Non-tender Deadline Tomorrow

by Charlie Wilmoth on Dec 19, 2005 11:57 AM EST in News

Major League Baseball has a list of players who might be available. Does anyone want any of these guys? Hee Seop Choi is interesting, but with Sean Casey AND Jim Tracy on the team, there's no chance of the Pirates grabbing him. Russell Branyan, who has an .814 career OPS against righties, would seem to be a good platoon partner with Freddy Sanchez, but he "strikes out too much" and the Pirates have said they aren't interested in him. Still, it would seem that platoon-crazy Jim Tracy could get a lot of production out of Branyan and Sanchez if he could look past the strikeouts.

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Who's in charge?

I think Tracy's philosophy is pretty much identical to DL's. This is the guy who thought Randall Simon and Tike Redman were good hitters because they put the ball in play, even though they never walked and had very little power relative to their positions. DL, like the scouts he employs, seems to have a rigidly traditional scouting approach where you focus less on the results and more on how the player looks in producing them. That's why the team has never really liked Craig Wilson and saw nothing in Chris Shelton. "Tracyball" is just a continuation of a philosophy that was already in place in Pgh., only now it has a catchy name.

by WTM on Dec 19, 2005 2:16 PM EST reply actions

Almost Can't Wait

...for the Bucs to have the NL's third-highest team BA and a sub-.500 record. Yip.

by psk984 on Dec 19, 2005 2:23 PM EST reply actions

Yup

Ok with Lohse and Patterson.

by psk984 on Dec 20, 2005 2:35 AM EST reply actions

Branyan

From Rotoworld:

"The Brewers and Russell Branyan are close to agreeing to a one-year, $800,000 contract, according to the AP.
Anyone hoping he'd be non-tendered is going to be disappointed. He's still a candidate to be traded. Branyan would seem to be the perfect fit for the Pirates, not that they'd know it. He could also be an option as a part-time first baseman for the Red Sox."