The Pirates' front office has received a tremendous amount of criticism for its handling of the Pedro Alvarez promotion. The franchise that is often bashed for over-hyping prospects and giving its fans false hope is now being bashed for placing too little emphasis on the PR aspect of the situation. It is a strange criticism that has left me thoroughly confused.

Pirates' president Frank Coonelly announced today that general manager Neal Huntington and manager John Russell had their contracts extended through 2011 this past offseason. This information had not been made public previously.

The final list of the Pirates' 2010 draft pick and which ones have signed.� As expected, first-round pick Jameson Taillon and second-round pick Stetson Alllie both signed on the final day, though they didn't wait until the last possible second like what happened a couple of years ago.

A total of 27 signed out of 50, by my count.

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(+ denotes draftees who have just graduated from high school)

1. RHP Jameson "Jamo" Taillon �+��� SIGNED 8/16

2. RHP Stetson Allie �+����� SIGNED� 8/16

3. CF Mel Rojas Jr. -- SIGNED 7/15

4. RHP Nicholas Kingman +� --SIGNED� 8/9

5. RHP Tyler Waldron �-- SIGNED �6/18

6. RHP Jason Hursch +

7. RHP Austin Kubitza +

8. RHP Dace Kime +

9. RHP Brandon Cumpton -- SIGNED 8/9

10. RHP Zachary Weiss +

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11. LF Daniel Grovatt -- SIGNED 8/13

12. RHP Vincent Payne �-- �SIGNED 6/18

13. LHP Christopher Kirsch +

14. RHP Bruce Weidman �-- SIGNED 6/21

15. SS Andrew Maggi� -- SIGNED 8/16

16. 1B Matthew Curry -- SIGNED �7/2

17. RHP Ryan Hafner + -- SIGNED 8/9

18. OF Chase Wentz

19. LHP Kent Emanuel +

20. OF Justin Bencsko -- SIGNED �6/15

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21. CF Dale Carey +

22. 2B Adalberto Santos �-- SIGNED 6/20

23. 1B Jared Lakind +� --SIGNED 8/16

24. 1B Justin Howard -- SIGNED 6/25

25. RHP Casey Sadler �-- SIGNED 6/28

26. RHP Brandon Pierce +

27. RHP Kevin Kleis� -- SIGNED 7/9

28. SS Zackary Powers +

29. RHP Garret Levsen +

30. C Matt Skirving -- SIGNED 6/15

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31. RHP Jason Townsend -- SIGNED 6/28

32. IF Chase Lyles -- SIGNED 6/15

33. LHP Justin Ennis -- SIGNED 6/15

34. SS Kelson Brown -- SIGNED 6/15

35. CF Andrew Muren

36. RHP James Archibald -- SIGNED 6/28

37. C William Allen +

38. RHP Alex Cox +

39. RHP Kevin Decker -- SIGNED 6/10

40. RHP Harrison Cooney +

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41. RHP Bryton Trepagnier + �--SIGNED 7/5

42. LHP Stephen Lumpkins

43. RHP Garrett Hicks +

44. RHP Cory McGinnis

45. RHP Connor Sadzeck +

46. C Ryan Wiggins +

47. CF Nathan Sorenson +

48. LHP Dillon Haviland +

49. RHP Logan Pevny +� -- SIGNED� 7/9

50. RHP Dusty Isaacs +

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The Indianapolis Indians had a scheduled day off today.

Reports are that 1B/OF Steve Pearce, who is working his way back from a sprained ankle, played in an extended Spring Training game today in Bradenton. �He went 1-for-5 at the plate.

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West Virginia Power �5, �Hickory Crawdads �3 (box)

The Power snapped their losing streak with a win in Hickory tonight, led by DH Kyle Morgan and his two home runs. �After two quiet innings, Morgan got things started in the top of the 3rd with a solo home run over the right-center field wall. �SS Benji Gonzalez followed the homer with a single, then stole second base (his 9th steal of the season). �A double by CF David Rubinstein plated Gonzalez, and a single by 2B Jarek Cunningham brought in Rubinstein. �Cunningham also stole second base (his 3rd of the year).

The Crawdads tied it up with 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. �Kyle McPherson had the first batter reach on an error by 3B Jesus Brito, then gave up back-to-back singles to load the bases. �A double cleared the bases, and those 3 runs tied it up.

But the Power were not done. �Both RF Jose Hernandez and Morgan blasted solo homers (not back-to-back) in the 4th inning, and the Power had the lead again.

That was all the scoring in the game. �Brito and Cunningham were the only Power batters to reach base over the remaining 5 innings, both on walks. �The Crawdads did not fare any better --�McPherson retired the next 11 batters he faced over the 4th through the 7th innings. �He gave up a 2-out triple in the 7th, but got the next batter to strike out. �Ryan Kelly pitched a perfect 8th inning, and Duke Welker pitched a perfect 9th, including two strikeouts. �McPherson was credited with his 5th win, and Welker with his 4th save.

Pedro Alvarez was called up. Aki Iwamura was DFA'd. A tree fell in the woods and nobody heard it. And the Pirates lost their 10th straight.

To make room for Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates designated Aki Iwamura for assignment today.

