2009 Pirates Shadow Draft

Better late than never,here is our shadow draft for the 2009 Pirates.
Remember the rules are that I cannot pick a player that was not available when the Pirates chose in a particular round.
I will toss the picks out with this caveat-I will try to be as honest as possible and look back at how I would have picked them over the summer.
An example of this is the Pirates top pick Tony Sanchez.
Sanchez was a surprise pick and I was not wild about it,but his play thus far has shown he was deserving of the 4th overall selection.
So in all honesty,I wont be picking Sanchez in the shadow draft.
Fortunately,I have my notes for when this was SUPPOSED to be posted,so I can be as honest as possible.
If you want to compare how my 2007 and 2008 shadows have done thus far,click on the year.
I'll try to take a detailed look at them soon.

Round 1: Grant Green SS Southern Cal
Round 1 Supplemental (For not signing Tanner Scheppers in 2008):Tommy Joseph C Arizona High School
Round 2: Andrew Oliver LHP Oklahoma State
Round 3: Kyrell Hudson OF Washington High School
Round 4: Zach Dotson LHP Texas High School
Round 5: Shaver Hansen 3B Baylor
Round 6: Zack Von Rosenberg RHP Louisiana High School
Round 7: Cody Rogers OF Panola Texas Junior College
Round 8: Colton Cain LHP Texas High School
Round 9: Sequoyah Stonecypher OF Grossmont California Junior College
Round 10: Sam Honeck 1B Tulane

Photo Credit-Unknown

Devils double Rangers 6-3

The New Jersey Devils needed a big win after a flat outing in Edmonton and they got it with a 6-3 home win over their rivals from New York.
The teams exchanged the first six goals of the game before the Devils scored the finals three goals of the contest.
Devils goals to Zach Parise (31 Power play), Travis Zajac (21),Brian Rolston (18),Jamie Langenbrunner (16),Rob Niedermayer (8) and Bryce Salvaodr (4).
The Devils will host Pittsburgh tomorrow night.

Hell Raisers

1) Fun game to watch,especially when you consider that each teams came into the game suffering offensive problems.
The game was not always end to end hockey,but certainly aggressive offensive hockey.

2) The Rangers yanked Henrik Lunquist after the Devils 5th goal.I am not arguing that,but two of his five were redirected by the Ranger defender and none were especially bad goals.
That said,his tantrum on the bench didn't win him many fans.

3) Save of the game was Marty's Brodeur's diving stick hinge of save of Olli Jokinen.
Tremendous!


4) Four players with both a goal and an assist is always a good thing,but even without a goal,I thought Ilya Kovalchuk played well.
Maybe,it is just me,but Kovalchuk seems to be adjusting each time that I see him play.

5) The downside?
Two goals that were a fault of the defense and not Marty Brodeur.
The worst was the second period goal that saw Mark Fraser just throw the puck in front of the net and watched the Rangers score.
Bad play and Fraser sat the rest of the evening.
It would not surprise me to Anssi Salmela back for the Penguin game and Fraser scratched.

6) And finally,Pierre Luc LeBlond dropping the mitts against veteran tough guy Jody Shelley showed that LeBlond wants the enforcer role of Andrew Peters.
I thought LeBlond acquitted himself quite well against Shelley.


Will try to be back later with something else,everytime I think I will have time to do some fun posts,the football gets pulled away by Lucy!

Photo Credit-AP

Brownie Bits

The Cleveland Browns have been somewhat active since the player movement period has started,but not as frantic as some thought could mark the beginning of the Holmgren/Heckert era.
The Browns have added two likely starters and a possible third and released Derek Anderson and dropped some salary with his release.

