Pedro Alvarez is on fast track to the
major leagues hitting 20 homers this
season in two minor league stops and
could be in Pittsburgh this September.

The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to pile up prospects as they have traded three fourths of their infield and two thirds of the outfield and two starting pitchers this season.

1992 was the last time the Pirates had a winning season and with a 44-58 record so far this season it is unlikely they will have a winning record this season.

They have traded their entire infield with the exception of Andy LaRoche who is probably just holding onto third base until Pedro Alvarez who was the No.2 overall pick in the first round of the 2008 amateur draft arrives in Pittsburgh.

Alvarez is currently playing for Altoona of the Class AA Eastern League. He started the season with Lynchburg of the Class A Carolina League and has hit 20 homers and driven in 75 runs between the two stops.

I can see what the Pirates are trying to achieve by piling up prospects since it cheaper to let young players play until they are eligible for salary arbitration and then trade them.

Without knowing the exact stipulations of the trades made this season and taking into consideration that the contracts have to be pro-rated because the season is two thirds over here are the 2009 contracts for players recently traded.

John Grabow $2.3 million

Eric Hinske $1.5 million

Adam LaRoche $7.05 million

Nate McLouth $2.5 million

Nyjer Morgan $411,000 (Major league minimum is $400,000.)

Freddy Sanchez $6.25 million

Ian Snell $3.2 million

Jack Wilson $7.4 million

When the Pirates start next season they will have $30.6 million less to pay in contracts assuming the new teams of these players will be paying them next season with the Pirates not liable for any part of their contracts.

The new players that take the places of these traded players since they are prospects will probably be making a little over $400,000 each next season with the exception of Alvarez who will be making $88,000 even while in the minors due to having Scott Boras as his agent.

Pirates Playing Waiting Game
Now the Pirates will have to play the waiting game and hope these prospects stop being prospects and start being major league stars. It is a long road from the low minors to the major leagues.

Some prospects simply will not make it to the major leagues because they can’t play at the major league level. Others will have injuries that can ruin their chances of succeeding at the major league level.

How many more losing seaons will the Pirates endure before enough of these prospects actually step on a major league field to make a difference?

The Pirates have had their share of prospects who never advanced past the prospect status.

Two Pirates From 2005 Draft Reached Majors
Only Steven Pearce and Brent Lillibridge have reached the majors from the 2005 amateur draft with Pearce having only four homers in 215 major league at bats.

Lillibridge never played for the Pirates but has had short stints in the majors with the Braves and White Sox.

The Pirates did even worse in the 2004 amateur draft when only Brian Bixler made it to the majors and hit .165 in 58 major league games.

The 2003 amateur draft was not much better except that Paul Maholm is a current starter for the Pirates while Craig Stansberry never played for the Pirates and only has 24 at bats combined over the last three seasons with the Padres.

Josh Sharpless the other Pirates draftee in 2003 pitched his last game for the Pirates in 2007 and doesn’t even have any stats at baseball-reference.com for the 2009 minor league season so he is probably out of baseball.

Aramis Ramirez Trade Was Disaster For Pirates
The Pirates made one of the worst trades in baseball history when they traded Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton for Matt Bruback who never made it to the majors and retired at the age of 27 with a 62-77 minor league record.

Jose Hernandez was also received in the trade and hit a total of five homers for the Pirates in the 2003 and 2006 seasons and retired in 2006. He played for the Dodgers and Indians between the two stints with the Pirates.

Bobby Hill was the last player being the player to be named later received by the Pirates in the trade and hit a total of two homers for the Pirates in three seasons before retiring in 2005 at the age of 27.

In summary the Pirates received a pitcher in Bruback who never made it to the majors and two infielders that hit a total of seven home runs for the Pirates.

Ramirez Possible Hall of Famer
On the other hand the Cubs received in Aramis Ramirez a player who has hit 258 homers and driven in 911 runs while hitting .285 while slugging .505. He has driven in over 100 runs five times since joining the Cubs. At 31 he has enough years left to make a bid for the Hall of Fame.

The only Pirates who were on the 2007 team are Ryan Doumit, Steven Pearce, Zach Duke, Paul Maholm and Matt Capps.

Time will tell if the recent trades for prospects will pay off. I agree with Harold Reynolds of the MLB Network that it is best to trade major leaguers for major leaguers because prospects will always be prospects until they play at the major league level and play well.

The job of manager John Russell should be safe a couple of years now that the team is not the team he had at the start of the 2009 season. No manager in baseball could win with this team the way it is currently constructed so Russell cannot be blamed for the current situation.

The Pirates have a new GM and this recent purging was not a real surprise to Pittsburgh.

The organization wants to build from the ground up. Yes, a lot of vets were let go, but to be fair this team stunk with or without them.

Maybe this will be the next Tampa Bay Rays. And if not, they will be the same old Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tyrone Briggs - 01 August 2009 07:39 AM

The Pirates have a new GM and this recent purging was not a real surprise to Pittsburgh.

The organization wants to build from the ground up. Yes, a lot of vets were let go, but to be fair this team stunk with or without them.

Maybe this will be the next Tampa Bay Rays. And if not, they will be the same old Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Rays did it the right way so hope the Pirates can come close to doing as well but not too well. Cubs don’t need any more competition in the coming seasons.

The Pirates are already ahead of the Cubs in terms of having a modern ballpark.

Tyrone Briggs - 01 August 2009 07:57 AM

The Pirates are already ahead of the Cubs in terms of having a modern ballpark.

Just checked and Wrigley Field built in 1914 and PNC Park built in 2001 so Wrigley is 87 years older.

Another plus for the Pittsburgh Pirates - they are not in bankruptcy.

Tyrone Briggs - 01 August 2009 08:07 AM

Another plus for the Pittsburgh Pirates - they are not in bankruptcy.

