A few years ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded then All-Star/Gold Glove outfielder Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves for Charlie Morton and Gorkys Hernandez.Today, the Pirates officially resigned McLouth to potentially be their fourth outfielder. So in hindsight, the Pirates got a solid pitcher with a lot of upside and a solid depth outfielder and end up with the original outfielder back. That's kind of funny don't you think?
At the time, many fans out there blasted the Pirates for trading away such an important piece of the future. Never mind the fact that 2008 was a career year for an otherwise decent but unspectacular player. He has 81 homeruns and 270 career RBI in a 7 year career, and a third of both of those stats came in 2008 when he hit 26 HR's and drove in 94 runs for the Pirates.
McLouth's playing time has been severely curtailed by various injuries during his stay in Atlanta, so maybe a return to Pittsburgh will be just what is needed to keep him healthy.
He won't be displacing regular superstar outfielder Andrew McCutchen, and I doubt he'll steal a ton of playing time from Jose Tabata in right field, so most of McLouth's time will be earned by spot starts and splitting some time with Alex Pressley.
Much like the Erik Bedard signing earlier in the day, this is a lower risk signing for the Pirates. You're getting a guy who has done some good things at the MLB level. Given the current outfield situation, there's no pressure on him to perform at a superstar level.
Yes the injuries have been a concern, but I'd like to think you'll get some pop out of him unlike Matt "Can't hit a single homerun for us" Diaz.
These are exactly the types of signings the Pirates need to make right now. You aren't going to get top tier free agents to come here, but you CAN get players who are looking to rebound and need a place to prove they still have what it takes.
Hats off to Neal Huntington for getting these deals done.
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