Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Nutting sticking with the same guys in the front office. I'm done.
Robinson has always put up impressive MiLB OPS numbers but had the misfortune to be blocked by Butler and Hosmer. He'll be 28 by opening day but has a shot at being next year's Bryan LaHair. Mazzaro is just a guy.Trading away very young pitchers for mature Major League ready guys is an interesting strategy. There's always the possibility one of the arms will turn out to be the best player by far in the deal. Huntington will look stupid in five years if Santos or Rico is a rotation mainstay in KC, but Huntington will probably be long gone by then regardless.The Pirates have acquired pitcher Vin Mazzaro and first baseman Clint Robinson from the Royals for pitchers Luis Rico and Luis Santos. The team has also acquired pitcher Zach Stewart from the Red Sox for a player to be named later.Mazzaro, 26, has spent time as both a starter and reliever with the Athletics and the Royals. He threw 44 innings with Kansas City last season, compiling a 5.73 ERA and a 4.30 FIP.Robinson, 27, made his major league debut last season, receiving four plate appearances with the Royals. He hit .292/.393/.452 in 570 plate appearances in Triple-A, but was old for the league.Luis Santos started seven games for the Pirates' Dominican Summer League team. He was fairly effective, tossing 30 2/3 innings with a 2.64 ERA and a 2.22 FIP. Santos is just 21-years-old, and is still a while away from making an impact in the majors.At 17, Rico is the youngest player in the deal. He threw 26 1/3 innings for the team's Venezuelan Summer League, registering a 3.76 ERA and a 3.92 FIP.
Everything hinges on their WAR's.Robinson has always put up impressive MiLB OPS numbers but had the misfortune to be blocked by Butler and Hosmer. He'll be 28 by opening day but has a shot at being next year's Bryan LaHair. Mazzaro is just a guy.Trading away very young pitchers for mature Major League ready guys is an interesting strategy. There's always the possibility one of the arms will turn out to be the best player by far in the deal. Huntington will look stupid in five years if Santos or Rico is a rotation mainstay in KC, but Huntington will probably be long gone by then regardless.The Pirates have acquired pitcher Vin Mazzaro and first baseman Clint Robinson from the Royals for pitchers Luis Rico and Luis Santos. The team has also acquired pitcher Zach Stewart from the Red Sox for a player to be named later.Mazzaro, 26, has spent time as both a starter and reliever with the Athletics and the Royals. He threw 44 innings with Kansas City last season, compiling a 5.73 ERA and a 4.30 FIP.Robinson, 27, made his major league debut last season, receiving four plate appearances with the Royals. He hit .292/.393/.452 in 570 plate appearances in Triple-A, but was old for the league.Luis Santos started seven games for the Pirates' Dominican Summer League team. He was fairly effective, tossing 30 2/3 innings with a 2.64 ERA and a 2.22 FIP. Santos is just 21-years-old, and is still a while away from making an impact in the majors.At 17, Rico is the youngest player in the deal. He threw 26 1/3 innings for the team's Venezuelan Summer League, registering a 3.76 ERA and a 3.92 FIP.
Mazzaro has had negative bWAR in each of his four MLB seasonsEverything hinges on their WAR's.Robinson has always put up impressive MiLB OPS numbers but had the misfortune to be blocked by Butler and Hosmer. He'll be 28 by opening day but has a shot at being next year's Bryan LaHair. Mazzaro is just a guy.Trading away very young pitchers for mature Major League ready guys is an interesting strategy. There's always the possibility one of the arms will turn out to be the best player by far in the deal. Huntington will look stupid in five years if Santos or Rico is a rotation mainstay in KC, but Huntington will probably be long gone by then regardless.The Pirates have acquired pitcher Vin Mazzaro and first baseman Clint Robinson from the Royals for pitchers Luis Rico and Luis Santos. The team has also acquired pitcher Zach Stewart from the Red Sox for a player to be named later.Mazzaro, 26, has spent time as both a starter and reliever with the Athletics and the Royals. He threw 44 innings with Kansas City last season, compiling a 5.73 ERA and a 4.30 FIP.Robinson, 27, made his major league debut last season, receiving four plate appearances with the Royals. He hit .292/.393/.452 in 570 plate appearances in Triple-A, but was old for the league.Luis Santos started seven games for the Pirates' Dominican Summer League team. He was fairly effective, tossing 30 2/3 innings with a 2.64 ERA and a 2.22 FIP. Santos is just 21-years-old, and is still a while away from making an impact in the majors.At 17, Rico is the youngest player in the deal. He threw 26 1/3 innings for the team's Venezuelan Summer League, registering a 3.76 ERA and a 3.92 FIP.
