Colorado Rockies are shaping up as the most likely trade partner for Ian Snell

3:52am - Monday, June 15th, 2009 by John Perrotto

PITTSBURGH _ There was plenty of speculation swirling around the Pirates’ clubhouse Sunday morning that another big trade was about to go down.

General manager Neal Huntington, manager John Russell and the coaching staff held a long meeting in Russell’s office before the Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers 6-3 in the afternoon.

More than one person in the clubhouse seemed convinced right-hander Ian Snell was headed out of town.

They might be right. There are indications the Pirates are willing to trade Snell and the Colorado Rockies are shaping up as the most likely trade partner.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy, who replaced Clint Hurdle last month, is a big fan of Snell’s. Tracy, then the Pirates’ manager, decided to put Snell in the starting rotation to start the 2006 season when seemingly everyone else in the organization thought he profiled as a set-up reliever because of his small stature.

The Rockies suddenly look like contenders after tying a franchise record with their 11th straight win on Sunday.

While the Rockies are 10 ½ games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, they are 2 ½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL wild-card standings.

The Pirates sold high on center fielder Nate McLouth when they traded him to Atlanta on June 3 for left-hander Jeff Locke, right-hander Charlie Morton and center fielder Gorkys Hernandez. However, they would be selling low on Snell as he is 1-7 with a 5.25 ERA in 13 starts this season.

However, there are some in the organization who would like to just get rid of Snell and the approximately $5.95 million remaining on the three-year, $8-million contract he signed in spring training last year.

Since the All-Star break in 2007, he is 10-26 with a 5.22 ERA in 59 starts as his numbers clearly do not match his immense talent.

The Pirates have preached accountability since the current management team of president Frank Coonelly and Huntington took over late in the 2007 season.

Snell has been anything but accountable this season as he has blamed his losses on such factors as teams stealing the catcher’s signs, the umpires having inconsistent strike zones, the catchers calling the wrong pitches and the pitcher’s mound not being well-maintained.

The final straw may have come last Friday night when he punched the dugout wall after giving up a second run-scoring single to Tigers rookie pitcher Rick Porcello, who had never batted in a professional game.

However, Snell wasn’t upset about allowing the hit. Instead, he was angry about Russell ordering an intentional walk to shortstop Ramon Santiago just before Porcello’s hit.

Snell then publicly questioned Russell’s strategy after the game, which raised eyebrows both in the front office and clubhouse.

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Comments

fyinzall

Who cares about a team that hasn t had a winning season in almost 20 years, the fact that people still watch their games is a joke

06/15/2009 8:12am

Time to get rid of him. There are too many other guys right now who are busting their ass trying to get this team to where they need to be.

06/15/2009 8:30am

cr87

snell just has a horrible attitude that can not be apart of a team that is trying to turn the corner and become relivant again. he has all the talent in the world but he has nothing in his head. i like what neils done so far so im for w/e he does next

06/15/2009 9:15am

mwalluk

Love the PR spin. Let's get rid of Snell b/c he's a locker room cancer and not b/c we want to cut some more payroll. WHat's next, let's dump Wilson/Sanchez b/c of ........ and Not b/c of their contracts. same old song and dance. In all seriousness, Glad Snells gone, though they should've traded him a while ago.

06/15/2009 9:28am

mwalluk

In other news, Ronny Paulino went 4-for-5 with a pair of homers and three runs batted in. Good thing we didn't keep him, since we have a better backup now.

06/15/2009 9:30am

abnjas1925

im so sick of everybody bashing the pirates you cant tell that this front office is doing the right thing everyone is so upset about all the others and what they did. well if your a true sports fan look at this organization now the minors are getting loaded and this team is only 4 games back. some of you need to pay attention to whats really going on

06/15/2009 10:05am

cr87

mwalluk, so because paulino has 1 good game it was a horrible move? we traded him for JJ who has been great so far. not to mention when doumit comes back paulino would be back on the bench anyways.

06/15/2009 10:09am

mwalluk

I'm not saying we shouldn't of traded, I'm saying given doumit's injuryprone, we shouldve had a backup option. I may be bashing but as a fan, I have the right. Until they put money in the system, I will bash. 16 yrs is enough already. They cut payroll to fatten pockets and not improve. Don't give me the farm spiel, let's see what they do to improve the majors.

06/15/2009 10:41am

j_s15226

If you don't like the pirates don't comment. Now that wasn't so hard was it???

06/15/2009 10:42am

BigJay91

i don't even see this as a bad trade. snell is 1-7 and we have a ton of pitchers who could do much better than that for millions less. there's no reason to keep snell. a salary dump is even ok in this case hopefully he rebounds and does good with the rockies but i've been done with snell since the middle of las season.

