Pirates Sign Justin Wilson

by Charlie on Aug 13, 2008 9:52 PM EDT Comment 18 comments

The Pirates have signed Justin Wilson, their fifth-round pick out of Fresno State.

Wilson wasn't one of my favorites of the Pirates' top ten draft picks--he has good stuff for a lefty, but poor control--but at least he's a starting pitcher. The Pirates need starting pitching prospects desperately. He was the winning pitcher in the College World Series championship, but that doesn't mean anything going forward. Like so many pitchers Neal Huntington has acquired (Tyler Yates, Evan Meek, Craig Hansen...) the key for Wilson will be throwing strikes. His baseball age is only 20, so he's got a couple years to figure that out.

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Bucs option down Bautista

Wow, didn’t see this one coming. I guess they want to get him some work at other positions and get him some regular at bats. I thought with all of the super utility talk, they would keep him around.

by succos12 on Aug 13, 2008 10:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

They must really want

to keep all their pitchers up.

The Utah Jazz. The Jazz... duh.
The best NBA team in Utah... no doubts about it!
Playing For Pride. Pirates, Utes, Panthers, and more...
Because, in the end, only one team can "win it all".

by UtesFan89 on Aug 13, 2008 10:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like the move he isn’t that great of a pinch hitter leave that to Jason and utility is covered with eye chart. Bautista will more than likely be back in September

by Cence on Aug 13, 2008 11:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So that means Pearce stayed up? Hooray!

Also, bye bye Bautista, I don’t expect to be seeing him next year. You never know though. I’ve always kinda liked him for no reason what-so-ever, but I don’t see much of a future for him as a Pirate.

by camoseven on Aug 14, 2008 12:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I like him...

...because he was the one who finally got Castillo out of the lineup.

He’s a bench guy going forward, though, and that probably suits his abilities pretty well.

by Vlad on Aug 14, 2008 9:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Absolutely

He’s exactly the kind of guy we’ve been living with/wishing on for too long, a bench guy/fringe major-leaguer for anyone else who’s in the starting lineup. I’m sorry he got screwed in the Rile 5 fiasco and all, but screw that, it’s ancient history. I’m glad that it’s not only the players who are awful (Ronny Ballgame, MMorris) who don’t cut it with new management, but also guys who are simply below average (Jose and his 89 career OPS+). Not that below-average guys can’t be useful (I am, after all, Josh Fogg’s biggest fan), but the place for them, if not the bench, is AAAA. With the LaRoches both on board, Eye Chart makes a fine super sub now. Why have two of them?

by bucdaddy on Aug 14, 2008 9:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I also think...

…his option status played a role here. Since we’re not all that far from the roster expansion, they might’ve just gone with the worst player they weren’t going to lose.

by Vlad on Aug 14, 2008 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why couldn't we try to trade him via waivers instead?

I’m sure he must still have some value and somebody must have a need for a guy like him. He’s having a better year than Scott Rolan; Castillo-SF; Hannahan-Oak; Feliz-Phil; DeWitt-LA; and Zimmerman-WA.

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Aug 14, 2008 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not happening.

Zimmerman (and probably Rolen as well) are superior players who are underperforming. Feliz pulls ahead once you consider gloves. DeWitt is a young player getting his first extended shot at a job, and he’s ticketed for the bench anyway once LA gets Furcal back next month (with Nomar moving to third). Hannahan and Castillo both lost their jobs to other people within the last week, and they were only space-fillers anyway for teams that are running out the string while they build for the future.

If you were going to make a Bautista trade, it’d be to a team that sees him as a supersub UT guy, not a starter. He probably wouldn’t bring back much in return, and as such is more valuable to us as insurance at 3B/OF.

by Vlad on Aug 14, 2008 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

For a good guideline on what we could get:

Look at the trade history for a guy like Rob Mackowiak or Wes Helms or Mike Lamb. A decent reliever at the top end, a C/C+ prospect at the bottom end.

by Vlad on Aug 14, 2008 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You must be right...

Or management would have tried to deal him. I realize his stats are not overwhelming but other than his inability to walk, I’ve always thought of him as a fairly competent player. Perhaps, more offense is expected from a player at this position and that could be why others are not more enamored with him.

It just seems that we are overloaded at this position with the acquisition of LaRoche, Walker at Indy, and possibly Alvarez, and so a trade would make sense.

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Aug 14, 2008 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs