SB Nation User Blog: Charlie

On Garrett Jones: Let's Not Get Carried Away Here

Charlie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:38:36 -0000

As nice as it is to see a guy be rewarded for persistence, Garrett Jones should not be mistaken for a good player, and the last thing I'd want to see is a Tike-Redman-2003 situation where Jones gets off to a hot start, then gets way more playing time than he should for a year or so after that.

John Russell today:

"I'm getting excited about our lineup, to be honest with you, and that has a lot to do with Garrett," Russell said. "Once we get Doumit back, and he's on his way, I think it's going to be interesting." Of Jones specifically, Russell added, "He could be one of those guys who just hasn't been given the opportunity. We think he looks really good, and we're looking forward to seeing more."

No. No no no. Nuh uh. For anyone familiar with Class AAA baseball (and you'd think that Russell, a former AAA manager, might be one of those people), Jones is so familiar he's practically a caricature--the big, defensively challenged slugger who isn't quite good enough as a hitter to make an impact in the bigs but who puts up some superficially impressive numbers at AAA just by virtue of being there for so many years. Every year the Pirates have a couple of these guys at various levels of the system. Jones is just Graham Koonce with fewer walks. He's Brad Eldred with less power and fewer strikeouts. He's Randy Ruiz playing at a higher level. He's Adam Boeve. Ryan Mulhern. Chris Richard. Andy Abad. John Barnes. I'm sure Jones is a nice guy, but as a player, he's a cliche.

Of the twenty players listed as comparables on Jones' PECOTA card (subscription only), the only one who made any sort of impact in the big leagues was Luke Scott. The reason is simple: players like Jones put up decent hitting numbers in AAA, but they're only decent, and they're doing it in the prime of their careers, not at young ages when you might reasonably hope they'll get better. They also don't bring anything to the table defensively, so if they aren't very good big league hitters, there's no reason to keep them around. Jones' yearly OPS in the International League is about .800; I don't have the equivalencies in front of me, but that would come out to be about a .700 OPS in the majors, which won't cut it for a player of his type.

Jones had a great game yesterday. I get that. If this is the sort of excitement Russell needs to get him through the day, fine. If he wants to take it into account for a while as he sorts through a bunch of uninspiring corner outfield options, I guess that's also fine for now. But let's not go too far here. I suppose anything's possible, but there's really nothing in Jones' minor league record that says he's going to be helpful as anything more than a bench outfielder.

Pirates at Marlins, 3 July 2009

Charlie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:04:06 -0000

Lineup

Pittsburgh Pirates @ Florida Marlins

07/03/09 6:10 PM EDT

Pittsburgh Pirates	Florida Marlins
Andrew McCutchen - CF	Chris Coghlan - LF
Jack Wilson - SS	Emilio Bonifacio - 3B
Freddy Sanchez - 2B	Hanley Ramirez - SS
Adam LaRoche - 1B	Jorge Cantu - 1B
Garrett Jones - LF	Jeremy Hermida - RF
Andy LaRoche - 3B	Dan Uggla - 2B
Brandon Moss - RF	Cody Ross - CF
Jason Jaramillo - C	John Baker - C
Charlie Morton - P	Chris Volstad - P

News Roundup: Huntington: We Acquired Milledge Because We Could

Charlie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:54:21 -0000

MLB - New York Mets/Pittsburgh Pirates Box Score Thursday July 2, 2009 - Yahoo! Sports
Garrett Jones came within a single of the cycle today.

Huntington answers fans' questions | pirates.com: News
An unusually blunt answer from Neal Huntington:

Why trade an outfielder for an outfielder when we need middle infielders? -- Josh J., Bethel Park, Pa.

Huntington: Because Milledge was available. He was a premier prospect in baseball (the No. 1 prospect with Mets in 2005-06) with five tools. He has a very high ceiling. At 24 (Morgan is 29), Milledge is still young and can develop into an above-average Major League player.

It'll be interesting to see how Huntington's behavior will change when (or if) the Pirates acquire enough talent to shape into a good team. The Rays' transition from merely acquiring talent to aiming to contend happened extremely quickly--their 2007 team was a collection of mismatched parts, but with one big trade (the Delmon Young / Matt Garza deal) and a couple of positional changes, they suddenly became one of the best teams in baseball. The Pirates are still very much in the mismatched-parts stage, which is as it should be for now and probably for the next two years or so.

