News Roundup: Burnitz Speaks, Santos Might Relieve, Thor Trade Rumors

by Charlie on Jul 6, 2006 12:37 AM EDT in News Comment 4 comments

-P- The Post-Gazette's notebook has a lot of interesting stuff.

As a player, Jeromy Burnitz is awful, but he's got to be the Post-Gazette's Most Valuable Interviewee so far this year:

"I think it would be a great opportunity, as it is every year, if you're not on a team that's doing well, to get traded to one that has an obviously better opportunity to win," he said...

...Burnitz added: "Everybody who's a part of this expected to be more competitive. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you I honestly felt like the Pirates were going to go all Banzai into the playoffs. My mind-set, based on what I saw of the players and pitchers before, was that there always was that possibility. It looked like a good base of players. But the hopes were definitely higher than how it's worked out."

Hear, hear, Jeromy. Now please go all Banzai on National League pitching for a month, so that the Pirates can trade your crappy contract.

-P- The Post-Gazette also reports that Victor Santos may join the bullpen, rather than the rotation, when he returns. I'm all for this - Tom Gorzelanny has only had one start, but it was good, and given how terrible our starting pitching has been, we're in no position to send guys who give us good starts back to the minors. And having a guy like Santos in the pen to soak up multiple innings every so often could help the Bucs' overworked bullpen quite a lot. (In case you're wondering, the last time Santos logged much time in a big-league bullpen was in 2001 in Detroit. He posted a 3.30 ERA that year.)

-P- Kip Wells was actually good after the first inning in last night's start against the Mets, allowing no more hits after the first. But his velocity wasn't there, and you can't just pretend the first inning didn't happen when projecting how he's going to do in the future. I'd bet there are still some rough times ahead for Wells. The Pirates' offense last night, meanwhile, was pathetic.

-P- Regarding Craig Wilson, trade talks between the Angels and Pirates aren't going anywhere:

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are thought to be interested in acquiring Wilson. However, discussions between with the Pirates have cooled as the talent-rich Angels consider the asking price for Wilson too steep. The Pirates are believed to be seeking a major league-ready position player with fewer than three years of MLB experience and a pitching prospect.

This is interesting. In the past, Dave Littlefield has screwed up trades and potential trades by asking way too much for his players, or by insisting on acquiring major-league ready talent. This time, he's doing both. Most of the Angels' "major-league ready position players" are way out of the Pirates' league. In addition, Angels GM Bill Stoneman has been reluctant to deal prospects in the past. Of course, I don't know exactly what Littlefield's planning here, but I think it's safe to assume he's barking up the wrong tree again.

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The Angels

Already have Craig Wilson in Robb Quinlan and they frankly shouldn't be looking at temporary fixes like this - let Kotchman, Mathis, Kendrick et al get playing time. Adding a Craig Wilson, at any price, doesn't make sense.

That said, if the Pirates could swindle a GM not named Towers or Williams for once, it'd be nice. And the Angels do have a ton of prospects - my fear is that Littlefield and Tracy are agog over the idea of adding Chone Figgins to the roster.

by Greg Schuler on Jul 6, 2006 8:19 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Burnitz

And back to Jeromy - he has been pretty bad this season and I doubt he returns much more than Matt Lawton last year (who put up better numbers in a different role).

Same for Randa - any team that actually gives up something more than a fungible AA reliever really needs their collective head examined.

I think the best chance the Pirates have at trading a veteran and receiving a decent return is Roberto Hernandez and Damaso Marte. Teams always feel uncomfortable with their pitching and Hernandez and Marte, to a lesser extent, have done well this season.

by Greg Schuler on Jul 6, 2006 8:22 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

exactly what bucdaddy said

Let me get this straight: he's not good enough to play regularly over Jeromy Burnitz, but you want a front line prospect for him? He can't crack the lineup of the worst team in baseball, but he's worth a major leauge player in return? The only reason I want to see Craig traded is so he can get on with his life.

by KPatrick on Jul 6, 2006 9:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs