Perrotto: A Refreshing Change of Pace by Ben Cherington (+)

Well, whaddya know.

The Pittsburgh Pirates made their first trade of the offseason Thursday night and the return wasn’t predictably lopsided – at least at the major league level — in favor of the other team.

The Pirates didn’t get a prospect. They didn’t get a player who had been placed on the waiver wire as a discard from another organization.

General manager Ben Cherington got an honest-to-goodness big league player when he acquired first baseman Ji-Man Choi from the Tampa Bay Rays for minor league pitcher Jack Hartman.