Pirates Stove Heating Up

After a slow and incredibly boring start to their offseason that culminated with the signing of Ramon Vazquez, the Pirates look as though they are finally set to make some moves to get things jumpstarted. And that is at least a little bit encouraging for us sickened Pirates fans.

Obviously the big highlight is the contract extension signed by Ryan Doumit yesterday. The contract for Doumit is a pretty nice on in my eyes. The deal should really only be evaluated on its 3 year amount, as I've always thought its pretty foolish to base any deal on the options because its so difficult to say what the state of Doumit and the state of the Pirates will be 3 years from now. Plus, if Doumit performs like the Pirates hope, the last year will likely be irrelevant, either because the team has turned itself around and the Bucs sign him to a new extension before that sesaon, or because the team still hasn't turned around and they deal him for spare parts (God I hope not!).

The three year deal has guaranteed money of 11.5 million, which is a pretty reasonable base pay for a catcher capable of becoming one of the 2 or 3 best hitters in the bigs at his position. If Doumit were to play all 5 years here and reach max incentives (highly unlikely given some of the clauses) the deal could reach 27 million, but if he does reach max incentives, then this deal is pretty much highway robbery for the Bucs it'd be so good.

The curious, and perhaps creative, thing about this deal is that the option years are triggered or declined at the same time. I can't recall seeing this type of deal anywhere else, though it's probably been exercised somewhere. So this essentially amounts to a 3 year contract and then a 2 year contract if the Pirates want it to be. The options are for at least 7.25 and 8.25 million per season (they go up if he reaches some clauses), so that second contract would be quite lucrative for Doumit and quite expensive for the Pirates if they choose to exercise it.

Some other moves the Pirates are making or considering:

-It appears neither Paul Maholm or Nate McLouth are going to get extensions done with the Pirates. Not too surprising, and in all honesty, I'm not too upset about either case. It may not be a popular view, but I think McLouth is headed for a regression season in 2009. Don't get me wrong, I like Nate, but to pay him based on his 08 season is folly, and I want to see it again from in 2009 before I am a firm believer. Never before in his career had he really performed anywhere near the level of last season, and I was also concerned by the major drop-off in his numbers following the all-star break last season. His OPS fell by over 100 points between his great pre-break numbers and his only a little above average post-break numbers. I do think he is definitely a nice starter around which the team can certainly build, but I don't see the urgency to lock him up. The same goes for Paul Maholm. I think Maholm is also a good piece to build upon, but I don't view him as much more than a 3 starter and think he could also be headed for a regression. He rarely gets any bats to miss, which isn't what you need from a top starter if you look at things from a statistical standpoint.

-The Pirates lost out on the Daniel Cabrera sweepstakes (oh darn...) but apparently were willing to bid quite a bit of money for his services, more even than the team Cabrera ended up signing with, the Washington Nationals, who gave him an exorbitant 2.6 million dollars. Really? The Pirates were going to offer him more than 2.6 million dollars? Who the hell thought that was a good idea. Sure the guy's got some skills, but look at these numbers! What part of those statistics offers encouragement to baseball people? Why are they constantly so enamored with Cabrera? I mean, maybe, just maybe, he just needed a change of scenery and his absolutely dreadful 2008 season was just the result of that, but is is worth 2.6 million dollars to find out? Absolutely not! This guy should be coming into major league camps on a minor-league deal, at best. If teams keep throwing this kind of dough at him, where's his incentive to improve?

-It appears as though the Bucs are more than willing to head into 2009 with Jumpin' Jack playing shortstop. Not exactly a shock at this point. And truth be told, I'm not too upset about this development, as clearly any prospect return would have been pretty minimal. My question, though, is this: Why not similarly offer to trade Freddy Sanchez? I know the Pirates just gave him an extension last offseason, but it's not like he is badly overpaid. And second base, for whatever reason, has become a much more scarce position in MLB nowadays than shortstop. Granted, they'd be trading Freddy at his lowest value in a couple years, always a no-no, but at least there are several teams out there that think he can at least return to 07 form if not his award winning 06 form. In 07, he had a .785 OPS, with a respectable .343 OBP. There are several teams with holes at second base right now where Freddy would be an upgrade at those numbers: Major upgrade for the Mets, White Sox, A's, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Royals (hard to say if they'd really be interested though), and Padres (unlikely because they're rebuilding, but still), and slight upgrade for Arizona, Cleveland (only slight because Asdrubal Cabrera is much younger and still has upside), the Twins (I'm not at all sold on Alexi Casilla and I doubt they are either), the Dodgers (Blake Dewitt has a nice upside, but is coming off a solid but unspectacular rookie campaign for a team that wants to contend now), the Giants (unlikely because they are rebuilding and have some in-house prospects). That's an awful lot of teams that Neal Huntington should be spinning his web to, and, while behind the scenes he may be, it certainly isn't a widely known fact, which makes me think it probably isn't a very active front.

