Pirates lose out on Nicaraguan prospect

If he was an anchor type middle infielder, I'd be miffed, but we are supposed to be solid at 3B for the foreseeable future, via Mr. Alvarez.

Roxy,

Alvarez has 4 errors in 3 AA games at 3B thus far.

He'll be moving to 1B before too long.

But wait????

How can this be???

They built the Taj Mahal of Latin American baseball academys and quadrupled the Latin American free agent budget?????

Wow it pays to pay attention

as they say on the yahoo message boards

1st

Okay time to interupt the baseball talk to let you know the pics have been added.  Please click on the link below to take you there.  Drew, your dad did not look 91, he was great and I enjoyed meeting him.

community.post-gazette.com/.../default.aspx

Reports a long ago as a couple of weeks had the Royals in the lead for Mr. Cuthbert's services.

And there's certainly no way PA will be blocked at 1B.  If anything, he might be rushed into the job, given the dearth of depth at that position in the organization.

Geez Louise, Delwyn Young is in right field tonight.  Katy bar the door!  This could be bizarre!

rox, ya beat me to it. I was reading this was a done deal with the Royals awhile back. But that said for like 750K, perhaps the Buccos came in and *gasp* upped the ante?

Mark my words...They'll be no "real" significant Latin America signing by the Pirates.

At some point, they will sign someone and dress it up to be a "a new step forward in the plan."

But it won't be anyone any better than Yoslan Herrera.

As for Alvarez....It's apparent that he's flat out "no good" in the field.

I don't find 1st base to be a real good move either.

First of all, it's ridiculous to put someone that young at 1st base that isn't a "natural first baseman."

Second of all, from the sounds of things, the last thing I would want is to have a guy like him taking every throw in the infield per groundout.

Why not just trade him right now to the AL, and let him be what he really is....a DH.

Mad-Nice pix.Thanks

Blackout Complaint of the Day:  I live in Bettendorf Iowa.  A storm has knocked out DirecTV so I got online to my MLB.TV susbscription.  Apparently, I live close enough to Kansas City that we're blacked out.  So the blackout count for Iowa stands at Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, Twins, Cardinals, and now Royals.  Give me a break MLB.  I subscribe to DirecTV's Extra Innings, DirecTV's Sports Pack (for FSN Pittsburgh) and MLB.TV.  I pay over $500 a year to see the Pirates on TV and I'm ok with that... so MLB, why do you believe that I should be blacked out?  Booooooooo... unhappy customer....

Great pics, madturk!

Db

excellent idea, call the bosox and see if we can swap jbay for pa and oh yeah can you throw in ortiz while u r at it

off for awhile.  I'll see some of you  at the game tomorrow

Trip trip triple G-I feel your pain,but the storm is rapidly leaving the area so you might be OK soon.That storm took us from 97 to 77 in an hour or so.

@Maz @ Drew

Thanks guys hope you enjoy them.

For PBP...retreat to the game thread, please.  :-)

I hope you're right Maz.  Right now the storm in Bettendorf is horrendous.  Creepy green/gray sky with torrential rain.  Usually DirecTV isn't out very long.  My big beef is that MLB.TV is blacked out.  Maz, with you I'm preaching to the choir, but for cryin' out loud how are all of those teams "in our market" when I think they're pretty far away?  I wish MLB would let me purchase a season ticket to Pirates on TV/Internet.  I'd pay a ton, but I'd want 100% coverage.

And as I'm typing... DirecTV just kicked back in.

Mad -- Nice pics ...

GGG -- Glad you got tv back, sunny and about 80 out here.  

Game time.

@Daquido Bazzini

You just might win the award for the most negative fan in the asylum. Sure, let's not work a #1 draft choice--who's only played a few dozen games of minor league ball--into the fold at 3rd or 1st base. Yeah, he makes errors...yeah, he's terrible in the field...but will he be that way forever? You have all the answers? Can I get a cookie with my fortune, please?

Give it a rest. Let him play for a while. The world's not going to end and the Pirates will get better in spite of what you think and what others here think about the front office. So we didn't the kid from Nicaragua and we may not get the kid from the Dom. Rep. Whooppee...it would save the rest of us from your whining about signing either of them for: A) too much money; B) not offering enough and losing them to other teams; C) whatever else you think you could do better than NH or FC.

