Mondesi as free agent

Really I could care less what happens with Mondesi. He cleared waivers so we know he's not going to sign for some sick sum - he's a useful player at position where useful players are not scarce. The Bucs had him for one year at $1.8M with a 600K buyout or a second year at $8M. He'll probably sign for two years at less than Reggie Sanders money. As something to trade, he was only good for the remainder of the year with the buyout. No one would deal for him and want to keep him for the second year on the contract the Bucs negotiated, so don't think his trade value was the same as the value he'll now command as a free agent.

Mondy played with the Bucs long enough for Jason Bay to come back. The team stayed right around .500 with him around. He left just in time to make it easy to save J.J. Davis's job. At least three-quarters of the Pirates nation was scandalized by the notion that Littlefield might put Davis on waivers. (Seeing Davis as a very raw corner outfielder, I wasn't among that number.) So let the general love for keeping J.J. Davis around temper the outrage about the timing of Raul Mondesi's departure. (J.J. Davis fans, read this.)

Mondesi served his purpose as helped the team at a low cost for a short while. No one times all their stock-market trades so perfectly that he only buys at the lowest low and only sells at the highest high. That's a ridiculous standard by which to judge a GM, too. On the whole, the price and timing of the Mondesi signing and release were excellent and clearly improved the fortune of the team. Littlefield gets an easy pass from this critic for not holding onto Mondesi on some restricted list so that he could flip him for another B-grade middle infield prospect in a few months.

Laugh at anyone who argues the Bucs would have been better served by not signing Mondesi in the first place, and giving all of his PT to J.J. Davis or some other raw scrub as a part of some sinister and/or stupid plan to sacrifice wins so the young guys can have more at-bats and more on-the-job training in the field. And raise your glass to the fact that this person is not running our ballclub.

...Mondesi just signed for one year with Anaheim at a little less that he was owed on his Pirates contract & a lot less when you factor in the buyout. So with multiple teams bidding on him, he still wasn't worth the contract the Pirates could have traded with him. It's not that the Pirates were overpaying him so much as his childish behavior with the Pirates negatively affected his market value.