-Denny Bautista will be brought back on a minor-league deal, and Chris Bootcheck was similarly signed to a minor league deal. Nothing too exciting at all on either one of these fronts, and let's hope both don't have to put on the Pirates jersey at any time after March.

-The Pirates are apparently after Rocco Baldelli, which is a surprising twist that I certainly didn't see coming. I mean yeah Baldelli has a load of talent, but he's been hurt how many times over the years, and is still dealing with the bizarre disorder that is plaguing his body and has caused him to miss a ton of time. Unless this is a very low-commitment deal, I don't like what I'm hearing. With Brandon Moss on the mend and little else in the way of outfield talent besides Nate McLouth looking major league capable (sorry I'm not at all a Nyjer Morgan fan), I'd rather put our resources elsewhere (like bringing back the now lost Jason Michaels) then pinning hopes on a deal with the enigmatic Baldelli.

-Hyzdu Headquarters has a rundown of the top 10 prospects in the Pirates system according to Kyle Stark on a recent FSN piece. I was a little surprised to see Andrew McCutchen ahead of Pedro Alvarez, but suspect that's mostly just because Stark hasn't seen enough of Pedro as a pro to fully grasp his abilities. I was also a little surprised to see Neil Walker all the way up at 6 given his struggles of the last two seasons, but then again, who else would be ahead of him? Also interesting was that Stark noted the two guys on that list to watch out for in this coming season are the two McCutchens, the aforementioned Andrew and the unmentioned Daniel. I suspect Daniel will probably not make the opening day rotation but will be among the first one or two called up when the inevitable ineffectiveness/ injury hits a starter early in the season. But I was much more excited to finally hear someone in the Pirates organization openly admit that Andrew McCutchen is close to big-league ready. Again, I don't think he is given much of a chance to make the opening day roster, but remember 2 years ago when he had a phenomenal spring and many in and around the franchise were claiming he could be up by mid-season 07? Yeah...so much for that. It seems like Cutch has been our top prospect forever, yet he just recently turned 22 years old. I think that, given the alarming lack of talent in the outfield, McCutchen will be all but forced into the bigs by the June or July when the team finally gives up on Nyjer Morgan as a everyday guy. To me this makes a world of sense, because he will be able to work out a lot of the kinks that typically plague rookies for these few months, and then should have an excellent footing established for the 2010 season. Not that any rational team would plan like this, but it would also enable the Pirates to get Jose Tabata time in Center Field in AAA, as he figures to be ready about a year after McCutchen, maybe slightly less.

Jack Wilson Drops a Bombshell on the Pirate Ship

For the first time since their annual appearance at the trading deadline, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a front-page story on ESPN.com, and the guess here is they probably would have preferred not to have one this time. In case you somehow missed it, Jack Wilson sounded off about the mess that is the Pittsburgh Pirates. The link to the PG's story is here, as well as a link to the Q&A coverage in the PBC Blog. It mostly seems like harmless, quite obvious stuff that Wilson says (though you wouldn't know it from my deceiving headline), and Frank Coonelly mostly confirms that in his response, though I'm sure it was a bit different behind closed doors than it was in his press release.

The most interesting thing I took from this was Wilson's quote, "The biggest thing stressed over the past year was accountability. That includes everybody in the organization, as far as having accountability for themselves and in wanting to win. It's not just the players." On the surface, this doesn't seem like much, and Coonelly more than accepts it because it is the team's mantra and claims that they have made sure that players and management is accountable, but to me, this is Wilson saying, "Yeah sure the players are held accountable, but have you seen the moves these guys are making? Have they brought in one piece at the major league level who has looked even serviceable so far? HELL NO! Where's the accountability for them? There isn't any!" Of course, this might just be me saying crazy things and overreacting, but I think Wilson, and who can blame him, is just tired of the same old crap from management. I also think, as he openly admits, that he got excited about playing for a contender in Minnesota or LA or Detroit or wherever, and now that its looking like he'll be back in the Burgh for another season, he's just flat out depressed.

