Righthanded pitcher Joe Martinez is the better player coming to Pittsburgh. He's 5-3 with a 3.32 ERA for AAA Fresno and also has a 4.91 ERA in 11 major league innings this year.
Martinez throws a 90 mph fastball to go with a curveball and changeup. He's also 27 years old and hasn't even been successful at AAA until this year. I hope I'm wrong but he looks to me like another replacement level arm at the MLB level.
John Bowker is a 26-year-old lefthanded hitting outfielder who has been in the majors for parts of three seasons now and simply hasn't hit. His career MLB batting line is a very poor .238/.285/.339. Yet at AAA, he's hit .318/.414/.561, evidencing better talent than his Giants performance thus far. He'll probably become a fourth outfielder for the Pirates right away and can't possibly do worse than Ryan Church.It's disappointing to see the dismantling of a great bullpen, and at first glance the return for Lopez looks like a couple of spare parts. However, keeping Lopez would have been pretty pointless so I am willing to accept that this was the best offer for him.
Lopez, of course, did a fine job here, going 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 50 games. He'll be a useful arm for the Giants down the stretch.
UPDATE: Bowker and Martinez are both heading to Indianapolis.
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