We've seen this before

Last year, it was Xavier Nady and Jason Bay.
This year, it's Nyjer Morgan and Nate McLouth.
The annual summer Garage Sale the Pirates hold got under way in June with the trading of two-thirds of their starting outfield. McLouth was traded to Atlanta for prospects and a starting pitcher in Charlie Morton who looks very, well, average.
Tuesday's deal sent Morgan and reliever Sean Burnett to the Washington Nationals for reliever Joel Hanrahan and outfielder Lastings Milledge.
Of course, general manager Neal Huntington says these trades are for the betterment of an organization that is bereft of minor league talent. In Morgan, the Pirates had a speedy outfield who personified the workman-like ethic Pittsburghers like in their athletes.
What they get in return for Morgan is a flake. Milledge, a first-round pick of the New York Mets, is on his third team in four seasons. He failed to hold the starting center field job with the Nationals, the worst team in the league, but lasted seven games. He hit .167, walked once in 24 at-bats and played a poor outfield. He has more power than Morgan - who doesn't - and that's what seems to intrigue the Pirates.
Milledge made a stir in his rookie year with the Mets when he high-fived the fans along his route to the outfielder after hitting a home run against the San Francisco Giants.
In May of his second season, it was reported that Milledge appeared in a rap song, "Bend Ya Knees," by Manny D, a childhood friend. The song contained the usual description of women in rap. The Mets distanced themselves from Milledge's actions and after the season traded him to Washington for outfielder Ryan Church and catcher Brian Schneider.
This trade didn't go over well in the Pirates clubhouse as Huntington begins the annual fire sale. Shortstop Jack Wilson told the Associated Pressc:
“What’s so shocking is we’re (six) games out and we’ve lost three of our everyday players. It’s tough for the guys who’ve been here and have seen these trades happen and absolutely do nothing. I’ve seen these trades two or three times a year and we still haven’t had a winning season.”
Good point.
Of course, Wilson won't have to worry about it much longer. He will either be traded before the deadline or leave as a free agent after the season. So will second baseman Freddy Sanchez and first baseman Adam La Roche.
It's just the Pirates way.

Pirates trade Morgan, Hinske, get Milledge

The Pittsburgh Pirates, swapping outfielders at a rapid rate for the second successive season, sent starting left fielder Njyer Morgan to the Washington Nationals in a four-player deal involving outfielder Lastings Milledge and also shipped backup Eric Hinske to the Yankees on Tuesday.
The Pirates, who have pushed to restock a thin farm system by making numerous trades over the last year, get Milledge and reliever Joel Hanrahan from the Nationals for the fleet Morgan and left-hander Sean Burnett, a former first-round draft pick.
Earlier, they sent 2002 AL Rookie of the Year Hinske to the Yankees for minor-league right-hander Casey Erickson and outfielder Eric Fryer. The Yankees also get some cash to help pay Hinske’s $1.5 million salary.

You decide

Which of these two players were thought to be using performance-enhancing drugs? Barry Bonds or Darryl Strawberry.

Donald Fehr: A legacy derailed

At one point, Donald Fehr was the most powerful man in Major League Baseball. He might have been the most powerful leader of any labor movement in the United States. But when Fehr announced Monday that he would retire from his post, the legacy he had carved out early in his career had been siginificantly tarnished.

As head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Fehr brought great riches to the players while keeping team owners and the commissioner at arm's length. Under Fehr, there was unprecedented growth, not only in contract money but in the popularity of the sport. In the late 1990s, baseball was actually making a run to overtake the National Football League as this country's most popular sport.

But Fehr ran the union with little regard to the game. That's why the average salary went from about $300,000 to $3 million in his 25 years of leadership. His negotiation tactics were born from a bullheadedness that was almost totally backed by the players. Not even a work stoppage that forced the postponement of the 1994 World Series seemed to slow him or his influence.

But performance-enhancing drugs did. When the use of steroids and other PED was finally revealed in the early part of this decade, Fehr suddenly seemed more like a co-conspirator of a gang of cheaters than the leader of a great union.

The figure who testified before Congress on steroid use did not look like the crusading leader that bouyed baseball and its players. One by one, the players who helped Fehr elevate interest in the sport, now looked pathetic as they also were called to testify. These immortals who were once sure-shot Hall of Famers now sparked debate about whether they should even be considered.

Fehr's influence in the game can't be underestimated. He was a moving force in propelling baseball to where it is today. But it's your view of how it got there that will determine how this man is judged.

Alvarez promoted

It's always interesting to watch the way organizations handle the minor league talent. In the case of Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates seem to have a plan in mind and won't let little things such as batting average and defense get in the way. He was moved to Class AA Altoona and will play his first game Tuesday.

