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Scary thought about the Pirates' scouts

I want to believe Pirates general manager Neal Huntington when he says Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez was the highest player on their draft board Tuesday.

I'll toss aside his other comments about putting money into signing other draft picks, although I would think you would want to put as much money into getting a high-impact player as possible.

Let's take Huntington at his word, shall we? Let's believe the Pirates honestly had Sanchez as the No. 3 player in the draft.

The Bucs got their guy, and that makes me scared.

More talent evaluators, and I think it would be easy to say most evaluators, didn't think that highly of Sanchez. They had Sanchez pegged for the bottom of the first round of the draft. Instead, the Bucs took him at No. 4.

If that's not a big, red flag, then I don't know what is.

If the Pirates are off on evaluating talent for the draft, then maybe they're off on the players already in the minors and big leagues. Maybe they're off on the players they got in return for Nate McLouth last week.

Gorkys Hernandez might not be as good as the Bucs think. Pitchers Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke might not be as good as the Pirates are making them out to be.

When the Steelers make a personnel decision that I'm not quite sure of, I give them the benefit of the doubt. The Steelers know what they're doing.

The Bucs? Maybe they're all about the bucks.

And if we continue to believe the Bucs got the best player on the board in the draft, then more losing seasons are on the way.

Somehow, I don't think that could be all that far-fetched.

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