Bucs Dugout: FanPosts

40-Man Moves

2009-11-20T22:20:53Z

Don't have all the info yet (who we dropped), but was able to find this on usatoday fantasy...

Pirates purchased the contracts of RHP Brad Lincoln, RHP Ramon Augero, RHP Bryan Morris and OF Gorkys Hernandez.

and

Pirates claimed RHP Chris Jakubauskas off waivers from the Mariners.

Jakubauskas posted a 5.32 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 35 appearances (eight starts) with the Mariners this season while battling a few shoulder issues. He turns 31 in December, but the Bucs are desperate for pitching.

These came out at 4:46 and 4:48 pm

Have not been overly impressed with Jakubauskas been haven't watched really close.

Rule 5 possibilities

2009-11-20T20:08:19Z

Now that teams are starting to finalize their rosters prior to today's deadline, I thought it might be fun to create a thread and look at some of the players who will be available to us in this year's Rule 5 draft. We'll be picking second in the draft order, and as such, should have a good opportunity to come away with a useful talent (or two?).

Here are some of the options I like - please add your own in the comments. I'll try to add more to my list periodically, time permitting, though I'm going to be out of town for most of this weekend.

Yohan Pino , RHSP, 6'3'', 158 lbs, born 12/26/83, Cleveland's system. A Venezuelan originally signed by the Twins , Pino was traded to the Indians in the Carl Pavano deal last year. His fastball only reaches the high 80s, and he lacks the physical projection to add any more velocity, but he's got a good curve and slider and strong command of all his pitches. He misses bats (8.1 career K/9), doesn't give many free passes (2.2 career BB/9), and keeps the ball in the park (0.7 HR/9) despite being a flyball pitcher. He's been primarily used as a starter, but also has some experience in relief, and could handle either role. His health record is largely clean - there was some trouble with one of his feet in 2008, but it doesn't seem to have had any lasting effects.

Finesse pitchers sometimes experience diminishing returns with promotion, but I think Pino is a fairly good bet to succeed in the majors, insofar as his component rates have remained strong against more advanced competition (8.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9 in 127 IP this year, mostly at AAA). He does not have a star-level ceiling, which might turn off a front office that reached for the sky with Veal last year, but I think he could do well at the back end of a rotation or in a bullpen for a number of years, and he would be useful right away.

Aneury Rodriguez , RHSP, 6'3", 180 lbs, born 12/13/1987, Tampa Bay's system. Like Pino, Rodriguez was dealt by his original team in 2009, moving from the Rockies to the Rays in exchange for Jason Hammel early in the year. He has better raw stuff than Pino, however, with a fastball that's already in the low 90s and some projection remaining on his frame. He also has a good curveball, and a fairly advanced feel for a changeup for a pitcher of his age (which is not necessarily the same thing as having a functional change for MLB, of course). He maintains a good strikeout rate (career 8.0 K/9) and is solid on walks (career 3.1 BB/9) and home runs (career 0.9 HR/9) despite flyball tendencies. He has been used exclusively as a starter in his pro career, though some scouts see him as a potential bullpen option, and his health record is clean.

Rodriguez has more upper-minors experience than some "live arm" picks, having spent all of 2009 in the rotation of AA Montgomery, but at this point he is probably not ready to compete in the majors, and would likely need to be hidden in a Vogelsong-type role of multi-inning low-leverage situations. He has some weaknesses typical of young pitchers, including a tendency to overthrow, and he could be frustrating to watch next season. Still, he has the potential to be a relatively high-value option down the road, occupying a spot in our rotation in late 2011 or 2012.

Cole Rohrbough , LHSP, 6'3'', 205 lbs., born 5/23/87, Atlanta's system. One of the last high-priced draft-and-follow players before the system was abolished, Rohrbough signed for $675,000 as a 22nd-round pick out of Western Nevada College in 2006 - second-round money at the time. He has a low-to-mid-90s fastball, a big curveball that can be a killer when it's on, and a changeup that's a work in progress. He was regarded as one of Atlanta's top prospects coming into 2009, but had inconsistent mechanics, which led to inconsistent command of his pitches. He also experienced some shoulder soreness last year, though no injury was found, and it was attributed to tendinitis. His rate stats were sound, though not exceptional, with the walk rate (3.7 BB/9) being the biggest concern. His ERA, while ugly, was much higher than those component rates would suggest.

