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Link Roundup: Latin America and the Minors

Tons more cool stuff about Latin America in the Post-Gazette today. First, there's a list of the Pirates' top five prospects who haven't yet played for the Pirates' affiliates in the states. Because Latin scouting and development under Dave Littlefield was so terrible, it's basically a list of the Pirates' most expensive signees this year, but there's also Starling Marte at the top of the list. Marte, an outfielder, turned 20 in October and hit .296/.367/.455 for the Pirates' DSL team. That's a good line for that league, although Marte was a bit old.

The list was compiled by Latin American scouting director Rene Gayo, so it's not surprising he would favor the players he got to pay the most, but it's still probably the best information about this sort of thing we're likely to get, and it's manna for dorks like me.

Meanwhile, this is an interesting piece on Gayo himself, who sounds like the kind of guy who could write an amazing autobiography.

While we're on the subject of prospects, I just noticed that WTM has written a summary of the Pirates' drafts since 1999, with grades on each draft. WTM is the authority on these things, but it's striking to me that, of Littlefield's six drafts, only two get D's, and the rest get passing grades. Yes, the 2005 draft (with Andrew McCutchen, Steve Pearce, Brent Lillibridge and Jeff Sues) looks okay, and 2003 (Paul Maholm and Tom Gorzelanny) wasn't too bad. But if Littlefield's 2007 draft, for example, doesn't get an F, then what does an F draft look like? Or do we really have to wait another two years for Danny Moskos (and any number of questionable late-round picks) to flame out completely before we give that grade? And how much does grabbing Matt Capps with a late-round pick in 2002 balance against completely botching the first overall pick in that draft (Bryan Bullington)? I would have been a bit less generous than WTM is here.

Poll
What was the best Littlefield draft?
2002 (Matt Capps, Nyjer Morgan, Brad Eldred)
8 votes
2003 (Paul Maholm, Tom Gorzelanny, Steve Lerud)
100 votes
2004 (Neil Walker, Brian Bixler, Kyle Bloom)
1 votes
2005 (Andrew McCutchen, Steve Pearce, Brent Lillibridge)
117 votes
2006 (Brad Lincoln, Shelby Ford, Jim Negrych)
13 votes
2007 (Danny Moskos, Tony Watson, Tom Boleska)
2 votes

241 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 5 comments

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Comments

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F Grades

I kinda figured an “F” would be a draft that produced nothing of use. You can’t really say that about any of these yet, although 2007 is amazingly close considering how recent it was, and 2004 may get there in another year or so if Walker doesn’t wake up.

by WTM on Dec 2, 2008 2:16 AM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

It's really tough to totally bagel a draft.

The worst one I can remember is 1994. We made 46 picks, and drafted a grand total of two guys who made the majors – Jimmy Anderson in the 9th, and Brandon Larson (who didn’t sign) in the 46th.

It wasn’t a great draft, but there were still a few useful players. We were picking in the 11 hole (Mark Farris), and the next three picks after our first rounder were Nomar, Paul Konerko, and Jason Varitek.

by Vlad on Dec 2, 2008 12:11 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

2007...

could be better if Watson turns into a useful starter and Moskos can become at least a good set-up man. I really don’t see how 2004 can be good though. Walker could be OK, but there is no one else that even has a shot to be a big league regular. 2003, 2005, and 2006 have the most potential. 2003 could be really good if Maholm keeps improving and Gorzelanny rebounds. 2005 could be good if McCutchen turns into an above average center fielder and Pearce can be a regular. 2006 could be really good if Lincoln turns into a #2 and Ford becomes an above average 2nd baseman. I think 2006 has the most potential, but 2003 is the most likely to be the best in the long run.

by joegonzo on Dec 2, 2008 9:17 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

FWIW

I added a page to my web site where I tried to summarize some of the info on the team’s Latin prospects, as a reference for people who may be interested in tracking them now and then.

http://users.rcn.com/wtmiller/positions/latinprospects.htm

I figured I’d try to add info as it appears, to the extent I can link to it—the BA stuff tends to be in the subscriber area.

by WTM on Dec 3, 2008 10:20 PM EST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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