NewsInbox: How will battles pan out in 2010?
Beat reporter Jenifer Langosch answers Bucs fans' questions
By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com
09/10/09 1:22 PM ET
PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates are off. The Steelers are just hours away from opening the 2009 NFL season. All that tells me is that if you're reading this on Thursday afternoon, you must be one of the die-hards. I knew you were out there.Well, with another losing season already in the books, the e-mails coming in are largely focused on the future and on the organization's depth. So let's look there. And thanks to all those who submitted questions. I continue to keep some of the ones I wasn't able to use filed away for future Inbox consideration.
I have some questions regarding a possible logjam for the Pirates at the corner infield and catcher positions for next year. Pittsburgh added Jeff Clement in the Ian Snell trade, and while I think his defense is less than spectacular, he figures to be either a first baseman or catcher. The Bucs already have Ryan Doumit, Jason Jaramillo and Robinzon Diaz behind the plate. Garrett Jones and Steve Pearce are both first baseman, and the Pirates will have to find a spot for Andy LaRoche, as Pedro Alvarez finished the Minor League season red hot. If you were GM, how would you resolve this issue?
-- John C., Hampton Bays, N.Y.
Logjams are going to be the theme in Spring Training next year, though that will make the spring somewhat interesting for those of us who have to stick it out in Bradenton, Fla., for seven weeks. Right now, the Pirates are grooming Clement only as a first baseman. There's always the chance he could fall back to being a catcher if his defense at first doesn't improve, but that's not the organization's first choice.
That said, you're looking at a situation where the Pirates could have around five players vying for two spots -- first base and right field. I don't see how Jones doesn't get one of those two starting spots with what he's done these past few months. The Pirates could put Jones in right if they go with Pearce or Clement at first. Or Jones could play first if the club wants to start Jose Tabata or Brandon Moss in right. And even if Tabata doesn't make the team out of camp, I'd guess that he'll be starting in right by season's end.
As for your catching battle, expect Jaramillo and Diaz to again battle to back up Doumit. Jaramillo would seem the likeliest choice to get the job, though Diaz will enter 2010 out of options, so he could be lost if he doesn't make the Major League roster out of Spring Training. That, of course, is if the Pirates don't deal him in the offseason.
Pirates management has talked for two years about getting to the day where there is stiff competition for starting jobs. It looks like the team is finally getting to that point.
Why are Pedro Alvarez and Tabata on the 40-man roster if the organization had no plans to call them up in September this year?
-- Ian, Flanders, Pa.
Both were placed on the 40-man roster for different reasons. In Alvarez's case, it was part of the Major League agreement that the club reached with him when it signed him out of the First-Year Player Draft last season. The team had to place Tabata on the roster last fall in order to avoid losing him in the Rule 5 Draft.
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Alvarez is currently playing with Team USA in the World Cup, though the Pirates never had plans to have him jump from Double-A to Pittsburgh for the final month of the season. Not to mention, he wouldn't have had playing time with LaRoche and Neil Walker already here.
Tabata may have had an outside possibility at making an appearance in Pittsburgh, but management determined that sending him to the Arizona Fall League would be the best path for his development. And again, there really wasn't available playing time to be had if Tabata had joined the club this month.
I look at the team today, and it seems to me the Bucs have more talent from top to bottom then they had at the start of the season. Just look at Jones over Adam LaRoche, Andrew McCutchen over Nate McLouth, Ronny Cedeno over Jack Wilson, Lastings Milledge over Nyjer Morgan. The pitching staff also looks like it has more talent. Do you think this team that will come together fast, especially if Alvarez comes up next year?
-- Ron J., Brookville, Pa.
Simply based on terms of upside and affordability, it's hard to argue that this current team isn't better than the one that started the season.
However, singular comparisons of players may not produce that same conclusion. Saying that Milledge is right now better than Morgan is a hard argument to make. And plenty would disagree that Cedeno was an immediate upgrade over Wilson. Add in the fact that the club is 10-26 since the start of August, which also goes against such an assumption, at least on the surface.
But the point of this team having younger players with more upside than the more expensive, closer-to-free-agency and possibly-past-their-peak players that the Pirates did have earlier this year is accurate. There is certainly some potential in this group of new players. How that potential plays out remains the question.
Do you think Andy LaRoche would be capable of moving to second base since that is one of our weakest organizational positions? If he could hit for a better average, perhaps his powerless bat would be more acceptable at a position not considered to be a power one.
-- Chuck H., Highland, Ind.
It's certainly a thought, Chuck, though not one that the organization has publicly said it's considering. LaRoche has said that he'd be agreeable to the move if it was his only choice at remaining an everyday player on this club. With the improvement he has made defensively at third this year, his preference is certainly to stay at third.
You're right, though, in noting that LaRoche's bat hasn't profiled as that of a power-hitting third baseman. Even though management has said it believes more power is there, with Alvarez quickly ascending through the system, he seems likely to jump past LaRoche on the depth chart within the next year.
I'm glad to see Cedeno performing better since the trade to the Bucs. Has the front office asked his agent about his 2010 salary demands or will they look at another free agent? They can't look internally, can they?
-- Tim R., Chicago
Cedeno is about to enter his second of three years of arbitration eligibility, so he is under the team's control through the 2011 season. After making $822,500 this year, he'll get a slight pay raise next season, likely bringing his salary to somewhere around the $1 million mark. It is looking more likely that Cedeno is going to be the Pirates' guy at short in '10. You're right, there are no other internal options that are nearly ready.
The Bucs haven't ruled out seeing what's on the free-agent market, though the club could very well go with Cedeno as an inexpensive and defensively-sound stopgap for another year or two while some of the organization's younger shortstops move up in the system.
I was hoping that the Pirates would have the Miguel Sano deal done by now, but why hasn't he signed with someone? Is there an update on the situation?
-- Will W., Bulgar, Pa.
The reason Sano hasn't signed yet has little to do with the Pirates and much to do with Sano. Pittsburgh made the Dominican shortstop an offer back in July, but Sano's agent had planned from the beginning to drag the process out, expecting that more teams would jump into the bidding war for the Latin American prospect after his age was confirmed to be 16.
Major League Baseball finished its investigation of Sano's identity and age, though the results on Sano's age came back inconclusive. That said, it appears the Sano camp is fully intent and willing to keep waiting for other teams to show interest. The Bucs, as a result, are stuck waiting with them.
Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
