Bucs Dugout

Rule 5 possibilities

2009-11-20T20:08:19Z

Now that teams are starting to finalize their rosters prior to today's deadline, I thought it might be fun to create a thread and look at some of the players who will be available to us in this year's Rule 5 draft. We'll be picking second in the draft order, and as such, should have a good opportunity to come away with a useful talent (or two?).

Here are some of the options I like - please add your own in the comments. I'll try to add more to my list periodically, time permitting, though I'm going to be out of town for most of this weekend.

Yohan Pino , RHSP, 6'3'', 158 lbs, born 12/26/83, Cleveland's system. A Venezuelan originally signed by the Twins , Pino was traded to the Indians in the Carl Pavano deal last year. His fastball only reaches the high 80s, and he lacks the physical projection to add any more velocity, but he's got a good curve and slider and strong command of all his pitches. He misses bats (8.1 career K/9), doesn't give many free passes (2.2 career BB/9), and keeps the ball in the park (0.7 HR/9) despite being a flyball pitcher. He's been primarily used as a starter, but also has some experience in relief, and could handle either role. His health record is largely clean - there was some trouble with one of his feet in 2008, but it doesn't seem to have had any lasting effects.

Finesse pitchers sometimes experience diminishing returns with promotion, but I think Pino is a fairly good bet to succeed in the majors, insofar as his component rates have remained strong against more advanced competition (8.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9 in 127 IP this year, mostly at AAA). He does not have a star-level ceiling, which might turn off a front office that reached for the sky with Veal last year, but I think he could do well at the back end of a rotation or in a bullpen for a number of years, and he would be useful right away.

Aneury Rodriguez , RHSP, 6'3", 180 lbs, born 12/13/1987, Tampa Bay's system. Like Pino, Rodriguez was dealt by his original team in 2009, moving from the Rockies to the Rays in exchange for Jason Hammel early in the year. He has better raw stuff than Pino, however, with a fastball that's already in the low 90s and some projection remaining on his frame. He also has a good curveball, and a fairly advanced feel for a changeup for a pitcher of his age (which is not necessarily the same thing as having a functional change for MLB, of course). He maintains a good strikeout rate (career 8.0 K/9) and is solid on walks (career 3.1 BB/9) and home runs (career 0.9 HR/9) despite flyball tendencies. He has been used exclusively as a starter in his pro career, though some scouts see him as a potential bullpen option, and his health record is clean.

Rodriguez has more upper-minors experience than some "live arm" picks, having spent all of 2009 in the rotation of AA Montgomery, but at this point he is probably not ready to compete in the majors, and would likely need to be hidden in a Vogelsong-type role of multi-inning low-leverage situations. He has some weaknesses typical of young pitchers, including a tendency to overthrow, and he could be frustrating to watch next season. Still, he has the potential to be a relatively high-value option down the road, occupying a spot in our rotation in late 2011 or 2012.

Cole Rohrbough , LHSP, 6'3'', 205 lbs., born 5/23/87, Atlanta's system. One of the last high-priced draft-and-follow players before the system was abolished, Rohrbough signed for $675,000 as a 22nd-round pick out of Western Nevada College in 2006 - second-round money at the time. He has a low-to-mid-90s fastball, a big curveball that can be a killer when it's on, and a changeup that's a work in progress. He was regarded as one of Atlanta's top prospects coming into 2009, but had inconsistent mechanics, which led to inconsistent command of his pitches. He also experienced some shoulder soreness last year, though no injury was found, and it was attributed to tendinitis. His rate stats were sound, though not exceptional, with the walk rate (3.7 BB/9) being the biggest concern. His ERA, while ugly, was much higher than those component rates would suggest.

Rohrbough is fairly raw, with no experience above A+ and inconsistent mechanics. He would probably need to be hidden like Veal was last year. There's a fairly high chance that he'll be a bust, but there's also a very high ceiling here - he could be a front-of-the-rotation starter if everything goes right. The team's success with a similar type of pitcher in Veal last year may encourage them to go back to the same well once more with Rohrbough, and we certainly have a need for lefty power arms.

