Cleaning Out the Inbox

     The cleaning of this week's inbox starts with a familiar theme here at TRS- The ownership of Bob Nutting and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Athletic writes about the Nutting regime and the Pirates with their typical tightness and lack of player development over the last few seasons.

One person is quoted as being told in the past to wait one day before making a trade to save an extra $30,000, a pittance in today's game, and how former GM Neal Huntington was forced to take money out of his major league salary budget to pay for upgrades to the team spring training facilities in Bradenton.

It also mentions that with the constant analytics wave in the game last season when cornerstone third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes struggled, he needed more faith in then-hitting coach Andy Haines. He worked with AA Altoona hitting instructor Jon Nunnally and improved his numbers dramatically.

Nunnally was then released by the Pirates in the off-season.

The Pirates' farm system has had its struggles, especially with questions about the top overall pick in 2020, Henry Davis, who has been questioned about his defensive ability to stay at catcher, and his bat at at a corner position after hitting .213 with seven homers in sixty-two games last season with Pittsburgh.

One source may have summed the Pirates under Nutting- "They are comfortable being mediocre".

The Athletic also writes of the recent run to the 5th (field of sixteen) round of England's FA Cup by Maidstone United, who play in the National League South, which is the sixth level of English football/soccer.

That is (for those of you who watched the FX series Welcome to Wrexham, one level below Wrexham's spot during the first two seasons of the series) almost at the level of semi-pro status.

Maidstone United upended four teams higher than their level including a win over Ipswich Town, a third-place team in the Championship league, which is the English equivalent to Triple-A baseball.

Maidstone's wins will add roughly 750,000 dollars (U.S) to their funding which will go a long way toward improving the club or their facilities.

WSB.com writes of the iconic CNN letters outside the former CNN Center in Atlanta being removed from the building's top and from ground level near the facility's entry.

CNN moved from the CNN Center back to the original home of the network a few miles away last year and the building has been sold, so the signs needed to be removed.

The sign was a tourist attraction and was often a stop for photos with the sign.

The worst thing about the Covid pandemic for me personally was the forced cancellation of a scheduled trip in which my room was reserved in CNN Center, ending plans to tour CNN Center and visit the college football hall of fame, which is located down the street.

Medium.com writes "The ups and downs of a small-town basketball star" which covers the life of Rick Mount, the all-time leading scorer at Purdue, and ABA player after leaving the Boilermakers.

Mount is from Lebanon, Indiana, where Mount's father, and Mount's son each starred at the local high school and Mount's post-professional career in the small town where he grew up with its pros and cons.

It's a very interesting read about what happens when the cheering stops and you are still living where you were the town hero.

Pirates send Starling Marte to Arizona

The Pittsburgh Pirates finally achieved a goal under new general manager Ben Cherington- they managed to trade Starling Marte, but I'm not sure how the trade will go over with a fanbase that is already furious with Pirate ownership and now management of the team.

Starling Marte goes back to some of the earlier days of the blog when I covered the Pirates far closer than I do currently, but I don't understand the hurry in moving the 31-year-old outfielder.
Marte hit. 295 with 23 homers and 25 steals last season, is under contract (11.5 Million) for the 2020 season and a team option for 2021 (12.5 Million) and by trading Marte, the Pirates are now in need of signing a centerfielder to replace Marte for a team that had only a few recognizable stars.
Bryan Reynolds had an excellent rookie season for Pittsburgh and could move to center, but it appears that the Pirates are more likely to keep Reynolds in left and sign a veteran free agent to install in centerfield.
Kevin Pillar and Cameron Maybin are two veteran free agents that are coming off decent years at the plate and can play above-average defense and could be targeted for Pittsburgh.
I suppose it depends on the price that would be paid for a veteran flychaser to consider Marte as a better bargain.
If you can get a Millar-type for five million, maybe I can see it, but should you have to sign someone to an eight million deal, keeping Marte would be a preferable option.

Pittsburgh obtained two young prospects, who will likely start at Low A Greensboro.
Shortstop Liover Peguero and righthanded pitcher Brennan Malone are both nineteen and were considered in the top twenty in the Arizona system.

Peguero turned nineteen on New Year's Eve and lit up the rookie Pioneer League as a member of the Missoula Osprey in hitting .364 with five homers in 36 games.
Peguero was promoted to the short-season Hillsboro Hops, who made the Northwest League playoffs, and hit.262 in 22 games without a homer in Hillsboro.
The Diamondback system is deep at shortstop and Peguero will have fewer hurdles to climb through the Pittsburgh system.
Peguero was rated by MiLB.com as Arizona's 18th rated prospect.

Brennan Malone struggled in his short debut (eight innings and an ERA of 4.50) after being drafted with a sandwich pick, 33rd overall, in the 2019 draft.
Malone sits in the mid-90s and can touch the high 90s, but needs to develop a secondary breaking pitch to go with the heater.
At 6'4 and 205 pounds, Malone has the type of body that projects to fill out and depending on the outcome of his eventual off-speed stuff, could be a middle of the rotation starter.
Malone was listed as the ninth-best prospect in the Diamondbacks system.

I'm going to finish with the Cleveland Indians, who are a team screaming for an outfielder (preferably two) with a strong bat and Starling Marte not only would have fit the bill, he would have done so at a very affordable price for his production.
The Indians farm system could have parted with a similar prospect return and likely even accommodating a return of players closer to the majors than the offer that the Pirates accepted.
It's possible that the Indians made a good offer and Pittsburgh selected an offer that they preferred if so that's OK.
And it would be very acceptable if the Indians like another available outfielder more than Marte or see another option as close to Marte at a cheaper price, but if the Indians again pass on a chance to improve with a closing window of contention to save cash for Paul Dolan, it would be yet another log on the fire for a team that doesn't seem to want to commit to winning championships.

Pirates send Jordan Lyles to Brewers

The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost their last eight games, fallen into last place in the National League Central and taken any slim hopes of a wild card charge off the table.
What that losing streak also did was save the Pirates from being deluded into thinking that the team was a playoff contender and making a trade to shore up an effort destined to fail as it did last season and the Pirates have started the process of moving players, if the offer strikes them as fair.

Pittsburgh traded righthander Jordan Lyles out of their rotation to the team that allowed him to test free agency after last season in the Milwaukee Brewers.
In return, Pittsburgh received an interesting prospect in minor league righthander Cody Ponce.

Lyles was 5-7 with an ERA of 5.36 and has pitched poorly in the month of July, as he pitched longer than four innings in only one of his four starts.
Lyles was the scheduled starter for tonight's game against the Reds, which he was obviously pulled from.
Lyles pitched well for the Brewers in the eleven games that he appeared for them after Milwaukee acquired him from San Diego around last year's trade deadline, but all of those appearances were in relief.
Pittsburgh decided to install Lyles in their rotation with mixed results and considering that Lyles was under a one year contract and would be a free agent at the end of 2019, I think Cody Ponce is an interesting return for Lyles.

Cody Ponce was the Brewers second-round pick from Cal-Poly in 2015 and was progressing up the ladder as a starter until struggling last season at AA Biloxi to a 7-6 record with an ERA over four.
Returned to the Shuckers this season and used from the bullpen, Ponce has an ERA of 3.29 in 27 appearances and 38 innings, striking out 44 and walking twelve.
At 6'6 and 240 pounds, Ponce has the type of frame that makes you think that could hold up under the use that relievers deal with and still be durable.
Relievers often can a little longer to develop as many times they have been failed starters in a system before learning to convert to a relief role.
Ponce was assigned to AA Altoona and is the type of player that is worth a shot-especially with a free agent that you likely aren't interested in retaining.
It'll be interesting to see Ponce's progression in a new system and manner of pitching.

Minor League Fantasy Draft- Round Two- O'Neil Cruz

The fantasy draft moved into the second round and there were two players available that I had a great deal of interest with just one team in front of me.

