Pirates-Tigers trade

[sweaver]

The Pirates have just acquired Randall Simon from the Tigers for minor leaguer Adrian Burnside and two minor leaguers to be named later, presumably after the Rule 5 draft.

[sweaver]

Simon was voted Tigers' team MVP last year after batting .301 with 80 RBI. Burnside was acquired by the Pirates in the 2001 Terry Mulholland deal, and was 6-9 with a 4.55 ERA in AA, and 2-1, 4.05 in the Arizona Fall League. Simon is expected to platoon with Kevin Young at 1B for the Pirates, according to the report on mlb.com. http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/NA..._pit&fext=.jsp

[Max Power]

Simon is more of a DH than a 1B. Not sure this really helps the Bucs?

[LeGrandOrange]

Randall Simon is better than Kevin Young, and if you can deal a struggling prospect to get him, why not take a chance on him.
Of course, knowing the Pirates, he'll be forced to get less PT than Kevin Young who, while a great fielder, does not know how to hit, and might do better in the slowpitch league.

[WiredTiger]

Simon might be a good guy to hit behind Giles. He is such a hacker, you wouldn't want to bat him in front of Giles because he isn't going to walk much. If you bat him after Giles it would probably maximize the opportunities for a hit to be better than a walk.

[KCBOOMER]

I guess the Tigers have given up on Simon.

Maybe the Bucs are going to try and unload Young on some poor unsuspecting club. For $5.6M he put up some rather sub-par 1B numbers.

[WiredTiger]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER
I guess the Tigers have given up on Simon.

I thinked they liked Simon but didn't want to pay him very much. The Tigers are overloaded at 1B/Dh and getting rid of Simon's salary was a good way to clear some money and give younger players some at bats.

[Sadaharu Oh]

There's no way that Young can be traded unless he's packaged with some with Giles or taken for someone else's garbage. Neither is a very good option.

So what will the Bucs do? Seems pretty obvious.....

OPS vs. LHP/RHP (in 2002)
Young .896/.681
Simon .599/.852

Have you ever seen a more perfect platoon pair?

[WiredTiger]

Originally posted by Sadaharu Oh
There's no way that Young can be traded unless he's packaged with some with Giles or taken for someone else's garbage. Neither is a very good option.

So what will the Bucs do? Seems pretty obvious.....

OPS vs. LHP/RHP (in 2002)
Young .896/.681
Simon .599/.852

Have you ever seen a more perfect platoon pair?

That looks like it would work. The one who is not playing that day will be your first pinch hitter off the bench.

[Domeboys]

.

[Max Power]

Originally posted by LeGrandOrange
Kevin Young who, while a great fielder,

Huh?

NATIONAL LEAGUE
1998-2002
1B Most ERRORS                           
   
1    Kevin Young                  68   
T2   Jeff Bagwell                 43   
T2   Andres Galarraga             43   
4    Eric Karros                  40   
5    Derrek Lee                   39   
T6   Ryan Klesko                  34   
T6   Lee Stevens                  34   
T8   Mark Grace                   32   
T8   Todd Helton                  32   
T10  Mark McGwire                 30   
T10  Sean Casey                   30   

[Domeboys]

I wonder how many of those were caused by him trying to field Aramis Ramirez' wild throws from 3rd? ;-)

Seriously, why did the Pirates stick with this guy for so long?

[Sadaharu Oh]

The plan to financial security......

Step One: Post a .909 OPS the year before free agency.
Step Two: Sign a four-year, $24 million deal.
Step Three: Turn 31.
Step Four: Fall off a cliff (sub-.750 OPS every year since)


Also, on fielding, KY totaled 40 errors in 99-00, but cut it in half to 20 in 01-01. So, one could at least argue that he's improved a lot, if that is your measure.

[sweaver]

Young is quite agile around the bag and has good range, but is prone to errors. He would have been better off playing 3B the last few years, IMO. And no, I doubt the Pirates can trade him. But a platoon, while expensive, will make the Buccos better.

[Fatwater Fewl]

This is a very stupid deal by the Pirates. The Tigers can't lose this deal. They traded a guy who they were probably going to nontender and who hits just barely well enough to complicate the daily filling of the DH/1B spots, and brought in three prospects who, even if they never play a day in the majors, are still prospects -- they might help the team someday.

Originally posted by Sadaharu Oh
There's no way that Young can be traded unless he's packaged with some with Giles or taken for someone else's garbage. Neither is a very good option.

So what will the Bucs do? Seems pretty obvious.....

OPS vs. LHP/RHP (in 2002)
Young .896/.681
Simon .599/.852

Have you ever seen a more perfect platoon pair?

Why do they need a platoon pair when they have a guy who put up these stats in 2002?

OPS vs. LHP -- .858
OPS vs. RHP -- .772
OPS overall -- .798

Young's overall OPS in 2002 was .730.
Simon's overall OPS in 2002 was .779.

Simon will be 28 in May, 2003.
Craig Wilson, whose OPS last year was better than SImon's on Young's, will turn 27 in Nov., 2003.

So, Wilson is slightly younger and hits for slightly more power than Simon.

In my mind the Pirates gave up three prospects to get a hitter whose equal, or better they already had. That is just stupid. Stupid move.