Pirates Send Pedro Alvarez to Minors

by Charlie Wilmoth on Mar 19, 2010 1:22 PM EDT

The Pirates have cut Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, Jon Van Every and Doug Bernier from major league camp. Van Every and Bernier are no real surprise; I thought Van Every might have some remote shot at a bench outfielder job, but not much of one, given the amount of competition there. And Bernier is just Class AAA infield depth.

As for Alvarez, you can imagine this is about service time if you want, and maybe that really is a factor--I don't know. It wouldn't bother me if it were, because I don't want Alvarez leaving a year early, or to have the Pirates paying $5 million extra for him in a year in which they could be competitive. But there are very compelling baseball reasons to leave him in the minors too. A few months ago I wrote about the parallels between Alex Gordon's career and Alvarez's. Like Alvarez, Gordon was widely viewed as a top talent when he was coming out of college, and he spent his first pro season after being drafted just destroying the ball at Class AA. The Royals made him their starting third baseman at the start of the following year, and it's been all downhill since then. Many baseball people think the reason why is that Gordon didn't have enough time in the minors.

To me, it's pretty basic. There is no urgent need to have Alvarez in the big leagues right now, since the Pirates are terrible. There is no proof that Alvarez would be a star right away and, judging from the mediocre performances of fellow college phenoms like Gordon and Matt Wieters, reasons to think he might not. Alvarez also has not had a day of hitting at the Class AAA level. That's where I'd send him, regardless of considerations about playing time or money.

The Pirates also reassigned four injured pitchers, leaving the number of players in camp at 45.

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Comments

I wouldn’t say Matt Wieters’ performance last year was mediocre. He was approximately an average hitter in ’09 (97 OPS+), which I would imagine puts him at least in the top third of offensive talent behind the plate (with regards to rate stats for last year).

by wickethewok on Mar 19, 2010 1:34 PM EDT reply actions

Wieters

Didn’t really turn it on until September or so if I remember correctly. And, considering how well some people thought he would hit out of the gate (and those crazy PECOTA stats he was projected to have) I think led some people to be a little down on him last year.

by Slizeezyc on Mar 19, 2010 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions

AAA seems right

He tore up AA last year in half a season, would be repetitive to send him back there. If he does the same in AAA, they can call him up in June and let him tear it up in Pittsburgh.

Same for Tabata, he was ok down in AAA last year for a short time, just see if he can repeat it. Do they think he has what it takes to take over Jones, Church or Moss, or ishe perceived as a 4th OF type. I know that he slid a little when he was first dealt to you guys.

by backtocali on Mar 19, 2010 2:53 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed

I’m with Charlie and cali here. I have no problem with a team in Pirates position (ie, non-contending) finagling service time to avoid arbitration/FA. Even if that weren’t an issue, there is no reason to rush either player to the majors and the risk likely outweighs the potential reward — what, 75 wins instead of 70 if they both play well?

Hopefully Alvarez, Tabata & Lincoln do what they have to do in AAA then arrive as scheduled (we assume) in the summer. I can see Lincoln coming earlier if a starter implodes or gets hurt (which never happens to Pirates pitchers) and Tabata later due to his age & a plethora of OFs. I think Pedro will be handled in the same manner as McCutchen — if he takes care of business in Indy, he’ll be up right around the time he coincidentally misses out on super-2 status. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

by King Oskar on Mar 19, 2010 3:58 PM EDT reply actions

Ditto

Charlie makes good points about Alvarez. I thought he should start the season in Pittsburgh but you changed my mind.

Tom Gilroy

by Tom Gilroy on Mar 20, 2010 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Agreed again,

For the front office to do anything else would make me doubt their ability to run the organization.

by MDBuc on Mar 19, 2010 5:25 PM EDT reply actions

DK notes at the PBC blog...

per Neal Huntington, the Pirates wanted to keep them up in camp, but after today(or yesterday or whenever it was) if they got injured in Major league camp then this year would be considered their first year of service time. I assume that would be the case only if they had to go on the DL, but I’m not sure.

by escroll on Mar 19, 2010 8:38 PM EDT reply actions

40-man roster players

If a player on the 40-man who did not appear in the majors last season were to be hurt and have to be DL’d, he would accrue MLB service time for his time on the DL, possibly for the full year……ask the Mariners how much value they got out of losing an entire year of A-Rod’s service time by not sending him to the minors prior to the strike, just so he could get his “taste of the Show”!

by BobSkinner on Mar 19, 2010 9:10 PM EDT up reply actions

The players were credited with service time even though they were on strike? I didn’t realize that. Was that part of the bargain that ended the strike?

by epoc on Mar 19, 2010 9:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Strike service time

As long as you were on the 25-man roster, you were given credit retroactively….and that stupid mistake cost Seattle big time…..

by BobSkinner on Mar 19, 2010 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Pedro/Tabata

Sending these guys down was the absolute right move. While Alvarez looked good, he did not tear it up. Better to let him get on a roll and they call him up while he is hot. Same for Tabata.

by Batavia on Mar 19, 2010 10:14 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed with the decision

For every AB that Alvarez had that made me think he’s completely ready he also had an AB that made me think he was overmatched, and is not ready. Send him to AAA, and make him earn his way to Pittsburgh…

by FusilliJerry88 on Mar 20, 2010 4:39 AM EDT reply actions

I wrote it on another thread

but it looked like Alvarez really had a great attitude about being sent down too, pretty much, They know better than I do.

by bucdaddy on Mar 20, 2010 12:06 PM EDT reply actions

So the logic is, the Pirates really stink so lets let them stink some more by sending down guys that are really better than what we have up here, because we admit we really stink, so they can hit and pitch against minor leaguers, AGAIN, so that someday we can call them up and see how exciting they are when we are already 20 games out instead of finding out if they can bring that excitement to the new year, if only for the first month. Theses guys are professional athletes, it’s their life, if you somehow rush them and they go 0-30, send them down, if they can’t recoup and get over it, guess what ?

by mackint on Mar 22, 2010 3:37 PM EDT reply actions