Buccos offseason

[voncap]

It was obvious that Hanrahan's worth on the trade market had dropped so the return in a deal involving him was not going to be great.

My issue with the deal is that it does not appear to address any of the team's major weaknesses(SS & SP) for the up coming season or the future. Starting to really question whether Neal Huntingdon has a plan to make the team better or is just 'shooting from the hip'.

How about this statement by Huntingdon? "Mark Melancon has been a quality Major League reliever with closing experience who displays key subjective and objective indicators as a candidate to bounce back from a challenging 2012 season."

Key subjective and objective indicators. That is classic.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I think the Pirates did just fine in this trade. ERA is not a good indicator on reviewing a relief pitcher. Melancon is going to be a very good pitcher, and perhaps the closer of this team. I'm not a Grilli fan, and I think his first half was excellent, but he was shaky at best during the stretch.

Take a look at it this way, the Pirates acquired a hard throwing reliever during the 2009 season with upside....His best season to date was a 3.95 ERA in 2008, and was coming in with a 7.71 ERA when the Pirates got him.

He was able to come back and have a 1.72 with the Pirates that year, 2011 was able to put up 3.62 ERA on one of the worst teams in the history of baseball, and then assumed the closer's role in 2011 with a 1.83 ERA and 40 saves, and had another all star season with a 2.72 ERA 36 save season.


Trust me, the Pirates see a lot of Hanrahan in Melancon. He's a fairly young hard throwing righty, with solid offspeed stuff that has some experience. His 2011 numbers were really good, and that was in the NL Central.

And to be fair, if Huntington has one good trait, he can find quality relievers out of nowhere.

This likely would have been the Hammer's last season here, if we really wanted something more for him and had the faith in Grilli before, we should have traded him back in July.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I think we can good an OK haul for Garrett Jones, and I could see him being the next guy traded. I'm a big Jones guy, always have been. But Huntington is going to give Snider and Sands the opportunity (who are both 6-7 yrs younger than Jones) and I'm OK with it. Why acquire guys to sit?


Here is Bucsdugout.com updated projected 25 man roster. Bucsdugout.com is very good and Piratesprospects.com is another good Buco site, and they like Melancon. They are smart guys, I don't always agree with them, but always respect what they have to say.
LF Starling Marte
RF Travis Snider
CF Andrew McCutchen
1B Garrett Jones
2B Neil Walker
3B Pedro Alvarez
C Russell Martin
SS Clint Barmes


BENCH
C Michael McKenry
1B Gaby Sanchez
IF Jordy Mercer
IF Josh Harrison
OF Jerry Sands

ROTATION
A.J. Burnett
Wandy Rodriguez
Francisco Liriano
James McDonald
Jeff Locke

BULLPEN
Jason Grilli
Mark Melancon
Jared Hughes
Tony Watson
Bryan Morris
Vin Mazzaro
Justin Wilson


My takes....

1. Tabata not on the 25 Man. I wouldn't be so sure just yet.
2. Jones may be on his way out, so Tabata could survive...Sanchez/Sands could platoon first. Tabata/Snider could split RF.
3. Don't mind the bench too much, Harrison and McKenry have been around, Sanchez isn't horrible. plus some platoon types.
4. The rotation 1-4 seems set as set can be. McPhearson and Locke can battle for #5, Gerrit Cole will be on his way up.

Prospect wise....top according to Pirates.com
1. Cole will start in AAA, Majors seem close
2. Taillon will start AA, should finish AAA.
3. Alan Hansen should play High A Bradenten. He is still only 20yo.
4. Heredia will play Low A West Virginia, only 18yo, and had an unreal season for his age last year.
5. Gregory Polanco should move to High A with Hansen
6. Josh Bell may have to repeat Low A for most of the season, due to injuries last year.


I'd expect to see Cole this year, maybe some Tony Sanchez if an injury were to happen, Vic Black could get a callup to the bullpen. Also Andrew Oliver and Stolmy Pimmentel have both been acquired recently, could see potential action. Especially Oliver.

[Eaglealum]

All true...but now we got nothing the Dodgers want...and I want Gordon! With the wealth of platoon players, I gotta think they are positioning for another deal, but with who and for who?

[Crimson's Ghost]

I don't see Dee Gordon really being feasible, unless we give them something more than he's worth, or there can be a three way trade worked out.

[Eaglealum]

Well traderumors website is reporting that the Bucs deal with Lirano which was never finalized, is in jeopardy..Liriano who never showed in Pittsburgh in December for a physical, apparently hurt his arm before Christmas...here we go

[crfball]

Jones, Mcpherson, Heredia for Elvis Andrus...........what do you all think of this rumor

[Eaglealum]

That's overpaying...I'm not a typical front office Bucco that overvalues everything they have, but Thats too much though, heredia is too high a prospect, to add to proven big league talent, not to mention your top closing choice if Melancon flames when Grilli leaves...

[S Cube]

I would made that deal if it was Profar instead of Andrus.

[tidesturning]

The trade the Pirates made with the Indians in the last 24 hours looks like a solid move. I know it isn't flashy but that pitcher had some nice potential in the past. He's still less than 25 so I'm glad to have him over the position player we traded for him. In a google search I found that Indian fans were very disappointed to lose him and feel his potential to put things together was worth a lot more than what they got in return for him.