06/15/2009 10:48am

mwalluk

That's the thing, I'm a pittsburgh fan. Always been. I want them to succeed. I want them to make smart moves and get the right pieces. I wanted them to get Crow.

06/15/2009 10:51am

abnjas1925

its not only just players on the farm team you gotta admit if this front office wasnt on the right track and just wanted to pocket money they would not have gone out and got perry hill the best infield coach in baseball and they are paying him a pretty penny but if you look at pittsburgh is not the only team to pass on crow i wanted him to but we got a solid catcher and alot of money to spend to get these other guys we drafted its smart we are doing the right thing but as you said they gotta pan out and getting the right coaches and developing is key here

06/15/2009 10:58am

I have supported Neil and Coonely since they took over the front office and I like a lot of their moves. I truely do. The one thing that gets me though is the fact that before the season even hit the half way point.... they gave up! I uderstand this team is probably not a true contender and may not have been even before the McCLouth trade , but sitting 4 games back of first and 3 games back of 500 in the middle of June....Questions need to be asked. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Huntington say that is they were in contention by the trade deadline they would certainly be buyers!!! Yes there is a month and change before that point arrives but it will look VERY bad if the Pirates are in the same position they are now at the deadline, and they continue to sell.

06/15/2009 11:18am

abnjas1925

ok well they traded away mcclouth and replaced him with mccutchen so now we have pitching depth now we have peices to get something if that were the case and we stay four games back i think we should go after hermida left handed bat and we can keep him around for awhile you gotta have pitching depth to be buyers

06/15/2009 12:20pm

SV84

We are only four games out of the division and three under .500 and I think getting rid of him helps the cause.

06/15/2009 12:45pm

BigJay91

pitfan- how do you know they won't be buyers, they have a ton of depth at outfield and can use some of those pieces to perhaps get a decent bat. i don't see how trading snell will adversely affect this team. we're obviously gonna get crap back but it's not like we're trading our star player. Let the deadline come and if we're selling, then you criticize the front office. this year is the perfect year to make a run, we're 4 games back and the division leading brewers are only 4 games above 500. lets see what the front office does first before we jump on them.

06/15/2009 1:11pm

Spo33

if we became buyers, we'd have to give up a lot of these prospects we received in trades and deplete the farm system that they are trying to build up. they should sell this year and if neil-o seriously does have a plan which i think he does, we should contend in 2 or 3 years

06/15/2009 3:00pm

The most pressing question would be what could we get in return for snell?

06/15/2009 3:06pm

Kenny Powers

Any truth that it could be a Snell - Garret Atkins swap?

06/15/2009 3:16pm

I didn't say they WON"T be buyers, I said if they sell at the deadline and the Bucs are still in the same position it will look bad...that's it...Unbelievably I haven't given up hope yet.

06/15/2009 3:18pm

buccosin2012

Jon Heyman was on MLb Network, saying Pirates will move Snell after Wednesday's start.

06/15/2009 3:28pm

No, Kenny. That would be stupid for Colorado and a steal for us.

06/15/2009 3:36pm

BigJay91

i could belive Atkins for snell, Atkins isn't even starting for them right now if i'm not mistaken and plus batting like low 200's. kenny did you hear that somewhere or are you just speculating?

06/15/2009 3:57pm

abnjas1925

how much is owed to atkins would the salary be a wash i dont see the pirates taking on salary for a guy who might turn it around even though it would be a steal

06/15/2009 4:11pm

BigJay91

he's on a 1 year 7.1 mil contract. snell is making 3 mil and is locked up thourgh 2010 with options for 2011 and 2012

06/15/2009 4:23pm

who cares its the pirates

06/16/2009 12:33am

Thanks for the insight Garth Snow. Total waste of space.

06/16/2009 8:29am

It's just sad to know that ppl still care about such a demoralizing franchise. What do the Pirates do for you? Oh wait, they traded Jason Bay (league leader in RBI's and 3rd in HR's) for Brandon Moss + Shit. sorry Buddy, but the whole Snell article is a waste of space. Until ownership starts to spend money, which they won't because they are making money of idiots that attend the games and basically have no payroll, I wil never be a fan

06/16/2009 11:13am

mwiles19

Garth, I am not a fan of the Pirates either but I still read the articles about them just to be up on the news with them, and while I agree with you that they will not be competitive until they spend some money, its people's choice if they want to read about them, and if you don't thats fine, don't read about it and don't comment if its such a waste of time and space.

