Prospect Stuff

[thecrow124]

Being hurt is a legitimate concern, especially as a guy enters his 30's.

If this team really wants to keep Cutch long term, and I suspect they do, NW is exactly the type of guy you have to let go.

As is Pedro.

 

[Darkstone42]

As is Pedro.

Pedro will be gone when Bell is ready, I'm sure. Probably next winter.

 

[sychmd]

this certainly is pedro's last hurray.
1B, should be pretty easy as he is a plus fielder with an erratic arm on the easy throws, not the tough ones. a head thing mainly.

1B should pose no distractions and allow him to rake early and often. our lineup should be pretty good and not a lot of pressure like the past couple years with him needing to be a prolific #4 hitter.

Hope he does well and we can trade him at the deadline for key short and longterm pieces, unless it is so prolific and seems like he gets it that he would fit with us, but having boras and impending FA soon, better to sell high if it happens and let lambo, hart, and bell take their spots.

 

[element1286]

As is Pedro.

For sure, no way they keep him past arb.

 

[Darkstone42]

this certainly is pedro's last hurray.
1B, should be pretty easy as he is a plus fielder with an erratic arm on the easy throws, not the tough ones. a head thing mainly.

1B should pose no distractions and allow him to rake early and often. our lineup should be pretty good and not a lot of pressure like the past couple years with him needing to be a prolific #4 hitter.

Hope he does well and we can trade him at the deadline for key short and longterm pieces, unless it is so prolific and seems like he gets it that he would fit with us, but having boras and impending FA soon, better to sell high if it happens and let lambo, hart, and bell take their spots.

If he hits 35+ home runs, we should deal him next winter for a nice haul, probably good prospects, I would imagine, since the deal would likely mean Bell is ready at first, and we're set everywhere else. Bullpen help could also be a throw-in, depending on where we are with our bullpen next winter.

 

[sychmd]

assuming our 2015 rotation is
cole, liriano, burnett, morton, worley, then locke, cumpton, taillon or kingham
2016 will need to replace burnet and hopefully it is with someone who is a #2 ability in 2016.

so pedro and a BP arm could go in a package, so hopefully he does well to bring in more chips or be part of getting the SP to put us over the top.

if cole, liriano, morton taillon, kingham, and worley all perform at their ceilings,
then we need a catcher or 1B and can package other pitchers and pedro together.

 

[element1286]

Chicago Cubs No. 1 in farm system rankings for 2015 - MLB - ESPN

7. Pittsburgh Pirates

It's hard to believe how many games the Pirates have won in the majors over the past two years without putting a significant dent in their top-level minor league talent. They promoted only Gerrit Cole and Gregory Polanco and dealt just one major prospect in Dilson Herrera.

They still have several players likely to help the major league club in 2015, and just about every affiliate should have at least one potential star on its Opening Day roster.

Klaw ranks the farm systems, Pirates #7.

 

[Darkstone42]

MLBpipeline.com has seven Pirate prospects in their top 100: Glasnow (12), Taillon (31), Bell (34), Meadows (46), McGuire (64), Kingham (74), and Hanson (92).

 

[thecrow124]

MLBpipeline.com has seven Pirate prospects in their top 100: Glasnow (12), Taillon (31), Bell (34), Meadows (46), McGuire (64), Kingham (74), and Hanson (92).

The numerical ranking don't tell the whole story. Glasnow has an overall grade score of 60, but gets pushed higher because of his individual score of 75 for his fastball. Taillon gets an overall score of 60, but lacks that one standout pitch to push him higher, he also loses value for being injured, but currently, they both have an overall score of 60, and they are the bookends for that group. Every other player listed in the top 100 has an overall score of 55. Again some, like Bell trend higher for his overall hit ability, while Hansen trends lower for his seeming inability to improve even a little defensively. It was somewhat hide in the fact that he had an outside shot to play a premium defensive position, now he is not at a premium position, and doesn't play second necessarily well, he is, however, 1 of 2 second basemen in the top 100.

With a healthy season I believe that Meadows could take a huge jump on this list next year, as well as some players t haat didn't make the list, Keller, Supak, Tucker and th big pitcher that missed last year due to tj, I am drawing a blank on the name, but he should be moving to Bradenton.

