SB Nation - Brian Bixler

Out of the Office

Charlie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:26:33 -0000

I'll be playing in Baltimore tonight and Brooklyn on Saturday, so please have patience and I'll be back in a couple days.

In the meantime:

-The Pirates will announce the name of their new Class A+ Bradenton team on Tuesday.

-The Bobby Crosby signing is official, as most of you probably know. After being annoyed about it for a while, I've come around to it--they're not paying him much, and as bad as he is, he's enough of an upgrade over Brian Bixler that he's worth having around.

-Jesse Chavez moves again, this time to Atlanta for Rafael Soriano. The Pirates really would have had no business paying a reliever $7.25 million, as the Rays will do with Soriano, but this is still a nifty pair of moves for Tampa--they grab Chavez and get rid of a few million bucks in salary by shipping Akinori Iwamura to Pittsburgh, then get a top-notch reliever for only a couple million more. A solidly-built, contending team can spend that kind of money on a closer, but a team like the Pirates should probably treat closers like filet mignon and use their millions on more basic foodstuffs.

Pirates Face 40-Man Roster Decisions This Week

Charlie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:00:54 -0000

40-man rosters have to be set by Friday, so expect some fun stuff to happen this week.

The Bucs currently have 36 players on their 40-man roster. That doesn't include Jose Ascanio and Evan Meek, who will both need to be protected by Friday. The Pirates will also have to decide whether to include a number of minor leaguers, any of whom could be selected in the Rule 5 draft in December if they aren't protected:

Brad Lincoln, Gorkys Hernandez, Bryan Morris, Ramon Aguero, Casey Erickson, Michael Dubee, Shelby Ford, Jim Negrych, Kris Watts

Of these, I'd say Lincoln and Hernandez are no-brainers.

Morris is a tricky case; scouts like him a lot and the Pirates certainly paid a pretty penny to get him, but the performance record so far hasn't been there, and it's very hard to see how he could stick on another team's 25-man roster for the entire year.

WTM is a big fan of Aguero, a reliever who spent time with West Virginia, Lynchburg and Altoona last year. Aguero had a nice season in 2009 and has followed that up with a good showing in the Dominican Winter League, but I'm agnostic here. He's almost 25, so he's not a great prospect. Every year the Pirates protect these sorts of marginal pitchers, mostly relievers--Jeff Sues, Dave Davidson, Romulo Sanchez, Luis Munoz, Olivo Astacio, Ronald Belisario, and so on--and never do they seem to get anything out of them. (Ok, Astacio was released because of behavioral issues, and Belisario blossomed with the Dodgers, but still.) The problem with Aguero is that he'd be easier than Morris to hide on a big-league roster for a year, and because he played well this year and has good stuff, there would be reason for a team who selected him to hope he wouldn't end up hurting them too badly. I'd probably protect him, but I don't think we should expect much from him in the long haul.

The other guys, though at least vaguely intriguing, can probably be left off. Erickson is too far from the majors, Dubee doesn't have great stuff, and Ford and Negrych haven't shown enough in the minors. (Negrych might have some vague chance of being taken in the Rule 5 and used as a bench bat.) Watts is only a nominal prospect because he's a catcher.

So let's say three spots will be needed for Lincoln, Hernandez and Aguero, and possibly a fourth for Morris. The Pirates would probably also prefer to leave one spot for their own Rule 5 pick, although they can also dump someone later to make room.

All this means that probably a couple of players will be dumped from the roster this week. Of those, Sues, Anthony Claggett, Justin Thomas, Brian Bixler, and Luis Cruz would all be potential candidates.

Pirates Sweep Split-Squad Games From Cubs, 4-0 And 8-2

Al — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:00:56 -0000

More photos » by Paul Beaty - AP

When Micah Hoffpauir and Sam Fuld couldn't come up with this fly ball, we should have known Game 2 wasn't going to turn out well.

