Trading for Milledge wasn’t as bad as some thought.

Written by Joe Veno on July 1, 2009 – 10:49 PM -

Lastings Milledge is a talent that many are intrigued by.  He can hit, field, and has all the tools to be good at the Major League level.  The problem is that those “tools” haven’t translated into success, they haven’t “shown up” often enough against opposing Major League players.  But that doesn’t mean that we should give up on him.

When I watched the Nationals live in Spring Training this season, I noticed Milledge mis-read a few balls out in center.  And it seemed like he needed to be at a corner, where he was naturally supposed to be.  That was one of the problems the Nationals placed upon him–he was a corner outfielder playing out of position.  So while learning how to hit Major League pitching, he also had to play a position that he wasn’t really equipped to handle.

Now, Milledge has “placed” many problems amongst himself, so I won’t blame the Nationals for his failures on a whole.  But that was just a poor decision having him play center field in the first place.  And it was because they had so many corner outfielders, they figured they would try and put the most talent out on the field.  However, it didn’t work out.

As mentioned–basically mentioned anyway–Lastings has struggled at the highest level, hitting .261/.326/.400.  But after all these “struggles” he is only 24.  Just 24…

And if there is an organization that has the potential to be patient, it is the Pirates org.  The other organization that could have been very patient with Milledge was the Nationals, but they weren’t.  And now they have their 28 year-old center fielder to track down balls for Jordan Zimmermann, John Lannen, and eventually Stephen Strasburg.  Which wasn’t a bad idea either.

So it isn’t that I don’t think Nyjer Morgan can help a team.  Even Fangraphs thinks that he can help, and has value.  I think if he shifts to center, his bat will project much better, and his glove will make more of an impact.  But in Pittsburgh, he was a corner outfielder because of the surrounding personnel.  And he wasn’t going to shift to center, because Andrew McCutchenis the future of the franchise.

The other thing that makes this trade a little easier to grasp, was that Nyjer Morgan is 28, as previously stated.  Not 22 or 25, but 28.  If Pittsburgh is ever going to seriously compete, it isn’t going to be for a while–in any realistic scenario anyway.

Let’s say the Pirates get their “stuff” together and put together a formidable squad in 3 or 4 years.  A team that can win 83-90 games for a few straight seasons.  Well, if that were to happen, then Morgan would be either 31 or 32 years old, and his prime would be behind him.

So that was the largest upside of this trade.  The Pirates took a chance on just that–upside (as Keith Law put it)–and they lost a player that really isn’t going to help them much anyway, not when they are in contrention anyway.

And just one more thing…Morgan has very little power.  He has a career Slugging percentage of .376, and this season is slugging .356.  He does get on base a decent amount, which is always good.   But is isn’t like the Pirates were moving a potential Gold Glover AND a power threat.  He can reach base a little above the league average, play good D, but his power is well below the league-average.  So he is useful, but flawed.

It isn’t a bad trade for either side.  The Nationals had a logjam in the outfield, and the Pirates aren’t going to compete soon.  Washington could have been more patient, for they have a lot of work to do as well.  But I don’t blame them ridding of a questionable character, at a position of “strength.”

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Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates, Trade Analysis, Washington Nationals | 3 Comments »

3 Comments to “Trading for Milledge wasn’t as bad as some thought.”

  1. Mike F Says:
    July 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 AM

    you know i figured you would weigh in on this…

    i suppose you have a good point regarding milledge’s age, but lets remember that this guy has alrealy been passed around to 3 teams now. he’s got character issues if you haven’t heard.

    - but what about the hanrahan portion of the trade? what’s that about? isn’t that a “piece” for now, not the future?

    my ( very unprofessional ) take on this is that this is yet another example of the floundering pirates front office.

  2. PWHjort Says:
    July 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 AM

    Ah, the irrelevance of two irrelevant teams swapping four largely irrelevant players. Gotta love it.

  3. Mike F Says:
    July 2nd, 2009 at 3:46 PM

    hahaah!! snap!

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