That is probably why the White Sox got Peavy instead of the Cubs.

Maybe.

And of course, Jake Peavy has a no-trade clause. He had to approve the trade.

It seems Peavy is finally tired of playing on a losing ballclub. Another reason why he is on the South Side perhaps?

Tyrone Briggs - 01 August 2009 08:27 AM

Maybe.

And of course, Jake Peavy has a no-trade clause. He had to approve the trade.

It seems Peavy is finally tired of playing on a losing ballclub. Another reason why he is on the South Side perhaps?

Peavy is too much of a competitor to pitch in meaningless games in San Diego when he can pitch in games that mean something for the White Sox.

I have to say that I like what they are doing.  Like Tyrone said, they have new management and they are trying to build for the long term.  I hope that they actually try and stay the course on this and not give up like other GMs have done and then try and scrape a team together that might go 500.  This GM doesnt care about 500 and wants to build a long term winner.  I applauded them for their purging of people that werent going to be on the team when they do eventually turn it around and its nice to see they actually have a game plan which is something they havent had for quite some time now.

IlliniEd - 01 August 2009 09:51 AM

I have to say that I like what they are doing.  Like Tyrone said, they have new management and they are trying to build for the long term.  I hope that they actually try and stay the course on this and not give up like other GMs have done and then try and scrape a team together that might go 500.  This GM doesnt care about 500 and wants to build a long term winner.  I applauded them for their purging of people that werent going to be on the team when they do eventually turn it around and its nice to see they actually have a game plan which is something they havent had for quite some time now.

When Pedro Alvarez makes it to the majors the Pirates will have Garrett Jones, Andrew McCutchen, Ryan Doumit and Alvarez who all seem to be regulars for many years.

Wish there was a list of all the Pirates prospects who were traded from other teams since the first of the 2008 season. It would be interesting to watch their progress.

The one thing the Rays did was sign some of their solid young players early at reasonable prices - e.g., Longorria.  The Pirates haven’t seemed to figure out how to do that yet, but I think their attendance is actually up so they should be doing better financially than in years past.  At some point, you have to keep a couple of your good players over the long haul so the fan base sees some continuity - like the Twins have done with Mauer and Nathan.  I know when I think of the White Sox, I think of Konerko and Buerhle.  Although Konerko came in a trade, he and Buerhle have been fixtures and they set the tone for the team.  Who will be those kinds of leaders for the Pirates?

Dave - 01 August 2009 01:38 PM

The one thing the Rays did was sign some of their solid young players early at reasonable prices - e.g., Longorria.  The Pirates haven’t seemed to figure out how to do that yet, but I think their attendance is actually up so they should be doing better financially than in years past.  At some point, you have to keep a couple of your good players over the long haul so the fan base sees some continuity - like the Twins have done with Mauer and Nathan.  I know when I think of the White Sox, I think of Konerko and Buerhle.  Although Konerko came in a trade, he and Buerhle have been fixtures and they set the tone for the team.  Who will be those kinds of leaders for the Pirates?

The Pirates are one of nine teams in majors to post increase in attendance in 2009. They still are only filling the stadium to exactly 50 percent of capacity.

This chart shows how much the Pirates attendance has increased this season:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/current_attendance.shtml

IlliniEd - 01 August 2009 09:51 AM

I have to say that I like what they are doing.  Like Tyrone said, they have new management and they are trying to build for the long term.  I hope that they actually try and stay the course on this and not give up like other GMs have done and then try and scrape a team together that might go 500.  This GM doesnt care about 500 and wants to build a long term winner.  I applauded them for their purging of people that werent going to be on the team when they do eventually turn it around and its nice to see they actually have a game plan which is something they havent had for quite some time now.

It does seem that the Pirates new management is committed to a youth movement plan.

I agree.

Tyrone Briggs - 01 August 2009 02:00 PM

IlliniEd - 01 August 2009 09:51 AM

I have to say that I like what they are doing.  Like Tyrone said, they have new management and they are trying to build for the long term.  I hope that they actually try and stay the course on this and not give up like other GMs have done and then try and scrape a team together that might go 500.  This GM doesnt care about 500 and wants to build a long term winner.  I applauded them for their purging of people that werent going to be on the team when they do eventually turn it around and its nice to see they actually have a game plan which is something they havent had for quite some time now.

It does seem that the Pirates new management is committed to a youth movement plan.

I agree.

For now.  I emphasize this because many new management groups have staerted out this way and then the burden of not having a winning season for 18 seasons takes over and they scrap that plan trying to save their job.

IlliniEd - 01 August 2009 08:05 PM

Tyrone Briggs - 01 August 2009 02:00 PM

IlliniEd - 01 August 2009 09:51 AM

I have to say that I like what they are doing.  Like Tyrone said, they have new management and they are trying to build for the long term.  I hope that they actually try and stay the course on this and not give up like other GMs have done and then try and scrape a team together that might go 500.  This GM doesnt care about 500 and wants to build a long term winner.  I applauded them for their purging of people that werent going to be on the team when they do eventually turn it around and its nice to see they actually have a game plan which is something they havent had for quite some time now.

It does seem that the Pirates new management is committed to a youth movement plan.

I agree.

For now.  I emphasize this because many new management groups have staerted out this way and then the burden of not having a winning season for 18 seasons takes over and they scrap that plan trying to save their job.

Very true....Only positive thing for them is some of the youngsters like Andrew McCutchen do something to keep the fans excited. I never thought of McCutchen as a home run hitter but he hit three in the game yesterday and he is the one that took McLouth’s place and he is outplaying McCouth so far.

Garrett Jones is doing great in right field. Some of the prospects from last year’s trades may be called up by the end of this season.