Inside Pitch

The Bisons were shut down today by former No. 1 overall pick Bryan Bullington, so I couldn't help but think of former Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield and his 2002 draft.

Littlefield, a good guy on a personal level, was notorious for rarely giving a straight answer to reporters. One frustrated writer once told Littlefield that he wouldn't even be able to give him the right time of day. But after the Pirates took Bullington with the top pick in 2002, he was unusually blunt about the Ball State right-hander's big league prospects.

"We feel comfortable projecting him as a No. 3 starter," Littlefield told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the time.

That draft didn't seem too strong at the time. But Littlefield was "comfortable" with a middle-of-the-rotation guy with the top pick? For a good baseball city tired of ten straight losing seasons, the comment did not sit well.

And yet impossibly, Littlefield oversold the guy. Arm injuries and lack of performance have kept Bullington from doing whatever it is that big league No. 3 starters do. Instead, he is 0-3 in six career appearances with Pittsburgh. And for now, the since-fired Littlefield can run down a pretty good-sized list of players he would have been better off taking -- B.J. Upton, Prince Fielder, Scott Kazmir, Cole Hamels, Jeff Francis, Jeff Francoeur, Joe Blanton, Matt Cain, Nick Swisher, Joe Saunders and James Loney to name a few.

Sure, Littlefield made some good moves (He did trade for for Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez and Xavier Nady) during his time in Pittsburgh (2001-2007). But the Bullington draft seems to capture seven years of frustration for the fans of Pittsburgh. Add up enough of Littlefield's bad drafts, bad trades, (Matt Morris anyone?) and bad signings, and it's not hard to see why the Pirates may be on their way to a major-league record 16th straight losing season.

So to make a long story longer, all this brings us to Buffalo's 5-0 loss in Indianapolis today. Bullington, now 27, turned in his best outing of the season in one-hitting the Bisons over 6 1/3 innings. Who knows where Bullington's career will take him? He is now 4-6 with a 5.22 ERA with the Triple-A Indians this year. And Wednesday was the first time in more than a month that he lasted more than five innings. But for Bullington's sake, you hope he turns this thing around.

--- David Briggs