Boston, LA...Huntington's Go-To Teams

It seems like every year since Neal Huntington has been GM that the Bucs, Red Sox and Dodgers have something brewing, whether it's a deal, an exchange of minor leaguers, FA signings or whatever; all three teams have a sharp eye on the others' systems. Ever since the Jason Bay trade that involved the three clubs in 2008, at least a pair of transactions have occurred between the teams every following season:

Boston:

• 12/26/2012 - Pittsburgh traded RHP Joel Hanrahan and 2B Brock Holt for 2B Ivan De Jesus, RHP Mark Melancon, RHP Stolmy Pimentel and LF Jerry Sands.
• 11/28/2012 - Pittsburgh traded RHP Kyle Kaminska (PTBNL) for RHP Zach Stewart.
• 11/2/2012 - Boston signed free agent UT Drew Sutton. 
• 6/7/2012 - Pittsburgh claimed UT Oscar Tejeda.
• 5/12//2012 - Pittsburgh purchased 1B Jeff Larish's contract. 
• 1/3/2012 - Boston signed free agent SS Pedro Ciriaco.
• 12/7/2011 - Pittsburgh signed free agent LHP Erik Bedard.
• 12/14/2011 - Pittsburgh signed free agent LHP Kris Johnson.
• 11/13/2011 - Boston signed free agent LHP Justin Thomas
• 6/13/2011 - Pittsburgh traded for C Mike McKenry for cash/PTBNL.
• 5/31/2010 - Pittsburgh traded C Josue Peley for OF Jonathan Van Every.
• 12/1/2010 - Pittsburgh signed free agent C Dusty Brown.
• 1/20/2010 - Boston signed free agent 2B Ray Chang.
• 7/22/2009 - Pittsburgh traded 1B Adam LaRoche for SS Argenis Diaz and RHP Hunter Strickland.
• 1/27/2009 - Boston signed free agent C Carlos Maldonado. 
• 7/31/2008 - Pittsburgh traded OF Jason Bay for RHP Craig Hansen and OF Brandon Moss. 

Boston has got some big boys from Pittsburgh - Jay Bay, Adam LaRoche, and Hanny - as salary dumps. Pittsburgh has got a bunch of unrealized upside in return. Mike McKenry and Eric Bedard are the only Bosox refugees that had any impact, and Bedard was a FA. Brandon Moss had a breakout year; unfortunately, it was in Oakland.

Mark Melancon has a chance to be a key contributor in 2013, while Sands and Stewart both are possibilities to break camp this year. Pimentel is intriguing but running out of time, and Strickland landed on the 40-man roster.

LA Dodgers:

• 12/26/12 - Pittsburgh traded for OF Jerry Sand & IF Ivan DeJesus (from Boston, but both were basically pass-throughs from the LA system).
• 12/21/2012 - LA signed free agent 3B Dallas McPherson.
• 11/19/2012 - LA signed free agent 1B Nick Evans.
• 12/13/2011 - LA signed free agent RHP Jose Ascanio. 
• 11/10/2011- Pittsburgh signed free agent C Rod Barajas (he replaced Russell Martin in LA).
• 4/26/2011 - Pittsburgh claimed OF Xavier Paul off waivers (Jerry Sands was called up to replace him in LA).
• 11/22/2010 - LA signed free agent LHP Dana Eveland.
• 11/11/2010 - LA signed free agent C Hector Gimenez.
• 7/31/2010 - Pittsburgh traded RHP Octavio Dotel for RHP James McDonald and LF Andrew Lambo.
• 4/15/2009 - Pittsburgh traded RHP Eric Krebs and RHP Harvey Garcia for OF Delwyn Young.
• 2/26/2009 - LA signed free agent IF Doug Mientkiewicz.
• 1/16/2009 - LA signed free agent RHP Ron Belisario (who's been on the restricted list more times than Hannibal Lecter). 
• 7/31/2008 - Pittsburgh traded OF Jason Bay for INF Andy LaRoche and RHP Avery (Bryan) Morris.  

LA won the first round, getting Manny Ramirez's hot stick. After that, Pittsburgh has found their catchers, for better or worse, as free agents previously employed by the Dodgers. It was another City of Angels' win when they allowed Barajas to walk; AJ Ellis did a fine job for them at $490 K, while Barajas collected $4M for a pretty forgettable season. It's quite the catcher's merry-go-round with LA: Barajas replaced Russell Martin in LA, who the Bucs just signed, and Ellis replaced Barajas, who Martin has just replaced in Pittsburgh. Got that straight?   

But it all evened out with the Dotel-for-McDonald trade. LA got 18 innings from Octavio, while the Pirates have a starter who's had a couple of late-year meltdowns but has also been very good for long stretches.