SB Nation User Blog: houksyndrome

Pedro Alvarez promoted!

houksyndrome — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:22:09 -0000

Pedro Alvarez has been promoted to Altoona, according to John Perotto. I don't see any coverage of it yet on the post gazette website, but I am assuming that Perotto has a reputable source. I must say I am VERY surprised about this promotion. Pedro has been striking out in 30% of his ABs all season. His power has improved steadily but a 30% K rate is a major red flag, just look at Jamie Romak's performance this season in AA. From what I have heard/read, Alvarez has had trouble with breaking stuff in the dirt (my own opinion is that it is probably in 2 strike situations when he is trying to protect the plate and be over-aggressive). He has also hit straight stuff a long way from what I have read. He has had a few monster, multi-HR games in the last week but his overall stats for June (or the last week for that matter) aren't that great. He tends to follow up his monster games with 0-4, 3K performances in which he also commits an error in the field. Hopefully he will be able to hack it at AA, but I can see this being a total disaster where he hits 0.180 the rest of the way a la Romak. I just don't think he is ready for AA pitching yet. I guess we are gonna find out.

Wishful thinking about Brooks Pounders

houksyndrome — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:48:31 -0000

When I first read Brooks Pounders profile, what I saw was a tall, somewhat overweight kid who has 4 decent pitches but doesn't really have the velocity that you would expect from someone with that frame. Something rang familiar about that description and then I realized that it sounds a bit like descriptions of Stephen Strasburg when he was coming out of high school. Here is one such description that I found on the internet:

So who is this guy and if he is so good why wasn’t he drafted out of high school? Currently Strasburg is listed at 6′4″ and 220 lbs. In high school, he was slightly shorter and about 50-60 lbs. heavier. His fastball barely touched 90 mph. San Diego pitching coach Rusty Filter saw something in him and insisted on having him in camp. In his freshman season, Filter but Strasburg on a conditioning regimen that included hot yoga and as a result, Strasburg shed 30 lbs. Not only that, his velocity began to creep up. By the time he was a sophomore, his fastball was consistently clocked at 97-99 mph with occasional touches of 100 and 101. Strasburg also possesses a plus-plus-plus slider at 81-84mph. He has a plus change that he uses infrequently and a plus curve in the 70s.

That description above is from mopupduty.com and they are describing Strasburg. A high school 6'4'' 270lb pitcher whose fastball is only 90mph sounds an awful lot like Brooks Pounders too doesn't it? Lets have Pounders do some "hot yoga", whatever that is. Maybe he'll be hitting 100mph in a couple of years.

Pirates draft 34 pitchers!

houksyndrome — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:38:00 -0000

Pirates draft 34 pitchers!

The draft is in the books. We drafted 34 pitchers! Just 17 position players. Will be very interesting to see which of these pitchers they can sign and where those guys go. Say we sign the best of our draftees, I wonder where our system now ranks in terms of pitching depth.

Different angle on McLouth deal

houksyndrome — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:46:07 -0000

There is much debate about (1) whether this deal was a salary dump and part of the 18 year pattern of trading our only good players etc. and (2) whether the guys we got back were good enough to justify trading Nate, what kind of players do they project into etc. One thing that hasn't been discussed so much is what is the future of our OF? Morgan has been a very pleasant surprise but despite his decent/good OBP and good defense, he has no power at all. Because of this, as well as Nate's lack of ideal speed for CF, I had always envisioned Nate sliding over to left field when Cutch came up, with Cutch in center. Given the dimensions of PNC park, this would be a great defensive alignment, since a tweener CF/corner hybrid is exactly what we need in left at PNC. Nate would have been a great defensive LF for us, and his bat would have been above average in LF too (though not as good as his bat plays in CF). This trade leaves our organization with no real power above A+ (w/ exception of the constantly injured Doumit and the oscillatory Adam LaRoche). Where are we gonna get the power from? We seem to be stockpiling AAA pitchers with these trades as though we want to be decent again in 2010 or 2011 - we also now have a very good defensive team and a lot of guys who can get on base (Andy LaRoche, McCutchen) but where will the power come from? Or is the plan to use our speed at the top of the lineup to "manufacture" runs? If so, that strategy sounds familiar doesn't it?

