Miguel Angel Sano Rumors: Monday

Just asking for the heck of it- are you really Dany Baez's mother? I guess no, but, it's always worth asking.

If Yankees can't do anything about this (they should, the price keeps dropping every day now), I think the O's would make more sense for Sano. They have some underappreciated fans down there, and a really awesome future in a few years (around 2011/2012). Your waiting will be rewarded.

nah...I created that name on the O's message board in 2007 when Baez was blowing every other game and I was pissed

I hope the O's sign him.

Ask the guy who he thinks will sign him.

No point in asking him who he thinks will sign Sano. Arangure has been listing the Pirates as the most likely destination pretty much from the beginning. Others have had differing opinions, but from Jorge you're going to get Pirates.

He's ours, just like he has been all along. To the comment above about the Os having to do this for the fans, cmon bro, you're talkin to a Bucco fan, haven't had a winning season since I was 7.

Bucconation,

You missed out then on the really glorious days of Clemente, "Pops" Stargell, Steve Blass. Bob Moose, Dave Giusti, Candy Man and the We are Family bunch of the late 70's crowd. The Bucs of the early 70's were a real force to be reckoned with.

There's a lot of logic behind Jorge Arangure's comparison to the Matusz and Hobgood deals. MacPhail is consistent. The Os have been very good about signing draftees for above-slot money, even Day 2 guys, but MacPhail is a conservative spender and he won't break open the bank for a gamble. He has said as much in an interview with Roch Kubatko. MacPhail has stated that the club has a number, that it will not go beyond.

That being said, the Os have broken the bank open for prospects they deem worth it, like Wieters, who they set a franchise record with at 6M. Tho with Wieters it was less a gamble since he already had a reliable college track record. Sano would be quite a gamble no matter how many times he's worked out by teams. He has raw tools, but you never totally know how good until he spends a few years in organized ball.

@basemonkey: as a Pirates fan, my personal opinion is that you don't "make up" for the past, you try to learn from it.

I, for one, don't place the Pirates previous (before Huntington) draft decisions solely on the GMs in place, but rather on ownership. Don't tell me Littlefield wanted Moskos over Wieters - that was dictated by ownership. I don't think the Pirates took the best avialable talent with their picks, but I don't think it was due to ignorance...rather I feel it was because they were directed to do so based on $$$.

That said, last year's draft (Alvarez, R. Grossman, Q. Miller all above slot) injected a lot of talent into the organization, but that talent did not make up for ownership's transgressions the past 5 - 7 years. It showed ownerships (temporary?) willingness to open the wallet and obtain some talent via the draft

Signing Sano is a step in the right direction - at least they are making an effort to inject more talent into the Pirates minor league system. But was Tony Sanchez the best available talent at that pick, or rather ownership resorting to the spending habits of 2-5 years ago? If they can sign some of those "reach" HS pitchers they drafted in the later rounds that dropped due to bonus demands, I can live with the Sanchez pick...but it would be nice to have him backing up Wieters in a few years.

The Pirates certainly haven't lacked smart baseball men during their down period, so the ownership criticism holds water with me.

The Pirates did get a good haul in '08. It just takes a couple of them to be a fullblown rennaissance. To clubs that are down it might seem like a million miles away, but it doesn't take as much as you might think. Ask the Brewers and Rays. It wasn't that long ago when they were perrenial bottom-dwellers. The Os look to be rising. So do the Royals. What we're seeing with those teams really only started a couple seasons ago. With the Os, it started with 2-3 good drafts in a row..but most importantly, the ownership seems to have made a committment to stay out of baseball matters, and trust their GM, MacPhail. It's amazing how much just a little bit of trust can do.

While I was a a big naysayer in drafting Tony Sanchez....don't look now, but he's hitting .368 and has an OPS of .899 at Lo-A. Of course it's only Lo-A...but encouraging, nonetheless.

I don't think anyone should doubt Tony Sanchez is a top quality prospect. I think the argument is about him being a Top 5 prospect. That part is a stretch. If he ends up being a solid MLBer, many Pirates fans would take that, but it came at a slot where you see players like Evan Longoria, Verlander, Kershaw caliber of prospect.