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Matt Morris Tough To Move

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It’s no secret that the Pirates would love to trade starter Matt Morris.  The Dave Littlefield acquisition remains perplexing.  The "veteran leadership" angle doesn’t play well when his Pirates’ ERA is over 6.00 in 14 starts.  This year, he’s not even getting groundballs.

Neal Huntington would love to see Morris show a hint of value, so that he can trade the 34 year-old and somehow avoid paying all of the $10.5MM still owed to him.  How long until Huntington gives up on that idea and cuts Morris?  Bryan Bullington and John Van Benschoten seem more deserving of starts.

A Lot Riding On Gorzelanny’s 2008 Performance

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Dejan Kovacevic of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette concerns himself with one significant name missing from the Pirates’ recent contract extensions: Tom Gorzelanny.

Kovacevic reveals that Gorzelanny’s name came up when team officials discussed players who should get extensions, but because he won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2009 season, and because they wanted to see more of him, they decided to exclude him.

The feeling amongst management is that the lefty could become a premier pitcher, so they are looking for big growth this season.  Things with Gorzelanny have been less than stellar thus far, so he’s not helping his case any.  His most recent start lasted only 2.1 innings, as he gave up six hits and four walks.  But looking beyond this year’s small sample size, Gorzelanny’s second half last year betrays the front office’s confidence.  He walked 3.5 batters per nine, and had a solid but not-overwhelming 6.5 strikeouts per nine (for an underwhelming 1.9 command ratio).

The Pirates waiting to see more from Gorzelanny may not work in favor of his bank account.

Posted by Matt Birt

Odds and Ends: Harden, Bonds, Ramon Hernandez

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Time to round up today’s linkage.

Odds and Ends: Rauch, Fielder, Braun, Garcia

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Some links for you to peruse…

Bucs Sign Capps Through ’09

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According to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates signed closer Matt Capps through the 2009 season.  They added $65K to his ’08 salary and gave him $2.35MM for ’09 (his first arb year).  They also tossed in a $500K signing bonus.  Previously, Kovacevic had said talks with Capps fizzled because of Manny Corpas’ deal.

Corpas receives $2.75MM for his first arb year, so Capps gets about 85% of that.  By that logic, perhaps the Pirates could buy out Capps’ last two arb years (2010-11) for a total of $8.3MM or so.  Regardless, this is a nice little move for Neal Huntington.  According to Capps, the Pirates made a four-year offer in December and remained persistent until now.

Odds and Ends: Alfonzo, Hill, Kline, Reitsma

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Time for a link roundup.

Pirates Rumors: LaRoche, Duffy

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Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the latest Pirates hot stove buzz.

  • The Pirates and Adam LaRoche have reached an impasse in extension talks.  LaRoche is set to reach free agency after the ’09 season; his free agency years have to be worth $10MM each.  Kovacevic notes that the Pirates might be permanently done trying to sign LaRoche.
  • Kovacevic reports "no recent movement" on a Matt Capps extension.  Last time we checked, talks with Capps inexplicably fizzled after Manny Corpas signed a team-friendly deal with Colorado.
  • Capps probably isn’t going anywhere, but LaRoche certainly could be traded. The presence of Major League-ready Steve Pearce may not be a factor since Pearce became a full-time outfielder this spring.  Pearce is more likely to push Xavier Nady. 
  • In case you missed it, Kovacevic named his five Pirates most likely to be traded back on March 30th.
  • Center fielder Chris Duffy didn’t make that list, but the Braves are still interested in him.  He had surgery on his rotator cuff in August of last year and may be game-ready by month’s end.

To Be Dealt: Bay, Nady, Marte, Morris, Wilson

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A short but sweet article came out in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette this morning detailing the Pirates’ five main trade candidates.  No new or surprising names appear on the list but it’s a handy roundup for those not up to date on their Bucco news.  As we head into the ’08 season (tonight!) the Pirates may not be contenders, but they could be difference makers.

Jason Bay – $5.75MM in ’08, $7.5MM in ’09 – I was surprised they didn’t deal him in the offseason, but the Pirates are wisely taking a wait and see approach with Bay.  Surely he can’t be as bad as he was last season.  Like the Pirates, PECOTA is predicting a moderate bounce back season, but not quite the elite 30 HR seasons of ’05-’06.

Xavier Nady – $3.35MM in ’08, arbitration eligible in ’09 – To make room for blocked prospect Steve Pearce, Nady needs to go; however, there’s enough doubt around the league that he can hit righties well enough to justify an everyday position.  The Mets are the only listed suitor as they could use a corner OF/1B.