I had one slightly favored over the other on my board, but I would be fine landing either of the pair.
The team in front of me did select the player that I had rated slightly higher as Cincinnati third baseman Jonathan India was snagged.
India was the first round pick by the Reds in 2019 and I was a little surprised that he had dropped that far.
As I've written before, I generally start each round with a few names written down as players I'd be interested in landing with my next pick or even two and at the end of the first two rounds, the names that started the draft had been trimmed to one,so it took very little time to select that player.

Shortstop O'Neil Cruz was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline of 2017 along with Angel German when the Pirates sent reliever Tony Watson to Los Angeles.
At the time of the swap, Cruz was an 18-year old that was having his share of struggles with the Dodgers low A affiliate as a Great Lakes Loon.
Cruz was hitting just .240 in 89 games and had hit eight homers, but had struck out 110 times in 342 at-bats.
A high amount of strikeouts and one that makes you wonder about Cruz making enough contact to become anything more than a toolsy prospect.
Cruz didn't do any better after the trade at the same level at the Pirates then-affiliate West Virginia, hitting only .218 in 55 at-bats with 22 more strikeouts, although Cruz did connect for two more homers.
Cruz finished the season at a combined .237 with ten homers and 132 strikeouts in 397 at-bats and even though he was young for the level, only the ten homers made you give Cruz a second glance.


Entering 2018 as a 19-year-old, the Pirates made a decision to ease Cruz's transition and returned him to his original position of shortstop after playing third base in 2017 at both locations.
At 6'6, it was logical to assume that Cruz wouldn't be able to stay at shortstop and that still could be the case long term, but for now, Cruz will stay at shortstop as his 35 errors at short equaled his error number at third base the previous season.
Cruz improved his fielding percentage at shortstop and he covers a large amount of ground, so I think there is a chance he can be a shortstop at higher levels.

However, it was with the bat that brings Cruz to prospect attention.
Pittsburgh returned Cruz to the SAL last season and he responded with an excellent line of .286/14/59 with an OPS over .800 with eleven steals.
Cruz also cut his strikeouts down to an even 100 in 402 at-bats in an encouraging sign.

Some have compared Cruz's offensive potential to that of Nolan Arenado of the Rockies ( a previous minor draft pick of mine) and if Cruz can approach that level, we have a sure winner.
Still, for all of Cruz's high upside, Cruz still is a bit raw, but from what I saw last season both in person and on the stat sheet, I don't see a red flag other than strikeouts and he took strides in that column last season.

Cruz will start at High A Bradenton in 2019 and will once again be a little young for the level at age 20, but if the Pirates are patient, Cruz has the potential to be an impact player in their lineup in the next two to three years.

Cleaning out the Inbox

The inbox needs cleaning and this is mostly a non-sports edition as most of the items that have accumulated are non-sports.

First, though, I wanted to take the time to thank the one person (no names this time) that loves the PPM.
The PPM started as a throwaway column to notch my picks for the season and used to feature a lottery machine as the face of the series- hence the name "Pigskin Pickin' Machine" before one day for a reason that I cannot even remember, I decided to add a picture from social media (I don't even remember the platform) of ESPN's college football reporter Heather Cox at Clemson with Frank Howard's rock.
This was in 2013, we've had a different "host of the PPM" each year since and the six various hosts certainly have brightened up the PPM and added a different variable to the series.
The race for the 2019 host has left the gate and three candidates are well ahead of the others.
I'd be surprised if next years host wasn't among those three, but one never knows what that committee will decide!

The article of the week for me arrives from the New Yorker, where Robert Caro, who is still working on the final volume of his series on Lyndon Johnson, writes not just of Johnson, although his life is the center of attention, but of Caro himself with the focus on just how the author arrived at the topic, how he managed to cajole information out of people that didn't always want to give such information out and at the end, Caro addresses the big white whale- his age and whether or not he will not only finish a memoir of his life, but also the final book of the LBJ collection.
It's a terrific read and I couldn't do anything else until I had completed the article- it was that interesting.

We move to the New York Times and their opinion columnist Frank Bruni where Bruni writes of "The Loneliness of the Moderate Democrat".
Much of the article centers around centrist Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, her policies and
how they don't always mix with an increasingly left-shifting party.
As someone that considers themselves without a party in many ways, I found it intriguing as each side of the fence seems to hate anything remotely resembling working together.

Vanity Fair writes of the 1980 Democratic presidential primary between sitting President Jimmy Carter against the challenge of Senator Ted Kennedy in an excerpt of a new book that looks at that race.
Jon Ward's book on this battle seems to be well researched and I wonder if we could see another challenge of a sitting President in 2020?

The Atlantic writes of the human aspect in the demise of spacecraft as it seems the Martian rover Opportunity may be finished with an inability to recharge its batteries.
The rover, which landed on Mars in 2004, is suspected to have had its solar panels covered in dust last June and has been unable to restore contact since.
The article is not only focused on the craft but on the people associated with machines that ended their time before their time was scheduled to be complete.

A higher return rate for Legos than stocks or gold?
Vox says so and as one usually should when dealing with the value of collectibles, read between the lines to realize the actual truth, but still, Legos have to have a strong market as a collectible.
Legos never go out of style, always has a built-in age group with new infusions of users as others leave and has some appeal to the adult market as well, so I can see special Lego sets having value, but again, read between the lines- you aren't getting rich buying the 4.95 Lego set at Target in a few years.

I'll wrap with the only sports note as SABR's Chip Greene writes about the baseball history of Three Rivers Stadium.
I learned a lot about how the stadium was built and the problems getting an agreement to build Three Rivers in the 60s.
It's a SABR article, so it's about the Pirates history there, so if you are looking more on the football side, it's a little light there.

Rule 5- Giants take two

Photo Courtesy:C's Plus Baseball

The Rule 5 draft rarely yields huge impact players, but being that I see so many minor league games, I've seen so many players in the draft actually play, I've always enjoyed covering it.

The Indians and Pirates passed on making any selections in the major league portion, but the San Francisco Giants under new organization head Farhan Zaidi were the only team to make two selections.

In the first round, the Giants selected left-handed reliever Travis Bergen from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Bergen was a seventh-round draft pick from Kennesaw State (Georgia) in 2015
The 25-year-old Bergen was moved to the bullpen full time by the Blue Jays in 2018 and Bergen posted tremendous stats at High A Dunedin (1.71 ERA, 31 strikeouts in 21 innings) before exceeding those following a promotion to AA New Hampshire (0.50 ERA and 43 whiffs in 35 innings).
Bergen throws in the low to middle nineties and I saw him pitch to one batter as a Fisher Cat, so I've seen him but one batter was pretty limited viewing.
Bergen is also reported to have a plus curveball and the Giants might have a space to place him in if a trade comes through for either of their bullpen southpaws Will Smith or Tony Watson, both who have been mentioned in trade talks.
Should Zaidi move one of the two veterans, I think Bergen would have a decent chance of sticking with the Giants, who would be forced to offer Bergen back to Toronto for 50,000 dollars, which is half of the cost the Giants paid to select Bergen.
C's Plus baseball, a blog that covers the Northwest League's Vancouver Canadians, where Bergen started his career has an interview with Bergen here.

The Giants selected outfielder Drew Ferguson from the Houston system with their second-round pick.
Ferguson was Houston's selection in the 19th round in 2015 after playing his college baseball at Belmont University in Tennessee and has been plagued by injuries, having played a high of 113 games in a season and just 71 last season.
Ferguson hit .305 with four homers in 65 games last season at AAA Fresno, has consistently hit for a good average and can play all three outfield positions. but has only hit double-digit homers once (14 at High A Lancaster in the best power park in the minors).
Ferguson seems like a longshot to make the Giants roster, but when you have the dollars, why not take a look.