06/16/2009 1:16pm

Some nice comments here and some stupid ones as well. Lets not forget where were we before the trade and where are we now?? Are me a better team with McClouth or with McCutcheon?? Even though I'm not a fan of Moss's (to streaky and bad streaks seem to last longer) McClouth was at the peak of value. I wouldn't say we gave up just yet. Now lets look at last years trades, Nady the man who has had one good full year, we traded and got some value. Bay, probably didn't need to go and we got minimal value for him. This year we have lots of OF's and 3B. We trade from depth to get Hermida and Iike him a lot more than Moss. As far as spending money, you don't become a contender just by spending money, just ask the Orioles. You have to spend wisely, this regime is getting labled because the last group suckkkked. Lets not forget the Matt Morris...they need to spend wisely...Weiters would have been a great way to spend wisely, but again littlefield is gone..give these guys a chance

06/16/2009 2:21pm

BigJay91

in the ppg today there was an article by DK i think and they interviewed Neil H. and Nutting about some of the complaints people have about the Pirates (i.e. not spending Money ect.) and one thing nutting said kinda made sense, he says that having a big payroll doesn't make you good, sometimes you have to first have a decent team with decent young players then he's willing to spend to around what Milwaukee spends (about 80mil). i like this. he's willing to spend but he wants the pieces to be in place first. Doug- moss is ok, he's pretty good defensively but i agree he needs to work on getting past those bad streaks faster. but he wasn't the only player we got for bay. we got our starting RF, 3B one of our men in the bullpen and a fairly promising prospect in bryan morris.

06/16/2009 3:42pm

true...hanson has yet to prove anything..he might end up being a bust...LaRouche is not the 3B of the furture but hopefully be good enough to trade for other assets once Alveraz is ready..i forgot about Morris

06/16/2009 5:02pm

so, let me get this straight.. spending money to keep players doesn't make you good? we aren't the yankees, but can we ast least keep the players that have been good for us? so bay wasn't good enough to pay? aramis ramirez? nate mcouth? the liste goes on.. idk kinda shitty when you trade a bay in hopes of one of those guys is half as good as him. sanchez is next. but he only leads the league in doubles and one of the leaders in average and hits. but thats not good enough. these aren't "pieces" to the puzzle right? just batting champions and yearly all-stars? what a joke. year after year we pass up on the players we should be taking in the draft? look at the brewers and rays. small markets, took the players they should, and are now good teams. rediculous. thats just an excuse my man. i just love bashing pirate fans bc they actually think that ownership and management will someday come true. scouts are horrible as well. put a dome on pnc park and put a basketball team in there

06/16/2009 8:22pm

↑ previous comments ↑

BigJay91

Garth i hate trading our players as much as anyone and i'm on my last go around with it. but for now i've decided i'm going to put my faith with NH and company. Mclouth wasn't as bad of a trade as it first seemed. The Pirates got every player they wanted for Nate who most people say has completely overrated defensive skills. granted he was a great hitter and we lost that when we mccutchen came up. OH Wait! Cutch is batting almost 100 points better than him since the trade. so we didn't lose a bat and we got much better defensively since the trade. you see garth we don't need to get a Torii Hunter or Josh Hamilton in return, we improved our team from within, the way teams that you mentioned like the brewers and rays did it. then when we do become competitive we can trade for the great player that puts us over the top.

06/17/2009 12:28pm

A highly placed source told me not to expect Ian Snell to be headed anywhere soon. Apparently, the Pirates have inquired about Rockies outfielder Brad Hawpe, a high-OBP, left-handed power hitter that could do wonders for the Pirates feeble offense especially at PNC Park. It will take a lot more than Snell to get him, however. The Rockies have considerable bullpen problems, and my best guess is, they want set-up man John Grabow to be included in the deal. Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs also is available, but he's right-handed and not in the class of Hawpe as a run-producer.

06/17/2009 2:51pm

BigJay91

wow i'm a big fan of Hawpe. i'd love to have him but i agree, straight up him for snell probably wouldn't be fair.

06/17/2009 6:11pm

SV84

Good outing tonight, what effect will it hahave if any?

06/18/2009 2:10am

If I'm the Pirates, then I seriously consider a Snell/Grabow-for-Hawpe trade. The salaries are identical this season -- $5.5 million each way. Hawpe would give the line-up a left-handed presence that it doesn't have even if he can opt out of his contract after the 2010 season. The Rockies are in no hurry to deal at the moment, however, so the Pirates may have no choice except to hand the ball to Snell every fifth day in hopes that his trade value will increase in the next few weeks.

06/18/2009 12:56pm