Bradenton Marauders �13, �St. Lucie Mets �1 (box)

Brian Leach won his third game of the season with 7 shutout innings against St. Lucie. �Leach scattered 4 hits, no walks, and had one batter reach base on an error. �He never had more than one runner on base in any one inning. �He also struck out 8 Mets' batters.

The only run the Mets scored came in the 8th inning. �Ramon Aguero took over for Leach to begin the 8th. �He gave up a single, then a passed ball and a ground out put the runner on third base. �Another single drove in the run. �Noah Krol pitched a scoreless 9th, allowing one single.

While the Marauders' pitching staff was holding the Mets down, the Mets' pitching staff was having a lot more trouble with the Marauders' bats. �They were quiet for the first two innings, then exploded for 5 runs in the 3rd. �CF Austin McClune began the fun with a walk. �DH Andrew Walker dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but when the Mets' pitcher missed the pick-up, the Marauders had runners on first and second with no outs. �2B Adenson Chourio also bunted, and the bases were loaded. �SS Greg Picart cleared the bases with a triple into right field. �RF Robbie Grossman kept things going with a walk, and a wild pitch put him on second base, though it didn't let Picart score. �Picart did score on C Tony Sanchez's sacrifice fly, and a single by LF Quincy Latimore drove in Grossman.

McClune got the next inning started too, this time with a single. �Walker walked, and Chourio singled, scoring McClune. �A balk moved both runners into scoring position, and a wild pitch brought in Walker. �Grossman's sacrifice fly plated Chourio, and the Marauders were up, 8-0.

It was Grossman's turn to triple in the 6th, which brought in both Walker, who had reached base on a fielding error, and Picart, who had singled. �Picart drove in his 4th run of the game with a single in the 8th, after McClune walked and Chourio singled for the second time. �Another fielding error by the Mets put Latimore on base in the 9th, and 1B Calvin Anderson brought him in with his 6th home run of the season.

Gordon Beckham's last RBI was a run scoring single in the sixth that put Chicago up for good. 9 straight losses.

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Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees �4, �Indianapolis Indians �1 (box)

A 3-run homer in the bottom of the 8th broke a 1-1 tie, handing starter Daniel McCutchen a hard-luck loss at PNC Field in Scranton, PA. �But there was a piece of good luck, at least for Pirates fans, after the game: �3B Pedro Alvarez (photo) was called up to Pittsburgh, to join the Pirates.

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In just his second season of professional baseball, Alvarez has played in 66 games with the Indians, hitting .280 with 15 doubles, 4 triples, 13 homers, and 53 RBI. �He leaves the International League with the league's third- highest RBI total, tied for second in triples, and tied for fourth in home runs. �Alvarez, like most of the Indians, has had trouble against the S/WB Yankees, going 1-for-15 in this 4-game series, with 2 RBI and 6 strikeouts. �The hit he had was a home run on Saturday. �Alvarez had started off the season with a slow month of April, hitting .224 though with 5 homers and 15 RBI. �He improved that average to .294 in May, with 6 more homers and 30 more RBI. �In half of June, he has hit .346 -- and that counts the 1-for-15 series -- with 2 home runs and 8 RBI. �The Pirates had challenged Alvarez to improve his average against left-handed pitchers, and he has done that. �His current splits have him hitting .266 against right-handed pitchers and .323 against southpaws.

Daniel McCutchen (photo) began tonight's game by retiring the first 6 batters he faced. �He gave up a run in the 3rd inning, which began with Yankees' 3B Matt Cusick lifting a fly ball over Tribe LF Kevin Melillo's head for a double. �2B Reegie Corona's ground out to second moved Cusick to third base. �McCutchen hit the next batter, RF Greg Golson, who then stole second base. �LF Reid Gorecki's fly ball to left field became a sacrifice fly, scoring Cusick with the first run of the game.

McCutchen gave up only one hit over the next three innings. �1B Jorge Vazquez lined a 2-out single into the right-center field alley in the 4th, and was left on base when C Jesus Montero popped out to end the inning. �The next 6 batters, over the 5th and 6th innings, all went down in order.

Yankees' starter Ivan Nova was letting Indians' batters get on base in the first half of the game, but he was getting help from his teammates, specifically in the form of double plays. �DH Brian Myrow reached base on a fielding error in the top of the 1st, when his grounder skipped off the glove of 2B Corona and into right field. �In the 2nd, 1B Jeff Clement and C Luke Carlin opened the inning with back-to-back singles, but RF Brandon Moss bounced into a double play. �That put Clement on third base and erased Carlin. �A fly out by CF Jonathan Van Every ended the inning.

The Pirates recalled top prospect Pedro Alvarez immediately following tonight's game. Alvarez is expected to make his major league debut tomorrow night at PNC Park.

I am not going to spend much time talking about Ron Cook’s article in this morning's Post-Gazette. There are plenty of misguided thoughts in the article, but I just wanted to make a single point.

As Neal Huntington tore down the Pirates’ major league roster over the past few years, I set my sights on 2011 as the year the team would “turn it around.” By 2012, I hoped we would be competing for the playoffs. Whether this team has a chance to accomplish any of that is debatable. In this upcoming series of articles, I will determine how close the Pirates are to achieving their goal.