Goodbye, My Lover; The Nate Mclouth Trade

People in Pittsburgh really needed that Stanley Cup win. They've been weeping about the Nate McLouth trade for the past week. Weeping and whining, and finally a glorious victory has enabled them to push their grief away. Dear Pittsburghers of all kinds-if you haven't already, please cease the negative. Yes, McLouth was a decent ballplayer. Yes, he was in his prime. Yes, he was a great guy. And finally yes, I AM sad to see him go. But Neal Huntington knows what he's doing, and it's time to realize that Nate Mclouth is not going to win the Pirates a championship.

The best comparison I can find to a past Nate Mclouth is my favorite Pirate Player, Brian Giles [R.I.P.] Giles made some great catches, hit some clutch homers, and had a mean batters stance. I idolized him throughout the painful late 90's and early 00's, but after the Pirates traded him to San Diego, leaving me sobbing, I came to realize that Brian Giles never got the Pirates a winning season!! Even with the beloved Jason Kendall and Jumpin Jack Wilson, the Bucs were pitiful. The Buccos ended up keeping Giles much too long, staying below .500, and getting not enough return with Jason Bay, Oliver Perez, and Corey Stewart. These three players are also known as our new "let's try to get to .500" guy, an inconsistent pitching bust, and who?, respectively. Maybe if the Bucs had traded Giles a little earlier, accepting that he was just not championship material (he's done a lot with the Padres, huh?)Basically, trading our favorite below .500 guy in his prime is the only way the Pirates organization has a chance to win.

Trading Mclouth in his prime enabled the Pirates to get Charlie Morton (hopefully to eventually replace either the inconsistent Ian Snell, or the bland Jeff Karstens in the Pirates Rotation), Jeff Locke (a pitcher with great outlook), and Gorkys Hernandez (a speedy OF with great upside). Finally, these prospects will make our starting rotation and bullpen significantly better, because they will create competition amongst the pitchers (Ian Snell is already pitching for his life).

If the return from this trade isn't enough, lets look at the Pirates real needs. Lets be honest, the Pirates have several prospects that have much better potential than McLouth. Andrew McCutchen (feature coming soon!) is already proving his prime championship caliber material, and Jose Tabata is another quality OF hitter to add to the line-up next year. Why would the Pirates keep Nate for much longer if they have these quality prospects? Instead, the Pirates need pitching, and need it now. That is why this trade shows that Neal Huntington knows what he's doing.

I gush when I think of a potential core 2 years from now.

Andrew McCutchen OF
Nyjer Morgan OF
Pedro Alvarez 1B
Andy LaRoche 3B
Jose Tabata OF
Neil Walker 2B
Tony Sanchez C
Gorkys Hernandez OF


with a starting rotation looking like
Zach Duke
Paul Maholm
Charlie Morton
Brad Lincoln
Tom Gorzelanny


These are the guys you need Buccos fans. Not Nate McLouth (he was hitting .256, come on). So stop weeping, and start looking towards the future. It's gonna happen Pirates fans. McCutchen is only the beginning.