Winter Meetings, Day 4: Bucs Take Donald Veal in Rule 5
by Charlie Wilmoth on Dec 11, 2008 11:30 AM EST
Email
PrintBumped for the Rule 5 draft at noon. I'll (hopefully) be on a plane when this goes down, but you can follow the draft here and here and in the comments. You may want to check out the post below this one, which is about an ESPN report that the Pirates are on the verge of signing Ramon Vazquez to a two-year contract.
The Pirates' trade of Ronny Paulino yesterday may turn out to be the biggest move they make in the Winter Meetings, but they'll almost certainly select at least one player in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft today, and several players in the minor league portion.
The Post Gazette lists Diamondbacks pitcher Matt Torra and Angels infielder Hainley Statia as potential targets in the major league portion. Statia has, as far as I can tell, absolutely no business being on a major league roster. Torra could be selected merely because he's capable of starting, not because he's been especially good at it. A couple weeks ago, I endorsed the selection of Rays reliever Eduardo Morlan, but I was hardly the first blogger to do so, and Morlan could well be gone by the time the Pirates pick. Anyway, the Rule 5 draft is so unpredictable that if none of these three players are selected, I wouldn't be shocked.
Oh, and there's a huge trade: The Mets get J.J. Putz, outfielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green for Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Jason Vargas, Joe Smith and three minor leaguers: Mike Carp, Mikael Cleto and Ezequiel Carrera. The Indians get Smith and infielder Luis Valbuena and the Mariners get everybody else; also, the Indians send Franklin Guiterrez to the M's. There's almost too much here to process, but I like this for the Mariners, who upgrade their outfield defense dramatically while grabbing two of the Mets' small handful of prospects in Carp and Cleto. Putz had a worse-than-usual season in 2008, battling elbow problems; he's still a good reliever, but the Mets look like they're giving up quite a bit here.
Also, the Tigers did trade Matt Joyce, but they dealt him to Tampa for Edwin Jackson. Jackson still has some upside, but his apparent improvement in 2008 was mostly the product of the Rays' excellent defense; I like this move for Tampa.
UPD ATE: The P-G reports that the Bucs could lose Kyle Bloom, which would be a drag. Bloom is about a C+ grade prospect, but he's one of only a couple Bucs starting pitching prospects who are anywhere near the majors, and he's been pitching well for several months now. Short of some team making a completely random pick (which Bloom wouldn't be), there's really no excuse for a team like the Pirates, with a subpar bunch of players at the major league level and a relatively shallow farm system, losing a player in the Rule 5 draft. It's not a huge deal, and the Bucs could easily get Bloom back in March if he's selected, but I don't understand why he wasn't protected.
UPDATE II: The Pirates have taken Donald Veal, a former top starting pitching prospect from the Cubs. He's fallen on hard times, but he's a smart guy and he has decent stuff, so hopefully he'll be able to adjust as a reliever. That's off the top of my head; I'll do more research later. And now I really have to board my plane.
78 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
BA on the Pirates' Rule 5:
Lobby speculation is that it’s going to be either Lofgren or J.D. Martin. Link.
I love the hell out of Martin as a potential pick. He could be very, very good for us. Lofgren is more of a shot in the dark, given how bad his mechanics and mental approach are right now, but there’s upside there if we can fix him over the winter.
Lofgren’s AFL performance is ultra-scary. It’s going to take a very sudden and radical turnaround for him to get through spring training, much less the regular season.
Martin had some very nice BB and K #s this year. He’s probably about ready for the majors anyway, so he’d have a good chance of surviving the year. They’ve gotta get somebody in that bullpen who can throw a strike.
The Cube has some “scouting report” for him that lists his power as 24. It’s probably bogus, but funny. Wouldn’t 19 be, like, negative power on the scouting scale?
Oh, man, that's funny.
Not sure what scale they’re using – they’ve got him over the max of 80 for both speed and contact, too.
Martin doesn’t sound too bad, but I would hope Huntington wouldn’t pick an Indian just because he used to work for them.