 

[Darkstone42]

The numerical ranking don't tell the whole story. Glasnow has an overall grade score of 60, but gets pushed higher because of his individual score of 75 for his fastball. Taillon gets an overall score of 60, but lacks that one standout pitch to push him higher, he also loses value for being injured, but currently, they both have an overall score of 60, and they are the bookends for that group. Every other player listed in the top 100 has an overall score of 55. Again some, like Bell trend higher for his overall hit ability, while Hansen trends lower for his seeming inability to improve even a little defensively. It was somewhat hide in the fact that he had an outside shot to play a premium defensive position, now he is not at a premium position, and doesn't play second necessarily well, he is, however, 1 of 2 second basemen in the top 100.

With a healthy season I believe that Meadows could take a huge jump on this list next year, as well as some players t haat didn't make the list, Keller, Supak, Tucker and th big pitcher that missed last year due to tj, I am drawing a blank on the name, but he should be moving to Bradenton.

I think the pitcher you're thinking of is Clay Holmes. But I agree, the numbers don't matter so much as the groups or levels of talents. Glasnow and Taillon are in a similar talent bracket, and so they are similarly valuable prospects. And I also agree that we have a lot of good breakout candidates. Harold Ramirez, Cody Dickson, and the newly acquired Tarpley all have the talent to put something together in one of the next two years. And there's still an outside shot Heredia does, just because he's so young, even though he's looking more and more disappointing.

There's lots of good talent in the Bucs' system, deep with guys who could suddenly jettison into a top 100 type list with a good season, and a lot of other guys who may never have star potential, but still profile as possibly turning into somehow useful later on, like Joe and Diaz. Neither of those guys will be world-beaters, but Diaz could contribute positively this year, maybe even be an average catcher as a starter, and Joe could turn into a useful bench bat in a few years. Guys like Sampson and Sadler should be useful starting pitching depth. There's a lot of things to like in our system.

 

[sychmd]

I think the pitcher you're thinking of is Clay Holmes. But I agree, the numbers don't matter so much as the groups or levels of talents. Glasnow and Taillon are in a similar talent bracket, and so they are similarly valuable prospects. And I also agree that we have a lot of good breakout candidates. Harold Ramirez, Cody Dickson, and the newly acquired Tarpley all have the talent to put something together in one of the next two years. And there's still an outside shot Heredia does, just because he's so young, even though he's looking more and more disappointing.

There's lots of good talent in the Bucs' system, deep with guys who could suddenly jettison into a top 100 type list with a good season, and a lot of other guys who may never have star potential, but still profile as possibly turning into somehow useful later on, like Joe and Diaz. Neither of those guys will be world-beaters, but Diaz could contribute positively this year, maybe even be an average catcher as a starter, and Joe could turn into a useful bench bat in a few years. Guys like Sampson and Sadler should be useful starting pitching depth. There's a lot of things to like in our system.

they also make for good trading chips as a package, or to get mid-season help (Herrera for Byrd), or to fill some bench or add to farm depth. NH seems to be utilizing them fairly well to add other pieces as necessary. I am always waiting and wondering when that big deal will come when he packages some promising people for that ready to breakout 1B or 3B or C. now that we have more depth, maybe it will be coming in the next year if bell doesnt pan out at 1B or we cant wait for mcguire and not getting enough from our patchwork C options.

 

[element1286]

FWIW,

Klaw's top 100 has Glasnow (13), Meadows (32), Taillon (36), Bell (60), Hanson (89) and Kingham in the 10 that just missed the top 100.

 

[element1286]

David (Washington, D.C.)


Hi Klaw, Thank you for the wonderful read. I appreciate all the hard work that went into it. I saw Nick Kingham dropped off your Top 100 after being in the 70s last year. What caused him to regress? Do you still see him as a #3 starter? Thanks!
Klaw
(1:27 PM)


See him as a 3rd/4th starter. Still like him, just think other guys have more upside.

Klaw
(1:33 PM)


Tiers: 1-15, 16-36, 37-71, 72-86, 86-100. Not sure if that's as specific as you'd like.

