The Pirates have traded 30-year old righty swinging catcher Michel Hernandez to the Rays for cash considerations. Hernandez played in 76 games in AAA this season for the Pirates and he was 67 for 252 (.266 avg, .690 OPS) with 29 runs scored, 3 homers and 17 RBIs. The Pirates won’t miss Hernandez as they have quite a few catchers in their system that they like better than him.

The Pirates have acquired 24-year old righty swinging catcher Robinzon Diaz from the Blue Jays for Jose Bautista. This was a great haul for the overrated Bautista as Diaz was the #13 prospect in the Blue Jays’ minor league system coming into this season. Diaz has played in 55 games in rookie + A + AAA ball this season and he is 54 for 192 (.281 avg, .712 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 4 homers and 24 RBIs. Diaz also appeared in 1 game for the Blue Jays this season and he was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. What a good move for the Pirates as they had seen enough of Bautista to know that he would probably never amount to much.

The Pirates have traded 3B Jose Bautista to the Blue Jays for a player to be named later. The Pirates have determined that Andy LaRoche is the starting 3B for the near future so they decided to ditch Bautista. Bautista played in 107 games for the Pirates this season and he was 76 for 314 (.242 avg, .729 OPS) with 38 runs scored, 12 homers and 44 RBIs. Bautista played parts of 4 years for the Pirates and he never lived up to the potential that many thought he had. He played in 377 games in his career for the Pirates and he was 309 for 1,274 (.243 avg) with 174 runs scored, 43 homers, 159 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Trading Bautista was the Pirates’ way of saying out with the old and in with the new.

Nate McLouth has never really been a starting player for the Pirates until this season. He was mostly just a #4 or #5 outfielder on the team but he will likely never have that role again. McLouth has played in 117 games for the Pirates this season and he is 131 for 468 (.280 avg, .902 OPS) with 87 runs scored, 22 homers, 74 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. Look for the Pirates to build around McLouth in the future as they hope that this season is a glimpse of things to come out of him and not a mirage.

The Pirates needed help in the starting rotation in the worst way so that’s why they wanted Karstens back from the Yankees. They figured that he was pitching good enough in AAA ball to step right into the starting rotation for them. He has started 3 games for the Pirates this season and he is 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Don’t expect those numbers to continue but he could put up decent #4 of #5 starter numbers for the Pirates in the near future.