John Raynor , R/R CF, 6'2'', 185 lbs., born 1/4/84, Florida's system. A 9th-round pick out of UNC-Wilmington in 2006, Raynor was the Sally League MVP in 2007. He's one of the fastest players in the minors - timed at 6.3 in the 60 yard dash, with 141 stolen bases in only 418 career games, at a career success rate of 83%. He's mostly played left field, due to a weak throwing arm and some questionable defensive instincts, but could potentially play center with continued improvement. With the bat in his hands, he leverages his foot speed to hit for a good average (.298 career), and can pop a decent number of line drives. He has holes in his swing, however, leading to a fairly high K rate, and he'll probably never have much over-the-fence power. Raynor played at AAA in 2009 and struggled, posting a .255/.326/.357 raw line at New Orleans. His batting average on balls in play this year was significantly below his career norms, however, suggesting that luck may have been partially responsible for his poor performance. He had been dominant in both 2007 and 2008, but was a little bit old for his leagues, so the performance might need to be discounted somewhat. To further complicate matters analytically, he broke a bone in his hand playing in the AFL after the 2008 season, which may have dragged down his 2009 numbers.

The Pirates don't have a crying need for outfielders, but you never say "no" to talent, and it's not a ludicrous fit. Our backup CF from last season (Salazar) is a free agent, and Gorkys is probably at least a year away from being ready for the majors. We could carry Raynor as our fifth outfielder and use him as a PH/PR, a caddy for Cutch, and a late-inning defensive replacement if Garrett Jones ends up as the starting RF. In time, he could develop into a Nyjer-like player if everything goes right, though he'll need to put in a lot of work for that to happen.

The 2010 CHONE projection for Raynor is a .247/.324/.359 line.

To be continued...

Baseball Prospectus: Minor League Free Agents

2009-11-20T00:18:22Z

Baseball Prospectus: Minor League Free Agents

It's subscription-only, unfortunately. This is a nifty writeup of the available minor league free agents. Picking up strikeout-and-walk guy Alexander Smit, formerly of the Reds, and turning him into a full-time reliever seems like the sort of thing Neal Huntington might do.

The minor league free agent list includes a couple of other interesting, and semi-familiar, names. One is Ryan Shealy, the former Rockies minor leaguer who many of us wanted the Bucs to trade for before Adam LaRoche arrived. He missed most of the last season with an injury, but I still hold out hope that there's some hitting ability in there--he has always hit well in Class AAA, and he was awesome in brief duty for the Royals in 2008. The Pirates still need help at the corners, and Shealy has as good a chance as anybody of being next year's Garrett Jones.

Another interesting guy is Ruben Gotay, who was actually in Spring Training with the Pirates earlier this year. It's kind of a shame he didn't stick, because he ended up having an amazing OBP-heavy season for the Diamondbacks' Class AAA affiliate in Reno. He's defensively limited, but he could probably play the Ramon Vazquez role better than Vazquez himself, and the Pirates have a lot of instability in their infield. (Trivia: the Pirates acquired Ruben's uncle, Julio, in 1962 in the trade that sent Dick Groat to the Cardinals.)

Jose Tabata Goes 6-for-7 in Arizona Fall League Game

2009-11-19T22:53:22Z

Insanity. Jose Tabata is now 6-for-6 with two doubles in Scottsdale's game against the Peoria Javelinas. Also, Chase D'Arnaud has reached base five times in the game. Scottsdale leads 17-8. None of the Pirates' pitchers have entered the game, fortunately.

Tabata is now hitting .395 in the AFL. His status as a prospect has improved a bunch in the past few weeks. I want to say that it's time to start getting excited, but I don't want to jinx it.

UPDATE: He finished 6-for-7, his batting average back to .392. Unacceptable! Back to the batting cages, Jose.

