I understand the Pirates players being upset about the Nate McLouth trade. But me thinks they need some proper perspective:

On Thursday, at the clubhouse table where McLouth used to play cards with relievers Sean Burnett and Jesse Chavez, a candle bearing his uniform No. 13 was lit, along with a photo of him in uniform, the Post-Gazette reported. “We’ll miss him,” Burnett said.

So I suppose we can look forward to Pirates players wearing No. 13 patches on their sleeves, a foundation to be set up in McLouth’s memory, and his image to adorn the centerfield wall at PNC Park. That should be fun.

It seems like the Pirates are always getting fleeced on trades, going all the way back to the days of Cam Bonifay.  It’s truly amazing to think that one year ago, they had arguably the best outfield in all of baseball in Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and Nate McLouth, and now all three of them are gone, and the jury is still out on whether the Pirates got even a *single* impact player in return.

In the prime of his career at age 27 and just coming off an All-Star, Gold Glove season, not to mention being locked up for the next 4 years at extremely reasonable rates, it’s safe to say that Nate McLouth’s trade value would pretty much never be higher.

Which means that this wasn’t a terrible time to trade McLouth, but it also means that the Pirates really needed to get a more obviously can’t miss prospect than Gorkys Hernandez, Charlie Morton, or Jeff Locke, none of whom was among the Braves’ top 5 prospects.

I think the upside for this trio would be a no. 3 outfielder, and a pair of no. 4 starters, but the more realistic outlook here is a 5th outfielder and maybe a no. 5 starter.

Say what you will about McLouth’s overrated defense, and his offense that really only plays well in center, but the Pirates could have and should have gotten more.

Nate McLouth is a Gold Glove CFer.

Once again. Nate McLouth of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is now a Gold Glove CFer.

NATE MCCLOUTH IS A GOLD GLOVE CENTERFIELDER?????????????????

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E10ORHN2RKQ’ED;Q;IE2U1JP2REJNM LOOK AT HIS FIELDING PERCENTAGE!

That gibberish above is about the only rational reason I can think of as to why Nate McClouth was voted as one of the three best defensive outfielders in the National League in 2008. I really can’t think of any other reason.

Yes, it’s true that McLouth made only one error this year, translating to a .997 fielding percentage. You know who else had those exact same numbers? Mike Cameron. A guy with a far better defensive pedigree than McLouth (but also with limitations due to his age). So why did McLouth win over Cam? Better batting average. But Paul, what does batting average have to do with defensive abilities? It doesn’t. Let’s go on.

McLouth had a 2.66 Range Factor this year, which isn’t awful. But that’s really the only metric that has him even average with the glove. Zone Rating? .852 – 9th out of 10 regular NL CFers. Revised Zone Rating? .867 – 10th out of 10. Out of Zone plays per 9 innings? .602 – 7th out of 10. Runs Saved? Negative 10.5 runs – 9th out of 10.

So what does this all mean? It means that McLouth somehow managed to actually catch balls that were hit right at him. Amazing accomplishment, I’m sure. But he was physically incapable of moving left, right, back, or forward, which some jackasses like me are going to interpret as something worth harping on when talking about his defense.

All right, I’m going to stop asking myself questions and answering them now. But good lord…

Averaging 4.84 runs scored per game, the Pittsburgh Pirates offense has been better than what many had expected going into 2008. In fact, their starting OF has been stellar, averaging an adjusted OPS of 138, which is tops in MLB*. You read that correctly. You could easily make the argument that the 2008 Pittsburgh Pirates have the best offensive outfield in Major League Baseball. I’m going to give you a second to let that sink in.

That’s better than Boston (Manny-Ellsbury-Drew = 127), St. Louis (Schumaker-Ankiel-Ludwick = 126), White Sox (Quentin-Swisher-Dye = 129), and even Detroit (Thames-Granderson-Maggs = 136).

Consisting of Jason Bay, Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady, each member of this Pittsburgh outfield trio have OBPs north of .350 and slug at least .510.

Which is why it’s really too bad that the Pirates are still pretty far out in the playoff hunt, 11.5 games behind the Cubs for the division lead. And the long-term outlook for the Bucs would be improved if they broke up their outfield in preparation for 2009 and beyond.

With all three players performing at such a high level, any of them should interest teams looking for an offensive boost for the stretch run. Xavier Nady is the one who will most likely get dealt, which makes sense. He’s a 29-year old in the last year of his contract. Based on his current performance this season, he’s going to get quite the raise from his $3.35MM salary. In addition, with a very strong .284/.387/.531 line and a pretty budget friendly contract ($5.75MM in ‘08, $7.5MM in ‘09), Jason Bay will most likely be among the top names we’ll be hearing about as we approach the trade deadline. There’s been word that Pittsburgh intends on keeping Bay for now, and if this is their sincere intent, then I think they’re making a mistake. Not only will the Pirates still be near the basement in 2009 with or without him, this is the perfect sell-high moment. With one more year left on his contract, teams would be more inclined to make an offer, much like the Rangers were able to do last year with Mark Teixeira.

The only one that the Pirates ought to keep for 2009 is McLouth and they ought to ink him to a long-term contract extension very soon (arbitration eligible at the end of the year), despite the fact that Pittsburgh management seems very wary of committing financially to players over the long haul. Although many small market teams have been quick to lock up their young talent in recent months, the Pirates have been late to that party. In fact, the only player on the roster with a guaranteed Major League contract two seasons from now (in 2010) is Ian Snell. To be fair, they haven’t exactly had the kind of young talent that’s really worth locking up, but I think McLouth’s bat is worth the risk.

And if Bay and/or Nady can be dealt, the Bucs have a pretty good prospect waiting in the wings named Andrew McCutchen. Currently playing for AAA-Indianapolis, McCutchen is a five-tool centerfielder whose skills at the position should allow the team to move McLouth over to left (Nate currently sports a pretty ugly .866 RZR in center). But since he’s only 21 years old, I’d understand it if the Pirates waited just a bit longer to call him up.

Now if they could only figure out this “pitching” thing, they’d be going somewhere…

*One caveat so that Rangers fans won’t jump me – on those days when Texas goes with the trio of Milton Bradley-Josh Hamilton-David Murphy, they’re better (OPS-Plus of 142). But Bradley’s mostly a DH these days (48 games at DH, 17 in OF).

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