P-G Reports Presley, d'Arnaud To Rejoin Team

Michael Sanserino of the Post Gazette reports that OF Alex Presley and IF Chase d'Arnaud will be taken off the DL and rejoin the team tomorrow. Neither was in the lineup for the Tribe tonight, and Presley, tweets Indianapolis announcer Scott McCauley, was high-fiving his way through the dugout.

Presley had a line of .333/1/9 in 20 games for the Pirates before being DL'ed on July 25th with a thumb injury. d'Arnaud hit .225 with eleven runs scored in 25 games. He went on the DL a couple of days after Presley with a broken pinky.

Both add some energy and a lot of speed to the lineup; Presley will likely become an everyday corner OF'er; he patrolled left during his last stint. d'Arnaud will be a utility infielder, primarily on the left side.

Presley will probably replace LHP Aaron Thompson, who was called up for a spot start, while d'Arnaud will likely swap spots with Pedro Ciriaco. The team is expected to announce the moves tomorrow in St. Louis after the players arrive per Bucco SOP.

• Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com takes a look at Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie, Gerritt Cole and Josh Bell.
• Ryan Ludwick joined Derrek Lee on the DL. He has back spasms while Lee has a broken hand. They may not have contributed much to the stretch run, but at least they're not blocking any young 'uns.

Notes

Mike Pelfrey and Paul Maholm work tonight as the Bucs try to salvage a split against the Mets. First pitch is at 7:05 PM and the game will be shown on Root Sports. Pelfrey is the guy the Bucs jumped ahead of 7-0 last week just to eventually lose a dreadful 8-7 decision.

Tonight's lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Xavier Paul CF, Neil Walker 2B, Garrett Jones RF, Lyle Overbay 1B, Brandon Wood 3B, Mike McKenry C, Ronny Cedeno SS, Paul Maholm P. 

Jones gets to start after showing some life at the plate.  McKenry gets the call behind the dish, and that's logical - Maholm is a vet, has good control and is an easy guy to catch.  McCutch gets the night off, ouch.

• Dejan Kovacevic of the Tribune Review makes the argument for a Neal Huntington contract extension.
• By picking up Mike McKenry, the FO reinforced their emphasis on pitching by selected a good-glove, average hit guy to help weather the current storm behind the dish. After an initial burst of trying to model the team along AL lines, it looks like they may be building a more prototypical NL club. (Of course, it's always possible that everyone wanted Jameson Taillon in trade for their third-string catcher, too.) 
• Jen Langosch of MLB.com reports that the Mets are protesting to have McCutch's two-run double off RA Dickey Saturday changed to an error.  The difference?  Dickey gets two less earned runs on his stat line, and McCutch loses the RBIs.  Tough play and call; thirdbaseman Dan Murphy had to move to his right to glove a smash that glanced off him. It could go either way, although we see no reason to change the original decision.
• Even with the rash of injuries in Pittsburgh and all the recent roster churning that has entailed, the Indy Indians keep on trucking.  On May 7th they were 12 games under .500 at 9-21; as of yesterday they were 33-32. 

Bucs Start Signing Prospects

The Bucs signed their first 2011 draft pick, 6th rounder Dan Gamache of Auburn. Baseball America reports that "Gamache had a hand injury late in the season that required surgery and ended his year early. He hit just .265 in Southeastern Conference play but has solid athleticism and is willing to take a walk. Gamache has good enough hands and arm strength to stay at third base."

He should start off at State College or West Virginia, the usual landing spots for college draftees. Gamache signed for $125,000 bonus, within slot.

We took a quick look at the lower level rosters to see if any other draftees are in camp. State College includes picks RHP Matt Benedict (30th round - Western Carolina), C Derek Trent (31st round - East Tennessee State) and infielders Brian Sharp (24th round - California Baptist) & Kirk Singer (29th round - Long Beach State) on their initial roster, so we assume they've inked a deal. RHPs Stetson Allie and Nick Kingham along with position players SS Jorge Bishop & OF Exicardo Cayonez are the top prospects on the Spikes roster.

