PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

Dejan reports that it will be a three-year deal, plus a team option for a fourth season.  This will take him through arbitration, with the option year taking care of his first opportunity at free agency.  Financial terms have not been released yet.  Assuming they are reasonable, this is a solid deal for the Pirates.  It gives them cost certainty, and it keeps Maholm on the team for an extra season if he continues to produce.

Here is a quick look at Maholm’s financial value, courtesy of R.J. Anderson of Beyond the Box Score.

UPDATE (1/30/2009, 1:30 PM): The Pirates will officially announce the contract at a press conference today at 2 PM. It is worth $14.5 million over three years, plus a $9.75 million option for a fourth year. Here is the yearly breakdown:

If you follow the above link, you see that R.J.’s estimate was about $16-17 million for the three years of arbitration. Assuming Maholm continues to perform at the level he has averaged the past three years, this deal is a bit of a bargain. In addition, the team gets the option to keep him for an extra season. Good stuff.

The Pirates have come to an agreement with free agent utility player Eric Hinske.  Dejan reports that the deal is worth $1.5 million, with incentives that could add an additional $1 million.  FanGraphs had Hinske at a value of 2 wins in 2008, a performance that would be worth $8.8 million in free agency.  I doubt Hinske will match that output again this season, but he should produce enough to make his contract a good value.  A nice signing for the Pirates.

The contract should be officially announced tomorrow, after Hinske passes a physical. No word on how this signing will affect the already full 40-man roster.

I am counting down my personal list of the top 25 Pirate prospects. You can follow the countdown here, or by clicking on the “Top 25 Prospects” link in the site header.

Date of Birth: 1/21/1987

Height: 6’1″

Weight: 175 pounds

Bats/Throws: R/R

Position: SS

Drafted: 4th Round, 2008 (Pepperdine University)

Chase D’Arnaud seems to be similar to Jordy Mercer, who I covered at number 18 on this list. Both are big, offense-oriented shortstops who are decent defensively. They were drafted in consecutive rounds in the 2008 draft. There are some questions about each being able to stay at short long-term, but each has the potential to be an average defender. D’Arnaud also played some third in college. With limited playing time available at short in 2009, he may have to get some repetitions at third or second.

D’Arnaud was solid in his first two seasons at Pepperdine, but really broke out in his third year. He apparently made great strides with his plate discipline, walking 33 times with 36 strikeouts in 265 plate appearances. He also increased his slugging percentage from the previous season by over 100 points, despite a slight drop in batting average. He collected 183 plate appearances with State College after the draft, hitting a decent .286/.333/.423. His walk rate was only 6.1%, something he can hopefully improve a bit in 2009. It will be interesting to see whether D’Arnaud or Mercer will be able to break away from the surplus of Pirate shortstops in their first full season of professional ball.

Expected arrival in Pittsburgh: 2013

Dejan reported earlier today that the Pirates have contacted Luis Gonzalez’s agent. However, according to Jenifer Langosch, Gonzalez is a backup plan for the Pirates, as their focus is on Eric Hinske. (Dejan is also reporting the Pirates’ interest in Hinske) I have no desire to see Gonzalez in a Pirate uniform, as his numbers have been declining steadily for several years. He still has a quality approach at the plate and would be a better option than Craig Monroe, but he is at the end of his career. CHONE projects him to have a wOBA of.315.

I would welcome the signing of Hinske, though. Hinske has been a pretty solid hitter the past few years, and CHONE has him at a .335 wOBA in 2009. He was above average in the outfield in 2008 (according to UZR), although CHONE projects him at -11 runs in a corner outfield spot this season. Hinske can also play an adequate corner infield. Not to mention he is ten years younger than Gonzalez. Hinske could provide some value, and I would probably prefer to see him play left over Nyjer Morgan.

Jeff Salazar and Steve Pearce, two players already in the organization, may be better options than both Gonzalez and Hinske, though.

One of the biggest debates among Pirate fans this off-season has centered on whether the team should be aggressive in the free agent market. My stance has been that it would provide little help, so why bother. The team is at least a few years away from being competitive, so why not wait until we have developed a good group of players before searching for that last piece. In December, I examined what it would take to build a contender through free agency. Let’s just say it was unrealistic.

Here’s an excerpt from a post Charlie wrote last week:

In the past, I’ve been dismissive of the idea of dropping real cash on veteran free agents, and I probably will be again. Just so I’m clear here: generally, I don’t think the Pirates should waste their money or future on expensive free agents, and I don’t think the Pirates should, at this stage, sign any free agent who jeopardizes their future in any way: by blocking an interesting youngster, by preventing them from spending lavishly on the draft or Latin America, or by causing them to have to pay the free agent while he’s declining and the rest of the team is very promising. But I think this market provides the Pirates a special opportunity to pursue legitimately good players without doing any of those things.

This is a smart way to look at free agency, and it is a thought process I agree with. But the question on my mind today is this. Does signing a player simply to improve the 2009 team hurt the future of the franchise? For example, if the Pirates hypothetically signed Manny Ramirez for a couple million and put him in left field instead of Nyjer Morgan, would it be counterproductive? He would not be blocking a young player, he would not destroy the budget and it would not be a long-term commitment. He would probably improve the team’s record by about five wins, getting us to 70 or 75 wins. That would make the season a little more bearable, and may even attract some additional fans to come down to PNC Park. It would also give the Pirates a lower draft pick, which hurts a team that is attempting to restock a lousy farm system. It would not make us a playoff contender. If you are not going to win, is there value in losing big?

About a month ago, Shawn at Squawking Baseball asked if the Pirates were losing on purpose for this very reason. (Pat commented on the post at the time.) He made a great point about the team’s usage of Luis Rivas:

Consider: this past spring, Dan Fox introduced a defensive metric on Baseball Prospectus that rated Luis Rivas as one of the worst defensive middle infielders in the last fifty years. Weeks later, Fox was hired by the Pirates. And yet Rivas played over 400 innings at second or short for the Pirates last year, with predictable results.

I should probably make something clear. I do not root for the Pirates to lose. I cannot do that. There is no better feeling than watching the team win a game, and that is exactly what I hope for every time I sit down to watch a game. In addition, I do not think Pirate management is purposely trying to lose. They made some mistakes when constructing the bench last season, and when Jack Wilson was injured, suddenly Rivas and Brian Bixler were our best options at short.

But wouldn’t it make sense to cut some corners in a year when contending seems improbable? Wouldn’t it make sense to sign Craig Monroe to provide outfield depth when someone like Adam Dunn is still out there? Dunn would be more fun to watch during the season, but management shoud not be worried about that.  They should only be focused on creating a championship team.  I’m not sure I know the answer. I know that if I were in charge of a major league team, I probably would not have the courage to purposely punt a season in order to acquire a valuable draft pick the following year. Then again, one must be bold to rebuild an organization that is in the Pirates’ situation.