Browse more photos »

The lineup for game one yesterday read like the list of players the Cubs send to Tucson every spring to play the Rockies. You know, because the regulars don't want to ride the bus for two hours.

They played like they had ridden that bus, too, getting shut out 4-0 by the Pirates and Charlie Morton, a guy they had scored ten runs off of on August 14 before he could even register more than three outs. On a sunny but chilly afternoon when the announced attendance was 34,362, no more than about 13,000 entered Wrigley Field. For the first time that any of us could remember, the Cubs actually closed off the center-field bleachers with yellow caution tape, reminiscent of the days in the 1960's and 1970's when the Cubs wouldn't open the upper deck on weekdays when they expected small crowds. This practice ended after 1981 when the Cubs stopped selling general admission tickets in the main part of the ballpark. (See below the fold for a photo.) The announced attendance, based on the number of tickets sold, put Cubs attendance past 3 million (3,056,781 with four dates remaining) for the sixth straight year. The Cubs will need to put together a good offseason to do that again in 2010.

Ted Lilly didn't throw badly in the first game -- that is, after the first inning, when all four Pirates runs crossed the plate. Some questionable defense didn't help -- Bobby Scales, who again I remind Lou is not an outfielder, pulled up short on Lastings Milledge's looping line drive, allowing it to bounce in front of him. Then he nearly got Garrett Jones having taken too long a turn past second base; if this play had worked, Steve Pearce's ground ball on the next at-bat would have ended the inning with only one run scoring. Instead, Jason Jaramillo followed with a double to the LF corner, on which Jake Fox made a Jacque Jones-like throw to the infield, allowing Jaramillo to take third. Didn't really matter, as .225-hitting Brian Bixler drove him in.

And that was it -- the Triple-A lineup the Cubs sent up in game one managed only four singles, three walks and a hit batsman off Morton and got only three runners past first base; the last of those, Scales, took second on defensive indifference with two out in the ninth.

The weather for the night game (announced attendance 33,299; actual count in the park about 17,000) was colder than Tuesday night's and so were the Cubs' bats. The presence of Derrek Lee, who had two hits and a walk, made it a little less split-squaddy, but D-Lee appeared to still be bothered by his left foot, the one he fouled a ball off of on Tuesday night. It appeared that Lee's first-inning single might have gone far enough for him to reach second base, but he pulled up fairly slowly going into first, not wanting to risk any further injury on a chilly evening. We are told that Aramis Ramirez is going to play "sparingly" the rest of the year, which I'd read as "he won't play at all unless the weather warms up", which it probably won't. A-Ram gutted out half a season -- 80 games -- worth of very good performance considering the serious injury he suffered, and now he needs to rest up and be 100% for 2010. It appears he won't need surgery, which is good news.

Carlos Zambrano made it through six innings in his final 2009 start and didn't pitch too badly, but didn't have his best command. He walked four and two of them scored in a third inning where he couldn't manage to get that third out. One run had already scored when Z struck out Milledge, but Brandon Moss followed with a two-run single, and that, as the saying goes, was that. The Cubs managed their second and final run of the night in the bottom of that inning when Z smacked a double to deep center field, advanced on a groundout by Sam Fuld and scored on a nicely executed sacrifice by Ryan Theriot, perhaps the best thing the Cubs did all day. Z also hit another deep fly ball to CF in the fourth that was caught by Andrew McCutchen. No other Cub hit anything as well as Z did in his two at-bats.

Last night I met BCB reader katie casey and her husband and son -- nice to meet you; wish you (and the rest of us) had been able to see even one win yesterday. The Cubs now need to win all four remaining games on this final 2009 homestand to have a winning decade (this particular decade defined as "the ten years comprising 2000-2009"). That's a worthy goal, and also an 86-76 record would be one game better than Lou's first season as manager in 2007.

Weather permitting -- and this forecast doesn't look too encouraging -- the Cubs and Pirates will finish off their season series tonight. The Cubs clinched second place in the NL Central last night when the Brewers lost to the Rockies; that's nice, but not the goal we were all seeking this season.

