Yesterday, I kicked off a mini-series by looking at Pirates trades from the trade deadline last year and evaluating them almost exactly a year later. I kicked things off with the Carlos Santana trade, which you can read about here.

Next up is the biggest deal, at least asset wise, of Pittsburgh’s moves last deadline: a five-player deal that saw left handed starter Rich Hill and first baseman/designated hitter Ji Man Choi head way out west to the San Diego Padres.

This was one of three deals that the Pirates made on August 1st, deadline day, and this trade saw the Pirates net three pieces: a project young pitcher, a stopgap first baseman, and an incredibly young outfielder prospect.

With the exception of Estuar Suero, who is still only 18 and is years away from being judged as a boom or bust addition, this trade didn’t really work out for anyone involved. Let’s start with the Padres.

Rich Hill was the oldest player in baseball at 43 years old last season. He had signed a one year deal with the Pirates to help cover some innings in a bit of a weak rotation. He went 7-10 in 22 starts with a 4.76 ERA for the Pirates before he was moved.

But with the Padres, he fell off a cliff. He went 1-4 in 10 games (5 starts) with an 8.23 ERA. The Padres used him as a long-reliever on several occasions, but the results were still very poor.

Ji-Man Choi didn’t fair much better – if at all. He was injured for a large part of his Pirates run, only getting into 23 games for the Pirates after signing a one year deal with the club. Choi started out rather slow, and then suffered a months-long injury that kept him out to July.

Once he came back from that Achilles strain, Choi actually had a really good run, slashing .268/.296/.634 with 4 home runs in 14 games for the Pirates, perhaps boosting his trade stock at the deadline. Choi was packaged in the deal with Hill and looked to build upon that momentum with his new team.

However, it was a real tough going for Choi out west. In 16 games and 31 at-bats, Choi only registered a pair of hits for an .065 average. He notched a couple RBI but really provided no batting value to the Padres, who fell out of the playoff race.

San Diego finished the year 82-80, third place in the NL West and out of a playoff spot. Neither player is still with the team; Hill is still a free agent, and Choi has bounced around since, but is now also a free agent.

As for the Pirates, let’s start with lefty Jackson Wolf, who made his major league debut on July 22nd, just days before the trade. He pitched 5.0 innings and gave up 3 earned runs.

Most of the season saw him play in Double-A with the San Antonio Missions, where he had a 4.08 ERA and 1.087 WHIP in 88.1 innings.

After the trade, he reported to Double-A Altoona, where he finished the year and pitched 36.0 innings with a 4.25 ERA and a 1.167 WHIP.

However, he struggled to establish a footing within the organization this spring, and after a series of roster moves he ended up being designated for assignment. He wound up being traded back to San Diego on April 2nd for Kervin Pichardo, an infielder currently in Altoona.

The only player to see major league time for the Pirates in this trade (so far) was Alfonso Rivas. The 26-year old was acquired purely as a stopgap first baseman for the Pirates after the team had traded away two options at the position.

Rivas had spent the majority of the season in Triple-A for El Paso, but he did have 127 major league games under his belt over his career. With the Chihuahuas, he slashed .332/.462/.582 at the time of the trade, and was promoted to the major leagues upon arrival in Pittsburgh.

For the role he was asked to fill, Rivas did fine. He slashed .234/.305/.436 with 3 homers and 14 RBI in 94 at-bats in Pittsburgh.

But like others who had come before him, he was not the long-term answer to first base, and he was not retained in the winter. He was waived and claimed by the Los Angeles Angels, but ultimately became a free and signed a minor league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

And lastly, there was Estuar Suero, who actually was only 17 years old at the time of the trade. His batting numbers weren’t great at the time of the trade; he slashed .216/.306/.345 in 35 games in the rookie Arizona Complex League. After coming over to the Florida Complex League, he slashed .217/.379/.326 in 13 games for the FCL Pirates.

This year, things are rather difficult for Suero. Still in the FCL, he has only gotten into 24 games, but is slashing .194/.298/.292.

He’s still so young, so incredibly young, but given that these are the only numbers to go off of so far, it’s not a great look.

We’ll see how he -and Kervin Pichardo – develops over the next few years and see if this deal can pan out more positively for the Pirates.

(Featured photo by John David Mercer/USA Today Sports)