Baseball America has released their selections for the top 10 prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league system.
After a record breaking 17 consecutive losing seasons, the Pirates do not seem to be any closer to breaking out of their funk. General Manager Neal Huntington took over the reins toward the end of the 2007 season and went about doing what has been a common occurrence in the steel city as of late. He traded away the majority of his major league talent, but it was for good reason. The Pirates had few talented players at the major league level, but what was even scarier was that the minor league system seemed to be just as devoid of it as well. Thus, Huntington has the gargantuan task of trying to pull what some say is the most pathetic franchise in the major leagues out of the cellar.
Huntington acquired a lot of new talent during the 2009 season through trade. In June and July alone he sent 8 players packing and received 15 in return. Among those that left were second baseman Freddy Sanchez and shortstop Jack Wilson. The 5 remaining players that were on the team when Huntington took over were Matt Capps, Ryan Doumit, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm and Steve Pearce. Owner Bob Nutting is renowned for being miserly with the purse strings. The moment a player starts to command a larger salary they are usually sent packing. However, Nutting has loosened the grip on the wallet some to improve the scouting and player development areas of the ball club. The Pirates have surprisingly been very generous to their draft picks having spent more money then any other team to sign their prospects. They also opened a new baseball academy in the Dominican Republic this past April. One bright spot for the Bucs is Andrew McCutchen who emerged and showed great potential last season. McCutchen posted a .286 BA, 12 HR, 54 RBI, 22 SB and an OPS of .836 in 2009 all while earning the Baseball America Rookie of the Year award.
Pirates fans have been angry and upset with their team for quite some time as the team continues perform poorly in the week NL Central. Cincinnati and Milwaukee have both taken positive steps in improving their clubs and have seen some success all while Pittsburgh’s ownership seems content to sit at the bottom. Hopefully there is some improvement to come. But Buc’s fans will have to wait, hope, and take some solace in the fact that at least the Steelers can put together a championship caliber team.
Baseball America’s Top Ten List of Pirates Prospects
- Pedro Alvarez, 3b
- Jose Tabata, of
- Tony Sanchez, c
- Brad Lincoln, rhp
- Chase D’Arnaud, ss/2b
- Starling Marte, of
- Tim Alderson, rhp
- Zack Von Rosenberg, rhp
- Rudy Owens, lhp
- Gorkys Hernandez, of
The pirates have alot of talent in the minors and should use them now, they already set the record for lossing seasons so why not win now insted of later. I also cant stand the articles everyday the pirates interested in this guy that guy well all I see is that they are interested in players who were injured and trying to make a come back or guys with a balloned era and losing record or guys who usually meet there standards 35 and over.