#### these guys.Thoughts? They'd get some pop in the lineup and add some good defense at a position that is sorely lacking both. His batting average isn't very exciting though, and that's alot of money for the Buccos to spend.
Link
"The Pirates are said to be making a spirited effort to pry away catcher Russell Martin from the Yankees.
The Rangers and Mariners are two more possible suitors for Martin, but his choice appears likely to come down to the Yankees and Pirates. And he is expected to make that choice sometime within the next several days, perhaps before the Winter Meetings, which will begin Monday in Nashville, Tenn.
Word going around is that the Pirates might come in with the high bid, perhaps for three years and close to $25 million. The Yankees are not believed to be offering anything close to that, but the bidding isn't over and it has been thought likely that Martin would prefer to stay in New York, where he has been the starting catcher the past two seasons.
The Yankees are thought likely to be offering only a two-year deal to date, but if they get close to Pittsburgh's reputed offer, either by bumping up the salary, adding an option year or perhaps even a third year, they still might have the inside track. Martin is well-liked in Yankees circles, and there aren't a lot of great outside options.
A.J. Pierzynski had the best year of all the free-agent catchers, but it's uncertain whether the Yankees might turn to him next. Letting Martin leave and giving the job to some combination of Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine and Eli Whiteside wouldn't be very Yankee-like.
Martin hit only .211 last year when he made $7.5 million but had 21 home runs and was a finalist for the Gold Glove that went to Baltimore's Matt Wieters."
Done deal. MehThoughts? They'd get some pop in the lineup and add some good defense at a position that is sorely lacking both. His batting average isn't very exciting though, and that's alot of money for the Buccos to spend.
Link
"The Pirates are said to be making a spirited effort to pry away catcher Russell Martin from the Yankees.
The Rangers and Mariners are two more possible suitors for Martin, but his choice appears likely to come down to the Yankees and Pirates. And he is expected to make that choice sometime within the next several days, perhaps before the Winter Meetings, which will begin Monday in Nashville, Tenn.
Word going around is that the Pirates might come in with the high bid, perhaps for three years and close to $25 million. The Yankees are not believed to be offering anything close to that, but the bidding isn't over and it has been thought likely that Martin would prefer to stay in New York, where he has been the starting catcher the past two seasons.
The Yankees are thought likely to be offering only a two-year deal to date, but if they get close to Pittsburgh's reputed offer, either by bumping up the salary, adding an option year or perhaps even a third year, they still might have the inside track. Martin is well-liked in Yankees circles, and there aren't a lot of great outside options.
A.J. Pierzynski had the best year of all the free-agent catchers, but it's uncertain whether the Yankees might turn to him next. Letting Martin leave and giving the job to some combination of Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine and Eli Whiteside wouldn't be very Yankee-like.
Martin hit only .211 last year when he made $7.5 million but had 21 home runs and was a finalist for the Gold Glove that went to Baltimore's Matt Wieters."
If this was the standard, they'd all be working for free by now.Adding Martin is offset by losing Karstens, giving away Resop, waving bye-bye to Grilli, and the notion of shipping out Hanrahan for Chris Capuano. Folks look at Martin and say the Bucs are taking on salary. Hooray. Their bullpen will be taking on water to sink the ship. After all, salary had to be slashed somewhere.
I guess Tony Sanchez is not going to contribute on the MLB level. Maybe the front office can take a pay cut for misjudging his potential.