The CF bleachers were closed for game 1 on Wednesday. BCB photo by David Sameshima (click on photo to open a larger version in a new browser window

Pirates Finding New Ways To Lose; Also, No More "Scholarship"

Charlie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:44:26 -0000

More photos » by John Heller - AP

Browse more photos »

Typical--the Bucs didn't get blown out by San Diego tonight, and they weren't even unambiguously bad, but they still ended up on the wrong side when the game ended. The Pirates rallied from a 6-2 deficit to tie the game against Heath Bell in the ninth, and that inning featured an awesome plate appearance by Steve Pearce, who laid off a number of tough breaking balls to draw a walk and keep the inning going. But their lack of a real bullpen ultimately undid them as they headed to extra innings--any team with bullpen troubles will be exposed in an 11-inning game, and in this case the Pirates were in a doubly tough spot because Joel Hanrahan, their best reliever by a mile right now, is on the shelf with elbow trouble. Anyway, if you have to rely on the likes of Jeff Karstens in a tough situation, there's a very good chance you're going to lose.

In the meantime, the Bucs' offense did the team no favors by leaving a ridiculous number of batters on base--the Bucs wrangled eleven hits and nine walks, but only scored six times. Garrett Jones hit his 20th home run of the season but, as has so often been the case for him (and I'm not bashing him for this because I don't think it represents a skill, just pointing out a fact), it was a solo job.

Whatever! I'm tired of this. Let's talk about something else. Let's talk about the word "scholarship." I come to bury that word, to attempt to remove it from Pirates-related discourse, except as it applies to draftees. For example, "Colton Cain passed up a scholarship to the University of Texas" is an acceptable use of the word. But "I don't know why Andy LaRoche is still starting, since Neal Huntington promised there would be no scholarships" is not. The attempted removal of a word sounds pretty fascist of me, I admit, but I'm not forcing anyone to stop using it, and if the tactic is good enough for an institution of higher learning, it's good enough for me.

I believe Huntington introduced the concept of a "scholarship." Unfortunately, I can't find its point of origin, because if you Google "neal huntington" and "scholarship" on the Post-Gazette's website, you get an amazing 124 results. What I took Huntington to mean or, at least, what most Pirate fans currently interpret Huntington to mean, is that under-performing players would not be given "scholarships"; that is, they would not receive playing time they did not earn on the field.

This was a stupid thing for Huntington to have said (and not only because the "scholarship" students I knew in college were often the hardest working and most talented ones, the ones who didn't need their parents to pay their way, but I digress). The goal of a baseball team should not be to mete out rewards and punishments for its players based on how they do; it should be to win games. It's true that the former often goes hand in hand with the latter, but not always. When deciding who gets major league playing time, there shouldn't be moral considerations about the perceived quality of someone's previous play; instead, it should be one factor that should be weighed along with others. When I hear most fans dismissively use the word "scholarship," I feel like what they really want is some sort of vigilante justice based on how the fans feel someone is playing. Justice has little to do with it.

The fact is that top prospects, like Andrew McCutchen or Pedro Alvarez, should get scholarships, while journeymen should have to do more to prove themselves. If Alvarez comes up after tearing it up for three months at Indianapolis next year, he should play every day in the big leagues, even if he starts 5-for-50. If Ronny Cedeno gets hurt and Argenis Diaz comes up and hits 12-for-30 in his absence, the Pirates should probably send Diaz back to Indianapolis once Cedeno is healthy.

Yesterday in the comments, someone mentioned the concept of a "scholarship" in reference to the possibility that Jeff Clement could end up starting next year. Now, one can certainly express the hope that Clement will not start next year, but invoking the "scholarship" concept attempts to find a very uncomplicated kind of justice in what is actually a very complicated situation. The Pirates will have two outfield positions set with McCutchen and Lastings Milledge, while Jones has shown he should get more playing time in either the other outfield position or at first.

