Let's Talk About Neal - Part 1

As you can tell from the title, I expect to be writing a lot about GM Neal in the next several days and weeks, and have even coined a new bit of shorthand, NHR (Neal Huntington Regime) when discussing Neal and his Minions.  It is a most fertile field, but let's start by taking a slightly different tack by listing five names:

Andrew Heaney, LHP
David Dahl, OF
Addison Russell, SS
Gavin Cecchini, SS
Courtney Hawkins, OF

Do the names mean anything to you?  If they do, then you are a certifiable Baseball Geek, because they are the five players who were selected in June's Major League Entry Draft immediately after the Pirates  used the #8 overall pick in the draft to select Stanford pitcher Mark Appel.  If you've forgotten the circumstances, Appel had been seen as one of top two or three players in the draft, but he was passed over by teams because of sign-ability concerns.  Nevertheless, Neal selected him anyway because he was the "best guy out there".  If he did sign, then the Bucs would be set with three stud top-of-the-rotation guys with Jameson Taillon, Gerritt Cole, and Appel.  If he didn't sign, well, we still had Taillon and Cole, and what the heck, why wouldn't Appel sign because who knows what his value will be come 2013?

Well, Appel did call the Pirates bluff and did not sign.  In fact, he was the ONLY first round draft pick that did not sign with his team in 2012.  At the time the signing deadline passed in mid-July, the Pirates were flying high, so this non-signing, if it was noted at all, was usually accompanied by a "well-who-needs-him" attitude.  

Right now, the lack of depth in the Pirates system as assembled by the NHR has been well documented, and wouldn't it be nice to know that there was a #1 draft pick toiling on the farm, maybe a nice catcher, short stop, or stud corner outfielder, who might help the Pirates some day?  It will be interesting to see how those five guys listed above develop over the next few years.  Heck, there were 23 players drafted in the first round after the Pirates took Appel, I just listed the first five to be brief.  For sure, you can bank on the fact that at least ONE of those 23 players will be contributing - big time - to their team by as soon as 2014, while the Neal and the Pirates will be holding a hatfull of rain as their #1 from 2012.