Spring Training First Official Weekend

The Pirates split two games with the Rays this weekend. One really cannot learn much from these games and really one needs to start looking at bodies of work rather than one outing, so this is really kind of hard judge anything at this point.

A lot is being made of Morton's outing as opposed to Brad Lincoln's since those guys are both after the 5th spot. Morton got Longoria out while Lincoln gave up a homer. However, Lincoln did appear to be aggressive and got a strike out while Morton did not. Morton also gave up a walk, and was bailed out by two double plays. Now that could be a good sign of getting ground balls, but what we really need to see from Morton is how he gets out of jams and recovers from something not going his way. Lincoln did seem to have trouble blowing the fast ball past people, but again it is early in spring training. I also think they have already made the decision to keep Morton on, and I do think that he will be a disaster.

One thing that I see that will be good is an aggressive approach on the basepaths. McCutchen got a steal today, and Wimberly had one against the Manatees. The team is running. They never did enough of that before. The Pirates are loaded with speed. They ought to run.

Wimberly is looking like a very patient hitter. He draws a lot of walks, or at least has so far. They have also played him both in the infield and in center field. I like the versatility. They have also played Josh Rodriguiz at both second and short.

Another thing that I was excited to see was Daniel Moskos. He pitched against AAA quality guys, but he got them out. He did struggle a bit there last year. Outing number one looked pretty good for Moskos.

Tomorrow is a Split Squad with two games. I always enjoy those the most because you see more guys. Looking forward to it.