All baseball edition

The Pirates claimed Jimmy Barthmaier off waivers from the Astros and added the pitcher to their 40 man roster.
The power armed righty had a rough year for AA Corpus Christi,but had two excellent seasons previous to 2007 at Lexington and Salem.
Barthmaier is 24 and will likely start the 2008 season at AA Altoona.
I like this move a lot,as the Bucco system is lacking in hard throwers and have an over-abundance of soft tossers .
So Barthmaier could be a real steal for Pittsburgh.

However a few other surprises were announced from the Pirates as far as the 40 man roster goes.
Pitchers Ron Belisario and Olivo Astacio were placed on the 40,while power hitting outfielder Jamie Romak and reliever Jesse Chavez were not.
Belisario is reported to throw hard,but missed much of the season to injury.
Astacio is a hurler that I have seen a few times and while he throws hard,he lacks control and anything else to complement his power stuff.
I hope the Buccos do not lose Romak in the Rule V draft,as his power is in short supply in the system.
I cannot imagine someone holding onto Romak for a season,but stranger things have happened.
Chavez could go though after a decent season at AAA Indianapolis to someone that needs cheap middle relief help.
SS Brian Bixler was added as most expected,while the three players that were removed from the roster were first baseman Josh Phelps and pitchers Shane Youman and Josh Sharpless.
Phelps will help someone,but just did not fit this rosters need.
I kinda hate seeing Youman leave,as he always seemed to catch bad breaks,but his stuff is not really major league caliber.
Sharpless was a favorite of the old regime and could need a change of scenery.
I would not be surprised to see either of these two re-signed to AAA contracts after the Winter Meetings,if it works out.

I have to wonder if the Angels aren't planning more moves with the signing of Torii Hunter.
After all,they did sign Gary Matthews Jr to a big deal last season and unless they are moving Matthews to left,seem to have 1 fly catcher in center too many.

The Mets have to be pleased with bringing in Johnny Estrada to backstop for the low price of Guillermo Mota.
Estrada should at least be a solid stop gap catcher for 2008.

The Brewers peddled Estrada since they signed Jason Kendall to a one year deal.
Kendall was always a high-effort player,but he seems washed up to me.
When singles hitters lose their ability to get on base-the end is near.

Until next time...