Pirates spend the bucks!

The Pittsburgh Pirates are the talk of the baseball world along with the Washington Nationals as the story of the amateur draft deadline as the Pirates were able to not only sign the top overall pick Gerrit Cole of UCLA,but their second rounder Josh Bell,a Texas high schooler,who was expected to be a Texas Longhorn after a supposedly firm commitment.
Cole was the elite power arm of the draft (although not the most polished) and Bell was ranked as the top power hitting prospect of the high school ranks and the Pirates inked both!
Gerrit Cole features a three pitch mix with the fastball,slider and change that shows the potential of being a number one starter.
Trevor Bauer may be the faster arrival to the big leagues,but Cole has the superior gun.
Bell is the rarity of outfielders-a switch hitter with plus power that was drafted by a team in a massive need for power hitters in their system.
Bell instantly became the top power prospect for the Pirates as soon as he agreed to a contract.

Cole was signed to a minor league deal,which was somewhat unexpected and a bonus of eight million dollars,while Bell cost five million,which was a smaller deal than most experts thought that it would take to sign the Texas product.
The two deals in addition to the signing of ninth rounder Clay Holmes to a deal earlier in the day with a bonus over one million again places the Pirates at or near the top in draft spending.
The hulking 6'5 230 pound Holmes was a nice sign,although the Pirates must have liked him far more than other teams as the bonus given to the Auburn commitment set a record for a ninth round selection.

The Pirates signed all of their top ten picks and eleven of their top twelve with the final day signings and showed some commitment to adding elite talent to their still struggling system.
As much as I have liked the plan that Neal Huntington has charted in rebuilding the system,even the most ardent supporter realizes that many of these signings will not even come close to seeing Pittsburgh as a Pirate.
Josh Bell looks the part with his switch hitting for power future,but who was not somewhat fooled by the more proven Pedro Alvarez a few years back?
There are no guarantees in evaluating talent and Bell was smart to take the millions to play now.
College can be paid for quite easily later,when you sign for that kind of money.

The draft is filled with gambles and teams like the Pirates have finally figured out that in order to compete,the financial commitments need to be made to the minors as teams like Pittsburgh,Cleveland and Cincinnati will never be able to battle the massive checkbooks that populate the American League East.

The Indians made some moves as well and I will try to make time for those tomorrow as I will again miss the Pirates game tonight due to work commitments.
The Pirates sent the struggling Pedro Alvarez to Indianapolis in order to activate Jose Tabata off the disabled list.
It is food for thought ,as excited as I am about the Pirates draft, that the most heralded Pirate pick in years has been such a disappointment thus far with the parent club.
That truly is what makes the baseball draft perhaps the toughest of all major sports to evaluate talent in....