SB Nation Blog: Charlie

Rosenthal: Dodgers Pursuing Jack Wilson

Charlie — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:25:02 -0000

[T]he Dodgers' bid for [C.C.] Sabathia is complicated by their pursuit of Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson as a replacement for the injured Rafael Furcal, sources say.

To get Wilson, the Dodgers would need to trade the Pirates some of the same players that the Indians want for Sabathia, leaving Los Angeles with a choice of one deal or the other...

Class AA right-hander James McDonald, Class AAA shortstop Chin-Lung Hu and third baseman Andy LaRoche are among the Dodgers' prospects likely drawing consideration form the Indians...

[T]he addition of Wilson, 30, would fill the void created by the absence of Furcal, who will be out at least eight more weeks after undergoing back surgery...

By acquiring Wilson, the Dodgers would signal that they might not intend to keep Furcal, whom they probably consider too big of a physical risk to re-sign as a free agent.

Well, there's no way to know until something happens. I've already said I think the Bucs should try to get Matt Kemp, but I seriously doubt the Dodgers would consider giving him up for Wilson.

I like the players mentioned in the article, though. McDonald has a very good performance record and looks like he could be a good big league starter, and he'd significantly improve the Pirates' awful minor league pitching depth. Hu and LaRoche are both good buy-low candidates; neither one is having a great year, but they've had success in the minors in the past. Hu is actually very much like a young Wilson--he doesn't appear to have great plate discipline or power, but he's hit for high averages in the minors and is potentially a vacuum cleaner at short. As for LaRoche, given that the Bucs should soon have both Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez in their system at third, I'm not sure where he fits in, but you can never have too many good hitters.

If I were the Indians, I would want better players than this for Sabathia. But for Wilson, they're good enough.

Pirates Officially Sign Jonathan Barrios

Charlie — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:18:24 -0000

You know, a story like this seems like a fairly big deal, but all we know about 16-year-old Colombian shortstop Jonathan Barrios is that he's one of the top 25 prospects coming out of Latin America. (And, judging from this article at ESPN.com, he's probably not in the top half of the top 25.) There are only 30 teams in the majors. The Pirates really should be signing one of these players pretty much every year. This is certainly a start, and I don't mean to sound critical of Barrios, who I know little about, but still: this is something we should expect more than something we should celebrate.

Brewers 9, Pirates 1

Charlie — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:24:51 -0000

Remarkably, the Pirates managed to get runners into scoring position during each of the first six innings, and they still managed just one run. It sounds silly, but this easily could have been a close game if the Pirates had better timing; John Russell let the Brewers tack on several runs in the fifth after it was already clear that Tom Gorzelanny didn't have anything left. (The pitcher's spot came up first in the top of the sixth, and Russell was presumably hoping to get Gorzelanny through the inning so he didn't have to waste a reliever.) Gorzelanny, for his part, had his usual troubles finding the strike zone, but he didn't exactly deserve to have seven runs tacked onto his ERA. His free pass Ben Sheets, a bad hitter even by pitchers' standards, to lead off the fifth probably should've had Russell ready to pull him at any time. On top off all that, the Pirates made two errors. Not one of their better games, this one.

Pirates vs. Brewers, 4 July 2008

Charlie — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:27:17 -0000

Tom Gorzelanny vs. Ben Sheets, 2:05 PM. Here's the box.

Pirates Designate Bryan Bullington for Assignment

Charlie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:15:56 -0000

Now here is something you wait until the end of business right before a three-day weekend to do:

To clear space for [Chris] Duffy on the 40-man roster, right-hander Bryan Bullington was designated for assignment.

Bullington, as you all know, was the top pick in the 2002 draft. Judged by that standard, his pro career has been a spectacular failure. In the low minors, he didn't have the solid stuff he had shown before being drafted, generally throwing his fastball in the high 80s. Since beating up on South Atlantic League hitters in eight games during his first pro season, he hasn't had a single stop where his stats and stuff indicated he was likely to be any more than the last guy out of a big-league bullpen. There was literally nothing to recommend him other than his draft position. Meanwhile, other top-20 picks in that draft include B.J. Upton, Prince Fielder, Jeremy Hermida, James Loney, Scott Kazmir, Nick Swisher, Cole Hamels, Jeff Francis, Zach Greinke...

Obviously, it isn't Bullington's fault he was taken first. I wish him well. But what I wouldn't do for a do-over.

Pirates Likely to Sign Colombian SS Jonathan Barrios

Charlie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:13:48 -0000

The Post-Gazette:

They were negotiating yesterday on the final details of a signing bonus for Jonathan Barrios, a 16-year-old shortstop out of Colombia who made the final top-25 lists of two publications. Barrios was the star talent at an academy in homeland called Prospect Sport, owned and operated by Chicago White Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera.

"We feel pretty good about getting it done," general manager Neal Huntington said yesterday of signing Barrios.

I haven't the slightest idea what this means. ESPNDeportes mentioned Barrios in a recent article about the top Latin amateur talents, but didn't say anything about him, and most of the other references to Barrios on the internet are copies of that article.

