On May 13th, Bucco Blog recommended that Dave Littlefield bring John Van Benschoten up from AAA to pitch against the Marlins. Instead, Armas was given the start and bombed, while JvB was pulled in the 4th in his Indy start the same day after throwing 95 pitches probably partially from disappointment.
On June 1st, Bucco Blog again called on Littlefield to bring JvB up and put him in the bullpen thinking he needed time to get adjusted and to develop. That didn’t happen either.
On June 16th when Littlefield did promote JvB, Bucco Blog warned that the move was ill-timed because of the future schedule JvB would have to face.
Sure enough, five of Van Benschoten’s last seven starts have been against teams playing better than .500 ball and in those games he has a 13.50 ERA (27 R, 18 IP) and averaged 23.1 pitches per inning. In the two games against less than .500 teams he has a 2.80 ERA (3 R, 9.2 IP) and averaged 8.1 pitches per inning.
Dave Littlefield has essentially thrown John Van Benschoten to the wolves and JvB is paying for it dearly. If you watch this little clip of JvB on the mound against the Phillies Friday night you’ll see a couple of more red flags as JvB starts hitching his shoulder.
Considering the poor guy was asked to make two hot starts against the Cubs and Rockies and then forced to start Friday night on 12 days rest against the hottest team in baseball – on their turf in the hunt no less, it’s no wonder he’s failed by averaging 31.3 pitches per inning and has a 27.00 ERA over those three games.
Pitching is just as much a mental game as it is a mechanical game. The Pirates suggested JvB had a mechanical flaw and they shut him down for a start to work on his hip movement, but I did a tracer on his previous two games against Friday night’s game and there is no discernible change to his mechanics that I could find.
But if you have been reading Bucco Blog, you know I suggested JvB was probably shut down because he had arm fatigue as we’ve had him pegged with a red flag since he made his July 2cd start.
And he’s gone downhill steadily since we did.
Now Littlefield has a real problem as it looks to me like JvB has developed some inflammation or other irritation issue in his shoulder. Don’t be surprised if you see him hit the DL for a month or more.
The Pirates have done about as poor a job bringing JvB along out of Indy as can be imagined. They knew he was laboring with command problems in AAA, they knew his stuff had potential but touch and feel seemed to be lacking, and they knew he was going to get rocked in the schedule they set him up for.
But I applaud JvB for taking the ball and making his starts even though everyone in the world, including the Pirates front office, seems to have forgotten this is a first round draft pick who has been out of action for well over two years after numerous surgeries and is just months back from rehab.
He had/has no business being in the rotation to begin with, much less being forced to make hot starts.
* Jake tips his brew JvB’s way *
Now, what can Littlefield do to correct the problem? What he should have done to begin with – put JvB in the pen and stick Armas back into the rotation. Everyone seems to think Armas is doing so wonderful because he’s been asked to pitch late when the other team has mailed it in after first blowing us out, let’s see how he does in his five starts against the Cards, D’backs, Giants, Phillies, and Rockies.
Probably just as poor as JvB.
But no matter, right now Littlefield has to save JvB’s arm and I will bet a dollar to a nickle that Littlefield will probably pack JvB back off to AAA declaring him as not ready when, in fact, Littlefield set him up for failure. Think Oliver Perez..
That’s a shame because it will only set JvB back further. We’re not going anywhere this year so he needs to stay in Pittsburgh and take over Vogelsong’s old role Armas had filled. That is, IF his arm is healthy enough now to do that.
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JvB has never won on the road.
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How about Jose Castillo? Not only has he seemed to be the only player hustling on the field in his last few starts, he’s even getting a few hits here and there. Good for him, considering he has been banished despite being a superior gloveman to Sanchez at second.
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LaRoche sat for the second game fueling rumors in New York he could be headed to the Yankees and rumors around the Angels that if Kotchman is dealt to the Rangers, LaRoche could be headed to the Angels.
Hmm..
I’m not so sure I buy any of that unless the Pirates are a third team in any Teixeira deal and we are throwing Snell and LaRoche into the pot. Even then..
But man what I’d give to get Kotchman playing in Pittsburgh. Whew..
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Pirates have the third best inter-divison record in baseball having played .500 ball so far against their NLCD rivals. Second best is the Cardinals who we face ten times over the next sixty something games.
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Phillies are 9-5 last 14 games and have averaged 7.2 runs per game. Wow. The Pirates send out another rookie to face the Phils in Youman Saturday and he’s sure to get mauled too. But get this, Vegas sees the game significantly closer than they did Friday nights game. I’m not so sure myself.
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This team f–king ****! It will as long as The Nutting family owns it. I’m f–king sick to death of them and this triple-A team we are forced to watch year after year! Why is Dave Littlefield still our GM??!! He could not get a job running a little-league team in North Korea, but hey – we think he’s doing a great job!! I’m gonna barf!!
