Chart Observations: DET @ PIT

• Zach Duke is a 6-2, 205 pound lefty. The 26 year old has a medium frame that can get up to 215. He comes from a high 3/4 release. His fastball shows some fade and a little sink. His change has more fade and sink then his fastball. His curveball is a big breaking 11-5 offering with good depth. His slider is an 11-4 offering with good bite that he prefers to throw to lefties. Duke is a good # 4 starter when he is throwing strikes with his curve and is a 4-A arm if he isn't.

1st: FB (89-90), CB (74), CU (83-84)

2nd: FB (89-90), CB (74-76), CU (83)

3rd: FB (88-90), CB (73-74), CU (82-83)

4th: FB (87-89), CB (73-75), CU (80-81), SL (80)

5th: FB (87-90), CB (74), CU (82-83), SL (80)

6th: FB (88-89), CB (72), CU (81-82)

7th: FB (87-88), CB (72), CU (80), SL (78)

8th: FB (86-89), CB (72-74), SL (77)

• Armando Galarraga, a 6-4 180 pound righty, opposed him. The 27 year old has a big frame that can add a lot more muscle. His fastball is a 2-seam with some fade and a little sink. His slider is a sharp 2-7 with solid bite. He will throw get me over sliders and sharper sliders for strikeouts. His change shows some fade, but is pretty straight. Galarraga is a # 5 starter right now, as he consistently falls behind hitters and really is just FB-SL and neither pitch is good enough to be a 2-pitch pitcher (FB is slightly above average, SL is above average, CU is below average). Perhaps the worst sign for him is that he has lost the confidence of his manager.

1st: FB (88-92), SL (81-86)

2nd: FB (88-92), SL (83-86), CU (84-86)

3rd: FB (88-90), SL (82-85), CU (84)

• Nate Robertson is a 6-2, 225 pound lefty. The 31 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He comes from a high 3/4 release. His fastball shows some late fade and sink. His slider is a slurvy 11-4, though he will throw a sharper slider with good bite at different times. His change is a straight change that shows some run and sink. He is your typical swingman, someone to throw long relief or start on occasion, but not really good enough to be a short reliever or a # 5 starter. My, his star has fallen.

3rd: FB (86), SL (80), CU (81-82)

4th: FB (85-88), SL (80-83), CU (80-84)

• Ryan Perry is a 6-4, 200 pound righty. The 22 year old has a big frame that can get up to at least 215. He comes from an over the top release. His fastball is a 4-seam with very little sink and fade. His slider is a 12-6, 1-7 type pitch that can be a little loopy and is still a work in progress. His change has good sink and a little fade. He is FB-SL to righties and FB-CU to lefties (at least in this game, I imagine he throws the SL to lefties as well). His upside is that of a closer with his velocity, but he is more likely to be a set-up man due to his command issues and the needed development of his secondary pitches. Right now, he is a 9th or 10th guy on a staff.

5th: FB (94-96)

6th: FB (94-97), SL (81-85), CU (87)

• Bobby Seay is a 6-2, 235 pound lefty. The 30 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He is a sidearmer that has a 4-seam fastball with good run and a sweeping 9-3 slider with good bite. He is an above average LOOGY and can be the # 1 lefty in a pen.

7th: FB (91-93), SL (81-82)

• Brandon Lyon is a 6-1, 195 pound righty. The 29 year old has a medium frame that can get up to at least 205. He comes from a high 3/4 release with a fastball that shows some fade and sink, a big breaking 12-6 curve with good depth and a cutter that shows decent cut. I think he is more of a middle reliever then a late inning guy, as he lacks that real out pitch.

8th: FB (92), CB (76-77), Cut (90)

• Jesse Chavez comes from an over the top release with a fastball that shows some fade, a hard change with good fade and some sink and a sharp slider with good bite. Set-up man ceiling who can probably occasionally close some games.

9th: FB (94-96), SL (90), CU (87)

• Andrew McCutchen is a 5-11, 175 pound center fielder. The 22 year old is a righty hitter/thrower and has a small frame that can add a lot more muscle (at least 190). He has a slightly open stance with a little bat tap. His trigger is a stride and shifting of his weight to his back leg. He has an above average arm with plus speed, giving him the potential to be a plus defensive centerfielder. McCutchen is more of a gap to gap hitter now and I don't think he will ever be a huge home run guy, but 15-20 in his prime isn't out of the question. He shows a solid eye at the plate and he has an aura about him. Watching him play, it is almost as if he knows he is better then everyone else and needs to prove it to everyone else. I like the kid and think he is a quality top of the order bat in development.

Another Opinion on the McLouth Trade

Why not, I have a forum to utilize. Take my opinion as the same you would Peter Gammons, Buster Olney, etc., as I know as much as they do in regards to this trade and who won, nothing.

Braves Side:
So many Pirates fans are going to be up in arms over the loss of Nate McLouth, a "5-tool player" who was an All-Star last season. In looking at Nate's numbers from last season (,276-.356-.497, 26 HR's -94 RBI's, 23/26 SB's) he was an All-Star. You do have to remember that McLouth played half his games last season in a park designed for lefties (where he slugged 20 points better, I admittedly thought it would be higher). In the 2nd half last season, he hit .270-.355-.426. This season he is hitting .256-.349-.470 with 9 HR's and 34 RBI's and is 7-7 on steals. He was a gold glove defender last year, but I personally think Schafer is better defensively. McLouth gives the Braves a legitimate CF bat which they haven't had yet this year and they have him under control for awhile (I believe 3 years). If Schafer can figure things out, McLouth can move to an OF corner and maintain average production for the position.

Pirates Side:
Pittsburgh seems to value quantity over quality. In their big deal at the deadline last season, they seemed to focus on getting raw numbers back. In this deal, they picked up Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke and, the main guy, Gorkys Hernandez. The Pirates really could have used picking up a potential ace (especially since the ace they picked up in the Bay deal, Bryan Morris, is not expected to start pitching until late June due to significantly restricted range of motion in his right shoulder), but teams are shying away from dealing their young pitching. The Pirates have appeared to focus on getting close to major league ready arms, take a flier on a guy in the low minors and get toolsy outfielders.

Morton did not impress me in his brief major league debut last season. The right hander has pitched very well at Gwinnett (AAA) however, going 7-2, 2.51 with 55 strikeouts and 16 walks. He is 6-4, 190, so he still has room to grow and his upside is that of a middle of the rotation (# 3 starter).

Locke was one of the pitchers I saw when I worked for Columbus last season and I wasn't that impressed. The hitters in high A haven't been impressed either, as Locke went 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA at Myrtle Beach, though he does have 43 strikeouts (against 26 walks) in 45 and 2/3 innings. I personally thought Locke was a fringe major leaguer, but I admit seeing him before I really focused on scouting guys.

Hernandez is the prize of this deal. Another 5 tool outfielder, he was hitting .316-.361-.387 at the time of the trade in AA Mississippi. He is very raw, as he is 10/18 on steals and has 15 walks against 54 strikeouts in 212 at bats. His lack of power has to be a little disturbing due to the other players the Pirates have coming up (more on that below), but he should be a major leaguer and that is as far as I can go on him, as I have never seen him play and am going off what I read.

Pittsburgh now has the potential to run out an OF of Andrew McCutchen (.303-.361-.493 at AAA prior to his call-up with 10 stolen bases), Hernandez and Jose Tabata (.250-.324-.297 at AA Altoona) in the next year and a half if all goes according to plans. All are fast, but all have question marks in regards to power. With the game shifting towards a speed based, defense oriented team, this looks like an outfield designed to save a lot of runs.