A final look at the deadline

I'm going to do my best to be objective here. It's probably pretty hard for me to do so, what with my mind being clouded by rage and anger, but I'm going to try. We'll look at each trade today individually, then on the day as a whole.

Trade: Sean Casey to Detroit for Brian Rogers
Analysis: The bottom line is that Sean Casey is injury prone and not very good, beyond all the singles hitting that he does. Brian Rogers has put up some good numbers in AA this year but is 24 in his first year of AA ball. Rogers probably won't help us much, but Casey probably won't help the Tigers much. We get the rest of what we owe Casey off the books, and this is an indication that he won't be signed to play first base next year so I don't think this is really an awful trade. Still, that doesn't mean that we should've had traded Casey to San Fran 2 weeks ago before Hillenbrand was on the market and before Casey got hurt again. Typical DL to miss the peak value window. Also, the Tigers demoting Shelton to AAA is probably a sign that they were desperate for help at first base and Sean Casey is only our second best first baseman.

Trade: Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez to the Mets for Xavier Nady
Analysis: With Duaner Sanchez's season ending in a car wreck (separated shoulder) earlier today, Hernandez alone should've brought Nady, which would've made for a decent deal. Throwing Perez into this one was senseless, mainly because DL was apparently at the mercy of Minaya to get this deal done when it should've been vice versa, and because a mere 5 months ago Littlefield was unwilling to trade Perez for Hank Blalock. If Perez goes up in flames, this is a decent deal. If he doesn't, well, we just made our Scott Kazmir trade. Nady is essentially a Craig Wilson that gets on base less and hits for less power, which pretty much makes him Ty Wigginton. I hate myself for writing that last sentence. I have a bad feeling about this.

Trade: Kip Wells to Texas for a guy that looks like Gumby (6'2" 153 lb Jesse Chavez)
Analysis: It's doubtful that Kip and all of his problems could've brought more than this in a trade so it's hard to fault Littlefield for that. What I would've liked to see (and I'm probably alone in this respect) is the Pirates sign Kip to a one or two year deal on good faith (read: lower than market value) since his numbers won't be that great this year. He seems to like Colborn, he seems to be turning a corner, we know he's got a good arm, his injury wasn't a pitching injury, and the team showed reasonable respect by paying his contract for this year after his injury no questions asked. That being said, it's likely Kip will struggle mightily in Texas. Their park is essentially the Coors Field of the AL and NL pitchers traditionally get shelled when they move to the AL. This means Kip Wells will remain a mystery until next year.

Trade: Craig Wilson to the Yankees for Shawn Chacon
Analysis: This one makes me want to vomit. Knowing that he was not going to bring Craig back, CWills should've been shipped out of Pittsburgh at the beginning of this year after Burnitz and Casey were brought in to play his position. When that didn't happen he should've been traded to the Yankees immediately after Matsui and Sheffield went down a couple months ago, for what would've likely been a much better return. If DL wasn't such a jackass, he should've swallowed his pride and signed Craig to an extension when his agent asked for it prior to this season. Instead, as is his MO, he held on to Craig until the last second, leaving him languishing on the bench while his value diminishes until all we can get is Shawn Chacon who, except for the second half with the Yankees last year, pitches like Kip Wells' first two comeback starts all the time. Simply put, we should never accept Shawn Chacon in a trade. Ever. For anything. There has likely never been a player more improperly handled by any organization ever than Craig Wilson has since 2001 by the Pittsburgh Pirates. End of story.

Final Tally
Coming: Xavier Nady, Shawn Chacon, Brian Rogers, Jesse Chavez. Sharpless and Duffy are called up to fill out the Major League roster
Leaving: Sean Casey, Craig Wilson, Kip Wells, Oliver Perez, my sanity, Dave Littlefield's dignity
Analysis: This was not a good day for Dave Littlefield. Sure, some of the trades make sense in the context of the fact that today is the deadline and these guys are probably gone if we don't trade them. Wilson and Wells are established as damaged goods and simply not that valuable at this point. Casey is just not that good of a baseball player any more. Unfortunately, you have to look at the big picture. This is the least valuable Craig Wilson has ever been in his career. Since we knew he wasn't coming back, waiting until today to trade him made no sense. Accepting Shawn Chacon is a trade is insanity. Surely the Yankees would've given us someone else if we asked. That trade reeks of Littlefield simply desperately wanting to get rid of his least favorite person on the planet (does that make him Dave "Loki"field to Craig's Thor?). The Kip Wells trade is the same thing, we probably could've convinced him come back here, then traded him when his value was back up. Kip was only traded today because Littlefield doesn't like him. The Mets needed Hernandez so badly that throwing Perez into the deal makes no sense, surely a similar accord could've been reached without Ollie involved. Still, we can certainly thank Dave Littlefield for being consistent. As is always the case, he held on to everything he had until the last minute (3 of the four deals he made today came after 3 PM with a 4 PM deadline) when none of his chips held any value, then sold everything off in a panic. Even knowing that Casey, Wilson, Wells, and Hernandez would be gone next year, Littlefield did nothing to make the 2007 Pirates any better by trading them today.