Pirates trade winds heating up

Pirates trade winds heating up

7:18am - Friday, July 10th, 2009 by John Perrotto

Mariners, Rangers become potential trade partners

By John Perrotto - Marc DelPiano, special assistant to Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, created a minor stir Thursday night when he showed up at Safeco Field in Seattle for the opener of a four-game series between the Mariners and Texas Rangers.

Both teams are potential trade partners as the Mariners are again interested in trading for Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez and shortstop Jack Wilson.

The Rangers, meanwhile, would like to trade for one of the Pirates’ left-handed starting pitchers, Zach Duke or Paul Maholm.

The Mariners, though, seem like a more logical match for the Pirates.

With third baseman Adrian Beltre out for at least six weeks after bone spurs surgically removed from his shoulder last week, adding Sanchez would give the Mariners flexibility. Sanchez could either start at third base or play second base, which would enable Jose Lopez to move to third.

Beltre is also eligible for free agency at the end of this season while there is a club option in Sanchez’s contract for 2010 that will vest if he has 600 plate appearances in 2009. He currently has a 329, leaving him 271 short.

Wilson would sure up Seattle’s defense as the Mariners have grown disenchanted with Yuniesky Betancourt, who is currently on an injury rehabilitation assignment at Class AAA Tacoma while recovering from a strained right hamstring.

Betancourt has been playing some second base at Tacoma and was also pulled from the lineup there Thursday night, fueling speculation he could be traded.

The Pirates have made adding a young right-handed hitting power hitter their top priority and like Class AA West Tenn outfielder Greg Halman, who was ranked as the Mariners’ top prospect by Baseball America coming into this season.

While the 21-year-old has hit 20 home runs and driven in 50 runs in 71 games, his batting average is just .216 and he has struck out 116 times in 298 plate appearances while drawing 17 walks.

However, in order to get Halman, it is believed the Pirates would have to take on the approximately $10 million left on Betancourt’s four-year, $13.75-million contact that runs through 2011 and includes a club option for 2012. Betancourt, 27, is hitting .250 with two homers and 22 RBIs in 63 games this season.

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Comments

I hope Freddy and Jack get traded. They deserve better.

07/10/2009 8:17am

mwalluk

I say do it, if we can get their number one prospect (which will continue our farm growth) and take on a contract (which I would love to see the Nuttings do, but probably would trade him though later ha)

07/10/2009 8:59am

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090708/SPORTS/707089950/1009/SPORTS07 recent link about Halman.....just do it....plus Betancourt was pulled from rehab game last night??

07/10/2009 9:02am

mwalluk

I'm a fan of Duke, but might as well trade him and Maholm as well. Seeing how they are cornerstones and all, ha

07/10/2009 9:05am

I love it! Bring on the minor league championships while the Pirates lose 110 games next year.

07/10/2009 9:43am

07/10/2009 9:46am

mwalluk

well at least akltoona will have a winning season

07/10/2009 9:56am

mwalluk

07/10/2009 9:57am

mwalluk

*altoona

07/10/2009 9:57am

Carnauerff

How long did we wait and how many pitchers did we go through before finding two decent starters? Now that we have them, why not trade them away?

07/10/2009 10:03am

If they trade these two guys then they better get a HELL of alot in return which I simply do not trust them to do.

07/10/2009 10:10am

who cares

07/10/2009 10:25am

Well lets look at our potential line-up: C-Diaz / Jaramillo 1B - Doumit or Alverez 2nd - ?? SS - ?? 3B - alverez LF - Millidge CF - McCutcheon RF - Tabata SP's - Duke, Morton, Maholm Closer - Capps Still some holes to fill for the next few years and Wilson and Sanchez will be past their prime..if anyone thinks this team is challenging for a playoff spot they are dreaming...Wilson and Sanchez need to go to fill those spots. It would be nice for LaRouche to go to SF for one fo their stud pitchers and Sanchez to Colo for Young and another pitcher...

07/10/2009 10:56am

Why would anyone give up a stud for LaRouche who can be a free agent at the end of the year? So we are counting on Millage, Tabata and Alverez plus SS and second. wow! I hope that they lower ticket prices to the minor league level.

07/10/2009 11:47am

you guys actually think the pirates would be good with wilson and sanchez still here??? you people need to get the fuck off neal huntingtons back hes been here a year and a half and has completely upgraded are minor league system by 100x better then littlefield ever had it. They couldnt win with Bay Nady McLouth Sanchez Wilson LaRoche Snell here last year what the hell makes you think they could win at all this year??? there doing the right thing doing a complete overhaul of this team...just because you dont know the names of the players coming back doesnt mean there not good. just like last year everyone wanted to hang Andy LaRoche by a noose outside the stadium... now everyone realizes hes going to be a pretty good ball player this being his actual first year in the bigs as a starter. you people need to get over yourselfs really you all will be comin back here in a year or two saying how great a gm neal huntington is.

