Trick or treat day?
Torri Hunter and Aaron Rowland contacted by Houston? Oh-man.. do the 'stros expect us to believe Tad Smith will sign either of those men? I certainly don't. That would be like the Reds signing Roger Clemens next year. But tip your hat to Ed Wade for making Astros fans feel important.
At the same time, let's just hope the division doesn't start drinking McClatchy's famous funny water.
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Aramas - gone. Chacon - gone. At least in theory, as they both filed for free agency. Losing Chacon and his 7.4 K/9 and 3.89 ERA will hurt the Bucs because there is nobody to step in to replace him. Aramas.. well, at least we can say good luck to him.
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Bob Gebhard.. remember the name. Some say Huntington is after him to be his #1 while others say he's already turned Huntington down.
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Luis Munoz put on the 40-man. Surprising move, to say the least - even if he was able to declare free agency. You'll probably read in all the newspapers how Munoz had some of the best stats in the Pirates system last year but let's be serious a moment.
He's a 26 year-old 150 pound right hander, has a five-year career 5.77 K/9, was +71 innings in 2006 over 2005 and his dominance tanked in the second-half, he was lit up like a Christmas tree in his cup of coffee tour of Indy mid-year, and his Major League Equivalency projects a .416 OBA and 1.000+ OPS.
That's not quality stock - that's more garbage added to the 40-man. Let's hope Huntington is attempting to fool other teams into thinking he believes Munoz is worthy wanting to package him off in a deal down the road and not thinking of adding him to the 25-man after dealing Snell et al.
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This has to be the most ridiculous rumor you will read all winter about Jason Bay. It's so bad, they should win an award for sheer stupidity. And believe it or not, they actually think it's possible. Wow.
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Rumors about Jack Wilson to the Rays are nuts - forget them.
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Jonah Keri's fabulous article at Baseball Prospectus in February 2002 is a must read as Pirate fans head off into another eight-year plan.
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I guess our article yesterday about the Pirates front office being one of our best readers sent Huntington scrambling calling a closed door meeting with folks all day Tuesday. The topics we heard about were: trying to keep everyone from jumping ship on Thursday and implementing a proxy server so blogs like us won't know they are leaching. Hilarious.
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Since many of you asked about the possibility of Don Mattingly becoming the Pirates manager, I emailed him to see if he would answer a couple of quick questions for us all. The one question I really want him to answer is - Joe (Torre) or Lou (Piniella)?
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Brian Graham was fired from the Pirates a player development director and took a job with the Orioles Tuesday as a special assignment coach. Talk about a demotion.
Class act John Shelby also went to the Orioles as their first base coach. Good for him.
Now all they need is Dave Littlefield and Ed Creech up there somewhere..
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Fans want to know - Mickey White back in Pittsburgh? I get more mail asking about Mick then just about anyone. Last I heard he was working for the Marlins and I doubt you'll see him back working in Kevin McClatchy/Bob Nutting's regime.
So you want us to believe that NH is concerned about your blog? Dude get some help because you are delusional.
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Joey Cora? I now I shouldn't believe all of the print stuff but he would be an interesting candidate. Question-do major league teams have to interview minority candidates like the NFL does before they hire someone. Just wondering how the Dodgers can fire Little and supoosedly hire Torre in 1 day. Must be nice to be able to pay 5 million for a manager. Is this org that paranoid already?
Bill
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Don't you know that all closed door meetings are about you? You are the top internet hack and what you write is vitally important. The Pirate front office is really scrambling now. Good work! (sarcasm alert)
Luis Munoz fact and fiction
Your statment: 26 year-old
Fact: 25 year-old
Your Statement: 150 lbs.
Fact: 6' 2" 185 lbs.
Your Statement: Lit up like a Christmas tree in AAA
Fact: 2 wins in 3 starts, 3.12 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 16 Ks, 4BBs in 17.33 IP
Your Statement: MLE projects to .416 OBP, 1.000+ OPS
Fact: MLEs for minor league pitchers are hardly worth looking at.
If you like Shorslef more than Munoz, just say so. No need to twist facts and hand-pick a few stats to try and make Munoz look bad.
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Nice blog ballparkfranks. I also like facts!
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relief - yeah.. sure.. he reads it by the hour. ;)
Bill -- I'm not aware that the Pirates have to interview minority candidates. As for Joey Cora, that's really stretching it some IMO.
franks - yes, Munoz is 25. But since the post was about his forward-looking value being put on the 40-man, I took it for granted most would understand I was speaking about future value. Obviously that was a mistake. Thanks for pinpointing that as well as the weigth difference since the media guide I pulled his weight from was incorrect.
As for MLE's not being worth anything, perhaps that's true to you. My pitching MLE's have had a .28-.42 correlation the last three years so that's certainly not worthless.
Now to the main thrust of your comment, when limited innings are available I like to use xERA which pulls in peripheals.
Munoz had a 4.60 xERA behind his 3.12 ERA because his H/9 jumped 25% with his HR/9 jumping 30%, even though his K/9 went up (.347 OBA).
Anyway you look at it, he was lit up.. lucky, but still lit up.
I was more surprised others were left on the roster like Sharpless than I was concerned about Shortslef.
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