In defense of Brian Bixler

Several things are happening in the Pirate organization. Mel Rojas Jr., is about to sign with the Pirates. I suppose he will start out in State College. I am looking forward to seeing him. Chase D'Arnaud hit a grand slam to help the West beat the East in AA All-Star game. Also Nathan Baker was promoted along with Jeff Locke to Altoona while Tim Alderson was demoted to Bradenton. Also Jarmillo was dropped to AAA and Eric Kratz is going to be the back up catcher. Something I thought should have happened in Spring Training.

But the big buzz is the reaquisition of Brian Bixler for a Player to be Named Later or Future Considerations. Bixler was traded to the Indians in the off season for Jesus Brito. Now Bixler is back and the blogs don't like it. Bucco Fans rips Bixler in the comment that "apparently the team was lacking in strike outs and bad defense". Raise the Jolly Roger puts the news in a post entitled Bad News All Around and state he prefers Cedano and Crosby. And the Bucs Dugout doesn't understand the move either. Claiming that Brian Friday should even fill the need in AAA Indy, which is why they reaquired him in the first place.

I want to take a minute and defend Brian Bixler. Now, I know this deal is not for the majors, but for AAA only. He is not on the 40 man and that is good because he is not a real prospect. However, at the end of last year I had him as in the top 30 Prospects in the Farm System, and I believe he was. Now he was low enough that if we had ranked guys that were signed, but had yet to play for the minors (ala Colton Cain), he would have fallen off. Still, Bixler is not as bad as we like to think. Let me give out 5 reasons I like Bixler in our system.
1. He was only given 166 PA total over two years (I think). And these were spread over several different call ups. So, he was never given a chance to get used to the speed of the major league game. Everyone is calling for time to be given to Alvarez and rightly so. Bixler deserves the same.
2. He was improving. The first time Bixler was called up, he came with a lot of hopes of being able to replace Jack Wilson, and lead a franchise. He struggled big. Even his defense was awful. But each time his offense was slightly better, but his defense was much better. I think he would continue this trend.
3. He can play anywhere. Seriously. He learned second base when the Pirates were clearly in need of a second baseman. He learned the outfield to help out the AAA Indians. He has since played third as well. Anyone who can play SS, 2B, and 3B can play 1B. The place you cannot play Bixler is catcher. What more do you need?
4. He is the best short stop in AAA Indy right now. That is right. Argentis Diaz is not good. Bixler's .278 average puts him above Diaz and Friday is just below Bixler at .277 (but Friday has a better Slugging Percentage).
5. Look at what we have. Cedano and Crosby are .230 hitters. Do we really think that if Bixler were given consitent playing time that he could not hit .230? His defense is better than Cedano who makes easy plays into infield hits all the time. Crosby may still be better because he does the little things, but Bixler can play all over the field making him a better back up. Bixler would also do it all for a lot less money.

Waiting on Mercer and D'Arnaud is hard. And yes Bixler is a draft bust. No doubt. But, I still would take him on the major league team right now rather than what we have. Bixler is not a real major leaguer, but then neither is Cedano. I understand the frustration for it is an apparent step backward. But this really is for AAA and not for our big league team. Although one can dream that Cedano is cut and Bixler gets some playing time. I hope everyone takes a step back and realizes that Short Stop is the major reason we are not competeting for a playoff spot right now. Well, starting pitching first, but then Short Stop. It is a huge hole. Bixler is as good a fix as any we have right now.