Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.

Rick Reed to the Pirates
 
This is a minor league contract, as you'd expect. Rick Reed is 39 and was dreadful last year in Minnesota. As a side note to the signing, there have been stories written in the past day or two about Reed's dealings with the Mets, who were apparently close to bringing him back into the fold, also with a minor league contract. Phil Tannenbaum, Reed's agent, was apparently insulted that Mets GM Jim Duquette didn't place some call or calls to him during the negotiations. So now, the Mets lose out on a 39-year old pitcher coming off a season in which he went 6-12 with a 5.08 ERA. Tannenbaum assures us that "this will definitely be reflected in the [Mets'] win-loss column this year." I'm not totally clear what the "win-loss column" would look like (perhaps wins minus losses, so games over .500) if it existed, but I think he's absolutely right, if not in the manner he intended.

The Pirates are a crappy team, but the rotation next season won't be all that bad. You'll have Kip Wells and Kris Benson at the top, with Josh Fogg and Oliver Perez behind them. That's an effective, passable top four - not enough to be competitive in what is shaping up to be a very top heavy NL Central (the Cubs and Astros appear to be the clear favorites) - with a fair amount of promise due to its youth. Wells is still just 26, Benson's the elder statesman at 29, Fogg's 27 and Perez is just 22. All of them have had some success at the major league level, and while they're far from Tim Hudson - Mark Mulder - Barry Zito - Rich Harden, it's a perfectly acceptable rotation.

Unfortunately, the team isn't likely to do a whole lot offensively, counting on unproven regulars like Tike Redman, J.J. Davis and Freddy Sanchez as well as retreads like Daryle Ward. Assuming they're not going to contend for the top two spots in the division this season...why not go with a fifth starter that is a little younger than 39, particularly in an organization that actually has some ready or near-ready pitching prospects? I'm assuming that the Pirates will take the correct approach and make Sean Burnett or David Williams win a rotation spot in spring training. If they're unable to do so, I guess I can see the logic in having roster filler like Reed to roll out there every fifth day. Of course, like every other team, the Pirates already have guys who can fill that role who actually have some upside like Ryan Vogelsong (who is now 26) and even Brian Meadows (who has done okay for them the past two seasons as an irregular starter), Nelson Figueroa and Blake Stein. Maybe Reed is marginally better than these other options (and I'm not willing to concede that), but even if that's the case, you're throwing away the opportunity to get a younger pitcher some innings. If it doesn't work out for whatever reason, you've already got players that can give you crappy innings in house. A team like the Pirates simply doesn't need Rick Reed.
posted by VZW Watcher at 1:55 PM -