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Hermida musings and minor league miscellanea E-mail
Written by Pat Lackey   
Friday, 06 November 2009 11:12

Latest sign that things are slowly changing on Federal Street: when the Red Sox traded for Jeremy Hermida yesterday and only gave up two minor league arms, I didn't go apopletic about the Pirates not being involved. Hermida seems like an intriguing buy-low candidate, but if he came to Pittsburgh he'd half about a half season to prove himself before he started costing Garrett Jones, Lastings Milledge, or Jose Tabata at-bats. That's not to say that we couldn't use Hermida (I'd sure rather watch him than Brandon Moss until Tabata's ready), just that not trading for him is no longer feels like a missed opportunity. Some of that's on him, but more of that's because we just have players that we should be playing before a guy like him.

Speaking of Jose Tabata, holy crap he's on fire. I've fallen behind on updating winter and fall ball guys (I'll get one up this weekend or Monday), but Tabata's currently hitting .372/.419/.513 with Scottsdale in the AFL. The AFL is a hitter's league, but it's nice to see him start to break out a bit. He, Danny Moskos, and Chase D'Arnaud are playing in the AFL Rising Stars Showcase on Saturday, which will be televised on the MLB Network at 8:00.

Finally, Joe Posnanski has a good post about the Yankees' payroll. I have something to say about this and how it relates to the Pirates, but I don't really know exactly how I want to say it. It's something along the lines of, "It really sucks how unfair baseball is, but it's not going to change any time soon and spending time wallowing in self-pity is only going to make things worse." Only if I write the post, it'll be 1500 words long and include several nerdy pop-culture references.


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Comments (7)add comment

Maxwell said:

...
I have to agree with you on Hermida, and it's not a cheap flier for a team like the Pirates (5+ million in arbitration), even though we have the money (but I'm not the type to say spend because you can). I'd much rather have a mixture of Jones/Moss/Clement/Pearce in the RF/1B mix before Tabata (more Jones than Moss of course). I do like the chance the Red Sox are taking though.

As per the Posnanski article, it's a good read but I would have liked to see some data involving revenue sharing. Either way, this just makes me realize how lucky I am to not be an Orioles fan. They might be able to pull off a Rays type year soon with all the good talent they have coming up, but it's such a small window when you share a division with the Sox and Yankees (as well as a smart FO in Tampa). The Pirates are really lucky to be in the NL Central, which includes one economic giant who gives out albatross contracts (Cubs), a team run by Ed Wade and Drayton McLane who challenge McClatchy and Littlefield for worse combo concievable (Astros), and another team that just traded for an aging/expensive Scott Rolen in a rebuilding phase and is run by an overrated GM in Jocketty (Reds).

The Cardinals are well run, but really hit the lotto with Pujols and will never spend too much money. While the Brewers are very well run but should never outspend the Pirates on a year to year basis (when both teams are good).

My point is, our division is a pretty level playing field when you consider money and intelligence.
 
November 06, 2009
Votes: +1

Nate said:

...
More importantly for Tabata, 7 of his 29 hits have gone for extra bases. He may not be showing the home run power we'd like yet (then again, neither did McCutchen), but he's showing he can get a good charge out of the ball. That's an encouraging sign. He currently has the most total bases on the team, and his OPS is second only to a small(er) sample size catcher.

Unfortunately, D'Arnaud has been kinda sucky. The OBP around .350 is nice, but the other stats are terrible. Then again, we know D'Arnaud can hit...he's probably there to work on his fielding.
 
November 06, 2009 | url
Votes: +0

Mr. Ando said:

@Nate
There's no UZR data for that level, is there?
 
November 06, 2009
Votes: -1

Jackson Tim said:

...
I'd like to read the 1500-word nerdy post.
 
November 07, 2009
Votes: -1

matt w said:

ex-buccos scrubbin' it up
I was just looking at the HACKING MASS standings -- a fantasy league to see who can pick the worst players -- and I saw that the winning team had three ex-Pirates. Guess who! (Hint: one doesn't like Dave Kerwin.)
 
November 07, 2009
Votes: -1

bucdaddy said:

...
I've got one of them: Jason Kendall
Been a hacking mass all-star most of this decade.
Who else ... was Minky stinky? Nah, you don't want bench guys, you need guys who suck full time, right? Adam Laroche was a candidate until at least mid July, but then he picked it up ... Nate was mediocre, not awful. Not Giles, not Bay, nady only played seven games. Rivas was out of the majors ...
Wait ... shortstops ... aha! I'm going with No. 2: Cesar I2turis.
Don't have a No. 3. Anyone?
 
November 09, 2009
Votes: +0

matt w said:

I totally broke my link, didn't I
Jose Guillen. Who earned a mere 37 points, though maybe that's good for a corner OF.

Let's try the link again.

Basically every team had Kendall; only Willy Taveras was more popular. Third-place team also had Izturis and NyjMo (who only got 23 points, which is part of the reason that team didn't finish higher), fourth place had Moss and Benson. Cedeno had a great score but only one team had him (in a reversal of the pattern, he got most of those points before coming to the Bucs). Buccos and ex-Buccos were a fecund source of RF scrubbery, as Giles, Moss, Guillen, and Delwyn were 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th at the position, respectively.
 
November 09, 2009
Votes: +0

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