Finally, one last thing I felt necessary to mention, is Frank Coonelly's laugh-out-loud hysterical (and clearly delusional) quote in which he had the gall to compare the Pirates roster to the Red Sox. It was quite innocent in all honesty, but there is no way you can seriously draw any sort of parallel between our Succos and the most successful team of the last 5 seasons. The quote was: "I am sure that Jack misses some of the players who were here when he signed his contract three years ago, but he is not alone in playing for a team that has experienced significant turnover. Indeed, only seven players who were on the Red Sox World Series team in 2004 were on the Series roster of the 2007 team." Yeah Frank, but the Red Sox holdovers were okay with that because the guys that the team brought in were guys like Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and JD Drew. Meanwhile, poor Jack watched the Pirates bring Jeff Karstens, Andy LaRoche, Chris Gomez, and Ramon Vazquez. I mean good lord. Clearly those are not equal situations.

But this is really just a case of people making a story when really, it's just a bunch of obvious quotes from a long-time, well-respected vet like Wilson. It's the off-season, so everyone's looking for even the smallest bit of info to talk about regarding our Pirates. I don't think this is anything worth worrying about if you are the Bucs, and certainly Wilson has never given even the slightest inclination he could be a locker room distraction.

That Neal Huntington is a Busy Dude

So much for me taking time off to study for finals, eh? Sure I spent the first couple days of the month not posting, but I'm back and better than ever in the past couple days, and that will continue with a Panthers-Huskies Game Preview coming either tonight or tomorrow.

Anywho, Neal Huntington made some moves today, designating Jason Davis and Raul Chavez for assignment, two guys who likely were going to spend the coming season in AAA, at least the Pirates are praying that's the case. Of course, both will still be with the organization, so truthfully this is no biggie. It does say that the Bucs are fully expecting to make a move or two in the next few days at the upcoming winter meetings. I would especially look toward the Rule 5 Draft.

They also signed 5 free agents. And no, they weren't C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Manny Ramirez, Rafael Furcal, and Mark Teixeira. No, instead it was the almost as impressive quintet of Daniel Haigwood, Maiko Loyola, Ashley Ponce, Jorge Bishop, and Julio Denis. The latter three will be with the Buccos' Venezuelan Summer League squad. Haigwood pitched for Boston's AA affiliate last season, and is the only one of the 5 to receive an invite to Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Loyola is a former Pirate farm hand and is slated to play for Indianapolis

DON'T JUMP! YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!

