Jayson Stark is reporting on some of the expected details in the new CBA that is expected to be announced on Tuesday.

1) Minimum salaries will increase from $480,000 to $500,000.

2) Super Twos will remain. In fact, the percentage of eligible players will increase from 17% to over 20%.

3) The last date to tender contracts will move up 10 days to December 2.

4) Teams will have to determine whether they make a qualifying offer for a free agent at a one-year guaranteed salary based on a formula. That number is likely to be upwards of $12 million, making it highly doubtful teams would use it on players who aren't superstars. If the player rejects the offer and signs with another team, the signing team loses its spot in the first round of the amateur draft and moves to the end. Teams will no longer lose a pick for signing a premium free agent.

5) There will also be changes in the amount of money clubs will spend on drafted players, getting rid of the current slotting system and giving each team a pool of money to spend on its draft picks. There will be penalties for exceeding the threshold, which would range from 75-100 percent for each dollar over the line.

Points 4 and 5 are the ones likely to most affect the Pirates. There would be no significant disadvantage to signing a Type A, other than falling back in the 1st round. The draft money pool would definitely affect the Pirates, but the question will be what the threshholds are. Keep in mind that these points aren't official, but were passed from a well placed source to Jim Bowden.

The major league trade season officially began within an hour of the end of the All Star Game. The Milwaukee Brewers have acquired Francisco Rodriguez (KRod) and cash from the New York Mets for 2 players to be named later

This provides the Brewers a proven closer as they make a push to win the NL Central this season. It is likely also a sign that the Brewers are going for broke this season, knowing that they are unlikely to re-sign Prince Fielder at the end of the season.

It will be interesting to see how other teams, including the Pirates, respond in reshaping their rosters for the second half of the season. I don't recall a significant move so close to the end of the All Star Game in the past. It may be a signal that teams will not wait until July 31st to make their moves.

Numerous tweets from several sources have indicated that Pedro Alvarez has been activated from the disabled list and optioned to Indianapolis.

This would indicate that Pirates management has determined that Pedro is not ready to contribute at the major league level. At least not at the present time.

Neal Huntington was quoted as saying, "Pedro remains a big part of our future, but we believe this move is the best way to get him back on track."

After the euphoria of last night's win, this may have been viewed as the correct time to send Pedro to Indy with a minimum of fan backlash.

It's about 2 innings too late but here is an overflow thread. Maybe the Pirates can come back in the 8th and 9th and turn this into about a 15 inning game. Now if only I can type 30 more words in between innings and hopefully lead the Pirates to a late or extra inning win. Filler filler filler Win Win Win Win win win win win win win win win win win win win

I don't know which, if either, point is more noteworthy in the annual Forbes Baseball Teams Valuation article. Is it the point that the Pirates are estimated to be the LEAST valuable franchise of the 30 franchises?? Or is it that the Pirates are estimated to have had a $25M operating profit in 2010?? I'm sure there will be a big to-do about how accurate the Forbes info is or is not, but last year, they seemed to have it pegged pretty well with numbers supported when Dejan came out with his articles.

Many Pirates fans are waiting for the time when the front office spends the extra money to put the Pirates over the top. Guess what, folks? It won't happen. The Pirates cannot afford it. You don't believe me? Maybe you should believe Neal Huntington. A Joe Lemire column on SI.com has a revealing quote or two.

"We have to develop our own core players," general manager Neal Huntington said.

 

"We can't spend the amount of money it takes to bring in a top-of-the-rotation starter or a middle-of-the-lineup bat. Or, really, a middle-of-the-rotation starter or just an everyday player. We have to develop those from within."

The other option is that the Pirates' front office is shooting itself in the foot by opening its mouth. We knew that the Pirates weren't going to compete for an Albert Pujols or a CC Sabathia, but to hear that the front office cannot even afford to go after a No. 3 starter or an "everyday player" tells me it's time to turn up the heat. The Pirates will NEVER draw three million fans in a season with a 38,000-capacity ballpark. They would have to sell out EVERY game. 

