Well, it's not exactly like a Jhonny Peralta signing, but the Bucs have begun to reshape their roster. The Pirates have picked up OF Jaff Decker and RHP Miles Mikolas from San Diego in exchange for minor league 1B/OF Alex Dickerson.
Decker, 23, was a sandwich pick (42nd overall) in the 2008 draft, and was the #82 Prospect per Baseball America by 2010. He put up a decent slash last season (.286/10/40, 415 PA) for AAA Tucson, although we're always leery of counting numbers from the Pacific Coast League.
He had picked up several awards in the lower levels, but hit a wall in AA during the 2012 season when the lefty was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis early in the season and then tore his plantar tendon
on May 31st. Still, he didn't fall entirely off the radar, as BA had him pegged as the Friar's #23 Prospect.
Decker does have a decent eye; he'll swing through a few pitches, but
had a .381 OBP last season and a .402 OBP in his five year minor league
career. He can plan all three OF positions and has a chance make the active roster, per Neil Huntington. He has two option years remaining, so he can still spend a season or two at Indy as last year was his first season at the AAA level.
The OF'er is an interesting selection. He provides a LH alternative to Travis Snider in RF as a fourth-outfielder type and frees up Andrew Lambo to move to first, so he allows the FO some wiggle room in the market. But he's no slam dunk. In a small sample size of 26 MLB plate appearances, he hit just .154. But he does make camp a little more competitive and helps to firm up the positional battle lines.
Mikolas put together a 4-2-26/3.25 ERA in 61 IP/54 appearances for AAA Tuscon. The righty has worked a few frames in the show, too, going 2-1/3.44 ERA, with 25 of his 27 outings coming in 2012. In 34 career innings in the majors he has a 3.44 ERA, a 6.4 K/9 and a 4.2 BB/9 ratio.
The 25 year old has a lot of things the Bucs like - he's 6'5", tosses bullets (he sits at 93-94, touching 98) with a ground ball rate of 50.9% per Fangraphs. He couples his heater with an average or better curve. As a plus, he's got one option left, so the Bucs have a chance to look and tinker.
His fastball has a lot of velocity but not much movement. And while his minor league walks per nine was quite good at 2.0, in the show it's jumped to 4.2. Scouts project him not as a future closer, but as a middle reliever or setup man. Unless, of course, the Pirate mechanics can turn that flat four seamer into a heay sinking two seamer...
Neither Decker nor Mikolas were on San Diego's hot list, as both had been DFA'ed on November 20th.
Dickerson, 23, was drafted by the Pirates in the third round of the 2011 draft and was named the Eastern League Rookie of the Year in 2013 after
hitting .288/17/68 RBIs for AA
Altoona and a post-season All-Star. He was the Bucs #13 Prospect according to BA.
The Pirates sent him to the Arizona Fall League, where he hit well (.290) but played only the corner outfield, not at first base. AIf the Pirates saw him as an OF prospect, well, there was quite a line he'd have to leapfrog to sniff PNC Park. It's possible that they were trying to spiff up his versatility to make him more attractive, too. In either case, the FO didn't see him as an everyday guy .
That caused a couple of secondary moves to clear space on the 40-man roster. Garrett Jones, widely expected to be non-tendered this season, was DFA'ed along with injured RHP Kyle McPherson, who is recovering from TJ surgery.
Jones made $4.5M in 2013 and would have earned $5M+ in his third year of
arbitration, making him virtually untradeable after hitting .233 with 15 homers and a .708 OPS in 144
games. The Pirates, we're sure, already have Jones' 2014 salary targeted, maybe for a new first baseman. At age 32 and capable as an outfielder, he should have no problems landing another MLB gig, though
he has painted himself into a platoon corner and the paycut that comes
with that tag.
Kyle McPherson would have opened the year on the 60-day D, though his release was a bit of a surprise, especially given some of the other guys on the 40-man. It doesn't necessarily mean that the Pirates will cut ties with him. He's not supposed to be ready to pitch until July, so the FO could be trying to squeak him past waivers and then sign him again, but to a minor league deal, for 2014.
Showing posts with label garrett jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garrett jones. Show all posts
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Bucs Still Shopping Jones?
