Burnt Orange Nation, a Texas Longhorns community

There will be no Everett Williams roaming center field for the Longhorns in 2010. The McCallum product inked his deal with the Padres within hours of the signing deadline, but he seemed ticketed for the professional game even before the draft. As a player with some holes in his swing and no outstanding tools (though solid across the board), Williams probably stood to risk a substantial amount of money by coming to college -- his loss is disappointing, but not surprising. And hey, at least the Pirates didn't draft him.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on their website Thursday that Texas baseball commit Colton Cain, a pitcher/first baseman from Waxahachie, is set to sign with the Pirates and forgo his Longhorn career. Besides outfielder Everett Williams, who is still unsigned, Cain stood since the major league draft as the most likely Texas commit to turn pro, especially considering Pittsburgh's strong desire to continue rebuilding their farm system. Cain will become the second Longhorn commit to sign with the Pirates after Robbie Grossman signed in a similar situation last year after receiving a well-above slot bonus. As a Pirates fan in my early years, seeing the demise of the franchise has been frustrating and the Dave Littlefield years saw numerous terrible decisions, but it's equally frustrating for me as a Longhorn fan to see the Pirates stealing players who could contribute to a national championship at Texas. Speaking of which, Cain would have filled major needs for the Longhorns as a potential candidate to replace Brandon Belt, who hasn't signed with the Giants yet but probably will, and as a left-hander out of the bullpen to help replace Austin Wood. Will losing Cain keep the Longhorns from winning a national championship? Probably not, but he certainly could have helped. (h/t Bucs Dugout) [Update]It's official now, Cain is reportedly $1.15 million richer. Good luck to him in the Pirates system, though it certainly hurts.