Pittsburgh Pirates top prospects 11-15

Finally,we begin this series and after only three revisions too!
The series is using the criteria used before the season and took into consideration prospect performance during the first two months of the season.

11) Shelby Ford 2b AAA Indianapolis
Ford was a top ten resident in the first draft of this before the season and before the trade with the Braves,but a injury combined with an awful 2009 thus far has sent Ford's stock spiralling downward and could drop further unless a strong finish is in the cards.
Ford has to get by with the bat as he is average with the leather and .174 and a homer isn't going to cut it.
Had Ford played anywhere close to average,he could have been the replacement if Freddy Sanchez gets traded,now that looks doubtful at best....

12) Chase D'Arnaud SS Low A West Virginia
The Pirates spent their third and fourth round picks on college shortstops in the 2008 draft and have been forced to keep them apart in order to give both time to develop.
D'Arnaud was the lower of the two picks out of Pepperdine,but after seeing him along with Jordy Mercer,I tend to like D'Arnaud slightly better.
With an OPS of over 800,Chase appears to be ready for a shot at Lynchburg,but with the great season by Brian Friday at Altoona blocking both D'Arnaud and Jordy Mercer,Chase could be at West Virginia most of the season.
A move to second base for one or both of the players may be in the cards considering Friday's season and the systems lack of second baseman behind the slumping Shelby Ford.

13) Jordy Mercer SS High A Lynchburg
Mercer has struggled with the bat in both of his pro seasons although his 30 RBI places him third on the Hillcats.Mercer has a gun at short but seems to struggle with his lateral movement in the field.
Yet another Pirate infielder that has to have his bat as his calling card and thus far has been unable to use it to shine.
Mercer needs a strong finish to keep prospect status after an less than impressive start to his career in the pros.

14) Jim Negrych 2b AA Altoona
The contact hitting Negrych leaped from the starting gate hitting .373 in April and giving hope that he could see AAA ball before the seasons end,but a below .200 May has dampened those hopes a bit.
Negrych is a brutal fielder no matter where he plays and was switched from third to the less demanding second going into the season.
Negrych needs to hit at every level because his upside is as a utility man that is a valuable pinch hitter as the glove will not allow him to play every day...

15) Quinton Miller-Extended Spring Training
The 20th rounder that signed for 900,000 last season has yet to throw a pro pitch and likely will be in Bradenton all summer starting with the Gulf Coast Pirates.The hard throwing Miller makes the list strictly on projection and talent alone.

Two players slid off the list with the arrivals of Jeff Locke and Gorkys Hernandez and both were relievers from Altoona.
Daniel Moskos has more walks than strikeouts for the season,struggles with control nightly and hitters are batting 286 against him.
Moskos has improved in May,but still isn't striking anyone out...
Jeff Sues looked to possibly be in Pittsburgh by seasons end with some luck,but a bad May has inflated his ERA to over six.
Hitters are hitting just .236 against him though and he is averaging just under a strikeout an inning,so hope is still there....

Nate McLouth headed South!

No,the headline was not a bad rhyme-Nate McLouth was indeed shipped to the Atlanta Braves for three prospects,two of which I have seen play.

The trade appears to have mixed reactions from the Pirates fan base and surprisingly the Braves as well.
Some fans of Chief Noc-a-homa appear to think the cost of the three prospects was too high for McLouth,who is coming off his career season.
To them,I say this-Nonsense.
Nate McLouth with his hustle will be a huge fan favorite at Turner Field and the price was reasonable for the Atlanta fan.
Outfielder Gorkys Hernandez is a nice prospect,but the Braves have a prospect with a similar toolset already in Jordan Schafer,so Hernandez will not be a huge loss to the Braves.
Jeff Locke is highly thought of,but the Braves always have plenty of promising arms and AAA righthander Charlie Morton struggled in his starts with the 08 Braves.

