-- John Perrotto of Inside Pittsburgh Sports say there are moves afoot to deal Ian Snell. The most likely destination is Colorado, which expressed interest in him last season and whose new skipper, Jim Tracy, likes Snell.
-- After Dontrelle Willis' outing yesterday, some media types are calling for him to pull a Ricky Ankiel and head to the outfield.
-- LHP Rudy Owens (6-1, 2.48), SS Chase D'Arnaud (.298/3/28), DH/1B Calvin Anderson (.286/7/37), manager Gary Green and pitching coach Jeff Johnson were selected to the Sally League All-Star game, representing the Class A West Virginia Power.
-- BTW, before the beefing about Tony Sanchez gets too out of hand, here's when the other guys considered by Pittsburgh went: Aaron Crow, (12th round), Grant Green, (13th round), Matthew Purke (14th round), Alex White (15th round), Kyle Gibson (22nd round), and Tanner Sheppers (44th round). It's not as if Pittsburgh forfeited the second coming by selecting the BC catcher.
-- RHP Kyle Hansen, the 6-foot-7 younger brother of injured Pirates hurler Craig Hansen, was taken by Milwaukee in the 40th round of the draft. He's committed to his brother's alma mater, St. John's.
Rockies manager Jim Tracy, himself a former big league outfielder, saw his third son drafted on Wednesday when Mark, a catcher at Duquesne University, was taken in the 49th round by the Rockies. Middle son Chad is an outfielder in the Rangers system at Double-A Frisco, while his oldest son, Brian, is the pitching coach at short-season State College in the Pittsburgh system.
-- Stephen Strasburg and his honcho Scott Boras haven't even gotten to yank the Nat's chain yet, but the next big thing, 16 year-old Bryce Harper, is trying to steal their limelight.
The phenom will skip his last two years of high school in order to enter the MLB draft sooner. Bryce's father, Ron Harper, told the Las Vegas Journal-Review that his son, a junior, will focus on earning his GED instead of a diploma, which he believes will make him draft-eligible next year instead of 2011.
Harper burst onto the national scene on June 8 when he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated under the headline "Baseball's Chosen One."
The a 6-3 catcher has signed a letter of intent and completed enrollment forms at the College of Southern Nevada, according to the paper.
I'm ready for the Ian Snell Era to end. Maybe he's hurt, maybe not. Maybe he's a head case, maybe not. Maybe this, maybe that. Whatever it is, he isn't getting it done, and at this point he's had more than enough opportunities. He's at the point where a change in scenery might do him good, and it might not, but whatever else is true, it seems he isn't going to right the ship in Pittsburgh.
ReplyDeleteI agree on both counts, Will. Snell needs a change of scenery. I dunno what else the Pittsburgh guys can do to motivate him.
ReplyDeleteAnd Dontrelle Willis was so good, who woulda ever thunk that Steve Blass disease would get to him? I hate to see any pitcher lose it that way.