BA Top 100

Perhaps the most trusted prospect list to come out each year, Baseball America's list of the Top 100 Prospects is out:

BA TOP 100

The usual suspects are there:

12. Pedro Alvarez - 3B (22, ETA: 2009)
9/24: Date he signed with the Pirates—more than a month after the Aug. 15 deadline—after the union's grievance on his behalf.

33. Andrew McCutchen - OF (22, ETA: 2009)
1: International League center fielders with a higher OPS than McCutchen's .770 (Brett Gardner, .836).

75. Jose Tabata - OF (20, ETA: 2010)
.348: Average at Double-A Altoona after being traded from the Yankees in July, or 100 points higher than his average at Double-A Trenton.


I was somewhat encouraged by Alvarez being positioned above Mike Moustakas (Royals) and Buster Posey (Giants), since those guys are pretty big deals, and that Tabata made it in just behind Taylor Teagarden (Rangers), who is the talk of Arlington, though probably more because of trade rumors.

Personally, I'm still the most excited about McCutchen, probably because I feel like I've known the guy longer. Since I live in Columbus, I checked the Clippers' (Cleveland's AAA team) schedule and was delighted that Indianapolis is coming to town in late April. It's also the inaugural season for the Clippers' new stadium, (Neal?) Huntington Park. Anyway, it'll be good to see Cutch patroling CF in person.

(side note: I'm planning two huge posts on the various projection systems and what they have to say about the 2009 performance of your favorite team. Look for those this weekend. I'll let you know in advance that PECOTA was once again unkind to the black and gold.)

Mark McGwire

I have some half-baked thoughts on steroids that I'll save for another time, but I wanted to tip off those of you who don't get SI or read their website regularly (both of those apply to me) to a nice piece by Poz on Mark McGwire and the lingering steroid scandal.

Here's the link.

I can't help but think that this is another example where we all thought we knew something, and then almost four years later, it turns out we were wrong the whole time.

I feel bad for McGwire. For better or for worse, the guy should be in the Hall of Fame, but even if it happens now, it will be cheapened for many by the steroid issue, and cheapened for others because it will most likely be a "sympathy" election after so many years of getting jerked around by the BBWAA.

I hope what Poz heard is right, and that McGwire is reasonably happy with his life these days. The guy deserves better than what he's gotten over the last four years.

Cardboard God: Andy Van Slyke

I don't want to comment on the McLouth deal until at least the terms of the deal are released (or perhaps until he's moved out of center field), but so I can continue to deliver on my recent trend of only posting something on Tuesdays, here's a nice link for you:

Josh Wilker revists the Pirates for the first time in a year by featuring an Andy Van Slyke card (which I had as a kid!):

If you say Pittsburgh Pirates to me I think of a raucous party, Sister Sledge blaring, free-swinging sluggers Al-Olivering line-drive doubles into the gap and speedsters Omar-Morenoing around third and sliding into home safely in a cloud of glittering, vaguely illicit dust, the giddy treble of the disco in the Pirates’ fearsome game supported by the rock-solid morally upright thumping bass of slugging elder statesman Roberto Clemente on one end of the decade and slugging elder statesman Willie Stargell on the other.

In short, I like the Pirates. And not for nothing, but I have been to more than a few major league baseball stadiums and as far as I have seen the only one that incorporates baseball cards into the very structure of their building is the Pirates’ current stadium, which as I recall has baseball cards of former Pirates embedded into the surfaces of walls and/or pillars out in the concourse behind the left-field bleachers.

Pitch Sequencing

Another great article on pitch f/x and pitch sequencing from Josh Kalk over at The Hardball Times.

I found it interesting that the fastball sets up every other pitch, but go read the whole thing so you can appreciate the good work that Josh is doing.

(h/t to Tom Tango for the link)

Who's Left?

This chart, from our friends at Beyond the Box Score, shows the remaining free agent hitters (some of whom have since been snatched up) and their Wins Above Replacement values using the CHONE projection system for both offense and defense. I know it's kind of hard to read the names, but give it a look, and bear in mind that these are the remaining hitters available for the Buccos to snatch up before (or during) spring training, which starts this Saturday.

Not surprisingly, there's a lot there, and there's very little there, all at the same time. In a perfect world, the Buccos would probably sign someone like Manny Ramirez or Adam Dunn (though I'd definitely settle for the nice bat and glove work of Orlando Hudson if they had somewhere to put him), but this is definitely not a perfect world.

Leaving out MannyBManny, everyone else on this list is basically a 2 WAR or less performer, which means at best, adding a free agent hitter would only improve the team by roughly two wins. Considering that would cost somewhere between $5-$10 million (depending on how savvy a deal Team Neal can negotiate), and there really isn't a great fit among the players on this list, I wouldn't expect the Buccos to sign any of the moderate-to-big names on this spreadsheet.

High Heat and Curveballs

Sorry for the brief absence; I've been immersed in all things Steeler, but now I'm (almost) fully prepared to jump head-first into the 2009 season, with pitchers and catchers set to report to camp next Friday (2/13).

I was in attendance (naturally) for this year's PirateFest, really just to see what Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington had to say during their Q&A session. I think that was probably the first time I've been impressed while listening to someone from the Pirates' management team explain what the heck is going on with this moribund franchise.

I also have some thoughts on Hinske vs. Doug Mientkiewicz, and the free agent market (how come Ben Sheets doesn't have a job yet?!) , but we'll get to those later.

For now, since my love for pitch f/x is well known, here's a great article from Josh Kalk about Ted Lilly, his lollipop curveball, and when to throw the high heat. Fascinating stuff.