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What is Huntington Up To?
Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington has been pretty busy over the past month. Essentially, he has revamped the majority of his outfield in just a few weeks. First to leave was center fielder Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves. Then, earlier this week, Nyjer Morgan was shipped off to the Washington Nationals. But Huntington didn’t stop there. Now Eric Hinske is with the New York Yankees and Craig Monroe has been released.
That’s four of the team’s outfielders from their opening day roster that are no longer with the club.
The latest two moves are worth only a minor mention though. Hinske hasn’t been worth as much to the Pirates this year as he was to the Rays in 2008. Although he’s hitting for a better average (.255 vs. .247), his power has dropped considerably as he only has one home run in 106 at-bats, whereas he had 20 in 381 ABs last year. His slugging percentage is down nearly 100 points from 2008.
Hinske was traded to the New York Yankees after the Morgan trade this week. In return, they received two minor leaguers, Casey Erickson and Eric Fryer. Neither is expected to contribute at the major league level though. Although they are paying for a portion of his salary in the trade, Huntington is clearing the rest of his pay from the books, assuming that he can get similar production from a cheaper player.
Craig Monroe has hit .215/.287/.354 in limited duty after smacking eight home runs in spring training. He was an obvious candidate to go, yet he was the last to go out of the four.
Replacing them is Arizona Diamondback castoff Jeff Salazar, former LA Dodger Delwyn Young, former Minnesota Twins prospect Garrett Jones, and the homegrown Steven Pearce. For now it looks as if Young and Pearce will get the bulk of the playing time. Delwyn’s more suited for a bench role, but he’s playing well enough right now for the lackluster Bucs that he could remain a decent option until Milledge or even Jose Tabata is ready. Pearce hit .290 in June at Triple-A with a .950 OPS and five home runs in 60 at-bats. His problematic plate discipline seems to be starting to come around with a .363 OBP during his time in Indianapolis.
Garrett Jones may be a decent fourth outfielder as he has put up a .307/.348/.502 line in 277 ABs in Triple-A this season. His 18/47 BB/K ration is a little troubling, but an .850 OPS shouldn’t be overlooked. Salazar was hitting .265/.323/.415 in the minors, but he may still hit better off the bench than Monroe was.
Huntington’s mid-season overhaul of the Pirates outfield looks rather interesting. We won’t see the real impact of all his moves for another couple seasons as we await the development of Jose Tabata and Gorkys Hernandez. But it may be interesting compare the production of the pre- All-Star break outfield with the one that will play a majority of the time after the break.
Neal has made quite a few trades in the short time that he’s been in office. Are we looking at the next “Trader Jim” (except that he actually appreciates pitching)?
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