Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Daniel Moskos
With a chance to show their declining and disenchanted fan base they are serious about putting a winning team on the field, the Pirates, true to the end, blinked.
With a chance to go big-time in the draft, the Pirates, to the surprise of no one, went small-time.
Better still, with a chance to show Pittsburgh he is an owner who puts winning above the bottom line, Bob Nutting convincingly reinforced the popular belief that his concern centers around profit and not victory.
Once again the Pirates made it clear they are willing to give lip service to putting a winning team on the field, but nothing more. When it comes to doing something about what is in the process of becoming a 15th consecutive losing season, they refuse to do what is necessary.
The latest example of this came Thursday when the team had the fourth pick in the first-year player draft. With an obvious need for offensive help, the Pirates bypassed Georgia Tech catcher Matt Wieters, almost unanimously regarded as the hitting prospect closest to the major leagues, and went with left-handed pitcher Daniel Moskos.
What you need to know about these two players is this:
Wieters, a switch-hitter, has a significantly greater upside; Moskos has a significantly greater signability quotient.
That's how it works with the Pirates.
It wasn't a matter of which player could most help the team, it was a matter of which player costs the least. As a client of agent Scott Boras, Wieters would demand a signing bonus of $8 million to $10 million. Moskos will probably get something a little short of $3 million.
If that seems like a lot, it's not. The difference is considerably less than the approximately $11 million the Pirates wasted last season by signing Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Randa. It close to what they're wasting this season on Tony Armas and Shawn Chacon, who are, at best, a one-season Band-Aid.
General manager Dave Littlefield made the pick and defended it. But there is little doubt he took his orders from Nutting, who, according to Baseball Prospectus, declined Littlefield's request for the kind of bonus money that would bring Wieters to the Pirates.
And once again we are reminded of those famous words uttered by Nutting on the day he was named principal owner:
"Questioning my commitment or my family's commitment to winning, I think that's completely inappropriate."
Hah!
Writing for ESPN.com, Keith Law, the senior baseball analyst for Scouts Inc., called Wieters "a once-in-a-decade kind of talent." Wieters has been compared to Joe Mauer, a catcher who the Minnesota Twins made the first pick of the 2001 draft and who won the American League batting title last year.
In Moskos, who was ranked as the eighth-best prospect in the draft by Baseball America, the Pirates get a pitcher who, according to scouting director Ed Creech, is "probably going to end up as a closer."
With Matt Capps looking to be the pitcher who can fill that role for at least the immediate future, the Pirates' need for Moskos is considerably less than their need for a power bat.
As the projected No. 8 pick in the draft, Moskos obviously has an upside. But just how much remains to be seen. Certainly, his numbers at Clemson, where he is in the starting rotation after relieving most of his career, are not special.
Going into a start yesterday against Mississippi State in an NCAA tournament game, Moskos was fifth in earned run average among Clemson pitchers. He allowed 71 hits in 74 innings. Opponents batted .261 against him.
If he were facing major-league hitters, those numbers would be impressive. If he were facing Class AAA hitters, they would be encouraging. But he was facing college hitters, the vast majority of whom will never play professionally, let alone reach the major leagues.
As ordinary as those numbers were, they got worse yesterday when he was charged with six runs and 10 hits in five innings against Mississippi State, a performance that pushed his ERA above 3.50.
As a sophomore in 2006, was 5-5 with a 2.52 ERA pitching out of the bullpen. As a freshman, he was 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA.
He was not close to being dominant in college, so why should anyone expect him to assume such a role as a professional?
What made the Pirates look bad was the Baltimore Orioles, picking fifth, grabbed Wieters.
What made them look even worse is other organizations were more than willing to draft Boras clients.
The Kansas City Royals, as woebegone a franchise as the Pirates, took Mike Moustakas with the second pick.
The Milwaukee Brewers, whose willingness to spend despite being in a smaller market than the Pirates has lifted them from the bottom to the top of the National League Central, took Matt LaPorta.
The one Boras client who fell was high school pitcher Rick Porcello, ranked fourth by Baseball America. He was taken with the 27th pick by the Detroit Tigers, the poster team for losing franchises that has lifted itself off the bottom by spending money.
Speaking of Moskos, Littlefield said, "We got the guy we want, really."
Don't believe him. Littlefield's job is in jeopardy. He didn't get the guy he wanted. He got the guy Bob Nutting wanted.
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.)
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