SB Nation User Blog: vanslyke

Things heating up on MLB Trade Rumors?

vanslyke — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:41:26 -0000

Things heating up on MLB Trade Rumors?

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Karstens gets beaned

vanslyke — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:58:20 -0000

So I watched the end of the game last night so I coud actually witness the end of the 17 game losing streak. Karstens leads off the bottom of the eighth and gets plunked. Of course Karstens gets pissed because we are up 7-2 at the time and it was completely unecessary. Jason Kendall gets in his face and the benches clear. Joe Kerrigan actually had to be restrained (must be the Irish blood) while going after Kendall. BTW - I didnt see JR and the word was he was being checked for a pulse in the dugout during the incident.....

Of course Wehner (who is only a tad better than Bill Fralic in the boring/annoying voices category) chimes in that this is ridiculous and Karstens should just take it like a man and go to first. Wehner was giving Jason Kendall happy endings all over the place by saying that he was right by just getting in front of Karstens, telling him to go to first and for basically being the only guy in the game today to play old school baseball.....(wipe the s**t off your nose John)

As we all know, this was a retaliation for the whole Ryan Braun incident. According to Weiner (I know I spelled it incorrectly), baseball polices itself in the beanball category by hitting the first opposing player after the previous tems hitter was beaned. Well....the Brewers missed that part. No Brewers pitcher beaned a Pirate batter after Braun was hit. So two months later, with Karstens at bat in the middle of a blow out, the Brewers decided to exact payback?

Look, if you "police yourself" in the whole beanball area, have the balls to do it when it happens no matter the ramifications. Beanball etiquette is to do it during the game or even with the first batter in the next game of the series. Don't be a douche and pick your spot just because you "owe the team one" and you were getting blown out already. That was just ridiculous and an absolutely classless move that makes me hate the Brewers even more!

I just wish Karstens stayed in the game and beaned Kendall who was leading off the top of the 9th. I would have paid to see Weiner come down from the broadcast booth and publically tounge lash Karstens. Karstens would have probably fell asleep during the rant though......

Leave Brandon Moss Alone!!!

vanslyke — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:54:16 -0000

Give me one good reason why Brandon Moss should not be out there everyday in the OF. DY is going to be a career pinch hitter. Jones is a career minor leaguer who is a younger version of Eric Hinske. Sidebar - remember how Cutch tore it up when he came up and then fell back to earth? Jones will be the same way. Once some advance scouting takes place on this guy he wont look as good at the plate. Pearce is all but forgotten every time he has been called up. I think it looks rather obvious that barring trade, he is really not part of the plan.

Which all brings me back to Moss. We are on course to win 75/76 games. Why do we care where the power will come from? Why exactly do we need power anyway? To win games? Last time I checked we were in last place in our division and only have to jump 10 teams or so for the wild card. So who cares if Moss hits 4 home runs this year. Let him play and prove what he is worth.

Moss has the most upside of the OF platoon we have in place now. Our outfield should look like Milledge/Cutch/Moss for the rest of the year. I dont care if Milledge or Moss OPS hovers at .500 - they should freaking play everyday. We have to see what we have in these guys.

Jones = Hinske
DY = reincarnation of Lee Mazzilli
Pearce = no future in Pittsburgh barring trade.

As far as everyone wanting to get rid of Adam LaRoche......the guy is a solid MLB player. While we may all get maddened by his propensity to hit into double plays at the wrong times, he has an above average glove and 4 spot bat. We will miss him and miss his production at 1B. It is a shame we cant lock him in further because he really plays a solid 1B.

This scares me

vanslyke — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:09:01 -0000

Let's take a step back from our fan status and lets take a look at the players we are touting trade by the deadline:

Jack Wilson - Who replaces him? We are spoiled with his glove, and when he is out of the lineup we all gasp anytime a ball is hit to short. There are only a few good SS prospects out there with other teams and even fewer in our system. Jack brings an above average glove yet average bat at best. He is not going to fetch us any big time prospect(s). He has a 9 year career with the PBC and has been the defacto face during all of the trades. Why not throw the fans a bone and lock him down. He has expressed interest in retiring a Bucco and we aren't going to do any better in our system. His price tag while a bit high isnt going to break the bank. I am all for a "Jason Kendall" type deal here. The prospect of watching a second half without Jack at short scares me.

Freddy Sanchez - Again, who replaces him? DY is lost at 2B. If we would "baseballitize" a hockey version of plus/minus, DY could have an Adam LaRoche June OPS for the rest of the year and still be an overall minus -5. He is that bad in the field. Shelby Ford is not ready and no one is pushing Andy LaRoche off 3B yet. Let's just say for all of you Neil Walker fans that we call him up after his finger injury and swith Luigi to 2B, do you really think a mid-year position change is a good idea even if we have no hope of contending? We have just gotten Luigi's bat squared away and Neil Walker hasnt proven anything. Anyway, what would Freddy fetch? He is an average fielder who hits for average. I think an "average" return would be all that we could hope for. No Freddy at 2B scares me.