The rosters of the GCL Pirates and West Virginia Power (though Gamache may end up there) don't show any new 2011 additions yet, though the rookie league squad has the makings of a true UN club. There are 16 players on the roster to date, and they come from Mexico, Taiwan, Australia, Cuba, Lithuania, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Venezuela and the US. Guess the international scouts for Pittsburgh have been busy. RHP Luis Heredia is the top name for the GCL team.

They also inked two players from Taiwan, C Chin-De Chang and LHP Wei-Chung Wang, according to Tim Williams at Pirates Prospects, who added:

"Chang is 5′ 10″, 154 pounds, and is a left handed hitter.  He’s one of the top prospects in Taiwan, with excellent bat speed, and power from the left side. He has a strong arm, which makes him ideal as a catcher.  It was speculated that it would take $150 K to sign him.

Wang is 6′ 1″, 170 pounds, and has touched 88 MPH with his fastball.  He’s got some projectability, and shows an above average changeup at times. It was rumored that his asking price was $300 K."

This is the Bucco draft rundown by John Sickels of Minor League Baseball, who writes "The Pirates executed a great one-two-three punch with Cole/Bell/Dickerson at the top of the draft, then went to their usual strategy of loading up with projectable high school arms." 

Indy After A Week...

With the Bucs being rained out, GW thought he'd take a peek at the retooled Indy club after a week of play. Now six games is an awfully small sample size, but a couple of early trends are popping up.

First, the 1-5 record indicates that the guys, a mix of borderline Bucs and Altoona prospects, are still feeling their way around in AAA.

Late cuts Andy Marte and Pedro Ciriaco are having a tough time at the dish - Marte is hitting .111, Ciriaco .100. Both are sitting at about 20 plate appearances, which isn't much to go on, and probably are suffering from the cut-down blues, a common enough phenomena and usually a short-term condition.

But the holes they had at camp are still showing in AAA. Marte has struck out 8 times in 18 at-bats, and Ciriaco has drawn just one walk in 20 at-bats. Both have plate discipline issues that they have to correct to take the next step.

Another ice-cold starter is Andrew Lambo. In 20 at-bats, he has one single and a sky-high 11 Ks. He'll bear watching, although an acclimation period is to be expected - he's only 22 and has just 73 games at the AA level, so he was advanced fairly aggressively.

Other guys are off to flying starts. Alex Presley is hitting .500, and last year's Altoona infielders Chase d'Arnaud (.381) and Matt Hague (.348) don't appear overmatched. Gorkys Hernandez, perhaps the most gifted defensive OF'er in the Pirate system, is hitting a solid .298 and has drawn four walks. At 23, he's begun to show some flashes at the plate over the past two seasons.

The only drawback is none of the above have shown much power, although d'Arnaud has four extra base hits. He, Presley and Hernandez all profile as top-of-the-order guys, so that's OK, but Hague is a first baseman and will have to develop some pop.

Corey Wimberly is the fourth outfielder, transitioning from the infield to the pasture. He hasn't seen much action yet, getting into two games, with a pair of singles in five trips to the plate.

The other notable stat is aggressiveness on the bases; the go-go Tribe has 20 stolen base attempts in what seems to be a system-wide emphasis on playing high-pressure ball. The only problem is that they've succeeded just 10 times, so base-stealing is obviously a work-in-progress.

Still, Indy is a better place to hone that art than Pittsburgh, and it's about time the organization began to stress the running game, especially given the speedy but punch-and-judy makeup of the Indy order.

Pitching is tough to read; only Brian Burres has made more than one start, and he's already a known factor. Brad Lincoln, Rudy Owens and Justin Wilson have fared OK in their lone outings; Sean Gallagher not so well.

