Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?

You could have probably guessed this from the tone of the posting last night, but I'm pretty excited by the events of the last week or so. There's a number of reasons why and I think that the reasons to be excited run a lot deeper than most people realize, so I'm going to try and lay them out here in a coherent and non-giddy fashion. Wish me luck. Pedro Alvarez is a very impressive young talent. By now you've probably seen the YouTube highlight reel and it's impressive. The kid has a left-handed power swing that I can only describe as "textbook." His stock was hurt a bit by his hand injury, but by all accounts it shouldn't be a long-term issue. He strikes me as the kind of talent that's not available in the draft every year and the kind of talent that the Pirates haven't had in their minor league system in years. Taken entirely on his own, the fact that Pedro Alvarez is a Pirate is something that's completely worth being excited about. Be...

Dejan says that there's no news to report and that none of Boras's clients have done anything yet, which is how Boras operates. Rocco DeMaro on 104.7 says a deal is done and he supposedly had the Grossman and Miller news before anyone else. I'll be keeping an eye on it and posting updates as they come in. And no, I'm still not worried that he's not going to sign. 11:03- Dejan says there's absolutely not a deal yet . But he uses the word "yet." 11:24- I've been almost positive from the start that Alvarez is going to sign and I still feel that way, but is this waiting killing anyone else? 11:46- Important to note that the midnight deadline is going to be like the trade deadline. If the deal happens close to midnight, we're going to be the last people to know. There's no news until someone can either confirm that he did or didn't sign. 12:07- This is getting pretty intense. Still no word, if you're new to the game. 12:15- With Dejan...

I'm actually going to be pretty busy at work today, but if/when people sign this afternoon, I'll post the links up to the news and try to give some quick analysis as fast as I can. I doubt the big news will be coming until some time late this evening , but I think that's pretty hard to gauge given how little we all know about the negotiations to this point. Drew Gagnon - Looks like the high upside pitching prospect we took in the tenth round is going to school, according to the Trib . There's a quote from Huntington there that makes it seem pretty definitive that he's going to attend Long Beach State and not sign with the Pirates. It's disappointing, but the nature of the baseball draft is that not everyone can be signed. Hat-tip to anon in the comments for passing this along last night. 3:06 PM - DK's following along at his blog . Things sound ugly on the Scheppers' front, which I'm OK with since Dejan mentions shoulder surgery and makes it sound li...

Jeff Passan has an interesting article up over at Yahoo! about the relationship between Frank Coonelly and Scott Boras and how he thinks Coonelly's old job as the slotting system watchdog is affecting the Pedro Alvarez situation. If you haven't taken the time to read it yet, you should probably head over there and do so before you read the rest of this post. Coonelly's a hard guy to get a read on, and this article doesn't change that. He didn't talk to Passan at all for it, so everything that's said about him is either in someone else's words or strongly implied by Passan. I've joked that Coonelly's ship is run tighter than a papal conclave, but I'm no longer certain that I'm joking when I say that. If the man doesn't want us to know something, we won't know it. That being said, there's one question that Passan asks early in the article that is very easily answered: What’s more important: The sanctity of something he helped build...

You may have seen the news today that the Pirates were not planning on offering Pedro Alvarez a major league contract. With the way the signings were going, it looked like they could probably ink Pedro for a $6-$7 million bonus sometime tomorrow . Yeah, that's not happening. The fifth overall pick, college catcher Buster Posey, signed on the dotted line with the Giants today for a big league deal and a $7.5 million contract. Obviously I don't know the particulars, but I'd be shocked if Boras and Alvarez even consider signing for anything less than what Posey signed for. TANGENTIAL UPDATE: Grossman signs . This is awesome news. More: You can read more about him here , but Baseball America had him as a top 50 prospect this year and he's a very high ceiling guy for a sixth round pick because he dropped pretty sharply for signability reasons. In the first link, DK speculates that he's going to cost somewhere close to a million dollars to sign, which tells you just how ...