Rohrbough is fairly raw, with no experience above A+ and inconsistent mechanics. He would probably need to be hidden like Veal was last year. There's a fairly high chance that he'll be a bust, but there's also a very high ceiling here - he could be a front-of-the-rotation starter if everything goes right. The team's success with a similar type of pitcher in Veal last year may encourage them to go back to the same well once more with Rohrbough, and we certainly have a need for lefty power arms.

John Raynor , R/R CF, 6'2'', 185 lbs., born 1/4/84, Florida's system. A 9th-round pick out of UNC-Wilmington in 2006, Raynor was the Sally League MVP in 2007. He's one of the fastest players in the minors - timed at 6.3 in the 60 yard dash, with 141 stolen bases in only 418 career games, at a career success rate of 83%. He's mostly played left field, due to a weak throwing arm and some questionable defensive instincts, but could potentially play center with continued improvement. With the bat in his hands, he leverages his foot speed to hit for a good average (.298 career), and can pop a decent number of line drives. He has holes in his swing, however, leading to a fairly high K rate, and he'll probably never have much over-the-fence power. Raynor played at AAA in 2009 and struggled, posting a .255/.326/.357 raw line at New Orleans. His batting average on balls in play this year was significantly below his career norms, however, suggesting that luck may have been partially responsible for his poor performance. He had been dominant in both 2007 and 2008, but was a little bit old for his leagues, so the performance might need to be discounted somewhat. To further complicate matters analytically, he broke a bone in his hand playing in the AFL after the 2008 season, which may have dragged down his 2009 numbers.

The Pirates don't have a crying need for outfielders, but you never say "no" to talent, and it's not a ludicrous fit. Our backup CF from last season (Salazar) is a free agent, and Gorkys is probably at least a year away from being ready for the majors. We could carry Raynor as our fifth outfielder and use him as a PH/PR, a caddy for Cutch, and a late-inning defensive replacement if Garrett Jones ends up as the starting RF. In time, he could develop into a Nyjer-like player if everything goes right, though he'll need to put in a lot of work for that to happen.

The 2010 CHONE projection for Raynor is a .247/.324/.359 line.

To be continued...

Small Market Teams Pocketing Spare Change

2009-11-20T17:19:29Z

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page=rumblings091119

that's the link above to the ESPN article by Jason Stark referencing Scott Boras' comments about small market ownership not properly using the $$$ alotted them in revenue sharing. The Pirates actually come up a couple times in the span of the article, but to Bucco fans this thought isn't anything new as we've all accused Nutting of doing this for years.

Jeebus Cracker

2009-11-19T22:50:35Z

*sigh*

By JAY COHEN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Talk about a freak -- Tim Lincecum needed just 15 wins to bag
another NL Cy Young Award.

Yup, throw out those old baseball cards. Wins and losses don't mean much anymore
when it comes time for voters to pick baseball's best pitchers. It's all about
WHIP, FIP, BABIP and other lines of alphabet soup.

``It's turned into a game of complete numbers and statistics and what people do
with that,'' Lincecum said.

McCutchen's defense

2009-11-17T05:36:08Z

I saw that Rob Neyer had posted his take on the McCutchen vs. Coghlan debate and was a bit surprised when I saw this part:

Knowing that, this would have been an awful choice if McCutchen had played well in center field ... but it's not clear that he did. Last winter, Baseball America wrote about McCutchen, "He has outstanding speed that makes him a basestealing threat and a potential Gold Glover. He has outstanding instincts and an average arm in center field."

You give me a Gold Glover with McCutchen's hitting stats and I'll give you a Rookie of Year, even if he plays on 108 games. But McCutchen doesn't seem to have played Gold Glove defense in 2009. According to Ultimate Zone Rating, he was average at best. According to the Fielding Bible data, he was one of the worst center fielders in the majors.

I looked up the numbers and sure enough, there, towards the bottom of the list, was Andrew McCutchen with a -17. Not quite the ridiculous -37 from McLouth last year, but pretty bad, and far worse than I expected. UZR/150 didn't have him nearly as bad at -1.0, but still not nearly as good as you would hope for from a player like McCutchen.