But the bane of the big team is shared by the AAA club. Burres, Owens, Lincoln and Danny Moskos (Joe Beimel, too, if you care to count him) have shown the ability to throw strikes, but the rest of the staff...well, as a group, they've walked 28 batters in a half dozen games (4.6 free passes per nine innings). And that's just what Ray Searage doesn't need to hear.

Hey, it's early, and so far Indy has produced the expected mixed bag of results. We'll have a better gauge a few weeks down the road.

BA's Jim Callis On The Pirates' Pups

Jim Callis of Baseball America had his prospects' chat today, and touched on a couple of young Buccos:

About Jameson Taillon - "Sounds like the Pirates are doing with Taillon what the Rockies did with Tyler Matzek last year. Unless he just comes out and destroys SAL competition, I bet Taillon spends the year in low Class A."

About Chase d'Arnaud - "Could see him (MLB) ready in 2012, but I'm not sure he's a shortstop."

About Pedro/Anthony Rendon "Alvarez is going to wind up at 1B in the next few years regardless of whom the Pirates draft. If they take Rendon, he moves sooner because Rendon won't need a lot of time in the minors."

About Luis Heredia - "He's only 16, so (it will take him) at least four years (to reach the majors)."

Mayo's Top Ten Prospects

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com just put out his Top Ten Prospects list for Pittsburgh. It's the usual suspects, except that he gives Jeff Locke a little more love than most. He also adds an estimated big league arrival date, a nice touch. His ratings:

-1. RHP Jameson Taillon (ETA - 2013)
-2. RHP Stetson Allie (ETA - 2014)
-3. C Tony Sanchez (ETA - 2012)
-4. LHP Rudy Owens (ETA - 2011)
-5. RHP Bryan Morris (ETA - 2011)
-6. RHP Luis Heredia (ETA - 2014)
-7. LHP Jeff Locke (ETA - 2012)
-8. OF Starling Marte (ETA - 2013)
-9. RHP Zack Von Rosenberg (ETA - 2014)
10. RHP Colton Cain (ETA - 2014)

Four Bucs In Baseball Prospectus Top 101

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus released his Top 101 Prospects today. Pirates included are:

#8 - Jameson Taillon
#39 - Stetson Allie
#81 - Luis Heredia
#93 - Tony Sanchez

Also, Baseball America released guys that fell under their their Top 100 but still received notice. For the Bucs, the players were Starling Marte, Bryan Morris and Luis Heredia.

Talkin' Pitchin'

Frank Coonelly had his monthly MLB.com chat today, and he was talking young pitching. Here's what he had to say about where the Pirate prospects are likely to start 2011:

-- "If Rudy (Owens) is one of the top three starters coming out of Spring Training, Rudy will break camp with the Pittsburgh Pirates. A jump from Double-A to the Majors is unusual but would not be unheard of, and I certainly would not put it past Owens."

Now the question did specifically ask if Owens would join the big club if he were one of the 2-3 top starters in the spring, and he could conceivably slot at #3 with this rotation. But the prez seems to be saying that the team would rather polish him at Indy than throw him to the wolves as a back-ender this season. And make no mistake, the brass are high on Owens after being kinda meh in 2009, his breakout year.

-- He does like the 2010 Altoona staff, and a lot. "Decisions as to where Owens, Bryan Morris, Justin Wilson, Jeff Locke and Tony Watson will begin the 2011 season will be answered during Spring Training. As I mentioned above, it would be unusual but not unheard of for any of them to make the jump directly from Double-A to the Majors. A far more likely scenario would be for them to begin the 2011 season in Indianapolis and have the opportunity to earn a promotion to Pittsburgh at some point in 2011."

The FO, at least publicly, is saying the boys aren't that far away from the show. That, of course, would explain why they only signed Kevin Correia and Scott Olsen this year, so that the kids wouldn't be blocked from Pittsburgh and perhaps more importantly, from meaningful innings at Indy by AAAA arms. They'll need the work; Watson is the only one that's not a starter, and he was just converted to the pen last year.

