This was rally a win-win trade for Yankees and Pirates.

The Pirates lost nothing. Nady is turning 30, has never played more than 130 games a year due to injuries, averages .280 / 20 HR / 70 RBI with zero speed, and was going to walk after this year, and the Pirates have depth coming up at the corner outfield spots.

Nady is positively stroking the ball this year but he’s overperforming way over his head and likely will come to earth it’s just a matter of when (2H 2008 or 2009); stars don’t emerge at age 29 and I can’t picture Xavier Nady batting .330 on the year.

He fills a huge need for the Yankees this year but it’s a half-year plug: after this year they should either let him go or he will be platooning / often injured again and get his 20 HRs. He is a good player but really just average offensive stats for an outfielder and very fragile; if the Yankees go into 2009 with him penciled in as a starting outfielder it is a mistake.

Marte is amazing and very underappreciated and of great value to a contender. Of no use to the Bucs when the starter is only going 3-4 innings every night.

The Pirates have absolutely no starting rotation, which is killing them because they have one of the best offenses in the NL: second most runs scored in the NL, and more runs scored than the Yankees (!).

They need several pitchers like the ones they got — who will never start on the Yankees with their pitching pipeline, so no great loss to the Yankees — to patch the unbelievably poor pitching pipeline left by the previous administration.

If even one of these pitchers produces as good as a #2 starter, or if Tabata meets his potential, it will have worked out very well indeed for the Pirates, time will tell.

Anyone who thinks The Yankees “smoked” the Pirates does not know Xavier Nady well enough. He is having a fantastic year and that should help the Yankees in the chase. But the Pirates know him better and know he is way, way over the top this year and the Bucs were very opportunistic in dealing him at his peak value.

You have been warned about the “X Man!”

McCutcheon is a 3 starter and Karstens has proven when healthy he can pitch AND IN YANKEE STADIUM……..

All I can say is they better make use of the draft picks from Marte cause he is losing it against lefties…

THis is an old Steinbrenner trade – this is nauseaing

WE GOT FLEECED…….

Karstens, Ohlendorf, and McCutchen could all start for the Bucs this year, allowing them to send down guys like Ian Snell (who stated in the Post Gazette last week–”why am I up here?”)

Tabata is high risk, high reward–and he’ll have a better chance in the NL Central than in the AL East.

To those guys commenting about how the Pirates are filler between the Steelers (better call then Stillers, yunz) and the Pens (who are kick ass and will contend for the Stanley Cup this year): you are only partially right.

Once this team gets out from under 10 years of a crappy GM (Littlefield) and a crappy owner (Mc Clatchey) they will get better. They can’t do it overnight.

This trade helps them immediately and immensely.

It also helps the Yanks, who get Nady in a career year, and Marte, who can set up in the AL East tonight if they need him.

Great for both sides, the kind of thing you like to see. Reminds me of the Matt Garza to the Rays deal, that had people scratching their heads in March but looks pretty good now, for both clubs.