SB Nation User Blog: patthatt

Former Bucco Alex Ramirez Wins MVP in Japan

patthatt — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:45:26 -0000

Baseball is a funny game, especially when you've had the opportunity to see it played in different countries. I don't know what kind of player Alex Ramirez would have been if he'd stayed in MLB for the duration of his career, but he sure has made a name for himself in Japan as a dominant offensive player the past eight seasons. If he can come up with perhaps two more big years, I would suspect he will have the numbers to be inducted into the Nippon Professional Baseball Hall Of Fame somewhere down the road.

He hit .319 with 45 HRs and 125 RBIs this season in leading the Yomiuri Giants to the Central League pennant, but the Giants lost the Japan Series in seven games to the Seibu Lions.

Other foreign players who were key contributors for the Giants included pitchers Seth Greisinger, Marc Kroon, and former Pirate farmhand Adrian Burnside, while the Lions used pitchers Alex Graman and Matt Kinney to go along with everyday players Craig Brazell and Hiram Bocachica.

Ramirez's stats for his first seven years with the Yakult Swallows are here.

C.J. Nitkowski`s Blog

patthatt — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:19:24 -0000

If any of you are interested in learning about Japanese baseball and how they use(misuse) their pitchers, check out C.J.`s most recent blog entry, "The Learning Curve." I talked about this in a post sometime last year, but now you can read about it in detail from someone who plays the game in Japan. I commend C.J. for having the guts to speak out on this issue.

Incidentally, it was this kind of abuse that led Hideo Nomo to find a way out of Japan: to the benefit of his career, the many MLB fans who were able to watch him over the years, and the many talented Japanese pitchers who have followed him.

By the way, C.J. and the five other foreign players on the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks roster this year have had more than their share of difficulties for various reasons, especially of late, and not just concerning things they can control, like their respective on-field performances. I bet he would appreciate it if some other BucsDugout members would take the time to drop him a line for a little encouragement.

http://cjbaseball.com/

You Can Never Have Enough Pitching

patthatt — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:02:10 -0000

I was going through the boxscores from yesterday and the name of the starting pitcher for the Mets jumped out at me: Brandon Knight.

I`ve seen Knight pitch several times because he played in Japan from 2003-2005 after flaming out in the Yankees` organization.

How many of you guys recall that he was the closer for Altoona in 2006? He pitched well as a 30 y/o at AA, which obviously doesn`t mean much. I guess he was just what Littlefield, Creech, and Graham were looking for, though.

My point is that you can start a season believing you have at least some reasonably good starting pitchers like the Pirates thought they had with Gorzo and Snell, but then all hell can break loose with ineffectiveness and injuries. Perhaps a guy or two give you something more than you expected like Maholm and Dumatrait early on, but if you have a pathetic farm system with zero starting pitchers capable of doing anything for the major league team, well, then you are in big trouble.

I`ve watched a couple of our old friends like Ryan Vogelsong and Dave Williams get wins in the past week in Japan. Does that mean they would be pitching well if they were in the majors right now? Probably not, but I bet they would perform better than JVB or Herrera. You can never have enough pitching.

We know we wanted more "upside" from the three pitchers we got from the Yankees, but at least it looks like we have a few more major-league caliber arms in the organization now.

But we need more-many more. What should we do next? Another big trade?

Don`t Sign Pedro Alvarez

patthatt — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:42:07 -0000

Let`s play the "What If?" game. We know the Pirates need a lot of talented players injected into their minor league system in order to start rebuilding for what we hope will be a much brighter future starting a couple of years from now. It will take a number of excellent drafts and procuring/developing talent from overseas to do so.

What if we don`t sign Pedro Alvarez? We would get a comparable pick in the 1st round next year-#3 overall? We would also have our own #1 pick which may very well fall into the #10 overall again. Additionally, we could get the extra comp picks for Marte.

If Scheppers is deemed healthy and we sign him, and if we would use the millions we save on not signing Alvarez to get draftees like Grossman, Gagnon, Freeman, Miller, and a couple of others under contract, would this really be such a bad thing?

It goes without saying that Pedro Alvarez is a talented baseball player. I`d like to see him in a Pirates uniform. But I can`t help but wonder if we could go both the quality and quantity routes by not signing him and focusing our efforts elsewhere on this draft and the 2009 one.

I just can`t help but think that there will be little help coming through the trade route this year and next, and I simply believe we`ve got to go to the greatest lengths possible to get as many talented prospects into the organization as we can.

I know this is a very unlikely scenario, but what do you guys think?