So it's either revamp the MLB economic system, or be resigned to the fact that it will take something just short of a miracle for the Pirates to contend consistently.

UPDATE by Charlie: This mostly just strikes me as a really inflammatory quote by Huntington, but not necessarily one that tells us anything new. As WTM suggests in the comments, if Huntington doesn't believe the Pirates can sign a mid-rotation starter or an "everyday player," that suggests they think very little of Kevin Correia (a middle- to back-of-the-rotation starter) and Lyle Overbay (an everyday player). And the Pirates apparently made a competitive offer to Jorge De La Rosa this offseason. So who knows what Huntington was thinking here. But look forward to hearing a lot about this quote in the next few days.

Dale Sveum can be dropped out of the running to be selected as Pirates manager. He informed a Milwaukee radio station that he has signed a 2 year contract to continue as the Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach.

Sveum remains in Milwaukee

Obviously...with all of the previous applicants dropping like flies...it's becoming fairly apparent that the next Pirates manager is likely to come from one of 4 teams...Yankees...Rangers...Giants and Phillies.

According to Rob Biertempfel, the Pirates interviewed former Toronto Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca for John Russell's vacant position. Tosca managed the Jays from 2002-2004 with a perfectly even 191-191 record and three third place finishes. He's been a coach with the Marlins for the last four seasons and was recently hired by Fredi Gonzalez to coach for the Braves.

UPDATE by Charlie: Tosca has never played professional baseball, but he's been coaching or managing professionally since 1978, so he has a ton of experience.

of losing 300 games in his 3 seasons with the Pirates. Dejan Kovacevic is reporting that internal sources have indicated that John Russell will not be retained as Pirates manager after the season. Neal Huntington is expected to be retained.

Pirates likely to oust Russell

A loss today would give Russell a 186-299 record in his 3 seasons with the Pirates... a .384 winning percentage.

Personally, I feel the Pirates need to go outside the organization for JR's replacement. Someone that has had success (although not necessarily at the major league level) for a significant period in a winning organization. Losing begets losing. We need a manager that knows how to win, and will not settle for anything less. And once that manager is hired...the front office needs to let that manager do his job, instead of the front office trying to run the team on the field as has obviously been the case for at least parts of this season.

The Pirate announced  seven more cuts from their spring roster this morning. Brad Lincoln and Donnie Veal were optioned to Indianapolis. Bryan Morris was optioned to Bradenton. Tony Sanchez was sent to minor league camp, and Dejan Kovacevic said he's slated for Bradenton. Virgil Vasquez, Jeff Sues and Justin Thomas were also sent to minor league camp.

Kovacevic's blog entry also had a statement from Neal Huntington that makes it seem reasonable that we will see Lincoln in Pittsburgh sometime this season.

The active roster now down to 53, and we know a few of those will likely go on the DL between now and opening day. These include Joel Hanrahan (15 day) and Jose Ascanio (60 day) from the 40 man roster, and among the non-roster invitees, guys like Neal Cotts, Craig Hansen, Wil Ledezma and Tyler Yates won't make the 40 man roster (due to injury recovery). So effectively it's more like 47 or so.

Here we go again with another spring training. Dejan reported in the PBC blog this morning that three minor league pitchers will miss the first couple months of the season. I guess the good news is that none of them are arm-related. Colton Cain is out after "minor" back surgery. Zac Fuesser is out with a broken finger. And Brett Lorin is out after hip surgery.

All are supposed to be back by June or July, but hips and backs are not good things to have go wrong with pitchers.

UPDATE by Charlie: Kyle Stark says all of these guys will be back at full strength this summer, but even if that's true, having three guys miss a couple months of development time isn't good. Still, injuries are par for the course with young pitchers, and one of the reasons why it's good to have a lot of them--and at least none of them have arm problems.