However,from our point of view was the return fair for the humble Pirates?
Well,the Pirates did land two of the Braves top seven prospects (Hernandez at 4 and Locke 7th) and a intriguing power arm in Morton,who has been downright dominant at AAA Gwinnett,so using that as your base argument,perhaps.
However,Hernandez has shown a distinct lack of power with just 5 homers at High A Myrtle Beach last year and zero at AA Missisippi this season and plays the same position as both Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata making center field the clear strength of the Pirate system.
Locke has plenty of tools when you scout him,but his raw numbers at Low A Rome in 2008 and this year with the Pelicans are not numbers to be dazzled by.
Morton's AAA numbers are terrific over the last two seasons,but his over 6 ERA in 16 appearances (15 starts) in Atlanta shows the chance of Morton being the dreaded 4A player.

One could immediately look at the deal and wonder why no Tommy Hanson or Jason Heyward?
It wouldn't take long to figure out why as Atlanta refused to entertain the idea of dealing either.
Of course,one rarely mentioned part of the much maligned pick over Daniel Moskos over Matt Wieters is that the Pirates could have selected Heyward with the pick,if Captain Dave Littlefield indeed had so many questions about Wieters throwing arm,which isn't related to throwing up which is what I feel like doing every time I think about that day.
My main issue is why Hernandez when the one strength in the system is speedy centerfield types?
I would think that Myrtle Beach first baseman Freddie Freeman would have been a better fit for the Pirates needs than Hernandez just by system depth alone and I don't think Atlanta would have turned a Freeman,Locke and Morton offer down.

The one immediate positive to the swap was the callup of Andrew McCutchen,who was brought up from Indianapolis and given the center field job that was vacated by McLouth.
The fans have begged for the move and the Pirates have finally given in,this might be the only bright spot left this season.
Why?
Well,I think the Pirates could move any or all of these players over the next six weeks and if it is all of them-look out for both losses and record low attendance-Adam LaRoche,Freddy Sanchez,Jack Wilson,John Grabow and even Nyjer Morgan could be gone by the trade deadline as Neal Huntington continues to attempt to bulk up a flagging farm crop.

All and all,the deal is a resounding maybe as only Morton will be in Pittsburgh this season (sooner than you think,if Ian Snell continues to struggle).
This could be the beginning of the deals that the Neal Huntington regime will either build the rebirth of the Pirates on or be the trades that are looked at as the beginning of the end.
But that might be 2011 or 2012 before we can look back with hindsight with the final evaluation of today's trade.....

And for those of you that think being a Pirates fan is like standing under a black cloud,here is a live performance from Morrissey-Black Cloud.


Photo Credits
McLouth:Jeff Roberson-USA Today
Chief Noc-a-homa:Wikipedia
Hernandez:bravesandstuff.wordpress.com
Locke:Tom Priddy/MiLB.com.

Duke,Rain and on the signing front!

The Pirates behind an excellent effort by Zach Duke (6-4) , a timely first career homer by Jason Jaramillo and some effective hitting from the left side were able to upend the Mets on Tuesday 3-1.
Matt Capps tossed the ninth for his 12th save of the term.
The Pirates were rained out last night by some thunderous rainstorms and the game will be made up in July.
The series concludes this afternoon,weather permitting as rain is again in the forecast.

Pirate Hooks

1) I know that most of you want to hear about my take on tonight's trade that sent Nate McLouth to Atlanta in a shocking move that has the Pirate fan base talking all night.
However,that will have to wait shortly as I collect my thoughts on the deal.
It is a possibility that both this and the McLouth post could both be waiting in your inbox in the morning for those of you on the mailing list....

2) McLouth did leave the Pirates in style in what turned out to be his final game with his RBI double off the notorious lefty eating Johan Santana that proved to be the winning run and his gunning down of Jeremy Reed at the plate with a strong throw from center.

3) Zach Duke continued his return from career threatening ineptitude with another excellent performance.Duke's seven inning,one run evening was the 8th of the season (of 11) that he allowed two earned runs or less.
Is Joe Kerrigan a miracle worker?Or was Jim Colborn that awful in changing Duke's mechanics around?

4) Speaking of Colborn,any chance of him heading to Colorado now that Jim Tracy is the new boss with the Rockies (snicker) after the firing of Clint Hurdle?
I rarely see the Rockies,so not sure on Hurdle,but JIM TRACY????

5) Jason Jaramillo's first career homer off Johan Santana was a bomb,the sound off the bat sounded like those old baseball radio recreations where the sound guy smacks a drumstick (non chicken variety) off a block of wood!