Damaso Marte – $2MM in ’08 with club option for ’09 – The article’s rhetoric seems to imply Marte is the most likely to be dealt with Yankees and Braves as suitors.  When it comes to crafty, lefty relievers, expect a number of teams to come calling.

Matt Morris – $9.5MM in ’08, $9MM club option in ’09 ($1MM buyout) –  Morris had a nice first half for the Giants last year(3.55 ERA) before regressing to his struggling ways.  His talent should make it hard to trade him out of the NL, and his contract and could make it difficult to deal him to any team not desperate for someone to pickup innings.  The Pirates should be crossing their fingers for another strong first half.

Jack Wilson – $6.5MM in ’08, $7.25MM in ’09, $8.4 club option for ’10 – The article notes that the Pirates will need a SS in return for someone on this list before they can comfortably deal Wilson as he’s the only everyday SS in their system.  As Tim noted back in August, Wilson just wants out of Pittsburgh and will waive his six team no trade clause.

We’d love to hear from Pirates fans on all of this.

By Nat Boyle

Pirates Acquire Tyler Yates From Braves

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10:23am: Byung-Hyun Kim’s gone, in the accompanying move.  So is Jaret Wright, according to RotoWorld.

8:40am: Dave O’Brien was right – the Braves chose Tyler Yates as the out of options reliever to deal.  They sent him to the Pirates today for a minor league hurler named Todd Redmond.  On Monday, O’Brien said he expected the Braves to trade one of Scott Thorman or Brayan Pena as well.

Yates, a 30 year-old Hawaiin, has a solid 8.3 per nine innings strikeout rate in his 162 inning career.  He needs to work on his control though. Yates was drafted by the A’s and dealt to the Mets in the Dave Justice deal.  Baseball America says he began ’04 as the Mets’ fifth starter but was shortly converted to relief.  He missed the ’05 season with rotator cuff surgery.  His acquisition may push Jaret Wright or Byung-Hyun Kim out of Pittsburgh.

Redmond, 23 in May, was ranked as the Pirates’ #27 prospect by Baseball America.  They note his "outstanding control" but lack of dominant stuff.  BA believes he profiles as a middle reliever in the long term.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Rule 5 Draftees

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Last year the Reds selected Josh Hamilton in the Rule 5 draft despite only 23 games above Single-A and only 15 games anywhere since 2002 (actually the Cubs picked Hamilton and traded him to the Reds the same day). Hamilton went on to hit .292-19-47 in 90 games. This year, 18 players were chosen in the Rule 5 draft (14 pitchers). These players must remain on the 25-man roster all season or be offered back to their original club for $25K. By my count, three players (Sergio Valenzuela, Lincoln Holdzkom, Jose Capellan) have already been offered back to their original clubs (Capellan was picked up on waivers by a third team during the process). Hamilton is the rare case of a position player sticking with his new club as it is far easier to hide a developing pitcher and still get him playing time in the bullpen than it is on the bench.While it is rare for position players to stick, we have already learned that the Cardinals may keep Brian Barton as a fifth outfielder. As opening day rosters begin to take shape, let’s take a look at what is being said in the Blogosphere about the chances for the Rule draftees.

  • Tim Lahey (RHP, CHC/MIN): Bleed Cubbie Blue sees the Cubs working out a trade with the Twins that would allow them to send Lahey to AAA. In fact, they speculate that Lahey will be the PTBNL in the Craig Monroe deal.
  • Evan Meek (RHP, PIT/TB): Bucs Dugout predicts that Meek will at least start the season with the Pirates before being offered back to the Rays.
  • Randor Bierd (RHP, BAL/DET): Bird Brain projects Bierd to make the roster and hopes the O’s give him every chance to stick.
  • Jose Capellan (LHP, CIN/BOS): Capellan was originally selected by the Giants but was just placed on waivers. The Reds picked him up (Rule 5 rules still apply) and Obsessive Giants Compulsive is surprised the Giants let him go.
  • Sergio Valenzuela (RHP, CIN/ATL): Valenzuela was sold back to the Braves after not making a single appearance in a spring game. The Braves then traded Valenzuela to a team in the Mexican League. Which begs the question…Are "future considerations" from the Mexican League worth the $25K the Braves dropped to bring him back? Talking Chop finds the entire situation funny and is not surprised that Valenzuela did not stick with the Reds.
  • Brian Barton (OF, STL/CLE): Cardinals GM is predicting Barton to be on the opening day roster with Juan Gonzalez starting the season in AAA.
  • R.A. Dickey (RHP, SEA/MIN): Detect-O-Vision is infatuated with the knuckleballer but notes that Dickey "has a looooooooooong way to go".
  • Steven Register (RHP, NYM/COL): Mets Fever thinks Register might actually stick by earning the final spot in the bullpen.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

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