Well, this is a bad sign. Miguel Sano signed with the Minnesota Twins. It is unclear yet if the Pirates offered anywhere near the money he got, but I would bet they did. It appears that Sano's agent never really negotiated with the Pirates and probably just took their two offers to the Twins to use as benchmarks.
Even though the Twins are my second favorite team, I really hope that this kid turns out to be a bust. Maybe if they suddenly prove he is 15 or better yet, 25. The Pirates are going to have to do a little more than offer money. They need to get some respect and then still offer the money.
Oh yeah, the Pirates got shut out on the road. No surprise there.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
A Series Victory
The Pirates just pulled off a big series win against the First Place LA Dodgers. The Pirates did this by winning the first, blowing the second game out right, and then winning in amazing come back fashion in game three. Then they absolutely put the boots the Dodgers in Game 4 with an 11 to 1 win pitched by Zack Duke. Game 4 saw Andy LaRoche open up a can with a 5 for 5 game with two homeruns, two doubles and a basehit. He had a great series and is starting to make me hope he makes a move to second base for the next season.
This series also proves my hypothesis that the Pirates depend on McCutchen to get anything going. He is the sparkplug that they have to have. He went three for four with a walk and scored three times in the 11 run slugfest. Helped in Game 3’s amazing four run last inning rally. And anyone who is between McCutchen and Jones is going to get pitches to hit, like Andy LaRoche. That is the place to stick a sub-par hitter and turn him into something worth having on the ball club. LaRoche is having an excellent end to this season.
This series also proves my hypothesis that the Pirates depend on McCutchen to get anything going. He is the sparkplug that they have to have. He went three for four with a walk and scored three times in the 11 run slugfest. Helped in Game 3’s amazing four run last inning rally. And anyone who is between McCutchen and Jones is going to get pitches to hit, like Andy LaRoche. That is the place to stick a sub-par hitter and turn him into something worth having on the ball club. LaRoche is having an excellent end to this season.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Team USA
Just in case you are not following Team USA baseball there is great news for the Pirates and USA as a whole. Brad Lincoln just pitched 6.2/3 innings for a win thanks in part to a homerun by Pedro Alvarez. Team USA is undefeated in Round 3 and appears to be on its way to the Finals. The overall stats look good for those who think Lincoln and Alvarez should spend more time in Triple A. Alvarez is hitting .282 with five homeruns and Brad Lincoln has a 2-0 record after three starts where he has a 1.89 ERA.
These guys are ready. They both need to be on the team to start next season.
These guys are ready. They both need to be on the team to start next season.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Pirates lose to Padres
What else can be said after the Pirates dropped 3 of 4 at home to the hapless San Diego Padres? We are officially awful. This series can only yield a small handful of hopeful things.
1. Andrew McCutchen after a brief slump appears to be raising his average again. It was below .270 for a brief time, but is again up to .276 and climbing.
2. Delwyn Young and Garret Jones are back and injury free. After one game it appears that both maybe back to normal. Jones hit a homer, his 20th, but it was a solo shot again. And Young went 2 for 6 with a double.
3. The Pirates ought to get a real good draft pick. This series of losses ought to put San Diego behind us in the draft order for sure.
Other than that, this was a depressing and humiliating series.
1. Andrew McCutchen after a brief slump appears to be raising his average again. It was below .270 for a brief time, but is again up to .276 and climbing.
2. Delwyn Young and Garret Jones are back and injury free. After one game it appears that both maybe back to normal. Jones hit a homer, his 20th, but it was a solo shot again. And Young went 2 for 6 with a double.
3. The Pirates ought to get a real good draft pick. This series of losses ought to put San Diego behind us in the draft order for sure.
Other than that, this was a depressing and humiliating series.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Murray Chass spouts non-sense
Murray Chass is an idiot. I know he worked for the New York Times, but that may just prove my point. His article attacking the Pirates is ridiculous. It is ridiculous for several reasons.
I will be the first to admit that Morgan/Burnett deal to the Nationals for Milledge/Hanrahan is a deal where I think the Pirates may lose out in the end. But it needs to be judged fairly. Chass dismisses the age difference and notes that Morgan was a “rookie who showed he was ready to play in the majors.” True, but he had been up and down the year before never able to show he was ready. And a 29 year old rookie is pretty old. The years he should have been ready he was unable to beat out Chris Duffy for the center field spot. That is reason to worry that maybe the results this year are atypical.
The second problem I have is that he does not take notice of the two player deal. He gives it an off hand mention. Burnett was decent against lefties, but horrible against right handers. Burnett was never going to be a dominate bullpen pitcher. I still believe that Joel Hanrahan was the main player in the deal. The Pirates may have had to give up what they did to get the hard throwing bullpen guy who himself was a former closer. The Pirates pen needs that sort of help.
