Pedro Alvarez Negotiations

If there was any hope Pedro Alvarez might sign a major league deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates, it might be fading, writes Dejan Kovacevi of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  

• The reason: Drafted players can have their contracts fully rescinded if a physical taken after the signing discovers a major issue, but only if those are minor league contracts. The same is not true of major league contracts.
  
• With Major League Baseball's signing deadline at midnight tomorrow, some progress probably would have been needed toward a major league contract by yesterday to afford the time to arrange and perform the physical. But no major league contract was known to have been offered, as of yesterday afternoon.
  

As tenuous as this reason may seem, for an organization such as the Pirates with a such limited resources, an investment of the magnitude required to sign a Scott Boras client (Pedro Alvarez) must be made with extreme caution.  If Alvarez were offered a minor league contract, it would hard be imagining the deal going through because of Boras.  

That said, the Pirates would receive the No. 3 overall pick in the 2009 MLB draft if they are unable to come to terms with Alvarez.  Let's hope he signs, especially considering the Pirates' dire need for a quality bat, but some more majestic shots at Hawkins Field wouldn't exactly be a bad thing.  

Video of the day: Alvarez on commitment

You don't become an All-American third baseman and No. 2 pick in the 2008 MLB Draft overnight. Former Commodore Pedro Alvarez talks to Stack TV about his dedication to the game that he loves.

"I'm at the field for a big portion of the day," Alvarez said, "and it doesn't really bother me just because obviously baseball's what I love to do and the better you can become, the better you feel about yourself."

Alvarez noted that his strong work ethic came from his father.

"I always knew (dedication) was important because my dad emphasized it a lot, and as a child, I was lucky enough not to be stubborn and I listened to him," he said.



"I sacrificed a lot as a child, but I feel like it's paid off now and will pay off in the future," Alvarez said.

It most certainly will. Best of luck, Pedro, and thanks to the NY Dore for the find...

Video of the Day: Alvarez Highlight Reel

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Vanderbilt junior Pedro Alvarez with the No. 2 pick in the 2008 MLB Draft. In this MLB.com piece, the Pirates say they are confident that Alvarez will be a Major League third baseman.

Also, make sure to check to this SI.com feature about the sacrifices that Pedro Jr. and Sr. have made over the years.

Lastly, enjoy this highlight reel put together by VU Commodores. Thanks for three great years, Pedro, and best of luck in the future. We'll be watching.

Pedro Alvarez goes No. 2 overall in MLB Draft

In what should come as little surprise to anyone, the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Vanderbilt 3B Pedro Alvarez with the second overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft. Alvarez was hurt for much of the 2008 season, but still managed 9 HR and 30 RBI in 40 games.

Alvarez will likely headline a relatively week Pirates farm system that hasn't produced a legitimate power hitting prospect in several years. Check back for more analysis later, and tune into ESPN to see where the rest of the Dores will go in the draft.

UPDATE: In his pick-by-pick analysis, ESPN's Keith Law said this about Alvarez:

"The pick makes sense for the Pirates, who have had a hard time developing power hitters and don't have a lot in their system. If he moved to first base, he'd have a clear path to the majors there. Same thing at third base. My only concern is that they didn't pick the best player on the board at this point. Justin Smoak would have made just as much if not more sense. But if everything clicks with Alvarez, the Pirates have a cleanup hitter for the next several years with 40-homer potential in the majors."

Additionally, Vanderbilt recruit Anthony Hewitt, a shortstop from Salisbury, Conn., went No. 24 to the Philadelphia Phillies, which means there is a good chance he will sign. Here's what Law had to say about Hewitt:

"Hewitt looks as good as anyone in a uniform in this year's draft. He's a five-tool package. He will put on a show in batting practice, but he's struggled in game situations against tough competition, like at the Area Code Games last summer. He projects more as a center fielder than as a shortstop. If everything clicks, he's a potential superstar. The problem is that he's about 4-6 years away unless he developmentally makes a quantum leap forward. He's high risk, potentially high reward."

Hewitt's comments to Baseball America suggest that he will not be joining the Commodores.

"All that hard work has paid off," he said. "I was kind of hoping I’d end up with Philadelphia. They have a good farm system and develop their players."

Photo [Associated Press]

ESPN loves Pedro Alvarez too

In less than 24 hours, Vanderbilt junior third baseman Pedro Alvarez will fulfill a lifelong dream. He will most likely be selected No. 2 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2008 MLB Draft.

Tomorrow will undoubtedly be a special day for not only Alvarez and his family, but also for the entire Washington Heights community, who calls Pedro their native son.

You can read Amy Nelson's story from ESPN.com here.

