Pirates Likely To Draft Pedro Alvarez

All it takes is one look at Van Benschoten's numbers in college to realize why the Pirates have been so inept.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/V/john-vanbenschoten.shtml

Let's see, he was a spot starter/closer who was fairly good (not 8th pick overall good)...or...he was the top offensive player to come out of college along with some guy named Mark Teixeira. (By the way, I'm a Kent State grad, so the Van Benschoten topic is a sore one for me)

Damn... maybe we go after former Wieters High-School teammate Justin Smoak? Enough with the Matzus talk!

They have the best ballpark in baseball, it is great that they are starting to build a team to play in it.

Tim,

The Lincecum comment is EXTREMELY unfair. At the time, every single column, scout, writer and blogger praised the Pirates for not going cheap and taking arguably the best player in the draft.

Lincoln was coming off a season where he absolutely dominated, projected to a true ace and had a Cape season to rival any in history.

Then you look at what he could add as not only a dominant pitcher, but as a hitter.

Unfortunately, he blew out his elbow while Lincecum has turned into what everyone thought he would be. The jury is still out on Lincoln.

Upton, Wieters and the like are inexcusable mishaps on an organization going cheap. Lincoln is just an unfortunate circumstance to a bad thing happening to a good player

At&t is tainted just by the guy that used to play LF there. :P

Please, Neal, do it. As far as Walker goes, if we get Alvarez, I'd move him across the diamond and get LaRoche the hell out of here. That or move him to the outfield once Bay and/or Nady are traded and let Steve Pearce move back to his natural position of 1B.

"C'mon Pirates,

We gave you Matt Morris, let Pedro fall to us at 5!

:)"

I like the giants (but more an A's fan) I can't remember where I read it, but I saw an article in which it said that with Alvarez's bonus demands he might slip quite a ways. And while I'd like him to fall to the A's (Absoluely No Chance) i could see him slipping to 4 or 5. But as a fan of Baseball and knowing how good Alvarez is I find it hard to believe that the Rays, Pirates, Royals, AND the O's passing on him to fall to the Giants.

"Pittsburgh has outperformed New York in that regard. The Pirates may drop a couple of spots, because a lot of guys (Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm, etc.) won't qualify as prospects at that time next year. On the plus side, they did add Brad Lincoln, who I would have taken No. 1 overall in the draft." - Jim Callis

Now, let's take it to the numbers.

JUST looking at peripherals, nothing else we have the following.

Lincoln -

8.96 H/9
2.50 BB/9
8.54 K/9
11.46 BR/9
1.27 WHIP

Lincecum -

5.80 H/9
5.74 BB/9
12.83 K/9
11.53 BR/9
1.28 WHIP

It really comes down to preference. Do you want a player who is going to strike out a lot but also walk a lot? Or, do you want a player who is going to strike out plenty but walk few?

Nolan Ryan or Curt Schilling. Me? I'm taking Curt Schilling every single time.

Lincoln came off throwing mid 90's with a power curve and a solid change. Frankly, he looked like Mark Prior light. His mechanics were nearly flawless and promised durability.

Then you had Lincecum, and even smaller pitcher with absolutely horrible mechanics and most people used the closer word. Yeah, he was dominant, but there were a lot of questions about delivery, and there still are.

At the time, it was NOT a bad pick choosing Lincoln over Lincecum. The bad pick was choosing Morrow over Lincecum.

Now, we're going off-topic, but: Schilling and Ryan? Please. Most likely both Lincoln and Lincecum flame out. They're young pitchers. One's already had TJ. The other walks too many, got skipped a turn for a tired arm last year and rested this spring for a groin. Start comparing them to first-ballot pitchers in a decade, maybe, not now.

As a fan of a team that (excepting Dick Tidrow and whoever else drafts and develops pitchers) mostly seems to be run by poo-throwing apes, I sympathize. This thread's about the Pirates. They can't go back in time and pick Miller, Kershaw Lincecum or Scherzer. Whom should they draft this year?

Actually, Tim Lincecum's mechanics are extremely efficient. He has great timing and truly uses his entire body to pitch. He also does not lock his knee when he lands which should save him from hip and knee injuries. There is only one questionable thing about his delivery and that is the "Inverted L" his arm makes at one point during his delivery. The thing that seems to lessen the seriousness of this is that it does not throw his timing off even a little bit. I think he will be fine and his mechanics are definitely not horrible. There is a reason that little runt can throw in the mid to high 90's and that is because his mechanics are extremely efficient. He gets his power from his legs, hips and core and not from his arm. His arm is just along for the ride and his timing is extremely good.

For pitchers who have the inverted L plus horrible mechanics and timing, see BJ Ryan who probably has the worst mechanics in baseball. He'll be done sooner than later unless he makes some changes to his delivery. His mechanics are even worse than Mark Prior and that's hard to do.