High draft picks are for Losers

The off-day Dejan Kovacevic describe the Alvarez situation in this report of his phone call with Scott Boras, a burly dude who wears black turtlenecks and expensive watches.

Boras argues that Alvarez is a can't-miss player, an elite prospect. He compares him to the best players he has represented out of the draft. (I wouldn't make comparison to J.D. Drew, if I were Boras, given the way he bungled the Philadelphia negotiations, but whatever.) Boras argues that the Pirates need to pay Alvarez a lot of money because it's a good investment for the Pirates. The Pirates, obviously, are balking at the high asking price. And they are of a mind to offer less each week that goes by without seeing Alvarez in the minor leagues getting ready for next year.

The Pirates got themselves into this situation by Losing. Littlefield avoided players like Alvarez in the draft, a plan with predictable bad results. One, the Pirates have not produced so many good players with their high draft picks, and a winning team team needs good players. So, two, the Pirates have been perpetual Losers. And three, the fans of the Pirates caught on to this cheap philosophy and have wisely demanded better from the new leadership.

Boras must know the pressure that the Pirates are under to pay what he wants for Alvarez. Here the new leadership pays a price for the incompetence of the old leadership. They are over a barrel. They have to sign this guy. They could not sign him, but this would surely perpetuate losing much more than the opportunity cost associated with overpaying for Alvarez.

The way to get out of this situation is not get into it. The truth of the matter is this. The Pirates do not want high draft picks. High draft picks are for Losers. Literally -- you have to lose a lot of games to get a draft pick capable of claiming a player like Pedro Alvarez. You lose that many games, get that high a draft pick, and then you pay the Loser's Fine to the Bad Man in the Black Turtleneck.

The Pirates need good players to stop Losing. So, obviously the way to solve the problem begins with getting the good player. Once they get the player, the next step is equally obvious: stop being such Losers. That's the only way to avoid getting into this situation again.

Game 102: Padres at Pirates

Friars come to town to match Clay Hensley up against Yoslan Herrera. Game on at 7.

Alumni autographs day. Former Bucs Grant Jackson, Barry Jones and John Smiley will sign autographs on the Riverwalk from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Bones and I met John Smiley in his rookie season. He was amused.

Game 101: Pirates at Astros

One more game on fantasy island before the Pirates come home to face the Randy Wolf-less Padres. It's a day game. Snell and Moehler will start.

Game 100: Pirates at Astros

Maholm and Cassel at 8.

I happily slept through last night's adventure. Today I was going to pack up & send in the win meter for repairs, but it looks like it buzzed to life while I was sleeping. FWIW it's humming pleasantly, perhaps because Maholm is the scheduled starter.

Game 99: Pirates at Astros

It will be JVB and Runelvys at eight.

Game 98: Pirates at Rockies

This again. Duke and Cook at 3.

Game 97: Pirates at Rockies

In what's likely to be a low-scoring game, Yoslan Herrera starts tonight against Jorge de la Rosa.

Game 96: Pirates at Rockies

Snell and Rusch at 9.

Game 95: Pirates at Rockies

Pirates have been much more entertaining than in previous years, and they come out of the All-Star break six games under at 44-50.

There may or may not be a whole lot of talk about trading players soon. The place to get prospects, I think, is the draft. I have not done any scientific studies of the question, but I doubt any of those fabled winning small-market franchises were built on trading very good players for lottery tickets. More likely they drafted well year after year.

As far as I know, too, the Pirates are under no great need to trim salary.

And it also does not look to me like the Pirates have a lot of top minor-league talent that's blocked. Is it so urgent that Pearce graduate? If so, he's about the only one.

The team surely needs more reliable starters. So does most every other team in the league. The Pirates will have to grow their own. It's hard to see how trading Xavier Nady would solve the problems with the rotation.

Tonight it's Maholm and Jimenez in mountain time at like 9 o'clock.

Off day

Nate did pretty good last night. All hail Nate!

Week-long road trip starts tomorrow in Colorado.

All-Star Game

Tonight at 8. Nate McLouth to win it at the end.

At the break

Pirates are 44-50.

Home Run Derby tonight.

Your lying eyes might say otherwise, but the guy on the mound will not be Tom Gorzelanny.

Game 94: Cardinals at Pirates

Pineiro and Snell. This afternoon.

Happy Slovak day.

Game 93: Cardinals at Pirates

Yoslan Herrera makes his major league debut vs. Todd Wellemeyer at seven.

Game 92: Cardinals at Pirates

Zambelli Fireworks!

But, you have to sit through a baseball game.

Kyle Lohse and Zach Duke at seven.

Game 91: Yankees at Pirates

The teams will try to make up that postponed game from last month.

Paul Maholm and Ed Asner at seven.

Game 90: Astros at Pirates

Scuffy Moehler and John Van Benschoten at 7.

Game 89: Astros at Pirates

Backe and Snell at 7. Snell, like Dumatrait yesterday, comes off some extra rest.

Game 88: Astros at Pirates

Runelvys Hernandez and Phil "Kama Sutrait" Dumatrait at 7. Dumatrait returns from the rest that he needed to recover from the strain of so many difficult positions.

And, the Brewers kick off the silly season by making a big trade.

Game 87: Pirates at Brewers

Duke and Suppan at 2.