I'll reserve most judgment till hearing out what they gave up for him, but it is a sign that Lowell isnt doing too great health wise

Another great move by the Pirates.  When I saw the Indianapolis Indians play in May I had no idea I'd be watching the same team when I go out to Pittsburgh for a Buccos game in August.  I hate being a Pirates fan this year.  Usually I can at least get lots of cheap tickets and bobbleheads out of their terriblousity.

Also, spell check catches Buccos and bobbleheads as misspelled, but apparently terriblousity is cool.  

What year was good?

The pirates are an awful awful organization that will probably never succeed. any useful player is traded for youth, which is then traded for more youth when the previous youth gets too expensive.  I think I would stop watching the sport if that was my team....

Quote from: ChampKind on July 22, 2009, 12:41:55 PM

Another great move by the Pirates.  When I saw the Indianapolis Indians play in May I had no idea I'd be watching the same team when I go out to Pittsburgh for a Buccos game in August.  I hate being a Pirates fan this year.  Usually I can at least get lots of cheap tickets and bobbleheads out of their terriblousity.

Also, spell check catches Buccos and bobbleheads as misspelled, but apparently terriblousity is cool.  

What year was good?

The pirates are an awful awful organization that will probably never succeed. any useful player is traded for youth, which is then traded for more youth when the previous youth gets too expensive.  I think I would stop watching the sport if that was my team....

It's good when you live in Pittsburgh...$5 tickets, cheap parking, Primanti Brothers and Quaker Steak on the inside.  Plus the stadium is incredible and the team usually has a few good exciting players.  I've sat first row behind the home/away dugouts multiple times and never paid more than $20 for a seat.  Now that I'm away from the team and they're trading all their halfway decent players (and Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez won't sign extensions), there's almost no one recognizable on the team.  It's been bad.

I'll reserve most judgment till hearing out what they gave up for him, but it is a sign that Lowell isnt doing too great health wise

I agree.

it is being reported that we gave up argenis diaz and hunter strickland for him.

http://soxprospects.com/players/strickland-hunter.htm

http://soxprospects.com/players/diaz-argenis.htm

29th and 38th ranked prospects in our system

beat me too it.

If this is the case, I am pleased with the move.  Not sure Mark Kotsay is though.

This seems like a no-brainer for the Sox.  They give up two marginal prospects for a good MLB player who will really provide some pop off the bench, and will also provide some much better insurance for both Lowell and Papi.

This is a very good deal, Laroche gives us an actual good lefty off the bench and will help us see less of the Lowell statue at 3B. Laroche has a career .901 OPS in his 2nd halves and a career OPS of .857 against righties, if he can hit .270 with some actual power he will be a big upgrade over Kotsay.  I hope we see him against most righties and Lowell against lefties and certain righties, Lowell can still hit but he isnt an everyday player anymore because of the hip.

Diaz' career had stalled, he had trouble making even routine plays and was just taking up room on the 40 man roster, this also allows Yamaico Navarro go up to Portland since he was destroying the pitching in Salem (.916 OPS). Strickland may make it as a reliever but losing him is nothing with all the pitching depth in the minors. Another plus to this deal is if Laroche plays well the rest of the way, he could very well be a type B free agent and the Sox could get a pick out of it.