Bullpen Notes

Looks like the Hub City is going to get hosed again as an announcement could be made as soon as this week that Rockville Maryland is going to build a new stadium in order to attract an Atlantic League team.
No word on whether the indy circuit has promised Rockville a team or not and no word on any state funding will be obtained to pay for some or all of the facility.
The proposed stadium would be the seventh new park built in the last 20 years,while the Muni continues to crumble....

On the signing front

A quick catchup on the Hickory Crawdads and Kannapolis Intimidators from their last visit to Hagerstown.
Hickory was a team that I had very little for,but was able to get what I needed.
The big catches were pitchers Martin Perez and Yoon-Hee Nam and third baseman Matt West.
West signed,but didn't seem overly thrilled with it.
Former Yankee and Cub Brian Dayett is the Crawdad hitting coach and was a super signer and spent time talking as well.
Dayett gets our highest grade!
Kannapolis brought a few prospects as well with two of their top prospects being very nice and signed everything as outfielder Sergio Morales and former Brave product Jon Gilmore were excellent.
Gilmore was obtained from Atlanta as part of the Javier Vasquez trade.
Other notable ChiSox farmhands were outfielder Justin Greene and shortstop Tyler Kuhn...

Time for some thanks to be tossed out to various people that have helped me out lately.

Thanks to:
Tom O'Brien and Jason Christensen for their massive help from their various Eastern League bases.
Tom and Jason have helped me a lot this season with things that I would have never gotten without them.

Dave Sloan for not only nabbing me a DVA Potomac Nationals set,but getting the vast majority of them signed for me as well.
Even Michael Burgess was included!!!

Mike Treadwell for tossing me a Brian Dayett Nippon Ham Fighter card,so I didn't have to spend time in the less than weather proof confines of my card storage.....

And finally to Ryan,Battling Bob and "Big Bob" for their help with Pedro Alvarez over the two Lynchburg trips to Frederick.
It was only with their help that I was able to get caught up (for now) with the Hillcat powerhitter.

Photo Credits
Jaramillo:Don Wright-AP Photo
Dayett:Topps

Pirates rally over Mets.

On a rare evening that I had neither work or a game to attend,I settled in at the home office for the Pirates vs the Mets and after another Ian Snell effort that was less than scintillating,hopes looked dim.
However,the Bucs dug in,trimmed the lead to 5-3 and then put the Mets away with a five run eighth for a 8-5 win!
Tom Gorzelanny vultured the win (3-1) as a going away gift before his expected return to Indianapolis and Matt Capps twirled a scoreless ninth for his 11th save.
The four game series continues today.

Pirate Hooks

1) We were quite harsh in our indictments on Andy LaRoche early in the season,but time to come clean as LaRoche has rallied quite well over the last month.
LaRoche still lacks the power that we like to see from a third baseman,but he is far from the total disaster that he showed signs of becoming since his arrival in Pittsburgh.

2) Ian Snell seems to be on the verge of being trade bait or having his situation dealt with in another manner.
Could Snell be the next Bucco pitcher to be an ace for the Indianapolis Indians?

3) Snell lasted six innings,but walked five and fanned just two.
Snell's lack of control,both emotionally and in the strike zone is simply maddening and no idea seems to have hopes of solving anything.
Indianapolis would just make a temper issue worse,moving him to the pen makes little sense unless you make him a long man and that would just make him useless in any trade value.....

4) Even though it hurt the Bucs,it was nice to see former Hagerstown Sun Bobby Parnell work the Mets out of a tough spot in the sixth by whiffing pinch hitter Ramon Vasquez with the bases loaded.
The hard throwing Parnell was a starter here,but his arm seems to be a better fit in the Mets bullpen.

5) The newest Pirate pitched a scoreless inning in the win as Steven Jackson made his first appearance since being recalled from Indy.
Jackson was claimed from the Yankees off waivers a few weeks back.

Pitching Matchup
New York Mets:Johan Santana (7-2 1.77 ERA) at Pittsburgh:Zach Duke (5-4 2.77 ERA) 7:05

Bullpen Notes

Will be taping the game and watching when I get home as I will be in Frederick to work on the Lynchburg Hillcats again after the forgetful fiasco.
Since that time,the Hillcat team set has come out,so all was not lost....

