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Troublesome News With Lincoln

Posted Feb. 17, 2007 5:17 pm by Jim Callis
Filed under: Daily Dish, Training Room

At the time of the 2006 draft, I would have exercised the No. 1 overall pick on Brad Lincoln. The Pirates wound up taking him fourth overall, and he didn’t pitch much in his first pro summer because of a strained oblique. That didn’t worry me, but this does: The Pirates held him out of their first spring-training workout yesterday because he has a forearm strain and irritation in his right elbow. He won’t throw for 2-4 weeks, and these are often the first symptoms of ligament damage. Pittsburgh’s farm system has taken a couple of hits already, with the trade of Brent Lillibridge to the Braves and Neil Walker losing at least a little value by moving from catcher to third base. This would be the worst news yet.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 17, 2007 at 5:17 pm by Jim Callis and is filed under Daily Dish, Training Room. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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9 Comments

This is getting ridiculous for the Pirates. What are they doing (or not doing) that’s getting all their minor-league pitchers hurt? They can’t afford to keep having this happen. I refuse to believe it’s just a coincidence that Lincoln, Van Benschoten, Burnett, Bullington, Bradley, and the train wreck that was Clint Johnston (all first-round picks) have succumbed to elbow and/or shoulder injuries. Should they just fire all their minor-league pitching coaches and trainers, scrap the entire organizational philosophy on pitching, or is this all just the most insane string of bad luck?

I’d blame Littlefield for this, but anymore I don’t know what’s his fault and what’s Nutting’s fault.

Ugh, less than a week into the spring and already bad news out of Bradenton. Losing season No. 15 in a row is off to a perfect start.

Posted by Chris Jackson | February 17, 2007 at 8:46 pm | Shortcut

Terrible fact for Bucco fans according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

If Lincoln has surgery, that would extend a remarkable — and regrettable — run for the Pirates. In the past decade, five of the six pitchers they drafted in the first round before Lincoln — Clint Johnston, Bobby Bradley, Sean Burnett, John Van Benschoten and Bryan Bullington — have needed major arm surgeries. The only exception is Paul Maholm.

Posted by Dave | February 17, 2007 at 9:34 pm | Shortcut

The Pirates have no luck when it comes to drafating pitchers. Lincoln, if hurt as seriously as expected, adds to the other top pirate draft choices who have had similar phyisical problems; Bradley, Burrnet, Van B and Bullington. Lets hope for the best and wish him well.

Posted by Joe solo | February 18, 2007 at 1:54 pm | Shortcut

This is a clear case of the Pirates not vetting their draft picks. It’s not like these guys (except Burnett and Van Benschoten) are having problems when they are in their late 20′s, most of these guys don’t even make it to Altoona before they develop major problems.

Posted by Neil Mario | February 18, 2007 at 11:38 pm | Shortcut

Bad luck? It’s not bad luck, it’s poor scouting and vetting of players they draft. The Pirates have doon a poor job at evaluating who is sound and who isn’t.

Posted by David McNutting | February 18, 2007 at 11:40 pm | Shortcut

It seems that this happens to a lot of organizations. College coaches ride one pitcher all season. You really have to look at how much these kids throw. Kids are pitching too much and too early..

Posted by john | February 19, 2007 at 10:06 am | Shortcut

Horrible news for the Pirates. As a Brewer fan there has been a fair amount of hand-wringing over the same situation, that being many pitching prospects getting hurt. Just goes to show, there really may not be such a thing as a pitching prospect.

Posted by deeswan | February 19, 2007 at 11:11 am | Shortcut

I would have to agree with that. They need a complete overhaul of the system. They should start with the GM and go down. If there are any individuals that have been around the last 15 losing seasons, get rid of them. Their input means nothing. Why do they even have assistant GM’s. All they do is watch a couple of baseball games, cheat on their wives, and then go out and party like the players. They should stop hiring their “friends” and hire people that are really serious about their jobs. I have sen this first hand.

Posted by JWD | February 19, 2007 at 3:17 pm | Shortcut

[...] First Round Snake Bites Those poor Pirates. From Sean Burnett to Brad Lincoln. A long history of pitchers taken in the first round with arm troubles. A wise tip from here on out. Donâ€™t waste a high draft pick every year on a pitcher. You can still find good arms in the lower rounds. Go with the safer picks. More importantly, get rid of Chuck LaMarâ€™s twin brother you have as your GM. Those trades are what has set the organization years back. [...]

Posted by David Bloom | February 20, 2007 at 7:16 am | Shortcut

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