Well, slowly but surely, I have been talking myself into this Nady/Marte deal to the Yanks for the (not-so) fearsome foursome that is Tabata/ McCutchen/ Karstens/ Ohlendorf, and now, after running through the whole spectrum of emotions, from pissed off to confused to curious to intrigued to mildly satisfied, and that’s about as far along this spectrum as I will probably ever get. I think that’s a step in the right direction, though, and I will do my best to now talk all of you into this very deal.
I know, I know, it’s a typical Pirates defense mechanism, where you talk yourself slowly into it because you really have no other option at this point. But hey, if it weren’t for defense mechanisms, the attendance at Pirate games would be encroaching on single digits. If you don’t like the trade, and are calling for blood and are convinced that Neal Huntington is really just Dunce Littlefield in disguise, hey, I don’t blame you. And I also won’t blame you if you don’t want to read this work of spin, but for those of you who still have that glimmer of hope residing somewhere in your soul, read onward.
Let’s start with the supposed centerpiece of the deal, the (apparently crazy) Jose Tabata, who, naturally is an outfielder, our one area of depth. Tabata is evidently a five-tool player and some say he has even more natural ability then Andrew McCutchen, which is downright stunning to hear. He is the type of skill player that the Bucs haven’t typically targeted because of his incredible upside and the fact that he is probably at least 2 years away and more likely 3-4 years in reality. Of course, as there always is with the Buccaroos, there is a certain downside. That, of course is his inability to stay on the field. He has been suspended on more than one occasion and also has had a number of injuries that have derailed him. Still, he is highly regarded, and if he is able to turn his career around under the watchful eye of a system that definitely needs him to pull through for them.
And now, for the pitchers that we’ve acquired. Jeff Karstens is the only guy on the ML roster right now, but there is without question a good shot at seeing all three of them in the bigs by the end of this coming season, and certainly have the expectation of being up by the 09 Opener. It has been reported that Karstens will start for the Pirates Friday night, so we will see how he fares with a bit of job security and a fresh start, but it would be an understatement to say I’m not much of a Karstens fan. Personally, I don’t expect to ever amount to much more then a borderline major leaguer, not exactly a ringing endorsement. And while I think he could put up some decent starts at first, I don’t envision him as a long-term viable option in the rotation, and think that he may have been acquired simply for stopgap purposes.
Ohlendorf is probably the most highly regarded of this crew, and I have liked what I’ve heard about him thus far, but most experts tend to agree that they think he would be best served as a reliever, and could truly be a stud in this role. As a starter, he likely projects more as a back of the rotation type, so it will be very interesting to see what role the Pirates start him off with, and what role he eventually settles in to. Make no mistake, I fully expect them to try to push him to start, and he likely could see time in September if he gets his arm stretched out sufficiently in AAA, and I have some hope for a middle of the rotation starter, and truth be told, for this team, maybe that’s significant enough.
Lastly, we come to Daniel McCutchen, who will be 26 by season’s end, just like the other two, and is hard to project, just like the other two. He appears to have the best overall stuff of the bunch, but has never appeared in the major leagues, so he clearly is something of an unprocen entity at this point in his career. He had done well in the lower minor leagues in the early stages of his career, but has struggled in a brief stint at the AAA level, and he may not make an appearance in 2008, but if he can get to the level of success that he has had in the lower stages of the minors, then he will certainly be in the mix for what is suddenly a somewhat crowded rotation in 2009. Albeit that rotation is crowded with mediocrity, but hey at least there’s some competition and we aren’t just handing starter spots to guys with ERA’s in the neighborhood of a touchdown.
So, yeah, I have moderately talked myself into this deal under the premise that we should be able to patch together a pretty solid rotation with these parts and the existing group. Sure it took me a few days to get here, and some extensive research on numerous scouting websites, but I don’t totally hate the trade, and when it comes to the Pittsburgh Pirates, sometimes that’s the best that you can ask for as a fan. And hey, if they trade Jason Bay tomorrow, rest assured that I will be ready to talk you off the ledge by, oh say, August 3rd or so. Until then folks, rest assured that the Steelers and the Penguins are not far from the regular season…

Marte Nady Deal

This was written in the hours following the Nady/Marte deal before the real prospects were announced, so disregard some of what I say here. Still, it's cool to note the initial emotions and reactions here.

In case you missed it, the Bucs just announced that Damaso Marte and the X-Man had been dealt to the Yankees for what appears to be an injured minor league prospect, a Ryan Vogelsong, and two Matt Bruback and Bobby Hills. Uhmmm.... we're sure that Neal Huntington isn't really Dave Littlefield in a mask right? Right? Okay, yeah, maybe I'm not so sure anymore.

Okay, maybe these guys aren't THAT bad.
Ross Ohlendorf will almost certainly be the first guy we see in Pittsburgh. And by that, I mean probably tomorrow we will see him in the Burgh, with either JVB or Yossy Herrera getting the big D back down to Indy. Ohlendorf has had all sorts of trouble in the bigs with the Yanks, but that was as a reliever. His minor league stats, logged mostly as a starter, are decent, but nowhere approaching spectacular. Oh, and he is almost 26 years old. Actually now that I look at it, maybe this guy isn't a whole lot better then Blogelsong was. Let's move on...
Jose Tabata is the unequivocal gem of this package, and, naturally, he's an outfielder the Pirates biggest area of need....wait! That's not their biggest area of need! That's not even any sort of an area of need. If anything it's their only area of depth. So, naturally, adding what many consider to be a very good prospect makes all kinds of sense right? Uhmm...right? Oh, and did I happen to mention that Tabata evidently has a rough hamstring injury? Oh I didn't mention that? Well, it's true. No one is too sure how bad it is, but it certainly isn't what you want to hear about the key piece of a trade, right?
As for the other two prospects, Phil Coke and George Kontos, Coke is a 25 year old minor leaguer who has been a marginal starter but HE IS IN AA AND IS 25 YEARS OLD!!! George Kontos appears to have more upside to him then Coke and probably Ohlendorf. He is 23, apparently has a power arm, and has done reasonably well in AA this season. Still, he hasn't exactly had a Felix Hernandez type ascent through the minors, and would likely be a 25 year old rookie starter in his best case scenario. If you want the truthfully most in-depth coverage you can get, check our friends over at the Post-Gazette's PBC Blog. We may be back with a posting tomorrow depending on what happens, but until we next talk Bucco Fans, remember, the Stillers report Sunday and the Sid and his gang are only about 10 weeks from their season opener. Just keep repeating these things to yourself over and over and over...

