So Long Moss

Early in the day the Pirates made a waiver claim for Hayden Penn, the former top prospect of the Orioles. I had immediately thought of how I liked Penn when he was coming up in the minors with the Orioles. I had seen him a few times the Bowie Baysox came to Altoona to play. I was then shocked to see that he was still just 25 years old.

When the move was made, I had immediately thought that the team had done something with Ramon Vasquez. Traded him probably or just outright released him. No instead the team did what I would have never guessed, designated Brandon Moss for assignment.

I could go over and over the Brandon Moss story, but quite simply, he was included in the Bay deal, was billed to be something special, but never put it together. It was disappointing to watch him in a Pirate uniform, as I was one that thought that any day the real Brandon Moss would put it together and suddenly appear. That never happend and his inability to be a solid big leaguer, makes the trade of Bay, look like a trade Neal Huntington would gladly redo if given the chance.

Huntington said of Moss, "The expectations were high for him when we got him, it just hasn't worked out. But it still wasn't an easy decision." He also later added when speaking to Chuck Finder, "He just cares so much. He wants to be so good, sometimes he gets in his own way. It didn't click with the bat."


Well there are high expectations for many talented young ballplayers, and Moss is no exception. It seems that the team really believes, as noted by the strange 'he just cares so much' quote, that Moss was never one that lacked work ethic or drive, it just never happened. With that Moss becomes like so many of the former Pirates in recent memory, full of promise but failing to deliver.


As for Penn, the Pirates get a guy that once had a really high pedigree. He reached the majors at a pretty young age, and that may have hindered his development as a pitcher. He had very limited success with Baltimore and had it all go down hill after a battle with appendicitis. He has spent the majority of the past two seasons in AAA as a starter, but came out of the bullpen for Florida last season.


He does not strike me as the prototypical Huntington guy, as he is not a big time strikeout guy. He gets his fair share, but Penn seems to be more an avoid walks guy. I would expect to see him in the Pirate bullpen to start the season.


Maybe we will luck out and Moss can come back to the organization after this all said and done. While he may never actually 'get it', it won't perhaps sting as much knowing that he is at least still our property.