Coonelly to Boras: You’re on the clock.
By Jake • Jun 5th, 2008 • Category: Feature Story
Pittsburgh Pirates President Frank Coonelly made one thing absolutely clear Thursday after the club made their first round selection:
It is critical the Pittsburgh Pirates sign Pedro Alvarez quickly; preferably within a week.
The actual word he used was critical. Talk about a smackdown developing.
That’s a pretty strong statement for Coonelly to make considering the eyes of the Pirate Nation are on his new administration with this pick, so I assume Coonelly can deliver.
Now it’s up to Scott Boras and, of course, any needs of his client.
I’ve already discussed here that I heard Alvarez wants to complete his studies this summer and I assume that means a lengthy delay unless Vanderbilt will allow him to complete his work online, and with an outside the box schedule. Of course, Coonelly is well aware of Alvarez’s desires too.
If Coonelly is asking too much in Alvarez’s mind requesting that he sign immediately possibly postponing graduation, I’m sure we’ll hear about it pretty quick. It’s a question sure to be asked.
So, get off the pot Boras - let’s get this thing done. And hey, why not shoot for a next Friday signing considering it will be Friday the 13th?
A perfect fit.
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Now my unprofessional opinion of the first day’s activities. First remember this - the draft was not very deep so there was a lot of risk taking from the second round on. That being said…
The first five selections in the 2008 first year draft for the Pirates are all athletic infielders. Pedro Alvarez is a third baseman, Jordy Mercer is a shortstop, Chase D’Arnaud profiles as a second baseman but played short this year, and Justin Wilson is a converted first baseman to pitcher.
And three of the five have known injury histories - Alvarez with the hamate bone, Mercer with knee surgery early 2007, and Scheppers with the current “take a wild guess” shoulder injury.
Now throw in Justin Wilson having thrown 123 or more pitches in at least two games in 2008 (9 IP, 130 pitches, and 123 pitches in 6.2 IP which is very high), two more at 123 or higher in 2007, and a jump from 25 IP in 2006 to 101 IP in 2007, and I would say we’ve drafted a pretty shaky group so far.
Lots of tools, lots of potential upside - but a lot more risk on the table than we’re used to seeing in previous years. Even Alvarez’s value is a bit suspect unless he can stay at third, some suggest.
But on the surface, Pirates fans are feeling what Gregg Brown described in the broadcast Thursday night - “The Change… that speaks volumes about Pirates ownership.”
Sorry Gregg, I don’t buy it. I’m happy that the fans are feeling more comfortable but there’s a looonnggggg way to go before I’ll annoint the Nuttings with “The Change.”
I mean, if you stole my car in 2003 and left me a bag of peanuts and then you replaced it with one that has less value 5 years later, am I supposed to be pleased that you finally recognized your error? Or should I sue the hell out of you for the loss of value those five years?
Hmm…
Still, Pirates fans have something to finally feel a little better about - Nutting will absolutely have to spend George Steinbrenner’s money this year instead of being able to pay down more internally created debt or putting it away to pay the mortgage on his ski resort.
That’s good stuff to me whether or not any of the picks pan out.
Another interesting story developing is which amateur scouts are being trusted. Rick Allen has been scouting in California for the Pirates and three of the picks seemed to be out of his region. Interestingly, Allen and special assistant Larry Corrigan have history together.
Now what’s so unusual about all that is the Pirates rarely drafted California talent since Dave Littlefield’s brother ran. In fact, it’s been a running joke the last few years wondering if mothballs were eating through our scouts out there.
It’s a fact there was an abundance of college talent in California this year but at the same time, we passed on some very worthy high school pitchers with significantly more upside than who we got in the third round on. But one thing we don’t know is whether the Pirates contacted players like Tim Melville and they all said they wouldn’t sign if the Pirates selected them. What’s the chance of that, but who knows?
Make no mistake about it, there was better talent on the board third round on we passed on and some speculate the Pirates just didn’t want to take any more of a financial hit knowing they could be blowing a bundle with Alvarez and Scheppers. But I don’t buy that - you have to take best available every slot if you are going to be for real and invoke “The Change.”
It’s almost as if we were watching a Creech overdraft from the third round on.
But as I said in the beginning, this draft wasn’t that deep and held a lot of risk. We have to trust Corrigan, Smith, Huntington, Lester, Delli Carri, and the rest of the guys and that has to start right now.
As for Scheppers being available at #48 and all the media hype about it, that’s just nuts. He’s a risky pick and no other team was willing to take that risk up to that point. One service had Scheppers not going until the 70th slot so there was plenty of speculation he was going to fall hard. There’s also some speculation nobody is going to be able to sign him too. We’ll have to watch how that develops because we’ll have lost a lot of opportunity if he doesn’t sign.
So we’ll call this the high risk draft so far.
My overall rating? Impossible to tell yet because there is too much that can go wrong before August 15th. But if I had to rate the picks, I’d give Smith and Huntington a B- so far for a couple of reasons: one, we don’t have any arms worth a can of corn in our system and didn’t take any worth talking about; and two, the huge amount of risk we are taking with some of these players down the road.
But as we all know, it could have been much, much worse.