It was also unfair to evaluate the deal as if Morgan was being replaced by Milledge. Chass rightly notes that McCutchen was already in the majors with Morgan so there was no need to make room for him. But Chass fails to note that Milledge was on the DL and then rehabed in the minors for some time before joining the Pirates. Who then replaced Morgan? It was none other than Garrett Jones who is hitting about .300, just about the same as Nyjer Morgan with a notable difference. Garrett Jones hits homeruns. Maybe Chass should have at least interacted with the idea of making room for Garrett Jones. Jones is a completely different type of player than Morgan. Morgan is a speedster without power. Jones (who is fairly speedy himself) is power hitter something desperately needed by the Pirates. It appears Jones will led the Pirates in homeruns despite not playing the full season. Oh, and when Milledge did come the majors, they moved Dwelven Young to second to make room for Milledge.
The worst part of the article was the horrible attack on the Pirates as wasting money. The Pirates are paying their players post trades about 20 million and are going to get about 40 million in revenue sharing. Thus for Chass the money is wasted and not being spent. That ignores the fact that the Pirates are spending large amounts of money on draft picks. See what they did with Pedro Alvarez as proof. They spent about 10 million in signing their draft picks including inking all of their first 14 picks and 15 of their top 20. They used more than the slot suggestions to get good talented high school pitchers to skip college and come to the Pirates. This does not even cover their new facility in the Dominican and their efforts to sign a big name 16 year old down there, which takes money.
The Pirates are close to returning to prominence. It is popular to kick them now, but they are really taking the right steps. They will have no problem showing MLB where the money is going, and in a few years they will be a force on the field. I hope Chass issues an apology when they do. But more importantly, I hope he understands baseball a little better. Not every team can do what the Yankees do and just buy everything that moves.
I will be writing some follow up posts on some of the issues brought out by Mr. Chass and his sorry excuse for an article.
I will be the first to admit that Morgan/Burnett deal to the Nationals for Milledge/Hanrahan is a deal where I think the Pirates may lose out in the end. But it needs to be judged fairly. Chass dismisses the age difference and notes that Morgan was a “rookie who showed he was ready to play in the majors.” True, but he had been up and down the year before never able to show he was ready. And a 29 year old rookie is pretty old. The years he should have been ready he was unable to beat out Chris Duffy for the center field spot. That is reason to worry that maybe the results this year are atypical.
The second problem I have is that he does not take notice of the two player deal. He gives it an off hand mention. Burnett was decent against lefties, but horrible against right handers. Burnett was never going to be a dominate bullpen pitcher. I still believe that Joel Hanrahan was the main player in the deal. The Pirates may have had to give up what they did to get the hard throwing bullpen guy who himself was a former closer. The Pirates pen needs that sort of help.
It was also unfair to evaluate the deal as if Morgan was being replaced by Milledge. Chass rightly notes that McCutchen was already in the majors with Morgan so there was no need to make room for him. But Chass fails to note that Milledge was on the DL and then rehabed in the minors for some time before joining the Pirates. Who then replaced Morgan? It was none other than Garrett Jones who is hitting about .300, just about the same as Nyjer Morgan with a notable difference. Garrett Jones hits homeruns. Maybe Chass should have at least interacted with the idea of making room for Garrett Jones. Jones is a completely different type of player than Morgan. Morgan is a speedster without power. Jones (who is fairly speedy himself) is power hitter something desperately needed by the Pirates. It appears Jones will led the Pirates in homeruns despite not playing the full season. Oh, and when Milledge did come the majors, they moved Dwelven Young to second to make room for Milledge.
The worst part of the article was the horrible attack on the Pirates as wasting money. The Pirates are paying their players post trades about 20 million and are going to get about 40 million in revenue sharing. Thus for Chass the money is wasted and not being spent. That ignores the fact that the Pirates are spending large amounts of money on draft picks. See what they did with Pedro Alvarez as proof. They spent about 10 million in signing their draft picks including inking all of their first 14 picks and 15 of their top 20. They used more than the slot suggestions to get good talented high school pitchers to skip college and come to the Pirates. This does not even cover their new facility in the Dominican and their efforts to sign a big name 16 year old down there, which takes money.
The Pirates are close to returning to prominence. It is popular to kick them now, but they are really taking the right steps. They will have no problem showing MLB where the money is going, and in a few years they will be a force on the field. I hope Chass issues an apology when they do. But more importantly, I hope he understands baseball a little better. Not every team can do what the Yankees do and just buy everything that moves.
I will be writing some follow up posts on some of the issues brought out by Mr. Chass and his sorry excuse for an article.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Hillcats are the champs
The Lynchburg Hillcats have won the Mills Cup by sweeping the Boston Red Sox farm team in the High A level. The offense continued its power as the Hillcats clawed out a 8 to 6 victory. Jordy Mercer and Chase d’Arnaud each had RBI doubles (d’Arnaud’s was a two run double). But the hero of this final game was Jamie Romak. Romak was acquired when the Pirates got Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez several years ago. Romak has been at the High A level for three years and frankly has to be conisdered a bust. However, for this night, he was a hero. He knocked in the three RBI’s and helped the Hillcats claim a championship.