With Garrett Jones signing, Tom Singer of MLB.com speculates via tweet "With the Red Sox still shopping for a lefty-hitting 1B-OF -- ring any bells? -- you have to wonder if the Pirates will make another run at Iglesias."
He's referring to Cuban SS prospect Jose Iglesias, 23, a great gloveman who wasn't available to the Pirates earlier, but now may be since the BoSox inked Stephen Drew after the Hanny deal. AA shortstop Xander Bogaerts is maybe the #1 player in their minor league system, so Iglesias could be in play now. Mike Napoli's recent deal with Beantown still leaves the Red Sox a lefty bat short, tho they'd prefer to deal a guy like C Jarrod Saltalamacchia rather than Inglesias.
For the Bucs, they'd still require a solid return for Jones; Iglesias alone wouldn't be enough. Jones is probably at his highest value now, and offers two more years of team control through arbitration. Entering his age 32 season, he isn't a long-term piece of the Pirate puzzle, and Pittsburgh has been stockpiling guys to replace him if a opportunity to deal does come up.
But he does have 87 bombs in his four year Bucco career, and Pittsburgh doesn't have much thump in its sticks, so Jones may have more short-term value to the Pirates than he does to other clubs. His status as a platoon guy and his limited defensive value may make him a difficult sell for a solid return. But if someone's looking for a final piece and are willing to overpay some for it, the FO will - and should - be all ears.
He's referring to Cuban SS prospect Jose Iglesias, 23, a great gloveman who wasn't available to the Pirates earlier, but now may be since the BoSox inked Stephen Drew after the Hanny deal. AA shortstop Xander Bogaerts is maybe the #1 player in their minor league system, so Iglesias could be in play now. Mike Napoli's recent deal with Beantown still leaves the Red Sox a lefty bat short, tho they'd prefer to deal a guy like C Jarrod Saltalamacchia rather than Inglesias.
For the Bucs, they'd still require a solid return for Jones; Iglesias alone wouldn't be enough. Jones is probably at his highest value now, and offers two more years of team control through arbitration. Entering his age 32 season, he isn't a long-term piece of the Pirate puzzle, and Pittsburgh has been stockpiling guys to replace him if a opportunity to deal does come up.
But he does have 87 bombs in his four year Bucco career, and Pittsburgh doesn't have much thump in its sticks, so Jones may have more short-term value to the Pirates than he does to other clubs. His status as a platoon guy and his limited defensive value may make him a difficult sell for a solid return. But if someone's looking for a final piece and are willing to overpay some for it, the FO will - and should - be all ears.
- Singer also tweeted that the Liriano deal isn't dead yet; the Pirates continue to seek more starting pitching, which will be a backburner storyline until April and maybe beyond.
- Who is Pittsburgh's nominee in the "One Hit Wonder" category posted by David Schoenfield in The Sweet Spot blog? The answer is LHP Ollie Perez, who looked like a number one as a 22 year old in 2004 and now is working out of the bullpen for Seattle. The Mets, btw, paid him about $45M over five years for 29 wins and 520 IP.
- Dave Laurila of Fangraphs interviewed Bucco backstop from the good ol' days, Spanky LaValliere. He has some interesting stuff on the pitchers he caught, both in and out of Pittsburgh.
- Saturday was a bad day for MLB, with both Stan the Man and Earl Weaver passing on to the stadium in the sky.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Jones Signs...Some Housekeeping Remains
As expected when Garrett Jones and the FO didn't exchange arb figures yesterday, a deal was in the works. AP announced that that Jones struck a one year, $4.5M contract with the Pirates. That figure is just about on the nose for his estimated arb value of $4.4M as estimated by Matt Schwartz of MLB Trade Rumors. He doubled his 2012 salary of $2.25M, and still has two years of arbitration remaining as a Super Two.
Jones, 31, had a career year, batting .274/.317/.516 with 27 homers and 86 RBI as the Pirates primary clean-up hitter, and was rumored to be on several teams trade lists. The Bucs were said to want top value for him, and by signing him proved that he had high value to them. The only question is whether the platoon player - he's weak against lefties - had an outlier season or finally figured it out, helped by Buc management limiting his exposure to lefties.
