Wilmoth: Nate McLouth Designated For Assignment

In other Pirate news: Team eyes Charles Wilmoth as head of scouting.

I suppose that if, before the season, you squinted at McLouth in just the right way, you could have seen a functional bench outfielder in there, but his increasing problems hitting for average were red flags, and paying $1.75 million for him, as the Pirates did, was way too much. Here’s what I wrote about the signing at the time.

  I’m not saying his batting average is the best indicator of his value, obviously, only pointing out that a guy who provides little defensive value and repeatedly struggles to hit .230 as he heads into his 30s doesn’t seem likely to contribute.

  Maybe McLouth comes back to Pittsburgh, recovers a little bit of that 2008 magic, and helps out as a bench player. I’ll be rooting for him. But it looks at least as likely to me that he joins with Clint Barmes, Rod Barajas and Pedro Alvarez to help the Pirates make a run at the modern record for lowest team batting average. I’m kind of kidding, but kind of not.

Gah. McLouth: .140 batting average. Barmes: .178. Barajas: .212. Alvarez: .203.