Lofgren seems like he would be a terrible pick, IMHO.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Dec 11, 2008 11:22 AM EST up reply actions
I was half-expecting Martin to get a ML deal this offseason.
He’s a good option, right near the top of my list of minor league FAs.
ZiPS
In case anyone’s curious, ZiPS has Statia at .222/.261/.289 for 2009. That’s pretty impressive.
Torra’s projected for a 5.30 ERA, with 70 K, 42 BB, and 19 HR in 151 IP. Those numbers assume he’s pitching in AZ, so they’d be a little better for us.
Jackson/Joyce
I never understood why people said Edwin Jackson had so much upside. His minor league numbers were bad/mediocre and as expected his major league numbers have been just bad. I’m with Charlie as for his improvements last year – I’m attributing them to Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria. He walked almost as many batters as he struck out, which wasn’t many. Though scouts may say Jackson has good stuff, the stats (and batters!) clearly disagree. Nice job by Tampa of filling their right-field spot by dealing a low-value player from a position where they have lots of depth.
He has good stuff.
He just doesn’t know how to use it. He’s a thrower, not a pitcher, and scouts are always going to imagine what he could be if he learned how to pitch.
wow
the rays are freaking loaded for years. could/should have been us…
Less than an hour to go!
I’m such a dork for being excited about this.
Full list of eligible players (for the ML portion) here.
Dejan is saying the Pirates are expected to lose a player in the draft. No name, and I wouldn’t necessarily bet it’s Bloom. It’s never who you think. Could be somebody like Eric Krebs.
I’m not real happy about that. I’d have DFA’d Davidson and protected Bloom. Well, actually, I’d have dropped Denny Bautista in the river and protected Bloom. But the odds of him returning will probably be better than 50-50.
Back to San Diego. I’ve been in Northern Wisconsin the past few days. I was surprised how much I didn’t hate the winter there.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Dec 11, 2008 11:51 AM EST up reply actions
Cool. I’m coming back to Morgantown in a few days.
by Charlie Wilmoth on Dec 11, 2008 12:05 PM EST up reply actions
If we keep him, he fills a need.
Grabow isn’t a pure situational lefty, and I trust Burnett about as far as I can throw him.
And Bloom to the Tigers
They need relievers, but they seem to want to contend this year. He might not stick.
Stay tuned
NH said they’d take a lot of guys in the minor league phase. These will just be guys to fill out their dismal, Creechified class A rosters, but it’s still interesting to me.
Some info from Scout.com
Big bonus baby ($300k in 2004), career delayed by some health issues with his growth plates. Lefty, mid-90s FB, good change, good control. Link.
Sounds like a nice, nice pick, if true.
Can't find any info on stuff.
You have to think that Huntington probably knows him pretty well, though, coming from Cleveland’s system.
Actually...
…it seems like he’s an infielder-turned-catcher-turned pitcher. That’s quite the path to success, there.
Is it wise...
…to pick DSL players, like Santos and Quintero in the AAA portion? They seem like good players, but I cannot imagine they are ready for AAA ball. How much play time do they have to get at that level anyway?
AAA portion is something of a misnomer.
Those guys don’t have to stick in AAA. It’s just a portion of the draft where you can take eligible players assigned to a roster at any level under AAA. We can assign them to whatever level we want after they’re chosen.
Pre-draft, teams will stash all their eligible pseudo-prospects on the AAA roster to keep from getting poached.
I think Gerardo Esparza is the third pick. Pirates pass in AA portion.
Pittsburgh Lumber Co.
http://mvn.com/pittsburghlumberco
Just in case:
Stats for Mr. Esparza. Righty SP from the VSL, stats are pretty good but not as PlayStation as the last two picks.
Man,that speaks volumes. I don’t recall that happening before. They usually lose 2-3 guys, players like Maiko Loyola who aren’t going anywhere. (Of course, DL, being DL, did lose two guys this way who went on to reach the majors.) The minor league phase mainly lets teams fill holes in their rosters by grabbing players who aren’t really valued in other systems. Basically, it’s a way of swapping organizational players around. It shows just how poor the overall talent level is in the system.