Taiwan Baseball: Pirates on a Roll....Sheng-Chin Hung Signed
In addition to Ping-Hung Chi, whose signing hit the news a few days ago, the Pirates have also signed pitcher Sheng-Chin Hung and first baseman Chi-Wei Hsu from Taiwan. Of the three, Hung may have the most upside. He can hit 91 MPH with his fastball and also throws a curve and change.

Kiley McDaniel Liveblog
Baseball Prospectus reports that the Pirates are one of two teams (along with the Royals) in on Dominican prospect GianCarlos Santana, brother of the Angels' Ervin Santana. The younger Santana recently threw as hard as 91 MPH. Also, the Cardinals signed outfielder Wagner Mateo, one of the big prizes of this year's Dominican class.

Lynchburg 9, Winston-Salem 5
Eric Fryer, recently acquired in the Eric Hinske deal, went 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored in his Lynchburg debut. Also, Jamie Romak just realized he knows how to hit Class A+ pitching.

Donald Veal: Stats
Donald Veal now has twelve walks in 12.7 innings at Class AAA Indianapolis. He'll probably still be with the Pirates at the end of the year thanks to these "rehab" shenanigans, but it's becoming increasingly clear to me that he's not really a prospect.

Is this thing on?: A must see Snell video and my All-Star ballot
Indianapolis announcer Scott McCauley picks his International League All-Star team.

The Canadian Press: Canadian left-fielder Jason Bay becomes American citizen
Jason Bay became a naturalized U.S. citizen today.

Bucs Sign Two More Draft Picks

Charlie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:37:03 -0000

The Pirates announced three draft pick signings today--in addition to third-rounder Evan Chambers (noted a couple posts below this one), they also signed 13th-rounder John Gourley and 18th-rounder Ryan Beckman. I don't know much about Beckman, who's a reliever out of community college in Texas, but Gourley could be pretty interesting--he was a fairly highly regarded infield prospect in North Carolina who the Pirates signed away from a commitment to East Carolina. He probably won't stick at shortstop, but he should be able to play elsewhere in the infield.

Cubs 4, Pirates 1: Cubs Pile Up Extra-Base Hits in Pittsburgh Loss

Charlie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:41:39 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Jason Jaramillo tags out Milton Bradley after Bradley tried to score on a grounder to third.

Browse more photos »

The Pirates were simply outplayed in this one, and were beaten by another inexperienced starter (Randy Wells). Virgil Vasquez allowed five extra-base hits, including homers by Derrek Lee and Kosuke Fukudome. Vasquez's curveball can occasionally surprise a batter, but it's really the only pitch he has that does much, which leaves him vulnerable. One of the other extra-base hits was a triple by the lumbering Geovany Soto, who chugged to third after Garrett Jones narrowly missed a diving catch in left. Jones isn't nearly as unathletic as you'd think from such a big guy, but he's certainly no Nyjer Morgan out there either. (Fortunately, Soto didn't end up scoring.) Jones also went 0-for-4 at the plate.

The Bucs managed to score only on an RBI single by Brandon Moss, and Andrew McCutchen and Jason Jaramillo were the only offensive players who had two hits. Tony Beasley gets big-time demerits for waving Jack Wilson home on a Freddy Sanchez single with two men on in the fifth; the Cubs gunned Wilson down by a mile, and the Pirates ended that inning without having scored.

Bright spot: Joel Hanrahan made his Pirates debut and allowed only a line-drive single by Sam Fuld. He then got Ryan Theriot to ground into a double play and struck out Lee to end the inning.

Cubs vs Pirates boxscore

Cubs vs Pirates recap

Cubs vs. Pirates, 1 July 2009: OVERFLOW THREAD

Charlie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:57:50 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

2 days ago: Pittsburgh Pirates' Jack Wilson (2) is tagged out by Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh Wednesday, July 1, 2009. Wilson was trying to score from second on a single to left by Freddy Sanchez. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Browse more photos »

Continue discussing the game here.

