Be Like Tike

Saturday, December 8th, 2007 by Adam Wagner

Huntington makes his first trade

Before Friday, Pirates’ fans did not know how Neal Huntington would deal with trades, but he lived up to his word by trading Salomon Torres to Milwaukee for two relief pitchers who cannot possibly be described as anything more than “depth.” The trade ended Torres’ up-and-down six year tenure with the Pirates in which he went from a non-roster invitee to training camp to one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball to the Pirates’ closer to a complete headcase.

Torres had significant issues with the organization over what he perceived to be a broken promise. He claimed that he had taken $1.5 million less from Dave Littlefield than he would have asked for in return for the organization promising to utilize the baseball academy that he built. Of course, that has nothing to do with this regime, which is completely different people, but it has been reported in some places that strife with the organization may have led to the trade.

The Pirates received two relief pitching prospects, Mariano Salas and Kevin Roberts. Salas, 26, appears to be a semi-interesting prospect except for the fact that he is 26. He posted decent stats at AA and AAA last year, with 17 saves and a 2.77 ERA in 51 appearances. It is also worth noting that Salas was eligible to be picked in the Rule 5 draft the day before the trade occurred. Roberts (at left), like Salas, is old for his level, posting a 3.44 ERA in 45 appearances for high class A Brevard County. Huntington claims that neither one is expected to contribute next season, but that they provide, “quality depth, options and multiple years of control.”

That fits into his organizational philosophy that he has set forth to this point, but the trade is still seemingly not a good one for multiple reasons:

Outside of Matt Capps, the Pirates are not going to have any proven right-handed pitchers in their bullpen next year. That does not bode well for a situation against a powerful right-handed hitter with runners on second and third.
The trade looks like a salary dump, making it appear as if the Pirates simply did not want to pay the remainder of Torres’ $3.5 million contract. Fans do not like it when their team is unwilling to pay relatively small contracts.
Huntington traded Torres within the division. That is never a good idea. He now has 18 chances a year to play a part in beating Pittsburgh.
Torres’ value is at a low point right now. He just came off a terrible season where he was demoted from the closer role and then struggled for much of the season. According to reports in the Post-Gazette, he had been working out at PNC Park three or four days a week in preparation for the upcoming season. It seems as if he would have come out of the gate pitching extremely well and would have hit his highest value around the end of May or the beginning of June, right when players start going down to arm trouble. They could have received more for the pitcher at that point in time than they did on Friday.
Because of that whole workout thing, Torres seems ready to have a huge beginning to his season. It’s redundant, but it’s worth emphasizing.
It is odd that Huntington was challenging Torres to improve his fitness on Tuesday, saying that he could be the team’s setup man, and then traded him on Friday.
Huntington is handicapped in trading one of John Grabow or Damaso Marte now as he will not have any veteran presence in the bullpen. Of course, relievers can be grabbed off of the scrap heap, but Marte is probably the most value of the relievers followed by Torres and then Grabow. If Huntington wants to rebuild through trades, he should have focused on trading Marte, then Grabow and then, maybe, trading Torres (even though he still should have waited because of the value issues discussed above).
Who is ever going to forget Torres trying to kill Sammy Sosa? It is one of the most memorable moments of recent Pirates’ history, along with Turner Ward running through the wall at Three Rivers Stadium and Lloyd McClendon literally stealing the base.

Of course, Torres is making this even more interesting by considering not going to Milwaukee, considering retirement instead. According to various sources, the Brewers could try to have the trade reneged if Torres retired, but that precedent favors the Pirates in that instance. Neal Huntington does not appear to have necessarily won this trade, especially if Torres pitches well for the Brewers, but he may not have lost it either. We’ll see. …. Like always.