-- On the 2010 pitching trifecta, FC says: "I would expect that Jameson (Taillon) will begin in Charleston, West Virginia, with the Power." He also hinted that Stetson Allie would start at State College, and last week, it was announced that Luis Heredia will start his days in the GCL. Each player was assigned aggressively, beginning his pro career a level higher than the usual prospect and hopefully will stay in the fast lane to the show.

And the heralded pitching class of 2009 should be spread over the two Class A clubs, with everyone on schedule so far, though no one is fast tracked yet, either.

Pirate Farm System: Half Full or Half Empty?

There's been a little difference of opinion regarding the Pirate farm system. The Bucco FO compares it favorably to KC's, widely recognized as the best in MLB, while national pundits rank it 19th and 21st. The truth? Well, they're both right to a degree.

First, you have to recall that the bright lights of the organization - Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, and yes, even Steve Pearce - have made the jump to the bigs in the past season and a half, and that's a pretty impressive feat.

Not many teams have four starting position players jumping from the farm to the show that quickly, and some would argue that Garrett Jones be included among that group (Not GW; a minor league free agent is still a free agent, but hey, to each his own).

So the FO hangs its hat on the quick rebuilding from within. But the national guys look at Indy, and frankly, they don't see much on the horizon. Brad Lincoln and Rudy Owens, Alex Presley as an extra OF'er, maybe Daniel Moskos. There's not much left after the raids of the last two seasons.

So their point is that the Pirates don't have much MLB-ready talent; hence the low rankings.

The reality falls in between.

The current Pirate braintrust is just three draft classes into restocking a minor league system left bare by Dave Littlefield. The FO tries to get the elite guys on the fast track, and the rest of the players are pretty much on the traditional level-at-a-time schedule.

The college picks should be showing up at Altoona and Indy now, while the high school guys should be in high A or AA ball in 2011. And that's about where the Pirates prospects are at.

Chase d'Arnaud and Jordy Mercer will man Indy's middle infield along with Brian Friday. Gorkys Hernandez will be in CF; the question is whether the best defensive outfielder in the organization can develop an eye. Jim Negrych is a Delwyn Young clone.

Tony Sanchez, Andrew Lambo, Starling Marte, Brock Holt, Jarek Cunningham, Josh Harrison, Eric Avila, Exicardo Cayones, Robert Grossman, and Quincy Latimore are the bright lights among the up-and-coming position players. It's a list that needs more names and deeper talent, for sure.

The pitching wave is finally hitting the higher levels. Along with Lincoln and Owens are Justin Miller, Bryan Morris, and Jeff Locke. Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie and Luis Heredia will all be rocketed through the system if possible.

In between are pitchers like Zack Von Rosenberg, Quinton Miller, Zack Dodson, Nick Kingham, Brooks Pounder, Victor Black, and Colton Cain. Diego Moreno and Ramon Aguero are future closers. So the Bucco FO is developing depth where an organization most needs it, at pitching. But it's still young.

And they've done a much better job of signing Latino talent. The problem there is that it takes those guys forever to percolate through an organization since they're inked at such ridiculously young ages. But some are beginning to make their mark in the Pirates' system: Moreno, Aguero, Heredia, Marte, Avila, Cayones, Yhonathan Barrios, Jorge Bishop, Elevys Gonzalez...it's a promising list, and hopefully will grow.

One thing about the Pirates is that they like high school players; it's easier to sign them and get them into the system. You concede two things, though: time and ability to evaluate against higher levels of competition. Apparently they feel the prep route is the best way to combine upside and value in the draft.

But you have a better handle of the talent level of a college player, and you can usually run them through your system far more quickly and aggressively than a high school kid. That would be our main quibble with the Pirate farm template; we'd prefer a better mix of college and prep players.