With both he and Gaby Sanchez ($1.75M) signed, Clint Robinson and Jerry Sands, both whom have options remaining, could potentially start the season at Indy; at least one of them is redundant now. Robinson scores points as a lefty off the bench; Sands is more versatile as a 1B/OF. Where that leaves Matt Hague, who is pretty well out of the picture, and Matt Curry is squarely in no-man's land, depending on the Robinson/Sands assignments.
There are two guys left to deal with, Neil Walker and James McDonald. There's a pretty sizeable gap between what they requested and the Bucs offered. The Kid asked for $3.6M and was offered $3M; J-Mac asked for $3.4M and was offered $2.65M.
McDonald's midpoint of $3.025M is close to his predicted value of $3M, so there's a good chance he and the club may meet around there. Walker will be a little more testy. His predicted value was $2.9M, which the Pirates beat by a smidge. He may end up with a hearing, as he's entering his first year of Super Two status and so is setting a baseline for his paycheck through 2016.
As Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects pointed out, that figure will mean millions of dollars one way or the other over the life of his arbitration years. Whether the Bucs, or for that matter Walker, accept the midpoint of $3.3M will be the arb season storyline in Pittsburgh
Jones, 31, had a career year, batting .274/.317/.516 with 27 homers and 86 RBI as the Pirates primary clean-up hitter, and was rumored to be on several teams trade lists. The Bucs were said to want top value for him, and by signing him proved that he had high value to them. The only question is whether the platoon player - he's weak against lefties - had an outlier season or finally figured it out, helped by Buc management limiting his exposure to lefties.
With both he and Gaby Sanchez ($1.75M) signed, Clint Robinson and Jerry Sands, both whom have options remaining, could potentially start the season at Indy; at least one of them is redundant now. Robinson scores points as a lefty off the bench; Sands is more versatile as a 1B/OF. Where that leaves Matt Hague, who is pretty well out of the picture, and Matt Curry is squarely in no-man's land, depending on the Robinson/Sands assignments.
There are two guys left to deal with, Neil Walker and James McDonald. There's a pretty sizeable gap between what they requested and the Bucs offered. The Kid asked for $3.6M and was offered $3M; J-Mac asked for $3.4M and was offered $2.65M.
McDonald's midpoint of $3.025M is close to his predicted value of $3M, so there's a good chance he and the club may meet around there. Walker will be a little more testy. His predicted value was $2.9M, which the Pirates beat by a smidge. He may end up with a hearing, as he's entering his first year of Super Two status and so is setting a baseline for his paycheck through 2016.
As Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects pointed out, that figure will mean millions of dollars one way or the other over the life of his arbitration years. Whether the Bucs, or for that matter Walker, accept the midpoint of $3.3M will be the arb season storyline in Pittsburgh
Monday, November 16, 2009
Garrett Jones
Hey, it's pretty depressing to be a long-time minor league vet toiling away on the farm, all the while knowing that you're blocked from making the big club no matter what you do. Try vaulting talent like Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young, and Jason Kubel. BB King would feel blue for you.
That's the situation Garrett Jones found himself in at Minnesota. He had spent parts of eleven seasons and over 1,000 games in the minors, where he was a middlin' prospect who had hit 36 homers and driven in 162 runs during the 2007-08 seasons while hitting .280.
But overall during those years, Jones hit .258 with 158 HR’s, a .312 OBP, and 629 RBI in 4,185 AB’s, not exactly a line to make Morneau and Cuddyer peek over their shoulders in fear of their jobs.
Drafted in the 14th round of the draft in 1999 by Atlanta out of high school, Jones sent three seasons in the Brave bushes, where he was released and taken in by the Twins. He spent from 2005 on at AAA Rochester, serving as an insurance policy for the big club.
Jones had a stop in the show in 2007 and fizzled, hitting .208 with 2 homers in 77 at-bats for the Twins after being called up three different times. Heck, he was even taken off the 40-man roster and waived in 2008, and no one claimed him.
His knock was that he swung out of his shoes, and as a result struck out 958 times in the minors. Everyone thought the 28 year-old was a quad A player.
