I know the Pirates have spent the most out of any team over the past two years in the draft, but I'm curious to see what would happen if they were to draft Bryce Harper. Harper will without a doubt, drag on negotiations deep into the summer, and most likely (and hopefully not) pull and Alvarez signing at the last second (or even a couple minutes late). So where will this leave the Pirates? Will they continue to draft high-upside high school players in the later rounds and then attempt to sign the overslot? If they are spending the summer trying to configure a budget around the behemoth contract Harper and Boras will demand, how many other prospects will we lose because we just don't know how the funds will be allocated. I know that this may never be a problem because the Nationals may take him, but it's an interesting thing to think about...

Cunningham is tearing it up right now in Low A West Virginia right now, with a line of: .353/.489/.836. What's the timeline look like for him to be promoted? It looks like he might actually be blocked right now, with Brock Holt and Jeremy Farrell destroying the ball in A+, and Mercer and D'Arnaud above them in AA. Which one of these infield prospects actually looks like they'll pan out? Right now it seems as though we actually have some pretty good infield depth that could translate in couple years. Thoughts, corrections, opinions?

I'm bringing up an issue that has been bothering me recently with some of the comments on this site. I don't understand the animosity towards the Pens and hockey in general on this site. This site is to celebrate Pittsburgh sports, yes, the baseball team, but that doesn't mean the hockey team here is any less of a Pittsburgh sports team. It's about the city, the comradery, the brotherhood that comes along with rooting for your hometown teams. Yes I understand that there may be frustrations because the Penguins are so popular thanks to their recent success, but that doesn't mean we can't support any and every Pittsburgh sports team there is. Why do we need to root against the Pens, or against the other teams in Pittsburgh, we're all on the same side, there's no reason for the hostility. We should be supporting the Penguins on their playoff run, not treating them poorly.

I don't know very much about the structure of contracts in Major League Baseball, but after reading the discussion in the Joe Mauer post I noticed that a lot of people were generally concerned about Mauer having an albatross contract towards the end of the contract and how he'll weigh down the payroll. I know that in hockey it is common practice to pay the players the largest yearly sums of thier contracts in the earlier years of the contract so that the injury risk that is inherent in long contrats doesn't play as big a role and so that down the line it will be easier to manuever under the cap with up and coming young players, this can be evidenced by Henrik Zetterberg's contract with the Red Wings, also Johan Franzen's, Ovechkin's, and I beleive Sidney Crosby's contract is slightly front-loaded as well (not positive on that one). I was wondering if it was a common practice in baseball as well to front-load the contracts, and if it's something that the Pirates should try and consider in the future trying to sign McCutchen and Alvarez while still trying to produce top end talent on the team? Thoughts, comments, criticisms apreciated.

I'd like to get al of your opinions on what kind of player Brad Lincoln is acutally going to become. I have to admit that I got really excited when I saw the numbers he put up during his  stint at Altoona this year, but was pretty disappoined by his performance in Indianapolis. I know it was his first time seeing any action at that stage but do the signs point to him recovering this year and ultimately becoming a top of the rotation starter or will he simply become another one of our "Good as a third in the rotation" guys?

I know many people don't think the Pirates will contend this year, and if NH holds true to the pattern of the past few years, then the Pirates will be major players come the trade deadline. I was wondering who everyone thinks is most likely to get traded this season. I know Iwamura is in his last year, but we don't have many options behind him at 2B, or we could Duke or Maholm, but they are both young and fairly popular with the fans. I could definitely see us moving a releiver or two at the deadline but they won't return nearly as much as we've received in previous years. What do you think?

Long time reader, first time poster....anyways,

I have to say I'm very excited with the direction NH has our buccos moving in, but at the moment I have a couple concerns about the depth of position players in our farm system, and, correct me if I'm wrong, the lack of more than a couple real prospects...

Cather:  I like Tony Sanchez and I think he can become a very good major league catcher, not a Joe Mauer or a Jorge Posada, but a solid franchise catcher. Behind him though I don't really see anyone I would consider a legitimate prospect, and by prospect I mean anyone who has a real shot of becoming more than a ML backup.

1B: I suppose we have to clear up the Major League mess here, with confusion over whether or not Clement, Pearce, or anyone else will ever pan out to something, but behind those two players (I'm leaving out Garret Jones because I'd rather see him in the outfield) do we have any real 1B prospects? No one jumps out at me.

2B: Brian Friday? Shelby Ford? Ford fell off a cliff last year, and earned himself a demotion to AA Altoona, and after a step back like that I don't know how realistic it is to think of him as a prospect anymore. Friday started the year off on fire but he eventually cooled down to a .265/.361/.386 line, he then did even worse in the hitter friendly AFL with a .245/.309/.306...I don't see much help at the second base position so I hope we sign Iwamura or find a way to get LaRoche comfortable with the defense there. Brock Holt looks promising too but I think it's a little early to tell with him.

SS: Chase D'Arnaud seems to be the future of the Pirates, with some solid tools all around but nothing great yet. I can easily see him becoming the next Pirates short-stop for a while but I'm not expecting an All-Star here...and again there's a significant drop-off here and I'm not sure I see much releif.

3B: Pedro Alvarez. Boom. There it is, 3B and soon to be face of the franchise, I like him a lot and hope for great things...at the same time though, Neil Walker needs to be cut loose, trade him, do something he's never going to make it with this organization and below him I only see organizational fillers. Also, I don't want to put too many eggs in the Alvarez basket considering he has one year of pro experience under his belt...things happen, especially to our first round picks.

OF: Robbie Grossman gets people real excited, I like his pop and his speed, what I don't like though is his inability to control the strike zone. I can't imagine he will ever make it past AAA if he can't cut back significantly on his K's. Starling Marte also seems to be a good prospect but I think this year will really determine if he has what it takes to move up some levels or if we just haven't had enough of a sample size. I think Tabata will be a good player but I am worried about his lack of power. People always talk about projecting power and how people will grow and develop their's but I don't see any signs of life when it comes to this kid's power. We'll have to see.

Overall I would say that we have some good position players with the ball club but I think that we really need to focus on adding some quality prospects in this area. I think there are a lot of good young pitchers in our system but we need to start adding some prospects on the offensive side of the ball so we can start producing more runs to help our pitchers out. Let me know what you think/if I missed anyone major or important.