A Lastings Effect

A lot of people are upset with the trading of Sean Burnett and Nyjer Morgan for the so called "head-case" that is Lastings Milledge and the under-preforming Joel Hanrahan. I love everything there is about this deal. Nyjer was great for us but can anyone honestly say he was the answer in LF? Nyjer is soon to be 29 years old in his first full season. He was an adventure on the base paths and inconsistant at the plate. Lastings is only 24 years old, formally 1 of the best prospects in the league who the pirates bought low on. If Milledge turns out to be 1/2 of what he was projected to be it will make this deal well worth it 100x over. He has potential to hit 15-20 hr's a year. He can steal 30 bases and in LF along McClutchGod defensively the pirates will be solid. He doesnt have to be great right away, he can bring his game along at his pace without feeling the pressure to be a hero for this team. Altho some pirate fans will scream bust as soon as he makes his first out.

Realitically he has untill 2011 to get his game together and be apart of the up and comming prospects the pirates have in their system. By 2011 he will be 26 just getting into the prime of his career. With him getting older the maturity will come along with his game. Hes going to bring excitment to this team and hes going to give fans another reason to get excited about Pirates baseball.

If the Pirate FO is serious about building a core and buying pieces to fit in around that core then they are well on their way to it. With last years #1 pick Pedro Alverez, Jose Tabata they recieved in the nady trade, Tony Sanchez this years #1 pick, Gorkys Herenandez aquired in Mclouth trade, the pirates are finding those key pieces for the future.

With Alverez more than likely moving to 1st base and Andy Laroche doing pretty well in his first full season our corner IF is looking decent. The lone spot the pirates organization is lacking is the Middle Infield. They have some prospects that could become somthing in a few years but nothing to get anyone overely excited about.

Now can anyone realistically expect Gorkys, tabata,alverez, sanchez, An. Laroche, Milledge and Brad Lincoln to be perennial all-stars? no, not all of them will pan out because thats just what happens in baseball. But we can expect them to all be servicable major league players. The pirates new front office needs a chance to make things happen, and its not going to over night no matter how much pirate fans hope. This team was in shambles from low-a ball to the majors. Niel and Frank are tyring to build a contender from the ground up and its going to take some time. Understandably fans are upset and just want the pirates to go out and spend 90 million dollars but you cant just go out and buy a championship. ask the yankees.