Adam LaRoche - This trade sucks in the short term. In the long term, we have at least one prospect we have to find out about (Steve Pearce) and veteren help (Hinske) if he absolutely shits the bed. Past Pearce, we are thin and that scares me. We continue to hear talk about Alvarez switching positions, but there has been no talk of that from the FO. With the way Alvarez is moving, he may not have time to develop a new position. We better cross our fingers that Pearce produces, otherwise it is going to be a long 2nd half and even longer off season.

Zack Duke/Paul Maholm - With the lack of depth of the starting pitching in the market, I wouldnt be suprised to the see one of our regular starters (with the exception of Ian Snell) moved. These guys are the real bargaining chips. While I would hate to see what would happen to our already sub .500 record if you lose one of these starters, I would love the return they could fetch. Teams would overpay to have a Duke/Maholm in their rotation. They are young guys with proven track records. Philadelphia, NY, NYY, LA, Detroit, MInn could really use one if not both of those guys. If we package one of them with a Mario, you may be able to pick off a high end almost ready for major league prospect. This DOES NOT scare me.

Ryan Doumit - moot. No one is going to trade for an injury prone catcher.

The bottom line is that most of our talent is AA and below. We have some nice bargaining chips in starting pitching and a solid 1B as well as good package guys like Sanchez/Wilson. I am hoping that the return will be for more immediate prospects who can fill holes at SS, 2B, SP? for a few years who can give us options should our low minor prospects faulter. I think the time for trading "to build the minor leagues" is over and we should start addressing holes in 2010 and 2011.

Moss Question?

vanslyke — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:46:45 -0000

As a front office, do you decide to less Moss ride out the season in RF or do you put him in a platoon role? When he was traded, the scoop on Moss was that he projected to be a 3rd (upside) or 4th outfielder. With half of June to go, he has close to one full year of baseball under his belt with the PBC. I have yet to see the 3rd outfielder upside. Moss projects to me to be the opposite of Delwyn Young (good defense/weak bat) which is a nice piece, but not an every day starter.

While I would not call us contending, we are only 6.5 out of first and 5 out of the wildcard. We do not have the bullpen or power bat to make a legitimate run, but our offense production from RF is a glaring weakness. I do not advocate a change for change sake, but I do think putting Hinske/Young/Monroe in RF will influence the standings enough while not completely forsaking defense. Should we run Moss out there a full year to see if he does reach upside (3rd Outfielder) since we wont truly contend or would it serve him to go back to the bench or AAA to rediscover his bat?

Of course we do not gain anything of future benefit as a club by playing Hinske or Monroe (and Young is suspect at best on defense), but would it hurt to get an increase in offensive production today from "power position" from a veteran? Hinske and Young have both proven themselves as hitters with power and we could sorely use some home run power. We already have a weak hitting LF, but at least he has been a catalyst with an above average arm. Moss has proven that he cannot hit with RISP and has shown nothing but doubles power in almost one full year of major league service. Maybe I am spoiled by Andy LaRoche who was a higher caliber pick-up, but Moss has done nothing but dissapoint.

I think it is fair to say the McLouth and Moss both projected to be the same type of player with McLouth being more of a 4th outfielder as upside. McLouth showed doubles power with an average glove at AAA. Upon call up, he hustled and with good work ethic became the player he was with the PBC. I can't speak to Moss's work ethic, but he really hasnt had to earn his position. While he has been solid at defense, he just looks lost at the plate. He hits nothing with authority. He had a nice little streak in May, but his peaks and valleys are just too far apart in my opinion. While our talent at AAA and AA are about 1 to 2 years away, do we just suck it up or utilize the tools we may have for RF? Maybe we just need to light a fire under him or something or at least make him earn back his starting job?

Get OVER the McLouth Trade!!!

vanslyke — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:35:05 -0000

I am so sick and tired of reading the emotional whiners on this topic!!! There is obviously intelligent discussion to be had on the return as well as core players to build around, but almost a week later and there are people who are ready to run NH out of town. This is ridiculous and here are 3 reasons why:

1. We called up our most hyped, homegrown, major league ready prospect since Aramis Ramirez to replace McLouth. Of course he does not have the pedigree of 1.5 major league seasons as a starter, but since his call up, are any of you worried about his potential/upside?

2. With the commitment to the prospects now in the system and their respective age, is it wise to build a future winning product on the field with a guy who was deemed organizational and who over achieved at 27 years old? When the talent in the minors blossom (project 2011/2012), McLouth would be 30. How many teams build around 30 year olds? Where is the precedent? There is no precedent. McLouth is not Clemente. McLouth is an average MLB centerfielder at best at 27. What is he going to be at 30?

