By Dejan Kovacevic | 11:12 a.m., Friday
DENVER -- Before this one grows any legs beyond one national report, the Pirates are not in discussions with St. Louis regarding outfielder Colby Rasmus, one of the top prospects in all of baseball. The reason, as they and other teams have been told by the Cardinals: Rasmus is untouchable.
On a not-really-related note, revisiting the issue of the Pirates' "exorbitant" demands for their players, there appears to be a pattern in place where these reports -- as well as many of their predecessors -- emanate from New York. To fully understand why, one has to appreciate the general view there that a) New York teams are owed everything when it comes to sporting glory and b) it is the responsibility of the Pittsburghs of the world to help facilitate that. Thus, when Pittsburgh plays hard-to-get, it is treated by some who run or work for those teams with surprise, disappointment and, ultimately, anger vented through the press.
"They won't take Aaron Heilman and four other players we don't want for Bay? Who do they think they are?"
Had a good talk last night with someone infinitely more experienced in this business than I am, and he described in vivid detail many examples of that over the years.
And this, too: Be sure that teams are testing Neal Huntington's mettle. They want to see if he gets rattled by things in the press. I heard of one specific instance of this occurring even as early as last winter, where a story was essentially planted by a rival GM in large part just to see how -- or if -- the Pirates would react. They did not react at all, which probably was the right reaction.
Should be an interesting couple of weeks.
Posted
Jul 18 2008, 11:12 AM
by
Dejan Kovacevic