pirates will go with second round pick Travis MacGregor. Over five starts, he has allowed two earned runs in 16.1 innings. Bristol will send Ike Schlabach to the mound. He has a .236 BAA, a 1.19 WHIP and a 1.47 GO/AO ratio. Bradenton has off today.
MLB: Pittsburgh (52-51) @ Braves (37-68) 7:10 PM
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (2.78 ERA, 23:73 BB/SO, 87.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (55-55) @ Columbus (61-49) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Frank Duncan (2.40 ERA, 14:55 BB/SO, 71.1 IP)
AA: Altoona (58-49) vs Richmond (45-61) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Cody Dickson (3.78 ERA, 70:69 BB/SO, 104.2 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (55-51) vs Ft Myers (54-53) 6:30 PM 8/3 (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD
Low-A: West Virginia (53-53) @ Hagerstown (64-43) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Dario Agrazal (4.36 ERA, 13:61 BB/SO, 107.1 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (20-23) @ State College (29-14) 12:00 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Cam Vieaux (3.38 ERA, 15:23 BB/SO, 37.1 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (16-22) vs Johnson City (21-17) 7:00 PM (season preview)
GCL: Pirates (15-18) vs Tigers West (16-16) 12:00 PM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates (17-31) vs Indians (22-26) 10:30 AM DH (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is the last out of six scoreless innings from Trevor Williams on Sunday. This was clearly a big pitch in a big spot.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
8/1: Pirates trade Francisco Liriano, Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez for Drew Hutchison.
8/1: Pirates acquire Ivan Nova from New York Yankees for players to be named later.
8/1: Pirates trade Jon Niese to New York Mets for Antonio Bastardo and cash.
8/1: Blake Cederlind placed on disabled list. Evan Piechota assigned to Bristol.
8/1: Edgar Santana promoted to Indianapolis.
7/31: Pirates recall Max Moroff. Steven Brault optioned to Indianapolis.
7/31: Erik Lunde assigned to GCL Pirates.
7/30: Pirates trade Mark Melancon to Washington Nationals for Taylor Hearn and Felipe Rivero.
7/29: Pirates recall Steven Brault. A.J. Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.
7/29: Austin Meadows assigned to Morgantown on rehab
7/29: Jin-De Jhang sent to Altoona. Tomas Morales assigned to Bradenton.
7/28: Frank Duncan activated from disabled list.
7/26: Eric Fryer reinstated from paternity list. Elias Diaz optioned to Indianapolis.
7/25: Ke’Bryan Hayes placed on the disabled list.
7/24: Tyler Glasnow placed on disabled list. A.J. Schugel recalled.
7/23: Tyler Glasnow recalled. A.J. Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.
7/23: Eric Fryer placed on paternity list. Elias Diaz recalled.
7/22: Erik Kratz clears waivers. Elects free agency.
7/21: Chris Diaz placed on temporary inactive list.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a big trade of note. On this date in 1985, the Pittsburgh Pirates sent outfielder George Hendrick, reliever Al Holland and starter John Candelaria to the California Angels for outfielder Mike Brown and pitchers Bob Kipper and Pat Clements. It was a deal involving three veterans and three young players coming back to Pittsburgh. The Pirates lost over 100 games in 1985, but five years later, they had put together a team that would win three straight NL East pennants.
The two players born on this date both played on pennant winners, occurring 89 years apart. Tim Wakefield pitched for the 1992-93 Pirates. He was an eighth round draft pick of Pittsburgh in 1988, but he was a position player back then. He was switched to the mound the next year and didn’t take long to make it to the majors. As a rookie, he went 8-1, 2.15 in 13 starts, then threw two complete game victories in the NLCS. After a very poor 1993 season, he was released and it ended up hurting the Pirates. He would win 186 games for the Red Sox over 17 seasons.
The other player was pitcher Bucky Veil, who got the nickname because he was a star pitcher at Bucknell. He was a rookie on the 1903 Pirates, going 5-3, 3.82 in 70.2 innings. During the first modern day World Series, he pitched the last seven innings of game two, allowing one run. The next year, he pitched just one game for the Pirates, which ended up being his last Major League game.
