Pirates Trade for Wandy Rodriguez?

I'm baffled by this one. They gave up Rudy Owens (LHP), Robbie Grossman (OF), and Colton Cain (LHP). Coming into the season, Goldstein ranked:

• Grossman as 4 stars
• Cain as 3 stars
• Owens as 2 stars.

I gotta think the Twins would have taken that package for Liriano. Plus, Rodriguez is going to cost the fiscally conservative Pirates $13M next year. He's a good pitcher, maybe better than Liriano, but I can't believe Liriano wouldn't have been a better fit for them because of that contract.

But the news gets worse, I think. I've been of the opinion that the Pirates need to add some hitting. (They've been better, but they're still 23rd in the majors.) Span looked like a good fit. But if they just committed that much money (and that many prospects) to Rodriguez, I have to think they're done.

Looks like Terry Ryan overplayed his hand and may end up left out of the game of musical chairs. With the Marlins as big sellers now (and willing to just dump salary) I fear the Twins are going to get far less than they could've a few days ago.

Willingham is probably the only piece the Twins have left that can net a decent pitching prospect and if that is the case he should be gone tomorrow.

When you haven't had a winning record in 20 seasons you do this kind of trade.

It's not the 2011 Phillies or anything, but James McDonald, Wandy Rodriguez, AJ Burnett, and Erik Bedard is a very formidable playoff rotation.

First - the Astros are paying part of Wandy's salary so the Pirates might not have committed that much money to Wandy

Second - Wandy has had an ERA between 3.02 and 3.79 for the last 5 years. Liriano has only had 7 or so monthly ERA's in the last 5 years that low. this board has dramatically overrated how much demand for Liriano there is or ever was. This isn't a case of JR overplaying his hand. it's a case of trying sell a very erratic player and maybe they can make a good trade still but let's stop acting like Liriano is a top pitcher that everybody wants.

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Originally Posted by kab21

First - the Astros are paying part of Wandy's salary so the Pirates might not have committed that much money to Wandy

Second - Wandy has had an ERA between 3.02 and 3.79 for the last 5 years. Liriano has only had 7 or so monthly ERA's in the last 5 years that low. this board has dramatically overrated how much demand for Liriano there is or ever was. This isn't a case of JR overplaying his hand. it's a case of trying sell a very erratic player and maybe they can make a good trade still but let's stop acting like Liriano is a top pitcher that everybody wants.

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Exactly. A run of good starts does not erase years of history.