Last off-season the Pirates traded away outfielder Keon Broxton. Could GM Neal Huntington end up regretting this move?
Last off-season, the Pirates were trying to fill a hole at first base. Pedro Alvarez had not been tendered a contract, and prospect Josh Bell was still at least half a season away. So they needed a stop-gap. They already had Mike Morse under contract, but the wanted a lefty as well. Their first option was signing John Jaso to a two-year deal, but he is a lefty that, well, can’t hit lefties. A few days later, they found a potential right-handed option to compete with Morse at first base: Jason Rogers from Milwaukee. Rogers was coming off a year in which he was worth 0.5 WAR and hit near .300. He wasn’t a future star by any means, but he could at least be serviceable until Bell was ready. But you have to give to get, and the Pirates flipped minor league outfielder Keon Broxton and minor league right-hander Trey Supak to the Brewers.
At the time, there wasn’t much reaction one way or another to the trade. If anything, some people were upset the Pirates gave up Supak, while others liked the upside of Rogers. No one was too upset that Broxton was on the move, who had only received two major league at-bats with the Pirates and was a career .239 batter with just nine home runs across parts of nine seasons in the minors. He seemed to be a journeyman and a speed guy off the bench at best.
Let’s fast forward a year. Rogers got 25 at-bats with the major league team after the Pirates acquired David Freese in spring training, who saw the majority of the time at first until Bell was ready. Rogers was thus stashed in the minors for the rest of the season, and he likely won’t see much, if any time in the bigs this upcoming season.
Starting to Break Out?
Keon Broxton, on the other hand, put in a 2.1 WAR campaign last season, with a lot of that value coming via stolen bases and good defensive play. This year, he looks to be the starter in center field for the Brewers. The Brewers also control Broxton through at least the 2021 season, and he has the possibility to be a starter in the Brewer outfield for the foreseeable future.
In terms of value, it’s more than likely that the Pirates will come out on the losing end of this trade. Rogers doesn’t seem to have a future in the majors with the Pirates, Broxton could be a starter for years to come, and Supak’s future is yet to be determined. But will Huntington actually end up regretting this trade, even if it is a bad trade?
While he would likely undo this trade if he could go back and do so, I don’t think Huntington is losing much sleep over this deal. There is no room to start in the outfield at the moment for Broxton, clearly, with Gregory Polanco, Starling Marte, and Andrew McCutchen occupying those spots. And we know once McCutchen likely is no longer a Pirate, uber-prospect Austin Meadows will be ready to take over. Thus, there is no room for Broxton to start in the future either.
It’s also important to remember that Broxton has been a bit of a surprise. He would have never fetched a good return for the Pirates because he never would have gotten a chance to prove himself at the major league level, and he was never viewed as much of a prospect.
In the end, this was a move that won’t hurt the Pirates even if Keon Broxton is a success, and one that Huntington shouldn’t regret.
Image Credit – clare_and_ben via Flickr Creative Commons
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