No worries, the Pirates are handling their talent properly

Written by: Pat Lackey on 31st March 2009

No worries, the Pirates are handling their talent properly | read this item

Yesterday, the Pirates announced that they were demoting one of their top prospects, Andrew McCutchen, to AAA Indianapolis to start the 2009 season. There was a lot of consternation among Pirate fans over this move. McCutchen hit .318/423/.561 and was coming off of a five-hit (with three doubles and one homer) game against Jamie Moyer and Brad Lidge when he was demoted. With the less-than-promising Nyjer Morgan slated to begin the season in left field, some Pirate fans were upset with McCutchen’s demotion.

One criticism of the move has been that it was done to keep his arbitration clock from ticking. Surely that’s part of the equation and it’s hard to believe that some Pirate fans think that’s not important. Since Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly took over the team in 2007, it’s been clear that they’re far more interested in rebuilding from the bottom up than sacrificing to try and win in the short-term. 2009 is already written off, and starting McCutchen’s service clock right now is foolish.

Beyond that, the truth is that McCutchen could use some more time at AAA. In various minor league stops, he’s shown impressive power (17 homers split between the Sally League and the Eastern League as a 19-year-old in 2006) and he’s shown good potential as a leadoff hitter (68 walks, .372 OBP in AAA in 2008), but he’s really yet to put the OBP and the slugging together in one season. At the age of 22, there’s just no reason to rush him to the big leagues right now when he can take some more time to improve in AAA.

In fact, it seems like the Pirates have handled all three of their important prospects well this spring. Pedro Alvarez put on an impressive show in camp with stories of a 550 foot batting practice home run impressing both the players and Jayson Stark alike. Still, remembering that he hasn’t played a meaningful professional game yet, the team sent him to Lynchburg in the advanced-A Carolina League, putting him on the Matt Wieters track. Similarly, Jose Tabata was sent to AA Altoona to prove that the breakthrough he made after the trade from the Yankees last fall wasn’t a fluke.

In the end, it looks like all three players are being handled properly. If McCutchen hits the way the Pirates are expecting with Indianapolis, he’ll be in the Pirates’ lineup by the All-Star break. That makes room for Tabata, who’s still only 20 years old, in Indy. And the team won’t be shy to move Alvarez up from Lynchburg quickly if his bat stays hot.

What Pirate fans must remember is that these things take time. No good can come from rushing any one of these three players now, but if they’re properly groomed, they form a solid foundation for Huntington and Coonelly’s rebuilding project.

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Topics: Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Neal Huntington, Pedro Alvarez