With the draft deadline bearing down, two of the guys that people are awfully interested in are Tanner Scheppers and Justin Wilson, our second and fifth round choices out of Fresno State. In the comments below, Alan passes along a link that says that Scheppers and Wilson are both close to signing . It is from a message board, but the post is by Rivals.com's college baseball editor, which is why I chose to link to it. In the same vein, DK reports at the PBC blog that Scheppers had his anxiously awaited throwing session at PNC today. It seems like it went well: It appeared to come off without a hitch, but that is impossible to say for sure. It happened way out in the home bullpen, and Scheppers exited without speaking to reporters. All Huntington said beforehand was that the team was encouraged by Scheppers' recent throwing sessions. It certainly sounds as if the team is going to make a contract offer. I'd guess there's been some negotiation between the Pirates and Schep...

There's some good news from the PG today regarding the remaining unsigned picks in the draft; apparently the Pirates are still targeting all of the remaining unsigned players in the top ten. Beyond Alvarez (who I'm still confident will sign, despite everything that's recently happened) the most important player in the group is Robby Grossman. I had kind of thought things were bleak on that front, but he came to PNC Park recently and apparently things are looking up: Grossman, a California high school player considered to have potential above his sixth-round position, said during a brief visit to PNC Park Saturday that he considered himself "50-50" between signing with the Pirates and honoring his commitment to the University of Texas. A team official gave much the same chances of signing him. The word on Scheppers remains the same as it has since draft day: the Pirates want to see him throw before deciding to sign him, presumably because he's going to cost fi...

From the bottom of today's PG Notebook comes this item: The Pirates continue to have contract talks with their top two draft picks, third baseman Pedro Alvarez and starter Tanner Scheppers , but it is now looking possible that there will not be many other players signed beyond the 24 already in the fold. If that's true, that means that a lot of the higher ceiling guys (6th rounder Grossman, 16th rounder Freeman, etc.) don't seem likely to sign.It's fair to note that along with Scheppers, fifth rounder Justin Miller Wilson hasn't signed either, which might mean that we won't hear anything about either of them until Fresno State is done in the CWS. I've seen Miller pitch quite a bit in his two appearances against UNC and I haven't been all that impressed with him (he had a rough start last Tuesday and gave up what turned out to be the game winning homer in relief on Saturday), but it's only two games so it's hard to draw conclusions. Crap. Fresn...

We've already talked a lot about the draft, but there's a few more links and opinions I'd like to give before we move on to business as usual. In his draft round-up, Dejan confirmed the injury to Scheppers as a slightly damaged labrum rather than a stress fracture in his shoulder. It seems like the team's plan is to see how the shoulder looks as the August 15th signing deadline approaches, then make a decision on what to do from there. As it's been noted by just about everyone everywhere, Scheppers is pretty much the antithesis of a Littlefield pick. He's a top-10 talent if he's healthy and he's a top-ten talent, but labrum damage can be really serious stuff. The question is whether it's a risk worth taking. Given the high potential involved, it certainly seems like it is, with the caveat that we don't know a lot about the injury. Wilbur Miller has a write-up on every single draft pick the Pirates made . If you want to know about the draft, you ...

I feel like this is an important thing to discuss a bit, because the Pirates are taking a significant risk, with the potential for a significant reward, with this shoulder and there's a lot of stuff being passed around about his injury that I'm not so sure is true. Most people are categorizing his shoulder injury as being a stress fracture. As far as I can tell, that was the initial diagnosis, but it's not the correct one. ESPN's scouting report (which I linked to before and is Insider only) says this about the injury: First he was reported as having a "stress fracture," which was met with disbelief in the industry. Then his advisors said that diagnosis was incorrect and sent him to Dr. Lewis Yocum for a second opinion. Teams that received his medical report this week confirm that Scheppers has a type of impingement in his shoulder and may have tearing in his labrum, and the course of treatment is rehab rather than surgery. I've seen a couple other places...

