tinkersghost: Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young are gone from the Pirates. I almost feel like there should be celebrations throughout the city. Your thoughts?
If the people of Pittsburgh celebrated every time a prospect or acquired player failed, the city would collapse under the weight of spilled champagne and confetti.
Delwyn Young is of no real importance: from time to time he seemed like he could hit, but any ability there was lost at his inability to field balls hit in his general direction.
Andy LaRoche is a harder one to stomach. LaRoche was supposed to be the big haul in the Jason Bay trade and, after being the twice being listed as the 19th-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America, I thought he had a fair shot of being a decent hitter. People forget, but Andy Laroche was the second best hitter on the Pirates in 2009 after Freddy Sanchez was dealt. That’s faint praise, but combined with his excellent defense, he seemed like he had a good chance of being a solid Major League regular if not an outstanding utility player. There was even a period at the beginning of 2010 where the Andy LaRoche looked to be a legitimate threat in the lineup, but that obviously wasn’t the case. I still think there is a chance that a solid Major League player is hiding in LaRoche, but someone will need to give him a chance first. He’ll probably find a steady paycheck as a bench player somewhere and while championships aren’t won by utility players, teams don’t make it to the playoffs without them. I’ll miss waiting for Andy LaRoche to turn it around, but I won’t be losing any sleep.
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oldtimefamilybaseball posted this
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