Bring on the Sooners...again

Vanderbilt lived to play another day, beating Stony Brook 9-4 in the elimination game of the NCAA Tempe Regional Saturday afternoon.

The Commodores will most likely play Oklahoma for the second time Sunday at 3 p.m. CT. The Sooners are currently trailing Arizona State 10-2 in the seventh.

Also, make sure to check out this terrific New York Times feature on Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez. It's great stories like these that make it so easy (and enjoyable) to be a Commodore fan.

Pedro #1?

With the Commodores recently getting knocked out of the SEC tournament, unlikely to make a deep run into the NCAA tournament, and me having nothing else to do, I thought now might be a good time to take a look at Pedro Alvarez's draft status. Before the season he was considered by most to be the likely top pick in the 2008 draft. However an injury-plagued junior season combined with the hiring of Scott Boras as his "adviser" have put his status as number one in jeopardy.

There are two questions to be answered here: is Pedro the best talent in the draft and should the Rays take him first overall? In baseball more than any other sport the best available player mentality should win out almost every time, especially with the first pick, but there can be circumstances where that isn't the case.

Firstly though, is Pedro the best player in this years draft? Probably not.

Yes, Pedro can mash. His ability to hit has never been in question, his two full healthy years of college baseball show that. Last years .385/.463/.684 to go along with 18 hrs and 68 RBIs was a complete domination of the competition. However, his strikeouts are a concern.

Through his sophomore year he struck out more than once a game, and although that has changed this year, he has only played half the season. A pro who strikes out 160 times a year is going to really struggle to hit .300. As somebody expected to hit third or fourth this puts tremendous pressure on his ability to take walks. Pedro has had good walk totals so far, but it is hard to know how much of those are intentional or ab's where he was pitched around. In what is basically just an educated guess, I think Pedro will peak at around.280/.380/.500 for his prime 26-30 years.

Which brings me to his defense. Those numbers are great for a 3rd baseman. That .880 ops would have ranked 5th in baseball last year at 3b. However, Pedro is not a 3rd baseman. Although fielding percentage is a little simplistic in trying to identify what a good fielder looks like, it can easily point out a crappy fielder. In his freshman and sophomore seasons, he posted fielding percentages of .910 and .917, this year he is down to .905. To put those in perspective only twice in the last five years has a 3rd baseman had a % under .917. Last year three guys were under .950, two have been moved off 3rd base (Ryan Braun, who at .895 was historically awful, and Miguel Cabrera) and one should be (Kevin Kouzmanoff). So we must look at Pedro for what he is, a 1st baseman.

Being a 1st baseman instead of a 3rd baseman really hurts Pedro. Since 1980 only one player was drafted first overall that was a full time 1st baseman before he turned 30, Adrian Gonzalez in 2000 by the Marlins in what was both a signability pick and an awful draft. That .880 ops knocks him down to barely being top 10 in his position at 1b. Also moving across the diamond would lump him in with other outstanding prospects Justin Smoak, Yonder Alonso, and my personal favorite, Eric Hosmer.

So now that it is at least debatable whether or not Pedro is the top talent in the draft, we come to the real reasons he has no chance at being drafted #1. Firstly is Boras. Early rumors are that Pedro is demanding $8-$10 million and with Boras as his agent, he'll get it from somebody. As a player who has not distinguished himself from other top players it makes no sense to pay 2-3 times as much as the other guys would potentially cost. Secondly is that the Rays have little use for him. Carlos Pena had an absolutely huge 2007 which Tampa responded to by locking him up long term. This could be said for almost anybody they would be likely to pick however, because Tampa is pretty much loaded everywhere right now which puts even more of an emphasis on signability.

So what would I do if I were the Rays this year? It sounds like they are down to FSU catcher Buster Posey and Georgia HS SS Tim Beckham. This has been proven as a mistake, but I'd go with whatever guy would sign for the least and use that money in later rounds to pick players that have dropped for whatever reason and give them above slot deals. With no player separating himself from the pack the potential is there to get multiple impact players for the cost of one.

As for Pedro, I don't see him slipping past the Orioles at #4, with the Pirates at #2 also a very likely landing spot. Both of these teams are willing to pay the extra money that the pr boost of taking what the public perceives as the best player will bring.

*Image from ESPN.com

** Also ESPN Insiders should check out Keith Law's latest blog entry, lots of good info on potential Vandy guys. A quick summary is that we should get almost all of our recruits to campus, including rhp's Sonny Gray and Navery Moore as well as catcher/of Matt Marquis. The news isn't as good on likely first round SS Anthony Hewitt and Rhode Island OF Ryan Westmoreland, who has apparently been targeted by the Red Sox despite high bonus demands.

Video of the Day: How's that for overrated?

