I just heard the news that the Pirates attained Akinori Iwamura for Jesse Chavez and couldn't care much less. We get a mediocre second baseman to replace another mediocre second baseman who replaced a slighty above average, but still mediocre second baseman, in exchange for a rookie relief pitcher who barely made the roster but did show some talent. This trade certainly does not make the Pirates significantly better or worse, so was it really worth taking on the extra cash? Sheesh, but that is not the point of my post.
After learning about the trade, I was reading some other stuff on the Buccos (since I haven't in a long time) and realized that Ronny Cedeno is their plan for next year at short stop. Really? I guess it is just that hard to find a quality short stop that will play for the Pirates for less than 3 million a year. However, I did see that former Pirate non-hall of famer Jack Wilson will be available as a free agent. This reminded me of a point I may or may not have mentioned during this past season, but definitely was thinking about. This is probably against the rules in baseball, but seems easily avoidable - if you have a player that you like and has been with your team for a while and is a fan favorite, in addition to knowing that your season is over by the trade deadline, if that player does not have any years left on their contract, why not make a secret pact with them that management will trade them to a contender for prospects, then resign the guy next season at a salary they negotiate. Seems like a win-win, because someone like Jack Wilson or Freddie Sanchez seem like they genuinely love the city of Pittsburgh and want to win here, so they would do anything to make the team better, right? I suppose if you got caught doing this MLB would not be happy, so you'd probably only get away with it once or twice, but if I was a GM I would definitely be all about it. I mean, for example, we lose Wilson and Sanchez for half a season, let them play for a contender and have some fun, get Alderson and Clement among others, then pick up this season where they left off. WIN WIN RIGHT??
Only problems I see are one of the parties not honoring their agreement, getting caught, somehow losing money in the deal, or pissing off your fan base because you have to lie about why you traded them (which they obviously don't care about anyway), but I think they would forgive you after you get them back right? Someone please explain to me why this wouldn't work.
(FYI, Sanchez resigned with the Giants, so Wilson is the only candidate left)
(FYI x 2, I don't really want Wilson back unless we really can't find anyone else, he was just an example)
(FYI x 3, not sure how long we control him, but Garret Jones might be a good candidate for this)
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4 comments:
I had a really long rebuttal to this post worked in my head, but then I went to work and forgot the entire thing.
The Sanchez/Wilson thing could actually happen. I mean, the pirates could sign Wilson (which i could see happening after he realizes that he will probably not get as much as the pirates offered him for an extension). And maybe that was the front office hope, that these guys would go elsewhere and then not sign with those teams and then be available on the market and for much cheaper.
I actually like the Iwamura trade, go over to WHYGAVS, Pat over there explains things much better than I do, especially about Chavez.
I could see GFJ (Garret Freakin' Jones) being the type of player that gets traded midseason and then resigns next year. Why? Well, he fails to produce with his new team, the Buccos look at him and say "hey man, we'll bring ya back, but for less money." That is called a win-lose situation. Pirates get players and GFJ, GFJ loses money, and the other teams gets crap...
Also, I do not mind Cedeno at SS next season. He is a decent fielder, which is what this pitching staff needs (not as good as Wilson, but better than most of the other options, and younger).
"I actually like the (fill in player) trade" seems like it has been our motto for the past 17 years. I, and many others, say that every year because we want to be optimistic and look for the positives in each trade, but really? How is this going to affect us at all. We need run producers behind McCutchen, not worse versions of Freddie Sanchez. I will never be happy with a Pirates trade again until they actually get a better return than John VanderWal, Armando Rios, Joel Hanrahan, and co.
As for Cedeno, he is an average to above average fielder (this is my opinion based on the few games I watched when he was playing and without looking at any stats) who is fundamentally sound, doesn't make many errors, but also doesn't make the spectacular plays that Wilson could do. He is not going to take away any hits which will hurt the staff in the long run.
Something else I just remembered - they were planning on trying to convert LaRoche-lite into a second baseman (at least the bloggers were begging for it) this season. Looks like that is out the window now, and we are stuck with him at third again.
I think that is probably still the plan for LaRoche, or have him start at third, and then if pedro is ready by june bring him up.
Also, Iwamura can either play second, or if LaRoche turns out to be a good 2B guy, he becomes a much better option of the bench than Ramon Vasquez.
So is Snickers bar.
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