Only one of the three teams lost a player in the Major portion as the Indians lost pitcher Kyle Dowdy to the Mets.
The Indians obtained Dowdy along with Leonys Martin in the deadline deal last year with the Tigers
Dowdy's arm that has touched 99 is apparently why he has had three teams interested in him and want to try to develop him because when you look at the numbers that Dowdy has posted, you wonder how he could be considered more than an organizational soldier.
If the Mets do not keep Dowdy on the main roster for the season, they will have to offer him back to Cleveland for $50,000, which the Indians would likely pay as it seemed from their words yesterday that they were disappointed to lose him.

In the AAA portion of the draft. where you can select players for $12,000 and keep their rights without having to offer them back to their former team.
The Indians, Giants, and Pirates each selected two players and each lost players.
Cleveland drafted lefty reliever Yapson Gomez from the Cubs, who split last year between Low A South Bend and High A Myrtle Beach and first baseman Wilson Garcia from the Orioles, who played last year for High A Frederick.
Gomez will likely slot into the bullpen at High A Lynchburg.while Garcia pounded 23 homers for the Keys, but at 24 was old for the league.
We'll see how highly the Indians think of Garcia if they give him a chance to start at AA Akron or use him as a veteran power bat at High A Lynchburg.

San Francisco added second baseman Peter Maris from the Rays and relief pitcher Sam Moll from the Blue Jays.
The 25-year-old Maris split 71 games between High A Charlotte and AA Montgomery and hit eleven homers.
The soon to be 27 year old Moll was once a highly touted prospect but has never been able to flourish above AA, although he did pitch in eleven games for Oakland in 2017.

Pittsburgh drafted another former Frederick Key in outfielder Randolph Gassaway and pitcher Winston Nicacio from the Cardinals.
Gassaway hit .272 with six homers in 103 games for the Keys in his second stint in Frederick and seems to be a curious choice for Pittsburgh, although most of the players taken in this phase tend to be used as depth in the organization more than true prospects.
Nicasio is 21 (22 next week), which is a little young to be in this draft and looked very impressive at short-season State College (42 strikeouts in 41 innings and batters hit just .206 against him), so he might be a little more of a prospect than a usual selection.

The Indians lost three players- pitchers Matt Esparza and Hector Figueroa along with first baseman Anthony Miller.
Esparza missed most of last season with injuries, while Figueroa is interesting to be selected as he is 24, never pitched above the Arizona rookie league and only 22 innings there.
Miller hit .264 and eight homers in his second season at High A Lynchburg.

The Giants lost two pitchers in Dusten Knight and Ian Gardeck along with outfielder Jeffrey Baez.
Knight pitched very well from the bullpen for AA Richmond ( .205 batting average and 2.27 ERA), but at 28 has pitched just six innings above AA.
Gardeck was a one time prospect before missing the entire 2016 and 17 seasons and pitched only 13 innings in 2018.
Baez spent the last two seasons with the Cubs AA affiliate in Tennessee and signed with the Giants last month as a minor league free agent.

The Pirates lost first baseman Jordan George and catcher Raeflin Lorenzo.
George hit. 263 with five homers in his second season with AA Altoona.
The 21-year-old Lorenzo hit .307 with three homers in 88 at-bats at Low A West Virginia after the Pirates drafted him from Tampa in the 2017 Rule 5 draft, so there's potential there, but in five seasons as a pro-Lorenzo has played in just 200 games.

After the draft, the Pirates traded with the Padres for their draft pick, 21-year-old pitcher Cristofer Melendez, who has never pitched above the Dominican league in the White Sox system.
Melendez was acquired for cash considerations.

One former Hagerstown Suns player was selected as catcher Alex Flores from last years Hagerstown team was selected by the Houston Astros.
Flores batted .216 with six homers in 66 games in the SAL.

Pirates trade Ivan Nova to White Sox

The Pittsburgh Pirates continued to shed salary for 2019 as they swapped righthanded pitcher Ivan Nova to the Chicago White Sox in return for a minor league pitcher.

The soon to be 32 year old Nova started 29 games for the Pirates in 2018 and finished 9-9 with a 4.19 ERA and 114 strikeouts as part of their rotation.
Nova earns eight million for the 2019 season and would be a free agent following that year so I can see the Pirates wanting to receive something for him and the Pirates appeared to be set in their rotation with Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor Williams, and Joe Musgrove as their top four, so for a team with limited dollars to spend, Pittsburgh decided that eight million for an impending free agent was a bit high for their budget.

I might have kept Nova as the fifth starter and took what would have had the potential to be a pretty decent starting corps into the season and see what happened.
I would think had the team been in selling mode at the trade deadline, the Pirates would have likely been able to acquire a similar prospect in a trade, so that makes me think that as usual, the decision came down to the financial budget.
Still, I understand it as Nick Kingham pitched very well at times in his 15 starts and the cost difference between what the Pirates hope would be similar pitchers is pretty vast, so slotting Kingham into the fifth spot in the rotation makes sense.

Pittsburgh received 19 year old (turns 20 next month) pitcher Yordi Rosario.
Rosario split last year between the White Sox Dominican and Arizona league teams combining for an ERA of 2.57 between the two teams in 56 innings.
The interesting number is 70 strikeouts in those innings, so there appears to be some upside, although far from a sure thing.
I would think Rosario has a chance to start at Low A Greensboro, but may also stay in Florida and then be assigned in June to either Bristol (He'd be a little old) or West Virginia (He might be a little young).
Rosario's a lottery ticket, but an intriguing one.

Pittsburgh also signed journeyman righthander Jordan Lyles to an undisclosed deal.
Lyles was 3-4 with a 4.11 ERA in a season split between the Brewers and Padres.
Lyles started eight games for the Padres and made 16 relief appearances before his being traded to Milwaukee where he pitched in eleven games all from the bullpen.
Lyles will likely be in the bullpen to start and might be either a challenger for the fifth starting spot for Nick Kingham or the fallback option in case of injury or need.

Pirates sign Lonnie Chisenhall,Indians lose Lonnie Chisenhall

Catching up on a few news notes before the weekend with the boxing challenge, Ohio State back in Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game, the Browns traveling to Houston for Baker Mayfield's first big test against a good defense and the inbox that appears ready to burst!

The Pittsburgh Pirates gained and therefore the Cleveland Indians lost outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall in a pre-winter meetings free agent signing.
Chisenhall signed a one year contract for 2.75 million with some incentives in the contract as well.

The 30 year old Chisenhall returns to the team that first drafted him, but was unable to ink him to a contract in 2006.
Three years later, the Indians would draft him in the first round and be able to sign him to a deal as a then third baseman before a move to right field after he had spent some time with the big club.

Chisenhall has spent most of the last two seasons dealing with calf injuries that saw him play in just 29 games last season after only playing in 82 in 2017.
Chisenhall did hit .321 in his cameo appearances, so that's something for the Pirates to consider, I suppose and the one year deal isn't oppressive in cost either.
Still with Pittsburgh signing Chisenhall to play right field while Gregory Polanco recovers from shoulder surgery that could keep Polanco on the sideline for much of the first half of the 2019 season has its risks.
Chisenhall's injury history is even worse than Polanco's and that's the real risk- hoping that Chisenhall can stay healthy enough to keep the position warm for the retuning Polanco and that will take either a change of fortune for Chisenhall or plenty of luck.

Lonnie Chisenhall was always a polarizing player for me.
I never thought that the production was anywhere near the hype for him among Indian fans and much like the prospect that he reminds me of (in prospect hype and skill level, not necessarily similar skills) Bradley Zimmer, Chisenhall gave Indians fans what they want to see.
If you saw a player with a developing bat and later in his tenure as an outfielder, possible plus defensive skills, Chisenhall could give an observer enough to believe that.
If you saw a player that was more streaky than consistent with the wood and a player that was even more inconsistent with the glove that he needed to change position, Chisenhall could back that position up as well.

