Pirates/MLB
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pirates Post-Trade Deadline Recap
Minutes before the deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a deal with the New York Yankees to acquire right hander Ivan Nova for two players to be named later.
Nova, 29, has been on the Pirates radar for weeks as the team has sought to upgrade the rotation. How much if any did the Pirates upgrade the rotation is up for debate.
Was the Nova trade just a trade for the sake of making a trade?
From the Pirates end, they will be banking on that Nova has a J.A. Happ type run in him over the next two months.
Nova is 7-6 with a 4.90 ERA. He has a 75/25 K/BB ratio and 1.36 WHIP in 97.1 innings pitched.
Last season Nova went 6-11 with a 5.07 ERA. In 2014 Nova appeared in just four games due to Tommy John Surgery. His career has been on a decline since a 16 win season in 2011.
Pirates GM Neal Huntington dipped his toes into the market for a long-term starter but for the second straight year comes out of the deadline with a rental starting pitcher. Nova making $4.1 million this season is a free agent at seasons end.
The Pirates were involved in talks with the Tampa Bay Rays on Chris Archer and Matt Moore. Talks surrounding Moore intensified in the last 48 hours but Tampa Bay never came off their request of Austin Meadows or Josh Bell. The Pirates have given firm ‘No’s’ to any teams inquiring about both, though, in the right trade Bell could likely be had.
Moore was traded to San Francisco.
In another move [hide] the Pirates traded Jon Niese to the New York Mets in-exchange for reliever Antonio Bastardo who returns to Pittsburgh.
Bastardo under contract through the 2017 season, owed $6.5 million next season, has a 4.72 ERA in 43.1 innings pitched.
The Pirates and Mets had discussed a bigger deal prior to the weekend that would have sent Mark Melancon and Niese to the Mets for Bastardo and two prospects, per a source.
The Pirates come out of the deadline beefing up their middle relief in the bullpen with the additions of Bastardo and Felipe Rivero.
The loss of Mark Melancon will come down to how well Tony Watson can replace him.
The rotation still has its share of concerns heading into the final two months of the season starting with Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano. Dominant runs by both will go a long way to the Pirates securing a fourth straight post-season berth. Of the two, Liriano has shown nothing that he has that type of run in him and the Pirates are open to trading Liriano this month.
[Updated 4:55 PM | Pirates have traded Francisco Liriano to Toronto |]
If Nova turns into J.A. Happ, then great, but there’s also a good chance that three months from now many will look at the acquisition as a move that blocked an opportunity for one of the Pirates young starters they’ll be counting on in 2017 to get needed experience.
Was the Nova trade just a trade for the sake of making a trade?
It sure looks like it on paper, but so did the Happ trade.[/hide]
Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez were needed to give up Liriano’s salary.
Lordy lord.
I can get behind these moves if this was to re-invest this money in the off-season (no one really to re-sign at this point besides Cole, who probably won’t regardless, and it will be a bit after him), but they better actually use it. The goal since last November sounded like it was to gear up for 2017, so no excuses as to why they’re being frugal.
But of course my hopes aren’t exactly high on that, either.
Best case scenario: Nova is the next reclamation project and the money shed is used to re-sign him. Now let’s see how real that actually is.
GO NUTTINGS WALLET!
So….what big names get linked to them next year? Because let’s be honest, it happens every year and never happens. Not that I blame them for not giving up the asking prices for some of these guys, but still.
I always wonder though – NH talks about the asking prices being through the roof – yet – he doesn’t do the same with Melancon. So is everyone else just unreasonable and he’s the only one willing to accept reasonable return? Or is he full of shit?
Liriano to Toronto.
I can’t for the life of me figuring out what the hell is going on.
Maybe benny can swing by, explain why these are great trades, just like he blew the Vogelsong signing.
stanch dont worry I addressed this on the last article when you tried trolling, you got a thumbs down from someone else, speaks to either my credibility or your lack of….. the screwed up the melancon trade not getting a top 10 prospect back, he should have been moved,but the return sucks. Where it was nice unloading Niese and Liriano would have been a lot better if they could have done it when they could have reinvested the money.
THEY. DON’T. WANT. TO. REINVEST. THE. MONEY. Someday, you’re going to realize that.
That all being said, just like the Vogelsong signing meaning nothing to anyone but you (bc again no one who watches baseball got excited over someone coming to compete for the 5th spot in the rotation, again you are a moron) these moves are moot. Getting swept by the brewers was embarassing and proof this team is not going anywhere even if they do get in to the WC. So the real question is what they do with the money they just saved themselves today by selling. but i am sure with your reading comprehension I just said the pirates… Read more »
By “what do they do with the money,” do you mean which fund do they invest it in, or how big of a dividend do they pay the shareholders? I love how they roll – let’s half-ass the offseason and that’ll justify us dumping salary at the deadline! It’s like they create their own windfall!
Don’t get it with him being an impending FA, because he’ll likely walk if he turns it around. Hopefully the PTBNL isn’t anything worthwhile.
LOL. Bucs!