John Grabow Agrees to Re-Sign With Cubs

2009-11-19T22:49:36Z

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

6 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates' John Grabow, right, and Robinson Diaz high-five after the Pirates' 8-3 victory over the San Diego Padres in a baseball game in San Diego, Sunday, April 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Browse more photos »

For two years and $7 million or more, which is a good, if not completely unreasonable, chunk of change for him. (Grabow made $2.3 million in 2009, his last year of arbitration.) If the reports about Jason Bay rejecting a $60 million deal from the usually-pretty-circumspect Red Sox are also accurate, we could be looking at a surprisingly robust free agent market this winter.

It's been interesting to see so many former Pirates quickly re-sign with their new teams--first Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson, and now Grabow. After you leave the Pirates, going anywhere else must seem fantastic.

Bay rejects $60M over 4 years

2009-11-19T19:00:18Z

Bay rejects $60M over 4 years

I am not sure he will get more than $15M per, although I guess he wants more years. My first reaction was, it will never happen. My second reaction is, it probably will, and someone is going to regret it two years down the line.

Fenway Park fits Bay very well, and I m not sure what signing elsewhere is going to do for him. So who do people think is the likeliest to dole out Alfonso Soriano-esque stupid money for Bay for his age-32 season onward?

I have a feeling the RedSox could up their offer, but I don't see them adding more than 1 year. The Cubs? if they can get rid of Bradley's contract? Angels? Yanks? Mets? Braves?

"[Chase D'Arnaud] does everything well enough," said an American League scout. "He doesn’t have a s...

2009-11-18T21:24:39Z

"[Chase D'Arnaud] does everything well enough," said an American League scout. "He doesn’t have a standout tool, but he has some bat speed and he can square it up. He’s got gap power, but he can turn on one and hit it out."
[...]
Added another AL scout: "He has to not get out on his front side so much, but he’s strong for his size. He drifts out on his front side but he has such good hands that he can make up for it."

"AFL Notebook: D’Arnaud Does It All", Baseball America, Ben Badler

Pirates hire Steve Williams as Major League scout

2009-11-18T21:20:29Z

Pirates hire Steve Williams as Major League scout

"Williams, 45, most recently served the Kansas City Royals as their Assistant Director of Scouting, a position he held since August 15, 2006. Prior to joining the Royals, Williams worked for the Detroit Tigers as their Midwest Scouting Supervisor (2000-01) and East Coast Supervisor (2002-06), overseeing a territory from Maine to Puerto Rico.

His scouting career began when he served as an area scout with the Minnesota Twins from 1988 to 1995. Williams also worked for the Toronto Blue Jays as their Midwest Area Scout from 1995-99, covering a seven-state region."

Williams was the scout who originally signed Mike Trombley and Orlando Hudson, among other players. He worked under current Pirates scouting director Greg Smith from 2000-2004, when Smith held that same position with the Tigers, and under current Pirates special assistant Larry Corrigan from 1992-1993, when Corrigan was scouting director for the Twins.

Jim Tracy, Baby! NL Manager of the Year!

2009-11-18T19:11:10Z

Jim Tracy, Baby! NL Manager of the Year!

Also, Mike Scioscia received the AL award.

If the opinions on the ROY were strong, I expect stronger reactions on Tracy's award. Unfortunately, even if what happened with the Rockies was just a case of Tracy taking over when a good team was getting hot, it's hard to argue with that record when the team was (what?) a dozen games below .500 when he took over...

Pirates Minor Leaguers Become Free Agents

2009-11-17T20:51:19Z

A bunch of Pirates minor leaguers have become free agents. Indulge your inner minor-league geek here:

Pittsburgh

Pitchers: RHP Jason Davis, RHP Eric Hacker, LHP Corey Hamman, RHP Lincoln Holdzkom, RHP Jorge Julio, LHP Bobby Livingston, RHP Juan Mateo, RHP Scott Nestor, RHP Jeremy Powell, RHP Dionis Rodriguez, RHP Ty Taubenheim, RHP Virgil Vasquez

Catchers: Hector Gimenez, Steven Lerud, Miguel Perez, Milver Reyes, Steven Suarez

Infielders: Chris Barnwell, Josh Bonifay, Tagg Bozied, Larry Broadway, Ray Chang, Angel Gonzalez, Pedro Lopez, Brian Myrow, Jamie Romak

Outfielders: Victor Igsema, Jonel Pacheco

This list includes a few vaguely interesting guys:

Eric Hacker came over from the Yankees in exchange for Romulo Sanchez and made his big league debut late this year after performing rather disappointingly at Indianapolis. Still, he'd be nice to have around this year.

