Top 50 prospects
Baseball Prospectus has posted their top 50 prospects for 2005. No prospective Pirates appear on the list. Zach Duke rates as an Honorable Mention. I think that says it all.
Duffy and McLouth
Dejan's latest is an expose on camp invitees and outfield prospects Chris Duffy and Nate McLouth. In the online frontpage teaser for the article, it is said that:
McLouth and Duffy could be the team's most promising prospects since Barry Bonds and Jose Guillen.
Wow. That's quite a statement. I'm assuming that it's implying 'outfield prospects' and not prospects in general. Since Bonds made his debut in 1986, and Duffy and McLouth are 24 and 23 years old respectively, let's take a look at some of the other home-grown outfield prospects who have made their debut with the Pirates on or before their year 24 season, since 1986.
(in order of their debut)
Tommy Gregg
Orlando Merced
Moises Alou
Scott Bullett
Al Martin
Midre Cummings
Ben Shelton
Jermaine Allensworth
Trey Beamon
Adrian Brown
Emil Brown
Chad Hermansen
Tyke Redman
JJ Davis
Hmmm. So what do we have here? I see a handful of #1 picks and big time prospects. I also see a couple of guys only hardcore Pirates fans would remember. I see one legitimate impact player, who ironically, was traded for a bunch of magic beans.
In the end, 20 years of home-grown outfield prospects has essentially netted the Bucs 2 long-gone, typically average major league players (Merced, Martin) and one guy who will probably live out his days as a #4 outfielder (Redmen).
Keep in mind that these are the guys who made their debuts on or before their age 24 season. Duffy turns 25 this April and has never played above AA, while McLouth turns 24 just after the end of the season. If this is the best the Pirates have to offer, I'll just have to temper my enthusiasm.
Fortunately, in opposition to the frontpage teaser, the article itself bears more of the patented Dejan balance that we came to expect in his days covering the Penguins. Still, pardon me if I cast a skeptical eye at yet more Bucco 'hot prospects.' At this point, I don't really want to hear about anybody until they demonstrate their skills at the major league level.
Lopez's comeback??
Headline from Dejan in today's PG:
Lopez's comeback taking shapeThe first thing that hit me was, Lopez who? Reading the article, I found out it was Albie Lopez. If you only recently started following baseball or if you are unfamiliar with long relievers on last place teams, then this name is unfamiliar to you. Yet he is significant enough that Lloyd McClendon was quoted as saying the following about Lopez:
"He's an experienced pitcher, a power arm. I don't know if it's still there, but
I'd like to find out. It's no significant risk to our organization to find out
if he has anything left. The rewards are tremendous if he can."
Um...ok. Let me repeat that..."The rewards are tremendous if he can make a comeback. " Wow. Lopez must have been quite a pitcher. Let's take a look at his stats via baseballreference.com.
Career
W: 47
L: 58
ERA: 4.94
Well, that's not so good. Maybe he had a great peak before he had arm trouble. Let's take a look at his 3 best seasons.
1998:
W - L - G - GS - ERA - IP
7 - 4 - 54 - 0 - 2.60 - 79.2
2000:
W - L - G - GS - ERA - IP
11 - 13 - 45 - 24 - 4.13 - 185.1
2001:
W - L - G - GS - ERA - IP
9 - 19 - 33 - 33 - 4.81 - 205.2
Hmmm...so at his absolute best, Lopez was a #5 starter who had 1 pretty good season as a middle reliever. Exactly what kind of comeback are the Pirates hoping for?
Don't get me wrong. I find no fault in inviting a player like this to spring training. But if a guy like this warrants a feature article touting his comeback...well, let's just say the Pirates haven't quite arrived as a contender.
Now I gotta head off to church. We are having a prayer service for Ollie Perez's left shoulder.
It was nice to know you, JR House
So yet another top Pirates prospect rides off into the sunset, never to be seen again. Everyone is reporting that JR House has a torn labrum, and several other miscellaneous rips, tears, breaks, and things that will require season ending surgery. House has always been plagued with injuries, but it's doubly disappointing this spring since I thought he was a good bet to get some serious playing time with the Bucs.
Oh well. If House is able to come back from this latest, greatest set back, it won't be as a catcher and I'm pretty sure it won't be with the Bucs, since they already preferred the corpse of Benny Santiago.
In other fantastic spring training news, Oliver Perez has yet to throw from the mound. He arrived for his workout today with a stiff shoulder. The company line is that he 'slept on it wrong.' Uh...ok. Maybe. But this is the 3rd straight day that something has prevented him from starting his throwing routine. Red flag anyone? Let's hope for the best, and expect, as always, the worst.