Interestingly, both measures had the aforementioned McLouth coming out as a decent CF in the positive range. Maybe I'm just reacting to a small sample, but is it possible that coaching/positioning somehow plays with these numbers for Pirate center fielders?

Roberto calling

2009-11-14T07:00:22Z

In my youth, I remember the Pirates first three batters as "Cash, Clines, and Clemente". And I remember the hope of victory which was sustained through that era, the Willie Stargell era, and the brief time of the Drabek, VanSlyke, and Bonds era. Folks, it has been 17 miserable years. Every spring, for us Pirates fans, hope springs eternal because we are tied with every other team--0 wins and 0 losses. And then our owners trot out this lowly paid, minor league talent with a few legitimate major leaguers...we are the consecutive-year losingest major sports team in the history of sports ever. This league needs a salary minimum, not a salary max. The current owners don't care at all about fielding a winner...they care about convincing those of us with eternal hope that we should go to one of the greatest ballparks in baseball and watch the lowest paid team lose because the owners "have a plan". Well the plan is pitiful...they don't care...we have no established talent...and mark my words, they will sell the team when they have squeezed every dollar out of our hopes. We are blessed to have the Rooney's and Mario who care about fielding winners. We need to somehow boycott this disgrace and find someone in Pittsburgh baseball who cares about fielding a winner. I don't know if this post will see the light of day...

Pirates would trade Doumit!

2009-11-13T17:16:52Z

I saw this on MLBTradeRumors.com last night. Apparently this comes for Rosenthal on his blog and he hears that a number of teams approached the Bucs about Doumit during the GM meetings. Reportedly, NH would move Doumit for the right package.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/pirates-could-trade-doumit.html

Now the fact that the Pirates would trade Doumit for the "right package" isn't exactly newsworthy because I believe they would trade anyone for the "right package." The story here, IMO, is the number of teams supposedly inquiring about Doumit. The real question I have is, are teams thinking they can get a buy-low deal on 09' Doumit? Doumit has always been injury prone and that is no secret so how much does last year hurt Doumit's trade value? What kind of return could we expect to receive?

FWIW, the article mentions the Giants, Rays and Mariners as teams that could be interested. That was based on speculation though and not rumors.

John Sickels' Comments on Donnie Veal

2009-11-13T04:03:25Z

From Sickels Blog:

Veal looked terrific. His mechnics have been COMPLETELY rebuilt, much smoother, much better command, throwing FB in the low 90s with better breaking stuff than he’s shown in years.

Pretty nice words to hear from a guy like Sickels. It's encouraging, and combined with the other stuff written about Veal and his stats so far, it makes me feel like there may be something there. I guess well have to wait to the regular season to see if this is for real.

LaRoche to the Phils?

2009-11-12T21:01:02Z

David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News is speculating (http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20091112_Phillies_like_the_third-base_market.html) that Phillies GM Rueban Amaro Jr. has talked to the Pirates about a trade for Andy LaRoche. I would be curious to see what Amaro would be willing to offer, but, to me, it does not appear to be a good time to trade Luigi. Neil Walker is not, and will probably never be, ready to start at the major league level. Pedro Alvarez will most likely start the year at Indy, so there is, at this time, no internal replacement for LaRoche. Most importantly, I think trading Andy now would be selling low. He developed last year, and it looks like he still has untapped potential.

Ohlendorf Blogging: USDA can't keep him "down on the farm."

2009-11-11T20:35:56Z

Via J. Langosch, Pirates' pitcher Ross Ohlendorf, who is interning with the USDA this off-season has posted his first blog entry about his experience.

... Instead of returning to Austin after the baseball season, I came to Washington, DC to take advantage of this great opportunity to learn about both agriculture and the government while also making a difference.

Interestingly, the entry does not include any references to Congressional or Senate husbandry.

Perhaps he can get the Pirates some fat subsidies.

Tigers as trade partners?

2009-11-11T15:01:55Z

NH has shown already that he's at least going to be involved in talks this off-season with the Aki acquisition and the Hardy-Capps trade that wasn't.

Mlbtraderumors.com has a small piece on a few Tiger's players and I couldn't help but think the Pirates fit their needs very well, and vice versa.

