The first big trade is a really pretty interesting (and unforeseen) one: Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to the Mariners; Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno, and three low-minors pitchers (Brett Lorin, Aaron Pribanic and Nathan Adcock) to the Pirates.

Pribanic and Adcock are non-prospects who walk too many guys and don't strike anyone out in A ball, so this trade is basically Wilson and Snell for Jeff Clement and a live arm (Lorin, 22, is striking out 8.8 per nine in low-A ball this year to date.)

From the Mariners' perspective... it's hard to figure out what to make of it. It's true that they were never going to use Clement, Ronny Cedeno sucks on ice, and the pitchers were completely fungible and won't be missed. It's also true that they're not nearly close enough to legitimate contention that Jack Wilson's going to put them over the top, and I have to think they could have gotten a young player of some value (more than Ian Snell, anyway) for Clement. I do like Snell as an upside play now that he's gotten free of Loserburgh.*

For the Pirates, it'll be interesting to see what they do with Clement. He's the only player of significance the Pirates got out of Jack Wilson and Ian Snell, so I have to assume they want to put in him their major league lineup and keep him there. Probably the takeaway from this is the Pirates hate Steve Pearce, who had been manning first base since Adam LaRoche's departure. For now, though, Clement's headed to Indianapolis, which is frankly a head scratcher.

Ronny Cedeno is nothing more than a lukewarm body to put at shortstop for the rest of the year. I expect the Pirates are planning on having Argenis Diaz and/or Brian Bixler (probably Diaz) as their shortstop in 2010. Cedeno's been so terrible with the bat it's not clear, or at least won't be clear until we see how he hits the rest of the year in the NL, he's even better than Diaz right now.

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