By the way, I'm sure most of you have heard of Cain (a million-dollar draft signing late last year) and Lorin (one of the acquisitions in the Jack Wilson / Ian Snell deal). But Fuesser is a prospect too--he was signed for well above slot after being drafted in 2009.

As some had indicated...Perry Hill wants to continue coaching...just not with the Pirates. Certainly with the statements we have now seen from Hill and management...mainly Huntington...it appears that any family concerns are not the main problem. 

I see two possibilities...

1) There is a problem between management (read Huntington and Coonelly) and underlings. Buckley (minor league pitching coordinator) left...under somewhat uncertain circumstances. Now it appears that Hill and the management team were not on the same page. Whether it be promises that were made before he signed...or something he knows he was going to be expected to do next year...there is obviously enough hard feelings for Perry not to return.

2) It's about the money. This one I find hard to swallow. Coaches aren't millionaires...at least most of them. I've seen Dave Duncan anywhere between $800 K and $1M. Rudy Jaramillo signed with the Cubs today for 3 years/$2.4M. So...if it was about money...can't imagine it would be more than a couple of hundred grand. Russell is at $800K as manager. If that small amount of money is a problem...the Pirates are in deep trouble.

My guess...possibility #1 is real close to the truth...and we may never find out exactly where the problem is...but there is one.

Colin Dunlap reports that Perry Hill is not going to be coaching with the Pirates in 2010. It sounds like he will not be coaching at all during the 2010 season. The Pirates have reportedly left the door open for him to return to the team at some point if he so chooses. In addition, Indianapolis pitching coach Ray Searage has been promoted to the Pirates. It sounds like he will be a pitching coach-in-waiting for when Joe Kerrigan departs.

UPDATE by Charlie: You'll recall that Hill was upset at the Pirates for trading so many players this season. Via Pat, John Perrotto tweets that by exercising Hill's option, the Pirates have effectively denied Hill the opportunity to catch on somewhere else in 2010. Which seems like hardball on the Bucs' part, but then Hill is the one who seems to be refusing to honor his contract by coming back to Pittsburgh to coach. I wonder if the Pirates might actually get a (marginal) prospect out of this--if some team could "trade" for Hill and take on the Pirates' option, similar to the 2002 "trade" that brought Lou Piniella to Tampa Bay in exchange for Randy Winn. It's also still possible that Hill might eventually capitulate and come back for another year. Or he could just stay at home. I have a feeling we haven't heard the end of this story yet.

Dejan Kovacevic reporting that Miguel Angel Sano is about to sign with the Minnesota Twins for $3.15 million.

Sano signing

He also mentioned that NH and Plummer...Sano's agent...supposedly had an agreement that the Pirates would get a chance to respond...but that didn't happen.

So...everyone that said the Pirates wouldn't spend the money on Sano...appears to be right...it was about the Benjamins...and the Pirates didn't come through.

Post Gazette...Dejan...reporting that the Pirates have approached BOTH Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez about multi-year contract extensions. Somewhere in the 3 to 4 year range. It appears that the Pirates are doing this to try to get a resolution before the trade deadline. I think that it has finally occurred to Pirates management that there is likely little or no help for the middle infield for at least the next two seasons. It sounds like the Pirates will try to sign both of them...and Jack reportedly is willing to consider a pay cut.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next 2 weeks. It certainly sounds...from the players side...that it may be both or neither staying.

Jackson and Pearce have been sent to Indianapolis. Donnie Veal has been activated from the DL...as his 30 day rehab has expired. The corresponding move for Pearce will be announced on Friday. Considering that Indianapolis has a night game tonight...and a day game tomorrow...before the Pirates play again on Friday...I think the Pirates will watch those 2 games before making a decision.

My guess...Ryan Doumit gets activated before Friday night's game in Philly.

The Pirates have sent Eric Krebs, a pitcher, from the Curve to the Dodgers to complete the Delwyn Young trade.