Whether you were a fan of Chisenhall or not, the loss of him (well, he's been gone most of the last two years anyway) to an already questionable outfield situation doesn't help very much.
Michael Brantley didn't receive a qualifying offer from the Indians, journeymen Melky Cabrera and Rajai Davis are free agents and losing Chisenhall leaves these as the competitors for the outfield spots- Bradley Zimmer (will miss some of the season anyway),  late-season acquisition Leonys Martin (who had an life-threatening illness that almost killed him), Greg Allen, Tyler Naquin, Jordan Luplow, who was recently traded for from the Pirates and another late-season addition at the AAA level Oscar Mercado from the Cardinals complete the current field.
I'm hoping that this group looks different before the trip to Arizona through trade, free agency or even another 4A type bat that may be needing a chance.

Just a hunch on my part, but keep an eye on the San Diego Padres, who have four young outfielders in Wil Myers, Franmil Reyes, Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot and play in a pitchers park- watch for a possible deal with the Padres, especially with Myers, who's more expensive and the Padres would likely prefer the other players who would come more cost-controlled (Cleveland would rather have the cheaper, long-term controlled players as well) than Myers.

I might be back later for some talk on the Cavaliers making the first of what's likely to be many trades this season and the boxing challenge kicks off early this week with a 6;30 Friday start from Australia.

Indians-Pirates Trade Utilitymen

The Cleveland Indians and the Pittsburgh Pirates made a minor swap involving five players that could see some of the players making the big league team or see them as stalwarts at AAA to be used as possible injury reinforcements and one very interesting prospect to eye on for the future.

The Indians received outfielder Jordan Luplow and utilityman Max Moroff in exchange for another utilityman in Erik Gonzalez and two pitchers that pitched for the lowest level last season in the Arizona Rookie League.

Jordan Luplow will be given a chance to compete for a roster spot in the suddenly depleted outfield.
The 25-year-old Luplow played in 64 games in Pittsburgh over the last two seasons, in an occasional call-up when the Pirate outfield would have an injury.
Luplow showed power hitting three homers in each of the two seasons, but hit just .194 as a combined total over the two years in 170 at-bats.
Luplow can play all three outfield positions and will challenge for a backup spot off the bench for the Indians.
If Luplow cannot win one of those jobs, he will be a strong option to be an injury call-up from AAA Columbus after hitting .287 with eight homers last year for the Clippers top rival in Indianapolis.
Cleveland is likely to lose as many as four outfielders to free agency (Michael Brantley, Lonnie Chisenhall, Melky Cabrera and Rajai Davis) and three more recovering from injuries/surgeries (Leonys Martin, Bradley Zimmer and Tyler Naquin) that make them unlikely to be counted on at least early in 2019, so an opportunity is there for Luplow should he grab it.

Max Moroff has spent time with the Pirates over the last three seasons, but in none of those has the 25-year-old Moroff distinguished himself other than like Luplow showing a little power with six homers over a 181 at-bat total.
Moroff can play all around the infield and has an excellent glove, so Moroff has a more than fair chance to occupy the utility spot off the Cleveland bench that was held by Erik Gonzalez in 2018.
If Moroff does not win that spot, he has options left and like Luplow, could be a starter for and be a veteran call-up from the Indians AAA squad in Columbus.

Speaking of Erik Gonzalez, it is Gonzalez that is headed to Pittsburgh as their main acquisition in this trade.
The 27-year-old shortstop played in 81 games last season for the Indians, as he was the infielder off the bench in the role that Max Moroff hopes to fill, hitting .265 with a homer in 143 at-bats.
Gonzalez is out of minor league options so Gonzalez will at least be the utility infielder for the Pirates as he can play second and third along with his natural position of shortstop.
Gonzalez has always been a player that I have liked and despite an average at best bat, I've thought that he could be a steady glove-first shortstop or even a second baseman that could start on the right team.
With standout Francisco Lindor at shortstop and the highly-paid Jason Kipnis at second, Gonzalez was always blocked with Cleveland and he may be stopped again in Pittsburgh as, despite their 2018 starter Jordy Mercer leaving via free agency, former number one draft selection Kevin Newman would be their top choice, but Newman struggled with the bat (.209) and with the glove (four errors) in 31 late-season games so Gonzalez may have a crack in the door to slip through with a strong appearance in the Bradenton spring to perhaps win the starting job.

The other two players that the Pirates added are both young pitchers that have not pitched above the Arizona Rookie League and are lottery tickets.

Dante Mendoza turns 20 next month and along with being a 12th round draft pick in 2017, Mendoza's only note of substance is being the cousin of former Baltimore closer Zach Britton.
Mendoza was 2-2 with a 4.58 ERA in Arizona last season but did strike out 37 batters in 37 innings, so that is a stat that I always look for when evaluating low minors numbers.
Mendoza walked 20 though and seven of his ten appearances came from the bullpen, so that lack of control is not an appealing number for a reliever's future.

19-year-old Tahnaj Thomas is perhaps the more interesting of the two after being signed as a free agent from the Bahamas, which isn't exactly the hottest spot for power arms, but despite a 4.58 ERA over just under twenty innings of work, Thomas had two numbers that leaped out at me- batters hit just .188 against him and 27 strikeouts.
Thomas did make some appearances on the Indians top 30 prospect lists at the end of the season, so he is not a throw-in by any means, he's far from a sure thing, but he's very interesting to me.

I suppose both Mendoza and Thomas have chances to begin at the Pirates new affiliate in the South Atlantic League with Greensboro, but either or both could remain in Florida to start in June with the Pirates New York-Penn League franchise in Morgantown WV.

Back later with an early boxing challenge as there is an important fight on a rare Friday night and the PPM as well.
If I remain at the road office today, I will have some time, so I'll try to find time to keep working on that promised post on Dick Slater.

Deadline- Pirates move infielders

The Pittsburgh Pirates have fallen out of the wild-card race after losing seven of ten games and since they are now five games under .500, the time was right for a move or two.

Pittsburgh traded veteran third baseman David Freese to the Dodgers for minor league infielder Jesus Manuel Valdez in a deal that will help the contending Dodgers with a player that can play third or first and hits lefties very well.
Freese hit .282 with nine homers for the Pirates this season and is exactly the type of players that contenders go and get for the playoff run.

As far as the player coming from the Dodgers is concerned, I know next to nothing about Jesus Manuel Valdez other than he's an infielder, turns 21 in December and was playing for the Dodgers Dominican league team.
20 is pretty old to play at that level, where Valdez hit. 230 with six homers and stole 16 bases, so even terming him a lottery tickey is a major stretch for the Pirates, who must have seen something in him.

In the other deal, Adeiny Hechavarria made his stay in Pittsburgh a brief one, as the Pirates traded him to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later or cash (Care to guess which one the Nutting's will take?).
Hechavarria lasted just 15 games after being acquired from Tampa Bay, hitting .233 and a homer.
Hechavarria is expected to provide infield protection against further injury to Didi Gregorius, who has struggled with a heel injury of late.
That is a minor transaction, but I'd still rather have a longshot prospect than a check, which the Pirates usually prefer.

Whew, Now that I have caught up on baseball moves, it's time to look at the Browns cuts and additions as they prep for Pittsburgh.
I do have a few problems with those roster changes, so I will have plenty to say next time!

Pirates leap into deadline!

The Pittsburgh Pirates looked to be sellers a few weeks back if you looked forward to the trade deadline, but then something happened in Pittsburgh- the Pirates ripped off eleven wins in a row, leaped back into the wild-card race with a Bob Beamonesque leap and Neal Huntington suddenly had a decision to make- sell and basically tell his fan base that the franchise had decided to punt the season from the green flag, stand pat with a suddenly hot team or make some moves and try to make the postseason.

To my surprise, Huntington made not just one, but two moves and they were big ones for the Pirates, costing them several good prospects that might have Pirates fans looking at these trades for years as either the day the Pirates added some arms that turned them into contenders for a few years or the day the team overreacted to a win streak and dealt players that should have thrived in Pittsburgh.