Jake is no longer contributing at Bucco Blog, a fan blog covering the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Like my old college profession said the following
High risk = High reward
Work smarter not harder
you need help. honestly seek a good head doctor, get on meds.
Edit by Jake - hmm.. more meds. That’s a great idea. Thanks.
yeah man you have been beat down over the years of losing lol…we got the best, or at very least 2nd or 3rd best, player in the draft, took a chance on another top 10 talent (pre injury), and you still have nothing positive to say…also good stuff on their 6th round pick grossman…good value if we can sign him…yeah i agree that this stuff shoulve been happening years ago but at least it is indeed happening ya know??
Good analysis as always Jake. I only wish we could sue Nutting.
Scheppers won\’t sign with the Pirates because he\’ll get more playing an additional year of college baseball. I\’ve read everything I can find on our picks none of them have a future on a big league roster save Alvarez. B- might be too high.
Ah, taking a guy who can hit near 100 mph at times does have some worth. Weren\’t you the one saying we needed to draft power arms? That is a power arm. Was it a risky pick? Absolutely. But if there was a sure bet power arm, it would have been gone by the time we got to pick again. If he did fall as far as #70, he\’d be gone before we picked in the 3rd round, so it was 2nd round or never. Out of curiosity, who would you have picked instead?
Oh, thanks for sort of explaining why we drafted what looked like college SS\’s in consecutive rounds. I was kind of scratching my head about that one.
Jake, do you know anything about Grossman (6th round pick)? sounds like he was high on alot of lists (BA-49th) the scouting reports i have been reading say alot of “5 tools all about average” “overachiever” “plays all-out”. Sounds alot like a nate mcclouth description coming out of higschool. His commitment to Texas the reason he fell? or just a mediocre talent, rated too high by BA?
erad - agree. That’s why I mentioned in the orginal draft threat I thought Scheppers was a great 2/2 pick. Risky as all get out because of signability and potential labrum problems, but a good pick all the same.
Hal - I got some info on Grossman this AM:
He’s a signability issue guy and was projected for the supplemental round or second. Switch hitter, outstanding bat speed, plus speed (a tick slower than Cutch I’m told), has power potential from both sides of the plate, and projects as a center fielder, although he’s played a lot of right in high school. Think Nate McLouth with more foot speed and average defense where the ball explodes off his bat, but with Doumit’s kind of raw line-to-line power.
He played with Skipworth and Melville in the Pan Am games last year and they qualified to play in the 2008 World games this year - August or September, if I remember right.
The Pirates played the same game the Royals played this year - taking lots of risky signability guys. If they sign you smell like roses, but if they don’t you’ve wasted a lot of good slots where you could have taken at least a college body with a tick of projection.
Sounds like Jake is a little upset they didn’t draft Crow.
I’m glad they picked Alvarez and if they feel the 2nd pick can recover, that’s two top 10 picks we’ll have in our system.
That’s more than we ever had in our system.
Assuming the Pirates are willing to go over slot where necessary (Scheppers, Grossman), I am liking the draft so far. Obviously they go over slot for Alvarez. Doing a good job of grabbing a few upside guys that could end up being great picks, but also mixing in a few other guys that are lower risk. Hopefully they just take a chance on Scheppers and offer him a million. If they low-ball him, he probably goes back to school and hopes for a healthy season. But if he gets healthy, he\’s probably less risky than Crow with more upside than Matusz.
I still would have loved to see the Pirates take someone like Melville in the 3rd or 4th. Even if his agent said that he would not sign with the Pirates, they could have called his bluff. Draft him, bring him to the park to talk with everyone. Offer him the money he wanted. But oh well, if you try and hit too many homeruns, you also increase your chances of striking out. But I still think it is the best draft strategy!
thanks jake. yeah i figured it had to be a signablity issue with him, esp being the hometown kid having a chance to play at UT. Sounds like they need to pony up the $ to get him. I know it is riskier to spend the $ on drafted players above slot, but to be honest, the free agent route is more expensive and has a lot of risk attatched to signings as well. Throw in the fact no legit impact free agent is going to come to pittsburgh anyway, until the winning starts, uless he is grossly overpaid. Hopefully this FO is finally realizing that, as opposed to the previous regime method of signing veterans. (albeit it ones on the downside of their career.)
overall i like the draft so far. if scheppers is able to get his health back, that would give the bucs a nice power righty combo with him and lincoln.
If things go according to plan (my hopes anyway) next year will be the last time Bucs are picking in top half of draft for awhile. So I think first 2 picks were good moves.
the draft position is really going to depend on what moves are made this year, but I’m hoping the team wins 70-75 this season and then goes over 500 next year. If NH does a complete rebuild then next years team could result in a top 5 pick in 2010.
If their number two pick doesn’t sign, do they get a similar pick next year? I thought that rule extended to the fourth round. If so, it isn’t totally a wasted pick if the kid doesn’t sign.
Jake, there is one pick I like alot that they got later on. Wesley Freeman. Watching his swing and seeing how big he is it looks like he has a lot of power potential. I am almost afraid to say it but he kind of reminds me of Matt Holiday.