And with that rep, it was no surprise that the Pirates inked him to a minor-league free agent contract in late December, 2008. After all, the Pirates were ground zero for AAAA talent.
Actually, the truth is he was semi-recruited by Tom Gorzelanny after the season, a brother Illinois native (Jones hails from Harvey) who sold him on the Pirates' plan to remake the roster. Little did Gorzo know how thorough a sweeping was in store!
He wrangled an invite to camp, and went pretty deep into spring training, batting .294 with four homers in 51 at-bats. Jones carried that over to Indy, where he hit .307 with 12 homers and 50 RBI in 277 at-bats, with a .502 slugging percentage and .850 OPS.
On June 30th, he got his ticket to Pittsburgh, and started getting some regular at-bats. With Brandon Moss struggling and Adam LaRoche gone, he became a major league starter, a goal that had long eluded him. And he took full advantage.
Jones finished the year with a .293/.372/.567 line and .938 OPS, adding 21 homers and 44 RBI. He was the Rookie of the Month in July, with a .310/.361/.700 line, 10 homers, and 17 RBI. The 6-4, 245 pound slugger cooled off the next couple of months as the league's pitchers began to adjust to him, but he still hit .285 with 11 dingers and 27 RBI.
And on September 2, 2009, his second inning blast at Cincinnati was the Pirates' 10,000th all-time home run in 123 seasons, so his place in Bucco history is assured.
The major area of concern is his approach with runners on base. A .152 average with runners in scoring position is a red flag for a guy you want to plant in the middle of the order. That may just be a blip; he didn't have much of a split between RISP and season batting averages in the minors.
He also had a pretty big righty/lefty split, and that's been a career-long issue with him. Jones had a .333 average against righties, and .208 against lefties. Steve Pearce hit .268 against LHP and .174 against RHP, so we'd suppose the thought of platooning them is at least being considered for early 2010. Spring camp should sort that out.
His fielding was just OK. He had a +2.4 UZR at first, and a -6.9 UZR in right. He had about the performance you would expect for a big galoot first baseman transplanted to the outfield, often struggling with routes, leading to balls rolling to the wall.
But his range was acceptable, as was his arm; he wasn't Manny-like. And he had only played 234 games in the pasture in the minors, so it wasn't exactly like he was getting back on the bike in right field.
Still, there's little doubt he's better suited to be a first baseman, and by mid-season Jose Tabata (or Lastings Milledge) and Brandon Moss should be patrolling the Clemente Wall, relieving him of that duty.
His performance was duly noted by Baseball America, which named him to its All-Rookie team at the end of October.
But the question is: Is he a one-shot wonder, or a late bloomer? His last two months project him as a .280's hitter with 30 home run potential. But the NL pitching coaches have an entire off season to put together a book on him, so the cat-and-mouse game of adjustments will be telling in 2010.
His age shouldn't be an albatross. Jones is exactly what the Pirates lust for, a player that won't be arbitration eligible until 2012. So his near future here should be based on performance, not the Grecian Formula factor.
And there is a good example out there of a guy that figured it out later rather than sooner. Kevin Millar started out at the age of 27, and he put together a pretty good decade since then before injuries caught up to him.
One thing's for sure. Unless something out of the blue strikes, he'll celebrate his first opening day ever as a major leaguer when April 2, 2010, rolls around.
(The Baseball Writers' Association of America begins handing out its postseason awards today, with the National League and American League Rookie of the Year honors up first. The two winners will be announced at 2 p.m. So we thought we'd give a little love to the Bucs pair of candidates, Jones and Andrew McCutchen, who will be featured tomorrow.)
That's the situation Garrett Jones found himself in at Minnesota. He had spent parts of eleven seasons and over 1,000 games in the minors, where he was a middlin' prospect who had hit 36 homers and driven in 162 runs during the 2007-08 seasons while hitting .280.
But overall during those years, Jones hit .258 with 158 HR’s, a .312 OBP, and 629 RBI in 4,185 AB’s, not exactly a line to make Morneau and Cuddyer peek over their shoulders in fear of their jobs.
