In Defense of the Jason Bay Trade
Bucs Dugout —
Jason Bay after the trade (photo: Keith Allison)
There's a really interesting and somewhat maddening discussion in the Post-Gazette's Q+A today:
Q: Is it smart for the Pirates to be avoiding free agents and targeting prospects?
In honor of 'Moneyball' and its premise that teams like the A's (and Pirates) need to take advantage of the market: The value of top prospects has never been higher as teams see how cost-effective they are compared to veterans. Teams are hoarding them and won't ...
PG (Kovacevic): Pirates Q&A: Not playing the market
BBTF's Baseball Primer Newsblog —
PG (Kovacevic): Pirates Q : Not playing the market In response to a questioner who asked: Is it smart for the Pirates to be avoiding free agents and targeting prospects? Kovacevic responds with some pointed criticism of management: Seems that the Pirates’ new management entered the process with a firm idea and stuck to it. And there is nothing wrong with that, intrinsically. In fact, some would call it commendable. But different circumstances call for reactions. Once management saw that the offense, chemistry and some other elements looked to be in place last summer, ...
Learning from the past
Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? —
... When the Jason Bay trade was made more than four months ago, there were some people that immediately hated the trade because trading away another established baseball player for minor leaguers or less established players signified another rebuilding period and that the Pirates were still nowhere near contending, even after sixteen years of losing. As Andy LaRoche flamed out, people started to hate the trade more and more. In the Q&A at the Post-Gazette today, the first question asks about the Pirates' recent aim of trading for prospects and whether or not that's a good idea ...
Free agents vs. prospects
Honest Wagner —
... on a Q+A question about free agents vs. prospects in the current market, and whether the Bay trade was wise. For the record, Rowdy and I ...
Thursday Rockpile: Baseball Analysts NL West SWOT; plus, are FA's the new inefficiency?
Purple Row —
... has some interesting thoughts and a spirited, intelligent conversation going in the comments in response to a Dejan Kovacevic Q & A. Specifically the Q whether the Pirates should be following Billy Beane's lead this winter and trading prospects and stocking up on free agents because they'll never be cheaper, or hording prospects to build for the future. It's brought up because Beane traded for Holliday and the assumption becomes that Beane's playing smart while the Pirates in trading away Jason Bay (and by unwritten implication the Rockies) are not in ...
Give Neal Huntington a break
Raise the Jolly Roger —
... A reader in the [Post-Gazette Q+A on Wednesday] asked why the Pirates have decided to rebuild through prospects as opposed to free agency, since prospects tend to be overvalued these days and free agents are not. The general sentiment over there seems to be that the Pirates should have held on to Jason Bay, and with the great offense of the first half, acquired some pitching to create a contending team in 2009. ...
Bridging the (Roster) Gaps: Sign Dunn, Garland, Abreu; Trade LaRoche, McLouth
MVN RSS —
... of one last multi-year deal -- the one he would've received this off-season in a better economy.)
Conclusion
In trading LaRoche and McLouth -- and ideally, Ryan Doumit, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez and John Grabow, but that's another post -- Huntington clears enough payroll to make taking on big contracts manageable in the short term. (In 2010, payroll would drop substantially, as only Dunn would still be on the books.)
He exploits the market, as Ian Leyda of Zelienople has suggested.
The ledger would look like: ...