Juan Mateo has a good performance record and has been a good soldier for the past couple years in Altoona and Indianapolis; it was mildly strange that he never got a chance with the Pirates when it seemed like every player on the Indy staff was getting a callup.

Steve Lerud has been just off the prospect radar forever; he's now 25, hasn't realized the bit of power potential he seemed to have, and can't hit for average. Too bad; lefty catchers with power have lots of value.

Tagg Bozied and Brian Myrow were among the most talented hitters at Indianapolis this year and many projection systems rate them fairly highly, but they're older minor league vets and will be lucky to get another chance in the big leagues no matter where they end up.

I had hopes for Jamie Romak who, until Pedro Alvarez arrived, was probably the best power prospect in the Pirates' system, but he quashed them with a horrible year at Altoona and then Lynchburg.

NL Rookie of the Year: Chris Coghlan

2009-11-16T21:13:26Z

NL Rookie of the Year: Chris Coghlan

McCutchen got a total of 7 votes, 2 first place, 5 second place. Garrett Jones got 2 third place votes. (This is out of a total of 32 ballots.)

UPDATE by Charlie: What a silly pick. Not only is it hard to defend on its merits (Coghlan's defense in left was pretty bad, which makes his offensive performance less interesting), and not only is Coghlan not a very exciting player, but this pick has a great chance of ending up in history's dustbin once the baseball gods realize that Coghlan isn't really a .320 hitter and start making his balls in play disappear into fielders' gloves. It's a real drag that the voters picked him when they could have chosen a player like Tommy Hanson or McCutchen who not only happened to be better than Coghlan but also has a shot at an excellent career. Not that we've come to expect much from the voters.

Pirates Face 40-Man Roster Decisions This Week

2009-11-16T02:00:54Z

40-man rosters have to be set by Friday, so expect some fun stuff to happen this week.

The Bucs currently have 36 players on their 40-man roster. That doesn't include Jose Ascanio and Evan Meek, who will both need to be protected by Friday. The Pirates will also have to decide whether to include a number of minor leaguers, any of whom could be selected in the Rule 5 draft in December if they aren't protected:

Brad Lincoln, Gorkys Hernandez, Bryan Morris, Ramon Aguero, Casey Erickson, Michael Dubee, Shelby Ford, Jim Negrych, Kris Watts

Of these, I'd say Lincoln and Hernandez are no-brainers.

Morris is a tricky case; scouts like him a lot and the Pirates certainly paid a pretty penny to get him, but the performance record so far hasn't been there, and it's very hard to see how he could stick on another team's 25-man roster for the entire year.

WTM is a big fan of Aguero, a reliever who spent time with West Virginia, Lynchburg and Altoona last year. Aguero had a nice season in 2009 and has followed that up with a good showing in the Dominican Winter League, but I'm agnostic here. He's almost 25, so he's not a great prospect. Every year the Pirates protect these sorts of marginal pitchers, mostly relievers--Jeff Sues, Dave Davidson, Romulo Sanchez, Luis Munoz, Olivo Astacio, Ronald Belisario, and so on--and never do they seem to get anything out of them. (Ok, Astacio was released because of behavioral issues, and Belisario blossomed with the Dodgers, but still.) The problem with Aguero is that he'd be easier than Morris to hide on a big-league roster for a year, and because he played well this year and has good stuff, there would be reason for a team who selected him to hope he wouldn't end up hurting them too badly. I'd probably protect him, but I don't think we should expect much from him in the long haul.

