Huntington does it again

I have to say that Neil Huntington is a genius. He is amazing. He traded away Zack Duke. Duke was not put on the 40 man roster a few days ago, so that the 10 day clock now began. It was clear that the Pirates were not going to offer Duke arbitration, so Duke was essentially a free agent, just waiting on the PIrates 10 days to pass. Yet somehow, Neil Huntington pulls off a trade. Pretty amazing. Now, I know the Diamond Backs are not going to give us anything. The dreaded player to be named later is never a good sign. But, still it is one more guy with a long shot chance than we would have had. It also sounds a little like this guy is going to be someone in AAA or AA. Rumors are that it will be a player who was left open for the Rule 5 draft, as long as the person is not taken. That means it will be someone who did not have what it takes to make it in the Diamondback system. Not so good. This trade still ranks up there with amazing feats. I am not sure yet whether or not this outdoes the trade of Brian Bixler, but it is close.

There is also some discussion about the possibility of getting J.J. Hardy. Having live near the Twins, I think the possibility of this is low. Yes, the Twins just paid 5 million to a Japanese team for the rights to an infielder that will surely replace Hardy. But that guy has not officially signed yet. They have 30 days to do that. However, the non-tender deadline will come before that. With Hardy holding some trade value, I do not see away that the Twins don't hedge their bets knowing that they can trade Hardy if they need to do so. The Twins are the best run organization in baseball, maybe all of sports. Their ownership is not going to give Hardy away for nothing. I think Hardy could help the Pirates, but I also think that his price would be too steep. The Pirates are not that far away from having D'Arnaud and Mercer ready to go. So with at least two guys nearing big league readiness, I would hate to see young prospects go away for an aging Hardy. Wait on the youth. I can endure one more ugly season before the 5 to 10 great seasons we are about to have.