The New Jersey Devils made their first off season move in re-signing Pierre (3L) LeBlond to a three year contract worth 1.5 million over the course of the deal.
LeBlond will likely take Mike Rupp's spot as the fourth line enforcer.

The Devils also announced that prospect Petr Vrana will be playing professionally in his native Czech Republic for the next two seasons.
The Devils retain the NHL rights to Vrana and this might be a good thing for Vrana,who could return in a few years as a more skilled player.
I have wished that New Jersey gave Vrana more of a chance in the past,but the prolonged opportunity never came.

Will try to be back later with more on the signing front and some other thoughts.

Photo Credits
Bucs:Gene Puskar-AP Photo
Vrana:AP Photo

On the signing front-Carolina League

On the signing front continues with a look at the stuff that I was able to get signed from Lynchburg in their visit to Frederick.

Lynchburg featured Pedro Alvarez in his first local appearance,but the night was not great for me with the Hillcats.
Why?
Because I am an idiot,that's why.
I had taken the stuff that I had for Lynchburg to work to do the prep work for the evening and like a jackass,left them there.
That meant nothing of Lynchburg and that ticked me off tremendously.
But the night was not a total loss as I always keep cards for the home team in the briefcase,so I worked on the Frederick side for the first time this season.
I did not get a lot of players finished as I was the only person for the Keys.
That can be a good thing as players usually don't mind signing for one person,but it hurts at times as well.
When you are alone,you have no one to slow groups of players down and that means lower numbers,but Orioles top pick Brian Matusz signed all three cards that I had and was very nice as was third base prospect Brandon Waring.
Waring was obtained from Cincinnati in the trade that sent Oriole backstop Ramon Hernandez packing to Ohio.Zach Britton signed his bowman card and talked a bit.
Britton has always been very good about signing,although his signature leaves something to be desired as he just signs Z B and his number.
Lynchburg was saved a bit by a collecting friend ( who never likes to have his name here) that loaned me a few Pedro Alvarez cards and a Razor Jordy Mercer to salvage the evening.
Thanks to him,something was saved.
Alvarez didn't sign before the game on this night (although I have been told that he has in the past) and signed some after the game,but only one per.
Fortunately for me,this was sort of a mini party night as I had the ever present Battlin Bob,Ryan,Hank and another friend helping out,so at evenings end I had Alvarez on a Razor,a USA and a Carolina League baseball.
I will be returning for the Hillcats visit on Tuesday since their team set is now out,so hopefully I can remember cards this time and add Alvarez on other cards.

The Pirates were pasted 6-1 by the Astros and Brian Moehler as the fine tradition of crap pitchers dominating Pittsburgh continues.
Only a ninth inning ground out by Jason Jaramillo that scored Adam LaRoche avoided the shutout
I'll be back to daily coverage of the Bucs when time permits and I still have to type the prospects stuff up to post,although I am starting to wonder if it is worth it!

Back tomorrow with more signing news.

Photo Credit
Alvarez:The Graham Family

More time away

I keep getting busy and the item that has seemed to take the fall has been the blog.
Sorry about that and I will try to do better.
I think that might be easier once I get past this week,but who really knows for sure.

Lets start light and avoid the day to day stuff that I missed and concentrate on some different stuff.

The Pirates sent blog favorite Eric Krebs to the Dodgers as the PTBNL for Delwyn Young to complete the deal made a while back.
I had a feeling that either Krebs or Jared Hughes could be the player involved,although I had no reason to think that this was a possibility.
Krebs was assigned to High A Inland Empire.
Best wishes to the hard throwing righthander in his new organization.

Speaking of Hughes,just as he seemed to be putting things together with a strong start at Altoona,he was placed on the DL with shoulder soreness.
Jared was just 1-4 for the Altoona Curve,but his ERA was a sparkling 1.91.

The Pirates also shipped Altoona infielder Anderson Machado to the White Sox for the PTBNL.
Likely return will be cash....