The other guys, though at least vaguely intriguing, can probably be left off. Erickson is too far from the majors, Dubee doesn't have great stuff, and Ford and Negrych haven't shown enough in the minors. (Negrych might have some vague chance of being taken in the Rule 5 and used as a bench bat.) Watts is only a nominal prospect because he's a catcher.

So let's say three spots will be needed for Lincoln, Hernandez and Aguero, and possibly a fourth for Morris. The Pirates would probably also prefer to leave one spot for their own Rule 5 pick, although they can also dump someone later to make room.

All this means that probably a couple of players will be dumped from the roster this week. Of those, Sues, Anthony Claggett, Justin Thomas, Brian Bixler, and Luis Cruz would all be potential candidates.

Chase D'Arnaud Gets Hot in Arizona Fall League

2009-11-14T06:10:45Z

Chase D'Arnaud went 3-for-4 for Scottsdale today, raising his Arizona Fall League average to .286. He got off to a slow start, but he's come on very strong recently, hitting .393 in his last seven games. Given his lack of experience in the high minors, his line so far (.286/.370/.397, with eight steals and only one CS) is solid.

One strange thing I just noticed, and normally I think these Player A / Player B games are a bit silly, but this one's interesting:

Chase D'Arnaud, SS, age 22

Class A 213 AB .291/.394/.427 14 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 30 BB, 31 K, 17 SB, 3 CS
Class A+ 210 AB .295/.402/.481 19 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 30 BB, 41 K, 14 SB, 5 CS

Player B, SS, age 22

Class A 274 AB .299/.414/.522 18 2B, 5 3B, 11 HR, 51 BB, 61 K, 29 SB, 8 CS
Class A+ 201 AB .308/.422/.418 10 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 36 BB, 43 K, 24 SB, 5 CS

Can you guess who Player B is (without hunting)? The answer is after the jump.

The two players have very similar skillsets: average, plate discipline, a bit of power, and speed. They also played at the same levels, at roughly the same ages. They also put up these seasons one year after being drafted in the fourth round by the Pirates.

Player B is Brent Lillibridge, so I predict that PECOTA will have a huge crush on D'Arnaud, and we'll all get more excited about him in around March.

A couple points about this:

1) Lillibridge obviously hasn't worked out, but there are a couple reasons to hope that D'Arnaud won't suffer the same fate. First, D'Arnaud was about five months younger than Lillibridge when they put up those numbers; that's not much, but it's something. Second, and much more importantly, D'Arnaud's lower strikeout rate bodes well. It's not like Lillibridge was Mark Reynolds, but it's hard, even for a fast guy like Lillibridge, to keep putting up good batting averages while striking out as much as Lillibridge did in the low minors. Strikeouts were a big issue for Lillibridge in college as well. D'Arnaud doesn't have that problem.

2) It's telling that after Lillibridge's 2006 season, he was probably the fourth-best prospect in the organization, behind Andrew McCutchen, Brad Lincoln and Neil Walker. Now, D'Arnaud's very similar season places him somewhere around #10.

FOX Sports: Pirates, Brewers Discussed Ryan Doumit, J.J. Hardy

2009-11-14T01:09:25Z

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

3 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit, back, turns to apply a late tag as Colorado Rockies' Clint Barmes scores on double by Seth Smith in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Denver on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Browse more photos »

First things first: treat this with a grain of salt for now. The fact that the Post-Gazette reported that the Bucs offered Matt Capps for J.J. Hardy but didn't mention that the Pirates and Brewers also discussed a Ryan Doumit-for-Hardy swap makes this report from FOXSports.com seem a bit strange to me. Nonetheless, it's interesting:

It's becoming very clear that Ryan Doumit is available on the trade market.

The Pirates were engaged in talks with the Brewers earlier this offseason about a trade that would have sent Doumit to Milwaukee for shortstop J.J. Hardy, major league sources said Friday.

But Milwaukee preferred to use Hardy as the trade chip to acquire a starting center fielder, Carlos Gomez, from the Twins.

Hardy and Doumit have comparable contracts, which would have aided a deal.

The Brewers have a couple of decent catching prospects in Jon Lucroy and Angel Salome who are both fairly near the majors, but their current starter is Jason Kendall, who has nothing left offensively. Dealing for Doumit might have made some sense for them.