Matt Wieters facts - ala Chuck Norris

houksyndrome — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:51:42 -0000

Matt Wieters facts - ala Chuck Norris

Check this out, it's really funny.

Mechanics websites?

houksyndrome — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:40:16 -0000

Hey guys, I'm a slow pitch softball player who played little league baseball. Obviously, I've never had much coaching and it hurts my game. In particular, my throwing arm is poor for someone with my size (6'7, 220lbs). I am looking for suggestions for websites where I can learn more about throwing mechanics and also hitting mechanics (more interested in throwing though). Any advice on instructional websites would be much appreciated. Thanks very much!

Levi Jones

houksyndrome — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:32:59 -0000

Do we have the cap room to make a competitive offer for him? He is only 29 years old. I know he missed several games last year due to injury. How serious was the injury? Will it affect him long term? Assuming he is healthy, he could give our line a major boost. We could insert him at RT or LT (and move Starks back to the right side). Either of those moves would improve our OL immensely. I have no confidence in Willie Colon whatsoever.

Confused about Foote

houksyndrome — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:59:41 -0000

First off, Foote has been a good but not great player on our defense for several years now. He was a starter on 2 SB winners. I am sad to see him go, if he is going. That being said, I don't have a problem with Foote leaving. Timmons has immense potential and I think he can make our D even better than it was before.

I do have a problem with us cutting him like this after the draft. I would have preferred to trade him for draft picks. This seems like a stupid waste. Foote, while not a star, could improve most of the defenses in this league. One would think that we could have traded him for some type of draft pick, instead of just cutting him like this. And if not a draft pick, then trade him for an OL who can come in here and compete for a job. Seems a waste of resources to just cut Foote like this. Anybody got some insight here?

Our drafts since 2002 - successes and failures

houksyndrome — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 06:26:54 -0000

Hey guys, I did a little research on NFL.com and found out some interesting stuff about our drafts during the last several years. My analysis at the end may come off as being critical of Colbert, but I think Colbert is great. We have won two Superbowls since he has been here and we are good year in and year out. That being said, it is really interesting to look at who we have drafted lately and the success that they had.

For convenience I will break this up into guys drafted in rounds 1-2 and guys drafted in rounds 3-7. I have omitted guys drafted in 2008 because I think it is too early to judge their performance.

Here are our 1st and 2nd rounders between 2002 and 2007:

2007

Rd Sel # Player Position School

1 15 Lawrence Timmons LB Florida State

2 46 LaMarr Woodley LB Michigan

2006

Rd Sel # Player Position School

1 25 Santonio Holmes WR Ohio State

2005

Rd Sel # Player Position School

1 30 Heath Miller TE Virginia

2 62 Bryant McFadden DB Florida State

2004

Rd Sel # Player Position School

1 11 Ben Roethlisberger QB Miami (Ohio)

2 38 Ricardo Colclough CB Tusculum

2003

Rd Sel # Player Position School

1 16 Troy Polamalu DB USC

2 59 Alonzo Jackson LB Florida State

2002

Rd Sel # Player Position School

1 30 Kendall Simmons G Auburn

2 62 Antwaan Randle El WR Indiana

The first thing that one notices about the listed players above is that they are really good. There are only two “busts” in this group: Alonzo Jackson and Ricardo Colclough. Everyone else was a major contributor or starter on one or both of our Superbowl teams. Based on the list above I believe Colbert has excellent judgment in drafting 1st and 2nd rounders.