I live in Toronto, Canada and have been a Buc’s since 1979. For the first time I’m (finally?!) starting to think I’m done with this joke of an oganization. Since 1992 – it’s been nothing but comedy – shall we re-cap what I and you poor-poor-poor baseball fans living in Pittsburgh have had to go through since then? – Let’s.. it’ll be fun… ok .. hmmm… Bonds, Bonilla & Drabek leaving for nothing in return, letting Jim Leyland walk away, Jeff King, Jay Bell & Denny Neagle for AAA players, Jeff Suppan & Bronson Arroyo for Freddy Sanchez, Aramis Rameriez for Bobby Hill, Jose Guillen for nobody,oli Perez for Nady, Gonzolazez for a slo-pitch player… then there is the big money to Kevin Young, Pat Meares, Derek Bell… and on and on it will go… I’m getting ready for the Jason Bay for some dude I’ve never heard of deal that is certainly heading our way soon! At least having a great Canadian like Bay on the team has helped me “hang on” as a Pirates fan, but I think when he goes, I go. It’s sooooo hard to like this team… in fact I HATE THIS TEAM!!
Arrgh!!!
Mr Robby Fulton , You hit it right on the head with this team blowing badly since 1992. 1 competitive year since 92 that was 1997 when we went 79-83 5 out of first with a nice rookie crop of players. Now DL , Nuttings has given him a 50 million payroll to play with but what does Littlefield do spend it badly- AAA Armas jr- 3.5mil, Chacon even though he has pitched well 4 million, Jack Wilson contract, 1.7 for a .230 ish/.240 hitter in Jose Castillo, 3.2 Million for .245 hitter Adam K. LaRoche. Hell guys are giving him everything they have with noticeable knee injuries – Sanchez and Bay. Also on the salary arguement he only spent about 38 million of the 50 according to a few publications. DL needs scrapped out as GM the whole scouting department need to be gone and instead of spending money foolishly put some of the payroll dollars towards some better draft picks put some money in the scouting system and try to get a pioneer as a GM who knows how to scout talent and have a staff around him that can do the same thing. I have friends who constantly say to me Mike why don’t your Pirates build the team around some speed at the top of the order and contact guys behind them. I usually tell them cause the Pirates organization does things half-assed and they don’t have clue how to build a club to fit the division they are in. I, along with bunches of other Pirates fans feel your pain Mr Robby Fulton. Until we get this crap gm and his worthless scouting department out we will be bent over and the wood put to us without the vasoline.
What’s the deal about Saloman Torres filing a grievance?
ByrnesBlogger1
Have you contacted Castillo about becoming his agent? You seem to be in love with the guy! He’s 7 for 34 this month (.206) with a total on no RBIs. He has 1 RBI since June 13th. His overall average is .235. In the past he’s been accused of swinging for the fences, but he hasn’t homered in almost a year. In 132 ABs this season, he’s got no HRs and 10 RBIs.
Like years past, he’s had his not so shining moments in the field, both defensively and on the basepaths.
He deserves a lot of credit for coming into camp lighter and with such a good attitude, given the odds stacked against him. Like Jack, his spectacular plays are often offset by routine flubs. Somehow, you give Jack more ink than Castillo on the errors though. Both are deserving of being mentioned equally when they make spectacularlly good or awful routine boots.
Just my two cents worth. It’s your blog and what you print is up to you, of course. But, I’ve always been under the impression “reporting” was supposed to be unbiased.
But, thanks for a spot to “unload” for those like myself.
bob
ByrnesBlogger- The Grievance with Torres and Bucs stems on the Pirates saying to Torres that they would use his camp in the dominican or venezula not sure which to develop there latin players. They had like a handshake agreement and then the Buccos backed out of it breaking a promise to Torres.
Nrvrad- this team is so bad. I like that Castillo is at least hustling his **** off and is making some good defensive plays but his bat is has turned into Rafael Belliard. We need to use our one main big time resource Jason Bay and load up the minors with some mlb ready talent. But, first we need to fire Dave Littlefield and his whole cast of characters.
Here’s what I don’t understand, about this team and the posters here. The one best athelete by far this team has is Rajah Davis and we’re facing a soft throwing left hander last night and we run out Nate McCloth. This guy has been given more than enough chances to play and he’s failed miserably he will never be more than a bench player. I know you have complained about Rahaj’s bad outfield play but he’s by far the fastest most gifted athelete this team has and speed will make up for lots of mistakes. I say give him a shot at least against lefthanders. Tracy is absolutely lost. Fire him, fire him, fire him now. What are we waiting on. This team is going no where. I say let the young guys play and see which ones can play and forget about Batista, Wilson, LaRoche, McClouth, Duffy, these guys have been given every chance and failed miserably. I’d probably give Castillo one more shot and that’s it for him also. Let Davis play that’s the only way he’s going to learn.
I can’t watch this team play they’re so bad, I turn them off after just a couple of innings. How is it the Phillies have all these good young players and we have none.
Kent
Here’s what I don’t understand. Why do you keep posting the same comment kent.kimes? Watching this team every day is enough of a bad rerun. I don’t need to read your comments twice in two consecutive days. And I don’t think Rajai Davis will ever amount to anything in this league. Just another run of the mill pretender in the Pirates OF, but even worse fielding than the usual subjects. Sincerely hope I’m wrong.
Hard to be optimistic with anyone on this roster. Even the “good” players are infected with loser-itis. Snell needs to learn how to consistently put batters away with 2 strikes. He wastes too many pitches that aren’t close enough to the strike zone to tempt the batter to chase. Too many in the dirt. Pitch count goes up, runners add up, Paulino/Doumit can’t block them, bad things happen.