Paul Meyer Quotes Jeff Andrews

patthatt — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:42:40 -0000

What is the point of this quote that Paul Meyer includes in his most recent Pirates Notebook?

• Pitching coach Jeff Andrews thinks one reason relievers Matt Capps and Sean Burnett are so even-keeled is because they were both hitters in high school. "They were good hitters and good players," Andrews said. "They're just baseball players. You know, 'Give me the ball, and I'll go try and get the hitter out.' And whether the results are good or bad, they just go on to the next one."

I think just about any guy who plays in the big leagues was the star of his team in HS, including being the best hitter on his team, and probably playing a lot of CF/SS and doing some pitching, if not pitching every allowable game for his team. I fail to see how Capps and Burnett being good HS baseball players has anything to do with them being able to shrug off adversity and showing perseverance on the mound.

If Burnett keeps having bad results, he will be going after "the next one" at Indy in the near future.

I just wish that Dejan Kovacevic would do all of the writing about the Pirates, instead of Paul Meyer. Meyer wastes too much of my time

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08145/884622-63.stm

2008 June Draft

patthatt — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:04:01 -0000

The draft is coming up in a couple of weeks. I`d like to get the thoughts of you guys on who the Pirates should take with their #1pick (#2 overall). I don`t stay up with this stuff as much as I used to. I see the same four names being floated as potential picks by the Bucs: Tim Beckham, Brian Matusz, Buster Posey, and Pedro Alvarez. (Who do you like and why-to get this past 75 words.)

Poll

Who should the Pirates select with the #2 overall pick in the 2008 draft?

Buster Posey

13 votes

Brian Matusz

5 votes

Tim Beckham

36 votes

Pedro Alvarez

53 votes

107 votes | Poll has closed

James Boone

patthatt — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:11:43 -0000

I was just wondering what you guys think about James Boone, the CF at AA Altoona. He`s off to a great start, hitting .339 with 6 HRs when I last checked. I don`t see a profile for him in the left column under the prospects section, so I know very little about his game. He did just turn 25, so he needs to be advanced quickly this year it would seem to me, just as was the case with Steve Pearce last season.

Is James Boone someone who might also figure into our OF plans for late this season with Pearce and Andrew McCutcheon?

C.J. Nitkowski`s Second Year In Japan

patthatt — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:34:51 -0000

C.J.`s site is back up and his team, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, have already started their regular season. As a matter of fact, C.J. got the win in relief tonight. He seems a lot more comfortable starting his second season, and I bet it will translate into a greatly improved performance on the field.

As mentioned last year, his site is a good place to stop by if you want to get a bit of a feel for what foreign players go through in Japan. It`s not just about an individual`s skills, it`s also about adapting to the Japanese way of preparing for and playing the game, as well as adjusting to an entirely new country, and way of life.

Also, former Pirate Michael Restovich is on the Hawks roster this year. He just might be the kind of AAAA player who succeeds in Japan.

Yasuhiko Yabuta-A New Reliever For 2008?

patthatt — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:57:34 -0000

According to reports in Japan today, Yasuhiko Yabuta-a FA reliever with Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines-has been contacted by the Pirates. The Kansas City Royals are supposedly the front runners for his services, but the Pirates are now in the mix it seems.

Yabuta is 34 and throws pretty ordinary stuff, including the forkball that is ever present here in Japan, but has had a good bit of success with Bobby V at the helm the past few years.

I hadn't paid much attention to Yabuta prior to this, but I could see someone like him making sense for depth in the bullpen in 2008, especially with BucsDugout favorite B.P. Chacon gone and who knows about Salomon Torres. One way or the other, a guy like Yabuta would certainly provide more insurance than the AAA express bozos we went through in 2007.

I can't see any other Japanese RPs the Pirates would be interested in without ponying up big money. We don`t need a repeat of the Masumi Kuwata situation.

Expect to see something decided in the next few days.

You can see his stats at japanesebaseball.com and learn a lot more too if you are curious about baseball over here.

Trey Hillman for manager in 2008?

patthatt — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:36:36 -0000

Trey Hillman, who has been the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan`s Pacific League since 2003, announced today that he will not return to the team next season. His team won the Japan Series last year, and is poised to make another run at it again in Hillman`s sayonara season. He is 44, was a minor league manager in the `90s and was the Rangers director of player development in 2002. He was reportedly in the running for the Rangers and Athletics managerial positions before the current season. I have a high opinion of his managerial skills and he has done a tremendous job of taking a team of perennial losers-sounds familiar, huh?-and making them into winners. Just a name to throw out there if-when?-Jim Tracy gets the ax.