Pirates Finally Have The Right People In Place

This was published following the selection of Pedro Alvarez in the MLB Draft. Though Pedro has not yet signed, and the trades the team made are highly questionable right now, I stand by what I wrote here. Of course if they don't sign Alvarez...

Stop me if you've heard this before...
It's looking more and more like the Pirate organization finally seems to have found the guys at the top of the organization to lead them forward to (gasp) winning baseball and even (nearly passing out) contending in the National League on a yearly basis.
(CUE SCREECHING BRAKE NOISES)
Oh, so you have heard this before then? Well, that makes two of us. In fact, chances are that you have heard this before multiple times. It was written when Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield both came aboard, and was certainly written in 1997 when the Freak Show Pirates team put up a stunning march into first place for most of the season that culminated in a second place finish and the team's best record since '92. It was written about Dave Littlefield upon his hiring in 2002, and also in the opening months of his reign of terror when he made deals that actually weren't completely atrocious. And now, we are seeing these articles nowadays about Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington.
Make no mistake, though, this time it seems to be real. Nutting clearly has given the go-ahead to spend, something ne never did with Dunce Littlefield or Clueless Bonifay (this is how these two will henceforth be known). Coonelly clearly has demanded more from Nutting in all departments, and I feel that it is likely that this was the only way he would have taken this job in the first place.
Coonelly's commitment and determination has trickled down to both Huntington and new skipper John Russell, both of which were hires that I questioned heavily at the time, but now certainly look significantly better with time.
Sure, the Pirates are still mired in the depressing land of sub .500 ball, but given the vast wasteland that was their organizational depth chart last fall, I have been very much impressed with all that I have seen from the Buccos this year, and think that maybe, just maybe we can turn the corner with this squad.
However, like I've said, we have all heard this before, and it is definitely concerning to note that we have all been before, excited to see the Pirates in 2-3 seasons and thinking that with all of these young players they are expected to accrue, that the Pirates can contend long-run. This only further proves that the only way these idle words will ever mean anything is to get those W's. While the '08 Pirates will likely never be confused with their late 70's and early 90's brethren but management has taken a few minor steps in the right direction over the past several months, and a biggie came yesterday in the MLB Draft.
All week long, we had heard that Pedro Alvarez was the Pirates man, and every scout was very high on him, many even going so far as to say that he was the best player in the draft. But regardless of all this, I was abjectly terrified when it came time to make the pick. I know, I know, every sign on planet earth pointed to Pedro Alvarez going here, but 15 years of losing has jaded me to the point where I was afraid of seeing "Brian Matusz RHP" pop up when they were picking or maybe even someone I'd never heard of, a la Moskos last season. When one of the longest 5 minutes periods of my life came to a conclusion and the live Draft Tracker informed me that the Pirates had, in fact, taken 3B Pedro Alvarez from Vanderbilt, it took every fiber of my being to avoid hopping up from my chair and doing multiple fist pumps and terrifying the bejesus out of my co-workers.
The rest of the day yesterday, especially the two plus hours I was still at work for, I was pondering the long-term future of the Pirates and really began to feel pretty positive about the organization for the first time in many years. This club isn't afraid to spend, as long as it's in a smart long-term investment that could pay off enormously long-term. This club knows that the best and most logical way for a small market team to contend with youth and long-term, smart cotnract. And, perhaps, most important, this club knows how to appeal to its long disenchanted fans, by being honest with the fans and not feeding us the typical B.S. that we have seen. Instead, they acknowledge the obvious, that both the fans and the team know this a long-term effort, and that signing the likes of Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders, and Jeromy Burnitz in order to win 75 games instead of 68 is a useless tactic. I mean heck, even fans who have been beaten down for 15 years and have become completely and totally apathetic can understand that, and will certainly respect the organization more when, for the first time in 15 years, they actually begin to do something right.