Officially, the Pirates have a trade in place to send Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to some team for some players.

"We have a deal in place, pending medical reviews of all the players," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said last night. "But, until there's clearance, it's a little bit vague."

Officially, it is vague.

Unofficially, it seems clear that the Pirates have traded Nady and Marte to the New York Yankees for four minor leaguers -- including three pitchers.

The position player is center fielder Jose Tabata, who turns 20 Aug. 12 and currently is with Class AA Trenton.

Pittsburgh Baseball Club

News and views on the Yankees deal at the PBC blog with Dejan Kovacevic and Paul Meyer.

Also with Trenton are right-hander George Kontos, 23, who has 103 strikeouts in 107¹/₃ innings, and left-hander Phil Coke, 26, 9-4 with a 2.60 earned run average.

Right-hander Ross Ohlendorf, who turns 26 Aug. 8, is the fourth player coming to the Pirates' organization. He was in the Yankees' bullpen, but he is now a starter with Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Ohlendorf would seem to be the closest to coming to the Pirates, but Huntington would not disclose who is coming to the Pirates -- whether from this trade or Class AAA Indianapolis today.

"We are adding quality depth," Huntington said. "We have not had the necessary depth. This begins the process of accumulating that necessary depth."

One area where the Pirates have no depth is pitching, so this deal should be a large step in strengthening that shortcoming.

The trade began unfolding in the first inning of the Pirates' game against San Diego last night.

Nady started in right field and played one inning. He did not go out for the second and was replaced by Jason Michaels. Moments later, Marte was shown on television, shaking hands with and hugging teammates in the dugout.

"A little unorthodox," left fielder Jason Bay said. "You don't see that a lot. I think it caught some guys by surprise, and the game became secondary. You're only human. There was a little bit of a lull. But by the fourth or fifth inning, it was back to baseball.

"Whoever we have coming could be the next Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte."

Tabata was picked by Baseball America as the Yankees' third-best prospect after the 2007 season. He played in the Futures Game before the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh and is on Trenton's disabled list with a strained hamstring.

"Tabata is just special," Yankees hitting coordinator James Rowson said in scouts.com. "He's a young hitter, but special is just the way to describe him because he can do things that most players can't do -- and he does them with consistency.

"He can hit. There's not much to do with him except toss him some baseballs and let him get after it."

Kontos is reputed to have fine command of four pitches. He was the Yankees' fifth-round draft choice in 2006 out of Northwestern.

"He's got the changeup. He's got the slider, the curveball, the fastball," Nardi Contreras, the Yankees' minor league pitching coordinator, told PinstripesPlus.com earlier this year. "He's got his pitches. He's just got to make sure that he pitches and [doesn't try] to overpower everybody.

"[Early in his career,] he wanted to be a power guy and wanted to throw hard all of the time. What he's doing now is he's learning how to change speeds. His stuff is there. He's got great stuff."

Coke has struck out 109 and walked 38 in 114¹/₃ innings this season. He has an outstanding breaking ball, according to insiders.

"That's the difference -- that breaking ball. It's going to make him a big league pitcher," Contreras told PinstripesPlus.com.

"He can pitch with his average fastball. He can sink it. He can command it. He goes inside to right-handers really well. He's got the changeup he can throw for strikes, and he's got the [split-finger fastball] he can throw for strikes. Now, he's got the breaking ball he can use to face left-handers that he can sweep away or back-door it on the right-handers."

Ohlendorf originally was a fourth-round draft pick of Arizona out of Princeton. He is 6 feet 4, 235 pounds and throws his fastball in the 97-mph range.

While the focus today will be more on who is coming to the Pirates' organization, the focus last night was on who is leaving.

"They're going to be irreplaceable," Bay said.

"It's going to be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of guys. It stings a little bit, but it's definitely part of the job, and Neal knows what he's doing."

"They were great teammates," manager John Russell said. "They were two special guys on the field and in the clubhouse. This has been a real close-knit group. They fight for each other, and we've fought through a lot. It was an emotional blow for us a little bit. It was a situation that happened very quickly.

"But they're all very hungry, too. They realize we're not where we need to be."