The 2010 trade deadline wasn't nearly as hyped up for the Pirates as the 2009 deadline, but when all was said and done the Pirates seemed to do a pretty nice job again this year.
By this time we all know the trades that were made and we probably all have our own opinions on them. The bottom line this year was that we got something for (basically) nothing. Of all the guys we traded this year (Church, Carrasco, Crosby, Dotel, Lopez), there really wasn't much of a chance for anyone of them to help the Pirates past this season. Sure, there was a chance we could have held on to a couple of those guys for next year, but the only guys that were really even helping the team this year were the bullpen guys, and Huntington showed us last year that they are extremely easy to replace.
The best trade Huntington pulled off was the Dotel trade, where he got a potential middle of the rotation starter in James Macdonald. Macdonald will join the club next week and should get some starts. It'll be fun to watch him pitch.
Macdonald throws his fastball 70% of the time, and it stays at a velocity around the 90-92 range. He can occasionally get in the 93-94 range but he will typically stay in the much lower 90's. He throws a low 70's curveball and a mid 70's changeup. He doesn't have too much else besides those 3 pitches, but when his location is on he can be very effective. He was the Dodgers #2 prospect in 2009, which shows that his stuff is certainly good enough to be a solid starter. In AAA last year Macdonald had a strikeout rate of 11.9 per 9 innings, that is outstanding. If Macdonald can turn into a solid starter for the Pirates, it would be huge boost with the offense performing how they can.
Macdonald wasn't the only guy we got for Dotel either, the Pirates also acquired Andrew Lambo, a very young speedy outfielder that could turn into a decent bench option or even a good sparkplug starter in the future. Lambo isn't a guy that you're going to be checking on every night in the minor leagues, but he was a good throw in for a deal that would have been very positive without him.
The deal that is going to effect the Pirates right now the most was the Crosby/Carrasco/Church for Chris Snyder deal. The biggest thing this deal does is takes away the misery of watching Ryan Doumit catch every night. Snyder is nothing special with the bat, but he is a solid defensive catcher, and definitely an upgrade over Jason Jaramillo and Erik Kratz. This also opens the door for Ryan Doumit to play more first base and right field, which could help the offense. I expect Doumit to spell Lastings Milledge in right field against right handed pitchers, which could be advantageous.
Who knows where Chris Snyder fits into the future of the Pirates, but with the setbacks Tony Sanchez has faced it's nice to have another big league catcher on the roster. I expect Doumit and Snyder to split time the whole way through 2011 and then the team to cut ties with one of them in order to get Sanchez up in the bigs sometime in 2012 (assuming he gets rid of the injury bugs and keeps progressing how he was before).
While this means good things for the future of the Pirates, it means the opposite for the rest of this year. The bullpen has been the best part of the Pirates (and really the only good part), and now it will be one of the worst looking pens in the National League. Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan will anchor the 8th and 9th innings, and the rest will be up to guys like Wil Ledezma, Steven Jackson, Justin Thomas, and other mediocre pitching options. Should be an ugly last 2 months for the Pirates pitching staff as a whole, but next year I expect it to start turning a corner (slowly) as the offense did this year.
So there you have it, another successful trade deadline in my book. Let's Go Bucs.
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