That leaves either an outfield spot or first base unaccounted for. There is, of course, a chance that the Pirates could seek a free agent like Rick Ankiel, but many free agents do not want to play for the Bucs, and the Pirates shouldn't want to give a free agent so much money or so many years that he interferes with the team's long term plans. If they can't find a suitable free agent, and I'd actually bet against them finding one, that leaves them looking for a trade or an internal option. Alvarez or Jose Tabata could be possibilities, but both could probably use at least a couple more months in the minors--the Alex Gordon Problem applies in Alvarez's case, and Tabata hasn't really dominated in the high minors yet.

That leaves guys like Brandon Moss, Pearce and Clement, and of that bunch, why not Clement? Moss is a fourth outfielder, and while Pearce might be a reasonable bench option, he's had an up-and-down career since 2007 and could probably be considered as much of a "scholarship" case as Clement is. (So could Moss, actually.) Clement has a first-round pedigree and a reasonably good minor-league track record. He tailed off badly after a hot start at Indianapolis this year, but that may have had something to do with the oblique strain that finally shelved him. It's not at all unreasonable to think he's a better, higher-upside choice than either Moss or Pearce. Alternately, the Bucs could platoon the lefty Clement with the righty Pearce.

Choosing Clement need not have anything to do with "scholarships." That's irrelevant. It has to do with sorting through a number of possibilities, all with pros and cons, and finding the best one for the present and future of the organization. Sometimes that means playing the guy who played best last month, or for some short span in the majors last year, or for some longer span in the minors this year. Sometimes it doesn't. Anyway, I usually get the sense that when someone is using the word "scholarship," it usually just means "The Pirates are playing a guy I don't like." Instead of using that word, make an argument. There's no doubt that the Bucs sometimes make personnel decisions I don't agree with, but that doesn't mean there's some moral dimension to it, and it simply doesn't follow that the Pirates should always use the guy who played best in whatever arbitrary timeframe or context you care to pick. So please, no more "scholarship." Let's just leave that word alone.

By the way, this post is dedicated to Neil Walker, who earlier this year complained that players like him and the great Brian Bixler were getting the shaft while players acquired by Neal Huntington coasted through. Walker didn't use the word "scholarship," but that's the concept he was invoking.

Well, it's extremely early, and of course it's still possible that Walker turns a corner, but he has begun his major league career 4-for-26. And, with his inning-ending double play with two men on in the bottom of the tenth, he's as responsible as anyone or the loss tonight. Cheers to you, Neil! May your teammates in Indianapolis next year enjoy your grousing as much as I have.

Bucs Promote Diaz, Bixler, Karstens, Hacker, Veal

Charlie — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:07:22 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Browse more photos »

The Pirates will promote catcher Robinzon Diaz, infielder Brian Bixler, and pitchers Jeff Karstens, Eric Hacker and Donald Veal in time for the game tomorrow.

With rosters expanded and Indianapolis' season now over, the promotions of Diaz, Karstens and Veal were no-brainers. Diaz played fairly well in an extended stint with the Pirates earlier this season and only got sent down in a roster crunch. Karstens pitched very well in Indy and was just there to rehab a back injury anyway. And Veal hopefully won't pitch much with the Pirates, but he's a Rule 5 pick.

Bixler's just a disaster and I wouldn't be upset if he never played for the Pirates again, but here he is. Hacker isn't very good, but at least he can start and therefore has the requisite smidgen of upside that all mediocre starting pitching prospects have until they're tried in the bullpen. I'd bet on major league hitters tearing him apart, but with several batting practice pitchers in the bullpen already (Chris Bootcheck, Steven Jackson, Virgil Vasquez, Denny Bautista, Phil Dumatrait), I suppose it can't hurt to give Hacker a handful of innings.

