It's a good weekend for Pirates

By Bob Smizik
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Sunday, August 17, 2008

Vanderbilt's Pedro Alvarez, right, slides safely home in the fifth inning against Mississippi during their 2007 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament baseball game at the Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., Saturday, May 26, 2007.

The most positive news to come out of the weekend for the Pirates was not the signing of first-round draft choice Pedro Alvarez, although he could become the kind of mighty middle-of-the lineup left-handed hitter who could make a major impact at PNC Park.

Acquiring the talents of Alvarez, a third baseman who projects as making it to the Pirates by late 2010 or 2011, is a huge plus for the franchise, but it in no way guarantees anything. There's no assurance whatsoever he will become a successful major leaguer. It's not like the Pirates haven't signed first-round draft choices in the past. They've signed one every year but one since the draft was instituted in 1966. Of those 42 picks, only one, Barry Bonds, became a dominant player.

It's not like they haven't signed players drafted higher than Alvarez, with Bryan Bullington and Kris Benson being the most recent.

Besides, even if Alvarez proves to be the hitter scouts project him to be, the Pirates are considerably more than one bat away from being a contender.

Here's why this was such a big day for the Pirates:

Owner Bob Nutting -- at last -- put his money where his mouth is.

From the day he assumed control of the team as principle owner in January 2007, Nutting talked a good money-spending game but still was regarded as an owner who was too bottom-line conscious to put a winning team on the field.

He made gestures, but they were hardly momentous. It was nice that he gave his management team of president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington the go-ahead to craft careful long-term deals with Freddy Sanchez, Ian Snell and Matt Capps. But, in actuality, those deals were every bit designed to protect the Pirates as much as they were to reward the players.

He also gave the OK to build a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, but that was little more than doing business in the 21st century.

This was different. This was more -- much more.

The Pirates showed they are willing to be a player in the free-agent amateur draft, which is the best and fastest way to build a contender. Not only did they exceed the hallowed slotting levels that Coonelly, in his former role with Major League Baseball, had helped to establish and enforce, they blew by them in several cases.

• Alvarez received a $6 million bonus, not only the largest awarded by the Pirates, but $2.5 million above his slotted level.

• Earlier Friday, the Pirates gave a $900,000 bonus to pitcher Quinton Miller, a 20th-round pick who had signed a letter of intent to play baseball at North Carolina. Even for a player who would have been drafted higher had he not said he was going to college, it was an astonishing figure. Players taken in the 20th round are more apt to get a four-figure bonus than one of almost seven figures.

• Thursday, they gave a $1 million bonus to sixth-round choice Robbie Grossman, who was set to attend Texas. Sixth-rounders aren't slotted, but most get around $150,000.

By the end of the day, the Pirates had doled out about $9.5 million to the 32 draft choices they signed. That's more money than any team spent last year. Figures for this year are not available yet, but the Pirates should be in the upper echelon.

It speaks to a commitment from Nutting, but one that will mean little if it doesn't continue and also extend to long-term major league contracts for players heading for free agency.

It was a big day for Coonelly and Huntington, too.

Any thoughts, as absurd as they might have been, that Coonelly owed more allegiance to the slotting system he established than to the Pirates were erased. He's an executive who wants to win. He did not take this job to be thwarted by a cheapskate owner. Coonelly has been mentioned as a possible successor to Bud Selig as commissioner of MLB, and, if that's his goal, he won't get there by running a haphazard organization.

Huntington, whose resume caused snickers when Coonelly hired him last fall, has shown an easy comfort with his job. He has a good eye for talent. He cobbled together a good bench without paying a lot of money, and, when the bullpen came apart early, he improved it by salvaging the careers of Denny Bautista, Jason Davis and T.J. Beam.

He engaged in contract negotiations with super agent Scott Boras and came away with no less than a draw.

So what does it all mean?

It means the Pirates might have a chance to compete some day, nothing more. Having an owner willing to spend money puts the Pirates on a level or close to the level of other teams and nothing more. Having a savvy general manager who can evaluate talent and make a deal does little more than put the Pirates on the same page with almost every other team.

It was a great weekend for the Pirates. But it was one step forward, nothing more.

Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com. More articles by this author
First published on August 17, 2008 at 12:00 am