First, the Tigers have too much money tied up in star players, so they're exploring trading Edwin Jackson before he becomes a FA in 2012. Jackson, once a TB prospect, had a breakout first half last season before struggling in the second half. Still, he's 26 and is controlled through 2011. This, to me, would be a guy the Pirates would have to target if he is available.

Second, the Tigers are exploring trading Gerald Laird to get an adequate replacement for a fraction of the 2.88 million he made last year. Jason Jaramillo has proven himself more than adequate when given the chance to play everyday and would be as good, probably better than Laird, who often looks slow and out of shape.

Third, RP Brandon Lyons recently became a free agent. The Tigers are interested in bringing him back, but the price Lyons may get on the market may be higher than what the Tigers want to pay. Clearly Matt Capps is a tradeable piece right now and would come cheap and controllable for the Tigers.

Now, maybe Jackson isn't even being considered in any deal, although I'd love the Pirates to grab him. Still, I think with the Pirates willingness to trade Capps and excess at the catcher position, the Tigers would be good trade partners this offseason.

Ideally: Edwin Jackson for Capps, Jaramillo, and... Gorkys maybe? A decent option for when Granderson's legs get a little slower in a few years. Seems pretty even to me.

Thoughts in general?

wilson wins fielding bible award

2009-11-11T00:27:05Z

The Fielding Bible, which is a Bill James thing, has announced its conclusion of the best fielder at every position, and Jack Wilson wins at SS. The link shows that they have been giving the awards since 2006, but Wilson is the first Pirate to show up (of course, at a time when he was no longer a Pirate). Some players, like Pujols, have won every year, but at other positions it has changed every year, so the voters don't just go by legacy.

http://www.billjamesonline.net/fieldingbible/the-winners.asp

Nats Swipe Bryan Minniti

2009-11-10T14:58:13Z

"The Nationals have hired former Mets and Orioles manager Davey Johnson as a senior advisor and Bryan Minnitti [sic], the Pirates' director of baseball operations, as Rizzo's assistant GM." -Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports

Minniti had been with the Pirates for nine years, joining them initially as an intern while still in college at Pitt, and then working his way up through the ranks. Notably, he was one of the few Littlefield staffers deemed competent enough to be worth keeping around after Huntington was hired. Assistant GM is a promotion from his current position, so there probably isn't too much mystery about why he's leaving - he just got a better offer.

Best of luck, Bryan.

What's to become of Neil Walker?

2009-11-08T11:44:28Z

With the trade taking place for Iwamura. It certainly seems that barring any injury Andy Laroche will hold down 3rd at least until Pedro's arrival to Pittsburgh. Also, Pedro is going to have to get all the playing time at 3rd in Indy to prove he can be adequate at 3rd in the majors (speaking in terms of his defense of course). So where does this leave Neil Walker. I know his numbers haven't been impressive enough for him to supplant Andy at 3rd for the time being. Or, do you think he still has a shot at doing so. Or would he have any value as a bench player. Seems the future is pretty uncertain for Neil at this point. Any thoughts?

Pittsburgh Proud

2009-11-08T00:29:21Z

Congratulations to the Pitt Panthers for a sold performance today against Syracuse. I keep trying to put a Pirate starting lineup together in my mind. Sure is a difficult job. Maybe we should go back to the Bob Prince "animal nicknames" for the players system. Maybe ownership would keep them around longer if the players seemed more warm and fuzzy. It's hard to do when the players aren't here very long. Playing here is like being on a continuous road-trip - never really unpack. But . . . time to end the negativity !!! This year we will get to know the names of all the players AND scare the league!

Pirates rotation next year

2009-11-06T20:25:03Z

So the first three spots in the rotation, baring trades of course, are pretty much set with Maholm, Ohlendorf and Duke taking the three locks up. But what abou the rest. Free Agency starts soon and there are going to be some serviceable number 4 and number 5 guys out there.

I think Morton is going to be in the rotation baring injury. I'd like to see him in more of 5th starter role rather than the number 4 guy. Here are my candidates for the Pirates (Free Agent/Trades/Already in the organization)

Brett Myers: Told today by the Phillies they aren't pursuing a contract with him. Myers would be relatively cheap and could bring an experienced arm to our rotation. He'd be a number 4 starter if we get him.

