Pirates Sign Craig Monroe

by Charlie Wilmoth on Jan 13, 2009 2:13 PM EST

The Pirates have signed Craig Monroe to a minor-league deal. The Pirates' preference is for Steve Pearce to play at Indianapolis, so Monroe now has a pretty clear shot at making the team. Which would be unfortunate, because he can't hit at all. Monroe has never drawn many walks, and his ability to hit for contact has deserted him in the past few years too, so all he's left with is a bit of power. I'm not sure he's an upgrade on Jason Michaels, and that's saying something.

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Ick.

Below-average hitter, below-average defender, and past his prime. I guess the silver lining here is that if Pearce IS a real killer in spring training, it won’t be too hard to shove Monroe out of the way.

I wonder who in our scouting department has such a hard-on for Monroe. If you recall, it was DL’s reported insistance on getting Monroe that killed the original Jack-to-the-Tigers trade.

by Vlad on Jan 13, 2009 2:54 PM EST reply actions

Call it Randall Simon Syndrome

Some scouts just love guys who swing at every pitch. I don’t know why, but they do.

by WTM on Jan 13, 2009 3:38 PM EST up reply actions

This is a minor league signing

So Pearce still gets a shot to win right field. All of the available ML outfielders are left handed: Abreu, Edmonds, Griffey, Hinske, Kotsay, Posednik, and Wilkerson.

Viva Clemente!

by Roberto on Jan 13, 2009 2:57 PM EST reply actions

agreed

no harm in bringing in some competition. the problem arises if/when we don’t have enough talent to deny him a major league job.

by johnnycuff on Jan 13, 2009 3:14 PM EST up reply actions

Nothing wrong with a lefty.

I’d rather have a LHB who can hit than a RHB who can’t hit (or do anything else).

And if it’s a righty or nothing, there were still other options. I mean, Moises Alou’s older than dirt, but at least he gets on base more than once a week.

by Vlad on Jan 13, 2009 3:15 PM EST up reply actions

Also, Kotsay signed.

He’s going to be a backup for the Red Sox.

by Vlad on Jan 13, 2009 4:19 PM EST up reply actions

Vlad wrote:

“I mean, Moises Alou’s older than dirt, but at least he gets on base more than once a week.”

Maybe he’d like to finish his career where it started.

Of the guys Roberto mentions, I’d hesitate to sign most of them. What motivation would there be for them to even try, especially for a team like the Bucs? Perhaps we could get some cheap miles out of a guy like Podsednik and his gimpy legs, and Wilkerson might still have something to prove, but the others? How many times have we been burned in the past decade and a half?

by patthatt on Jan 13, 2009 3:25 PM EST reply actions

What....

do the Pirates seemingly have against Steve Pearce?! They seem determined never to give him a legitimate shot,even after his very auspicous finish last season. This is the kind of thing that makes it almost impossible to be a Pirate fan anymore.

by rissaldar on Jan 13, 2009 3:43 PM EST reply actions

Good question

Pearce is 26 (almost) and made some progress last September. But he swings at bad pitches sometimes so he has to stay in the minors longer. Meanwhile, Monroe will be 32 in a few weeks, swings at even more bad pitches than Pearce, and fell to pieces over the last two years, so he should be in the majors (possibly). It’s Bizarro World!!

by WTM on Jan 13, 2009 6:07 PM EST up reply actions

It’ll be a while before we know what the Pirates’ plans for Monroe are. But I think the idea of Pearce going back to Indianapolis would be a lot easier to take if it were possible to buy that the Pirates still view him as a prospect. Plainly, though, they don’t.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Jan 13, 2009 7:18 PM EST up reply actions

I think the fact that they played Nyjer Morgan over him on an everyday basis in September, when there was no AAA development to be had, conclusively shows they do not consider Pearce a prospect.

by WTM on Jan 13, 2009 10:54 PM EST up reply actions

I think they came into last year...

…not knowing exactly what they had in him, and then after he had such a hot spring trainig and then such a cold start at AAA, they didn’t know what to think of him or expect from him in the future.

The key test is whether they’re willing to let him play his way into their plans over the course of this year, or whether they persist in thinking that he can’t be trusted even if he responds well.

by Vlad on Jan 13, 2009 11:25 PM EST up reply actions