Pirates should say no to Sano

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

twentyonetwenty four — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:20:13 GMT

Bob,

I'm really hoping you were simply trying to stir up the readers. Otherwise you are far worse at this than we have any reason to expect.

Let's count out the problems with your piece:

1) He's 16. Most of the high end Latin American prospects sign at 16. This is the age when the call has to be made. By the time they're 18 they're in AA by the time they're 21 or 22 they're in the major leagues. Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Beltran, Aramis Ramirez, Johan Santana, Francisco Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada Miguel Cabrera were all signed as International Free Agents at 16.

2) He might not be 16. Pirates have spent time and money checking into his age. MLB is doing the exact same thing right now.

3) A lot of players that NH didn't draft or select didn't work out. Really? How is this relevant?

4) A lot of pitchers didn't work out. Ok, this is true. Pitchers have a higher likelyhood of getting hurt or not developing. Only problem is that Sano isn't a pitcher

5) $4 million is too much of a risk. Compared to what? The Pirates have a total of 1 potential impact bat in the system. Here is a chance to get another one, and for 1/3 less than Pedro Alvarez. Maybe it's just a "guessing game" but any chance is better than none.

Last year the Pirates spent almost $10 million to sign draftees and International Free Agents. So far they've spent less than 5, they can sign Sano and one of the high end high school pitchers and still stay on budget.

Letters: Fans defend Harrison's decision

Bob Smizik's Blog — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:51:25 GMT

Saturday, 1:00 a.m. There was plenty of outrage concerning my post about James Harrison’s reasons

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

erad67 — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:01:23 GMT

By your argument, the Pirates should always forgo their 1st and perhaps 2nd round draft picks because of the expense. Also, many of your examples were pitchers. All seem to agree Sano is a 1st round talent. If you look at the numbers, 1st round positional players have been much more successful than 1st round pitchers. Seems that the entire sport misses much more when evaluating pitchers, not just the Pirates, perhaps because they are more likely to have career ending injuries.

While I too agree that $4 million for a 16 year old sounds crazy, so does the $6+ million given to other players that have not played a single pro game. We can all list a string of negatives for giving someone that young that kind of money, there are also positives such as being able to get professional coaches to work with him from an earlier point of development.

Yes, top talents DO flame out and never make it to the big leagues. Happens to every team, ... OFTEN! The counter to that is to increase the number of top talents you bring in. They aren't going to give us more top draft picks, so we need to go out and bring in kids from the Dominican and elsewhere.

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

JL — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:50:19 GMT

Special Agent,

Well put. All your posts. And I'll just add that apparently it is not only Pirate organization people who are high on this kid Sano. Dejan couldn't get people from other organizations to go on record, but does tell us that compared with agent Fuller's sky high reviews, "praise for Sano was equally effusive from others in the industry interviewed for this story."

Sure, Sano could flop. Nothing is guaranteed in life, and this is especially so in competitive sports. Still, gotta take the shot. We don't have to take $4 mil shots every time. But this time, I say we reach for the brass ring.

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

special agent johnny utah — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:53:56 GMT

Bob,

Thanks for the reply.

But that expands on the larger issue that, since they don't spend on payroll, that they should spend in the draft and development.

We can't criticize the judgment of the new regime the way we did the old one since the jury's still out on their decisions.

Let them scout, draft, and develop. We'll see what happens then, but this is exactly the type of thing they should be looking into.

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

special agent johnny utah — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:24:52 GMT

Stu,

Nothing on that link...

Thanks for the try, but like I said, the point remains regardless.

Oh, and also, to attempt to make a point that we can't do this right because of prior talent evaluation mishaps (which overall were atrocious) by the Pirates is way off base since there's a new regime (including GM and scouting director Greg Smith).

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

stu — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:12:58 GMT

Here you special agent utah

en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_players_from_Dominican_Republic_in_Major_League

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

Purewater — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:28:55 GMT

I think everyone has it wrong with regard to what Dave Littlefield would do...he would have signed him but for $6.5 million and then he would have turned the kid into a relief pitcher.

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

special agent johnny utah — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:36:24 GMT

I disagree.

Who cares if he's 16, 17, or 18 for that matter?

Many great Latin players are signed like this.

Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Vlad Guererro, and Johan Santana were all first signed as free agents at this age and they seemed to turn out pretty well.

I'm sure I could dig and find more, but the point remains.

As an aside, it's odd to see a bulk fanbase that usually complains about our 'stingy' owner now blast him for attempting to spend this money here and call it wasteful.

I'd rather spend this here than a crud free agent.

(I am sure you could find plenty more Dominicans [Aramis Ramirez] who have had good to outstanding MLB careers. And for every one of those, there are about 10 who have signed professional contracts and gone on to do nothing. --- Bob Smizik)

re: Pirates should say no to Sano

Ya'Zhynka — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:14:10 GMT

I agree with Bob on this one. $4million is far too much to risk on somebody whose brain is not yet fully developed. He's 16!