3. It will take more than 1.5 years to buld the minors back up after the Bonifay/Littlefield debacle. Let's examine NH's moves on merit. The Nady/Marte trade has yielded us two starting pitchers and top 80 minor league candidate with upside. Do you all think our rotation would be better off without Ollie and Karstens given the Nady injury/Marte ineffectiveness? What about the Bay trade. Bay has done nothing but produce, but at the same time, Andy LaRoche gives us a player under our control for the next several years and stabalizes a position for us that has not been solid since Jeff King. Morris is oft injured and the jury is out. Moss has been a disappointment, but is relatively young and under our control. The net/net is we gave up a producer we were about to lose control of, and in return received high upside guys, one of which looks like the makings of a stud. Also take a look at all the some of the transactional moves:

Steve Jackson has the markings of a ground ball bullpen specialist and we lost nothing
Robinson Diaz has provided nice depth at catcher and all we lost was a utilityman
Jaramillo has produced nicely in Doumits absence and all we lost was an underachiever
Delwyn Young leads the league in pinch hitting effectiveness and all we lost was an organizational player

These are just a few of NH's good moves. I would be hard pressed to find any deals that NH has struck that are bad deals and in 1.5 years you start to see trends. We are in good hands with NH/Coonley. They are doing things the right way and making smart baseball moves. We need to get on the bandwagon - not jump off. We are doing better on the field than we have in a long time and we arent even doing it with our projected weapons. It is an exciting time to be a Bucco's fan - raise the freakin' Jolly Roger!

Let's move Doumit

vanslyke — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:14:42 -0000

The McClouth trade was a baseball trade. When you get up to the deadline, I feel you may get less value due to time constraints. Let's say the FO wasnt actively shopping McClouth and the Braves actually kept pushing them to make the trade. In that scenario, we get what we want with no deadline pressure and we can drive the deal.

I think we may need to start shopping Doumit before the deadline. We have two catchers who have filled in admirabley and are definitely better defensively. In addition, they have both handled the pitching staff effectively. While Doumit is a "Pittsburgh kind of guy", I think he could net us a similar (maybe a touch lower) return. We really dont sacrafice much power and we gain defensively. We would also give up a player who has not made it through any season without missing a chunk of playing time. I would be all for packaging him up with a Grabow to net us a decent return for a middle infield prospect and/or power bat or both.

Players on the move

vanslyke — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:47:09 -0000

Since our World Series is the trading deadline, which players do yinz see on the move? I'll start:

Adam LaRoche - replace with Steve Pearce (Note: We keep running Moss out there, why not let Pearce. He can keep the spot warm for Alvarez and at a seriously reduced cost).

Jack Wilson - replace with Brian Bixler (Note: BB is not the long term answer, but we could look for a top 5-10 propect in return for Jack).

Freddy Sanchez - replace with Delwyn Young (Note: This could be disastrous for the second half, but if his bat is halfway decent we could live with it).

Overall realistic return I would like to see from a trading partner - top 5 pitching propect, proven number 4 starter, top 5-10 SS prospect, proven major league IF, raw/toolsy upside player and of course the organizational throw ins. Am I being too optimistic or is this about right?

BTW - if they made me an offer to manager I am there yesterday!

Steve Blass

vanslyke — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:11:51 -0000

I wanted to dedicate a thread to Steve Blass. He is a class guy who I am proud to have as a face of Pittsburgh Pirate Alumni. He is being honored today for his 50 years of service to the organization. We are lucky to have such an ambassador for our organization. Kudos to Bob Nutting for setting this up for Steve.

On a side note, I miss Lanny as a part of the Opening Day festivities, but am glad to see Greg Brown take the reigns.

Bye Bye Freddy and Jack

vanslyke — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:32:48 -0000

It is great to see Freddy and Jack both healthy and hitting. The sad part is that if their early production continues, they will more than likely be shipped off mid-season.

Here is a question:
"What kind of prospect would Freddy and/or Jack yield?"

Our young 2nd base prospect in Altoona is at least 2 years away and from all reports is questionable at best on defense. I also dont think that Bixler is projected as anything more than a role player at the major league level. Would Jack and/or Freddy fetch us a major league ready position player at 2nd base or SS? I would hate to think we would move them under the "we have to add depth to our minor league system" header. They have contributed so much to the PBC and their enthusiasm and hustle are valuable to have as a model for the young guys we are looking to bring along.

Would management keep them around? It seems to me that their window expires just before we project to compete in '10 or '11 and their value is more towards getting players/prospects than being contributers toward winning baseball on the major league squad. What would return more value - leadership or a trade? Its not like they are blocking anyone.....

Sorry for the ramble, but I was wondering what the sentiment is out there.....