Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Huntington trying to trade McLouth, Nady for Headley
Scott Miler from CBS Sportsline wrote today that Neal Huntington is considering trading 
Xavier Nady and Nate McLouth to San Diego for 3B prospect Chase Headley. Headley, a switch hitter and San Diego’s second round pick in the 2005 draft, hit .330 with 20 home runs and 78 RBI and an OBP of .437, a SLG of .580, and an OPS of 1.016 at AA San Antonio this past season. In other words, he is definitely someone that the postion prospect poor Pirates should be interested in.
The issue that I have, however, is that the Pirates not only want to trade Nady, who is clearly taking up space in an already crowded outfield, but also McLouth, who should be 
their starting center fielder this coming season. I do not understand the organization’s obsession with Nyjer Morgan, a 27-year-old outfielder with no asset but his speed. They have McLouth, who is also fast, but who hit 13 home runs in 329 atbats last year. That is the type of pop plus the decent fielding that the Pirates should be looking for out of their center field spot, not just someone who can cover the ground like Morgan can. Also, Morgan is a victim of that old adage that it does not matter how fast you are as long as you can not get to first base.
Morgan is the player the Pirates should trade, not McLouth. McLouth is the type of sparkplug, Eric Byrnes-type player that the Pirates need. Morgan is another nice part, but not a key player.
The other issue that I have with this trade is that the Pirates would essentially be trading two developed prospects for one completely undeveloped player coming off of one big season. Yes, Headley appears to have the tools, and, yes, he is the type of top prospect that the Pirates do not have enough of right now, but they have taken the time to develop McLouth, in particular and should see what he can do if given a full season of major league baseball. Just from watching at PNC last season, whenever he stepped into the ondeck circle or pinch-ran, there was an electricity in the stadium, a feeling that something was going to happen that was not there for pretty much every other player on the club.
One team can only rebuild so many times and for so long before the fans will quit on them and the Pirates are nearing that point. Huntington will have to be careful that, if he trades 
Nady and anybody (please let it be Morgan and not McLouth . . . Nate brings so much more to the team) to the Padres, the fans will not revolt. He will have to put a ton of spin on whatever move he makes in order to make Pittsburghers believe that improving Altoona or Indianapolis truly is in the greater good of the team’s longrun. Yes, the Pirates have a logjam in the outfield with Jason Bay, McLouth, Nady, Morgan, Ryan Doumit, Steve Pearce, potentially Brad Eldred, and potentially Chris Duffy, but that does not mean that they should trade the most interesting of these players just to trade them.
If he trades Nady (a constantly injured, decent-hitting everyday player when he is 
healthy who has 25 to 30 home run pop in his bat) and Morgan (a spare part who is not necessary on a team that has an almost-as fast option in McLouth) for Headley (a potential top prospect), he will have made an excellent trade. If it is McLouth, my immediate reaction will be very, very negative simply because, as I sort of wrote above, McLouth seems like a type of late bloomer in the Eric Byrnes mold who should definitely be given a shot at playing everyday in the near future.
Chase Headley, who was just voted the 29th best prospect in baseball at milb.com, would, however, be an excellent addition for the new regime.
In the same ratings that gave Headley the #29 rating, Nationals’ SP Ross Detweiler was given the #37 rating. Who was Detweiler taken two picks after? Oh, that’s right. Daniel Moskos. That’s right, Detweiler was the #6 pick in the draft (Matt Wieters was #5, of course) and should have been the pitcher that Pittsburgh took with the fourth overall pick if they were trying to make an impact on their minor league pitching. Instead, Pittsburgh took a headscratching “affordability” route and picked a not very good closer out of Clemson who will have to be Mariano Rivera to justify being picked as high as he was. Just another reason to hate Dave Littlefield.
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