Joe (Venice, FL)

Thoughts on the Snider - Tarpley PTBNL trade?
Klaw
(1:57 PM)


Prefer Tarpley. Wild card, but very live body, up to 97 at times and will flash an above avg CB.

 

[thecrow124]

Minor league affiliate assignments are starting to come out. The Pirates seem to be giving some pretty aggressive assignments to some of their minor leaguers. Not so much at the upper levels, as everything there is pretty jam packed. Not a lot of top tier talent, except a few pitchers, Kingham and eventually Taillon at AAA, and Glansow at AA.

Bradenton is a different story, both Meadows and McGuire will be getting pushed there. McGuire was a bit of a surprise until you figure that there are two pretty decent college catchers going to WV. Meadows I don't think is much of a surprise, I actually expected him to go there. The pitching will have Heredia as the headliner, and eventually Clay Holmes will join him in the rotation. Overall, this may be the most talented team on paper top to bottom of any Pirates affiliate.

WV is going to have 18 year old Cole Tucker who is getting a huge push, I actually though he would be with a short season team at best, I never thought they would push him to a full season team. Also on the team will be the two college catchers, Taylor Gushue and Kevin Krause, Connor Joe should see time at first and third. I don't think any pitchers have been announced just yet, but I would not be surprised to see Mitch Keller in the rotation, he would probably be the top prospect at this level if he goes there.

So at our two low level full season teams we will have at least 5 legitimate prospects at each level and the two upper level teams each will have 10-15 players that should at minimum get a cup of coffee in the majors. That is really not to shabby at all.

 

[thedddd]

"Right-hander Jameson Taillon, a former first-round pick who's on the mend from reconstructive elbow surgery, was among eight players sent out of big league camp.

Taillon, right-hander Casey Sadler and infielder Alen Hanson were optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. Outfielder Willy Garcia was sent to Double-A Altoona. Relievers Jeremy Bleich and Collin Balester, infielder Gift Ngoepe and outfielder Mel Rojas Jr. were reassigned to minor league camp."

Per yesterdays report on reassignments.

 

[thecrow124]

Kingham and Diaz were sent down today. Sanchez is still in camp and Stewart is still hurt, so Sanchez will likely open the season on the major league roster. The way he has played, he may keep the position even when Stewart is healthy.

 

[Darkstone42]

Stetson Allie was a lot more athletic in Spring Training than I expected him to be. He's going to get time in right field this year, probably because Bell is learning first base at AA. Hopefully, he can cut down the Ks, because the walks and power are impressive.

 

[thecrow124]

Stetson Allie was a lot more athletic in Spring Training than I expected him to be. He's going to get time in right field this year, probably because Bell is learning first base at AA. Hopefully, he can cut down the Ks, because the walks and power are impressive.

Allie is an interesting case in general. As he has advanced upward as a hitter, his k rate has dropped. It is still not at an acceptable level, but the more pitches he sees, the better he seems to get. I really feel like he could have been helped by going to college. Regardless, it will be interesting to see, if he can improve his strikeouts, if the Pirates ever try him back at third base. I am not sure he could ever make it at the position, but they are trying everyone else there, and still have nothing in the upper levels at the position.

 

[Darkstone42]

Allie is an interesting case in general. As he has advanced upward as a hitter, his k rate has dropped. It is still not at an acceptable level, but the more pitches he sees, the better he seems to get. I really feel like he could have been helped by going to college. Regardless, it will be interesting to see, if he can improve his strikeouts, if the Pirates ever try him back at third base. I am not sure he could ever make it at the position, but they are trying everyone else there, and still have nothing in the upper levels at the position.

I think Joe is going to end up being a good prospect at third, but I see Allie as a future option for Corey Hart's role this year. Mostly first base, could maybe be used in a corner, but right handed power off the bench. Since he'd like serve as Bell's backup, and Bell is better left-handed, it could be a nice pairing.

 

[element1286]

Allie looks like Jim Thome when he came up as far as body type, he was able to stick at third base for a while. RF seems like a good fit for now, he need to focus on hitting, not worry about defense so much. He probably has an 80 arm.