All-American third baseman Pedro Alvarez showed Memphis fans what happens when you start chanting "over-rated!" Watch as the junior hits an absolute bomb over the scoreboard in right field that traveled an estimated 430 feet.

Enjoy.



That's got to be one of the sweetest swings I've ever seen. Thanks to the Barca Blog for the find.

Welcome back, Pedro!

The bad news? Vanderbilt (18-7, 5-3 SEC) lost to Southeast Missouri 12-8 Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.

The good news? Junior Pedro Alvarez returned to the lineup, going 1-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. The All-American third baseman had missed 23 games after breaking a bone in his hand in the season opener against Arizona State.

The Commodores play at Middle Tennessee Wednesday at 6 p.m. and travel to Ole Miss this weekend for a three-game series.

Q & A with Caleb Cotham

Shortly after picking up the win in the Commodores’ 10-4 victory over South Carolina in the rubber game of a three-game series, redshirt freshman Caleb Cotham sat down with The Sports VU to talk about a number of topics, including his impressive X-Box skills and impressive repertoire of pitches. You can also check out my column on Cotham from vucommodores.com here.

Q: Knowing that it was the rubber game of the series, what was your mindset coming into the start?
A: I was just trying to come out with an edge. We got beat pretty bad last night and I wanted to come out and make a statement early on, just compete and show them that we weren’t going to give in.

Q: How do you go after such talented guys like Justin Smoak, especially after the way they hit yesterday?
A: You’ve got to be fearless going after big hitters like that… You have to forget about (yesterday) and you can’t give them too much credit. You can’t come in today saying “Oh, they’re so great. What am I going to do?” I was aggressive, and it paid off.

Q: Talk about the pitches that you throw and how comfortable you are with each of them.
A: I’m a fastball guy. I like to establish my fastball both sides of the plate and once I do that, I like to throw a slider for a strike and then have a slider that I can throw in the dirt as a chase pitch. I also show a change up to keep them in check.

Q: What can your fastball get up to?
A: 91-92.

Q: How cool was it to walk off to a standing ovation in the sixth in your first SEC start?
A: I was just glad that I could put together a pretty good performance for my team. Of course it’s nice to come off to a standing ovation. Everyone loves that.

Q: How nervous were you before the game?
A: There were some butterflies, but I kind of took them more as motivation. I wanted to show them I am ready for this.

Q: What’s the biggest difference in your game from this year to last year?
A: From this year to last year, the biggest thing is confidence, knowing that I can hang with these guys. Last year I was just trying to fit in, got a little timid.

Q: How gratifying was it to win your first SEC start?
A: I was excited to get my crack at SEC. Watching all last year, I had a feel for what it was but it’s a big step up. I had thrown midweek up until now to so to step in and do well for my team, it’s a great feeling.

Q: What pitchers do you admire?
A: I’d have to say David Price last year. I used to come to the games and watch Jeremy Sowers and all those guys pitch growing up. I was a big Vanderbilt fan. I also like Roger Clemens a lot – his competitiveness.

Q: Talk about your redshirt year. I’m sure it was frustrating not to be out there when you’ve played baseball your whole life, but at the same time, I imagine you learned a lot.
A: It was a humbling experience because I really hadn’t sat out before, and being able to learn the game and watching guys like Price and (Casey) Weathers go about their business, how they competed and worked hitters. I just had my notepad out, taking notes, and it’s paid off.

Q: What’s it like throwing to guys like Pedro and Flash (Ryan Flaherty) in practice? I’m sure it prepares you well.
A: We have a great lineup so I feel like if I can get them out, I can get anyone out in the nation. I get (Pedro) out, so when Smoak comes up, I know it’s not going to be hard.

Q: Pitchers tend to love shagging fly balls in practice. Who’s the best at it?
A: I am. We like to shag them and make a game of it, and I’d like to say I’m the best.

Q: How do you keep busy on days you’re not pitching?
A: Being a Sunday starter, I was on every pitch Friday and Saturday, picking up tendencies, where they were in the box, what pitches worked to what guys, and charting. To more you’re on every pitch, the more successful you’ll be.

Q: Favorite movie?
A: Blow.

Q: What’s on the iPod these days?
A: John Mayer. And I just got the new Herbie Hancock CD.

Q: Are you into video games?
A: Oh yeah, I’m a big X-Box guy. I played Halo competitively a little bit when I was in high school and won a couple tournaments.

Q: Impressive. Still have time to play?
A: Down time in my room, I’ll play “Call of Duty” online.

Q: Anyone else on the team play with you?
A: Pedro plays, and I play with Price a lot. He’s in Spring Training and has a lot of down time.

Q: Do you have a pre-start routine?
A: I like to eat a good breakfast and then just throw on my iPod and relax in the locker room until it’s time to warm up.

Q: Funniest player on the team?
A: I’d have to say David Macias.

Q&A with Curt Casali

Vandy baseball is finally hitting the stride everyone has expected. Wednesday's 11-4 win over Western Carolina was the Dores' fourth straight, and the lineup seems to be gelling well in the continued absence of Pedro Alvarez. Though Ryan Flaherty and Dom de la Osa are struggling a bit by their standards, guys like Andrew Giobbi, David Macias and Alex Feinberg are really stepping up, as is freshman catcher/DH Curt Casali.

After hitting his first career homer Wednesday, Casali sat down for a few questions with The Sports VU.

SPORTS VU: What happened on that home run pitch?

Curt Casali: The pitch was a hit and run, so I was gonna swing at it either way. It happened to be a fastball, inner half, and I was able to get a good swing on it.

SV: Did you get the ball?

CC: I think I did. That’ll be in my locker, going back to my parents soon.

SV: Pedro (Alvarez) has been out; how have you guys been able to pick it up?

CC: That’s the opportunity we have. When one player falls, the other guy’s gonna step up big. We’ve had a lot of guys step up in the middle of that lineup, like (Andrew) Giobbi and Shea (Robin), coming through in clutch situations. Pedro’s a big loss, but we’re able to handle it because we’re such a deep team, full of seniors and other guys that can really play.

SV: This being your first year, what’s been the biggest adjustment facing college pitching for the first time?

CC: The first game, it was getting past the nerves. I think I’m past that right now; I’m becoming a better defensive catcher. Coming from Connecticut, the pitching is not that stellar. I’m now learning to catch guys who can throw it mid-90s. The opposing pitching is also very good. I’ve just got to learn to be patient, learn to take strikes and take good pitches, get the pitch that I want to hit.

SV: Who’s your favorite pitcher to catch?

CC: I’d have to go with Nick Christiani. I think he’s the one guy that most people don’t like to catch, but me and him, we’ve got a good bond going on. Hopefully, on Saturdays I can catch him, we’ll see.

SV: Who’s got the nastiest stuff?

CC: Nastiest? Probably Nick. Nick’s got the ball that moves the most. Taylor Hill’s ball moves a lot, Jake (Brett Jacobson) has a really good slider, Mikie Minor too.

SV: What have you learned being behind Shea?

CC: Shea’s been such a huge help to me; he’s been with me every step of the way, literally. Every time I come in the dugout from an inning, he’s always there to say, “good job.” If I did something that I shouldn’t have, he’ll give me advice or something. Blake Allen, he’s been a great catching coach to me. He’s a little hard, but all the instruction they’ve given me has really taken me a long way.

SV: What defensive adjustments are you looking to make?

CC: I’m really looking to get my feet wider behind the plate, just so I can move laterally better. Blocking is always a big issue, you can never be too good at that. I’ve been working at that too, but there’s only so much you can do.

SV: What MLB catcher do you take after the most?

CC: Coach Allen, he has some film from a bunch of major leaguers; I wouldn’t say I compare myself to any of them because I’m just a college catcher. If I had to be somebody in the major leagues, I’d probably want to be like Joe Mauer. He’s one of my favorite players to watch play; hitting-wise, defensively, he’s got everything.

SV: Do you have any superstitions?

CC: Sadly, I don’t. I’m not a big believer in superstitions. When the bench is doing the “two-twos,” the middle finger across the hat, I’ll participate in that, but I don’t really have any superstitions. We’ve got a bunch of routines on the team; I’ll usually get to the field about an hour before we have to be here, get dressed, take a couple swings, get my legs stretched out.

SV: What kind of music pumps you up when you get to the plate?

CC: Oh man, I’ve got Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” playing up there, but everybody says that’s a little cliché and isn’t original enough, so I might have to change it. I was gonna go with Tom Petty and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” It’s a variety for me; I’m not a big rap guy, any classic rock with good guitars will get me going.

Casali and the rest of the Hawkins Nine will open conference play at home this Friday against No. 6 South Carolina. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. as sophomore sensation Mikie Minor (2-1, 1.66) takes the mound for the Commodores. Check out The Sports VU for full recaps and player quotes after each game this weekend, and don't forget to sit in the new right-field bleachers!

Baseball: Vandy 11, Western Carolina 4

On a day made for baseball, the Commodores defeated Western Carolina 11-4 today behind home runs from David Macias, Curt Casali and Jonathan White.

While much of the campus has been consumed with Shan Foster and company, the Hawkins Nine (10-3) have quietly gone about their business. They open Southeastern Conference play Friday night at home against South Carolina.

Make sure to check out my post-game column about the emergence of Vanderbilt's role players like Andrew Giobbi on vucommodores.com.