A few recent events have me thinking about last year’s trade in which the Yankees sent phenom Jose Tabata along with Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, and Dan McCutcheon to the Pirates for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte. Firstly, Bill Madden mentioned the deal in an article on Marte and Phil Coke:
In that respect, it was somewhat surprising when Brian Cashman – who otherwise read the market on free agents this winter pretty astutely – bestowed Marte with a three-year, $12 million contract. One can only surmise the GM felt the need to partly justify last summer’s trading deadline deal in which he sacrificed three of the Yankees’ top prospects, including outfielder Jose Tabata, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Marte and outfielder Xavier Nady, who’s a free agent after this season.
I would suggest that Cashman resigned Marte because the Yankees have not had an effective lefty reliever for the longest time, but that is not the issue here. Tabata’s subsequent appearance in a Spring Training game against the Yankees led me to begin wondering about that trade. Was it the right move?
It is important to note that at the time, the move was hailed as a steal for a Yankees club desperately trying to reach the postseason. However, various subsequent events have muddied the waters a bit. Tabata snapped out of his season long funk following the trade, while the Yankees missed out on the postseason. Nady and Marte profile as important pieces of the 2009 Yankees, but nether is indispensable and similar talents could have been found on the free agent market. One other important point to note is that the original version of the trade had Brian Cashman sending Phil Coke and George Kontos over to the Pirates, but Pittsburgh substituted McCutcheon and Karstens at the last moment.
With all of these factors in mind, I ask you to answer some difficult questions. Did you like the trade at the time? Would you have been equally fine with it had Coke and Kontos been involved? How do you feel about the deal now? Is this trade a feather in the cap of Brian Cashman, or is it ammunition for those who feel that he is a poor GM?
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Just to get things started, I think it was a good deal that filled holes for the Yankees at the time, and only gave up one valuable asset. That asset was unlikely to ever pay off with the Yankees (Tabata has talked about how the lack of pressure in Pittsburgh suits him), so they got 2 good pieces for some filler and asset that was more highly valued by others than by them. However, if Coke was tearing it up in Pittsburgh now, this would probably look a lot worse.
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Very telling quote from Tabata from PA today about being traded:
“I think it’s better for me. There are more chances for me to play,” Tabata said. “There is no pressure like with the Yankees.”
http://www.lohud.com/article/20090318/SPORTS01/903180380/-1/SPORTS
He certainly handled the “pressure” of being one of the youngest players in AA last year poorly, batting (.248 with 3 HRs) and having a few incidents that resulted in his being suspended.
Sounds like he was wound too tight to handle playing here to me.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Exactly. The question then is, whose fault is it that he felt pressure? Should the organization have moved him slower?
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Steve S. Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Yeah, I wish they would have, though that’s easy to say in retrospect. They seem to like the cache of having “the youngest” player at this level or that, I would presume to add to his prospect status for trade purposes or (heaven forbid) system rankings.
There’s an interesting tug of war that goes on in player development between doing what’s best for the organization and doing what’s best for the player. Those two interests are often at odds with each other, especially for a win-now team like the Yankees.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I think it has to do with trade issues. They like to push their big time guys while going slow with their less talented guys. This keeps everyone at their highest value, as the talented guys show flashes while being really young for your league, while the other guys maximize their value at levels more suited for them.
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To answer your question, I liked the trade at the time and still do. They filled the long standing need of a reliable bullpen lefty and upgraded the team in the outfield. Also, as I said above I have my doubts about Tabata being a fit here.
Had they NOT made the deal, we could very well be looking at another year of Abreu playing horrendous RF and declining offensively. No thanks.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Well, they could have signed Burrell, or Dunn, or Bradley, or Ibanez. There were options.
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Steve S. Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Burell and Dunn are equally horrendous with the glove, Ibanez is even older than Bobby and Bradley is mentally unstable. I think they clearly would have chosen Abeu for a 1 year deal.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I disagree- at the money that he got, I think Burrell would be a Yankee, or maybe Dunn.
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I would have been down on the trade if Kontos and Coke were involved instead of McCutchen and Karstens.
Karstens never had a chance in NY and neither did McCuthen for that matter. Kontos is flying under the radar so to speak. He has proven himself at every level so far and could end up being a valuable reliever. Obviously, we are all glad to see that Coke wasn’t traded.
Tabata may end up being a good player, but the Yankees needed a proven MLB bat and a reliever at the time. Gotta give up something to get something.
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Tabata is still far from a sure thing. He had a strong month and a half after being traded, but he still carries a lot of the problems that caused people to sour on him by the middle of last season. He’s probably be the #3 prospect in our farm system right now, but by no means did we get completely ripped off.
Nady was useful last season, and should be an offensive and defensive asset this season. He’s more than likely to net us two draft picks too. Let’s not forget that.
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I didn’t like the trade at the time and I still don’t like the trade. But if one of Jackson or Tabata had to go I’m glad it was Tabata. Because I think Jackson is the better prospect.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Just out of curiousity, why didnt you like it?
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I think that this was a good trade for the Yankees. They gave up something Pittsburgh desperately needed in starting pitching. Looks like both Ohlendorf and Karstens may make the rotation for Pittsburgh to start the season, but realistically neither of them would have been in the Yankees plans. Tabata may turn out to be a good player and maybe the trade will be what turned him around, but he was definitely headed in the wrong direction for the Yankees. Both Nady and Marte made solid contributions last year and both will this year as well. Marte should stick around and be effective for a couple more years and time will tell what they do with Nady. So overall it was what a trade is supposed to be. A good deal for both teams.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 19th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I think that is a fair assessment. I think how Nady does this year may impact how we look at this deal a lot. If he has a big season, the trade was easily a win for the Yankees.
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There’s also a pretty decent chance that, even if Tabby hits like crazy, he’ll always be a poor attitude, poor fielding, poor work-ethic guy. I think Cash would love to put together an OF that can run and go get it. I’m not sure if Tabby really fits into that philosophy even if he continues to mash. There’s more than one reason he was called Mini-Manny by some people.
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hank Reply:
March 19th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
That is not true about his defense. he has a plus arm and is fast to the ball. He’s a center-fielder who will play up in either corner.
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