You project an awful lot for a guy who has (probably) never seen Pedro play. 2nd overall pick and he can't catch, throw or hit... yeah, you pegged him right DB. Would love to see the players you'd bring to the team.

If I remember correctly, we had a power hitting 3rd Baseman a couple of years ago that made an error every time a ball was hit to him (or at least it appeared that way).  He turned out to be pretty good after a few years.  So I think we should just give PA some time and let him learn how to play 3rd before we trade him for Bobby Hill.

(I know we didn't trade ARam because of his defensive skills, but makes my argument look good).

DB-Are you EVER  happy?Geez Louise.Eventually everyone will end up treating you as a troll and JUST STOP  answering your posts.I guess that must your goal.I guess keep doing it and we will eventually exclude you from the discussion.

GGG and Maz...I don't understand that.  There's no way you're in TV range for all those teams.  Nice thaing about Nebraska...I would maybe have been blacked out for KC.

and EW!  On the creepy green/gray sky.  I don't miss that.

C'mon people, we all know that the "Taj Mahal" doesn't guarantee the signing of every Latin prospect.   All it does is make us more competitive in the region.  Something that hadn't been true for decades.

My guess is that the organization placed a value on Cuthbert and that's where they were willing to go.  Expect the same with Sano.   They may get him, they may not.  I hope they do but even if they don't we're still years ahead of where we would have been without the overhaul.  Not what you want to hear daquido but I suspect deep down you know it to be true.

It's called financial responsibility.  Stick to the plan, NH.  We're seeing the results.

I'm off to Dodger Stadium.  Go Big Blue but most of all, Beat 'em Bucs.  

Call me negative....But also call me sick of this 17 year old mess.

Most people threw this team under the bridge "at least" a decade ago.

I actually (like an idiot) continue to follow it.

But the past couple years in particular have worsened my anger.

I'm one that thoroughly believes the current regime is even worse than the prior ones....and they all stink.

I'd like you to re-examine my above post and tell me what is outrageous about it.

The only thing that is out of the ordinary, is the "tongue in cheek" comment at the end to trade Alvarez.

Believe me....It won't be long to happen after he reaches the big club.

Socaldonn - How can you like the Pirates and be a Dodger fan?!?!?

Not a possibility with me.

the ants had marched.....  

Having starting pitching depth sure gives us a chance to dream of the playoffs.  DY emphatically reminds us why he gets playing time regardless of his poor fielding.  That fan should have gotten the boot.  That ball wasn't even close to being a foul ball.  I'd love to know what Nyjer said to him.  I was happy to see JR get tossed the other night, but he was so wrong in his argument.  Hand is part of the bat.  I thought everyone knew that.

i love Nyjer, but he needs to learn how to steal.  all the speed in the world don't mean anything when you get picked off....

I wouldn't write Pedro off yet at 3b.  He's young and guys improve with practice.  Sanchez wasn't a great 2b when he moved there, but he has really gotten good because he worked at it.  Neil Walker wasn't a good defensive 3rd baseman, but he is supposed to be now.  Doumit wasn't always a solid defensive catcher and people often spoke of him needing to move, but he worked on it and got better.

And Doumit did that at the major league level.

NuttingHostage...  man, your negativity gets old.  The complex they built is in the Dominican Republic.  It isn't like all the players throughout South and Central America are going there.

So what? 16yrs old he should be in school.

Next we are gonna start following T ball players!

Sure a lotta hoopla about a child. He ain't LaBron and

this is not basketball.

Go Pirates

David

The should have brought him in for a "recruiting weekend".  That would have sold him.

This was no shock, especially since that espn guy Jorge Arangure, who knows everything, said just the other day on his twitter page that the Pirates are going to get Sano and that they wont get both Sano and Cuthbert. He said that The Pirates were willing to only pay up to $750,000 at the most for Cuthbert because they already have all the money budgeted for signing Sano.

The only thing that would shock me is if they don't sign Sano.

But that Espn guy has been right about everything else so far so I would go to Vegas on whatever he says.

Here is that Jorge guy's twitter address - I suggest just following everything this guy says cause he obviously has close ties to all of this.

twitter.com/.../2348687441

Actually this is the address for Jorge Arangure, not the one above.

twitter.com/jorgearangure