I'll admit that when I first heard about the Pittsburgh Pirates' trade with the New York Yankees, which sent Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Bronx for four minor leaguers, I was pretty disappointed the Bucs didn't land ace pitcher Phil Hughes.

The Pirates were hearing gripes about how the asking price for any of their players on the trading block was too high.

The Pirates, in turn, were determined that they were not going to allow good players to be traded for marginal players in Class A or Class AA.

They wanted up-and-coming players or major-league ready talent. That's great. The team understood it had a horrible track record on trades. Other than Brian Giles coming to Pittsburgh, then Giles being shipped out for Bay, what trade has really turned out great in recent years?

However, the Pirates needed to add depth to their system.

In the 15 seasons before this one, the team has not made the playoffs — and won't this season, either. The Pirates have struggled to compete and a lot of it has to do with the lack of production throughout their system.

The Pirates couldn't land a big name like Hughes or even fellow pitcher Ian Kennedy because the team is desperate for an infusion of young talent, one apparently they couldn't get through the draft, even with top five overall picks over the past decade.

Things were so bad that the Pirates marched out John Van Benschoten Saturday and he was promptly whacked by the San Diego Padres to the tune of seven runs in 1X\c innings.

My wife was at the game and called me in the second inning. Bay was coming out of the game and she was curious if he had been traded — and, oh yeah, it was 7-1 at that point.

I know times are tough for the Pirates' pitching staff, but putting Van Benschoten out there with his track record is a joke.

Had I been there, I would have asked for my money back. The team should be ashamed if running Van Benschoten out there. That's telling your own team and the fans, "We're not giving ourselves a chance tonight. Good luck, guys."

Van Benschoten, a former power-hitting first baseman and very good pitcher out of Kent State, was the Pirates' No. 1 pick in 2001. The Pirates appeared to be the only team that wanted to make him a full-time starter, even though they have always been desperate for a big bat in the lineup.

Now Van Benschoten is 1-3 with a 10.48 ERA In his last five starts, he's allowed 24 earned runs and 33 hits in 17X\c innings.

For his career, he's 2-13 with a 9.20 ERA. That latter stat is the worst by any major league pitcher in baseball history with at least 16 starts.

That the Pirates don't have an arm or two in the system to plug in for the short term shows how bad things are.

Hopefully, any more trades will bolster the organization. It just may take more time to see that potential reach the major leagues.

But, once again, all we seem to do is wait.