Rosenthal: Pirates = trade deadline losers

Ken Rosenthal:

So much for the talk that Pirates GM Dave Littlefield was too unrealistic in his asking prices to complete a deal. Littlefield made four trades on Monday. Two of them, unfortunately, were horrible.

None of Littlefield's veterans was anything more than a complementary part, but there's simply no way to defend trading outfielder Craig Wilson to the Yankees for right-hander Shawn Chacon.

Littlefield almost certainly could have gotten more for Wilson, a potential free agent, last off-season. Obtaining a mid-level prospect from another club would have made more sense.

Outfielder Xavier Nady, acquired from the Mets for pitchers Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez, is Wilson with less service time. As one rival executive notes, the Pirates could have obtained three or four prospects for those pitchers.

One more quibble: Littlefield failed to deal from strength with his surplus of left-handed relievers, any of whom might have brought a decent prospect in return.

Not only is Littlefield incompetent; he also is stubborn to a fault, never learns from his mistakes, and never changes what has proven to be a failed approach. And so the failure will continue until the day that he is no longer in the job.

Oh, by the way, there's also this little bomb in the Post-Gazette:

One potentially ominous footnote: He is playing through a cracked bone in his right wrist.

Jody Gerut. Armando Rios. Welcome to the club, Mr. Nady.