Per Ken Rosenthal (and confirmed all over with full names), the Pirates have sent Octavio Dotel to Los Angeles for what I think is James McDonald and Andrew Lambo. McDonald is the great get here; he’s 25 and though he’s had trouble cracking the Dodgers rotation the last two years, he’s got great minor league numbers. Before the Dodgers used him in the bullpen through most of 2009, he was Baseball America’s 56th best prospect. He’s in Triple-A right now, but presumably could be called up and put in the Pirates’ rotation right away.
Lambo’s a decent prospect with a PED suspension drug of abuse suspension in the past, but he’s 21 and putting up decent numbers in Double-A, which is encouraging. The numbers aren’t great for a four-corners type player (which is what Lambo is), but to get him and McDonald in return for a 36-year old closer who could have been a free agent next year, well, it’s really hard not to be pleased with this trade.
UPDATE: Here’s some more about Lambo, from Marc Hulet of FanGraphs:
He possesses more raw power than what we witnessed by his .150 ISO last season (The 39 doubles are a good indication of that). Despite swinging from the left side, he showed better results against southpaws: .785 vs .690 OPS. Once he matures as a hitter, Lambo should be an offensive threat. Defensively, he’s an average-at-best fielder who may move permanently to first base.
I don’t think he’ll be a star but I can see him as a solid player. People were too enthusiastic about him entering ’09 and are probably too negative entering ’10.
Meanwhile, McDonald has spent most of this year a Triple-A, with 57 strikeouts and 24 walks in 63 1/3 innings. Most people had him as the Dodgers best prospect going in to last year, but they’ve never really given him a chance to stick in the rotation. The Pirates will presumably have little trouble with that. He doesn’t throw all that hard as a starter (high-80s/low-90s), but has a good changeup and curve to back up that fastball. He could end up in the bullpen in the long run, but the Pirates will certainly put him in the rotation pretty quickly to see what he can do.
