I loved the McGehee for Veras deal this past off-season and he looks great so far.

I am all for yanking Jones at 1B if he doesnt start hitting real soon - like this next series - I think Hurdle has to go with the hot bat now, especially considering April's schedule. All the same for Tabata and McClouth in RF.

Great to see Pedro jack that homerun - some weight seemed to come off his shoulders after that homer. I like Hurdle keeping him down in the line up too.

agree with everything, except i think tabata is smacking the ball pretty good for now -- he should start getting some hits soon

i really do hope we see mcgehee everyday, and hope that jones gets moved down or out

As FC said, hated this guy when he played for the Brewers, but I have to say, that was a great fucking trade, perhaps Huntington's best ever. I agree, and play him every day until he shows me he can't do it.

I love me some Garrett Jones, but I think he's become redundant on this team. We have little use for a no speed essentially utility guy who can only hit vs RH pitchers, and even then, not always.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

love that trade but definitely not his greatest --

the greatest is the Nady trade -- nothing is even close

Nady for:
Karstens
Tabata
DCutch

I would say the McLouth trade has probably become the 2nd best trade, now that we got Nate back!

McLouth for:
Morton (great start in AAA last night by the way)
G Hernandez
J Locke

I also think the Hanrahan trade was pretty awesome too.

I think NH has made a LOT of great moves since he became GM, but you would never know it from reading the sportswriters in Pgh

Good points, Steel. It's certainly up there though, but yeah, the Nady trade was pretty damn good.

NH gets lambasted a lot for the Bay trade, which at the time, without the ability to look forward as to Bay's play after the trade, was pretty horrid, and remains so. His trades have been up and down, but mostly up, and since mid 2010 they've generally been trending upward. I've always been pretty high on him for his trades, but it's the FA signings that usually have sucked. Somewhat that is out of his control, to an extent (budget available to him, players not wanting to come here, etc). This year's FA signings might not be that bad, we'll see. I like the pitchers, for sure. And the catcher looks pretty decent so far as well....SS, jury still out, but I think he'll come around. This could potentially be his best FA crop yet, but too early to say that...yet.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

i agree mean Joe -- I hated his signings last year - overbay & Diaz -- but I LOVED the signings this year.

Barmes and Barajas strengthen the middle of our defense - and also adds a lot of baseball smarts to the team. They were very smart signings. plus, their offense might actually be better too, but that's not why they're here.

The Bedard and Burnett signings were also excellent -- 2 possible top of the rotation starters for very little $$$ -- excellent.

And the Cutch signing is the best "FA move" of all!

Whenever you can trade a fungible reliever for a position player with any upside it's a good move.

That's why I loved this trade.

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I agree, Steel, his FA signings pre-2010 and 2011 were in the "F" category, or low D, though I didn't think Overbay would turn out as bad as he did going in.

This year, it's looking like A all the way, and I agree, extending Cutch (and Tabata last year for a song) are right in that mix. Agree with you about Barmes and Barajas being brought in more for what they will bring to the D. I already see that, and think that's going to be great for us. And I do like those two starters, if they can stay healthy we have a pretty decent rotation. As SP said in another discussion, we're not going to blow anyone away with our starting rotation, but they should keep us in just about every ball game.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

Absolutely. And it's one of those kind of under the radar moves that could turn out to not only be good, but huge if Casey regains his form, which so far...looks to be.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

even if he doesn't pan out, still a great trade. Taking assets and putting them to use to fill needs. Just wish they would have done this with Hanrahan and hope they do this with the starters they have now.