Blogging About Baseball

Pittsburgh Pirate’s General Manager Neal Huntington has done a lot since taking over the reigns in late 2007.

And that work has never been as apparent as right now. Huntington’s dealt nearly the whole team in the past week and brought in a capable crop of prospects and major league ready talent.

Here’s the rundown:

Give up:

LHP John Grabow (Chicago N.L.)

LHP Tom Gorzelanny (Chicago N.L.)

2B Freddy Sanchez (San Francisco)

SS Jack Wilson (Seattle)

RHP Ian Snell (Seattle)

1B Adam LaRoche (Boston)

Get:

RHP Kevin Hart (Cubs)

RHP Jose Ascanio (Cubs)

IF Josh Harrison (Cubs)

RHP Tim Alderson (Giants)

C Jeff Clement (Mariners)

IF Ronny Cedeno (Mariners)

RHP Aaron Pribanic (Mariners)

RHP Brett Lorin (Mariners)

RHP Nathan Adcock (Mariners)

IF Argenis Diaz (Red Sox)

RHP Hunter Strickland (Red Sox)

That’s a pretty good haul for the lowly Pittsburgh minor league system.

My only concern is that Huntington dealt two pretty good left-handed arms and bolstered the system with a whole bunch of very raw, barely proven righties. Pittsburgh hasn’t shown the ability to draft able left-handers for a while now and they certainly don’t have any plug-ins in the minors. Grabow and Gorzelanny were relatively cheap and my guess is that their losses will be felt the most in the foreseeable future (if anything can hurt this forlorn franchise).

Argenis Diaz will make Pirate’s fans forget about Jack Wilson as soon as he hits the majors. He’s got an amazing glove, perhaps better than Wilson’s, but will need to progress with the bat to even get a chance to show it.

Cedeno, who was part of the deal with the Mariners, will fill in for the time being and should be a suitable replacement for Wilson. The Pirate’s also got a pretty good player from the Mariners in catcher/first baseman Jeff Clement, who has looked good in the minor leagues this year and may flourish in an environment like Pittsburgh.

The true gem here is former-Giant’s pitcher Tim Alderson. He’s just 20-years-old and already projects as a frontline starter. I’m extremely surprised that the Giant’s were even willing to deal him, but it’s clear that Brian Sabean pictures the 1-2 punch of  Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain for the future, making Alderson relatively expendable. He had the best curveball in the Giant’s system and was notorious for pounding the bottom of the strikezone.

Dismantling an entire roster is a risky thing to do, but Huntington appears to have brought in a good amount of talent for aging, league average talent.