Most people hope Alvarez rapidly progresses through the minors. It's no secret the Pirates need him to prosper for a number of different reasons. The Nutting Family won't look so cheap if he becomes a star, the minor league scouting won't look like incompetent boobs if he becomes a star, and the fans won't be so distracted by the losing if he becomes a star.

Here is what director of player development Kyle Stark told the Post-Gazette.

"Pedro has demonstrated to us that he is ready for the challenge. People typically focus on performance when it comes time for promotions, but we focus on the process and the specific things we're trying to accomplish at each level. Pedro has accomplished those things, in our minds. Plus, the performance actually has been better than the superficial numbers have shown for a while now."

In other words, yeah, his numbers are not so great for a college-aged player in high Class A baseball, but we don't care.

The 22-year-old Alvarez was hitting .247 with 14 home runs and 55 RBI. He has struck out 70 times in 243 at-bats. He has 13 errors in 66 games.

It's unlikely Alvarez will get a September call-up. Remember, he spent an entire summer sitting on his backside while his agent Scott Boras negotiated his contract so he missed nearly a year of organized ball. That also delayed his development in the Pirates' system.

Alvarez probably will become an outstanding player. How he reacts to Class AA ball will give us of indication of when that might happen.

Around the League

In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been only 20 games in which brother played against brother. No. 21 took place Saturday night when Jeff Weaver started against brother Jered when the Dodgers took on the Angels in an interleague game. The Elias Sports Bureau did the research from nearly 200,000 games. One of the coolest parts of the game was that their parents attended the game with mixed stitched uniforms. Dad wore a baseball shirt that said Do-Gels on the front and mom had one that said An-Dgers on the front. Dodgers won 6-4, Jered took the loss, and Jeff the win.

Kerry Wood has finally been able to help out the Chicago Cubs. The prized selection in the 1995 draft - the Cubs took him fourth - had been an underachieving, oft-injured and finally unwanted part of the Cubs machine. But over the weekend, Wood, now the closer for the Cleveland Indians, was scorched on back-to-back nights by the Cubs. He blew a save Friday and allowed the winning run on a wild pitch Saturday. In true unprofessional fashion, he refused comment following Saturday's game.

Jose Canseco is at it again. The former slugger wrote a tell-all book about steroid use in 2005 that led to the exposure of a number of high-profile players in the league. Now, he's suing Major League Baseball and the player's association because he believes the book release is causing him to be blackballed and his entry into the hall of fame blocked. That's pretty funny. But it might also be a legal first. Canseco is suing over a situation that he helped create. Can't wait to see who he calls as a witness.

When Jim Leyland, Detroit's manager, benched outfielder Magglio Ordonez for a few games because he is in a massive hitting slump, it angered Ordonez ... and his agent Scott Boroas. Boras believes the benching has to do with an option that pays Ordonez $15 million in 2010 if he reaches 540 at-bats. Leyland said the benching is because Ordonez stinks at the plate right now: 2 home runs and 22 RBI. He hasn't homered since April 27 and it's just possbile the 35-year-old Ordonez is finished. But baseball matters mean nothing to Boras, who is only concerned about the contract. It only makes himself more of a pariah to the game, not that Boras cares.

Say it ain't So-sa

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the name of Sammy Sosa was on a confidential list of Major League Baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Wait a moment, I need a chance to compose myself at this totally unexpected news.

OK, I was being facetious.

Most of the evidence against players such as Sosa has been anecdotal. Sosa was not an extremely powerful hitter when he came up with the Texas Rangers but in a span of four seasons, he broke Roger Maris' single-season home run mark of 61 three times. In two of those seasons - 1999 and 2001 - he didn't even lead the league in home runs.

Most fans couldn't care less about this issue but it is vitally important to baseball because so much of the comparison of players is based on numbers. In no other sports do numbers play such a role. Mention the number 714 and you know it's Babe Ruth's home run total, 56 (Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak), 511 (Cy Young's win total), etc.

Who is the NFL's leading rusher and what is his total? (Answer at the end)

Performance-enhancing drugs have turned slap hitters into power mongers. One suspected example was former Baltimore Outfielder Brady Anderson, who cracked 50 home runs in 1996. His previous best was 21 in 1992.

Cheating in baseball is nothing new. Players have done it throughout the game's history. But this era is different in that steroids allowed players to develop unnatural strength. Their numbers wiped away cherished records under suspicious circumstances.

Sosa's alleged cheating should keep him, and other like him, from being voted into the Hall of Fame, simply because we don't know what his career would have been had he not allegedly taken performance-enhancing drugs.

Oh, the answer is Emmit Smith, 18,355 yards. I had to look up the total.