Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call – A Trademas Hangover

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates

We traded WHO?!

Yesterday was the MLB Trade Deadline and the Pirates had themselves a day. They traded Jon Niese to the Mets for Antonio Bastardo and a PTBNL to the Yankees for Ivan Nova. The most controversial trade was the trade of Francisco Liriano to the Blue Jays for Drew Hutchison. The trade also includes top prospects, Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire.

The Liriano trade definitely smells like a classic salary dump as the Blue Jays will pick up the remainder of his salary. Including two top 10 prospects seems like a hefty price to simply get Liriano’s money off the books.

Many people were disappointed with Liriano’s performance this season, but I don’t think anyone is in favor of sending TWO top 10 prospects to simply dump his salary. Fans are justifiably upset about the deal. The jury will be out on Drew Hutchison as he is a pitcher with a fair amount of potential. Will he be worth two top 10 prospects? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

If you would like to hear our thoughts on the Pirates’ trade deadline, feel free to listen to the Pirates Breakdown Podcast:

https://soundcloud.com/pbcbreakdown/ep-44-coal-for-trademas

Old Dirty Bastardo Returns

The other salary based trade of the day didn’t see nearly the same amount of vitriol. The Pirates reacquired Antonio Bastardo for struggling pitcher Jon Niese. This is actually a pretty good deal as the Pirates needed an actual second lefty in the bullpen and they got one they are familiar with. Bastardo spent 2015 with the Pirates before signing a two-year deal with the Mets this past offseason.

Bastardo not only helps the team this season but is under contract for 2017 as well. So theoretically, he could help the 2017 bullpen be a strength for the team.

This trade also marks the end of the Jon Niese era for the Pirates. Niese never really clicked with the Pirates as he went 8-6 with a 4.91ERA in 110 innings pitched for the club. It’s pretty apparent that the Pirates swung and missed on the Neil Walker for Jon Niese trade. It’s time to move on and hope that Antonio Bastardo pitches like it’s 2015.

Baseball Talk on the Web

The winners and losers of the 2016 MLB trade deadline

Aggressive Rangers biggest winners at MLB trade deadline

5 lessons from the 2016 MLB trade deadline

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