There was a series of interesting Tweets on Fox Sports Houston's Twitter account.  This is the feed the covers the Rice Owls.  With nearly a month until the draft I thought the information was worthy of a fanpost.

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The Pirates are off to a 5-5 start to the season, having taken two series on the road before losing three out of four to a very good Rockies team at home. A lot of players are off to strong starts and the team ERA, to the surprise of many, is near the top in the league. While there is reason to believe that the 2011 Pirates are not the same old Pirates, there have been a lot of posts recently reflecting the "guarded optimism" a lot of fans have. There are a lot of good reasons for the guarded optimism, such as pitcher’s peripherals, high batter strikeout totals and Pedro’s slow start on offense. I thought I would take a different approach and focus on one of the early season success stories … Jose Tabata.

Tabata is off to a scorching start at the plate. He seems to have embraced his role as the leadoff hitter, displaying an even more advanced approach at the plate than he had last season. This approach has led to a ridiculously high .457 OBP and eleven runs scored in only ten games. You can’t ask much more than that out of your leadoff hitter. While there is no way Tabata will continue this torrid play all season, I thought I would analyze just what has led to his success this far and try to project just what we can expect out of Jose in 2011.

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That was a quote from Dejan Kovacevik's latest article on Pirate prospects Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie and Tony Sanchez.  This piece is an example of Dejan at his finest.  It's a really good read on three key players in the Pirates' system.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11087/1135306-63.stm

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After having watched Gerrit Cole on Friday, I wanted to take a look at Anthony Rendon today. Unfortunately, Rendon was in the lineup once again as the DH, batting fourth. After having spent the last week playing third, he was limited to DH duties this weekend, which means the shoulder is still bothering him. This will be a real concern if it carries further into the season.  Anyway, I did watch the entire game and saw all of Rendon’s at bats. Once again I would like to remind everyone that I am not a scout and that I watched the game online. I did not have the benefit of video playback, either, so my analysis of Rendon’s swing will be limited.

Rice faced the University of Central Florida today, capping off this Conference USA opening weekend series. Today’s game was the rubber match, as UCF won Friday 7-2 and Rice took Saturday’s game 6-2. Unfortunately for the Owls, they lost the game today 5-4 dropping their season record to 16-11 and most likely knocking them out of the top 25.

Coming into Sunday, Rendon was 1-for-4 with six walks in the series. With Rendon having been walked 33 times this season, I was curious to find out if he was being pitched around due to the relative weakness of the rest of Rice’s lineup. Well, I cannot speak for the rest of the season but he was not pitched around today. UCF pitchers went right at him and Rendon finished the game going 3-for-5 with a double, one run scored and no walks.  

6-foot-7 junior Ray Hanson started for the Knights today. For such a tall kid, Hanson did not bring the velocity I expected. I didn’t get any gun readings today, but his fastball was straight and didn’t really overpower anyone. Hanson went right after Rendon in his first at bat in the bottom of the second. Rendon took a fastball on the outside corner to go down 0-1. He took the second pitch for a ball and fouled off the third, quickly putting him in the hole 1-2. Rendon then took the next pitch for a called strike three on the outside corner. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Rendon came to the plate with a runner on first and one out. He uncharacteristically (from what I have read in other reports) swung at a first-pitch fastball on the outer half of the plate and sharply lined the ball up the middle for a base hit. Rendon then attempted to steal second on a full count ball four and promptly stole third because no one was paying attention. It was a very smart and aggressive play, and is evidence of Rendon’s high baseball IQ. He later scored, and Rice broke through for three runs knocking Hanson out of the game. I should point out that in his limited work Hanson was pretty unimpressive. I only saw a couple of average to below average changeups and one terrible curveball.

Rendon showed off his hit tool again in the bottom of the fifth when he turned on a fastball off of lefty Chris Atkins, drilling the ball well over the third baseman’s head down the line in left field for a double. One thing I noticed in that at bat was how fast Rendon gets his hands through the hit zone. It was quite impressive.