Apparently, the draft continues beyond Pedro Alvarez. Some more picks by the Bucs: 2nd round- Tanner Scheppers, RHP, Fresno State. If you're watching the Bucs tonight, Greg Brown practically has his O-face on talking about how lucky the Pirates were the Scheppers fell to them in the second round. This is because Greg Brown doesn't do his homework. Scheppers has either a stress fracture in his shoulder (which seems unlikely because I don't think that's even a real injury), or some kind of impingement and maybe TEARING IN HIS LABRUM (Insider link). If he's healthy (huge IF), he's an absolute steal in the second round as he was supposed to be one of the top college pitchers in the draft. I'm wary of this pick but Baseball America's John Manuel seems to like it . Wait, wary isn't the right word. I'll be shocked if he ever pitches for us. The more I think about this, the more it seems like an awful pick to me. 3rd round- Jordy Mercer, SS, Oklahoma St...

In bullet point form! Do not assume that just because he's a college kid he's going to be easy or quick to sign. Boras clients (JD Drew and Luke Hochevar come immediately to mind) have sat out a year and played in independent leagues before and they will do it again. Wieters didn't sign with the Orioles until the signing deadline last year. The Pirates and Boras are going to haggle over money, a Major League contract, and a lot of other things before this deal gets done. I do think he'll sign. You don't get as excited as he was over being drafted if you aren't looking to sign. It just won't be easy. If he does sign quickly, my best guess for him is that he'll start out in Hickory. From what I can tell, Huntington's got a very high opinion of him and I don't think they're going to screw around with him by leaving him in the low minors for long. If he doesn't sign until August (the 15th is the deadline), he might go to State College just t...

I'm going to be at work all day, but I'm going to put this post up for draft discussion. As per today's PG : When the Pirates' turn comes in Major League Baseball's draft this afternoon, according to multiple sources, they plan to use their No. 2 overall choice to take Vanderbilt University third baseman Pedro Alvarez. The path appears clear: The Tampa Bay Rays, the team picking first, have let it be known through the sport's circles that they will pass on Alvarez, preferring either Georgia high school shortstop Tim Beckham or Florida State University catcher Buster Posey. As pointed out in Charlie's well-pointed criticism of my draft post from yesterday, sometimes I need to simplify myself. If we pick Alvarez, I think it's a good pick because I think he's the best player in the draft. Anyways, feel free to discuss the draft in the comments. I'd be especially gracious if anyone wants to post some knowledge about guys the Bucs pick in later roun...

I should start by saying that with the second pick in the draft, I don't think the Pirates can go wrong by picking either Alvarez or Beckham with the second pick in this draft. They're both good prospects that in their own ways are the type of player the Pirates should be looking for and since the team seems focused on either one of these two guys, I don't expect to be disappointed with the Pirates' first round pick this week. That being said, I still have an opinion on who I think the Pirates should take with that pick, and so let's look at Beckham and Alvarez a bit. We can start with Tim Beckham. Phrases like this one (from Dejan's profile of him ) make me nervous: Beckham, 18, is seen by many scouts as the five-tool talent with the highest ceiling in a draft that is not viewed as being especially rich. "Five-tool," in my mind, is what scouts say about a player that they like, but can't give a reason why. Show me a high school kid that's a pr...

From Dejan's piece on Pedro Alvarez : "It would be a privilege and an honor to get drafted by the Pirates," he said yesterday from Nashville, Tenn. "Right now, I don't know much about them, but I would get to know all about them if drafted." Hopefully that means, "I won't be too much of a bear to sign if the Pirates' draft me. Something about Alvarez says that he should be our pick to me. More on this subject coming later in the week.

