Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Huntington may actually respect his job
Apparently a trade with the Indians for Jason Bay is off and a trade with the Yankees for Damaso Marte may be on. Huntington may finally understand that the Indians are no longer his buddies and that he can not pull a Kevin McHale (aka give up your star player for nothing) in this market.
Also, the package that the Indians were offering in return is pathetically underwhelming, with Kelly Shoppach, Franklin Gutierrez, and either Cliff Lee or a minor league starter coming to Pittsburgh for Ronny Paulino and Bay. This package is simply not fair, with the Pirates trading their star player and everyday catcher for a backup catcher, a toolsy outfielder, and an overpriced pitcher. There is no way that Huntington could convince himself that the proposed trade would be a win for the Pirates and, if Mark Shapiro was actually serious with his offer, the Indians are no friends of Pittsburgh.
Huntington really should just hold onto Bay for a little while and see if he can resume his 2006 form, which would significantly jack his trade value up.
The trade with the Yankees for Marte is interesting, as the Yankees have an abundance of pitching prospects and if the Pirates can pry two decent prospects away for Marte, that dearth of pitching will probably not exist any longer.
The Pirates should have been focused on trading relief pitching all along. Huntington should have headed into the Winter Meetings focused on trading Marte, Capps, and Grabow. He can get the most value for relief pitchers and decent relievers can always be found cheap. It is a matter of the cost of the player versus the potential benefit, which, in the case of a reliever, lies greatly in favor of the trade.
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