I thought they’d take more guys than that. I also thought they’d take some guys, especially pitchers, to shore up the class A teams. These guys figure to go to Bradenton or, maybe, State College. They actually seem to be using the minor league phase to try to unearth real prospects. Most teams just use it to stock their minor league teams. Not that I have a problem with it.
Yeah, no kidding.
I could see any of these three turning into ML players. And Santos seems like a real sleeper.
Gayo must’ve been busy drawing up wish lists.
They’ve been doing this for a while, digging around for Latin players who flopped with other orgs. Guys like Romulo! and Uviedo. It’s obviously a big focus for Gayo, apart from the “normal” scouting. I’m really hoping the fact that he hasn’t produced any serious Latin prospects so far (not counting the guys he signed this year, who are too new to say anything about) is due to DL’s severe budget restrictions. I’m seeing a lot of things that seem good, like the strong focus on Latin countries outside of the DR and Venezuela. Dejan even reported he’s looking for a scout in Ecuador. I had no idea anybody there played baseball.
I didn't realize that there was a minor league phase
to the Rule V draft. Can someone explain how eligibility is determined for this portion of the draft?
Can’t say I’ve ever really understood it. Players become eligible at the same time as in the major league phase. They’re eligible in the AAA portion as long as they’re not on the AAA roster. That’s where teams will put players who aren’t on the 40-man but whom they’d like to hang onto anyway. There must be a limit, or teams would just put all their players on the AAA roster, but I don’t know what it is.
I have no idea how the AA portion works. I guess players are eligible to be taken if they’re not on the AA roster. There’s seldom much activity in that portion, anyway.
i think that veal is going to be a steal for you guys
he was once ranked as the #2 prospect for the cubs, so you guys better keep him around this year and he may be a future starter for you guys down the road
everything Rays,Marlins,Twins and Reds
Like the Veal pick
I just hope we can find a way to keep him long enough to give him a chance to iron out his control issues.
Nick Punto
signs a 2 year deal with Twins to be there starting shortstop. Guess that’s one team that is dropping the Jack Wilson negotiations.
Very interesting note
Dejan has posted an explanation of how the minor league Rule 5 picks came about. Apparently it wasn’t Gayo, and it is very unusual to take players still in the summer leagues.
I’d sure like to get an idea how he’s translating those numbers. Some aspects are easy to interpret—16- to 18-yr-olds seldom have much power, for instance—while others aren’t. Like, in the VSL, walk totals are extremely high. I’ve always wondered why.
That has to be down to the VSL umpires, doesn't it?
There used to be noticeable differences in refereeing throughout the soccer world. The regional interpretations of the rules were passed down through generations like local customs. Globalisation through TV lead to FIFA directives that changed all that.
According to Dejan’s recent reports, Caribbean baseball is still pretty insular. Anyone know if VSL players continue to be more patient when they reach the majors?
by RDV across the sea on Dec 12, 2008 9:57 PM EST up reply actions
That’d be an interesting point to research. It occurred to me the difference could be cultural or traditional. The saying in the DR has long been that you can’t “walk off the island.” Venezuela is a much more affluent country than the DR, so the sense of desperation to get a pro contract may not be as acute. Some sociologist ought to study it.
Not sociologists.
We need a baseball stats guru called Fox.
Wow. We could be on to a winner!
by RDV across the sea on Dec 15, 2008 1:35 PM EST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Photo: Padres fan regrets letting mother capture moment with Trevor Hoffman
- Marlins agree to unretire No. 5 for Logan Morrison, who will honor his father’s favorite player
- Weatherman Derek Holland does Dallas TV
- Ask Alex: Will Julio Teheran or Matt Moore win rookie of the year?
- Ku Klux Klan, umpires and bowling: Why the minor leagues tossed out Jim Evans academy
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