Before we look at the newest Browns,lets say goodbye to Derek Anderson,who for all of his flaws did bring Browns fans their only season of good news over the last ten years.
Anderson was not the best passer that Cleveland has ever had,but he might have had the strongest arm the Browns have seen and that arm is exactly why Anderson will have little problem finding a team over the next few weeks for 2010.
Derek Anderson will be playing in this league after Brady Quinn and Seneca Wallace are gone because of his arm.
Coaches and player personnel people will give Anderson chance after chance for that reason.
Take a look at the long and lucrative career of Vinny Testaverde,who looks like just what I see Anderson's career unfolding as.
It is hard to say Anderson will be missed,but the Browns have had far worse quarterbacks in Brown and Orange.

I did like the Browns two free agent signings and both should be starters in the opening day lineup.
Linebacker Scott Fujita will step right in and add a veteran leader that specializes in tackling,which is something this team needs badly.
The thirty year old has been with three teams and spent the last four with the Saints after stops in Kansas City and Dallas.
Don't expect Fujita to be a high impact player,but he is just the type of steady veteran that a rebuilding team needs.

Tony Pashos signed from San Francisco to basically become the right tackle.
This should shove Pork Chop Womack over to guard and shove John St.Clair to the unemployment line.
Pashos missed the final ten games of 2009 after injuring his left shoulder,but was a durable player before then in his time with the Ravens and Jaguars.
Pashos doesn't have to be Joe Thomas,he just has to not be the revolving door that St.Clair was.
Both Fujita and Pashos signed three year deals.

The Browns then traded for Mike Holmgren favorite Seneca Wallace from the Seahawks for an undisclosed/conditional draft pick in 2011.
I have seen every game that Seneca Wallace has quarterbacked in with the Seahawks and lets hope that the Browns long term plan is not Seneca Wallace.
Wallace is athletic,adds a different dimension to the offense off the bench and I can imagine that with some creativity (Wait,isn't Brian Daboll still the OC?,Never mind) that a Wallace/Josh Cribbs formations could be quite effective.
However,he is short at 5'11,his arm is not exactly huge and hasn't exactly shined for the most part in his starts in Seattle,which were quite frequent over the last two seasons with the injuries to brittle Matt Hasselbeck.
I have no problem with Wallace as a backup and he does being unique skills to Cleveland,but if this is another "West Coast" Guru that is going to "Remake" a quarterback into a star,then I am worried.
I do think that the Browns could have added a Seneca Wallace type without surrendering a draft pick,but at least it is a conditional one,so that is a bit better.

So,the Browns addressed the right side of the offensive line,added a starting linebacker and replaced one player at quarterback.
Overall,a small step of improvement.
What does this mean for the Browns in the draft?
With the loss of Brodney Pool and no veterans brought in,it looks to me like the Browns are looking at DB in the draft with Eric Berry (I hope) or Joe Haden (slow 40 time at the combine) as the likely picks for Cleveland.

Working extra tonight,so some planned posts are pushed back a bit,so more tomorrow....

Photo Credits
Fujita-AP Photo
Wallace-Unknown

Photo Credits

Does Andrew McCutchen deserve an extension?

A recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette poses the question of an extension to the Pirates young centerfielder Andrew McCutchen after the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Justin Upton to a long term contract.

Should the Pirates offer McCutchen a similar contract in years,if not money?
Our answer is no.
Don't take that the wrong way,I like Andrew McCutchen.
He was a nice guy when he played with Hickory here,he has plenty of talent and lack of effort has never been a question for him either,but he is not Justin Upton and he likely will never be.
Justin Upton does everything that McCutchen does and will hit for more power.
McCutchen will generally steal more bases than Upton,but Upton will steal his share of sacks as well.
McCutchen is the far superior defender,but Upton is relatively new to the outfield.

Upton also has two solid seasons under his belt,while McCutchen has just a few months in the bigs.
Upton's contract also buys out his first two seasons of free agency and eliminates the hassles of arbitration,while McCutchen still may not hit arbitration for 2 years at best.
Take a look at some of these names-Todd Hollandsworth, Ben Grieve,former Pirate Eric Hinske and current Pirate Bobby Crosby as just a few examples of young players that watched their stats plummet and their careers to that of bench players.
I am not saying that Andrew McCutchen is going to be Ben Grieve,but one just doesn't know at this stage of his career and the risk at this point is not worth the reward.
Things change and a excellent 2010 changes things,but for now,lets see a complete season from the Pirates most talented and exciting player before we jump the gun prematurely....

