The trade is now done and Joel Hannrahan is an ex-Pirate. He was a good pitcher and a stand up guy and will be missed. Let’s take a look at who is coming and going in this deal.

Out:

• Joel Hannrahan
• Brock Holt

In:

• Mark Melancon
• Jerry Sands
• Stolmy Pimentel
• Ivan DeJesus Jr. (you know you’re getting old when you remember a guy’s father playing)

There are several tidbits that interest me from this trade. First is that Hannrahan’s trade value was not what the Pirate fan thought it was. There are a lot of people claiming that there was not enough gotten back in this deal but I’d like to know who did they expect to get back? If the Pirates could have gotten a top prospect in the deal don’t you think that they would have?

The best time to have traded Hannrahan was going to be either in the middle of last season or the 2011 season. If Neal Huntington would have done that, just imagine the howls of anguish that would have (deservedly) been made by Pirate fans.

Second, I don’t think that the trading is done just yet. There are currently more then enough corner outfield players and some of them are out of options. I think that Garrett Jones may be on the way out. I don’t see any other way that this can work. They could also try and trade Jose Tabata but who would want him after his season last year?

I’ll let others like Bucs Dugout, Pirate Prospects, and WHYGAVS give you analysis about the trade. I’ll just watch how everything plays out.