The Pittsburgh Pirates have pulled outfielder Xavier Nady from the game and apparently traded the outfielder and reliever Damaso Marte to the New York Yankees for a package of 4 minor league players.
Nady, who's batting .330 with 13 home runs and 57 RBI is in the last year of his contract but should immediately bolster an already potent Yankee lineup. Marte, a 33 year old left handed reliever has compiled a 3.47 ERA over 47 innings this year while picking up 15 holds.
Yankees land Nady and Matre in 6 player deal
According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports the prospects the Pirates will receive in return are "expected to be Class AAA right-hander Ross Ohlendorf, Class AA right-handers Phil Coke and George Kontos and Class AA outfielder Jose Tabata."
The Yankees are just 3 games behind division leading Boston and Tampa and have won their last 6 games. The team had been shopping for an outfielder for over a week but were hesitant to trade away their top pitching prospect, Ian Kennedy.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This trade could become a great trade or it could become a horrible trade were the pirates lowered their price for Marte and Nady to low. Only time will tell. Tabata is a great prospect at 19 years old and already at double AA. I can see him in the pirates outfield in two or three years. Phil Coke is having a great year at AA at 9-4 with a 2.58 ERA. Coke with the pirates pitching may be given a start at the major league level soon. Especially if Van Benschoten stinks it up on his next start the same with Herrera. George Kontos is 3-9 but they say that he has pitched better than his record indicates. Ross Ohlendorf has pitched in the bigs and I believe he can be a solid 3rd or fourth starter and in the pirates system right now thats an ace.
first off, kennedy is not the yankees top pitching prospect, they would trade him as soon as they got a decent offer , to make room for dellin betances andrew brackman,ands the stockpile of prospects they have coming up in 2 or 3 years. i have to say, the yankees got a steal in this one, even though tabata couldve been replaced by someone else. i wish they had kept him, because hes the next manny.als they didnt trade coke and kontos they traded zac mccutchen and some other pitcher. but seriosly could you imagine an outfield of jackson[ the next bernie] tabata[manny] andmelky cabrera [ damon or similar] but that will remain a dream.
Billy, who would you say is the Yanks top rated pitching prospect these days? I admit I’m not as up on the Yanks farm system as you might be but I still have to think Kennedy is tops.
As for this deal, I think the Yanks did quite well, especially since they’ve now been able to retain Marte. However, I think the deal also served the Pirates’ needs well. This may end up being one of those rare win/win deals.