The deal with Arizona is: C Chris Snyder, AAA shortstop Pedro Ciriaco, and a reported $3M to the Pirates for RHP DJ Carrasco, OF Ryan Church, and infielder Bobby Crosby. We'll miss DJ.
Snyder, 29, is batting .231 with 10 home runs and 32 RBI. He's best known for his glove, with a lifetime 30% throw-out rate and a .998 fielding percentage. In 4,425 innings behind the plate, he's given up just 40 passed balls and 24 wild pitches. The big if is how he's recovered from a back injury that cost him the last three months of 2009.
Ciriaco, 25, hit .256 for Class AAA Reno, with six home runs, 51 RBI and 14 steals. He is considered a top notch glove man, too, and is thought to have more upside than Argenis Diaz. The Dominican Republic native will be added to the 40-man roster and is expected to be assigned to Indy, giving the team some depth at a position they were thin at in the farm system's upper levels.
The Pirates also called up Jeff Clement and Argenis Diaz from Indy. Diaz becomes the backup shortstop, and he has a rep as a good glove, bad bat (.248 at Indy) player. We're not exactly sure where Clement fits into the scheme.
He regained his stroke in AAA, hitting .305 with eight home runs and 33 RBI in 40 games since he was sent down. But with Garrett Jones at first and Steve Pearce due back in August, there's quite a logjam forming at the gateway corner.
Maybe Jones or Doumit will replace Church as the LH fourth outfielder, and we'll see some platooning for Lastings Milledge. All of LM's splits are much stronger against lefties, so it would make some sense.
Brandon Moss would have made more sense, but the Bucs seem down on him, even as he tears up the International League. Suits; try and figure. They live in their own little world of whirring computers, grainy vids, scribbled evaluations and ouija boards.
This will cause some more shuffling. We're expecting Jason Jaramillo to get sent back down and Steve Jackson or an Indy arm to take DJ's place in the pen. Next week will probably be Erik Kratz's turn, as Dewey comes off the DL on August 6th and is said to be good to go.
Then again, Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette heard a little birdie say that Synder might get flipped in another deal, which could save Kratz's spot. And it's possible that the Pirates could still make some further moves on the market; they love the deadline action.
So the Bucs have improved, at least defensively, with Snyder and Diaz, and have their caddy for Tony Sanchez. The cost was a couple of weakly performing rental bench players, both who were given ample platoon time in June to prove their worth, and a handy but not crucial pen arm. And we think the poker game isn't quite done.
So stay tuned; it's all in flux right now, with four hours to go.
2 comments:
I really like this deal, though I'm at a loss as to why Arizona would make such a trade. Snyder is at least a useful big leaguer, and the Triple-A shortstop would figure to be a major league backup but has occasional pop and speed. Nor are the D-Backs contenders; why would they be interested in veteran spare parts like Crosby and Church? Even Carrasco is more of a reach for them at this point in time. I don't get it.
Meanwhile, I have to believe that either Kratz or Jaramillo's days are numbered, unless---as Dejan suggests---another trade is in the works. I honestly hope not, at least I hope that Snyder is not on his way out. I've had more than enough of Doumit to last me a long time, and if they trade anybody, I'd much rather it be Doumit.
Yah, Will, for once they dealt to fill a hole instead of shedding contracts.
And that's why Arizona made the deal; they were stuck with Snyder's contract, struck as a starter, and badly wanted to dump his salary.
The Bucs had a couple of bucks to play with and some leverage, and used it to their advantage to fill a need and dump some deadwood.
If Dewey wasn't on the DL, I'm pretty sure he'd be in a different uniform now. Guess we'll have to wait til the winter now; maybe he'll rebuild a little value.
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