In the bottom of the seventh, Rendon faced another lefty, Joe Rogers. Again, I didn’t get any velocity readings today, but Rogers looked like he was throwing hard, at least harder than the other Knights pitchers. Down in the count 1-2 once again, Rendon displayed an excellent two-strike approach taking a pitch low and away, just out of the zone, up the middle for a hard groundball base hit. Given that Rendon takes so many pitches, I was glad to see that he has a very sound two-strike approach where he looks to hit the ball where it’s pitched rather than trying to turn on everything. He has an excellent, and very advanced, approach at the plate. 

In the bottom of the ninth, Rendon ended the game when he bounced out to the shortstop.

In all of Rendon's at bats but one, he took the first pitch, and in two of them they were strikes. As stated above, he has an excellent two-strike approach, displaying a consistent ability to go with the pitch. This approach allows him to be selective early in the count and is a likely reason he draws so many walks. He displayed a lot of confidence hitting behind in the count.  It is evident to me that he has a plus hit tool. Unfortunately, this was really the only tool I could observe today. Nothing Rendon hit today had any loft, so I wasn’t able to gauge how much power was there. I really wanted to see him get a chance to launch a ball, because his three home runs on the year is a bit of a concern.

I have heard a lot about Rendon’s complicated swing and timing mechanisms. I didn’t observe anything too complicated, but he does have an open stance in which he brings his front foot in as the pitcher is about to throw the ball (this must be the timing mechanism). Rendon is very balanced when he is in his “ready position.” His shoulders are parallel to the ground and his weight is properly loaded on his back foot, which enables him to stay back on breaking pitches. He has extremely quick wrists and excellent arm extension. He explodes through the zone and can easily cover both sides of the plate. Rendon was not off-balance in any of his plate appearances. He did not look fooled nor did he lunge at any pitches. Knights pitchers did not challenge Rendon inside much today, which seems like a missed opportunity, because if there is any weakness at all in Rendon’s open stance, I would think it would be inside.

I would like to see more of Rendon, especially in the field, but he was far and away the best player present, even when he’s just the DH. If he is playing hurt now I cannot wait to see him healthy. I would like to reiterate that Rendon was not pitched around today, which indicates to me that all of the bases on balls he's received may be in part due to his excellent approach at the plate and discipline. Again, I can confirm that he has a plus hit tool. His aggressive approach on the bases also indicated that his ankle must not be in terrible shape.

Rendon is the number one or number two draft prospect this year in large part due to last year’s monster season. Nothing I saw today convinces me that his draft status should change much, if at all. I don’t think he forgot how to hit for power; I am convinced it’s a product of the shoulder injury. Rice announcers indicate that they and members of Rice’s staff believe the same thing. Even if the plus power does not return I think he will still be a player with average power and a very high on-base percentage. That's still really valuable, especially if he is able to play above-average defense. The only real question is how well, and how long, Rendon can play in the field down the road. The three injuries he's endured are all thought to be flukes, but three injuries in two years is a trend to me. That said, if these are fluke injuries and Rendon can return to the field, I definitely can see a potential all-star third baseman.

This post is not meant as an endorsement by me for the Pirates to draft Rendon. It's to early in the season for me to make that call. But the Pirates could sorely use his on base abilities in the middle of their lineup.

Gerrit Cole has been getting a lot of press lately, with many respected publications and scouts now ranking him as the No. 1 draft prospect ahead of Anthony Rendon of Rice. With Cole now being a very real possibility for the Bucs at first overall in the amateur draft, I wanted to get a first-hand look and see what all of the buzz was about. Three major disclaimers. First, I am not a scout. Second, I watched this game online. And third, all velocity readings came from announcers whenever they decided to report them (I recorded every velocity reading in the inning it was reported).

UCLA played USC last night to open the Pac 10 schedule. Cole began the first inning throwing his two-seam fastball at 93 mph, and it is a very heavy pitch. I believe I saw at least three in the first and the sink on the pitch leads me to believe that he could get by on just a two-seamer. His four-seamer was hitting 95 mph and got him into trouble when he elevated one to USC’s shortstop, who pulled it over the fence in left field. The homer was solidly struck and the shortstop, James Roberts, looks like a player to keep an eye on. 

After the first inning I didn’t see much of the two-seamer, as Cole relied more on the four-seamer, which sat at 95-97, touching 99 MPH twice in the second. The pitch has some movement tailing away from lefties and running into righties. Cole held his velocity late in the game hitting 96 mph after throwing 100 pitches. He threw just over 115 pitches in the game.

Overall, it's easy to see why there is so much hype. Cole throws the ball effortlessly. The ball explodes out of his hand. I really couldn’t tell how hard the pitch was thrown until I heard the pop of the mitt and the announcer would come back with something like: "Whoa! That pitch just hit 99 mph!" Cole is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, but he looks bigger on the mound. He has a wide frame and powerful legs; he just has the appearance of a workhorse. 

Cole threw a very good changeup, to my eyes, maintaining his arm speed when throwing it. It ranged from 85-88 but mostly 85. It had a lot of movement and just dove down and away from left-handed hitters. It seemed to generate a swing and miss whenever someone swung at it. If the changeup is not a plus pitch now I think it certainly will be down the road. Cole also threw a wicked curveball that is a plus pitch, in my opinion, but he did have trouble commanding it. The curveball had a lot of bite and I saw one strikeout registered with a USC hitter swinging over the top of it. However, most of the curves I witnessed were thrown for balls, with one of them being a wild pitch.

Cole really struggled last night …well, he struggled for Gerrit Cole. It took him a lot of pitches to get through 6 2/3 innings, and there were four balls hit really hard. Actually, most of the damage done was by Roberts and the slugging first baseman Ricky Oropesa, who is a top draft prospect in his own right. Everyone else seemed overmatched. Oropesa hit Cole hard in every at bat hitting an absolute bomb off him to right-center in the fifth. As hard as Cole was throwing, those two were able to get the bat around on him. I know Cole has been compared to Stephen Strasburg recently, but I don’t recall anyone squaring up on Strasburg like that in college last year, though I only got to see him throw twice. 

Anyway, Cole did not have his best command last night. He fell behind several batters and pitched into five full counts, by my observation. It was very reminiscent of the last time I saw him throw in the College World Series against South Carolina. That said, Cole’s stuff was even more impressive yesterday than it was last year, and as bad as his command was he still battled limiting the damage to four earned runs to get the win. I was actually glad to see him in a game like this, because it showed me he is not the type of pitcher who is going to get rattled and fall apart. There was a moment in the first when he looked agitated after he got squeezed on a full-count ball four and instantly threw the ball down the line on a pickoff attempt (which the first baseman missed), but he got things together and got out of the inning with limited damage. (Cole also has a very good pickoff move, for what it’s worth.)

Cole’s mechanics seemed very fluid, and he repeats his delivery really well. I don’t see any red flags in the delivery.  The only concern for me is how UCLA uses him as they get deep into the season. I was very pleased that Cole was pulled in the seventh, because it looked to me like he was laboring a bit, and he had thrown enough pitches given his lack of command. However, I think Cole being pulled had more to do with Oropesa being up and UCLA having a lefty in the pen than it did with any type of pitch limitation. I should point out that even though Cole’s command wasn’t at its best he only walked three batters (with one hit by pitch), and he did strike out seven batters in 6 2/3.

I don’t know that I saw the next Stephen Strasburg last night but I watched an excellent college pitcher who had been dominant up to that game. I think a David Price comp is probably fairer than one to Strasburg but I do think Cole looks like a frontline starter and potential Cy Young candidate if he remains injury free. To my untrained eye, he has a plus two-seamer, a plus-plus four-seamer, a plus curve and a potential plus changeup. The guy is a beast and I can see why everyone is so excited.

This post is not an endorsement by me for Cole to be selected first by the Bucs. I really like Anthony Rendon and think he too is a future All-Star. But if Cole is selected by the Pirates, things will be very exciting when he and Jameson Taillon anchor the staff in Pittsburgh.

Well the lovely Kristy Robinson of  "Hands off my Pirates Booty" writes that Rob Biertemphel (of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) reports that 8 "top" prospects will start in Indy this season.

 http://kristylovesherbuccos.mlblogs.com/archives/2011/02/triple-a-projected-to-begin-2011-with-8-top-prospects.html

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Baseball Prospectus came out with an interesting article today that provides evidence that SIERA is the best indicator for estimating a pitcher's performance.  It's a good read and fairly easy to follow.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12793

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Via Jim Bowden on Twitter:

JimBowdenXMFOX    A.McCutcheon told us he loves the city of PG. He is open to being with Pirates for years to come.; had no comment if offered long term deal

 

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Here's the link per MLBTR:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

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I have some time on my hands waiting for the Penn State Ohio St game to start so I thought I'd post a couple of hot stove updates that I haven't seen discussed in any threads yet.

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http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/dont-blame-duke/

Given the numerous debates that have taken place on whether or not Duke should be retained by the Pirates I thought this post on FanGraphs was relevant. 

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Dejan Kovacevik is reporting that the Pirates have signed six international player.  Looks like the Dominican Academy is starting to bear some fruit as all of these players are from the Dominican Republic. 

http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports-town/pbc-blog/103490-pirates-agree-with-6-internationals

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http://bucsbits.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/06/duke_to_miss_tuesday_start.html

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It's official per DK at the Post Gazette.  The Pirates have traded Uviedo for Eveland. 

http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports-town/pbc-blog/102679-pirates-to-claim-eveland

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Baseball America has a couple of nice posts today on Indianapolis prospects Neil Walker and Jose Tabata.  There is anything to earth shattering here but it's nice to see some of our prospects get some recognition. 

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With the Pirates playing an early game today I thought I'd post a thread for anyone following today's minor league games.

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There was an interesting article on Fangraphs not too long that looked at the flame out rate of draft picks.  The results were interesting and line up pretty close to what Alex Pedicini concluded on a recent article post on the Hardball Times: "Analyzing the MLB Draft using WAR."

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/analyzing-the-mlb-draft-using-war/

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I saw this on MLBTradeRumors.com last night.  Apparently this comes for Rosenthal on his blog and he hears that a number of teams approached the Bucs about Doumit during the GM meetings.  Reportedly, NH would move Doumit for the right package.


http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/pirates-could-trade-doumit.html

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Wow the hot stove season has gotten off to an early start.  The Tehan trade was finally made official and I just read on MLBTradeRumors.com that JJ Hardy has been dealt to the Twins for Carlos Gomes.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/twins-acquire-jj-hardy.html

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Dejan Kovacevik is reporting via Twitter that the Bucs are involved in trade talks with the Rays for Iwamura.  MLBTradeRumors.com is also reporting that the Rays are on the verge of dealing Iwamura to an NL club.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

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I was browsing MLBTradeRumors when I came across a post linked to FanGraphs.  FanGraphs values Andy Laroche more than Jason Bay ($7.2 million to $5.5 million).  I'm guessing that Bay's defense really hurts him here.  Bay, while putting up an OPS of .872, had a UZR/150 of -15.8. He has a WAR of 1.2.  Andy, on the other hand, has an OPS of .707 but has a UZR/150 of 4.8.  His WAR is 1.6. 

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This post had nothing to do with the players we got in return but rather that we sold low on a valuable asset.  A team in our position cannot dump assets and what makes this trade even more puzzing is that there was no reason for it.  We had plenty of time to let Gorzo regain some value before we dealt him.  Given his 2007 success, even if he failed, some other team was likely to take a flier on him and we would have received a return not much different from what we got.  I think Gorzelanny would have regained some value had he been given the chance instead of wasting innings on the worthless Virgil Vasquez.  Let's take a look at Gorzo's career numbers to see what I'm talking about.

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I don't know if this is news worthy or not yet but Pedro Alvarez was pulled from today's game in the 5th inning after a walk and a strike out.  I can't find any information as to the reason he was pulled but all indications at this point seem to be an injury.  I can think of no other explanation as to why a #1 draft pick would be yanked in the middle of a game.  Let's all hope this isn't anything too serious!

The Bucs have come to terms with their hard throwing compensation pick Victor Black. This gets the Pirates' first three draft picks signed relatively early and will get all of them playing ball his season.  Black will be assigned to State College, which is becoming a more interesting team to watch by the minute.

In other news, the Pirates have invited sixth-rounder Zack Von Rosenberg to visit the 'Burgh.  Hopefully the Bucs knew what it would take to get this kid, because signing him will be extremely important in determining whether this was a decent draft or a good draft.  It's going to take some "bucs" so let's hope the Pirates are ready to open their checkbook. 

With all of the people overly excited with the prospect of Adam Laroche being traded I thought I'd do a little fanpost on Adam since I'm sure there won't be any shrines set up by fans commemorating his time spent with the Bucs.  Adam may be one of the most hated players in Pirates history and for reasons that continue to escape me.  I've read numerous blogs where posters consantly suggest we should "dump" Laroche for a bag of balls or flat out release him because any replacement would surely perform better.  Well, everyone calling for the end of the Adam Laroche tenure in Pittsburgh may soon get their wish, but I caution you all to be aware of the fact that this team will not improve simply by subtracting Adam from the lineup and replacing him with someone on our roster.  Plain and simple we will be a weaker team offensively and defensively.  So before he is gone I would like to conduct a little history lesson because I believe that Adam is the best Pirate's first baseman since Willie Stargell ended his career there.  Hope you all enjoy the post and I'm interested to hear everyone's comments.

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This post is basically in response to the DK entry on the PG blog after the McClouth trade where he accused the front office of “moving the finish line.”  His basic premise is how are we going to achieve our goal if we continually trade away our “core” players?  I say “core” for a reason which will be covered in the closing of this post.  I’m going to make my point the loooong way.  I’m going to give an update of our top prospects and close with my point.  Enjoy and I look forward to your feedback.

*Note: The 1st nine prospects were taken from Baseball America’s top ten list.  Andrew McCutchen was left off because he has graduated to the majors and Morton is off for the same reason.  The other players are prospects having nice seasons so far that I’ve identified as having a role in the future of the organization.

P. Alvarez     High A  

.236/.335/.448     .738 OPS     10 HR     42 RBI

Pedro is striking out a ton but also still drawing a high number of walks.  The .738 OPS is unacceptable for a $6 million baby drafted #2 in the country that is counted on becoming a future impact player and superstar.  However, the walks combined with the 10 HR are reason to be optimistic that he will reach his ceiling.  Problem is Pedro is not going to get to the Burg as quickly as we all hoped.

ETA – 2011 (best case second half of 2010)     Prospect Stock – No change

J. Tabata     AA       

.242/.315/.288     .603 OPS     0HR     6 RBI

Tabata recently came back from a hamstring injury and was promptly removed from the game after going 0-2 because of tightness in the same hammy.  Tabata’s year has been extremely disappointing so far given his injury and his line to date.  I won’t even mention the off the field issues except to point out that it has raised questions about his age.  Jose is still young (hopefully) so it’s far too soon to give up on him but time is passing and each year that goes by his once Manny Ramirez-like ceiling gets lower and lower.  Hopefully the power develops soon because he is quickly moving from future impact prospect to league average OF.

ETA – 2011     Prospect Stock – Declining

B. Lincoln     AA

1.95 ERA     64.2 IP     60 K     15 BB     50 H     .215 avg.

Lincoln has been a bright spot in the organization by returning to form and dominating AA.  He’ll be called up to AAA any day now and if he continues to pitch as well as he is now he’ll have returned himself to impact prospect status.  He is definitely pitching like a front of the rotation starter.

ETA – 2010     Prospect Stock – Rising

B. Morris     High A

8.21 ERA    

It’s kind of useless at this point to put up any stats for Morris since he has only played in one game.  The scouting reports on Morris are really good.  He’s a high upside player but just can’t seem to stay on the field.   The best thing we can hope for is that he follows the recovery path that Lincoln has taken.  The important thing for Morris the rest of this year won’t be his numbers but that he stays on the field.

ETA – too soon to tell      Prospect Stock – No change

Neil Walker     AAA

.239/.304/.446     .750 OPS     7 HR     32 RBI    

Unfortunately Neil Walker is sidelined for 3 weeks to a thumb injury because I was really hoping he could get hot and turn his season around.  Hopefully he won’t be rusty after coming back from his injury because Walker has to show something this year.  He is still young for this level, and was rushed to AAA too soon by the previous administration, but Neil has yet to dominate any level.  His numbers this year look much like they did last year and they are very pedestrian at best.  He does not appear to be learning as it is obvious that he still believes that you cannot walk your way to the big leagues.  On the positive side he still shows some pop in his bat and has become a very good defender.  If Neil doesn’t finish the year strong and show some improvement he most likely will be in Indy at the start of next season.  This once promising prospect is now looking more like a very good utility player rather than an impact player.  I would not be surprised to see him working on other positions next year if he’s back in AAA.

