From the Bradenton Herald:
A new uniform results in new opportunities for guys such as Karstens and Ohlendorf — unlike the pitchers’ previous employer, Pittsburgh is unlikely to throw truckloads of money to free-agent pitchers such as CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.
“It’s two different organizations — one’s going in a route to buy it, one’s going in a route to develop from within,” Karstens said. “I’m happy to be here.”
Karstens was a good guy to have around, but he’ll obviously have better opportunities to show what he can do (it’s not much) with the pitching starved Pirates. In fact, he and Ross Ohlendorf could possibly make the rotation if they perform well this spring.
When you think about the Nady-Marte trade, those guys were basically throw-away players. However, I’m wondering, what will happen if Nady ends up being overthrown by Nick Swisher? Jose Tabata was also part of that trade (along with Daniel McCutchen) and if he becomes a superstar in Pittsburgh while Nady ends up injured, ineffective, or in a platoon, that could look like a bad move by Brian Cashman. I guess hindsight is 20/20, though and, at the time, that trade was being heralded as a steal (plus, we needed a bat).
I guess only time will tell…
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20 Responses to Carsten > Karstens
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I’ll preempt by saying, if Damaso Marte is the setup man during his contract, then the deal will be fine (as long as he is good, obviously). But, again, if Nady regresses this year and if Marte is only a situational lefty, then is it still a great move?
I still think the trade will look good. Even if Nady platoons to some extent with Swisher, we’ll have a much-upgraded bench and will likely garner a first rounder when Nady leaves.
Tabata is no sure thing, and I think I’d rather be in the situation we are in now.
First, great blog site… this and RAB are the best on the net… kudos. Jury’s still out on Tabata so this trade still could be an excellent one in years to come.
Thanks for the compliment! Also, if the Yankees win a WS this year, then I agree, it will be considered a great trade.
I’ll echo that, this is easily one of the best Yankee blogs out there.
Chris, I agree in part, but I think even if Nady goes back to his career norms the trade will still look good. Marte is solid, and now that we have Swisher, we don’t need Nady to be a superstar, we just need him to also be solid. Tabata still has question marks, while Nady and Marte are both more of a sure thing.
Agreed and the talent acquired was pretty great, but I remember scouts comparing Jose Tabata to Manny Ramirez before. Imagine if he developed into that sort of player? For now, the trade works in that it fulfilled a need in RF, but when you think about it, the Yankees could have chosen to keep Tabata and the others and continue playing the year out without Nady. We traded for Swisher in the off-season, so it’s almost like we didn’t need Nady. Eh, but either way, you can’t argue with the upside of having Nady and Marte on your team.
I don’t believe Marte is a better 8th inning guy than Bruney who is younger, throws harder and has similar control.
Nady was a need last season and they were trying to make the playoffs, so I’ll give them a pass.
Karstens and Ohlendorf probably don’t make the team this season anyway.
If there was a mistake there, it was not leaving Ohlendorf as a starter, he was a horse in the minors.He would not have been any worse than Rasner & Ponson and has better stuff than either.
The real error by the Yankees was in not knowing that Coke has terrific stuff & good control also and can get the lefties out as good if not better than Marte does.He was far more effective than Marte at the end of last season.
Tabata had obvious personal issues.If he matures and becomes a player for the Pirates, there’s still no guarantee he would have developed with the Yankees.
Overall, though I love to kill the ridiculously over rated Cashman, I can’t beat him up too badly for that move when it was made.
Yea, it was one of those moves that made sense at the time. I forgot about Phil Coke, as his presence makes the move seem even more unnecessary (and we gave Marte a pretty lofty 3-year deal, which no one else would have given him in this market). I also think Ohlendorf would have been nice to keep around. His stuff is pretty good and would have been solid in the bullpen.
If you take into account that Nady could achieve Type A status when he leaves for free agency and possibly fetch us 2 draft picks that trade ends up looking better.
That is true and I’m assuming the market for Type A OF’s will be better next year.
I doubt anyone will be willing to sign Nadi and lose a #1 pick. Really do.
If he has a good enough season to warrant that, fans will scream for YAnks to resign him anyway.
If he’s a part timer or has an average season, forget it, nobody will give up a #1.
You never know dude. Outside of Holliday and maybe Vlad, Nady is pretty much the best corner OF option set to hit the market in 2010. Even if he only has a mediocre year he’d still more than likely be a Type B, which is very helpful as well. I wouldn’t mind another Joba Chamberlain or Jeremy Bleich on the farm.
Jason Bay will probably be viewed as the 2nd best option (he could compete with Holliday for the title of the best OF available), unless the Sox lock him up to a long-term deal
Yeah, I actually had a little blurb about Bay, but I erased it right before I sent it. I’ve seen on mlbtr that the Bosox have had preliminary talks regarding an extension for Bay so he probably wont hit the open market. Crawford’s option will probably be picked up too.
Larry, I’m also worried about whether or not teams will give up a pick to sign Nady. I do think, though, that at least the Braves would be willing to do it.
I can see ohlendorf having pretty good success in pittsburgh. Pitching outta the pen it always looked to me that he was trying to throw the ball through the backstop and his control suffered mightily. He’s gotpretty good movementon the FB and if he can sit 92-93 over 5 or 6 innings with better command instead of 95-96 and wild he will do well for the bucs.
It’s also good to see guys like Karstens get a chance to play somewhere instead of riding the shuttle between Scranton and NY all season.
For what it’s worth, you don’t know that Swisher is going to be available on the trade market in the offseason, nor do you know that the Yankees are going to be able to lock up Mark Teixeira. It was both of those moves, in concert, that has relegated Nady to a potential reserve/platoon role; at the time of the Nady trade, the Yankees not only solidified their outfield for the rest of the season, but they obtained an in-house replacement for Bobby Abreu.
If nothing else, Nady gave the Yankees some leverage in dealing with trade partners and free agents this offseason, and that’s something that shouldn’t be underrated.
Good points, Phoenix (and epic username).
Looking back at trades is fun by largely unproductive. The point is whether the trade works at or around the time it is made. Neither Nady nor Marte delivered what we expected and hoped.
Cashman made the best trade that can be made. Whether or not some of the prospects that we traded do well, it was still the best trade to be made. I bet you that Karstens wins 10-12 games this year for the Pirates. The other two will not amount to much.
I think Karstens and Ohlendorf will both be decent with the Bucs and we’ll probably see Ohlendorf land in the bullpen before season’s end. Karstens should be happy to get out of the AL East. His stuff would get hammered in that division (actually, it would probably get hammered in any AL division).