Thank you.

Thanks.

Not long ago, the Pirates were looking at a bullpen of Evan Meek, Joel Hanrahan and…Steven Jackson? In a very short amount of time, Neal Huntington has added several quality options.

The Pirates will need to remove a player from the 40-man roster before adding Dotel. It seems that could be delaying the signing at this point. The Pirates still have plenty of players that could come off the roster without the bat of an eye, which gives me the feeling that something else might be happening. Maybe Neal Huntington is working out a trade for one of the fringe bench players on the roster. I would not be surprised.

This is a solid signing.  According to Dejan, the Pirates are also close to signing Octavio Dotel and another major league reliever. If all of that happens, the bullpen would suddenly look fairly strong.

Church would be an upgrade over anyone the Pirates have to play right field at this point. If signed, he should push Garrett Jones to first base and Jeff Clement to the bench, a role he is best suited for. That would provide a marginal improvement to the Pirates lineup. Church is a much more interesting option to me than Rick Ankiel or Xavier Nady.

UPDATE (7:45 PM): Dejan reports that the Pirates have agreed to terms with Church. His signing will depend on the results of a physical later in the week. Due to his past injury issues, that physical will be significant.

Jack Wilson - raisethejollyroger.com

I just stumbled upon this top ten list of Scott Rolen defensive plays at The Blue Jay Hunter. I immediately decided to make one for Jack Wilson. I spend much of my time pointing out that the former Pirates that Neal Huntington has traded were mostly overrated by Pirate fans. I think that often overshadows just how much I enjoyed watching these guys play. Probably the biggest treat of the past decade of Pirate baseball has been watching Jack Wilson play shortstop.

I started out looking to make a top ten list of all plays available on MLB.com, but there were just too many to choose from. I ended up with Jack’s 2009 top 17 defensive plays in a Pirate uniform. Enjoy.

17. 4/12/2009 – Triple play.

16. 5/14/2009 – This is the type of play that will never make a Web Gems segment. Jack simply does everything right to turn an Albert Pujols chopper into a double play.

15. 4/21/2009 – Just a simple diving stop to take a hit away from Dan Uggla. Ho hum.

14. 7/27/2009 – Diving stop deep in the hole and a strong throw from his knees.

13. 7/19/2009 – Jack has a real knack for finding the ball. Here he reacts quickly to a deflected comebacker to get an out.

12. 7/4/2009 – Jack slides to his right, backhands and fires to first in one motion. Very quick release.

11. 7/20/2009 – Just another 6-3 in shallow left field.

10. 6/6/2009 – See number 11.

9. 6/8/2009 – Another great play on a deflected comebacker.

8. 7/6/2009 – Jack runs down a flare in shallow center.

7. 5/29/2009 – Jack’s range makes this play look simple.

6. 5/16/2009 – Diving stop in shallow center.

5. 5/18/2009 – Another great play deep in the hole.

4. 7/7/2009 – Jack takes a hit away from Miguel Tejada.

3. 5/31/2009 – A sure single becomes a double play.

2. 4/12/2009 – We will miss seeing Jack and Freddy doing this.

1. 7/11/2009 – It’s a shame that this game is remembered for the Matt Capps ninth inning meltdown, because this ridiculous play by Jack should have been the story. After making a great play to run down the pop-up, he immediately looks for more and doubles up Jimmy Rollins. This is the reason Jack has been the Pirates’ shortstop for so many years.

BONUS: 5/27/2006 – Jack’s great play in the Pirates’ 18-inning victory over Houston.

The Cubs owe Alfonso Soriano $18 million per year through 2014. Last year, Soriano hit .241/.303/.423 while playing a lousy left field, a performance that left him well below replacement level. They can probably afford this contract albatross, but it surely does not help.

Matt Holliday is unlikely to fall off as abruptly as it seems Soriano has, but he just signed a pretty large contract for a team that generally boasts a payroll that is only a bit above average. With Albert Pujols eligible for free agency after the 2011 season, I would be wary of committing a large amount of money to a 30-year-old corner outfielder.

I have no idea what Ed Wade is doing.

None of these concerns will necessarily doom the respective team. But as a Pirate fan, they certainly bring a smile to my face.

In an attempt to give the projections a more visual appearance, I created a knock-off version of Justin Bopp’s TargetView graphs. Above average defenders are in green while below average defenders are in red. Each ring represents one run away from average. For example, Lastings Milledge is projected to be a +5 defender, so he is represented by five green rings. Ronny Cedeno, a -3 defender, is represented by three red rings. My photoshopping skills are very limited, so things look a bit choppy. You can probably tell that the rings are not drawn to scale.

Steve did not have a projection for Jeff Clement, so I used his CHONE defensive projection.

Image courtesy of Bing.com

I won’t go into a very detailed analysis, but the one thing that I wanted to touch on is Pedro Alvarez’s future position. The general expectation is that Alvarez will play third upon his arrival in Pittsburgh, with Andy LaRoche potentially moving to second base to make room. I would much rather see Alvarez plugged in at first base instead. Playing Alvarez at third weakens that position, and moving LaRoche to second would weaken another spot. On the other hand, Alvarez would be an upgrade over Clement at first and that would keep LaRoche’s above average glove at third and Akinori Iwamura on the field at second. That extra defensive value outweighs the minor offensive advantage that Clement is likely to hold over LaRoche or Iwamura.

I will finish with an encouraging thought. If we plug Alvarez in at first and Jose Tabata into right, there will likely be quite a bit of green on this picture in one year.