Analysis: Pirates Trade Deadline Wrapup

By John Perrotto

The Pittsburgh Pirates were unexpected busy in the hours leading up to Saturday's non-waiver trading deadline in Major League Baseball.

General manager Neal Huntington pulled off three trades in which he shipped five players who were eligible for free agency at the end of the season and likely not to return in 2011 and got six players back.

Reliever D.J. Carrasco, infielder Bobby Crosby and outfielder Ryan Church were traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for catcher Chris Snyder and Class AAA infielder Pedro Ciriaco.

Closer Octavio Dotel was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Class AAA left-hander James McDonald and Class AA outfielder Andrew Lambo.

Left-handed reliever Javier Lopez was traded to the San Francisco Giants for right-hander Joe Martinez and Class AAA first baseman/outfielder John Bowker.

"Truthfully, no," Huntington said when asked if he thought he would be so active at the deadline. "Some opportunities presented themselves that might have been somewhat unexpected and the relief market was very late to develop in general. So it ended up being a busy time.

"It's tough to trade away five really good people like we did. We brought them in over the winter to help us on and off the field and they did. It was not our intention to sign them with the idea of trading them at the deadline. That is just how it happened to work out and we feel good that we were able to get an established major-league catcher and five prospects back."

Snyder will have the most immediate impact when he joins the Pirates on Monday night for the opener of a three-game series against Cincinnati at PNC Park. He will become the Pirates' starting catcher, which will push incumbent Ryan Doumit to the bench once he recovers from a concussion and comes off the disabled list, which is likely to be Friday. Doumit will serve as the backup to both Snyder and right fielder Lastings Milledge.

McDonald is expected to join the Pirates on Monday. He will be initially used in relief but Huntington said the Pirates envision McDonald's long-term role as a starter.

Meanwhile, with Dotel gone, the Pirates are leaning toward giving set-up relievers Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek both opportunities to close games.

Ciriaco, Martinez and Bowker were assigned to Class AAA Indianapolis. Huntington said all three had a good chance of getting called to the major leagues before the end of the season.

Lambo was assigned to Class AA Altoona.

Here is a capsule look at each player acquired in the trades:

CHRIS SNYDER

The 29-year-old catcher, who is expected to join the Pirates on Monday night when they host Cincinnati, made 58 starts behind the plate for Arizona this season and hit .231 with 10 home runs and 32 RBIs in 65 games overall. He had a 240-game errorless streak snapped on June 6, the third-longest in major-league history behind Mike Redmond (253, 2004-10) and Mike Matheny (252, 2002-04).

Snyder's .778 OPS ranks ninth among major-league catchers with at least 225 plate appearances and his .774 OPS ranks seventh among major-league catchers with at least 1,200 plate appearances since 2007. Since the start of the 2007 season, he leads all major-league catches in fielding percentage (.999), having made two errors in 2,456 chances.