Bucs Option Brian Bixler, Sign Jorge Julio

Charlie — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:40:25 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Browse more photos »

The Pirates have sent Brian Bixler back to the minors and signed Jorge Julio to a minor league contract.

I'm not usually inclined to draw conclusions from 33-at-bat samples, but Bixler's amazingly poor showing in 33 at bats this year just confirms what we should have already known--he's terrible. Bixler's spectacular 23 strikeouts in those 33 at bats are reminiscent of strikeout king Mark Reynolds, if you shrunk Reynolds to half his normal size, put a blindfold on him and spun him around until dizzy before guiding him to the plate. Bixler's performance this year has been something special, rivaling Mike Benjamin's 2002, Don Kelly's 2007 or John Van Benschoten's whole career for hilarity. (Even aside from Bixler's performance, there's also the fact that he pretty much always looks like a deer in the headlights, which isn't his fault but which heightens the already overwhelming impression that he has no idea what he's doing out there.)

I predicted that the Pirates would sign Julio as a free agent last offseason; that didn't happen, and it's a good thing, too, because Julio stunk it up in both the bigs and AAA this year. He's exactly the sort of hard-throwing, control-challenged reliever Neal Huntington loves to take chances on, though. I wonder why they're signing him at this late point in the season; Indianapolis only plays through September 7, and they won't be heading to the International League playoffs. I sincerely hope we aren't going to see Julio in Pittsburgh.

UPDATE: And Brad Lincoln will take Daniel McCutchen's spot on the U.S. World Cup team. Scott McCauley is all over all this Indianapolis news.

Andrew McCutchen's Walk-Off Homer Defeats Phillies

Charlie — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:15:19 -0000

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

Browse more photos »

Wow. Just when I was about to write a pithy two-sentence post about how awful Matt Capps is, that happened. After Capps allowed two runs to blow a save in the top of the ninth (aided by a ball McCutchen misread in the outfield), Brad Lidge came into the game, gave up a single to Luis Cruz, allowed Cruz to get to second on a wild pitch, and had Brian Bixler (who pinch-ran for Cruz) score when Jayson Werth dropped a ball after Brandon Moss singled to right. Then McCutchen hit a two-run homer to end it.

I'm not a big believer in the idea that clutch hitting is a skill, but McCutchen is a special player, and watching him I sometimes feel like he could bring peace to the Middle East if only he made it a priority.

Reds Avoid Sweep With 4-1 Victory Over Pirates

Charlie — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:39:32 -0000

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

Brandon Moss after striking out in Sunday's game.

Browse more photos »

The Bucs' five-game winning streak ended today as the Pirates went back to doing what they do best--making struggling pitchers look good. Homer Bailey entered today's game with a 7.53 ERA but lopped nearly three quarters of a run off it by allowing only one run in seven innings, despite four walks.

When I look at the lineup the Pirates trotted out today, with Brandon Moss in right, Ramon Vazquez at third and Brian Bixler at shortstop, I can't help but feel like they deserved what they got. Even though Bixler hit a nice gap double, it offends my sensibilities to see him starting, and I feel like I've taken a particularly nauseating time machine ride back to 2007. Neal Huntington and company have already gotten rid of the entire back end of the horrible 40-man roster they inherited, except for Bixler, who's now almost 27, still has little control over the strike zone, and has done nothing to show he deserves continued opportunities in the majors, despite what Neil Walker thinks. Ronny Cedeno is out with a hairline fracture in his finger, true, but he should only be gone for a few more days. Until he returns, Andy LaRoche probably shouldn't get any days off.

* * *

Somewhat relatedly, there have been some interesting arguments here in the past couple of weeks about Walker's other favorite person--himself. In fact, it seems like nearly every thread here recently turns into a discussion about Garrett Jones, Nyjer Morgan or Walker, and I guess I'm not really helping by stirring the pot here.

Anyway, one of those arguments goes that because LaRoche has posted only a .714 OPS this year, Walker should get a shot to show whether he can do better.

