Remembering the 2007 draft

The Pirates might have had one of the worse drafts in the history of the franchise in 2007.  Need proof? Look here and tell me what guy is currently contributing in the majors for the Pirates (not named Tony Watson).

2007 was the last year of Dave Littlefield as the GM.  He pretty much made sure that he would never be a GM again after some of the boneheaded moves made during his tenure as GM.  I am willing to overlook the following from Dave Littlefield because every GM makes some bad moves

-trading players like Kenny Lofton, Aramis Ramirez, and Jason Schmidt for nothing 

-passing up the opportunity to trade Kip Wells for Ryan Howard 

-passing up the opportunity to trade Kris Benson for Ryan Howard

-leaving most of the Pirates minor league prospects open to the Rule 5 draft in 2003 and not using a pick even though they had 2 spots open on the 40 man roster.

-trading one of the best pitching prospects in baseball (Chris Young) for Matt Herges who they released before appearing in a single Pirates regular season game

-trading for Matt Morris at the end of his career 

-trading for Benito Santiago so he can play 5 games for the Bucs by sending away an electric young arm formerly known as Leo Nunez.

One thing I can never overlook though is blowing the 2007 draft.  The Pirates had the 4th overall pick in 2007 and passed over the top hitting college prospect, Matt Wieters, to select Daniel Moskos.  Did I enjoy watching Daniel Moskos close out the 2010 Eastern League champions Altoona Curve with a strikeout? Absolutely! I was at that game.  However, that was Daniel's age 24 season and his 2nd year in AA.  By that point Matt Wieters already had 20 career MLB homeruns and was on his way to begining to prove why he would win 2 consecutive gold gloves. 

2014 Donruss Matt Wieters Game Used Jersey 

(The above Matt Wieters Game Gear is available for trade)

  

Why do I bring this up?  Well, quite simply because Daniel Moskos has been terrible competing for a spot in the LA Dodgers bullpen as a nonroster invite.  In 2 innings of work so far, he has given up 6 hits and 3 earned runs.  Opponents are batting .462 against him.  Last year he was released by the Chicago White Sox posting a 4.97 ERA over 29 relief innings.  His WHIP was down from last year, but still an abysmally bad 1.55.  

Did anything good come about the 2007 draft for the Pirates?  Well, yes actually.

While not huge impact players, there were 2 players who made it to the majors in a Pirates uniform that have made contributions to the Pirates.  

Kyle McPherson was the Pirates minor league pitcher of the year in 2011 and made his debut in 2012.  He has recently undergone Tommy John surgery.  He's still young and may one day make the majors again in the bullpen.  

Tony Watson was a huge contributor to the Pirates "shark tank" of a bullpen last year.  In 71 innings last year, Tony had a 3-1 record with a 0.88 WHIP and 2.39 ERA.  His strikeout to walk ratio was better than 4:1 and he's been used to setup, close, and do long relief for the Battlin Bucs.  He will likely be a huge part of the Pirates bullpen success this year as well.  

One of the biggest contributors to the Pirates underground success last year came in a trade with the Cleveland Indians for Jeanmar Gomez.  In exchange for the Pirates 2007 4th round selection(Quincy Latimore), the Pirates got a swiss army knife of a pitcher in Gomez.  Gomez was able to start, pitch as a long man, do mop up duty, setup, and finish games.  Through the All-Star break last year when Jeanmar Gomez pitched at least 1 inning, the Pirates were 15-5.  He finished the season appearing in 34 games (8 started, 6 finished) with a 3-0 record, 3.35ERA, 1.15WHIP, and a 2:1 strikeout to walk rate.

So even though I still blame Littlefield for not drafting Matt Wieters when EVERY PIRATES FAN was begging for him to be drafted, at least something came out of that draft class.

Thank you Tony Watson!!!!