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"All of the documentation he has used to obtain his visa from the U.S. government and his passport from the Venezuelan government indicates his reported age is accurate," Huntington said in an e-mail to the Tribune-Review. "Apart from unfounded speculation, there is nothing to indicate his age any different than reported. My point is that while we have reason to doubt his reported age, it is a non-issue to us."

We discussed this last week here.

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Brian Giles Signs Minor-League Deal With Dodgers

How far the mighty have fallen. He'll compete with Jason Repko, Xavier Paul and our old friend Doug Mientkiewicz for a bench job after hitting .191 last season.

1 day ago Charlie 11 comments 0 recs

SI Report: Pirates in on LHP Hisanori Takahashi

by Alleghenys on Feb 6, 2010 3:33 PM EST Comment 15 comments

The Pirates are one of at least six teams interested in LHP Hisanori Takahashi, according to Jon Heyman at SI.com. The 34-year-old Takahashi is a free agent after 10 years with the Yomiuri Giants, where he posted up-and-down numbers as a starter. Last year, he put up a 2.94 ERA and 126/36 K/BB in 144 innings.

He wants to remain a starter and features a plus screwball and an 85-90 mph fastball, supplemented by a slider and curve. He likely wouldn't be a lefty specialist after lefties hit .300 against him (righties hit .250) last year.

The Giants and Dodgers are considered front-runners for his services, with the Mets, Red Sox and Padres also in the mix. A decision is expected this week.

15 comments | 0 recs

Locking Up Star Players Isn't High on Bucs' List of Problems

by Charlie on Feb 6, 2010 2:28 AM EST Comment 79 comments

More photos » Bob Levey - AP

How did the marquee deal for Jason Kendall turn out?

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Chuck Finder nails it here:

True, words are cheap. Star contracts are expensive. And that, wacky as it seems, would probably be a more tell-tale day for long-suffering Pirates fans: Not the moment when the club noses above .500, but when the owner locks up core players to long-term, marquee deals. . . and keeps them around on that growing payroll.

Yep, that probably is going to be the moment for a lot of people, if it ever happens. And that will be a relevant moment. Of course, if the Pirates do get there in the next few years, 95% of the work will already have been done. The players fans will want to lock up will be contributing peak seasons at relatively cheap prices, and fans will want to keep them in Pirate uniforms for their decline years. And few will mention that the failure to give out "long-term, marquee deals" has been about 99th on the list of the Pirates' problems over the past decade or so.

The Aramis Ramirez giveaway was a travesty, and nothing any fan wants to have happen again. But the Bucs have paid to control free agency seasons by Brian Giles (great contract), Jason Kendall (a disaster), Ian Snell (bad idea), Jack Wilson (largely irrelevant), Freddy Sanchez (irrelevant), Paul Maholm, and Ryan Doumit. Except with Ramirez--which was, again, a debacle--the Pirates' problem has not been an unwillingness to pony up for free agency seasons, or to keep their core players around more generally. The problem has been the fact that most of their core players weren't very good to begin with, and were even worse by the time they amassed six years of major league service, which is the point after which a player becomes eligible for free agency.

Most players have passed their peak by the time they finish their sixth year. And if the Pirates' willingness to keep stars around on long-term deals is to be some kind of litmus test--and it probably will--then you can look at someone like Pedro Alvarez even now and see how he might become a problem. Now, I realize that sounds absurd, but: Alvarez isn't exactly slow, but you can watch video of Alvarez running and see how he might become a bit of a slug as he gets older and adds a few pounds. His defensive issues at third are well documented, and he probably won't be playing there in six years. He has issues with strikeouts that could get worse if his bat slows down a bit, as well.

My point is not to write an obituary for Alvarez's career before it even starts. He's a great prospect. And with Scott Boras as his agent, he'd be very unlikely to sign an extension with the Bucs in the first place. My point is that Alvarez is pretty likely to do the most damage in the years in which the Pirates already control him, during which he'll be pretty cheap. And after that, it may well turn out to be in the Pirates' best interest to let him go. Assuming the Pirates keep Alvarez in the minors to start the year, they'll have him year-to-year through 2016, after which he'll be almost 30. I would not bet on Alvarez being a great player into his 30s.

Someone like Andrew McCutchen, who is an excellent athlete with a very well-rounded game, may well be a different story, and is probably exactly the sort of player the Pirates should at some point consider locking up long-term. If he continues to develop in the next two years or so, he's an outstanding bet to continue to be productive at, say, age 32. But players like him are the exception rather than the rule. Rarely is it a good idea to lock up defensively challenged sluggers like Alvarez; even more rarely is it a good idea to commit oneself to a big-money deal with a pitcher.

