Is he eligible for the draft or not?

I have gone in huge circles from a lot of different people about Chavez. The Post-Gazette reported that Chavez was not left exposed, but they didn’t say why. They probably read the MLB press release and didn’t much care why. Bloggers don’t have the luxury of media credentials to hide behind. I mean, how simple is it to get a media release and then post the contents. Gee whiz.. I need a job like that.

Bloggers have figure things out the old fashion way.. by researching and digging. We WORK for no living. Journalists are handed everything on a silver platter. Ok.. not really.

Anyway, it turns out that some of us have the wrong perception about first year draft rules. Ironically, some of the blame should be cast on incorrect or incomplete media postings on websites, like this one at ESPN:

"First off, note that it’s not the "Rule V Draft," but the Rule 5 draft. It’s called the Rule 5 draft because the section of the Official Rules that covers the draft just happens to be Rule 5 in the book.

Eligibility: A player not on a team’s Major League 40-man roster is eligible for the Rule 5 draft if: the player was 18 or younger when he first signed a pro contract and this is the fourth Rule 5 draft since he signed, OR if he was 19 or older when he first signed a pro contract and this is the third Rule 5 draft since he signed."

Under the new CBA, we knew one additional year had been tagged on to each eligibility opportunity above. The problem is, the determining factor is his age when drafted, not when he signs his contract, as some journalist put on the ESPN website.

Jesse Chavez was 18 when he was initially drafted and Wardell Starling was 19. Chavez has seen four drafts pass since he was initially drafted so, as an 18-year old drafted, he doesn’t have to be placed on the 40-man until next year. Starling was 19 when drafted, has seen four drafts pass, and so he is eligible.

It sure would be nice if MLB allowed us to buy the rule book. Geez..

Bucco Blog is getting the studio equipment ready for the GM meetings so we pumped out our first Podcast as a beta test. If you have any problems, leave a us a comment please.

(Edit: podcast #1 was as rank as Wiggy at 3B, so we trashed it so save you the grief. Podcast 2 coming to a media player near you soon!)

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No, we don’t want Adam Dunn. No, Adam Dunn won’t look good in a Pirates lineup. No, Adam Dunn won’t protect Jason Bay.

Dunn’s stats have fallen hard the last two years. But few Pirate fans seem to know that Dunn has hit fewer home runs at PNC Park in his career than any park in MLB (more than 10 AB’s at a park) – one every 61 AB’s in well over 100 AB’s. In fact, Dunn’s career SLG at PNC is only .366.

Now add onto all that misery is the fact that Jose Castillo had a better clutch hitting rate than Dunn did last year, toss in all his K’s coupled with a $10m salary next year and hey, the Reds can keep Adam Dunn, unless they would take Morgan in a trade. Bay certainly won’t be protected using Dunn.

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Brad Hawpe this, Brad Hawpe that, blah-blah-blah. If the Pirates were trying to corner Hawpe, it would be a done deal – they wouldn’t be passing stale info to a beat reporter.

Littlefield wants the Braves LaRoche.. not Hawpe.

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Jason Marquis, Shawn Chacon, or Tony Armas?

None. They are all putrid. Armas perhaps the least putrid of them all. Why waste the money with the team we are going to field anyway?

Instead, let’s hope the Cubs sign Marquis, the Reds sign Armas, we release Chacon and bank the money, and JVB and Burnett can heave the ball for 15 starts each. If not, let Youman pitch. Who cares – we’re going to lose 100 anyway – we might as well evaluate the kids again.

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You know how to get 2m fans to show up at PNC Park next year with a 100 loss team? Play the position change game.

Imagine Eldred as a starting pitcher.. Jason Bay playing SS.. Torres in CF.. or Doumit closing. I mean, if we are going to be putrid, let’s have some dang fun. How many batters are going to sit comfortably in the batter’s box with Eldred or Doumit on the mound? j/k of course.