Surely LaRoche shouldn't be satisfied with a .714 OPS, but it doesn't follow that Walker deserves a chance. Class AAA stats correlate very meaningfully with major-league stats once they're adjusted, so I plugged Walker's numbers so far this year, including his 0-for-5 today, into Minor League Splits' Minor League Equivalency Calculator. The results?

330 AB, 71 hits, 24 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 19 BB, .215 AVG /.259 OBP /.380 SLG

This basically means that if Walker had played in Pittsburgh this year, he likely would have been one of the absolute worst players in the majors. Even accounting for some improvement over the course of the season, what Walker has done this year does not warrant even a September callup, let alone the third base job. Minor league stats matter, and Walker hasn't gotten it done this year. Three good weeks does not change that. Chances at the major league level are not, and should not be, given out at random.

One might argue that Walker should get a chance because we should see what he can do, now that we've seen what LaRoche can do. That's not a very good argument, because it begins from the false premise that Class AAA stats, when used properly, aren't predictive of major league stats. Walker has already shown what he'd do with major league playing time, and it isn't pretty.

Also, though, consider that major league playing time is also development time. LaRoche's .714 OPS this year contains a .336 OBP, which is pretty good. Walker, meanwhile, has posted a .336 or better OBP at only two minor league stops in his entire career, and this year he's struggling to top .300.

The problem, right now, is that LaRoche lacks power, and Walker lacks on-base ability. (Combine LaRoche's on-base ability with Walker's power and you'd have a pretty good player.) Unfortunately for Walker, good OBP ability can sometimes provide a foundation for power to develop, but the opposite isn't true. Guys who have good OBP as young players--think of Nate McLouth here, or Jim Edmonds, or Brian Giles, or Kevin Youkilis--often develop more power as they age. Guys who have good power but lack OBP skills usually just stagnate--think of Brad Eldred, for example.

This isn't to say it's all peaches and cream for LaRoche, or that he'll necessarily develop more power. A .336 OBP isn't really that high, and his .256 average this year is also cause for concern. And I'm certainly not saying he'll be as good as Edmonds or Giles in their primes, or Youkilis now. But I do think that in addition to being a much better player than Walker right now, LaRoche also has much more upside despite being two years older. There's a much better chance that he turns his base of skills into something more as he gets a little stronger. Walker is a hacker now, and while anything's possible, the chances are good that he'll always be one. He might have a burst or two of success in the major league level, but my guess is that pitchers will figure him out quickly and those bursts, if they ever happen, will be short. Then there's also the fact that a .700 OPS with a decent OBP is actually better than a .700 OPS loaded with power. Given the choice, you take the player who gets on base.

So, to sum up, there is no good reason to think that Walker could do better than LaRoche right now. Walker is also unlikely to be the better player over the course of their careers. And LaRoche has done enough this year to warrant more opportunities. A third baseman with a .714 OPS, a decent OBP and a good glove can become a very good player if he adds some power.

So let's please stop greeting every hit Neil Walker gets at Indianapolis with speculation about him replacing LaRoche. Neither of them deserve it. And while I'm at it, let's not accuse people who point out Walker's flaws of rooting for him to fail. That's just silly. He just isn't a very good player. I hope that changes, but I doubt it will.

Daniel McCutchen: It's Time

Charlie — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:19:12 -0000

The Pirates' recent flurry of roster moves (Jose Ascanio has been sent to the DL, Jeff Salazar has been designated for assignment, and Brian Bixler and Denny Bautista have been recalled from Indianapolis) demonstrate that the Bucs badly need relief help right now. There's no indication that Bautista is a legitimate answer; he has a track record of repeated failure in the major leagues, and nothing he's done this year suggests that this time up will be any different. He struck out more than a batter an inning at Indianapolis, true, but he also has walked 34 batters in 48 innings to go along with a 4.88 ERA. He'll also be 29 next week. Even as a placeholder on a floundering team, he's an uninspired choice.

