Pirates Acquire Ryan Ludwick

The Pirates finished up the trade deadline madness by trading a player to be named later and cash considerations for Padres outfielder Ryan Ludwick.

Ludwick is not having a good year at the plate thus far, hitting .238/.301/.373 with 11 home runs. He certainly wasn't the ideal guy for the Pirates to get, but you can't complain because they lost basically nothing for him, and he is an upgrade over Matt Diaz just because of the power potential.

The Pirates just got swept by the Phillies and it's largely because of the lack of offense. They need somebody right now that can play the outfield and hit a ball out of the park every once in awhile, and Ludwick can do that.

You have to place some of the blame for his bad 2011 season on his home ballpark. Petco Park is not a good place to swing a bat in. Ludwick has hit .218/.302/.356 at home this year and .258/.300/.389 on the road, so that shows something right there. For his career, Ludwick is a .262/.331/.461 hitter, which includes a .299/.375/.591 season in 2008 when he hit 37 homers for St. Louis.

That '07 season was a fluke looking back at it, but Ludwick makes this better right now and that's really what it's all about. He'll be in Pittsburgh tomorrow night and we'll probably be seeing him and Derrek Lee in uniform, should be fun.