Pittsburgh Pirates
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PrintBaseball America's Top 10 Prospects lists are based on projections of a player's long-term worth after discussions with scouting and player-development personnel. All players who haven't exceeded the major league rookie standards of 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched (without regard to service time) are eligible. Ages are as of April 1, 2007.
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For years, the Pirates have said the key to building a winning team is scouting and player development. Yet seemingly each winter, they would add fading veterans to provide quick fixes.
After going 67-95 in 2005, Pittsburgh traded for Sean Casey and signed Jeromy Burnitz and Joe Randa. That plan backfired badly, as the three combined to hit just 23 home runs and drive in 106 runs en route to another 67-95 season in 2006. But those failures finally spurred the Pirates to do more than just pay lip service to the idea of building from within. After a 30-60 record before the all-star break, they benched Burnitz and Randa and traded Casey to the Tigers. Pittsburgh went 37-35, its first winning record after the break since 1992--which also happens to be the last season it finished on the positive side of .500.
For a change, the Pirates went into the offseason legitimately feeling they had put together a nucleus of young players who could help the franchise end its string of 14 consecutive losing seasons. That's just two shy of the major league record set by the 1933-48 Phillies.
The biggest reason for optimism is that Pittsburgh finished the season with four starting pitchers 24 or younger in Zach Duke, Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm and Ian Snell. The Pirates also have the 23-year-old heir apparent to closer Mike Gonzalez in Matt Capps, who set a franchise rookie record by pitching in 89 games.
Gonzalez was used to acquire 27-year-old first baseman Adam LaRoche, who hit 32 home runs for the Braves last season. He'll add punch to a lineup made up entirely of players 28 or younger, led by Jason Bay, who has one National League rookie of the year award and two all-star berths in three years, and surprise National League batting champion Freddy Sanchez.
After infusing so much youth into their big league roster, however, the Pirates now have a thin farm system with few premium prospects. Most of their younger players were drafted during Mickey White’s three-year run as scouting director from 1999-2001, which included taking Snell in the 26th round in 2000 and Duke in the 20th round in 2001.
One of Dave Littlefield’s first moves after taking over as general manager midway through the 2001 season was to fire White and replace him with Ed Creech. Creech's last three first-round picks—outfielder Andrew McCutchen (2005), catcher Neil Walker (2004) and righthander Brad Lincoln (2006)—are Pittsburgh's best prospects, but his drafts haven't been as deep as White's.
It's hard to pin all the blame on Creech, though. Pirates ownership went through a period where it overruled the scouting department’s desire to draft high-ceiling prospects in favor of going the conservative route with college players. The franchise now has new owners in charge, with the Nutting family buying out most of the team's other partners and installing Robert Nutting as chairman of the board. He replaces Kevin McClatchy as the club's controlling owner, though he has said the revamped ownership group supports McClatchy (who remains the club's CEO) and Littlefield.
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