Daniel McCutchen: Impressed a little bit at the end of the year in his September Callup. I like him more as a long relief type but I don't think the Pirates Management see it that way. Will be in spring training vying for the fifth starter job with Veal, Hacker, Karstens,Hart and whoever else they bring in

Kevin Hart: Was the Pirates 5th starter once acquired at the trade deadline. was very unimpressive but looks like the frontrunner for the 5th starter job. Would really like to see him as a middle reliever though I think he can be a very solid MR. He was lights out for Iowa Cubs outta the bullpen.

Donnie Veal: Pitched ok out of the bullpen this year but at times look like he didnt belong in the big leagues this year. The looks like he's on the outside looking in on the rotation for next year and will start the season at AAA and will be called up when hes ready or someone in the rotation goes on the DL.

Virgil Vazquez: More than likely not going to even make the opening day roster. Was bad when he pitched this year in the big leagues with a few good outings. He's in the same situation as Veal is.

Rich Harden: Cash would be a reason that he wont come, also might not want to play for a perennial loser. But Pittsburgh could be appealing for Harden because hed be an ace on the staff and he could pitch for Joe Kerrigan. Longshot this happens at best.

Jason Marquis: Marquis could be enticing to Huntington because he will be reasonably priced and might be as sought after as Harden or Lackey. He's familiar with the NL Central with his time with the Cubs and again Joe Kerrigan could be an enticing option for him. Another longshot but not as much of a long shot as Harden.

I didnt put Brad Lincoln in this list because hes going to start at AAA and will be a september callup next year.

What do you think? Did I miss anyone?

Rich Harden

2009-11-06T20:12:30Z

My bad if this ground has already been covered.... but would Harden be a good move for the Pirates? his contract is going to be hard to predict, given his injury issues, but say for a two-year contract? The Pirates have enough spare payroll lying around that they could afford the risk, say 7 mil for two years, with some incentives?

On a simlar note, how about Ben Sheets? He'd probably be worthless until midseason or later, but who is better positioned right now than the Pirates, to take a risk like that? Risk: waste some money, and burn a roster spot while he shows he's toast. Upside: Get an ace for cheap.

JJ Hardy traded to the Twins!

2009-11-06T17:58:24Z

Wow the hot stove season has gotten off to an early start. The Tehan trade was finally made official and I just read on MLBTradeRumors.com that JJ Hardy has been dealt to the Twins for Carlos Gomes.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/twins-acquire-jj-hardy.html

I think Minnesota did pretty well here. I definitely thought Hardy could get more than a no hit all glove CF (albeit a really good glove). I have admit I was secretly hoping the Bucs could acquire him. He would have been a nice stop gap unitl D' Arnaud, or someone else, is ready. I have no problems with Cedeneo but I think we can do better defensively.

Lot of Pent Up News from World Series No Fly Zone

2009-11-05T20:49:50Z

Angels resign Abreu

Putz' option declined

Daniel Cabrerra becomes free agent

Chad Tracy's option declined

John Garland's option declined

Teahan (KC) traded to the White Sox for Josh Fields and Chris Getz

White Sox resign Kotsay

Yusmeiro Petit (remember he shut out the Bucs, or came close) claimed by Mariners, Doug Slaten by the Nats

Trent Oeltjen & Alex Romero outrighted to AAA

Scott Proctor signs with Altanta

One other thing on my mind, and that's Jose Tabata. Singles hitter, gap power doubles hitter, or home run hitter? I've heard Keith Law say he hits well but is not interested in doing anything else. He's still young (if that can be believed) and he looked like a stud last spring training, but quite honestly I have no idea how good he will be.

opinions?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

Let's say we didn't trade Freddy...

2009-11-05T02:33:36Z

...and he had been injured so his option did not vest. Now he can be a free agent. Iwamura is available. The Germans won the war and Spock has grown a beard and I have to get to 75 words so I'm desparately trying to come up with other absurd juxtapositions to show that we are in a bizarre parallel universe that does not bear any rational relationship to our own. If you choose option D, explain your work in a comment below.

Poll

Who would you rather have at 2B for the Pirates in 2010?

Freddy for 2 years at 6 million/year

21 votes

Iwamura for 1 year at the price we just got

131 votes

An internal option - DY or L'il Luigi

12 votes

Hey Dufus, you forgot about this option

5 votes

169 votes | Poll has closed