Starting with the larger of the two trades (the second of the pair), the Pirates landed perhaps the biggest arm to change teams at the deadline as Pittsburgh added righthander Chris Archer from Tampa Bay for outfielder Austin Meadows, right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, and a player to be named later.
That's quite a package of cost-controlled young talent to send away for an often financially challenged franchise, but let's look at what Pittsburgh acquired first before the lost prospects in Chris Archer.

The soon to be 30 year old Archer (turns 30 in September) has been the best pitcher on a bad team over the last few seasons (53 wins since 2013), has been durable (no trips to the DL since his 2013 call-up) and hasn't notched an ERA higher than his current 4.31, so this is a quality starter to slot into the rotation for the Buccos.
Add to that, Archer's very team friendly contract that has him under control for 2019  (7.5 million) at a minimum with two team option years for 2020 and 21 at a very affordable (9 and 11 million) cost as well and you can see why the Pirates paid what they paid in prospects.

However, there are a few caveats on Chris Archer.
The largest of these is that Archer never took the expected leap to the next level after 2014 and 15 seasons that would have seen him firmly in the Cy Young race on even an average team and his numbers although still good, are declining slightly.
It could be that Tampa dealt Archer just as he is at his highest value and just before Archer could be starting a steep decline.
Archer's strikeouts numbers are down a bit (a strikeout and a half per nine innings from last year) and his hits per nine innings are up one from last season and those make me at least wonder a bit about Archer.
Still, Archer is still about as safe as you can trade for at this stage and even if he gives the Pirates what he has given to the Rays this season for three and a half seasons, that's still enough to be in the upper half of the Pirate rotation and if he gives you what the 2015 Archer is capable of, the Pirates have a clear number one starter.

Here's the issue for the Pirates though- you don't get a pitcher like this for free and they sure didn't this time.
Tyler Glasnow has the type of arm that makes scouts drool and as he flew through the minors, Glasnow was thought to give the Pirates a contention window with three big righthanders with power arms with Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon, but for one small problem- every time that Glasnow was given a chance with the Pirates, he had problems finding the strike zone.
The Pirates placed him in their bullpen and despite the walks remaining high (34 in 34 appearances), the strikeouts were as well ( 72 in those 34 appearances) and to me to have an arm like this that hasn't turned 23 (He will later this month) that you seem to have given up on as a starter is incredibly short-sighted.
Perhaps the Pirates figured they had run out of answers for Glasnow's questions or that their staff couldn't get through to Glasnow or who knows what other thoughts that they have, but all I will write is this- when you have a 6'8 fireballer with that kind of stuff and you give up on him this soon- you had better hope you are right because those arms don't come along as a homegrown product every day.

Austin Meadows was thought to be the next starting young outfielder and was the natural long-term replacement for Andrew McCutchen.
McCutchen's trade to the Giants was thought to have opened the door for Meadows, but when the team traded with Tampa Bay to add veteran Corey Dickerson, that door closed until Meadows was given a shot in May and responded with a torrid first month in the bigs hitting over .400 with four homers in his first 13 games.
Meadows cooled off in his next forty games, but still seemed to be in their long-term plans between the veteran Dickerson and the erratic Gregory Polanco, but Tampa had to have wanted the cost-controlled Meadows in this deal to make it work.
I've always liked Meadows bat, but he has had problems staying healthy and with the way that Meadows had dropped off after his start, the Pirates had to have wondered at least a little.
Meadows was the best outfield prospect in the system as far as talent and was the nearest to the parent club as well, so this was not a player that the Pirates could easily trade away.
The departure of Meadows also puts a lot of heat on the Pirates to re-sign Corey Dickerson in the off-season, despite an arbitration number that might make a Dickerson re-signing oppressive, this trade almost makes that a must do rather than we'll see consideration.


The player to be named will be interesting as well.
Will it be a third higher level prospect ( O'Neil Cruz at low West Virginia is the best prospect position wise or pitcher Mitch Keller at AAA Indianapolis, which I would think is unlikely), a b-level player that is at Bradenton or Altoona or a lottery ticket from the lower end of the system?
Glasnow was added to the Tampa roster and Meadows was assigned to the Rays AAA affiliate in Durham after the deal,
This trade will be evaluated for years and many Pirates fans will be following Tampa box scores for quite a while.

Editor's Note; The PTBNL was pitcher Shane Baz, the Pirates 2017 first round selection,

The first trade saw the Pirates add to their bullpen with a trade with the Texas Rangers as they added closer Keone Kela, favorite of former TRS fan Brad Adams (If two people read this and ask, I'll write about the Kela story that I have to tell) and owner of 24 saves in 25 chances for the Arlington's in exchange for minor league lefty Taylor Hearn and a player to be named later.
The 25-year-old Kela pitched well for the Rangers in 2017 and 18, can close or fill a setup role and can even pitch in a semi-long role in a rare situation that calls for it.
Kela will be arbitration eligible, but the Pirates again have added a pitcher that gives them some control over his rights for a while.

The part that hurts is losing former Hagerstown Sun lefthander Taylor Hearn, who was having a breakout season at AA Altoona.
Hearn has an ERA of 3.12 in twenty starts, struck out 115 in 109 innings and held opposing hitters to under a .200 batting average.
Add that to a lefty that sits in the mid-90's and you have a southpaw that didn't seem to be far away from the big leagues.
This might be another pitcher that the Pirates might have wished hadn't gotten away.
Hearn was assigned to the Rangers AA squad in Frisco after the trade.

Give the Pirates credit, they saw an opening and for once- went for it.
For a team that is almost always questioned about finances, you have to give them credit for doing what they are usually criticized for not doing- giving themselves a chance to win.
However, you can argue (and time will answer this question) that the Pirates might have overreacted to a winning streak that put them in sight of a playoff spot (and that's really what the streak did put them in the running) and might have cost themselves as many as five young players that make the big leagues for a mirage of a playoff run.
They are valid questions to ask and I don't think that the answer is an easy one, mainly because I've been critical for the Pirates not being buyers when in the position to make sense to do so.
Still, looking at all things fairly, I lean to the side of not making the deal for Chris Archer.
Here's why- you didn't think that you were going to contend, which is why you moved Gerrit Cole for young players (Michael Feliz, Joe Musgrove, and Colin Moran) that were expected to make the parent club, yet weren't expected to make instant impacts on the lineups.
The team (in my opinion) traded better prospects for Archer than they received for Cole and yet the trade for Cole put the surprise contender in need for a pitcher.
Archer will be under team control longer than Cole, so that plays a part in those deals, but still, if you don't trade Cole, the need for Archer is not as great and so it goes down the line.
Now you lose players with the potential to help you down the road for what could be a mirage of a few weeks in one season and the risk is massive, particularly if Tyler Glasnow figures things out in Florida.
I understand the reasons why but consider me more than concerned about the end results of these trades.

Pirates select Travis Swaggerty

The Pittsburgh Pirates surprised me a little bit with the selection of South Alabama outfielder Travis Swaggerty with their first rounder in the tenth overall pick.
Swaggerty hit .296 with 13 homers for the Jaguars of the Sun Belt Conference with nine steals.

I have to be honest and I haven't followed the draft prospects as much this season as I have in the past. but this pick seems like a cash savings that might see Pittsburgh roll that money into a tougher sign in a later round.
The lefthanded-hitting Swaggerty was compared to Darin Erstad by the MLB Network commentators, but I wonder about that- Erstad was much more of a contact hitter than Swaggerty seems to be and Swaggerty's steal totals dropped from 20 to 18 to 9 at South Alabama along with his other numbers.

