To know Neil Walker is to like him.
He's a classy person, the product of his upbringing and his making the right choices. Playing a major league sport is tough enough, more so when that opportunity comes in a player's home town.
Here's something about Walker that you may not know. He felt badly about missing church because the Pirates' compressed weekend schedule included a lot of Saturday night and Sunday afternoon games. Walker contacted a priest friend, who agreed to celebrate a Saturday afternoon Catholic Mass in one of the conference rooms at PNC Park. It was open to anyone who worked at the park, whether they were teammates, janitors or vendors.
Walker handled his time with the Pirates well. It came to an end last week when he was traded to the New York Mets.
The Pirates traded him because he could land them a starting pitcher (Jon Niese) they needed after A.J. Burnett retired and J.A. Happ left as a free agent. They traded him because they can replace him efficiently in the short term with Josh Harrison and after that with prospect Alen Hanson.
They traded him because he's a free agent after the 2016 season and the Pirates had no interest in retaining him with a new contract.
Walker was a good productive player in his time with the Pirates. He wasn't part of the core they'll try to build around. Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte are those players, and they both have long-term contracts, which they signed in their 20s.
Teams in the Pirates circumstances can sign a few players to form that core, then fill in around them by staying fluid. Ideally, prospects come up through the system to take the jobs. That's certainly the hope with Hanson.
Walker turns 31 before next season ends. Teams like the Pirates don't commit to position players over 30. It's almost always a poor investment. It might be a good headline in the moment, but it becomes a burden that lingers.
It isn't obvious, but Walker is a below-average defensive second baseman. He has sure hands and makes accurate throws, but there are too many balls he doesn't reach. That won't get better with age.
The Pirates got the best years of Walker's career.
What about moving him to first base? If he made the transition successfully, his output doesn't project the kind of power that traditionally plays at first base. Besides, prospect Josh Bell should be ready to claim first base within a year or so.
In sports, sentiment is a word you can find between seal and septic in the dictionary. It's about business.
If you think this is a byproduct of today's Monopoly money era, think again. After the 1962 season, the Pirates decided they were going nowhere and started to rebuild.
Part of that meant trading shortstop Dick Groat to St. Louis to land a starting pitcher. Groat, who grew up in Pittsburgh, was crushed. He had been so devoted to the Pirates that he never charged anyone when he made a speaking appearance. He thought it was part of his duty to represent the team at functions like that.
Although moving turned out to be great for Groat's career, he held on to the resentment for 20 years. It happens.
Nice guys don't have to finish last. But they do get traded.
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