Drafted in the 14th round of the draft in 1999 by Atlanta out of high school, Jones sent three seasons in the Brave bushes, where he was released and taken in by the Twins. He spent from 2005 on at AAA Rochester, serving as an insurance policy for the big club.
Jones had a stop in the show in 2007 and fizzled, hitting .208 with 2 homers in 77 at-bats for the Twins after being called up three different times. Heck, he was even taken off the 40-man roster and waived in 2008, and no one claimed him.
His knock was that he swung out of his shoes, and as a result struck out 958 times in the minors. Everyone thought the 28 year-old was a quad A player.
And with that rep, it was no surprise that the Pirates inked him to a minor-league free agent contract in late December, 2008. After all, the Pirates were ground zero for AAAA talent.
Actually, the truth is he was semi-recruited by Tom Gorzelanny after the season, a brother Illinois native (Jones hails from Harvey) who sold him on the Pirates' plan to remake the roster. Little did Gorzo know how thorough a sweeping was in store!
He wrangled an invite to camp, and went pretty deep into spring training, batting .294 with four homers in 51 at-bats. Jones carried that over to Indy, where he hit .307 with 12 homers and 50 RBI in 277 at-bats, with a .502 slugging percentage and .850 OPS.
On June 30th, he got his ticket to Pittsburgh, and started getting some regular at-bats. With Brandon Moss struggling and Adam LaRoche gone, he became a major league starter, a goal that had long eluded him. And he took full advantage.
Jones finished the year with a .293/.372/.567 line and .938 OPS, adding 21 homers and 44 RBI. He was the Rookie of the Month in July, with a .310/.361/.700 line, 10 homers, and 17 RBI. The 6-4, 245 pound slugger cooled off the next couple of months as the league's pitchers began to adjust to him, but he still hit .285 with 11 dingers and 27 RBI.
And on September 2, 2009, his second inning blast at Cincinnati was the Pirates' 10,000th all-time home run in 123 seasons, so his place in Bucco history is assured.
The major area of concern is his approach with runners on base. A .152 average with runners in scoring position is a red flag for a guy you want to plant in the middle of the order. That may just be a blip; he didn't have much of a split between RISP and season batting averages in the minors.
He also had a pretty big righty/lefty split, and that's been a career-long issue with him. Jones had a .333 average against righties, and .208 against lefties. Steve Pearce hit .268 against LHP and .174 against RHP, so we'd suppose the thought of platooning them is at least being considered for early 2010. Spring camp should sort that out.
His fielding was just OK. He had a +2.4 UZR at first, and a -6.9 UZR in right. He had about the performance you would expect for a big galoot first baseman transplanted to the outfield, often struggling with routes, leading to balls rolling to the wall.
But his range was acceptable, as was his arm; he wasn't Manny-like. And he had only played 234 games in the pasture in the minors, so it wasn't exactly like he was getting back on the bike in right field.
Still, there's little doubt he's better suited to be a first baseman, and by mid-season Jose Tabata (or Lastings Milledge) and Brandon Moss should be patrolling the Clemente Wall, relieving him of that duty.
His performance was duly noted by Baseball America, which named him to its All-Rookie team at the end of October.
But the question is: Is he a one-shot wonder, or a late bloomer? His last two months project him as a .280's hitter with 30 home run potential. But the NL pitching coaches have an entire off season to put together a book on him, so the cat-and-mouse game of adjustments will be telling in 2010.
His age shouldn't be an albatross. Jones is exactly what the Pirates lust for, a player that won't be arbitration eligible until 2012. So his near future here should be based on performance, not the Grecian Formula factor.
And there is a good example out there of a guy that figured it out later rather than sooner. Kevin Millar started out at the age of 27, and he put together a pretty good decade since then before injuries caught up to him.
One thing's for sure. Unless something out of the blue strikes, he'll celebrate his first opening day ever as a major leaguer when April 2, 2010, rolls around.
(The Baseball Writers' Association of America begins handing out its postseason awards today, with the National League and American League Rookie of the Year honors up first. The two winners will be announced at 2 p.m. So we thought we'd give a little love to the Bucs pair of candidates, Jones and Andrew McCutchen, who will be featured tomorrow.)
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