I'd certainly be open to trading Doumit if I were in charge, but it wouldn't be my top priority. Doumit had a dismal season overall in 2009 but hit very well in September after seemingly recovering from the wrist injury that probably dragged down his numbers before that. Dealing Doumit for Hardy would have been fine, but it would have been a lateral move--both are very talented players coming off poor seasons. Hardy might be the more talented of the two, and he's certainly the more likely of the two to stay healthy, but that's a double-edged sword--Hardy doesn't have an injury to explain why he hit so badly last year.

If the Pirates had traded Doumit for Hardy, they would have essentially been trading out Ronny Cedeno (who would move to the bench if Hardy became a Pirate) for Jason Jaramillo. Again, I think that's a lateral move--Cedeno and Jaramillo are both credible second-division starters and nothing more, and neither have a ton of upside. Actually, if I had to pick which of the two had the best chance to break out, I'd probably pick Cedeno, because of the power he flashed at times last year and because he, unlike Jaramillo, has a few lines on his stat sheet that suggest he can be somewhat better than a glove-first player. (There's also Jeff Clement, who's still trying to stick around as a catcher, but the idea that he can catch will be hard to take seriously until he actually does it for a month or so; given his knee problems, I think it's much more likely he sees time at the corners. If Doumit is traded and Clement can catch, great, but I frankly doubt that will happen.)

The Doumit-Hardy rumors are interesting, though, and they may be a blueprint for the sorts of Doumit rumors we hear the rest of the offseason. Doumit's 2009 season was bad enough that the Pirates probably aren't going to get much value for him if they pursue a standard veteran-for-prospects deal, but they could acquire a similarly talented but problematic player who isn't a catcher, so that Jaramillo can get some more playing time. An outfielder might be a possibility.

I think the more likely scenario, though, is for the Pirates to wait until after the season starts and hope Doumit shows he's healthy and productive, then deal him for younger players. That's essentially what they did with Jason Bay--there were rumors about Bay throughout the 2007-2008 offseason, but Bay had just had a terrible year, so the Pirates waited and dealt him after he hit well for a few months in 2008.

Mariners Sign Jack Wilson

2009-11-13T22:07:02Z

Mariners Sign Jack Wilson

For $5M per for 2 years.

Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No. This is awesome.

2009-11-12T19:18:10Z

Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No. This is awesome.

SB Nation N.L. MVP: Albert Pujols

2009-11-12T06:06:05Z

More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP

St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols connects for a two-run home run in the in the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a game on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

Browse more photos »

No surprise there. Here are the full results (again, after the jump, because the charts don't fit):

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Notice the vote for Nyjer. I don't remember my ballot, but none of the unconventional votes from #21 onward were mine. Here are the results from the American League.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

All the votes for Franklin Gutierrez are interesting, as are the votes above for Morgan and Michael Bourn. People loved their good defensive outfielders this year.

Pirates interested in Japanese Reliever Ryota Igarashi

2009-11-12T04:35:54Z

Pirates interested in Japanese Reliever Ryota Igarashi

"In acquiring Iwamura, we opened the door to getting Japanese players. We gave up a middle reliever to get Iwamura, so he [Igarashi] is a player we have interest in."

UPDATE by Charlie: Here are some stats.

Pirates Release Yoslan Herrera, Jason Delaney, Others

2009-11-11T22:49:03Z

Via Baseball America, the Pirates have released a number of failed prospects:

RHP Yoslan Herrera - The big prizewinner in Dave Littlefield's weird experiment with international talent. Most teams attempt to sign Latin American amateurs at a young age and move them through the farm system over a period of many years. But all that was way too slow-moving for a short-term thinker like Littlefield, who instead spent a couple million bucks on Herrera, a much older player, and got him to the big leagues within a couple years. Unfortunately, his limp 87-MPH fastball wasn't nearly good enough to complement his decent offspeed stuff, and now Herrera is gone after getting bombed in the bigs in 2008 and spending an uninspiring 2009 at Altoona and Indianapolis. By the way, check out this little anecdote about Herrera by WTM:

Surprised about Herrera, too, because he made some progress this year, although at his age there's no way he's going to be a major league pitcher. There might have been more going on with him. I was at a DH in Bowie this year and Herrera was up in the stands in the second game after pitching in the first game. He was rooting loudly for Bowie, so I wondered what was going on.

