FanGraphs takes a closer look at Ross Ohlendorf’s arbitration case and concludes that he had a pretty strong case without ever using a metric more advanced than you’d use for fantasy baseball (ERA, WHIP, and K/BB).
FanHouse’s Frankie Piliere ranked his top 100 prospects yesterday and two Pirates made the cut: Jameson Taillon at #24 and Tony Sanchez at #43. He seems to really like Sanchez, calling his bat not “too far from being Major League ready.” I’ve tried to sift through his subsequent chat to see if any other Pirates came up, but I think Stetson Allie is the only Bucco that came up in the chat and Piliere says that he does think he’s got a chance to develop into a good starter.
UPDATE: Just asked Frankie about Rudy Owens on Twitter, he said he wasn’t one of his final cuts but that he was considered for the list and that he graded him pretty well when he pitched against Strasburg last year. Indianapolis is slated to come to Durham pretty early this year (May, I think) so hopefully I’ll be able to see him in some game action for myself.
Vlad dug up this article that mentions Cesar Lopez and his 91-93 mph fastball and excellent change and slider. It’s from last April, so it’s a pretty good indication that he pitched at least a little bit last year. Hopefully the Pirates can get his visa issues ironed out and get him over to the States ASAP so we can figure out more about him.
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