So congratulations to the Lynchburg Hillcats. May this be a sign of good things and championships to come for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Oh and as another good sign of things to come Pedro Alvarez hit three homeruns in one game for Team USA. The other day Brad Lincoln pitched Team USA to a victory over Japan.
So congratulations to the Lynchburg Hillcats. May this be a sign of good things and championships to come for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Oh and as another good sign of things to come Pedro Alvarez hit three homeruns in one game for Team USA. The other day Brad Lincoln pitched Team USA to a victory over Japan.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Pirates Bane and hope
Another series on the road and another sweep out of town. These past few games are exactly what is wrong about the Pirates and good example of why they could be very good next year.
Take for example, last night. Zack Duke pitches 7.1 innings of 2 run baseball. He gave the lead (3 to 2) to the bullpen, but they blew the save. In fact they blew two saves last night which takes some skill. Today Kevin Hart pitches six innings of two run ball, and leaves the game down 2 to 1. The bullpen gives up one more run and the Pirates lose 3 to 1. The game before that was by a call up, Daniel McCutchen. That was a 6 to 2 loss. Before that was Paul Malhom’s master piece where he blanked the Astros and Capps gave up a run, but still got the save for a 2 to 1 win. Ross Ohlendorf pitches okay, but under his usual in the Pirates 4 to 2 loss to the Astros. Ohlendorf has had a 2.74 ERA since the All Star break when they made a change in his windup. The night before that Charlie Morton actually got a quality start by giving up three run in six innings, but the Pirates lost that one too.
The point is the pitching, starting pitching has been solid. Morton is weak, but even his last outing was not awful. Daniel McCutchen is just starting. But, Malholm, Duke, and Ohlendorf have the ability to constantly keep you in a game and put up a lot of quality starts. Kevin Hart has the potential to join that group. That makes it all the more frustrating that the Pirates cannot score runs and the bullpen is garbage. Right now there is no real threat in the Pirates line up. Doumit is having an awful and injury plagued year. Andrew McCutchen is not a power threat and cannot do it by himself. Garret Jones is a power threat, but is not good enough with people on base.
But there in lies the hope for next season. McCutchen will get a little more power in his next few seasons. Jones hopefully will get better with people on base. Doumit cannot possibly be this bad again. Add in Pedro Alvarez who ought to be a legitimate power threat and good hitter to the line up and things start to change. If Clement is a wash, the Pirates can still be good by moving Jones to First Base and opening the outfield spot to someone like Tabata. If Clement is good then Tabata can spend some more time in Triple A while Jones plays the outfield. The starting pitching is there, and the hitting is on its way. The bullpen is what needs drastic attention.
Take for example, last night. Zack Duke pitches 7.1 innings of 2 run baseball. He gave the lead (3 to 2) to the bullpen, but they blew the save. In fact they blew two saves last night which takes some skill. Today Kevin Hart pitches six innings of two run ball, and leaves the game down 2 to 1. The bullpen gives up one more run and the Pirates lose 3 to 1. The game before that was by a call up, Daniel McCutchen. That was a 6 to 2 loss. Before that was Paul Malhom’s master piece where he blanked the Astros and Capps gave up a run, but still got the save for a 2 to 1 win. Ross Ohlendorf pitches okay, but under his usual in the Pirates 4 to 2 loss to the Astros. Ohlendorf has had a 2.74 ERA since the All Star break when they made a change in his windup. The night before that Charlie Morton actually got a quality start by giving up three run in six innings, but the Pirates lost that one too.
The point is the pitching, starting pitching has been solid. Morton is weak, but even his last outing was not awful. Daniel McCutchen is just starting. But, Malholm, Duke, and Ohlendorf have the ability to constantly keep you in a game and put up a lot of quality starts. Kevin Hart has the potential to join that group. That makes it all the more frustrating that the Pirates cannot score runs and the bullpen is garbage. Right now there is no real threat in the Pirates line up. Doumit is having an awful and injury plagued year. Andrew McCutchen is not a power threat and cannot do it by himself. Garret Jones is a power threat, but is not good enough with people on base.
But there in lies the hope for next season. McCutchen will get a little more power in his next few seasons. Jones hopefully will get better with people on base. Doumit cannot possibly be this bad again. Add in Pedro Alvarez who ought to be a legitimate power threat and good hitter to the line up and things start to change. If Clement is a wash, the Pirates can still be good by moving Jones to First Base and opening the outfield spot to someone like Tabata. If Clement is good then Tabata can spend some more time in Triple A while Jones plays the outfield. The starting pitching is there, and the hitting is on its way. The bullpen is what needs drastic attention.
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