There's a huge Q&A on the PG today with Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington about the upcoming draft and it's pretty enlightening. You should really read the whole thing , but here are some key excerpts: Huntington on the importance of this draft: And it's not the second pick in the country that's going to be our only focus, either. There's a lot of attention to that pick, but our energy and attention is aimed at all 50 picks and on making sure we have the systems in place to have quality drafts for years to come. We need to have multiple major-leaguers come out of this draft and the same out of the next draft and 2010 and so on. Coonelly on the slotting system: As I've said before, I do believe in the recommendations the commissioner's office makes to the clubs. And, really, the whole term 'slotting' is not new. What it really means is what a certain space in the draft typically has meant. The whole program was just a way to put all the facts and...

May is slowly winding down into June, and that means that it's almost draft time. Generally, draft season is one to be feared in Pittsburgh, but I'm really intrigued by what Huntington and Coonelly's staff are going to do with their first draft. Early signs are quite good, as the PG today says they're picking between Pedro Alvarez and Tim Beckham . Alvarez, 20, has rebounded from missing a month to a broken hand to play in Vanderbilt's past 32 games and bat .338 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs. He would be ready for the majors much sooner out of the two. He is represented by super-agent Scott Boras and will seek a signing bonus in excess of $7 million. Beckham, 18, is a senior at Griffin High School and is seen by many as the draft's most talented player, blessed with power, speed and agility in the mold of the modern star shortstop. He is batting .500 with five home runs and 13 RBIs. He is committed to the University of Southern California, so he has not yet...

Anyone watch him pitch on ESPN today? I DVR'd it and am watching it now. I will post thoughts on his pitching in the bottom of this post when I have them. If you saw him today, feel free to talk about it in the comments. UPDATE (3:30)- So, having watched his 5 and 1/3 innings, I've got some thoughts on the guy. First off, he's going to fit in just fine. I don't mean the six runs in 5 and 1/3, I mean pitching well and watching your clueless teammates muck things up in the field. Of the runs he allowed, the first homer should've been a solo shot because the runner on base was only there after Clemson's right fielder badly misplayed a routine flyball into a single. His only mistake in the first five innings was shaking his catcher off and throwing a fastball that got whacked into the stands. In the sixth inning, the right fielder badly misplayed another flyball, the third baseman let a grounder under his glove, and Moskos gave up an aluminum bat homer, meaning that...

Is your 2007 first round selection for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, a college pitcher. Get your needles ready , folks. Yet another low-upside, low-"risk" pick by the Pirates. If you're all watching a home, I'm sure you were thrilled when Gammons said, "This guy hasn't even started that much at Clemson. He's been used mostly as a reliever." Can you feel the excitement? UPDATE: John Sickels had Moskos as the ninth best pitcher in the draft. BA on Moskos : Stocky and compact, Moskos pounds the zone with a 91-95 mph fastball that bumped 97 out of the bullpen. He has a wipeout slider that has been up to 87 and also shows a more conventional curveball that he tends to use earlier in the count, just to keep hitters off balance. His changeup has fade, and he mixed all four of his pitches extremely well. Moskos has solid-average command of all of his stuff. He lacks projection and doesn't hold runners well. He joins Ross Detwiler and David Price as the c...

The MLB draft is kind of hard to follow from a blogger's perspective. Except for the rarest cases, the players taken don't make any kind of immediate impact and half of even the first rounders are hit or miss anyways. Still, I can do a quick write up about guys that will be available at the four slot when we pick in the first round. After that, hell, I've got nothing. David Price- Hands down the best prospect in the draft. Lights out pitcher from Vanderbilt. Going to Tampa Bay in the one slot. Forget about this guy. Matt Wieters- Best college hitter in the group. He's a catcher, but may be moved from there. May go to the Royals at two, but may possibly fall further because he's represented by SCOTT BORAS (oooooo). Rick Porcello- Best high school pitcher in the draft. This is who most people think the Royals will take. Also a Boras client. Josh Vitters- A high school third baseman who is supposed to be a hell of a hitter. The Pirates are likely interested. Unfortuna...