The Pirates continued to revamp their roster this offseason by trading for Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee last night in exchange for reliever Jose Veras.
The Buccos appeared to be set in the field before the trade but with McGehee on his way to the Burgh, if Pedro Alvarez doesn’t start playing a second overall pick…or if he just continues to tuck his ears into his cap…he could be out of a job thanks to the McGehee deal.
For those of you that just look at McGehee’s numbers from last year and think the Pirates have enough sub .250 hitters, you’re right they do, but McGehee isn’t one of them.
The only reason he was dealt out of Milwaukee’s is because Aramis Ramirez’s tour of the NL Central is making a stop in Wisconsin. If a team is spending $26 million on a three-year deal for a 33-year-old third baseman, you can bet than not going to start a white-trash guy from California over him. And the Buccos were okay with that.
McGehee did only hit .223 last year but his 13 homers and 67 RBIs would’ve been good enough for third on the Buccos last year. Plus, he’s only been in the bigs for three years, and last year was his first down season.
McGehee is a career .265 hitter and hit 52 bombs in his 428 games as a Brewer to go with his 237 RBIs and .762 OPS (it was over .800 in ’09 and ’10). In 2010 though, he hit .285 with 38 doubles, 23 homeruns, and 104 RBIs. And he was named the Brewers MVP – not too shabby with names like Braun and Fielder in the lineup.
At the very least, this move gives Pedro even more incentive to produce more than he did last year (shouldn’t be too hard), knowing that the Buccos have a very capable reserve waiting to steal his starting spot. And even if Pedro gets hurt…again, McGehee can step in and not be a downgrade.
With Derrek Lee declining the Buccos offer, it looks like the first base job is Garrett Jones’s to lose, especially now that he doesn’t quite fit the speedy look in the PNC Park outfield with Nate McLouth back in town. The same goes for Jones; if his numbers drop or if he has trouble at first, don’t be surprised to see McGehee be plugged in there.
He’s got a good bat and he’s solid in the field…and he looks like a yinzer with his shaved head and weird beard/ goatee thing. All-in-all it was a pretty solid move since it only cost the Buccos a mediocre pitcher, a position the Pirates have more of than they know what to do with.
Who knows if this Billy Bean lineup will work for the Bucs, but they SEEM to be making the right moves so far. And even if they don’t work out, is 20 really that much worse than 19?
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