I asked Joe Werner for his thoughts on Travis Swaggerty and here they are as follows: " Swaggerty is a very SABR-friendly hitter with a fantastic eye and good bat to ball skills.
I'm not sure that he projects anything more than 12 to 15 homers though-He's a very safe pick though"

Swaggerty does project to be able to stay in center though and that's a plus, but from my limited (and I'll admit very limited) looks at Swaggerty, I have a comparison and it's not as good of a comparison as Darin Erstad.
That is one of a past Indians first-rounder Tyler Naquin.
Naquin didn't hit for a great average or produce nearly enough power to start for the Tribe and has been constantly on the Columbus shuttle between AAA and the majors.
Naquin was also considered to be a safe pick and in my opinion, small market teams need to gamble on superstar potential not on safe college outfielders without a high ceiling.

I'm not completely disappointed with the pick, but I'm not especially thrilled either as to me, the Pirates reached a bit with Travis Swaggerty, but I'm open-minded enough to see if Pittsburgh is planning to spend more later in the draft or if they truly think Travis Swaggerty was the tenth best player in the draft before I make a final decision...

Pirates obtain Corey Dickerson-Outfield shakeup

The Pittsburgh Pirates spent the week collecting outfielders and added the most proven product of the day today as the Pirates obtained Corey Dickerson from Tampa Bay in exchange for reliever Daniel Hudson, minor league infielder Tristan Gray and some cash towards Hudson's contract.
As hard as it is to believe, a trade was consummated as " a salary dump" and it was the Pirates not dumping the heavy contract.!

The 28 year old Dickerson will be arriving at PNC Park off his career season in Tampa last season where he hit.287 with 27 long balls and 33 doubles, which is important at PNC with the power alleys, although the larger alley is to left center, which might not be as crucial to the lefthanded-hitting Dickerson's success.
Keep in mind that Dickerson slumped badly in the second half (.232, 10 homers and 82 strikeouts) and isn't noted for being a strong defender- a negative at PNC Park where the left fielder has to cover more ground than any other left field in the game.
However, even though he is going to have his share of strikeouts, Dickerson should at his worst be good for at least 20 homers.
Dickerson will make just under six million this season and the Pirates will have him under contract until the end of the 2019 season.

Daniel Hudson disappointed a bit (2-7 4.38 ERA) in his only season in Pittsburgh, mainly because they expected a little more for his contract after signing him to a two-year contract for eleven million.
The righthander was expendable to the Pirates after various bullpen reinforcements such as Kyle Crick from the Giants, Michael Feliz from the Astros in trades, free agent signing Josh Smoker from the Mets and Rule 5 draftee Jordan Milbrath from the Indians and the bullpen looked to be one of the strengths of the Pirates.
Pittsburgh also included minor league second baseman Tristan Gray, who the Pirates picked in the 13th round of last year's draft out of Rice.
Gray is more intriguing than you would think for a 13th rounder after a .269/7/37 line in his first pro year at short-season West Virginia but is more of a lottery ticket as a college bat than a sure prospect.

The chance for the Pirates to add Corey Dickerson must have been somewhat of a surprise because earlier in the week, the Pirates added a lefthanded-hitting and a righthanded-hitting outfielder and from the looks at that time, both looked to be contending for the left field starting spot.
Now both players might be battling for one spot on the roster with the other headed for AAA Indianapolis.

At this time last season, Michael Saunders might have been looked at in a similar fashion as Corey Dickerson is today, coming off a career-high season in doubles and homers and off his first All-Star selection.
The 31-year-old Saunders left Toronto for Philadelphia and produced a terrible line in a season that saw him hit so poorly as a Phillie, he returned to Toronto (Combined .202/6/21).
Saunders is better than 2017 (Though he always will strike out a ton), but I think his 24 homers in 2016 is unlikely to be repeated, but his cost wasn't nearly as high for Pittsburgh (a minor league contract/ spring training invite) than it was for Philadelphia just one year before and Saunders is at least an interesting contender to be a bat off the bench.

Pittsburgh attempted to buy low with a cash purchase of outfielder Bryce Brentz after the Red Sox signed J.D. Martinez to a large contract and needed to free up a roster space.
The 29-year-old was at one time thought of as a possible elite prospect but has been hampered by wrist injuries and despite coming off the Red Sox 40 man has only 90 plate appearances in the big leagues.
Brentz has been so injury plagued that until last season when he played 120 games for AAA Pawtucket, he had not played in 100 games since 2012!
Brentz did smack 31 homers for the PawSox, so the Pirates are hoping that perhaps he has rebounded and could be a steal in the making.
We'll see if Brentz is a true late bloomer or turns out to be one of those 4A  players that turn out to be AAA hired guns to travel the International and Pacific Coast leagues.
At a minimum, I think Brentz has the potential to add power somewhere, the question is where-left field where he would have to chase off Corey Dickerson, the bench in Pittsburgh or chasing flyballs in Indianapolis.

No matter the result of the left field battle, it will be interesting to follow how Austin Meadows hits in Indianapolis.
Meadows does need time in AAA and his main issue has been fighting off injuries since first playing in the Hoosier State in 2016.
One would have to think that Meadows will at least spend the first two months in AAA, but what if those two months are dazzling ones that force his way to Pittsburgh?
I would think the player that loses out in that scenario would be Corey Dickerson, but it could be Gregory Polanco, should his production drop in 2017 carry into 2018.

The inbox is overflowing,so look for a sports and non-sports version soon, another look at assault weapons and there is the boxing challenge, so lots of posts over the next few days...

Andrew McCutchen

The final part of the Andrew McCutchen series talks about the loss of the player to the fan base of the Pirates and just how it's yet another hit to a team that seems to be settled in as the third franchise in a three franchise city with fans that are possibly leaving not long after returning...

Andrew McCutchen wasn't just a good player for the Pirates, he was an ambassador for the team in a city that was looking for a representative.
The Steelers had theirs in the Rooneys, Mike Tomlin, Ben Rothlisberger etc and the Penguins had Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and their stars, but where was the face of the Pirates?
For the most part, it was either the deceased Roberto Clemente, Manny Sanguillen sitting out in right field, Steve Blass telling stories in the booth or the beautiful ballpark.
Years of bad baseball had led to even average players with career seasons being pushed as Pirate stars and the awful track record with drafting and trades by general managers Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield had left the organization and minor league system filled with less than sterling talent.
Most years in the draft even when the Pirates picked in the top five (remember Bryan Bullington and Daniel Moskos?) the Pirates found a way to draft a low ceiling college player that wouldn't cost as much as a more talented player at the same draft position.

Only once, did Dave Littlefield break with this philosophy with McCutchen in 2005's in tabbing Cutch as a high school prospect out of Florida.
When you look at the 2005 draft, I can see that knowing how Littlefield liked to draft, he had to feel like he was taking a real risk on McCutchen as the only college position player that panned out following the Pirates pick at 11 (Which for the Pirates at the time was a pretty low pick) was Jacoby Ellsbury at 23 to Boston.
The high school choices were not plentiful either as only Jay Bruce, who the Reds took out of a Texas high school with the next pick had anything more than an average big league career, so give Littlefield credit for arguably the only great thing that he managed to do in his entire Pirate career.

Pirates fans could tell from the day he was drafted that McCutchen was different than the usual Littlefield pick and were excited to hear about him as he moved through the minor system.
That's how Cutch became one of the TRS favorites.
Cutch was drafted in 2005 right around the first full year that I started going to minor league games all the times and autographing, so I was excited to hear about this Pirate prospect that was going to be appearing in Hagerstown soon.
In 2006, my nephew Jeff was a Sun's batboy and he worked for the visiting team, so he talked to Cutch throughout the series and I have a few pictures of Jeff getting Cutch to sign a ball after a game for me.
Seems so long ago and I guess 12 years can be both long and short, but Cutch was a good signer and a nice guy even then, a bit quiet, but nice.
The picture above is a picture that Ryan took with a camera of the day (take note of the time stamp) during one day of the series and we had an 8 x 10 made the next morning to have Andrew sign that night.
That process alone shows the difference in twelve years!!

