If you know me well, I've probably told you the story where I almost won one of those envelopes that blimps drop during intermissions of Pittsburgh Penguins games.
It's always been my dream to catch one of these magical envelopes, and in 2007 I had an open lane to sprint and grab one. I started my dash with glory on my mind, but then noticed a small boy patiently waiting for the envelope to fall into his waiting arms. At tht moment two options went through my head. The first was truck the little kid and just keep running to avoid the ushers and angry parents. The second was to pull up and let the kid have the envelope. I was with blog contributor Mike at the time, and he would have made me feel like a terrible person if I destroyed the kid, so I went with option B.
I tell this story because I then saw the boy run to his dad and boast about his prize. His dad was then Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield. I immediately regretted my decision. Littlefield was and still is despised in the city of Pittsburgh. No one would have been mad at me if I checked his kid. Hell, they probably would have come to my aid if Littlefield came after me.
For those readers who are familiar with the Littlefield era, you know he sucked as a GM. He is the one who traded Aramis Ramirez for garbage. He is the one that traded for Matt Morris and didn't have the San Francisco Giants help pay any of his remaining $10 million contract. Morris was cut less than a year later. Littlefield made signings like Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Randa when they had nothing left in the tank. Basically, he was one of the worst general managers ever.
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| What a tool. |
Well, I'm here to defend Littlefield to an extent. Let me make it clear, I hated Littlefield and think he set the Pirates franchise back about 10 years with all his moves. It's just this is an interesting topic to look at.
Wieters ended up going to the Baltimore Orioles and was called up in 2009. Since that day he has a career average of .267, an OBP of .327, 28 home runs and 132 RBIs in 1065 at bats. Now he's only 25, but those aren't exactly superstar numbers.
Now let's look at the Pirates primary catcher from 2008 to the present , Ryan Doumit. Once again, if you know me, I'm not a fan of Doumit. He is terrible on defense and has the most evil eyes on the planet. With his demonic possession aside, Doumit's stats in this timeframe are: .276 average, .321 OBP, 42 home runs and 167 RBIs in 1210 at bats.
So Doumit's stats are pretty similar to Wieters, but he has one more year under his belt in this comparison. He is also more injury prone and not as good defensively. So is all the hate thrown Littlefield's and Doumit's way really justified? Looking at the numbers and Wieters' struggles in the majors, I think it's likely Pirates fans would probably be hating on Wieters and Littlefield had he been selected with the No. 4 pick. OK, so Littlefield would be hated no matter what.
Moskos made his majors debut this season and is doing well except for a bad game. He's 1-0, has appeared in 21 games, pitched 16.1 innings and has a 2.76 ERA. The ERA is a little misleading as his WHIP is 1.65. Certainly he wasn't worth the No. 4 pick, but he hasn't been terrible in doing the job he's been asked to do.
While lots of people wish Wieters was the Pirates selection, they should really be mad for the team passing on names like Madison Bumgarner and Jason Heyward, who have played big roles for their teams.
OK, maybe this isn't a defense of Littlefield. He sucked no matter how you look at it.
Ben Folds - Sleazy
Ready for some hate?
ReplyDeleteWell first I'd argue that Moskos has been mostly uninspiring after his first 4-5 appearances and other teams got a scouting report on him. He has an xFIP of 5 and hasn't given up a HR yet. I think he's much more likely to get bombed soon. Once Beimel's ready, I think Moskos should be sent down.
As for whether they should've drafted Wieters , the fact that Doumit was on the team at the time should have zero effect. Baseball drafts revolve around taking the best player available, not whether he's blocked. You can't project whether you'll have the need for a player years down the road or if the prospect will even stick at that spot. For Pirates, Walker is a perfect example.
And for the record, I don't think you start discussing if Wieters is a bust when he's only in his second full season, when this year is a huge improvement on the last.
Go bucs.
Frick! I tried posting a long reply but it got deleted.
ReplyDeleteThe jist of it was I never said Moskos is a stud or I want him on the team. I just said he hasn't been terrible.
I never said we shouldn't have taken Wieters because we had Doumit. I was just pointing out that Doumit's and Wieters' production have been similar since Wieters was drafted.
I never said Wieters was a bust. He just hasn't lived up to his massive hype. He has shown improvement, but huge? His average is better, but still 20 points lower than his rookie year, his K/BB ratio is practically the same, and his OBP is only slightly higher. His defense is great, but you don't take a catcher with the No. 5 pick just because his glove. He was picked to hit, and he hasn't done that yet. He is really young and the bat might come around, but let's turn the hype down until it does.
All I was saying was when we make fun of that organization for that draft, let's do it because Littlefield passed on Bumgarner ad Heyward. These are two guys that helped their teams get to the playoffs. Bumgarner even played a big role in the Giants winning the World Series.
Hate on that.
I was cranky and hot because it was in the 110s at the time and decided to take it out on you. I basically agreed with everything you said and that last point is one I constantly try to make. Just tried to get you fired up.
ReplyDeleteMission accomplished. +1 for me