Bonnifield/Littlefay
Maybe comparing Littlefield to Bonifay is a little harsh. After all, I think he did fairly well in the Benson trade. And some of the other bad trades he's made have been forced on him. But a couple of things that happened this week underscore my opinion that Littlefield is not the GM who will take the Pirates to the promised land.
First, while everyone in Pittsburgh was distracted by the Benson trade, the Mets made 2 other deals around the deadline. First, they traded a top catching prospect, Jason Huber, for Jose Bautista. This deal was made in order to satisfy Littlfield's fetish to get Bautista back into the Bucs fold. Clearly, Bautista is a decent enough prospect....but what has happened in the past 6 months that has made Littlefield desire Bautista more than a top flight catching prospect like Huber? 6 months ago, Bautista wasn't even worthy of a spot on the 40-man roster! Now, after riding the pine for the first half of the season, he is suddenly more attractive that Huber? I can't imagine the Royal GM Allan Baird's glee when he gets a phone call from the Mets saying they need Bautista to complete a trade with the Pirates, and are willing to offer Huber in return. Essentially the Royals turned a $50,000 transaction fee into a top flight catching prospect. Must be nice. Obviously the Mets were willing to include Huber in the deal for Benson. Why wouldn't Littlefield want that? My suspicion is that Littlefield simply didn't have anyplace for Huber to play next season (and is obsessed with making up for the 'mistake' of letting Bautista go via Rule 5). Doumit will be catching in AAA next year. Cota, who should really be thinking about life after baseball, will be the backup next season. House will be....um....riding pine for someone at the major league level. Kendall will be stuck in Pittsburgh at least to start the season. So the Pirates would either have to: retard Doumit's development and keep him in AA next season, give up on House totally, dump Cota, or trade Kendall for table scraps, for Huber to have a place to play. Frankly, I like all of those options better than getting Bautista back.
Second, the Mets made a third deal at the dealine, acquiring Victor Zambrano from the Devil Rays for Scott Kazmir. Who is Scott Kazmir? Probably one of the top 5 pitching prospects in all of the minor leagues. The Pirates pride themselves on their stable of young arms. Kazmir would have immediately gone to the top of the list of Pirate pitching prospects. Yet the Mets gave up Kazmir for a pitcher of equal or lesser value than Benson. This leads me to believe that Littlefield could have gotten the same or better package for Benson. Essentially, it seems Littlefield had the following options to choose from for Benson:
1. Kazmir
2. Wigginton, Peterson, Huber
3. Wigginton, Peterson, Bautista
All 3 of those are fairly attractive options, but why did Littlefield opt for the least of the 3??
The other thing (other than the Mets mess) that happened this week, and that probably flew under the radar of the average Pittsburgh sports nut, was the debut of Devil Rays SS BJ Upton. So what does this have to do with Littlfield? In 2002, the Pirates took Bryan Bullington with the #1 pick in the draft. In most circles, Bullington was tabbed as a future #3 starter in the big leagues. He was a low risk pick as he was considered fairly polished. Drafting #2 in 2002, the Devil Rays selected high school SS BJ Upton. Baseball America had Upton ranked as the #1 prospect in the draft with the strongest arm and 3rd best speed of all high school prospects.
I'm of the 'Moneyball' opinion that if I have to choose between 2 players of fairly equal potential, it's wiser to pick the player that has been more productive against a higher level of competition. For this reason, I think its wise to choose college players when you are dealing with a large pool of fairly equal talent. However...when you have the #1 pick in the draft, you HAVE TO SELECT THE PLAYER WITH THE GREATEST UPSIDE. It would be completely different if Bullington was considered a potential #1 starter. But all of the reports on him said his upside was going to be as a solid major league pitcher, meanwhile Upton was being compared to A-Rod. Of course, hindsight is 20/20...but while Upton plies his trade against the Red Sox and Yankees, remember that Bullington is languishing in AA, not even considered one of the 3 top Pirates pitching prospects. The Pirates would be fortunate if Bullington turned into Kris Benson.
PS. The Mets took Scott Kazmir at #15 in 2002.
14 Comments:
Dear Author...Why does it surprise you that the pirates took bullington over upton? They passed on Garciaparra years ago also for a pitcher. The organization historicaly gets nervous and goes for the sure thing, unless it's in the trade or free agent market. Then they have no problem throwing good money at bad players.
signed,
S. O'Neal
Miami
In response to S. O'Neal's comment above - how can you say that???!!! Those players deserve whatever the owners give them. If an owner chooses to give an overpriced, washed up veteran a huge contract, so be it. If the owners chose not to pay, it is a little something the US government likes to call collusion - and that my friend is illegal. Sometimes guys at the end of their career are looking for that one big contract and then retire off into the sunset.
Signed,
D. Bell
- Somewhere on the water
In response to S. O'Neal's comment above - how can you say that???!!! Those players deserve whatever the owners give them. If an owner chooses to give an overpriced, washed up veteran a huge contract, so be it. If the owners chose not to pay, it is a little something the US government likes to call collusion - and that my friend is illegal. Sometimes guys at the end of their career are looking for that one big contract and then retire off into the sunset.
Signed,
D. Bell
- Somewhere on the water
D. Bell - How can you say that? A pro athlete needs to prepare for his future and shouldn't rest on the laurels of the teams. Teams are wiser these days and won't pay players what they used to so a guy needs to take care of himself...I personally say you should look at investing some of that money in up and coming business ventures wherever you are such as racetracks or restaurants, etc.
Signed,
J. Bettis
- Pittsburgh
At first I was excited that all these famous athletes were reading my blog. Then I realized, Derek Bell can't read. Maybe all is not as it seems.
Dear Author,
Your comments regarding Derek Bell not being able to read is ludicrisp and I will knock you into Bolivian if I ever meet you in a dark alley...
Sincerely
M. Tyson
Dear Author,
Implying that Derek Bell has no rational thought or cannot read shocks and awes me. To think anyone playing in the major leagues of any sport cannot read or think for himself is insane. Have you ever seen Derek Bell play? He never cuts off balls from the Center fielder.
M. Ramierez
Enough already! The owners have every right to pay what they want to pay, to sign who they want to sign, and to hire and fire whoever they want, as many times as they want. It is all about winning championship rings and having that trophey in your possession. If Cam or Dave want to pay players rediculous sums of money, just to sit them on the bench so other teams won't sign them, that's their perrogative. If every owner and GM thought about winning first, and money second, we would truly have a competitive league. Just because some owners spend money on their team, why are they treated like idiots?
Respectfully yours,
George S.
That just doesn't make any sense at all.
R. Kiner
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