Here are our 3rd round and after between 2002 and 2007:

2007 - 6

Rd Sel # Player Position School

3 77 Matt Spaeth TE Minnesota

4 112 Daniel Sepulveda P Baylor

4 132 Ryan McBean DE Oklahoma State

5 156 Cameron Stephenson G Rutgers

5 170 William Gay CB Louisville

7 227 Dallas Baker WR Florida

2006 - 8

Rd Sel # Player Position School

3 83 Anthony Smith DB Syracuse

3 95 Willie Reid WR Florida State

4 131 Willie Colon T Hofstra

4 133 Orien Harris DT Miami (Fla.)

5 164 Omar Jacobs QB Bowling Green State

5 167 Charles Davis TE Purdue

6 201 Marvin Philip C California

7 240 Cedric Humes RB Virginia Tech

2005 - 6

Rd Sel # Player Position School

3 93 Trai Essex T Northwestern

4 131 Fred Gibson WR Georgia

5 166 Rian Wallace LB Temple

6 204 Chris Kemoeatu G Utah

7 228 Shaun Nua DE Brigham Young

7 244 Noah Herron RB Northwestern

2004 - 6

Rd Sel # Player Position School

3 75 Max Starks T Florida

5 145 Nathaniel Adibi DE Virginia Tech

6 177 Bo Lacy T Arkansas

6 194 Matt Kranchick TE Penn State

6 197 Drew Caylor C Stanford

7 212 Eric Taylor DT Memphis

2003 - 3

Rd Sel # Player Position School

4 125 Ike Taylor CB Louisiana-Lafayette

5 163 Brian St. Pierre QB Boston College

7 242 J.T. Wall

2002 - 6

Rd Sel # Player Position School

3 94 Chris Hope DB Florida State

4 128 Larry Foote ILB Michigan

5 166 Verron Haynes RB Georgia

6 202 Lee Mays WR Texas-El Paso

7 212 LaVar Glover CB Cincinnati

7 242 Brett Keisel DE Brigham Young

Clearly, there are some contributors on here too, but I am amazed at the attrition rate. There are 35 guys on this list. Here are the ones who have received decent amounts of playing time for the Steelers:

Hope, Foote, Haynes, Keisel, Taylor, Starks, Kemo, Essex, Colon, Anthony Smith, Spaeth and Gay. 12 guys.

Of those 12 who have played I think the following guys have played well:

Hope, Foote, Haynes, Keisel, Taylor, Starks and Gay. 7 guys

The others have either struggled to find PT or been mediocre: Essex and Kemo

Or have flat-out stunk up the joint: Colon, Smith and Spaeth.

Basically in those 35 picks we got 7 good football players. From 2004-2007 we have got 2 good players out of 26 picks in the later rounds. I haven’t compiled similar totals for other teams, but I can’t imagine that 2/26 is very good over a 4 year period.

I will concede that both Anthony Smith and Willie Reid were talented football players, and I had no problem with either of those picks at the time. I despised the Spaeth, Sepulveda and Dennis Dixon picks.

Given our recent (2004-present) failures in drafting talent in the later rounds I am very surprised that we traded down rather than up in this years draft. Perhaps salary cap restraints deterred us from taking on the more expensive contracts that 1st and 2nd round picks usually command. Perhaps this year we feel that there is a ton of talent available in round 3. Still, given the excellent track record of our management in selecting quality players in rounds 1 and 2, I would have expected us to try to maximize the number of selections we have in those rounds, rather than minimize them. I think Hood was a good pickup. BPA and at a position of need, he also won’t just be given a starting job either; he will have to earn it over time. IMO, that is good for a player’s development.

To wrap things up, I hope we have done a better job scouting late-round talent this year than in the recent past. OK that’s enough rambling from me. What do you think?

Jarek Cunningham tore his ACL and will miss the entire season.

houksyndrome — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:01:51 -0000

Crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city crap city

Yesterday was rough. First Moss got hurt and then Cunningham's knee blew up. We are totally snakebit as an organization right now. Oh well, at least we aren't the Cubs and none of our fans have cost us a pennant.