“It’s the most precious commodity in our game.” – Neil Huntington
Coming off of a season dubbed “The Year of the Pitcher,” this phrase, muttered by many front offices around baseball now, is exactly what Pirates’ GM Neil Huntington echoed yesterday after selecting UCLA’s Gerrit Cole with the 1st overall pick in the MLB First-Year Player Draft.
Beginning last year with the selections of high-schoolers Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie in the first and second rounds of the draft, and the international signing of 16 –year-old Luis Heredia from Mexico, the Pirates have started to stockpile arms for the future.
Understanding that they don’t have the resources to compete in the free agent market for frontline pitchers, the Pirates plan to cultivate their own.
Management’s decisions have been under fire since I can remember, and rightfully so. Instead of taking the best player available they settled with someone who was signable. That is no longer the philosophy. After spending just as much as anyone on amateur players in the last few years, the Pirates are determined to build a championship team from the bottom-up, and that starts with pitching.
Granted, this one pick does not forgive the absolute whiff that was Bryan Bullington, but with a new regime and strategy in place, this #1 overall pick should have a much brighter outlook.
Cole, who I considered the top pitching prospect in the draft, has an above average fastball that has hit triple digits on the radar gun, a hard slider, and an above average changeup. With three plus pitches, Cole projects to be a top of the rotation guy capable of anchoring a pitching staff.
Despite having a so called “down year,” Cole will now have the opportunity to get into the Pirates system earlier than expected and get some innings, due to UCLA’s early exit from the NCAA tournament.
What scares me though is not how Cole’s command will improve or how fast he can get to the big leagues, but rather his agent, Scott Boras.
Shrewdly representing some of the biggest names in the game and usually the top prospects in the draft, Boras has made a living off of holding clubs hostage until he can squeeze every last penny out for his client. It makes him a great agent, but perceivably a tough guy to work with or against.
Boras represents the last three number one overall picks. In 2009 he secured a $15.1 million contract and $7.5 million signing bonus for San Diego State’s Stephen Strasburg and just last year obtained a $9.9 million contract and $6.25 million signing bonus for Bryce Harper.
I imagine that Cole’s contract will be comparable to that of Strasburg’s if not a little heftier. The Pirates have had dealings with Boras before. He represents their third baseman Pedro Alvarez, who was drafted 2nd overall in 2008 so they know what to expect in negotiations.
Regardless, it will be up to Pirate management to work a deal that both sides can agree to. Get this kid into the system ASAP! The more time he has to work on his command and secondary pitches now, in the minors, the better the Pirates will be in the long run.
Follow me on Twitter @mcfarlands412 or email me at stmcfarland5@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment