Talkin’ Pirates Baseball
We all know about the nearly two decades worth of futility. The Pirates haven't cracked the .500 plateau since 1992 and it's all but certain that streak will not come to an end this season. However, after years of the previous regime filling out the roster with expensive band-aid veterans like Jeromy Burnitz and Mark Redman, new GM Neal Huntington has reversed course and dealt basically all of his veterans for young bodies that he hopes will be the foundation of the next contending Pirates team.
Some of Huntington's more notable trades include…
- Trading Jason Bay to Boston for Andy LaRoche and three other prospects.
- Trading Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Yankees for Ross Ohlendorf and three other prospects.
- Trading Nate McLouth to Atlanta for Charlie Morton and two other prospects just four months after signing him to an extension.
- Trading Freddy Sanchez to San Francisco for prospect Tim Alderson.
- Trading Ian Snell and Jack Wilson to Seattle for Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno and three additional prospects.
The media and fan backlash has been harsh, but Huntington has stuck to his guns. He has invested heavily in the draft the last two seasons, and has young Andrew McCutchen turning heads as McLouth's replacement. The team is still losing with regularity, but at least now the franchise appears to have a direction.
What do you think of the moves the Pirates have made in the last year or so? Do you think they're on the right track, or were they better off keeping players like Bay and McLouth and Sanchez and building around them? There's an argument to be made for both scenarios, but tell us what you think in the comments.
Odds & Ends: Kazmir, Rays, Hoffman, Byrd
We can link to it, we have the technology…
- ESPN's Keith Law feels the Rays received "a tremendous return for a pitcher whose value had really nose-dived over the past 10 months" when they dealt Scott Kazmir to the Angels late Friday evening.
- Manager Joe Maddon says that the team feels they have the depth to cover the loss of Kazmir, and that it won't hurt their chances of getting back to playoffs this year. The depth Maddon speaks of comes in the form of Andy Sonnanstine and prospect Wade Davis, though Marc Topkin of The St. Petersburg Times says Sonnanstine will get the call against the Red Sox on Tuesday.
- Topkin was all over the Kazmir saga yesterday, and now that the dust has settled he says the team can use the savings to keep it's core intact. Several veterans, such as Carl Crawford, have raises built into their contracts, and several of the club's young players will be due big raises in arbitration.
- When asked if closer Trevor Hoffman might go to the Giants after being claimed on waivers, Brewers GM Doug Melvin said "probably not," according to Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel.
- Boston reportedly agreed to give Paul Byrd a September callup, but it looks like his shot may come sooner than that. With Tim Wakefield's back acting up again, the Sox will send Byrd to the mound tomorrow night according to John Tomase of The Boston Herald.
- Sheldon Ocker of The Akron Beacon Journal takes an early look at some of the players that could help get the Indians back on track in 2010.
- The Marlins officially introduced first round pick Chad James to the masses this afternoon, writes MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.
Red Sox Acquire Joey Gathright
The Red Sox have acquired speedy outfielder Joey Gathright from the Orioles, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. Baltimore with receive either a player to be named later or cash considerations in the deal. He will head to Triple-A Pawtucket initially.
Gathright got into 20 games with the Cubs earlier this year, but he has spent the majority of the season with Baltimore's Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk. He's a career .262-.327-.303 hitter in the big leagues.
Rosenthal’s Full Count Video: Penny, Harden, Lidge
Rumor machine Ken Rosenthal has a new Full Count Video up at FoxSports.com. Let's dive on in…
- The outcome of this weekend's games could determine which team the recently released Brad Penny signs with. The Giants and Marlins are the two teams pursuing him the most, but the Giants are in a better position in the NL Wildcard standings.
- The Yankees, Twins, and A's are also expressing interest in the righthander, but "what pitcher in his right mind would want to stay in the American League?"
- The A's and Padres have even "floated the idea" of signing Penny beyond the rest of this season, but Penny's best bet might be to go to a team like the Giants and reestablish himself in a pennant race, then go back into the free agent pool this winter on a high note.
- The Cubs are more open to dealing Rich Harden to the Twins than you might think. The Cubs could receive two high draft picks if they offer Harden arbitration after the season and he signs elsewhere, but that's a risky strategy. Given his injury history, the club might not want to take a $10MM or so hit if he accepts, even for only one year.
- The bigger question with Harden may be how aggressive the Twins will be in trying to deal for him. Remember that stars Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan have said the team needs more to contend, with Morneau mentioning that the team needs to impress Joe Mauer since he's due to become a free agent after next season.
