The #Pirates have acquired OF Jaff Decker & RHP Miles Mikolas from the #Padres in exchange for minor leaguer Alex Dickerson.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) November 25, 2013
To make room on the 40-man roster for Decker and Mikolas, the #Pirates designate for assignment Garrett Jones & RHP Kyle McPherson.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) November 25, 2013
I have some work to do this afternoon so this is going to be short (I'll post more later), but a few really quick thoughts:
- Decker was a supplemental first round pick in 2008 and a Baseball America Top 100 prospect since then, but he's lost some luster since. He's still the same age as Dickerson, though, which is worth considering in a trade liket his.
- Jones was absolutely, certainly going to be non-tendered this winter. He's a super-two, which means he's going into his third year of arbitration instead of his second, and he was going to make in the neighborhood of $6 million. For a guy that can't play defense and can only hit right-handed pitching sometimes, that's just way too much money.
- Yes, his name is Jaff. Not Jeff.
Dickerson hit pretty well with Altoona last year, but I do think it's important to note that he's a 23-year old first baseman that's never played above Double-A without any overwhelming tools. Essentially, he was an interesting guy to watch, but not really much more than a fringe prospect.
I'll put together some more thoughts on this later today.