For those that haven’t been paying much attention, your once favorite player Nate McLouth was sent down to the minors by the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday. Can we please now quit complaining about the trade?
After being dealt away from Pittsburgh, McLouth just wasn’t very good for Atlanta, especially this year where he was hitting .168 on the season. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Being the best player on a bad team makes you nothing more than that.
It doesn’t make you are great or a superstar. It certainly doesn’t make you anything special, yet most casual fans are still upset over the deal. There are fifty Nate McLouth type players in the big leagues right now.
Granted, he was the best player on the 2008 Pirates team. He was an all-star and won a gold glove, but his numbers were nothing more than above average. He hit .276 that season with 26 homers and 94 RBI’s. Solid numbers, but nothing that would make him untouchable.
As for the trade, in which the Pirates received Charlie Morton, Gorkys Hernadez and Jeff Locke. I liked it then and feel it can still work out well for the Pirates. If Neil Huntington could go back and do it over, I’m sure he wouldn’t pass on the deal.
Not to mention that dealing McLouth opened up a spot for Andrew McCutchen to be promoted.
Yes, Morton has been terrible this season, but he showed at the end of last season that he has the ability to pitch at this level. Hopefully he can figure things out in the minors and become a solid middle of the rotation guy for the Pirates for a few years.
Hernandez still has a ton of upside. While it likely won’t be with the Pirates, he still has value and can be used a valuable trade chip.
Locke was the biggest return in the trade and it’s still to be determined on how that will work out, but he’s having an outstanding minor league season. Between stops in Bradenton and Altoona, the lefty starter is 10-3 with a 3.22 era this season.
The McLouth trade still has a chance to work out pretty well for the Pirates. Now if everyone can just let it go and realize that the Pirates really didn’t give up much.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com