Pirates Offseason Discussion Thread

[burgh_fan66]

burgh what can you tell me about Cabrera? You seem to be in tune with your organizational depth. Oliver at one time had some high hopes but when he got his shot he missed a couple of times. Good arm but like you said lacks control. Nibbles around the outside corner a lot instead of trusting his fastball. I'm just wondering if Cabrera has a legit chance to over take our own young back up catcher Holaday. Holaday has defensive capabilities but the bat is still an issue or is Cabrera more of a bat.

Cabrera was in my just missed group when I was doing the Pirates top 30 prospects. I'll quote my little blurb about him.

Ramon Cabrera: Cabrera was signed by the Pirates in 2008 out of Venezuela. He had just converted to catching so his defensive game is raw. Cabrera made his pro debut in the VSL in 2008 and had a very solid season. The following year he started back at the VSL but recieved a rare in season promotion to the United States. Once in the states Cabrera had a strong year showing off his good contact and plate discipline abilities which is what carries him as a prospect. Cabrera took a step back in 2010 when upon being promoted to A ball his walk rate took a hit. He still manged to keep his strike out rate low and show decent contact but his good plate discipline wasn't there. In 2011 Cabrera moved up to A+ and had a breakout season offensively positing an .881 OPS. Unfortunately Cabrera's shaky defense caught up with him as he threw out only 13% of runners trying to steal. The good offensive showing in 2011 was enough to eanr Cabrera a promotion to AA this past season. He started the season serving as the DH and backup catcher to Tony Sanchez and struggled in that role but once he became the regular catcher he started to hit much better and even showed improvements defensively. Cabrera's strgenths are his ability to make good contact and his plate discipline but his shaky defense behind the plate and small stocky stature (he is listed at 5'7" 202 lbs) make some question wether he has the defensive and durability needed to hold up behind the plate for a full season. Cabrera like a lot of other prospects I have discussed so far is Rule V draft eligible this season but unlike the rest he has a decent chance of either being added to the 40 man roster or if not added being selected by another team. If he is still with the Pirates next season he could be an interesting one to watch in AAA.

Essentially his bat is his strength. He doesn't profile to hit for a lot of power but he actually won the FSL batting title in 2011 which shows off his really solid contact skills. He switched over to catcher right before the Pirates signed him so his defense is still a little shaky but it has been improving. He is probably fairly close to average at blocking pitches but struggles with throwing out runners. There are also questions about his durability not necessarily because of any injuries but because of his small stocky stature. I seen him play a couple of games in AA and while taking mental notes of the game I never once took real notice of him. Now that may sound bad but that also means he did nothing that looked horrible.

[TigerRulz66]

Hey thanks for the insight and keep up the good work your doing in this forum.

[burgh_fan66]

Jason Grilli apparently has his list down to 4 teams with the Pirates being one of them. All the offers are for two years and unless someone else takes thier offer up to 3 it appears he is going to stay in Pittsburgh. That would be a positive sign indeed. No 3 years though Neal.

[burgh_fan66]

Pirates did not select anyone in the first round of the Rule V draft. I'm a bit surprised as I thought we would see a bullpen arm added.

Update: Nor did the Pirates have anyone selected in the draft.

[burgh_fan66]

Pirates select Ethan Hollingsworth in the AAA portion and lose Elevys Gonzalez. Hollingsworth like most picks in the AAA portion is just minor league depth. I was hoping to see Gonzalez be the 3B at AA this season because he had the highest upside of the possible candidates but really that says more about his competition than it does him.

[burgh_fan66]

Off topic from the rest of my posts but I've seen a lot of people against a Hanrahan for Capuano deal suggest that if Dee Gordon could some how be added that the deal would be good. What is it that Pirates fan see in Gordon exactly?

Last season he posted a 58 wRC+ for comparison Barmes was at 62. His UZR/150 was -26.6 compared to Barmes at 15.3. Now look I don't read much into defensive stats but that is too huge a difference to just completely ignore. Another thing that gets me is that people want him hitting leadoff. Now I know he strikes out less than Marte but his BB% in 2011 at AAA was 5.8%, Marte was at 6.5% this past season. In the majors Gordon has a 4.8 BB% and .299 OBP and Marte has a 4.4 BB% and .300 OBP. You should all know how dead set against Marte leading off I am so it should be obvious that I can't see the rationale behind Gordon doing it either.

[burgh_fan66]

No word on Grilli yet but the rumor is it will be a 2 year deal (which previous information means points to the Pirates) and that it is now down to the Cubs, Blue Jays and Pirates.

[burgh_fan66]

Scott Miller of CBS Sports is reporting a deal between the Pirates and Grill for 2 years and for between 3-3.5 million per year is close.

[burgh_fan66]

Either way a decision should be coming shortly.

[burgh_fan66]

It appears Grilli has resigned with the Pirates. No word on the terms yet but it appears to be a 2 year deal.

Hang in a minute Grilli says he has yet to make a decision.

[burgh_fan66]

Jon Heyman now says Grilli is coming back. So ... Who knows right now.

[jrm2054]

Are they going make any notable trades or signings?

[burgh_fan66]

Hang on another minute now Heyman is saying that Grilli hasn't made up his mind yet.

This is just ridiculous now.

[burgh_fan66]

Are they going make any notable trades or signings?

With the obvious exception of Martin and with however this crazy Grilli fiasco turns out the only major moves I see forth coming are the trading of Hanrahan and acquiring a SP (either in the Hanrahan deal, in another deal or as a free agent). If Grilli doesn't sign another arm will probably be added to the pen such as Farnsworth and either way a reliever like Veras and Cruz will probably sign a minor league deal and make the pen out of spring training. Outside of those moves the only other things on the table are probably a possible Garrett Jones deal and maybe signing a veteran utility player for the bench.

[burgh_fan66]

Kyle Kaminska was sent to the Red Sox to complete the Zach Stewart trade. Kind of surprised the Pirates dealt him as they seemed to really have been working with him since getting him from the Marlins in July.