ETA – 2011 (best case second half 2010)     Stock – Declining

Jeff Sues    AA

I’m not going to get into Sues stats and it has nothing to do with the fact that he is having a down year.  The point of this post is to identify potential cornerstone players in the organization and I don’t believe relief pitchers, even closers, qualify as cornerstone players.

S. Ford     AAA

.160/.199/.216     .4152 OPS     1 HR     16 RBI

Fords performance to date couldn’t have been any more disappointing, especially after having performed so well in spring training.  With our major league middle infielders constantly being involved in trade rumors I’m sure coming into the season that Neil Huntington believed Ford would be ready to replace Sanchez if he were traded.  Now we are probably looking at some undesirable combination of Bixler or Cruz.  This is Ford’s 1st time in AAA so it’s definitely not time to give up on him but I think I could step on the field right now and put up a better line than that.  He has been completely overwhelmed at AAA and that is not good.

ETA – too hard to tell right now (best case 2011)   Stock – Declining

D. McCutchen     AAA

4.38 ERA     61.2 IP     56 K     19 BB     63 H     .265 avg.

McCutchen’s line this year looks a lot like last year.  He will be 27 this season so what you see with Dan is what you get.  His numbers suggest that he may be a serviceable major leaguer performing a role much like the one that Karstens is performing right now.  Definitely not an impact player but has a chance to be useful.

ETA – 2010 (best case second half of 2009)     Stock – No change

R. Grossman     A

.279/.366/.365     .732 OPS     2 HR    16 RBI     19/22 SB

Grossman has been a pleasant surprise in that he is performing pretty well given his age.  Grossman, as everyone is well aware, is one of the high upside players in last year’s draft who was lured away form college.  His performance gives us hope the Huntington’s team has an eye for talent evaluation.  I’m excited to see what Quentin Miller and Wes Freeman can bring to the table.

ETA – 2013 (best case 2012)     Stock – Rising

G. Hernandez     AA

.293/.337/.356     .693 OPS     0 HR     20 RBI     10/19 SB

This is an interesting player.  Many scouts seem to think Gorky’s will develop some power which would be nice because right now he looks like a little better version of Nyjer Morgan.  Hernandez’s numbers are down this year in part to hamstring injury he suffered so hopefully that has something to do with the low OPS and horrible stolen base %.  If you listen to Neil, Hernandez is very much a part of the future of this organization.  He is supposed to be an outstanding defender with plus speed.  If his power develops he may be an Andrew McCutchen light (little less pop).  Hopefully he can return to form soon because he’s been terrible so far in Altoona which still has posters on DK’s blog fuming.

ETA – 2011     Stock – No change 

J. Locke     High A

5.44 ERA     49.2 IP     47 K     29 BB     52 H     .277 avg.

J. Locke has been rated as one of Atlanta’s top 10 prospects the last to years.  He was #7 coming into 2009.  He has run into control problems this year as the numbers show but he is supposed to have incredible stuff.  Huntington went as far to say that Locke is our #2 pitching prospect.   Though I’m not so sure that is an endorsement of Locke as much as it is another harsh reminder of the incompetence of Dave Littlefield.  Let’s hope a change of scenery and some good instruction will help Locke get back on the right track.

ETA – 2012     Stock – No change

B. Friday     AA

.290/.372/.471     .843 OPS     4 HR     13 RBI

Friday has been a very pleasant surprise this season.  He’s managed to stay on the field and has displayed very nice power for a middle infielder.  He may be the answer to the long asked question of who is the heir apparent to Jack.  Unfortunately Friday is at least another year away from the big team, but his season gives reason to believe we may only have to endure one agonizing season of Bixler/Vasquez/Cruz/fill in the blank, should Jack not be back.