Trade completed

I've also seen third hand reports that Brad Corley has been sent to the Rockies for future considerations, but haven't seen official word on that yet. He hadn't shown any real progress at Altoona, hitting only .221 before being shuffled off the roster a few days ago. Sounds like a mutually agreeable separation.

Corley leaving

It appears that Chris Duffy has decided that his future no longer lies with the Pittsburgh Pirates. But...of course...we already knew that.

Duffy declares free agency

From the article, it is clear that Duffy flat out left his Mexican winter league team and that there was no illness involved. This makes at least the 3rd time that Duffy has left a team for very little reason in the last few years.

The article states that several others declared minor league free agency, including Franquelis Osoria, Melvin Dorta, Luis Ordaz, Luis Cruz, Matt Kata, Miguel Perez and Carlos Maldonado. Cruz is on the 40 man roster, so unless he  has been silently removed, that's not right.

Duffy either he will be out of baseball in a year, or some other team will get burned by his lack of commitment.

DK is reporting that Jack Wilson will miss much of the remainder of the season with a hairline fracture of the finger.

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/pbc/archive/2008/09/08/today-pirates-astros-9-8-08.aspx

I'm not sure why he would try to come back for a very few games, if healthy, especially since we end the season on the road. Looks like Cruz and Bixler will get a real chance to show their stuff.

 

 

Ryan Doumit has been activated; Ronny Paulino has been optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis.

"What I can I say?" said Paulino, who hit .310 as a rookie in 2006 but whose defense tailed off last season. "It's an opportunity for me to go there and play every day, work on what they want me to work on and try to come back here as soon as possible."

It's nice to see that Pirates management is backing up their statements on accountability.

Roster moves.   Looks like the 25 man roster is about set.

Continue reading this post »

With Freddy out tonight and Maholm shut down, I started thinking about our injuries this year.

I wonder exactly how many guys have been playing or pitching hurt recently?? In addition to the ones we know about. Let's take a quick (??) look at some of them.

1. Duffy - he'd been hurting since the beginning of LAST season.
   
2. Duke - wonder how long that elbow had been hurting before he shut it down in June?? Not convinced he's healthy yet.
   
3. Torres - elbow problems at least twice.
   
4. Maholm - did his back really ever get better??
   
5. Bay - his 'good' knee is the one that is keeping him out. Has it (or both knees) been hurting all season?? Probably. Maybe his shoulder too??
   
6. Nady - 3 words - post concussion syndrome.
   
7. Snell - how much is his arm really hurting?? and how long has it been bothering him.
   
8. Doumit - stayed healthy for what...3 innings?
   
9. Wilson - ordering him to come back from paternity leave early...with a pulled hamstring??
   
10. Chacon - how long has HIS elbow been hurting??
    
11. Sanchez - obviously wasn't ready in April. The eye problem has been a reoccurring issue since April...now his shoulder is hurting, wonder how his knees are??
    
12. Grabow - needs elbow surgery.

That's basically half of the 25 man roster...and not including Bautista's spiking, which couldn't have been screwed up by the medical staff and manager. And I may be missing a few. Looks like only position players that have been available all year are Nate, RoPaul and LaRoche (yeah, I know he missed a few games).

So...how many of these players were browbeat by the manager (and possibly GM) into playing when not entirely healthy and at risk of additional significant injury?
I am guessing a lot more than one or two of them.

Has this been the mindset of the Pirates organization? If so, no wonder we have so many high draft pitchers get hurt. They've probably been told that they aren't seriously hurt, and to pitch through it. More and more I wonder how long Kip Wells may have had his problem (a clot, if I remember correctly), before it was correctly diagnosed. We know of several misdiagnoses in the minors.

We've gotten rid of the GM. From the looks of things, to save our investments (players), the manager and at least some of the medical support, need to follow Littlefield out the door. I am fairly sure that our new GM will hear this from at least a few players.