McCutchen skipped the then Pirates High A affiliate in Lynchburg (missing Frederick, the easiest place to graph on the circuit then) and would spend his 20-year-old season with AA Altoona, which is an awful challenging assignment for a high schooler.
Andrew was solid enough,but unspectacular (.258/10/48 in 118 games), but considering his age, a fair season and in two years, he was in Pittsburgh for good at 22.

Andrew McCutchen was the player that helped Pirate fans fall back in love with a franchise that had decayed away with a management that seemed not to care.
I compare those Pirates in some ways to the Browns (although the Browns have a much larger and more rabid base of supporters) in that there are/were people that still care, but were/are just so beaten down by losing, dumb moves, cheapness etc that they've become numb to it all.
Cutch was the start of those people and he was the start of me getting into this crazy hobby and fun business of caring and learning more about minor league prospects.
Andrew McCutchen also backed up on the field and for a small market team, he was what they so often need-a bankable superstar that gives that teams fans someone exciting to watch win or lose to go and see live or on television.

Now, he's gone and he would have likely been gone after the season anyway, but what the Pirates have said is that money is a little more important than winning.
What are the chances the Pirates make a big run this season with McCutchen and Gerrit Cole?
Less than average when you consider that their division is a strong one, but you could make a case that with a signing or two to a one or two year deal, that a playoff contending team wouldn't be out of the question.
Instead, the Pirates moved those players and didn't get one blue-chip prospect in return-not one.
Interesting ones?
Yes, I like Joe Musgrove and Kyle Crick could be a future closer, but none are top of the line, blue chippers and the Pirates chose to punt the season rather than even try.
What does these types of decisions always bring to my mind?
An obscure 80's teen movie called Three O'Clock High.
The premise is that this huge street fighter (Buddy Revell) is going to fight this average guy (Jerry Something) at three o'clock and the film follows the school day leading up to the fight with the hi-jinks that entail of how the fight is tried to be avoided etc before they fight.
This scene below features Buddy Revell asking Jerry how it feels after he pays him off not to fight him.-That's what I feel about the Pirates and especially so after losing Andrew McCutchen...
They didn't even try...

Andrew McCutchen-What the Giants are getting

Part two of our series on the Andrew McCutchen trade takes a perusal at how the swap affects the San Francisco Giants and what they expect to receive from the outfielder from the (expected) one year that he spends in the Bay Area.

The Giants are a veteran team that was expected to contend last season and instead responded with the worst record in the National League, but considering their situation with veteran contracts and a less than strong farm system, the Giants are going all in for a two (perhaps three ) year push before these players are all past their prime and the revamp will be a mandatory one, whether the Orange and Black likes it or not.
San Francisco hopes to use these few years to continue to contend, draw fans and be able to rebuild that flagging minor league system in order to better prepare for the next stage in Giants baseball.

Andrew McCutchen bounced back a little in 2017 from a down 2016 with a solid line of .279/28/88 and his OPS rose 83 points to .849, so McCutchen doesn't seem to be on the downside, although those numbers aren't quite what prime McCutchen's were, they are still more than solid.
McCutchen also won't be asked to play centerfield in San Francisco as he was in Pittsburgh.
McCutchen's range defensively has dropped through the years and that would have been a huge factor in San Francisco with the largest centerfield to cover in the game.
Pittsburgh was able to slide by with McCutchen in center for two reasons-first PNC Park is much wider in the power alley to left center, therefore, making PNC Park a rare stadium in that left field is more important as far as range goes to have a strong flychaser in left defensively than center.
The Giants suffered badly defensively in center over the last two seasons with Denard Span attempting to cover ground in "Triple's Alley" and the concern was that McCutchen as well would have similar struggles.
The good news there is that the Giants have no such plans to even try as McCutchen will play right field at AT&T Park with Hunter Pence moving over to left.
McCutchen did play 13 games in right last year with the Pirates, but that is his only major league experience at the position.

At the plate, McCutchen did cut his strikeouts last season by 27 from 2016 and seemed to be more patient at the plate as well.
Cutch isn't the base stealing threat that he once was as his steal stats has decreased from 27 in 2013 to 11 last season, but he's not a clogger yet on the bases either, so I don't have any worries there.
The Pirates also sent along 2.5 million in the deal to help pay for McCutchen's salary for the season, so look for the Giants to sign or trade for a reasonably priced  and more than likely defensively oriented centerfielder to help make up for some of the deficiencies of McCutchen and Pence in the spacious San Francisco grounds sometime soon before spring training opens...

The power challenged Giants had to make something happen and even with the additions of Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria, the arrivals might not be enough to make a bad team good.
However, it is nice to see a team take the bull by the horns and try to do something, whether it works or not.
Give the Giants credit for the effort.
Now, let's see if the team can do the hardest thing to do in sports-contend while rebuilding on the fly.
Good luck!

I'll have the PPM and the boxing challenge opener soon, so the final part of this series might not be finished until next week, but I hope you'll enjoy it...

Busy Buccos Cutting Costs-Part Two

The Andrew McCutchen trade will be covered in three posts as it involves two of the teams that we cover here.
It's that important.
In part one, we'll talk about what the Pirates received in return and how it affects Pittsburgh for 2018.
In part two, we'll look at things from the Giants perspective as they attempt to bounce back from an awful 2017 and make a short-term move before their core ages.
And we'll finish with part three, where I'll write about Andrew McCutchen, the player, who grew up as a prospect into a star right alongside this blog.
I hope that the reader will find it interesting.

In this post, the trade that sent the longtime face of the Pirate franchise in Andrew McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants clearly ends any hope of Pirate fans of any sort of contention for the 2018 season, despite what the team was attempting to sell after the Gerrit Cole trade with the Astros.
Trading McCutchen, who will be a free agent at the end of the season and will be 32 for his next contract, was thought to be a given before the end of 2018, if the Pirates were not in contention, but trading him now looks to be a salary dump of a player that had given much of himself to the franchise and the community.

The featured player in the trade is yet again another power-armed reliever in righthanded Kyle Crick

Now, this is where I catch a break because there might not be another pitcher that doesn't pitch in the organization's that host teams on the local circuit (Nationals and Orioles) that I have seen pitch more times than Kyle Crick in the minors in addition to his big league season last year with the Giants.
The 2011 "Sandwich" pick has always had one of the better arms in the minors with an A+ fastball and combined with a live slider, Crick's appearance in Hagerstown as an Augusta Greenjacket in 2012 showed an impressive toolbox that gave me hope that the Giants had another future star in their rotation.
After an impressive 2013 at High A San Jose, Crick figured to be tested at the AA level in Richmond, which is where prospects often meet real adversity for the first time.
Little did Crick or the Giants know that Crick would not just meet adversity in Richmond, he would buy property and make a home there as Crick would spend three full seasons with the Eastern League franchise.
Crick walked a lot of batters (a lot), moved from the rotation to the bullpen back to the rotation, his numbers were worse in season three than they were in season one and both Giants fans and Eastern League followers were wondering if Crick was ever going to be able to harness his plus stuff and return to those prospect lists that he was slipping off.

And then something happened.
Rather send Crick to Richmond for yet another year, San Francisco threw up their hands, tried Crick at AAA Sacramento as a reliever and the light clicked on.
Crick put up an ERA under three in 29 innings as the RiverCats setup man before becoming their closer and struck out 39 in 29 innings, but the most important number?
Only 13 walks.
With Crick's arm, there is no doubt that he can be an elite level closer in the league with even average command and the potential seemed to be coming into form and with the Giants suffering through an awful season, it didn't hurt any to bring Crick up to AT&T Park when Mark Melancon was injured, although he wasn't used as the closer of course.
Crick's numbers were solid with the Giants as well in a pitchers park, which should bode well in Pittsburgh as well as Crick's ERA was barely over three, struck out 28 and walked 17 in 32 innings, which I thought was pretty impressive.
I was figuring on (assuming that Crick continued his command improvement) seeing Crick have the first chance on being the eventual closing replacement when Mark Melancon's contract expires after 2020 (Melancon does have a player option after next year), that's how impressed (and surprised) I was with Crick's 2017 season.
Here's the problem- how many times have you seen a player have command issues take a leap forward for a season and then regress?
It happens more than you think and until Crick can repeat (and maybe even another season after that)  can you truly feel comfortable in thinking that things are truly under "Control".