Another issue is that so few of their picks are impact players; only Pedro and Taillon, so far. That's not to say that there aren't guys who will develop into big-time baseballers, but there are none with pedigrees like that pair. And teams need difference makers to mix in with the foot soldiers.

We'd like to see a few more position guys added to the mix. But three years isn't a huge sample, and the pitching needed the attention, so we'll wait and see. It is easier to find an everyday guy in the free market than it is to land a pitcher.

We give the Pirates a solid B so far in the Coonelly/Huntington era for building a system. They could have have done it maybe a little quicker and with a little more starpower, but they're bringing in players with upside, emphasizing pitching depth, augmenting the organization with Latino talent, and willing to dig deep into Bob Nutting's pocket to sign people.

It's a day and night improvement from the McClatchy/Littlefield years.

Speak of the Devil...

Hey, we were just talking about the Pirates' minor league talent, and even tho GW is a widely renown tightwad and unlikely to scale the tiniest of subscription walls, thanks to John Perrotto's tweets, we have the rating of the Pirate's farm system:

Baseball America rates the Buccos at #19 in their Handbook, and Keith Law of ESPN ranks them #21 in his Insider report.

So even with all the money tossed at the draft in the past three years, the combination of very little talent from the Littlefield days coupled with some misses dealing for prospects and an emphasis on prep arms by the current FO still leaves the Pirate organization in the MLB's bottom third. It's tough to build a club that way.

Maybe, just maybe, the guys running the club will take a serious look at the free agent market in the future; it doesn't look like the self-grown help is going to arrive for awhile yet.

Bucs' Minors Loaded?

MLB.com is set to anoint its Top Fifty Prospects tonight on The MLB Network. Don't hold your breath waiting for any Bucco pups to be highlighted.

The web site issued its Top Ten lists for prospects at 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, C, OF, LHP and RHP. One Bucco made the grade - RHP Jameson Taillon, drafted #1 last year and still waiting to throw his first professional pitch.

No Tony Sanchez, no Chase d'Arnaud, no Starling Marte, no Alex Presley, no Rudy Owens, no Bryan Morris...

Hey, the lack of position players is somewhat understandable. Pedro's already in the show, as are Littlefield's top guys like McCutch and Neil Walker, while Sanchez missed a lot of last year with injuries.

Still, it's a little scary when not one of your farm hands is considered a top gun. Without talent in depth, you can't deal from strength or even reload.

The pitching has even more reason to be overlooked. The Pirates loaded up on high school kids who are still bumping around in Class A and maybe AA this year; the first wave of young arms is just approaching Indy.

They chose upside over urgency by opting for prep rather than college arms. It will take a bit to see if that decision pays off as they hope.

In fairness, the current bossmen have only gone through three drafts so far, and had an exceptionally bare cupboard when they arrived. But it has to be asked: are the young Bucs just lacking time and experience, or does the FO lack evaluation and development skills?

Looking at their high profile acquisitions - Brandon Moss, Andy LaRoche, Craig Morton, Tim Alderson, Lastings Milledge - you have to wonder.

As the fourth year of the new regime begins, the answer to that question is what the near-term future of the franchise is hinging upon.

Pirates Top Ten Prospects Per BA

Baseball America has released its Top Ten Pirate Prospects list for 2011, prepared by Dejan Kovacevic; it's pretty much the usual suspects.

They say "The organization currently has a wave of hitting that has just crested over the top, a wave of pitching coming from the bottom and a whole lot of question marks in between."

They also have their "best of" tools section & the top prospects of the decade.

Bucco Prospects

John Sickels has listed his Top Twenty Pirate Prospects; not a one is rated as an elite player. In fact, the top pair haven't even played an inning of pro ball yet.

His take: "Overall, the system could use more hitting but I like what they are doing on the pitching side."

Bucco's Top Guns

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus has picked the top Pirate prospects: click here for his list.

(Hint: the top three were drafted this year, and the middle selections all pitched for Altoona)