Pirates Grab Daniel Haigwood, Outright Raul Chavez and Jason Davis
by Charlie on Dec 5, 2008 4:31 PM EST
23 comments
The Pirates have signed minor league free agents Daniel Haigwood and Maiko Loyola and, in unrelated moves, removed Raul Chavez and Jason Davis from their 40-man roster.
Loyola will be an organizational outfielder and isn't terribly interesting, but Haigwood could eventually appear for the Pirates. Like a lot of pitchers Neal Huntington has acquired, he has good strikeout rates and very bad walk rates, but unlike most of the others, he's more of a offspeed pitcher than a power guy. He could wind up in the Pirates' bullpen at some point.
In removing Chavez and Davis from the roster, the Pirates open spots to make moves, including potentially selecting a Rule 5 draft pick, at the Winter Meetings.
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Davis & Chavez
Do we see either of them again?
I wouldn’t mind seeing Chavez stick around in AAA or something (in case of injury, if nothing else), but Davis… I’m more or less indifferent about.
by UtesFan89 on Dec 5, 2008 4:37 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Chavez isn’t going to get more than a minor league deal anywhere. The Pirates will have either an untested (Diaz) or unreliable (Paulino) backup catcher next year, so he might see it in his own interest to come back as AAA depth. If not, they can certainly find somebody similar.
If I were Davis, I’d move on. The Pirates have a lot more depth now and some of the rotation depth is bound to overflow into the bullpen.
by WTM on Dec 5, 2008 6:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Receivers like Chavez...
may not be hard to come by and he probably will not be offered a major league contract by anyone. But the man is a helluva receiver and handler of pitchers, and the Pirates really need someone like that to fill the bill.
by thegunner on Dec 5, 2008 11:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
No problem
There are about 50 just like him in AAA every year.
by WTM on Dec 6, 2008 12:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Michel Hernandez
Yamid Haad
Ryan Hanigan
Dane Sardinha
Luke Montz
Carlos Maldonado
Mike DeFelice
Chris Heintz
Ben Davis
Jason Phillips
Sal Fasano
Corky Miller
Paul Phillips
And that’s just the International League.
There isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between Chavez and any of these other guys, which is why Chavez has played in 211 games in the majors and 915 in AAA.
by WTM on Dec 6, 2008 2:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
WTM - Not Buying Your Catching Evaluations At All!
Please don’t compare Maldanado with Chavez as a receiver. Ditto with Corky Miller and the others pulled from your ____ (hat?).
by thegunner on Dec 6, 2008 5:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
If Chavez is so good, why has he gotten to age 35 with over 900 games in AAA and only 211 in the majors? It seems the GMs of MLB don’t buy the evaluation of Chavez that you pulled from your _.
by WTM on Dec 6, 2008 7:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
WTM, Whom Do You Think Are The Good GMs in MLB?
by thegunner on Dec 7, 2008 12:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Also WTM, what are your qualifications?
What gives you the right to even think about any of this?
by azibuck on Dec 7, 2008 10:16 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Chavez
If he can be brought back at the right price, he is an excellent back-up receiver.
However, the Pirates need another capable catcher to back up Doumit. The Pirates are placing way to much faith in Doumit. He is an offensive threat, but he is a defensive liability behind the plate or anywhere else.
He would be a very valuable DH to an AL team who might be willing to part with a catching prospect or other prospects.
by thegunner on Dec 5, 2008 5:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Doumit also
according to a post at The Hardball Times I read the other day, had a high adjusted BABIP and is likely to regress from very good to just pretty good.
Also, Greg Maddux is retiring Monday.
by bucdaddy on Dec 5, 2008 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Not so much, no.
The biggest part of his value comes from the fact that he’s a C who hits like an OF/1B/DH. It’s not actually all that hard to find an OF/1B/DH who hits like an OF/1B/DH. Josh Willingham, a comparable bat with an iron glove in LF, was just traded for virtually nothing by the Marlins, for example.
by Vlad on Dec 6, 2008 1:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Go easy on Maiko
Charlie, if you saw the Pirates’ class A teams very much, you wouldn’t refer to Loyola as “not terribly interesting.” Every minor league team has to have organizational players and if you’re there to see the prospects, you have to watch the other guys, too. I’m sick of watching guys like Tony Mansolino, Wanell Macia and Albert Laboy, who can’t even put up a .500 OPS in the Carolina League. Loyola isn’t a prospect, but at least can play the game. (-:
by WTM on Dec 5, 2008 6:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
He's not a bad pickup.
Can run, can play CF, gets on base a little, not way old for his league last year. He’s not a high-percentage bet or anything, but he’s better than a lot of minor league FAs who’ll get deals this year, and he might turn into a Duffy/Morgan type backup if everything goes right for him.
I kind of suspect that Dejan’s message about him being signed to play in AAA got garbled in translation, and he’s actually just being placed on the AAA roster for now so that he doesn’t get swiped in the minor league portion of the Rule 5.
by Vlad on Dec 6, 2008 1:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Now,Wilbur
You have to admit that you get a chill every time you walk into an SAL or Carolina park and see that Wanell Macia is going to be playing today! LOL!
The guy has seemed to be at Hickory for 12 years!
Macia wants to hang around so bad,he tried to pitch last year!
And that was interesting-trust me!!!
Check out my blog at thoughtsofrs@blogspot.com
by Count Vertigo on Dec 6, 2008 3:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
As a hitter the guy was so completely lacking in plate discipline that, when he was pitching, he probably tried to swing at his own pitches.
by WTM on Dec 6, 2008 3:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Poop on Chavez and "The Gunner"
I dont care if we bring back Chavez or not. Hes decent, but we can get that production anywhere. i hate talking about how he handles pitchers. who cares? well find that role from someone else. i think i might even rather have paulino.
BRING BACK TIKE REDMAN
by omar moreno on Dec 9, 2008 9:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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