My excuse is that I’ve been out of the house since right after it happened. Here’s the official breakdown of the trade with Pittsburgh:
To Pittsburgh: Jeff Karstens, Dan McCutchen, Russ Ohlendorf, Jose Tabata
To New York: Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte
Who The Yankees Got
Xavier Nady is having a year far above his career norms with a BABIP way above his career norms (it’s about .360 right now) which means he is going to fall to earth at some point, probably very soon.
Xavier Nady's BABIP season by season, thanks fangraphs
Beyond that he is pretty much 100% average, though his splits against LHP are pretty good:
Xavier Nady's LHP/RHP OBP splits, thanks once again Fangraphs
This means he is pretty much a fourth outfielder, and definitely not a replacement for Bobby Abreu in 2009.
Damaso Marte is a rather good LHP, but the bullpen this year has been killer and this is overkill. Especially since he will probably fall into a LOOGY role, which is a waste of his talent. On the other hand they did finally DFA LaTroy Hawkins (really a great guy, too bad he can’t pitch better) to make room for him so that’s something.
Who the Pirates Got
Jose Tabata had a very, very down year in AA as a 19 year old who had power sucking hamate surgery. This is selling very, very low on him so maybe the Yankees were sick of his temper tantrums or something, but if he was movable they should have either waited until he got some of his value back up or done this earlier. Before this year he was someone you could package with another good prospect for someone like Jason Bay.
Russ Ohlendorf might be okay some day, but the Yankees have no space for him and his inconsistent ways. I don’t mind seeing him go.
Jeff Karstens leaving is like a blessing from the heavens because now he will never be called up to spot start for the Yankees ever again. Pittsburgh is in a better position to use him since they have a revolving door of starting pitchers this year, and who knows maybe he’ll do better there.
Other than Tabata, I am most disappointed that the Yankees gave up Dan McCutchen in this deal because he is someone who could have come up and taken over for Rasner when all his magic has completely worn out. Of the arms left in AA/AAA he was the most likely to come in and fill out a spot as the #5 on the team, and he probably would have done a decent job of it.
…
In a nutshell, I think this trade is of limited use to the Yankees giving them yet another fourth outfielder and a luxury lefty relief pitcher. The Pirates have a guy who could turn out to be awesome in Tabata, and two pitchers who they can plug in now and help out. Ohlendorf may also be useful if he turns it around, even if it’s just to flip him after building up some value.
The acquisition of Nady is also a little terrifying to me because it gives some credence to the “Jarrod Washburn for Melky Cabrera” rumors. Melky is by no means an elite talent, but he has been a fantastic fielder this year and a bit unlucky at the plate. It would be selling low on him and also taking away something from the team that they really need (outfield defense). Getting Washburn for free is cool, as would be getting Washburn for Justin Christian. Getting Washburn for anything of any value to the Yankees at all would be terrible. Hopefully the front office isn’t mesmerized by his start today and instead focuses on the fact that the one run he gave up to the Blue Jays was a home run to John McDonald which pretty much negates any other pitching you might do (and also any good pitching like that against Toronto should be discounted a bit because it’s Toronto).
