SB Nation - Yoslan Herrera

Pirates Release Yoslan Herrera, Jason Delaney, Others

Charlie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:49:03 -0000

Via Baseball America, the Pirates have released a number of failed prospects:

RHP Yoslan Herrera - The big prizewinner in Dave Littlefield's weird experiment with international talent. Most teams attempt to sign Latin American amateurs at a young age and move them through the farm system over a period of many years. But all that was way too slow-moving for a short-term thinker like Littlefield, who instead spent a couple million bucks on Herrera, a much older player, and got him to the big leagues within a couple years. Unfortunately, his limp 87-MPH fastball wasn't nearly good enough to complement his decent offspeed stuff, and now Herrera is gone after getting bombed in the bigs in 2008 and spending an uninspiring 2009 at Altoona and Indianapolis. By the way, check out this little anecdote about Herrera by WTM:

Surprised about Herrera, too, because he made some progress this year, although at his age there's no way he's going to be a major league pitcher. There might have been more going on with him. I was at a DH in Bowie this year and Herrera was up in the stands in the second game after pitching in the first game. He was rooting loudly for Bowie, so I wondered what was going on.

RHP Tyler Herron - The Pirates signed Herron, a former top draft pick of the Cardinals, after St. Louis surprisingly released him earlier in 2009. He didn't pitch particularly well for Altoona, and his stuff there apparently was terrible. But he still has that first-round pedigree, he hasn't been tried much as a reliever, and he's not old; it's a little bit weird that he's now been released by two organizations. It could be that there's some personal thing going on here.

1B Kent Sakamoto

3B Eddie Prasch - Prasch was Littlefield's third-round pick in his hideous 2004 draft. Prasch showed some on-base skills as he crawled through the minors, but his power never developed.

3B Bobby Spain

3B Brett Willemburg

OF Butch Biela - This is a weird one. Biela hit very well as an 18-year-old in 2007, then got by with a .342 OBP at State College in 2008. The Pirates thought enough of him to start him at West Virginia in 2009, but he wound up with back with the Spikes, not hitting at all.

OF Justin Byler

OF Jason Delaney - Delaney, the Bucs' 12th-round pick in '05, showed flashes of real hitting ability in the minors, but since he was almost 23 when he was drafted, he was always very old for his levels. He doesn't have much defensive value and he never developed much home run power, and now he's 27.

OF Jared Keel - Keel has always hit well in the minors, but like Delaney he has always been a bit old for his levels. Also, as a 31st-round pick, the Bucs have probably never viewed him as much more than an organizational player; if they liked him they probably would have sent him to Altoona last year, given that he hit 20 homers at Lynchburg in 2008.

The Pirates have also granted free agency to Denny Bautista.

2009 In Review: Altoona Curve

Charlie — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:49:38 -0000

I've been doing these in order from the bottom to the top, but since Lynchburg is still in the playoffs, I'll skip them in return to them later.

Altoona finished last in the Southern division of the Class AA Eastern League, and it's the first affiliate we've reviewed so far that still bears the stamp of the Littlefield era. The team's lineup featured a ton of non-prospects, like Jonel Pacheco, Jason Delaney, Pedro Lopez and Jeff Corsaletti. And its rotation was filled with soft-tossing Littlefield acquisitions like Danny Moskos, Yoslan Herrera, Jared Hughes, Tony Watson and Derek Hankins.

Despite all that, a number of prospects made their way through Altoona this year, some with more success than others. Obviously, the big-ticket player was Pedro Alvarez, who reeestablished himself as an elite prospect at Altoona after a questionable pro debut at Lynchburg. The Bucs looked at his high strikeout and walk totals at Lynchburg and gambled that, paradoxically, Alvarez would have more success against better pitchers, because those pitchers would fear him less and throw him more balls in the zone. The Pirates appear to have been right--at Altoona, Alvarez walked at about the same rate, struck out a bit less, and hit .333/.419/.590, looking every bit like a future star. This was all the more impressive given that Alvarez got off to a slow start for Altoona, hitting .228/.258/.509 before the All-Star break; he batted .370 the rest of the way. Obviously, hitting .228 is never good, but for a prospect in his first pro year, it's great to see improvement throughout the season.

Elsewhere, Jose Tabata played a big chunk of the year for the Curve and hit pretty well, although his power still hasn't really developed. Most of the other hitting prospects who played for Altoona, though, were disappointing. The defensively challenged Jim Negrych failed to show the stick he'll need to make it to the majors, and he finished the year on the DL. 2007 third-rounder Brian Friday was pedestrian at best, which is unfortunate because, with the recent trades of Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez, there would be space for him in the Pittsburgh middle infield if he played well. Jamie Romak completely fell off the map after a dismal start and wound up back at Lynchburg. Shelby Ford ended up in Altoona only after flopping in Indianapolis. Gorkys Hernandez did little after the Bucs acquired him as one of the key pieces in the Nate McLouth deal. And 40-man roster member Steven Lerud did what he typically does, which is to say he didn't take the step forward he'll need to be anything more than a backup catcher in the bigs.

