Deadline Over, Pirates Better

Now that everything is settled, we can look back and take a fair look at the trade deadline. Here's the rundown:

Pirates lose: Brad Lincoln, Casey McGehee, Gorkys Hernandez, Robbie Grossman, Rudy Owens, Colton Cain, competitive balance pick

Pirates Get: Wandy Rodriguez, Travis Snider, Gaby Sanchez, Kyle Kaminska

It wasn't an overwhelming upgrade (you should never expect such a thing from the Pirates), but it was certainly an upgrade.

In terms of the major leagues right now, we swapped Lincoln for Qualls (bad), McGehee for Sanchez (good), Rodriguez for Correia (good especially with keeping Correia in the pen), and Snider for Hernandez (very good).

That's not too bad. The biggest thing about these moves is that the Pirates potentially got way better next year and beyond. They got an all-star talent in Snider and a very good bounce back candidate in Sanchez, both with legs up on starting positions next year.

This is how small market teams have to operate, they have to do everything they can do improve today while always being mindful of the future. Huntington did that pretty well. It wasn't an overwhelming return, but that might not even have been possible this year. No beef from me whatsoever with the moves.