Seattle Times: Jack Wilson to Mariners?

by Charlie Wilmoth on May 18, 2009 11:16 PM EDT

I've been tending to some rather important non-baseball things the past couple days and hadn't been able to give blogging as much attention as I'd like, but I'd like to review a pretty juicy trade rumor and an addition to the 40-man roster. Thanks to everyone who's kept things active in the FanPosts and the comment threads.

-P- The Seattle Times reports that the Bucs and Mariners could swap shortstops, with Yuniesky Betancourt coming to Pittsburgh and Jack Wilson heading to Seattle. Other players could be involved. Betancourt is younger but more costly, as he's guaranteed about $10.5 million over the next three years. Betancourt isn't much of a hitter or defender, and at 27 he probably doesn't have a whole lot of headroom. If the Pirates are considering this, they need to get other players as well.

-P- The Pirates continue to raid the Yankees' farm system for pitching depth, grabbing Steven Jackson off waivers and releasing the injured Jimmy Barthmaier. Jackson came to the Yankees along with Ross Ohlendorf in the Randy Johnson deal. He was a starter in the Diamondbacks system, but had a couple of mediocre years out of the 'pen as a Yankee farmhand before suddenly racking up a bunch of strikeouts last year. He isn't young, but he's a decent bet to pitch capably right away, if needed. He's also pitched lots of multi-inning stretches, which could make him helpful in a time like this.

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I’d like this trade if we could get some young relief help as a part of it.

Maybe Wilson and Moskos for Betancourt and Mark Lowe?

Juan Ramirez might be shooting a bit high, but he’d interest me as well.

by Suffering Buc on May 18, 2009 11:31 PM EDT reply actions

Maybe it's just me...

but it seems like the last few days…the Pirates seem to want to flip their minor league pitching staffs. That’s 3 pitchers picked up in the last 4 days or so. And we haven’t seen anyone leave.

I guess that somewhere along the line…a minor league pitcher or two is going to get released. Jason Davis comes to mind immediately.

by Thunder on May 18, 2009 11:33 PM EDT reply actions

What do you guys think of Jeff Clement as a prospect? Do you think Betancourt + Clement would be fair for Wilson?

LH hitting catcher. His defensive abilities are said to be limited and he is coming off a significant knee injury. He does, however, have plus power. He may or may not be able to stick at catcher. Even if he doesn’t stick at catcher, perhaps we could team him with Pearce at 1B as the LH part of a platoon.

by houksyndrome on May 19, 2009 1:36 AM EDT reply actions

I think Catcher is the least of our worries with RobinZONE and Jam Master Jay looking solid filling in for Doumit, who is, you know, our cleanup hitter.

McLouth is The Trouth

by GTrain on May 19, 2009 9:47 AM EDT up reply actions

That's why I mentioned that he could also play 1B if we needed him to.

His bat plays fine at 1B, especially if we platoon him with Pearce there. If you look at both guys’ LH/RH splits from 2009, that appears to be a pretty fierce platoon. However, I can’t find their entire minor league splits, so I don’t know the robustness of their LH/RH splits.

by houksyndrome on May 19, 2009 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions

"Robustness"

I like it!

I'd rather be dead than singing "Satisfaction" at forty-five. -- M. Jagger

by cocktailsfor2 on May 19, 2009 6:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Minor league splits

Here are Clement’s for this year so far. From there you can click on a year or career. For his career, and just about any other year, the platoon is not robusty at all. This year, however, wow!

.107/.219/.143 v. LH (28 AB)
.316/.398/.602 v. RH (98 AB)

by azibuck on May 19, 2009 10:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Keep in mind:

All right-handed batters regress toward a 1.07 platoon split.

This doesn’t change things for Clement, of course, but it should be factored into your calculations for the Pearce half of a platoon.

by Vlad on May 20, 2009 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions

Seattle Would NEVER Make This Deal

by thegunner on May 19, 2009 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions

I don’t think they have any interest in giving up Clement for that little. Clement still is a solid prospect especially at the catcher position.

by Slizeezyc on May 19, 2009 3:06 AM EDT reply actions

Seattle has depth at catcher, though.

In addition to Johjima and Clement, they’ve also got Rob Johnson and Adam Moore.

I wouldn’t mind grabbing Moore – I think he’s going to be a player. I’m also fairly high on Michael Pineda.

by Vlad on May 19, 2009 7:37 AM EDT up reply actions

if only to see

pineda vs. pinero, i’m all for it

by tim815 on May 19, 2009 10:00 AM EDT up reply actions

Season's early yet...

…but Pineda’s really kicking ass at High Desert, particularly when you consider the environment.

by Vlad on May 20, 2009 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions

It doesn't seem like Seattle is that high on Clement - I have no "inside" info to back that up, just a hunch. Last year they gave Johjima tons of PT over Clement, even before his injury.

If they have other prospects behind Clement, then they may be thinking of Clement as a DH-only guy right now, in which case, his value to them would be much lower.

by houksyndrome on May 19, 2009 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

They gave Johjima a ton of PT...

…because they’re owned by Nintendo, and he’s a popular player in Japan.

IIRC.

by Vlad on May 20, 2009 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Dominican Facility

I just saw the video on the team website, link at PBC blog. I thought it looked nice in pictures but the video is awesome. In high school we went down to the Disney Wide World of sports complex for a week and that was what these facilities reminded me of. Really impressive

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4535425&c_id=pit

I see this thing really paying off down the road.

McLouth is The Trouth

by GTrain on May 19, 2009 10:10 AM EDT reply actions

OK wishful thinking on Clement I guess

I am from central Iowa so I have had my eye on Clement ever since he was in 8th grade and launched a homer over these 60 foot tall trees that we had behind our right field fence. He did this against our varsity team – HE WAS IN 8TH GRADE! It was still the longest shot that I ever saw a high school player hit. I’ve wanted him to be a Pirate ever since.

by houksyndrome on May 19, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

Unrelated but

does anything think that Freddy Sanchez to the Brewers might be possible with Weeks now out for the season? Brewers have been playing well and look like a contender for the Central and they have a deep minor league system which could be great for the Pirates.

Anyone else think this is a possibility (I know opinions on trading Sanchez tend to be mixed on this blog) or should I pass what I’m smokin’?

I made most of my life decisions at a Foghat concert... I stand by them.

by Chester J Lampwick on May 19, 2009 1:57 PM EDT reply actions

Pass that stuff over...

How about Sanchez for Weeks? They need production now. They have Escobar in AAA for next year. Weeks, though injured, is younger and would be under our control for at least 2010 and 2011, maybe more (not sure how his DL time effects his arbitration status). Weeks showed this year that his high upside is still there.

by Chad Bahamas on May 19, 2009 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions