Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Neal Huntington’s unfulfilled wish list
With the onset of a new year, the holiday season has come and gone and Neal Huntington’s wish list is unfulfilled. No, Huntington did not wish for the Heinz Field turf to be implanted to PNC (it would slow the ball down on the infield, helping Pirates’ pitchers out) or for snow tires (mainly because he did not need them until this morning). Well, maybe he did. I am not really sure, but this is the wish list he should have given to Frank Coonelly of available free agents.
1) Matt Clement – The Butler, PA native is reportedly down to the Indians or the Pirates. Huntington should be doing everything he can to sign him to an incentive-packed two or three year deal so the Pirates will maintain his rights if the pitcher returns to the form that he displayed from 2002 to 2005. Clement could give the Pirates the same performance that they are getting from Matt Morris at a fraction of the cost. Granted, Francisco Cordova could give them the same performance that Morris will (okay, that was a cheap shot).
2) Craig Wilson – Yes, the former Pirate has been absolutely terrible the past few years, but he is essentially an aging version of Steve Pearce (hopefully with a much lower upside). The Pirates’ long-term plan, since they do not pay anybody, is probably to trade 1B Adam LaRoche either after this season or the next, so it makes more sense to have Pearce play at AAA for at least part of this season instead of rushing him to the majors to prove that they are making progress of some sort. Wilson could easily handle the spot that Pearce would vacate on the bench, as both are right-handed (maybe in Wilson’s case) power hitters who are supposed to be able to play both 1B and RF.
3) Dallas McPherson- The former Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim is a left-handed bat that never lived up to his top prospect billing due to various injury troubles. He has a powerful bat (18 HRs in 360 major league at-bats) and would be a solid addition to the left side of the Pirates’ infield, allowing Jose Bautista to develop into the super-utility role that he is probably best suited for (after last season, I do not think he is an everyday player). Having not one but two (two!) left-handed power bats at play in PNC would be a risk worth taking, even if that player is the type who will incur a major injury to himself that no one has even thought of yet.
4) Jeremy Affeldt – This name has not been linked with the Pirates, but Affeldt is the type of probably cheap reliever that the Pirates need to be going after right now. He would take a 2-year, $7 million contract (yes, that is cheap on this market), probably, but would not be that much of a risk and would be a veteran arm in the bullpen, something the Pirates are sorely lacking after dumping three of them through free agency or trades. Heck, they should invite Armando Benitez to spring training while they’re at it. The aging right-handed ex-closer is a strikeout pitcher and could serve as a nice setup man and a tradeable commodity if he has a bounce-back year after a dismal 2007.
The point of this exercise is that there are free agents out there to be had that would make the Pirates a better team, be it in the bullpen or on the bench. If Huntington is not chasing them or inviting a bunch of these over-the-hill type of guys to spring training, he is not even doing as good of a job as his predecessor, Dave Littlefield did. At least Littlefield somehow pulled off the 2003 season, where he invited seemingly every aging player in the entire baseball world to spring training and found that he had accidentally put together a decent (by Pirate standards) baseball team.
Huntington does need to win in 2008, whether he realizes it or not. And his current cast of characters is probably not going to accomplish that, so he should take every step necessary to avoid embarrassing the city of Pittsburgh with a record-tying 16th consecutive losing season.
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