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Morning Report: What to Expect from the Pirates on July 2nd

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Every year on July 2nd, 30 Major League teams sign a group of young amateur players, most of them in the 16-18-year old range. For many of those teams, fans who follow those signings already know at least one player their team will be signing on Saturday. Other teams will be very active on Saturday, paying a severe penalty by going well over their bonus pool to sign multiple high bonus players. As of Wednesday night, we have only heard two names for the Pirates, and one isn’t eligible to sign yet.

Ben Badler gave his forecast for all 30 teams on Wednesday night and he linked the Pirates to two players. One is Dominican outfielder Pedro Castillo. The other comes from the Pirates favorite trainer, Raul “Banana” Valera, who has had some of the bigger signings for the Pirates over the last few years. He has a left-handed hitting outfielder named Jean Rober Eusebio, who turns 16 on August 22nd. That means the Pirates can’t sign him until August 22nd, which makes him one of the youngest (perhaps the youngest) player in this signing class. We posted about him last night, complete with plenty of video.

The first-time eligible players in this upcoming signing class are players who turned 16 on September 1, 2015 or later. If their 16th birthday is after July 2, 2016, but before September 1, 2016, then they can sign on their birthday. There will also be players who waited to sign while the team interested in signing them had to wait until the money was available, so you will see older players sign on July 2nd as well.

The Pirates were busy scouting players back in February out of Mexico, but that also happened last year and nothing came from that. This year they brought two players to their Dominican academy for tryouts after scouting them in Mexico. One was Cesar Serna, a college outfielder turned pitcher, who was getting his fastball up to 95 MPH. He is currently pitching in the Mexican Pacific League, where he has 3.1 scoreless innings, though he has walked five batters. The other is Alexis Serna (no relation), who was still 15 at the time, and it’s unknown at this time is he is 16 yet. As you will see below, there is a good reason why they couldn’t sign the 21-year-old Serna (assuming they wanted to) back in February.

Going into July 2nd last year, we had just two potential names for the Pirates and they both came out the night before. They ended up signing center fielder Kevin Sanchez for $450,000 and catcher Samuel Inoa for $240,000, but those signings weren’t even announced until July 3rd.

On July 2nd, the Pirates signed two players out of the Bahamas, Kyle Simmons and right fielder Larry Alcime, who signed for a $350,000 bonus. Those were the only names that came out that day, so it temporarily seemed like a letdown. Then when Inoa and Sanchez signed the next day, that meant the Pirates have spent about half of their international bonus pool on their top three players.

They were followed the next day by three pitchers who received a total of $255,000 between them. Then five days later, the Pirates got third baseman Sherten Apostel from Curacao, who signed a $200,000 deal.

So while July 2nd wasn’t much of a day with two players signed, within a week the Pirates had eight players signed and 2/3 of their yearly budget was spent already. What we didn’t know at the time was that the Pirates were busy on July 2nd, it’s just that no formal announcements are made, so finding these players required some digging.

Besides what we reported here, the Pirates also spent $150,000 on pitcher Yeudry Manzanillo, $115,000 on Leandro Pina, and $50,000 on hard-throwing Joel Cesar, who reportedly touched 100 MPH. They also spent $150,000 on shortstop Rodolfo Castro and $115,000 on outfielder Carlos Garcia. That’s a total of $580,000 spent on five players who we didn’t hear about until October.

They spent $2,075,000 of their $2,111,900 budget on 13 players and only two of them were announced (not by the Pirates) on July 2nd. The Pirates also signed seven other players during this past international signing period (July 2, 2015 until June 15, 2016). They probably spent more than $36,900 on them, as teams are allowed to go 5% over without a harsh penalty, unless you count a 100% tax on the overage a harsh penalty.

So now that you have a rundown of what happened last year and how little was known on July 2nd, you shouldn’t expect a lot of excitement on Saturday. If Ben Badler is correct, we will hear about Pedro Castillo that day, but nothing else is guaranteed to happen, especially since we don’t know what it will take to sign Eusebio on August 22nd. They have even less money to work with this year after finishing with the second best record in baseball, which gave them a $2,044,800 international bonus pool.

Since it looks like the Pirates really maxed out last year’s budget, we could also hear about some players who have been waiting until July 2nd to sign, just because the Pirates didn’t have money left in their bonus pool. We will be here combing the internet for any information so you don’t have to, and reporting whatever we find.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates won 8-1 over the Mariners on Wednesday night. They are now off today, as they travel to Oakland for three games against the A’s. Jeff Locke will be on the mound for Pittsburgh, while Oakland has yet to name a starter.

In the minors,  Steven Brault makes his second start since rejoining Indianapolis. He threw four shutout innings for Morgantown in a rehab start, then moved up to Indianapolis to replace Chad Kuhl, who was promoted to the majors. On a limited pitch count, Brault allowed two runs over 3.1 innings, though those two runs came on a controversial home run call in which the ball appeared to land at least 30 feet to the left of the foul pole in foul territory.

Tyler Eppler allowed four runs on 11 hits in 6.1 innings in his last start. He has a 3.16 ERA so far in June after posting a 5.18 ERA in six starts last month. Yeudy Garcia goes for Bradenton, trying to build off the seven shutout innings he threw in his last game. It was his longest outing of the season and his nine strikeouts were also a high for this year. Garcia is sixth in the Florida State League in ERA and second (one behind the leader) in strikeouts.

Brian Sousa goes for the GCL Pirates, while Cam Vieaux makes his third start for Morgantown coming off four no-hit innings in his last game. Lefty Ike Schlabach is likely starting for Bristol, although it says TBD.