As for the other player in the trade, the Giants used their first pick in the 2016 draft (second round) on Vanderbilt outfielder Bryan Reynolds and many at the time thought that Reynolds was a steal at the point in the draft.
Reynolds turns 23 next week, so for a college outfielder, Reynolds is not excessively old after spending last year at High A San Jose where he hit .312 with 10 homers and 63 RBI.
Reynolds line does send some mixed signals as far as speed and power.
Ten homers in the California league is nothing special, but nine triples does indicate gap power.
Five steals doesn't indicate plus speed, but nine triples is a pretty impressive number, so there are some stats to think about.
Reynolds also switch-hits which is always a plus, but for a player that doesn't have even average power, his 106 strikeouts (and only 37 walks) is a warning sign to me.
I think Reynolds is a pretty similar prospect to Steven Duggar in the Giants system and with Duggar being one step ahead (expected to start at AAA Sacramento) in the system, the Giants likely looked at Reynolds as being the more expendable of the two, especially with Andrew McCutchen being more than likely a one year rental in the outfield.
I think there are similarities between Reynolds and Jason Martin (acquired from the Astros) with Reynolds being the slightly safer bet and Martin having the slightly higher upside due to the better power potential.
Reynolds should join Martin in the outfield at AA Altoona to start the 2018 season.

I can understand Pirates fans being disappointed with the return.
Perhaps had they waited and McCutchen hit well, they could have gotten a better return at the trade deadline, but that carries the risk of a bad year or even an injury and getting a lesser return or even no return at all, so I can understand taking the safe route now, even if it is the less than glamorous return.
The problem for Pirates fans is that it comes so soon after the trade of Gerrit Cole where the team said that they were not punting the 2018 season- there is no way that one could take such a statement with any type of seriousness now.
It's tough to take the Nutting ownership seriously now when they say that they want to build through youth and then when the time is right they will spend the money to take a shot to win a title.
When the time was right to spend and the window was open, they refused to do so- the returns are in and Bob Nutting just is content to make his dollars from baseball.
Winning is secondary.

Unless something breaks, our next post will look at the trade through the prism from the Giants perspective and how the trade impacts their lineup for the season...

Busy Buccos cutting costs-Part One

I started this post and as I did, the Pirates made another trade, but I'm going to cover that in my next post in order to give this one the coverage that it deserves.

The Pittsburgh Pirates started their revamp (rebuild) with the trade of Gerrit Cole to the Houston Astros for four players, three of which are expected to make the Pirates this season.

The loss of Cole seems like a bit of a risk to move him this soon after signing last week to a contract for the 2018 season for 6.75 million and would have had him for one more season in 2019, although that would have been under double figure millions most likely with possible arbitration in the wings as well.
Still, Cole's numbers did dip some in 2017 after an injury-shortened 2016 and it can be argued that he only has truly only notched one elite-level season, so if you are afraid of another average season that would see a similar return down the road and see Cole still earn large raises through arbitration, the argument can be made that making the move makes sense.

However, if you buy in on the time being acceptable to move Cole, I still question the package coming back from the Astros.
The main piece for me is 25-year-old righthanded pitcher Joe Musgrove, who was tremendous in the second half of the season as a reliever for the Astros (31 strikeouts in 23 appearances and hitters hit under .200 against him) but was nothing special at all in his 15 starts in his second year in the bigs.
For the season, Musgrove finished with an ERA of 4.77 but throws hard and Joe Werner (our prospect guru) says that for his money he doesn't see that much difference in his data and opinions between Musgrove and Cole period.
While I remember liking what I saw from Musgrove when I saw him pitch for AA New Hampshire when Musgrove was in the Blue Jays system, that seems to be a bit of a stretch to me.
The Pirates intend on installing Musgrove in the rotation, so I suppose we'll see soon enough, but still, Musgrove should at least be solid enough in PNC Park, which helps pitchers much more than Houston's Minute Maid Park.

The other main player in the deal is expected to be the Pirates starting third baseman in Colin Moran.
The 25-year-old former first-rounder of the Marlins in 2013 will be joining his third organization and has made just 37 plate appearances in the big leagues, although Moran was hitting well in seven games last year with the Astros before a facial injury caused by fouling a ball off straight up into his eye.
Moran has always hit for average through the minors but had never hit for power (10 homers had been his high) before last season when an adjustment to his swing saw Moran hit 18 homers at AAA Fresno, where he hit .308 in 79 games before his promotion to Houston.

Moran is a very slow runner ( when Moran appeared in Hagerstown with Low A Greensboro, we were all struck by just how slow the then 22-year-old third baseman was and we all wondered even then how long he was going to be able to play there) and he lacks range and athleticism defensively at third.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Moran hit for a decent average, but do it without great power, clog lots of bases, and be a defensive liability, but there is a chance that he is one of these players that has caught the latest novelty in baseball of "swing plane" and increasing the loft of his connections and could see his game change because of it.
However, from what I have seen as of today, I would think that there is a better chance of Moran being a "4 A " player than an above-average everyday major leaguer and I wonder about depending on him to be the third baseman on a regular basis...

The Pirates always seem to love to add hard throwers to add to their bullpen in almost every trade that Neal Huntington makes and this one was no exception as Michael Feliz was the third player involved.
Feliz, a 24-year-old hard-throwing 6'4 righthander, spent the last two years in the Houston bullpen with far better numbers in 2016 than last season as Feliz posted an ERA of 5.63 in 46 appearances (48 innings).
However, Feliz still notches highly in the stat number that I love most- Strikeouts Per 9 at 13.1- 70 whiffs in those 48 innings, so the gas is there even when the command isn't and therefore has been and still is the issue with Feliz.
After all, there is an issue with a power arm and strikeout numbers like those or they wouldn't be giving him away, now would they?
The Pirates have found success with similar projects before, most recently Felipe Rivero, and there is plenty to like with Feliz's arm, so there is upside here, but plenty of polishing and patience will be needed...

The final player in the deal is a lottery ticket in outfielder Jason Martin.
The 22-year-old Martin split last season between High A Buies Creek and AA Corpus Christi and hit .278/18/66 with 16 steals at the two levels.
I saw Martin a little at Frederick and the left-handed hitter came into 2017 with a 23-homer season at High A Lancaster (then the Houston High A affiliate), but the Astros felt Martin needed to at least start the season at the same level (All California league parks are hitters paradises) as Martin had struck out 108 times in 400 at-bats.
Martin didn't improve much on that in 2017 (124 SO in 474 AB's) and contact is going to be the major hurdle that he'll need to get past if he is going to make the big leagues as a contributor.
Martin has some speed and I could see him maybe being a backup outfielder, but he has plenty of work to do to be more than that.
I would expect him to be assigned to AA Altoona, but there is a chance the Pirates could assign him to AAA Indianapolis to start the season.

Honestly, I'm going to say this, I think the Pirates moved too soon on this trade.
Maybe they know something I don't about Cole (maybe his arm isn't 100%?) and they wanted to get something rather than nothing later?
But if that's not the case, I'm not impressed with the return.
I like Joe Musgrove, but he did pitch far better from the Houston bullpen than in his 15 starts and the Pirates will be relying on his skills in the rotation.
I'm not nearly as big of a fan of Colin Moran as others are, Michael Feliz has a big arm, but big arms with command problems aren't hard to find and Jason Martin is a decent prospect, but not a sure-fire blue chip by any means at all.

I think the Pirates could have done better by waiting or accepting offers from elsewhere (not that I really know what those would be for sure), but time will tell, which of us was correct on this one.
Next post More Pirates talk as Andrew McCutchen heads for San Francisco...