I will attempt to get Wilbur's thoughts on todays trade soon as well.
15)Brad Lincoln was impressive in his start in Hagerstown,what are your thoughts on Lincoln?
Unlike Moskos, he looks to me like he has very good stuff and pretty good command. Considering that this is his recovery year, I think he’s done fine. I’m hoping he’ll really break out next year.
16)Hindsight is always 20/20,but looking back to the time,which concerned you more-the questions on the mechanics of Tim Lincecum or the heavy college workload of Lincoln?
I guess a lot of people were scared off by Lincecum’s motion. I’d never seen him until after he reached the majors, so I didn’t know what to think. I do know that now, having gone back to look at a lot of the recent drafts and specifically at the heavily used college pitchers, I’d take one of those guys with an early first round pick only under extreme circumstances.
17)The recent release of Bryan Bullington closed a bad chapter for the Pirates,despite his limited upside from Day 1 was there anything that the Pirates could have differently with him?
Not drafted him. His junior year apparently was just a fluke as he never showed that kind of stuff again.
18)If you had to pick one event of the Littlefield/Creech era that sent things beyond their repair in the farm system,what was it and did you see it at the time?
The Ramirez trade, which I discussed above. I think the situation surrounding it caused a change in draft philosophy, but it became apparent only gradually over several years of bizarre focus on low-ceiling college players. There was no way to see it at the time unless you were party to their internal discussions.
19)On the whole,it seems that keeping a balance between High School players and College players is the best way to go,but do you feel that way and if you lean one way or the other-which way?
I prefer college hitters in the first round, but other than that I’m convinced you need a balanced approach. The Pirates might as well not have fielded a GCL team the last several years. They loaded their New York-Penn affiliate with college guys and eventually most of them, like Durham, proved they could play some, but they’ve mostly all turned into pretty good minor league players (like Brad Corley and Jason Delaney) and probably nothing more. There’s probably a better chance of coming up with a gem in the later rounds with HS players. Hopefully they did that this year with Jarek Cunningham.
20)Why do you think Brian Bixler and Steve Pearce were brought up this season and then sat on the bench?
Do you agree with the office or was it a waste of their time and development (especially in Bixler's case) to do so???
Pearce didn’t stay long. I think they just needed a pinch-hitter for a few days. I didn’t blame them for bringing Bixler up because they had nobody else any good and he was on the 40-man roster and didn’t require a move. I’d certainly have played him more, but Russell obviously has a far higher regard for Luis Rivas than I do. After a horrible start to the AAA season, Bixler actually started to improve quite a bit when he went back down, so the stint in the majors may have helped him. He was fielding a lot better even before he went down, so the whole experience may have helped him loosen up a bit. Bixler’s improvements may also have helped the Pirates become less terrified about trading Jack Wilson if they get a good offer, although I doubt they have any illusions about Bixler ever being more than a barely adequate shortstop.
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