Remembering Bryan Bullington

Hey, who here remembers Bryan Bullington?  Oh, you don't.  Well, back in 2002, the Pirates had the Number One overall pick in the player entry draft, and used it to select Bullington, an All-American pitcher at Ball State University. 

More on that choice in a moment, but Bullington, now pitching in Japan, found himself in the news again this week when this piece of video went viral, as the Kids Today say.  This even got a featured spot on PTI with Tony and Wilbon the other day.



Guess you better be careful when you call time when Bryan is in his wind-up.  

Getting back to Draft Day, 2002, Dave Littlefield became famous when after selecting Bullington with, I remind you again, THE NUMBER ONE PICK IN THE ENTIRE DRAFT,  he stated that the Pirates had projected Bullington as a possible #3 or #4 starter.  Turns out Bullington wasn't even that good, and that pick and that quote haunted Littlefield right up until  the day he got the paper key from the Pirates.

Just for kicks and giggles, I decided to engage in some revisionist history and see who else was selected in the first round of that 2002 Draft to get an idea of just how lousy that Bullington pick turned out to be.  Yeah, I know this isn't always fair, but this was the FIRST OVERALL PICK, which Littlefield & Co. used on Bullington when they could have selected:

B.J. Upton (2nd pick), Zack Greinke (6), Prince Fielder (7), Jeff Francis (9), Jeremy Hermida (11), Joe Saunders (12), Khalil Greene (13), Scott Kazmir (15), Nick Swisher (16), Cole Hamels (17), James Loney (19), Denard Span (20), Jeff Francoeur (23), Joe Blanton (24), or Matt Cain (25).

True, this means that there were 14 other guys selected in that first round who have never been heard from again (at least, not by me), but of those 15 guys above, each has made some significant contributions at the major league level, seven of them have made all-star teams, there is one World Series MVP, and one league MVP in there, and at least one almost sure fire Hall of Famer, if he doesn't eat himself out of baseball before he turns 35.

I have always said that there is no more inexact science that projecting which 18 or 19 year old kid will become a star major league baseball player, but in retrospect, the Pirates sure screwed the pooch back in 2002, didn't they?

Ghosts from the Past

It has been a few days where some ghosts from the Pirates recent past have revisited the scene.

First, the Pirates recalled pitcher Bryan Morris from Indy to fill a bullpen spot just in case he was needed on Sunday.  He wasn't, and he was then promptly sent back to Indy. More to the point, Morris is the last remaining piece from Neal Huntington's first big trade - the three way deal that sent Jason Bay to Boston, Manny Ramirez to LA, and an assorted collection of trinkets and trash to the Pirates.  Yes, I know it was a trade that looked good at the time, and yes, I know that NH stole James McDonald from the Dodgers, and yes, I know that Bay's career has pretty much stalled due to injuries these past few years, and yes, I know Neal has made some stunning draft picks, even though Pedro Alvarez is the only one of those picks to make any meaningful contribution to the team so far.  However, facts are facts, and when Neal moved the biggest chip that he had in that first season he was here, it ended up as a miserable failure.

Secondly, the Pirates DFA'd Daniel Moskos yesterday, and his days in the Pirates organization are no doubt over.  No, this was not one of Neal's guys, but rather the Legacy (or Epitaph?)  of Dave Littlefield and the Penny-Pinching McClatchey regime.  I don't really have to go over the history of this painful episode, do I?

Finally, the Moskos move came about as a result of needing to clear space on the 40 man roster for catcher Eric Fryer, who is needed as an emergency backstop as Rod Barajas nurses a sore knee.  Why Fryer?  Well, Tony Sanchez, the catcher of the future, and one of Neal's #1 draft picks, is currently hitting .196 at Indianapolis.  If, four years into his professional career, Sanchez is deemed inferior to Eric Fryer as an emergency catcher, well, that tells you something, and it ain't good.