Pirates 9, Reds 5

Charlie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:39:51 -0000

Five days ago, I wrote that the next few days after that might mark a turning point in the Pirates' season. Fast forward to the present and Matt Capps is now gone, but the Bucs have won three of five despite starting the likes of Jimmy Barthmaier, Ty Taubenheim and, tonight, John Van Benschoten. Neither Barthmaier nor Van Benchoten were any good at all (Taubenheim was fine), but the Bucs made up for it with some contributions from unexpected sources--Adam LaRoche throughout, two scoreless innings from T.J. Beam on Saturday, Doug Mientkiewicz last night, Luis Rivas tonight. The Bucs also got a remarkable 6.1 scoreless innings from Denny Bautista, Sean Burnett, John Grabow and Tyler Yates tonight to win the game even after Van Benschoten got shelled.

Now, it's true that the Pirates are also getting help from more established sources like Xavier Nady (who hit two homers tonight), Jack Wilson and Jason Bay, but I would like to stop and ask you to read some of the names in that first paragraph again if it didn't already stop you.

Jimmy Barthmaier. Ty Taubenheim. T.J. Beam. Doug Mientkiewicz. Luis Rivas. Denny Bautista. Sean Burnett. Tyler Yates. That's a remarkably ragtag group of players. I'm not sure if Neal Huntington deserves credit for wringing wins out of them in the absence of half his rotation and his closer. Regardless, I look at a performance like the one the Pirates got from their bullpen tonight, and I have to smile.

Matt Capps to Miss Two Months

Charlie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:04:21 -0000

Yikes:

Capps, who blew saves here Monday and Tuesday nights, went to Pittsburgh today for tests, which revealed "internal range of motion detriment," according to manager John Russell.

What is "internal range of motion detriment," and why would that cost Capps two months? Any doctors in the house? This is why it's a drag when Dejan Kovacevic has the day off. Neither the other papers nor the Pirates' website is much more helpful.

Steve Pearce takes Capps' place on the roster, but he may be gone when Phil Dumatrait returns.

Obviously, the loss of Capps is a huge blow to the Pirates, who were already struggling to find enough good arms to fill out their bullpen. He won't be back until early September.

UPDATE: Judging from Dejan Kovacevic's Q+A today, it sounds like this could have been a lot worse.

Pirates vs. Reds, 2 June 2008

Charlie — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:36:35 -0000

John Van Benschoten vs. Daryl Thompson, 7:10 PM.

I'm not sure how much of this game I'm going to be able to see, but I'm interested in checking out Thompson. You may recall that he was the minor league pitcher the Reds got in the Austin Kearns-Felipe Lopez deal. Former Reds GM Wayne Krivsky was lambasted by nearly everyone (including me) for that trade, which seemed like an absolutely boneheaded, horrible idea at the time. But Kearns has merely been an average outfielder since the trade--he hasn't blossomed the way some thought he might--and Lopez has been pretty bad. The Reds haven't gotten much out of the trade so far either, but Thompson has quietly pitched well in the minors. He's pitching this year with good velocity. He could actually end up being the best player in the deal and win the trade for the Reds.

Anyway, while you're waiting for the game, this is pretty amusing.

Pirates 6, Reds 5

Charlie — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:09:51 -0000

Do you like it when the Pirates score runs? Games like these can make you wonder whether John Russell does. It appeared the third base umpire tonight wanted the Pirates to score more than Russell did. (At least the ump called Ryan Doumit safe on a play in which he appeared to be out.) On your way home after a game like this one, you may have found yourself wondering whether Russell actively dislikes runs or is merely ambivalent toward them. If someone gave Russell some runs for his birthday, you might think, would he take them and use them, even though he would've preferred, say, a shower radio? If Russell were at a restaurant and the waiter brought a big plate of runs he hadn't ordered, would he send them back because he ordered the shrimp? Tough questions!

This was maybe the most frustrating win the Pirates have had all season. Despite some solid performances--from Zach Duke and the finally-hot Adam LaRoche in particular, and there were some great plays in the outfield by Doug Mientkiewicz and Nate McLouth--I don't feel like the Pirates deserved to collect a win here.

Jack Wilson got caught stealing twice in embarrassing fashion, once on what appeared to be a busted hit-and-run. Freddy Sanchez attempted a bunt with two strikes, lunging at a ball way out of the strike zone and completely failing to get it anywhere near fair territory. He then looked at third base coach Tony Beasley as he walked back to the dugout, as if he didn't understand why Beasley had made the call, or perhaps was confused as to whether the call was made in the first place. Then in the ninth, Wilson tried to bunt Chris Gomez over and got Gomez thrown out at second.

Yeah, all that stuff in the first paragraph is just grousing, and in the grand scheme it's nitpicking, and yeah, I'm still pretty happy with Russell for recognizing that McLouth and Doumit are major-league regulars, and yeah, that's a heck of a lot more important than any of this is. But it's still annoying to have to watch plays like the ones described above, and with Russell they happen fairly frequently.

Incidentally, Romulo Sanchez picked up his first big league save with a shaky, one-run 11th inning. If Sanchez manages to catch on with the Pirates, it'll be interesting to see whether the fans take to him, because he could inspire a sort of Nyjer Morgan debate. Sanchez, like Morgan, will probably end up being an exciting player but not a very good one. Sanchez's basic game is to throw fastballs really, really hard, often up in the zone. That will generate some awesome-looking strikeouts from time to time, but it will probably also generate a bunch of 470-foot blasts. Jerry Hairston drove in a run off Sanchez tonight on one high fastball that made me glad it was only Jerry Hairston up there. He hit it hard, but it only went for a single; many of the Reds' hitters would have knocked it at least 400 feet. My sense is that fans will be less forgiving of Sanchez than they were of Morgan, because Sanchez's failures will be at least as glaring as his successes.