Boras is close to getting Hosmer & Alvarez signed at a stroke before midnight. The Pirates & Royals ask for an extension & it’s granted. At 15 seconds after midnight, Hosmer verbals or signs, Alvarez follows suit seconds later. Both are faxed or emailed to the Commish’s office by 12:05. Two instant lottery winners start dreaming about their millions. Boras gets his $1.2MM for both signing. Two downtrodden teams get what they hope are future stars. Looks to me like everybody walks away a winner. BTW, I made up the times, but realistically can they be far off?

Dejan Kovacevic had said prior to this article on at least a couple occasions in recent months that the organization thinks a lot of Cruz`s development this year-regardless of his error total at Altoona earlier in the season. If they do have some hope for him, then it stands to reason that they want to give him a look in September along with Bixler at 2B and SS in case Wilson is traded, and they probably will dump Rivas anyway.

Jack Wilson has been one of the main faces of the franchise for the last several years.
Let’s just drop the “in case” and get on with it.

is beginning to dull the enthusiasm for drafting Alvarez in the first place. Whatever career he might have with the Pirates is starting to feel tainted already. I’m guessing at least that they’ve learned their lesson about dealing with Scott Boras,as well as anyone who chooses him as an agent.

I totally supported the trades and have not complained.

I was concerned about Lil LaRoche’s non-performance at the ML level with the Dodgers and was very concerned about Hansen’s lack of control. I will be very surprised if LaRoche ever plays at the level of Jose Bautista (which was not a high level) and I hope that somebody (other than Andrews) can do something with Hansen.

Moss played well in limited action in Boston, and he is holding his own in Pittsburgh.

We needed pitchers and we got some decent arms for Nady and Marte. Plus we now have Jose Tabata who, tools-wise, is clearly our number one non-pitching prospect. Nady, Bay and Marte all had to go. I personally do not believe that the Pirates would have won many more games if the three of them had been kept. The Pirates were playing over their heads until the third week of August and the law of averages has simply caught up with them.

They are NOT a good team.

Jack Wilson, regardless of his above average defense, will NEVER play on a winner in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates are bringing up 10 players, but they are not bringing up their two or three best prospects in McCutchen, Tabata and possibly Walker. These are players that Pittsburgh baseball fans want to see NOW and they might sell some tickets for the last home stand. All three will make mistakes, but they deserve some exposure at the big league level in the hope that their development can be accelerated.

And they DON’T have to play everyday. They just need to “experience” the ML environment (even in Pittsburgh!)

I think that you have fallen into the media hype trap in your unwavering support of the new front office. Coonelly and Huntington have said all the right things, they have been better than McClatchy and Littlefield, and even though they have been dubbed as “the best front office in professional sports”, please keep in mind that this came from an owner who may now finally know the difference between a baseball, football and basketball.

The media gave Littlefield a free pass for about five of his six (or was it six of his seven?) years. At some point, if no progress is made, I hope that the media (and you) will start questioning what is going on.

I do not disagree with you totally. My point is that these three need to be exposed to the ML atmosphere regardless of how much playing time they get. Maybe they only play 2-3 times a week. The experience is valuable.

I think Moss is going to be fine. I have always been a supporter of Pearce. While he has not crushed the ball and has shown little power, I like his confident approach at the plate (which almost needs to be toned down a little).

I do not see Michaels, Mientk…, Rivas or Gomez back next year. Pirate bloggers have gone a little too gaga over Mientk…. He is a nice player off the bench, but I’m sure that is rah rah antics in Pittsburgh were never apparent with the Yankees or Red Sox. To me, he is a little over the top.