07/10/2009 11:50am

mwiles19

Doubtful

07/10/2009 11:53am

So then Nutting will just open the wallet and pay to keep all these guys for a winning team right? That is if they actually progress. My issue is not with the GM. He is in a bad situation. Yu say come back in 1-2 years well come back in 3-4 years when we are trading all these players because ownership won't pay to keep them. Thats the freakin problem and where does it end?

07/10/2009 11:57am

if you read what coonelly and neal said the pirates could have a payroll right now of 80 mil if they wanted too just like the brewers but they dont feel jack freddy or ad laroche are worth that money... and there not there only decent ball players besides sanchez in my opionion who i feel is a little better then both... but you guys need to realize McCutchen is under the pirates control for a long time... and coonelly said he will be a pirate for a long long time... yess i agree with the fact everyone is mad at the ownership i hated mcclatchy and im not a big fan of Nutting... but the fact is since nutting took over at majority owner they have brought in Coonelly and Neal... he got rid of that piece of shit littlefield... he gave the pirates the ok to draft Pedro Alvarez something McCLatchy never would do... the pirates were in the top 5 or 10 last year in money spent in the draft...im just saying give these guys a chance yes sometimes i still have my doubts but i believe in neal huntington to turn this organization around and i know they will.

07/10/2009 12:10pm

If they sign Sano or however you spell it then I may start to believe that there is some form of commitment If they don't with the money that they are not spending then I will continue to doubt them. I feel that they are simply putting money towards paying down the dept the Nutting will sell the team for a HUGE profit why we continue to watch bad baseball. OK that is it from me As you an tell I am a frustrated Pirate fan venting

07/10/2009 12:16pm

Izzomr

Get what you pay for

07/10/2009 12:18pm

Carnauerff

They could at least spend 60mil to have a competitive team rather then a joke

07/10/2009 12:19pm

Scroman203 lol yea i can understand the frustration... i hope nutting does sell the pirates actually to maby a little better owner who actually knows baseball... but like i said i feel nutting has done a better job then mcclatchy taking over as majority owner 2 1/2 years ago atleast with neal and coonelly we can actaully see the light at the end of the tunnel

07/10/2009 12:21pm

btw123, u make good points...BUT as a diehard since 1985, I have gotton to the point like many Pirates fans, of not caring anymore..Oh yeah i may come back, but i doubt it...WE HAVE ZERO CHANCE OF WINNING TILL NUTTING SELLS..The last week they have been unwatchable..In 5 or 6 yrs from now we will be doing the same thing..trading Alvarez, etc for more prospects...Moss stinks, Hanson stinks, Morris is hurt, LaRoche is powerless, Karstens stinks, Ohlendorf is nice...this team is a joke, and if we trade Freddy, Jack- who said what all of us think, etc, i will go from attending 6 games a year to 1.. thank God for the Rooneys and the Penguins...

07/10/2009 12:47pm

Izzomr

I agree unless he sells or baseball changes it's salary structure soft cap no hope

07/10/2009 12:56pm

j_s15226

Florida's payroll is 34 million....It can be done

07/10/2009 1:11pm

florida got good young talent that they got from trades and they draft good

07/10/2009 1:22pm

j_s15226

Exactly my point....thats exactly what NH is trying to do

07/10/2009 1:45pm

Weimer007

Yes, but the Pirates suck at developing talent. THe Marlins have an assembly line in Florida and have a unique business model. Nobody goes to games until every fifth year, when they go to the series. The next year, they have a firesale and trade away great players for the best prospects, giving them a great team in another 5 years. The Pirates stink at development and have yet to develop several players that hit the bigs around the same time. If they can't win and better develop what they have, they will never be able to trade for the best prospects.. e.g. Maybin, and will never succeed. Not to mention that Pittsburgh is not the place for the Marlins business model.

07/10/2009 2:31pm

my man strikes out 50% of the time in AA??

07/10/2009 3:25pm

↑ previous comments ↑

j_s15226

If we're taking on the Betancourt contract I want another mid level prospect. That will give us a stopgap at Short until are prospects are ready. I wouldnt be concerned about the strikeouts. 21 is still pretty young for AA

07/10/2009 4:54pm

Trey

Betancourt to Kansas City

07/10/2009 6:24pm

The Giants and Twins are the mosts likely trade partners. Attendance is up for both over last year and they are prepared to add payroll to make the playoffs..

07/10/2009 9:19pm

j_s15226

Wow...what is KC doing

07/10/2009 9:37pm