Pittsburgh Pirates Trade John Grabow, Tom Gorzelanny To Chicago Cubs

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

With this move the Pirates have officially cleared their trading block.

Thursday saw the departure from Pittsburgh of two left-handed pitchers: Major League reliever John Grabow and AAA starter Tom Gorzelanny.

The Pirates received RHPs Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio and infielder Josh Harrison.

Hart will report immediately to the Majors and is expected to take Virgil Vasquez's place in the pitching rotation, though he'll have to wait until the next time through as he pitched on Thursday. Ascaino will report to AAA and Harrision will report to high A.

While the Pirates have other players on the team that teams are attracted to—namely Zach Duke, Paul Maholm and Matt Capps—it's unlikely that they'll be traded this year due to the amount of time the Pirates still have left on their contracts. Prying them away would take a haul that's way more than they're worth.

This trade may have also signaled something else: the death of the Dave Littlefield Pirates.

The Pirates have been drastically overhauled since the firing of former GM Littlefield and his replacement with Neal Huntington. Nowhere is this more apparent than with a quick look at the 40-man roster.

Only four players that were on the 40-man in 2007—Littlefield's last year as GM—remain on it today: Matt Capps, Ryan Doumit, Zach Duke and Paul Maholm.

Without further adeiu, let's take a look at the players exchanged.

John Grabow

A 31 year old left-handed setup man, Grabow has been a solid but unspectacular reliever for the Pirates since 2003. Earlier this year, he represented Team USA in the World Baseball Classic—after several injuries and dropouts of the relievers chosen before him.

Grabow has never had a strong WHIP, with it hovering around 1.40 for his entire career. However, he has always had a solid K/BB ratio and has rarely blown a game for Pittsburgh. He should provide a steady presence as a middle reliever in Chicago.

Tom Gorzelanny

A left-handed starter, Tom Gorzelanny was once thought to be a fixture of the Pirates' staff for years to come.

In 2007, Gorzelanny compiled a 14-10 record with a 3.88 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 1.99 K/BB ratio. Great numbers for a pitcher in his first full season of Major League ball.

However, Gorzelanny was also drastically over-worked by then manager Jim Tracy. He threw 201.2 innings that year after throwing only 61.2 the year before.

The next year, a dropoff in his stuff was obvious and his numbers showed it. He finished the year with a 6.66 ERA, 1.80 WHIP and 0.96 K/BB ratio. He threw only 105.1 innings before being demoted to AAA, where he has remained since but for a brief call-up to fill in for an injured bullpen pitcher.

Gorzelanny seems to have found his groove again in AAA, but there's no telling how much of that is going to translate to the Major Leagues. As someone who's seen him pitch there, his stuff still looked just as flat as it did in 2008.

Gorzelanny may become a serviceable starter again some day, but as it stands right now it appears that he's damaged goods—another cautionary tale about the dangers of over-working a young pitcher. The Cubs should be familiar with that. Just ask Mark Prior or Kerry Wood.

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