Morgan to the Nats...

[deliverance]

Coach, you obviously are not paying attention to the past of Lastings Milledge. He is a talented player, but he's not worth the headache. He got thrown out of high school and has forced his way out of everywhere else he has been ever since. Why is he going to change for the Pirates? He's not going to. Lastings Milledge is the last person you want to be hanging around Andrew McCutchen. I am willing to bet that Lastings Milledge will not be accepted in the Pirates clubhouse. That situation is going to get ugly in a hurry.

[abpk2903]

Don't give me that bull **** that this was a good trade. There are 50 other players across the league that have the upside as this clown does. Why not pursue one of them? No the Pirates get stuck with the T.O. of the league. A good trade would have been Morgan for a solid pitcher or solid infielder (positions we need). The Pirate management has fans convinced that every trade has to be for another project. Do the Penguins trade for projects? The White Sox are dying for a good outfielder. Why not call them and see what all they would be willing to give up for Morgan? I'm sure they could get a major league ready player that doesn't have an awful attitude.

[deliverance]

abpk, I have to agree with you on this one. The major problem that the Pirates have is that they deal players way before the trade deadline when teams aren't willing to give up top prospects. The best trade the Pirates have made since the Oliver Perez and Jason Bay for Brian Giles trade was last year when they acquired Andy LaRoche. The Dodgers were forced to give up a prospect that they really did not want to, but they had to due to the circumstances. If you wait until the trade deadline when teams feel they have to make an upgrade, you are much more likely to get a team's top prospect. One trade that comes to my mind is the Mets trading Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano a few years back. The Pirates should be able to pull a trade like that every year. They give up their top talent, but rarely wait until teams will try to outbid other teams and give up top prospects. I just wonder how many stupid hires an organization can make before they luck into someone that knows what they are doing.

[abpk2903]

This trade makes the McLouth trade make even less sense. When they traded him I figured that they felt the McCutchen, Morgan, Moss is a solid enough outfield and they were trying to find some pitching. The organization had to know when they traded him that the middle of lineup had no sluggers. Now, they trade Morgan and claim that they needed some pop in the lineup. So basically the Pirates have given away 2 of their best 5 or 6 players and have gotten little for it. I am not as upset at the McLouth trade as this one because the Pirates need pitching more than anything. They got a major league ready arm in Morton and a great pitching prospect. This trade was a proven outfielder with a great attitude and a fan favorite for an unproven outfielder that has caused nothing but trouble everywhere he has went.

[Coach]

yikes...you thought an outfield with Cutch, Moss, and Morgan was good enough? That's why the Pirates haven't been .500 for a long time...

They already got yet another Morgan when they traded for Gorkys Hernandez.



The new management has done a nice job of buying low and selling high. Honestly, Morgan was never thought to be more than a role player and the Pirates got a guy with a lot more upside than he'll ever have.


In case you wondered, Morgan has been caught stealing 10 times with his great speed. He is one of the top 3 guys in the league for being caught.

He was hitting .277.

Today is Nyjer's 29th birthday. HE IS 29 guys...not 25.


To me, the Pirates just got two guys that could be way better than what they gave up. If they aren't...they aren't. One guy was a bullpen guy and the other was an OF'r that I didn't think was all that great to begin with. They have Pearce, Hernandez, Tabata, Milledge, etc that could come up and play.

Delwynn has also been a nice player as well and can do just as much as Nyjer I think.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... 68493247/1

[voncap]

I have to agree with Coach an outfield of Morgan, Moss, and Cutch wasn't going to win any championships, and the Pirates have been bad for so long that we tend to overvalue the players on the team who actually perform well.

The problem I have with this deal is the comment N. Huntingdon made regarding the deal. On FSN he commented something to the effect that: ' We know Lastings has a problemed past, but for us to be successful we need to take a chance on a guy this. We feel our organization and major league staff can help turn Lasting around.'

Huntingdon's comments really tells me what he thinks of the Pirates' chances of ever being successful on the field.

[deliverance]

I agree with the fact that Milledge has more upside than Morgan. I have seen Milledge play a lot in his career and he has shown glimpses of the talent he is suppose to have, but I doubt we will ever see it consistently. If Milledge ever got his head on straight, the Pirates would have a steal. However, what makes anyone think he will straighten up his act? This trade actually showed how poor the Pirates draft, too. Burnett was the number one pick of the Pirates in the 2000 Draft. He had some nice years in the Minors, but never really panned out in the Majors to this point. However, he is still only 26. Joel Hanrahan is only 27, but he has been given a lot of time in the Majors and has a career ERA of 5.27. Yes, he was the Nats closer last year, but he wasn't exactly dominant. He had 9 saves to go along with 4 blown saves. He was so bad this year that he was demoted to work in the 6th inning for the Nats. The trade will not work out for the Pirates. Trust me.

[once a runner]

The Pirates don't need a guy like Milledge to be successful. I understand the idea of trading for prospects is a good way to rebuild a team, but Pittsburgh doesn't do it the right way. If some of these prospects develop into good major league players, the Pirates will trade them away before they become too expensive. They never keep enough decent players on the roster to win games.

If the Pirates had just held on to their players over the last year they would be competing for the division title this year. Isn't that supposed to be the goal of the organization? How many losing seasons do the fans have to endure to see that this model of doing business just isn't working for Pittsburgh?

I believe they need to copy what Cleveland did in the early 90's. The Indians were pathetic through the 70's and 80's. In the early 90's they signed a lot of young, unproven players with talent to mid size 5 year contracts. Not everyone produced, but it did give them the nucleus for a very good ball club through the 90's and early 2000's.

As someone else already mentioned, the timing of these trades are very curious. What's the harm in waiting? Are they afraid the Pirates might get on a hot streak and get into contention? It wouldn't look good to make trades when you are within a few games of the division lead.

It's not just this trade, but rather their history that makes me believe the Pirate organization is not interested in winning.

[The Ancient Enemy]

The Germans slept better at night pretending the Nazis weren't killing Jews, too.

[Coach]

Oh well...it is an opinion for both sides and nobody has to be right. I just think the Pirates have plenty of replacements for a guy like Morgan. Great attitude and excitement...but not a guy with much more upside from the point he is today. All you can really say is we'll see.