MLB: Pittsburgh (38-41) @ A’s (35-43) 10:10 PM 7/1
Probable starter: Jeff Locke (5.12 ERA, 28:46 BB/SO, 89.2 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (42-37) @ Toledo (33-45) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Steven Brault (3.00 ERA, 13:38 BB/SO, 30.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (43-34) vs Bowie (33-44) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (3.96 ERA, 18:55 BB/SO, 88.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (41-33) vs Jupiter (35-40) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Yeudy Garcia (2.24 ERA, 30:75 BB/SO, 64.1 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (39-37) vs Columbia (38-39) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Bret Helton (3.95 ERA, 28:46 BB/SO, 72.0 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (7-6) @ Batavia (3-10) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Cam Vieaux (2.70 ERA, 4:3 BB/SO, 6.2 IP)

Rookie: Bristol (5-2) vs Burlington (4-3) 7:00 PM (season preview)

GCL: Pirates (2-2) vs Tigers West (3-2) 12:00 PM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates (7-15) vs Yankees1 (10-11) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is a home run that Alen Hanson hit on Tuesday night. Perhaps more important than the home run is the fact he had two walks in this game and then two more walks on Wednesday.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

6/30: Erik Lunde assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

6/30: Raul Hernandez assigned to Bradenton.

6/29: Pirates sign Nick King and Daniel Cucjen.

6/28: Trevor Williams activated from temporary inactive list.

6/28: Carl Anderson assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.

6/28: Pirates sign Max Kranick. Assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/27: Pirates sign Buddy Borden. Assigned to Bradenton.

6/27: Jeff Roy assigned to Bristol.

6/27: Erik Lunde placed on the disabled list.

6/26: Pirates purchase the contract of Chad Kuhl. Kyle Lobstein optioned to Indianapolis.

6/26: Pirates designate Curtis Partch for assignment.

6/26: Pirates unconditionally release Cory Luebke.

6/26: Trevor Williams placed on bereavement list.

6/26: Tomas Morales sent to Bradenton.

6/25: Justin Maffei assigned to Altoona.

6/25: Luis Paula and David Whitehead assigned to Bristol on rehab.

6/24: Pirates purchase the contract of Adam Frazier. Designate Cole Figueroa for assignment.

6/24: Juan Nicasio activated from restricted list. Designate Jorge Rondon for assignment.

6/24: Jacob Stallings optioned to Indianapolis.

6/23: JT Brubaker added to Bradenton roster. Colten Brewer placed on temporary inactive list.

6/23: Tito Polo assigned to Bradenton.

6/22: Pirates recall Kyle Lobstein. Wilfredo Boscan optioned to Indianapolis.

6/22: Jhondaniel Medina assigned to Indianapolis.

6/21: Pirates recall Wilfredo Boscan. Curtis Partch optioned to Indianapolis.

6/21: Pirates sign Braeden Ogle.

6/20: Trace Tam Sing and Erik Lunde added to Bradenton roster. Pablo Reyes placed on temporary inactive list.

6/19: Steven Brault sent to Morgantown on a rehab assignment.

6/19: Pirates purchase the contract of Jacob Stallings. Jason Rogers optioned to Indianapolis.

6/19: Tomas Morales promoted to Indianapolis.

6/18: Pirates option Rob Scahill to Indianapolis. Recall Jason Rogers, Jorge Rondon and Curtis Partch.

6/18: Cory Luebke designated for assignment.

6/18: Juan Nicasio placed on restricted list.

6/17: Pirates released Garrett Russini and Guido Knudson.

6/17: Pirates sign Matt Frawley, Stephen Owen and Arden Pabst.

6/16: Pirates sign 13 draft picks.

6/16: Casey Hughston and Logan Sendelbach assigned to West Virginia. Julio Vivas and Billy Roth assigned to Morgantown.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Six former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus three trades of note. Starting with the players, we have INF/OF Delwyn Young (2009-10), pitcher Chan Ho Park (2010), first baseman Dave Roberts (1966), lefty pitcher Don Gross, who was a member of the 1960 World Series champs, and pitcher Johnny Miljus, who played for the 1927 team that went to the World Series. Also born on this date, pitcher Hal Smith, who played for the Pirates from 1932 until 1935. There have been three players in Major League history named Hal Smith and all three played for the Pirates. The other two were catchers in the 1960’s.

Starting with the most recent trade first, and it was actually two on the same day. On this date in 2009, the Pirates dealt away Eric Hinske and cash to the Yankees in exchange for Eric Fryer and Casey Erickson. Fryer played very little for the Pirates, while Erickson never made the majors. It was addition by subtraction though, as Hinske wasn’t playing well for the Pirates and wasn’t happy in Pittsburgh.

On that same day, the Pirates sent Sean Burnett and Nyjer Morgan to the Nationals for Joel Hanrahan and Lastings Milledge. This deal worked out better for the Pirates, as Hanrahan became the closer, then was traded to get Mark Melancon. Morgan and Milledge were a wash, as neither played very well (both were a 1.0 WAR over two seasons with their new team). Burnett did well in his limited role, which was mostly him being used to face lefties. In 245 games, he threw 201.2 innings.

On this date in 1982, the Pirates traded Pascual Perez and a player to be named later, to the Braves in exchange for pitcher Larry McWilliams. While the PTBNL turned out to be a career minor leaguer, the deal was basically even as both teams got  good production out of their new pitchers. Both were good pitchers in 1983-84, then fell off in 1985. McWilliams finished fifth in the Cy Young voting in 1983.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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