Jed Lowrie Trade Tree

Houston made a surprising trade last night, flipping Jed Lowrie (and Fernando Rodriguez) to Oakland for Brad Peacock, Chris Carter and Max Stassi. This continues the Astros’ trend of adding useful pieces to their rebuilding franchise.

When Houston decided to not extend the contract of aging franchise star Lance Berkman, they traded him to the Yankees for Jimmy Paredes and Mark Melancon. After a good season of relief they moved Melancon to the Red Sox for Kyle Weiland and Jed Lowrie. And now after one productive but injury filled season Lowrie is gone too. That’s a great series of deals, continually adding both big league players and minor leaguers that might add more value. (Click to embiggen)

The trade tree for the Oakland side of this deal will have to wait a few days because it ended up containing Mark Mulder, Rich Harden, and the recent John Jaso trade among others and is a total mess can be seen right here.

Joel Hanrahan Trade Tree

Three weeks ago the Pirates re-signed reliever Jason Grilli to a two year contract. Many observers expected that move to signal the impending trade of closer Joel Hanrahan. Last Tuesday, the other shoe finally fell and Hanrahan was shipped to the Red Sox with IF Brock Holt, for RP Mark Melancon, OF/1B Jerry Sands, IF Ivan De Jesus and AA pitcher Stolmy Pimentel.

Hanrahan will be missed, but Melancon should be able to step into a late inning role fairly easily. The other three pieces have their pros and cons as well: Sands has big time power but doubts as to whther he can adjust to major league pitching. Pimentel has a big fastball but major control issues. De Jesus is similar to Holt – decent bat but stretched defensively at any position but 2B.

All in all, I like this trade for the Bucs. They were able to buy low on Melancon and sell high-ish on Hanrahan. It’s almost an even trade right there; the other pieces just add the potential for this be a huge deal in the Pirates’ favor.

If you’re interested in the Red Sox side of the deal, I’ve updated the trade tree of their blockbuster deal with the Dodgers from this past season, adding a Mark Melancon branch.