Braves end another Pirates season
June 5, 2009
It's been almost 17 years since Randy Marsh lost sight of the strike zone, Francisco Cabrera blooped a base hit and Sid Bream slid into homeplate as the Atlanta Braves ended the Pittsburgh Pirates' season. Simultaneously crushing the hopes and dreams of every Pirates fan in the process and sending the franchise on to 17 conseuctive losing seasons.

So it wasn't surprising that on June 4th; with the Pirates 6.5 games back and coming off a win over baseball's best pitcher in Johan Santana; that the Braves showed up to end another Pirates season by acquiring Nate McLouth. McLouth, the team's 2008 leader in RBI and HRs, with the same feats achived in the fresh 2009 season. McLouth has followed in the footsteps of Brian Giles and Jason Bay-- the most productive outfielder on a middling sub-.500 Buccos team was sent to a team with postseason aspirations, in return for prospects. McLouth's departure all but ensures another losing season.

It's true that McLouth wouldn't have made the Pirates into a contender this season. But the hope remained that he would be the "2007 Todd Helton" for whatever future Pirates team actually made the postseason. Remember how elated Todd Helton looked when he recorded the final out in the 2007 NLCS? A guy who had been through 10 seasons of shitty baseball was finally going to the World Series. Pirate fans envisioned McLouth having that role. Instead, they're now hoping it goes to Freddy Sanchez, Zach Duke or Jack Wilson. That is, if any of thsoe three remain in Pittsburgh after July 31, 2009.

But face it: the Pirates were not going to contend this year, with or without McLouth. Ideally, it would have been nice to see Brandon Moss shipped out, but no MLB team is going to take leftovers, just for the sake of change (besides, Dave Littlefield no longer has a GM job. Oh, snap). McLouth is in his prime, yet he doesn't instantly make the Braves the NL East favorites. So the Pirates probably got the best return possible by dealing him to Atlanta for prospects Gorkys Hernandez (OF), Charlie Morton (P) and Jeff Locke (P). Hernandez is reportedly Atlanta's top prospect, yet Morton and Locke don't currently project to anything more than rotation fillers. But having two more young arms in the system never hurts, as the old adage is that you can never have too much pitching.

McLouth's absence doesn't necessarily doom the Pirates, as it opens a spot for the long-awaited arrival of Andrew McCutchen. The Bucs would've brought him up earlier, but they've been saying: "when he does come up, we want him to stay". It's only ONE game, but in his debut, McCutchen went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. A very McLouth-esque game. McCutchen will not have the same bat McClouth had, but he should make up for it with defense and speed.

For over two years now, the McCutchen Era seemed inevtiable. Nobody thought it would begin with such noise, though. The McLouth Trade has created quite a buzz around the league. At the very least, people outside of Pittsburgh are talking about the Pirates. And it's not for their ineptitude, "fan strikes", or another humiliation. As usual, it's about a trade. But one that wasn't a salary dump or a deadline deal. One that just might be the linchpin in a Bucco Resurgence.

Of course, we've said that before.

Seeing Eye Singles
...||... Speaking of Brian Giles (and we were, in an ancillary way), I managed to see him up close last Friday and his arms appeared "normal". I contrast that to a time I ran into him back in 2003 and got to shake his hand; when his arms were rocked up like a bodybuilder's. Sure, that was 6 years ago, but it is interesting.

...||... Speaking of former Pirates managers (and we weren't, in any way), it's noteworthy that Jim Tracy has emerged as the Rockies manager. Yeah, that'll boost them back to the top. Of course, if that doesn't work out, the Rockies still have Don Baylor on their staff.

...||... Speaking of Nate McLouth (dang, I guess we were), I suppose this means I'll have to change the "side header" graphic on all of my MLB pages. I should just "screw it", quit trying to be topical and find an old picture of Andy Van Slyke.

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