Photo Credit-Unknown

Quick catch up work

Look for a couple of posts over the next few days as I have plenty to say about some varied topics,but for now I just want to catch up on some small stuff and then move on.

I missed the Devils 2-0 loss to the worst team in hockey Sunday night,but from what I have read,it was simply awful.
Edmonton's win added to the recent doldrums in New Jersey and I cannot seem to figure out why,although missing games isn't helping me much.
However,a quick perusal of the Devils schedule shows that I should see the remainder of the season with the exception of the 3-15 game against the Bruins on Versus.
Until the second round of the playoffs comes up,IF the Devils make it that far.
At that time,Directv and myself will have a less than friendly conversation that they were told was coming back in September if this still was an issue at playoff time..

A few signings through the mail from Lowell Devils Tim Sestito,Patrick Davis,Brad Snetsinger and Ben Walter along with the man who smacked the shot heard round the world in Bobby Thomson.

A new link on the links list promotes Dick Allen for the Hall of Fame.
Allen was the first ever player in our Forgotten Superstars series.

Just realized that I didn't do either of my awards for minor league baseball or a shadow draft either for 2009.
Better late than never and I will be working on those soon.
Look for those,the Browns pickups in the beginning of the movement period,a look at whether Andrew McCutchen needs an extension and hopefully a look at two things that have nothing to do with sports!

Photo Credit-AP

Devils extinguished in Calgary

The New Jersey Devils dropped a 5-3 decision to the Flames in Calgary last night in a game that I saw little of since I had to go to work.
Calgary scored five goals in a row after I left for work with the Devils up 1-0.
Could I have been the difference?LOL!
Zach Parise scored two of the Devils three goals (29 and 30 power play) with Ilya Kovalchuk scoring the other (34).
Parise reached 30 goals for the fourth season in a row,which made him the first Devil to accomplish that feat in about the only sliver of good news on the night.
The Devils road trip ends tomorrow in Edmonton vs the Oilers.
For the game details,go over to In Lou We Trust.

Otherwise a pretty slow day unless one counts the Ravens bringing Anquan Boldin to Baltimore for a 3 and 4 in the draft.
One always has to give Ozzie Newsome credit for being one of the best GM's in the league,no matter how much it hurts....

Photo Credit-AP

Browns trade Corey Williams

The Cleveland Browns have not made any signings on Day one of the player movement period,but they did manage to clear some salary from the roster as the Browns shipped defensive end Corey Williams to the Detroit Lions along with a seventh round pick in exchange for a fifth round selection.
The fifth rounder is that of the Denver Broncos that Detroit had obtained in an earlier trade.

Williams had been a huge disappointment in Cleveland after being obtained from Green Bay for a second rounder before the 2008 draft and the trade saves the Browns the 4.2 million dollars that would be owed Williams for 2010.
Williams never fit into the Browns 3-4 defense after being a defensive tackle for Green Bay in the Packers 4-3 and seemed miscast as an end.
Williams did seem to show life last season after being moved to tackle after the season ending injury to Shaun Rogers.
Detroit could get a steal with Williams,if they use him properly and the Browns save cash on a player that was not productive when you consider the salary that they were paying...

The Browns also finally were able to renegotiate a new deal with Josh Cribbs which basically gave him more money on the three years remaining on his contract.
Cribbs also has six incentives that he can reach and add even more money to his deal.

The Browns also will be visited by Saints linebacker Scott Fujita tomorrow.
The hard hitting Fujita is just the sort of steady player that the Browns need in their linebackers and could then possibly allow D'qwell Jackson to walk away,adding a second rounder in compensation.....

Photo Credit-Unknown