Cubs vs. Pirates, 1 July 2009

Charlie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:33:41 -0000

Lineup

Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Pirates

07/01/09 7:05 PM EDT

Chicago Cubs	Pittsburgh Pirates
Sam Fuld - LF	Andrew McCutchen - CF
Ryan Theriot - SS	Freddy Sanchez - 2B
Derrek Lee - 1B	Garrett Jones - LF
Milton Bradley - RF	Adam LaRoche - 1B
Jake Fox - 3B	Brandon Moss - RF
Kosuke Fukudome - CF	Ramon Vazquez - 3B
Geovany Soto - C	Jason Jaramillo - C
Andres Blanco - 2B	Jack Wilson - SS
Randy Wells - P	Virgil Vasquez - P

Garrett Jones at #3! Wow.

News Roundup: Draft Picks Make Good Debuts, Bucs Sign Third-Rounder

Charlie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:32:47 -0000

Pirates Sign Third-Round Pick Evan Chambers

The Bucs have signed outfielder Evan Chambers, a third-round pick from Hillsborough Community College in Florida, and sent him to State College. Chambers, despite being a third-rounder, isn't one of the really high-upside picks in the draft, but of course it's nice to have him aboard.

Top picks hit mound for first time as Spikes stumble | Penn State News | Sports - Centre Daily Times

Second-round pick Victor Black, 11th-rounder Aaron Baker, and 21st-rounder Phillip Irwin all played well in their pro debuts for the State College Spikes yesterday. Black pitched one inning and struck out two batters, throwing all fastballs that came in as hard as 95 MPH. The Pirates will try having him pitch longer stretches as the season goes on. Of course, college draftees like these three should perform well all the way down at State College, but it's still nice to see them actually do it. It appears the residents of Central Pennsylvania will be spared another 18-56 debacle this year.

Pittsburgh Pirates players question timing of trades - ESPN

Really? Jack Wilson didn't like the Pirates' trades? Shocking. I don't think ESPN even had anything about the Morgan/Milledge deal in their sidebar yesterday hours after the trade happened, but apparently, uninvolved players' reactions to the trade were front page news. Jack Wilson's complete lack of perspective is pretty funny, though. Bad teams trade older players for younger ones to build for the future. It's really not that hard to understand. If he's seen this kind of thing for years and not like it, maybe he could've, you know, not signed an extension. UPDATE: Just saw that Jett has a fanpost about this.) UPDATE: Wilson apologizes for his remarks.

Buster Olney: The MLB trade market goes bear - ESPN

Olney, meanwhile, calls the Eric Hinske trade a salary dump. It's weird--I don't know how trading a little-used veteran player for a reasonable, if unspectacular, prospect return and giving the Yankees cash makes the Pirates thrifty, but then I don't have a roomful of colorful phones.

Bits From the Trades

Charlie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:39:57 -0000

More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP

Lastings Milledge gets out of the way of an inside pitch.

Browse more photos »

Odds and ends from the trade bonanza this afternoon:

-P- Jeff Salazar will join the Pirates while they wait for Lastings Milledge to get himself sorted out. Salazar didn't hit all that well for Indianapolis, but I'm still pretty happy to have him on board. I wanted him to make the team out of Spring Training. He brings decent defense and has just enough of every offensive skill to get by. He deserves the shot at a bench job, and I'm glad he's going to get it.

-P- Nats acting GM Mike Rizzo on the Morgan/Burnett deal:

"We addressed two of our biggest needs, athleticism and defensive ability in center field and a bullpen guy
we'll have control over the next three years." He called called Burnett and Morgan "two cornerstones of the organization."

That's a laugher worthy of Lloyd McClendon's "This sends shock waves" quote about Derek Bell, frankly. Burnett and Morgan would be cornerstones of a Class AA team. Maybe.

-P- The Post-Gazette also has some details on the players acquired for Eric Hinske. Eric Fryer, who has played outfield for the Yankees, will be moved back behind the plate, while Casey Erickson (lots of "Eric"s in this trade) may get a shot as a starter. He didn't pitch well in three minor-league starts this year, but he has four pitches. The P-G also notes that he's a groundball guy, and... wow, they're not kidding. I just noticed that. He has 3.23 groundouts for every flyout this year, which looks pretty tasty, and he's allowed just four homers in the past two years combined. Maybe there's more upside here than I initially realized.

-P- USA Today calls the Morgan/Burnett deal a "potential heist" for the Bucs.

Cubs vs. Pirates, 30 June 2009

Charlie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:59:29 -0000

Ted Lilly vs. Ross Ohlendorf, 7:05 PM.