- Yes, the Yankees were messing with the Red Sox when they claimed Chris Carter off waivers, but Boston's 40-man roster only has 38 players on it at the moment. Daisuke Matsuzaka will assume one of those spots when he comes off the 60-day DL, and the other is reserved for Paul Byrd.
- People might need to relax when it comes to Brad Lidge's struggles. His recent blown save against the Pirates might be the result of overuse, as Lidge was pitching for the fourth straight day. He had done it twice before this season, but he entered game three of that stretch with a four-run lead. Manager Charlie Manuel may need to be more careful with how he uses his closer down the stretch.
Discussion: John Lackey
While we're still awaiting official word, it appears that the Angels will add Scott Kazmir to their rotation at the cost of some prospects later tonight. The Halos will reportedly take on Kazmir's entire contract, which is upwards of $23MM if the club declines his 2012 option. The team also has a decision to make this coming offseason about incumbent ace John Lackey, who is set to become a free agent for the first time in his career.
So tonight's question is this: how will the Kazmir pickup affect the Angels pursuit of John Lackey, if at all? Does the club now have a little more leverage now, meaning they could hold the line in negotiations with Lackey a little harder than they would have since Kazmir represents a "replacement ace." Or does it not even matter?
Rangers Sign Ryan Freel
MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan reports that the Rangers have signed veteran utility player Ryan Freel to a minor league contract, and have assigned him to Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Royals designated him for assignment last week, and he's hit just .217-.319-.250 in 101 plate appearances this year.
Freel is joining his fifth organization in the last ten months.
Odds & Ends: Yankees, Kazmir, Torres
My momma always said, "Odds & Ends posts are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get…"
- Joel Sherman of The NY Post says that the Yankees negotiated with then-free agent Paul Byrd earlier in the summer, but refused to meet his request of a guaranteed September call-up. Once the Red Sox signed Byrd, Yanks' brass assumed that they had agreed to Byrd's demand, and then claimed Chris Carter off waivers in hopes of creating some 40-man roster havoc for their main rival.
- SI.com's Tom Verducci provides some insight into why the Rays traded (or will trade, since we're still waiting on an official announcement) Scott Kazmir. He notes that while he is still very young, Kazmir's velocity has been dropping and his strikeout rate is declining.
- Alex Torres, one of the players involved in the Kazmir trade, was named one of this week's hottest prospects in Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet.
Indians Acquire Yohan Pino To Complete Pavano Trade
The Indians have announced that they have acquired righthander Yohan Pino from the Twins as the player to be named later in this month's Carl Pavano trade. Pino was not on Minnesota's 40-man roster, so he did not need to pass through waivers to be included in the deal.
The 25-yr old has a 3.03 ERA and an impressive 4.00 K/BB ratio in 113 innings split between the Double- and Triple-A levels this year.
Luis Gonzalez To Announce Retirement
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that outfielder Luis Gonzalez will officially announce his retirement tomorrow during "Luis Gonzalez Appreciation Night" in Arizona. Gonzalez will join the Diamondbacks' front office as a special assistant to team president and CEO Derrick Hall, according to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.
Gonzalez will retire with 2,591 hits, 354 career homers,and 1,439 RBI to his credit, but the most memorable hit of his career will surely be the walk-off bloop single in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series that gave the Diamondbacks the only championship in franchise history.
Rockies Sign Jason Giambi
9:30am: The AP is confirming the Rockies have signed Giambi.
Saturday 8:01pm: Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies says that "Giambi is ready to join Triple-A Colorado Springs where he will be given regular at-bats with the idea of being activated by the Rockies when the active rosters expand to 40 players on Sept. 1." He also mentions that the Rockies made a run at Tony Clark earlier in the year, but he balked at the idea of spending time in Triple-A.
6:10pm: Susan Slusser of The SF Chronicle hears that Jason Giambi is "getting close to signing with a contender to be add some bench power, and the team I'm hearing is Colorado." She mentions that the Rockies' interest is unconfirmed. Giambi was released by the Athletics earlier this month while he was on the disabled list, hitting just .193-.332-.364 in 83 games. I would think it's safe to assume he's healthy if teams are interested in signing him.
Not that the sample size is substantial, but Giambi is a career .283-.356-.509 hitter in 59 career plate appearances off the bench. Any team that signs him will only be responsible for the pro-rated minimum.