The winter meetings wrapped up today with the rule 5 draft, and as expected the Pirates did select a player, but who they selected came as a surprise.  The general consensus among the blogosphere was that the Pirates would take a pitcher in the mold of Donnie Veal or Even Meek as they did the last 2 years.  They instead went the other way, taking Marlins Outfielder John Raynor.

While I can’t claim to know much about him yet, based on his numbers he looks like a speedy outfield guy who can play center field or on a corner, hit for a good average and steal a few bases.  Given that he has to stay on the Pirates 25 man roster all season, and can’t just be hidden at the back end of the bullpen like we saw with the Donnie Veal experiment this past season, this pick signals that the Pirates think Raynot can make the team in the spring as a reserve outfielder/bench bat.  This jives precisely with Neal Huntington’s comments after the draft.  (from the post-gazette)

“John Raynor is an athletic outfielder, with some threat at the plate,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. “He has the speed and defensive capability to play all three outfield positions and has the upside to project as a potential everyday outfielder in the future. He will compete for a bench role in spring training.”

In addition to Huntington’s comments, ESPN analyst Keith Law posted on his twitter account this morning that Raynor has “a chance to be more” than a fourth outfielder.

This pick fills the Pirates 40 man roster up once again, so if the Pirates wish to sign any other free agents, they will have to drop someone.  As far as what this pick means for 2010, I think its pretty obvious.  First, it seems very clear to me that the front office has started the process of shifting their priorities from unloading and acquire young talent as was the case for the past two years, to what now seems to be wanting to acquire talent to help the current major league roster.  The Raynor pick is only useful if he can contribute to and make the team this year.

Second, this pick just adds to the congestion in the Pirates outfield.  As of today, the Pirates have 5 outfielders (McCutchen, Milledge, Moss, Jones, Raynor) competing for 3 spots, plus Jose Tabata potentially waiting in the wings for a mid-season call-up.  Assuming Jeff Clement can nail down the first base job and Jones is in fact an outfielder in 2010, I have a very hard time seeing all 5 of the above names on the opening day roster and wouldn’t be at all surprised if Moss is the odd man out.