Pirates Acquire Gaby Sanchez

The Pirates made another low-risk trade before the deadline by trading Gorkys Hernandez and their competitive balance draft pick to Miami for Gaby Sanchez.

Interesting move. Nothing to be upset about, but nothing to be excited about either. Sanchez had a horrible time in the major leagues this year before getting sent down on July 5th. He hit .202/.250/.306 with three home runs in 55 games. Since then, he's hit .302/.431/.491 with five homers in 34 games with AAA New Orleans. The good news is that he's had success in the majors before, hitting .273/.341/.448 with 19 homers in 2010 and then .266/.352/.427 with those same 19 homers last year. He's 28 years old and was a fourth round pick in 2005 that didn't find serious major league playing time until he was 26, so he's a low upside guy. Sanchez will almost surely be a bench player for the Pirates, which is fine for what they gave up to get him.

What they did give up for him was Gorkys Hernandez and that competitive balance draft pick, which is at the end of the first round. It's hard to miss this package too much. We've seen what Hernandez can do in the field, but the fact is that his bat will never translate into a major league job, especially with the Pirates having Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen in the outfield. Maybe the Marlins think they can make him competent enough at the plate to make him a valuable major leaguer, and I'm sure they'll enjoy the extra almost-first round pick too.

Again, this is a pretty meh move for me. They didn't lose enough to get you off your happy couch, but they really don't become that much better at all for it. Casey McGehee and Garrett Jones are both much better options. This deal could become very good if Sanchez bounces back from poor start to this year and becomes who he was last year again. With Jones and McGehee both not under contract for next year, Sanchez could be a starter for the Pirates in 2013, as they have him under control through 2015.