Fortunately, there were at least a couple real prospects in the pitching staff. Brad Lincoln opened some eyes with a very strong start at Altoona; he struggled a bit after being promoted to Indianapolis, but he still had respectable ratios, so he's probably still on track to make his Pirates debut in 2010. Tim Alderson, acquired for Sanchez, pitched neither well nor badly in a small sample at Altoona. I'm more skeptical of Alderson than most because his strikeout rate has been very low in Class AA, but at age 20, he's still an interesting player. And in the bullpen, Michael Dubee continued to pitch well after destroying Carolina League hitters for half the year.

Some might wonder why I've hardly said anything about Moskos, and the reason is that I simply don't consider ERA to be the only important consideration here. Moskos' 3.74 ERA and his status as a former top pick are the only things he has going for him. He's already 23, his strikeout rate and strikeout-to-walk ratio--both of which are pretty predictive of major-league success--are disastrous, and all his numbers except his ERA are eerily similar to his numbers in 2008, when his ERA was 5.95. To Moskos' credit, he did strike out 27 batters while walking only six in his last five starts this year, but he still has very little to hang his hat on. As far as I'm concerned, he's only a prospect in the loosest sense of the word, and if he's lucky he might be the second lefty out of someone's bullpen someday.

Who ARE These Guys? - Cubs vs. Pirates Preview, Friday 8/14, 1:20 CT

Al — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:00:11 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

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A little over a year ago -- on July 24, 2008, just before last year's trading deadline -- the Pittsburgh Pirates began a trading spree that I think is nearly unprecedented in recent baseball history.

Today, August 14, 2009, as the Pirates come to Wrigley Field for a three-game series, know how many players are left from the 25-man roster on 7/24/2008?

Three. Ryan Doumit, Paul Maholm and Zach Duke. (Four, if you count Matt Capps, who was on the DL on 7/24/2008). All the rest are gone. Some of the players they have acquired or promoted are decent players; Andrew McCutchen is a real talent. Lastings Milledge has some talent, if he could ever actually put a full season together. Some of the pitchers have good arms. But basically, it's a Triple-A visiting team coming to Wrigley Field this weekend. The Cubs took two of three in two series earlier this year from the Pirates, one at Wrigley and one at PNC; this time, they both need to sweep, and should sweep. Aramis Ramirez returns today; that should help.

Courtesy of John Lewis' research on a SABR mailing list to which I subscribe, here's where the departed Pirates went:

LF Jason Bay              traded to Red Sox 2008
CF Nate McLouth           traded to Braves 2009
RF Xavier Nady            traded to Yankees 2008
OF Jason Michaels         free agency 2008
1B Adam LaRoche           traded to Red Sox 2009
2B Freddy Sanchez         traded to Giants 2009
3B Jose Bautista          traded to Blue Jays 2008
SS Jack Wilson            traded to Mariners 2009
1B-3B Doug Mientkiewicz   free agency 2008
2B-SS Luis Rivas          free agency 2008
INF Chris Gomez           free agency 2008
C  Raul Chavez            free agency 2008
P John Van Benschoten     free agency 2008
P Franquelis Osoria       free agency 2008
P Damaso Marte            traded to Yankees 2008
P John Grabow             traded to Cubs 2009
P Sean Burnett            traded to Nationals 2009
P Ian Snell               traded to Mariners 2009
P T.J. Beam               on waivers to Blue Jays 2009
P Denny Bautista          to AAA Indianapolis
P Yoslan Herrera          to AA Altoona
P Tyler Yates             on disabled list

Lewis also notes that:

The Pirates' record was 48-54 (.471) on July 24, 2008. Since then, it is 64-103 (.383).

Today's Starting Pitchers


Randy Wells Cubs	vs.	Charlie Morton Pirates

8-5	W-L	2-5
3.01	ERA	3.81
68	SO	33
25	BB	18
9	HR	4
vs. Pit	--	vs. Cubs

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Randy Wells	8-5	17	17	0	0	0	0	107.2	102	39	36	9	25	68	3.01	1.18

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Charlie Morton	2-5	10	10	0	0	0	0	49.2	53	21	21	4	18	33	3.81	1.43

Charlie Morton will be making his second career start against the Cubs. He started a game for the Braves against the Cubs a year and a day ago on August 13, 2008. He didn't make it out of the third inning. The big blow off him was a home run by Jim Edmonds -- remember him? Geovany Soto hit a two-run double off Morton.

Randy Wells started and defeated the Pirates on July 1 in Pittsburgh, but the Pirates have remade their team since then. Three of the starting eight that day aren't on the Pirates any more.

The Cubs are on WGN today -- that's the only TV; there is no Pirates telecast. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

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