The Cleveland Browns added a free agent that should help the team with the signing of veteran corner Roderick Hood from the Cardinals.
Hood spent four years as the Eagles nickel corner before starting the last two in Arizona.
Hood should start at one corner,although the Browns haven't announced which.
I would think that Hood would move ahead of Brandon McDonald,who seems to be more of a nickel type anyway,but no word of a definite plan...

The Cleveland Plain Dealer talked to legendary defensive mind Buddy Ryan about his twin sons-Rex (new Jets boss) and Rob,who will be running the Browns defense.
Both sons talk about the defensive philosophies that they and Buddy used.
Buddy continues to raise and race horses from his farm in Kentucky.

Former Devil Peter Zezel passed away at the age of 44 from the rare blood disease hemolytic anemia.
Zezel spent one year with the Devils,but was most known for his years in Philadelphia with the Flyers.

Bobby Holik decided to call it quits at the age of 38.
Holik struggled this year with his game and seemed to not be able to shake stupid penalties.
Holik will be remembered by Devil fans both fondly (his years on the crash line and two cups winning seasons) and negatively (signing with the hated Rangers,who never used his abilities properly).

Hope to be back tomorrow with an on the signing front with the Lynchburg Hillcats,Hickory Crawdads and Kannapolis Intimidators....

On the signing front-Carolina League

The signing front traveled to Frederick for visits from the Winston-Salem Dash (ugh) and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans over the downtime and things were reasonably productive.

Winston-Salem only produced two innings of baseball for me as we left during a long rain delay.
The game was eventually finished,but we were long gone.
The best pickup was outfielder Jordan Danks,who signed everything that we had and was very pleasant.
Danks turned out to be a bigger pickup after the fact as he was promoted to AA Birmingham shortly after the Dash left town,so this was the first and only chance to add the Texas product to the collection.
Third baseman Brent Morel was another notable addition from the less than prospect heavy squad from North Carolina.

The visit from the Pelicans was far more anticipated as the Braves affiliate offered several top prospects,but Jason Heyward stood above all.
Heyward is one of the top prospects in the game and I wanted to get his signature before the series ended as Myrtle Beach does not return to Frederick until late July,which should have Heyward entrenched in the AA Mississippi Brave lineup by then.
Heyward has even more significance to me as he was my first round pick in my fantasy league in his first year,so I really hope he succeeds.
Heyward doesn't sign before the game,so if you go to a game for him,expect to be there until the game ends,but once the game ends he signed for everyone and had no issues signing at all.
I was able to get all the cards signed that I needed and even was able to have Jason sign on the "sweet spot" of a SAL baseball,which he was reported to not do very often.
First baseman Freddie Freeman had a reputation of being erratic as far as signing,but I saw no indication of this as Freeman signed all five cards that I had for him and talked a bit as well.
The final of the Myrtle Beach "Big Three" was outfielder Cody Johnson,who might have been the nicest of all.
Johnson signed everything and thanked us for asking,that makes it pretty easy to root for Johnson's future as well.
Other Brave prospects that we added on the evening were pitcher Jeff Locke,second baseman Michael Fisher and speedy outfielder C.J. Lee.

Thanks to Ryan for helping with Winston-Salem and to the ever present Battlin Bob for helping with Myrtle Beach.

Picked a large bunch of cards from the Eastern League from our good friend Jason Christensen.
Jason helped me with a lot of cards from the Yankees and Red Sox AA squads that had built up from neither of those teams being in the area last season along with the Blue Jays,who never have teams here.
Notable Yankee additions include Zach McAllister,George Kontos,Eduardo Nunez and Marcos Vechionacci.
Red Sox pickups of note were Josh Reddick,Bryce Cox,Lars Anderson and Aaron Bates.
The top Blue Jay notable was 2008 first rounder David Cooper,who is a Razor exclusive,but unlike Kyle Skipworth will sign his other cards ,but only if personalized.
That doesn't bother me,so that works.
Cooper is reported by Jason to be "a real piece of work".
Thanks to Jason for all the help!

We will be in Frederick on Tuesday for the anticipated visit from Pedro Alvarez and the Lynchburg Hillcats and starting next Friday,Hagerstown returns from the road with the only visit this year from the Hickory Crawdads (Texas) and the Kannapolis Intimidators (Chicago White Sox),so we have plenty to get finished over the next week!