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I think David Pinto has a major hole in his PMR system this year. He just rated Jose Castillo as the 18th best 2B in MLB last year stating that he produced just 4 fewer outs than predicted. Now that was after he said Burnitz did a better job in RF than Nady and that Nate McLouth was nearly as good in CF as Chris Duffy.

David – you need to find a new stats provider because the cats charting ball in play data at BIS are obviously sleeping through Pirates games.

I went back and compiled the server traffic statistics since I opened the doors here a little over a year ago and I was shocked to see I had over 3 million hits – more than 700k of them unique! Un – believable.

Here is last week’s activity showing unique hits to give you an idea:

I’m often asked if I will accept banners and I have always said no. But I want to give back to the community the best way I can here by offering any business in Pittsburgh the opportunity to add a banner to the site that will rotate with others.

Free.

No strings attached and no guarantees.

I do reserve all right’s to the program from banner acceptance, to length of time rotated, to the type of business accepted. All of this is subject to MLBlogs approval, of course.

Please remember that Bucco Blog is an official affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization with unofficial opinions, so keep the banners family oriented.

Banners should be in GIF format, no larger than 150 pixels wide by 125 pixels long, and should be under 40k in size. If you need help making one, I’ll be glad to assist you.

Send your business name, address, phone number, contact person’s name, best contact time, and a little description about your business – along with your banner or banner request – to me by clicking the link below. You may also ask any questions you have by clicking the link.

Send your banners to bbbanners AT gmail DOT com or just click this link.

Thank you Pittsburgh and here’s hoping for a great year in 2007!

Go Bucs!

The Pirates are not going to sign an A player in Pittsburgh to fill our lefty McThump need. Even most B players would prefer signing somewhere else. So the only way we’ll fill our need is with a trade.

Casey Rogowski is one player who might be able to fill that need.

He is 25-years old, 6′ 3", and somewhere between 230 and 260 depending on who you listen to. Like Eldred, he is quick on his feet for such a big man but unlike Eldred, his defensive game is pretty good.

As a true 1B, Rogowski is buried in the White Sox organization behind Paul Konerko who is signed thru 2010. Knowing they had a future need for a corner outfielder developing, the Sox tried Rogowski in the OF in 2005 and it was a disaster. He’s a 1B, will always be a 1B or DH, and that is all she wrote.

While Rogowski repeated high-A from 2002 – 2004, the reason for that was because he had labrum surgery and really wasn’t healthy until 2004.

In 2005 he was in AA and raked up an impressive .293/.374/.444 line with 20 steals, 58 walks, and one out of three hits went for extra bases.

In 2006 at home run hitting friendly Charlotte, he hit .272/.351/.436 with 76 rbi’s in 459 AB’s, walked 53 times, and stole an incredible 26 bases. But what is interesting about his numbers there was the fact he hit 32 doubles in a park that is notoriously hard to hit doubles in (.86 park factor last 4 years for doubles).

But that’s not even the best part about Rogowski.

He’s a pure clutch hitter who raked a .970 OPS with runners in scoring position last year and a .386 batting average on balls in play in RISP opportunities. And he does this every year.

Rogowski hits to the gaps with authority, had a .665 batting average on all balls hit to RF last year, and he had 38% of all his hits go for extra bases last year.

Rogowski fits PNC Park like a glove, especially against right-hand pitching. He won’t hit 30 home runs but he will drive in runs. His power will continue to develop as he gets older.

And with him buried behind Konerko, his trade value shouldn’t be too high. I don’t see where we match up on the big league roster other than perhaps a Grabow package, but they might be talked into a Stansberry/Davis deal or some pitching prospects in the farm.

The key here is that he is young, he fits PNC Park, he fits the Pirates needs, and he won’t cost us any of our starters. More importantly, he puts the ball in play when men are on base, which is something we desperately need.

Here is some more information for you to look at:

Article in the Detroit News

A video of him at bat hitting a HR in the SAL ASG

An audio interview of him about his game in 2005

His player card at Minor League Baseball

His player card at Baseball Prospectus (only updated thru 2005 right now)