So I don't think the Pirates' willingness to lock up players to "marquee deals" should be that much of an issue, though Finder is clearly right that fans will make it one if the Pirates have any success. The main project should be developing enough players good enough to press the issue. And payroll will need to rise, but not primarily because of marquee contracts. Rather, young stars' salaries will rise as they become eligible for arbitration, and they will need to be complemented with free agents when they're ready to contend. Many fans surely will make "marquee deals" the issue, but reluctance to do those sorts of deals hasn't been the Pirates' problem in the past, and it's unlikely to be their problem in the future.

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2010 Pirates Draft Preview

Excellent preview of the upcoming draft from the Pirates' perspective. Includes detailed account of (Scouting Director) Greg Smith's drafting history, analysis of the Pirates' recent draft strategy, and speculation about what the Bucs might do in this year's draft.

3 days ago epoc 27 comments 1 recs

Post-Gazette Attacks Bob Nutting in Open Letter

by Charlie on Feb 4, 2010 7:25 PM EST Comment 236 comments

Bob Nutting, right, the owner of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, and Hall-of-Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski unveil a model of a statue of Mazeroski the team plans to erect near PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. The statue depicts Mazeroski as he rounds the bases after hitting the game-winning walk-off home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to defeat the New York Yankees for the championship. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

More photos » Keith Srakocic - AP

10 days ago: Bob Nutting, right, the owner of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, and Hall-of-Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski unveil a model of a statue of Mazeroski the team plans to erect near PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. The statue depicts Mazeroski as he rounds the bases after hitting the game-winning walk-off home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to defeat the New York Yankees for the championship. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Browse more photos »

The Post-Gazette takes more shots at the Pirates' ownership in this open letter to Bob Nutting:

Still, your family has had an ownership stake in the Pirates for 14 years and you've been the controlling owner since January 2007. Not once during the Nuttings' involvement has the team had a winning season. The Pirates' streak of 17 losing campaigns exceeds any run of futility in the history of professional sports. It is, no doubt, as frustrating for you as it is for the fans.

The difference between you and the other Pirates faithful, though, is you can do something about it.

Yeah! Yeah man yeah! 'Course, the Post-Gazette itself also used to have an ownership stake in the Pirates, so by their logic, they could have done something about it too. But instead, they wrote ridiculous puff pieces like this one about "exciting prospects" like never-was Victor Mercedes. And this one, an absurd Dave Littlefield hero piece that literally ends, "What if Littlefield hadn't done a good job?" And nearly every Q+A, which sought to convince the masses that whatever inane thing Littlefield had done that week was actually pure genius. Littlefield had the Pirates circling the drain then, but you never would have known it from the Post-Gazette. And yet now that the Pirates are actually trying to deal with the problems that Littlefield created for the Bucs when they were partially owned by the Post-Gazette, the P-G editorial board just can't bash them enough. More from today's editorial:

That change could come sooner if you were open to the reported offer by Penguins co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle to buy the baseball team. Your insistence that the Pirates are not for sale would seem to put an end to the whole idea. Let's hope not.

As a sports owner powerhouse, Lemieux-Burkle has been able to put the necessary money into the hockey team to keep top talent on the ice. To no one's surprise, the Pirates and Penguins are poles apart in terms of image, success and symbols of Pittsburgh.

I don't know anything about hockey, and even I know that's misleading. Lemieux and Burkle fielded a number of inexpensive and very bad teams before the NHL instituted a salary cap. But they built with young talent (just as the Pirates are currently doing), won the Sidney Crosby lottery, and got to compete on a level playing field once a salary cap was established.

Just to be clear, I would have no problem with Lemieux and Burkle buying the Pirates. I couldn't care less if Bob Nutting is in charge. But I also think it's pretty likely that Lemieux and Burkle would look around, assess the situation and allow their GM to keep doing what Neal Huntington is now doing, which is to rebuild the team from the ground up. Plowing a bunch of money into payroll right now, which is what so many fans seem to want Nutting to do, isn't Lemieux and Burkle's style, and it wouldn't be too likely to significantly help right now either. As owners, Lemieux and Burkle would probably be fine. But neither they nor Nutting deserve the breathless idiocy and sanctimony that have been coming from the Post-Gazette since the paper broke the news about Lemieux's interest in buying the team.

(Thanks to Novelist for jogging my memory about the Post-Gazette's former ownership role.)

UPDATE: This is pretty funny.

236 comments | 1 recs | Share

Was told there isn't much going on in the trade market for Ryan Doumit of the Pirates. But he's a name to watch during season.

Jon Paul Morosi (of FoxSports.com), via Twitter

4 days ago Vlad 4 comments 0 recs

Since we're all going a little stir-crazy waiting for spring training to start, how about some baseball? Spotted this clip over at Rum Bunter, and I had to share it. The video shows two prime candidates for our 2010 roster in action against Tampa Bay: Javier Lopez and Jon Van Every. The trick is that in the clip, Lopez (a left-handed pitcher) is playing right field, while Van Every (an outfielder) is pitching.

Maybe if Van Every can't crack our crowded outfield, he can sneak off with the job as our second lefty in the pen.

4 days ago Vlad 10 comments 0 recs

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