So why not give Dan McCutchen a spot in the 'pen? McCutchen has had an interesting season as a starter for Indianapolis, posting a 3.40 ERA to go with 99 strikeouts in 129.7 innings. More importantly, he's improved to the point of being nearly unhittable over the course of the season--he posted ERAs of 3.74, 4.82 and 4.50 in April, May and June, respectively, but he had a 2.10 ERA in July and now has a 1.35 ERA in August. He has also struck out 36 batters in July and August while walking only four.

There isn't really a rotation spot available for McCutchen right now, but the bullpen is a different story. McCutchen will be 27 in September, so there's no good reason to hold him back if he can be better than one or more of the Pirates' current relievers. That is, his upside as a starter isn't so great to worry about using him as a reliever, and he's not so young that the Pirates should be concerned about service time issues. And it isn't as if the Bucs should be thrilled about their current bullpen.

McCutchen still has flaws--his strikeout rate is still a bit low, and he still allows tons of fly balls. (Of course, Bautista allows tons of flies too.) But the bullpen is, ideally, where flawed pitchers should go, because short outings can mask flaws. If an opportunity presents itself later, the Pirates could still move McCutchen back to the rotation, or use him as a spot starter, but why not give him a shot as a reliever now, while there's opportunity?

Frank Coonelly: Pirates Will Raise Payroll to Compete

Charlie — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:18:46 -0000

Frank Coonelly:

This year's trades slashed about $7 million from the Pirates' payroll. But the team also spent $5 million to build a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, increased its budget for scouting and held firm on a $10 million budget for draft bonuses at a time when other clubs are cutting back.

"If we're doing this right — and we think we are — then there will come a time when we'll have to increase the major-league payroll," Pirates president Frank Coonelly said.

This is, of course, the key. The spending on the draft and Latin America and the trades of veteran players for youngsters are critical, but it's also important that the Pirates be willing to raise the major league payroll substantially when they have enough talent to compete. Feel free to refer back to this article if the Pirates are about to take off in a couple years but still have an absurdly low payroll.

One more link. I thought this article about Neil Walker was ridiculous:

"The sheer truth is that I'm a young guy, and I feel like I can play at the major league level," Walker said before pausing. "And if Pittsburgh isn't the place I make it, I'm confident there is somewhere that I will make it. I just really don't know what the future is for me with this organization"...

"Treated differently?" Walker replied to a question on that topic. "I don't know if 'differently' would be the right word, but you can tell who the old guys are and who the new guys are. I just look at it like this: In any situation, in any business, new bosses come in and want their guys and are more comfortable with people they see as their guys. That's the situation I feel like I'm in. I'm not one of their guys. Bixler and I are not their guys, and it isn't hard to tell we aren't their guys."

Wow. I realize there's a sort of Catch-22 here (Are Walker and Bixler bad because they were drafted by Littlefield, or did Littlefield draft them because they're bad?) that's got to be pretty hard to contemplate if you're Walker, but it's amazing that Walker sees current management rather than his own shortcomings (which are detailed pretty well in the article) as the reason he's not in the big leagues right now.

Walker simply hasn't earned a promotion; not even close. He's posted OBPs of .280 and .297 in the past two years. If he were in the big leagues right now, he'd probably struggle to bat .210. He's been a tremendous disappointment, and if I were him I'd be thanking my lucky stars that I got an enormous first-round bonus that will, in all likelihood, turn out to have been a terrible investment for the team.

He's still a prospect, but that's almost entirely because of his reputation as a first-rounder and the small possibility that he somehow finds a way to harness his talent. He now has a .316 career minor league OBP, isn't young for his level, and no longer plays a premium defensive position. There isn't an intelligent team in baseball that would give him a major-league job. And Bixler is just as lost as Walker is. I know every ballplayer is supposed to believe that he can set the league on fire if only given a fair shake, but Walker's assessment of his abilities is so far from reality that it's either offensive or unintentionally amusing.