Breaking Down the Deals – Phils get an ace, Pirates get some credit, Giants confuse me

I’ll break down the trades that went down today for a quick minute and also spend a little time complimenting the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hey, I ripped them when they made bad deals so they deserve credit when they do well…

Cliff Lee to the Phillies

This deal makes all the sense in the world for both teams. The Phillies get the top of the rotation starter they desperately needed – especially for the playoffs – and the Indians trade Lee while his value is at its highest.

Would the 2010 Tribe be better with Lee? Sure, but they’re not building for 2010. They’re looking to 2011 and beyond, which is why V-Mart may be moved here soon as well.The Indians get a good SS-3B bat in Jason Donald, a decent catcher in Lou Marson, an underachiever with talent in Carlos Carrasco and a teenage giant with a howitzer of an arm in Jason Knapp. Not a bad haul. Donald looks like he could be a decent regular, Marson strikes me as a #2 catcher, Carrasco could be a steal and Knapp is the long-term project with top of the rotation (or back of the bullpen) stuff. Very nicely done.

The Phillies get their ace and a nice bat off the bench in Ben Francisco. Deal makes sense all around.

Freddy Sanchez to the Giants

I get why the Giants would want Sanchez – he’s better than anything else they have in the middle infield and it’s not even close – but I don’t get how they were swindled into moving Tim Alderson for him. That’s just too high a price to pay for a good contact hitter with no power or speed.

It’s not a franchise killer because the G-Men have several young aces left in the system to go with Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, it just seems like they were bidding against themselves.

Giving up a Top 50 prospect for a contact hitting middle infielder seems a bit much but if the Giants make the playoffs then MAYBE it will have been worth it. Maybe, but I doubt it.

Sweet move by the Pirates that makes up for their bad deals earlier on.

I’ll give the Giants a little bit of a mulligan on this one because I really liked the Ryan Garko pick up. Nice move, underrated player who might bust lose if given another shot to play every single day.

Jack Wilson to the Mariners

Here’s where I pay homage to the Pirates. What is the attraction to Wilson? He’s a slick fielder and all that but, I mean, there are lots of those guys around. Wilson’s a good player, don’t get me wrong, he just makes too much money for what he does.

In the deal the Mariners also get Ian Snell, a talented pitcher who is worth the risk in my opinion, so it’s not a completely bad deal for them. Moving Ronny Cedeno is neither here nor there but I am a bit surprised they gave up on Jeff Clement. I know Clement never clicked in the bigs but he’s a nice pickup for the Buccos. Could be their first baseman next year…Aaron Pribanic is a 22 year-old right hander with some size (6’4″ 200) who was having moderate success in Low-A. Brett Lorin is also 22 and is even bigger (6’7″ 245), plus he was having more success than Pribanic at Low-A and has some strikeout ability. Nathan Adcock is 21 years-old, 6’5″ and was struggling at High-A.

Somehow the Pirates got more quality for Wilson and Snell than they did for Nate McLouth. No matter, they’ve made up for the poor trades earlier.

Getting that foursome, along with Alderson, and a hitter with some power potential for two “ok” middle infielders is fantastic.

Nice job, Buccos. I ripped you when you made bad deals so it’s only fair to pat you on the back when you load up on talent with two other deals.

Kevin Wheeler is the host of Sports Open Line (M-F 7-9 PM ET) on News Radio 1120, KMOX in St. Louis ( www.kmox.com ) and he is a baseball instructor with All-Star Performance ( www.all-starperformance.net ) and the St. Louis Gamers ( www.stlgamers.net ). You can reach him via e-mail at thebaseballgods@gmail.com