RHP Tyler Herron - The Pirates signed Herron, a former top draft pick of the Cardinals, after St. Louis surprisingly released him earlier in 2009. He didn't pitch particularly well for Altoona, and his stuff there apparently was terrible. But he still has that first-round pedigree, he hasn't been tried much as a reliever, and he's not old; it's a little bit weird that he's now been released by two organizations. It could be that there's some personal thing going on here.

1B Kent Sakamoto

3B Eddie Prasch - Prasch was Littlefield's third-round pick in his hideous 2004 draft. Prasch showed some on-base skills as he crawled through the minors, but his power never developed.

3B Bobby Spain

3B Brett Willemburg

OF Butch Biela - This is a weird one. Biela hit very well as an 18-year-old in 2007, then got by with a .342 OBP at State College in 2008. The Pirates thought enough of him to start him at West Virginia in 2009, but he wound up with back with the Spikes, not hitting at all.

OF Justin Byler

OF Jason Delaney - Delaney, the Bucs' 12th-round pick in '05, showed flashes of real hitting ability in the minors, but since he was almost 23 when he was drafted, he was always very old for his levels. He doesn't have much defensive value and he never developed much home run power, and now he's 27.

OF Jared Keel - Keel has always hit well in the minors, but like Delaney he has always been a bit old for his levels. Also, as a 31st-round pick, the Bucs have probably never viewed him as much more than an organizational player; if they liked him they probably would have sent him to Altoona last year, given that he hit 20 homers at Lynchburg in 2008.

The Pirates have also granted free agency to Denny Bautista.

SB Nation N.L. Cy Young: Tim Lincecum

2009-11-11T22:38:10Z

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP

San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum pitches to the Oakland Athletics in the first inning of a game in San Francisco, Friday, June 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Browse more photos »

Tim Lincecum wins SB Nation's NL Cy Young award. Here are the results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	18	13	-	129
2	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	9	4	7	64
3	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	4	4	10	42
4	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	5	7	22
5	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	3	4	13
6	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	1	1	4
7	Cliff Lee	Philadephia Phillies	-	-	1	1
8	Jair Jurrjens	Atlanta Braves	-	-	1	1

I'm pretty sure my ballot was Lincecum, Carpenter, Vazquez. It's hard to believe how quickly Lincecum has emerged as a perennial powerhouse. He could've been a Pirate, of course--the Pirates could have taken him but picked Brad Lincoln instead. But hindsight is always 20/20, and Lincecum was seen as a tremendously risky pitcher when he was drafted because of his size and high-effort delivery. Here's an article I wrote about Lincecum and Lincoln in 2007. Of all the things you can blame Dave Littlefield for, I don't think the fact that Lincecum isn't a Pirate is a particularly good one.

Anyway, here are the AL results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	28	1	-	143
2	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	17	6	57
3	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	8	9	33
4	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	1	2	11	22
5	C.C. Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	1	2	5
6	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	1	1

Ex-Buc Jose Castillo attacked by motorcycle gang

2009-11-11T22:32:29Z

Ex-Buc Jose Castillo attacked by motorcycle gang

Former MLB player Jose Castillo was attacked by armed men on motorcycles as he left his luxury hotel in a taxi on Tuesday.

"They stopped the car and those accompanying them entered with two guns, and pointed them at me so that I'd give them my gold chain and wedding ring," Castillo said. Castillo, who played in MLB from 2004-08, plays for the Caracas Lions. -Associated Press

Fortunately, he wasn't hurt. It's unfortunate, but if I were a ballplayer from Venezuela, there's no way I'd be willing to live there over the offseason. The risks are just too high these days.