ETA – 2011     Stock – Rising

C. D’Arnaud  A

.301/.393/.446     .839 OPS     3 HR     27 RBI     10/13 SB

Chase has been another nice surprise.  One of the SS drafted by Team Huntington last year D’Arnaud seems poised to hop Jordy Mercer on the depth chart.  He too is displaying solid power for a SS and has the ability to swipe some bases.  It is unfortunate that with Freddy and Jack on their way out, that all of the middle infield depth is in AA or lower (other than Ford).

ETA – 2012     Stock – Rising

R. Owens     A

2.48 ERA     61.2 IP     56 K     11 BB     50 H     .216 avg.

I admit that I do not know a lot about Owens.  I do know that Neil Huntington spoke very highly of him recently and feels he has the potential to be a major league starting pitcher.  His numbers this year clearly suggest that may be the case.  He is striking out nearly a batter an inning and has issued only 11 BB and allowed just 50 hits in over 60 innings.  He is one of a couple interesting pitching prospects at the lower levels of the system right now.  Of course that is all about to change assuming Neil signs a majority of his picks from this year’s draft.

ETA – 2013     Stock – Rising

R. Uviedo     High A

3.19 ERA     62 IP     54K     11 BB     64 H     .268 avg.

The other interesting pitching prospect I was referring too above.  I don’t know a lot about Uviedo either but his numbers suggest that he deserves to be on this list.  He has a very nice K:BB ratio and a solid 1.21 WHIP.  Given the lack of interesting pitchers at Altoona outside of Lincoln and Moskos, let's hope Uviedo keeps it going so he can make it to AA soon.

ETA – 2012     Stock – Rising

D. Moskos     AA

3.94 ERA     64 IP     70 H     26 K     25 BB    2.33 GO/AO     .289 avg.

Has any player had a more difficult time feeling at home in his own organization?  After another awful start to the season, Moskos has regrouped and put up a very respectable line.  He is throwing a ton of groundball outs, over 2 to 1 groundball to flyball ratio, which may fit in well with what looks like is going to be a defense first organization.  To top it off, he is doing this as a starting pitcher.  If he can stick as a starter in the show the Matt Weiter’s fiasco won’t be as a bad as it was originally perceived.  Although it still is pretty bad.

ETA – 2011 (best case second half of 2010)     Stock – Rising

I put this list together not to just provide an update of our top prospects (someone else did that here recently and did a much better job than I have) but rather to point out that most of our really interesting prospects are a long way off.  Some of our potential impact players, save Lincoln, will not even see the majors until 2011 (Alvarez, Tabata, Hernandez, etc.) at the earliest, IMO.  This means that our so called “core” is not in place yet.  We are no where near ready to build around our versions of VanSlyke, Bonilla and Bonds.  This is why the McClouth trade was a good trade.  This is why we are going to see some more difficult decisions made in the coming months.  Maholm and Doumit, like McClouth, are nice players on good teams.  They are not in any way “core” players.  In fact, many of our regulars will have contract’s ending right around the time some of our impact prospects will hit.  Thankfully, Andrew McCutchen will have a year and half under his belt by then. 

To wrap this up, the way I see it, McCutchen, Lincoln and Alvarez are the closest things we have to core players.  We need more.  The only way to get quality is to give up quality which means we should not be surprised to see players like Zach Duke, Paul Maholm and Ryan Doumit being dealt because that is exactly what we need to do.  Maybe not all at once but it needs to be done.  Morton was acquired for a reason.  We have stockpiled a little pitching depth.  We have Gorzellany and Lincoln knocking on the door.  Everyone will say Snell should go but what we need is a high impact prospect and Snell will not deliver that.  He needs to regain some value 1st anyway.  We are not playing for 2009, 2010 or even 2011.  2011 will be the year things start to get interesting.  This is a harsh realization, I know.  I want to see that happen more than anyone but we need more talent for that to happen.  If we want to talk playoffs by 2012 or 2013 then we need to acquire impact players who will fit into the same “window” as McCutchen, Lincoln, and Alvarez (hopefully Morton too) so we can form that “core”. 

So, to DK, Neil Huntington is not moving the finish line as you suggest, he is simply trying to acquire better players so we can reach it faster.  Oh yeah, and the finish line is not .500.

Update 7/13/09:  Corrected Uviedo's stat line.  Thanks for the head's up azibuck.