Huntington deals at deadline
PITTSBURGH – Neal Huntington, for the first time in three trading deadlines as the Pirates’ general manager, did not have pressure to make any deals. He didn’t have to cut the payroll. He didn’t have to unload important veterans in an effort to get something back before they became free agents.
This time, Huntington was in a position where he could deal talent for talent. And he did rather well.
The Pirates pulled off three trades Saturday in the hours leading up to the 4 p.m. deadline for making deals without securing waivers on players. In those trades, Huntington turned five fungible veterans who likely weren’t going to return in 2011 and got six interesting players in return.
First, the Pirates traded reliever D.J. Carrasco, infielder Bobby Crosby and outfielder Ryan Church to the Arizona Diamondbacks for catcher Chris Snyder and minor-league infielder Pedro Ciriaco.
Then they shipped closer Octavio Dotel to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor-leaguers, left-hander James McDonald and outfielder Andrew Lambo.
Finally, left-handed reliever Javier Lopez was sent to the San Francisco Giants for two more minor-leaguers, right-hander Joe Martinez and first baseman/outfielder John Bowker.
Snyder will make the most immediately impact, moving into the starting lineup while Ryan Doumit becomes the backup catcher and right fielder.
Doumit has never been a good defensive catcher but his work behind the plate had regressed so much this season that the Pirates had no choice but to upgrade at the position. He had taken “catch” out of catcher by allowing so many pitches to get by him.
Throw in that Doumit has seemingly spent half his career on the disabled list-he is currently on it with a concussion-and the need for a reliable catcher became even more glaring.
Snyder is certainly an improvement defensively over Doumit. Snyder has made just six errors in seven major-leagues seasons, giving him a .998 fielding percentage that is the highest all-time among catchers with at least 500 games caught.
The Pirates also need a better defensive shortstop than the mercurial Ronny Cedeno and the slick-fielding Ciriaco, who dazzled at the All-Star Futures Game last month at Anaheim, provides an option. Ciriaco and Argenis Diaz, another defensive whiz who the Pirates called up from Class AAA Indianapolis on Saturday, figure to compete for the starting job next spring.
Bowker and Lambo both have power potential but are questions marks. Bowker has struggled in previous major-league trials and Lambo’s star had faded since he reached Class AA at the start of last season and he was suspended 50 games this year for failing a drug test.
Still, both are worth a shot as the Pirates sorely lack power.
They also lack quality starting pitching. While neither McDonald nor Martinez has yet to gain a foothold in the majors, both could become No. 3 or No. 4 starters.
These moves alone are not going to put the Pirates’ pennant express-which went off the rails in 1993-back on track. However, it does make the organization better.
That is welcome news for a franchise that entered Saturday night’s game at St. Louis 30 games under .500 and just 16 losses away from an 18th consecutive losing season.
Herald-Standard sports correspondent John Perrotto is editor-in-chief of BaseballProspectus.com