SB Nation - Tagg Bozied

Pirates Minor Leaguers Become Free Agents

Charlie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:51:19 -0000

A bunch of Pirates minor leaguers have become free agents. Indulge your inner minor-league geek here:

Pittsburgh

Pitchers: RHP Jason Davis, RHP Eric Hacker, LHP Corey Hamman, RHP Lincoln Holdzkom, RHP Jorge Julio, LHP Bobby Livingston, RHP Juan Mateo, RHP Scott Nestor, RHP Jeremy Powell, RHP Dionis Rodriguez, RHP Ty Taubenheim, RHP Virgil Vasquez

Catchers: Hector Gimenez, Steven Lerud, Miguel Perez, Milver Reyes, Steven Suarez

Infielders: Chris Barnwell, Josh Bonifay, Tagg Bozied, Larry Broadway, Ray Chang, Angel Gonzalez, Pedro Lopez, Brian Myrow, Jamie Romak

Outfielders: Victor Igsema, Jonel Pacheco

This list includes a few vaguely interesting guys:

Eric Hacker came over from the Yankees in exchange for Romulo Sanchez and made his big league debut late this year after performing rather disappointingly at Indianapolis. Still, he'd be nice to have around this year.

Juan Mateo has a good performance record and has been a good soldier for the past couple years in Altoona and Indianapolis; it was mildly strange that he never got a chance with the Pirates when it seemed like every player on the Indy staff was getting a callup.

Steve Lerud has been just off the prospect radar forever; he's now 25, hasn't realized the bit of power potential he seemed to have, and can't hit for average. Too bad; lefty catchers with power have lots of value.

Tagg Bozied and Brian Myrow were among the most talented hitters at Indianapolis this year and many projection systems rate them fairly highly, but they're older minor league vets and will be lucky to get another chance in the big leagues no matter where they end up.

I had hopes for Jamie Romak who, until Pedro Alvarez arrived, was probably the best power prospect in the Pirates' system, but he quashed them with a horrible year at Altoona and then Lynchburg.

Minor League Roundup: Owens Dominating Without Two-Seamer

Charlie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:47:57 -0000

How about I just pretend this whole Wandy Rodriguez thing didn't happen, and focus on the minors?

BaseballAmerica.com: Blog: Owens Breaks Out
Nice profile of Rudy Owens, who's dominating the South Atlantic League without even being allowed to use one of his pitches (a two-seam fastball). He's getting more outs in the air than on the ground right now; it'll be interesting to see if that changes once he returns to the two-seamer.

Lynchburg Hillcats: Scoreboard: Wilmington vs. Lynchburg
Bryan Morris got rocked today against Wilmington. It's too soon since he returned from injury to worry much about him, but Morris needs to start producing soon to make any progress at all this year. With Andy LaRoche slugging .388, Brandon Moss doing almost nothing with the stick and Craig Hansen being Craig Hansen, the Jason Bay trade looks worse by the day.

Is this thing on?: The boss is watching
Scott McCauley reports that the Pirates have signed former Padres prospect Tagg Bozied and sent him to Indianapolis. Bozied is a pretty generic AAAA slugger; he hit 50 homers combined in 2007 (in Memphis) and 2008 (in Albuquerque), but he lacks secondary skills. But if Garrett Jones can be mistaken, however briefly, for a real big-leaguer, I'm not really sure why Bozied can't.

Minor League Baseball: Stats: VSL Pirates
It's nice to see Jonathan Barrios and Exicardo Cayonez, who were among the Pirates' top singings in Latin America last year, hitting well in Venezuela.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:20:54 -0000

Some things to read while reacting to Russell Branyan's departure.

Pitchers and catchers report in 72 days...or so.

I'll open today with Russell Branyan, since I already mentioned him. As noted in the FanShots, Branyan is a Mariner now. The Yost Infection has a list of their favorite Branyan moments. Lookout Landing notes the difference between new and old Mariner management, and Bucs Dugout notes that Branyan chose the M's over the Pirates. Instead, the Pirates may have to settle for Derrick Turnbow. (noted in FanShots)

While Russell Branyan looks for ways to spend his $1.4 million, Ben Sheets appears ready to turn down arbitration to go out and pursue a multi-year deal. As I write this, 70% of voters are ok with the Brewers offering Sheets the contract I outlined here.

I'm not entirely sure I get it, but Kerry Whisnant of Dugout Central says Sheets and the Brewer defense combined to give the team a projected winning percentage of .549 in his starts. Follow the link to see where CC Sabathia, Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan rank.

Meanwhile, Beyond the Box Score wants to teach bloggers how to be more Saber-Friendly. In their first installment, they take a look at BABIP. The news is good for Manny Parra, but not as good for Dave Bush.

Every time I see a story like this, I feel like Doug Melvin is doing a good job: The Giants are reportedly interested in acquiring J.J. Hardy to play third base, but haven't made a good enough offer to pry baseball's best defensive shortstop away from Milwaukee.

MiLB.com continues to release their top 50 prospect list ten at a time. 21-30 came out yesterday, with Mat Gamel checking in at #23.

Of course, not everyone in the minor leagues is a prospect. Transaction Oracle takes a look at new Brewer Scott Thorman's 2009 MLB projections. ZiPS gives him an 82 OPS+ at first base, and a 35% chance of even reaching replacement level.

All the enjoyment of coaching Scott Thorman and the rest of the 2009 Nashville Sounds will go to former Brewer and Huntsville Stars manager Don Money, the biggest name in yesterday's announcement of 2009 coaching staffs. Others of note:

Former Brewer Chris Bosio will be the pitching coach in Nashville.
Bob Miscik is the new manager at Huntsville.
Former short-term Brewer Matt Erickson will be the hitting coach for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

On the hot stove:

A's: Signed P Kevin Cameron and 1B Tagg Bozied.
Braves: Will reportedly be the first team (and perhaps the only team) to offer a five year deal to A.J. Burnett. They also signed C David Ross and are not interested in Adam Dunn.
Cardinals: Have reportedly reached a deal to acquire Khalil Greene from the Padres. Terms are unknown, but it's believed the Cardinals are sending a pitching prospect to San Diego. The team also finalized their deal with Trever Miller.
Cubs: Re-signed Chad Fox for 2009.
Dodgers: May be a potential suitor for Trevor Hoffman.
Giants: Signed Bob Howry to a one year deal, may be looking to trade for Jorge Cantu and could sign Edgar Renteria this week.
Mets: Signed former Brewer Nelson Figueroa and three others to minor league deals.
Red Sox: Bought three arbitration seasons and the first three seasons of free agency from Dustin Pedroia for $40.5 million.

So some free agency time has passed, and it's passed pretty quietly for Manny Ramirez, Adam Dunn and Pat Burrell, among others. Rob Neyer asks if the time has passed for all-bat, no-glove corner outfielders.

Oh, and all those empty beer cans and liquor bottles in your garage may have a use after all.

Drink up.