The pledge drive is going well having exceeded our $1,000 goal. Currently I have $1,290 in pledged amounts. However, don’t stop now.. all amounts over the $1,000 mark will be used to bring you additional scouting reports from the minor leagues. Obviously I can’t afford to hire three scouts to follow these teams all year so I’ll use those funds to get the scouts out to even more games for us.
There are four days left in the pledge drive which you can read more about it here and here. Click the button below to make your pledge on PayPal’s secure server, or log in to PayPal and send your donation directly to jake at newbucs.com.
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Please take a minute and give me your take in these multi-choice polls if you haven’t already:
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Fantasy league invitations went out – be sure to register at MLB before the 10th to keep your spot. The next wave of invitations will probably go out Wednesday.
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I’m traveling today and only had a chance to watch the first four innings of the game waiting for a flight but here’s a few things that stood out to me:
– why in the world did we send what surely will end up being our opening day lineup to Tampa to play the Yankees? A friend of mine text me and jokingly said it was a “mentality” thing because management wanted our guys to stand there and watch the World Champions traipse around the field with the championship trophy. What a blow. I’m at a loss of words why we would send everyone packing to Tampa.. total loss.
– the home team Yankees trotted out a starting lineup that included their #5 starter wannabe, a Rule 5 pick, one non-roster invitee, a backup catcher, and a rookie. Oh, and they eventually won via a non-roster invitee. Man.
– if no wind, no home runs. No home runs, no being close in the game. That’s probably the storyline for 2010.. no power.
– if you happened to be scouting the game with a stopwatch then you probably scratched your head on some of the times from home to first by our batters. In fact, thirty-six-year-old Derek Jeter ran faster down the line (4.4 sec) in one early at bat than 65% of our guys and McCutchen was at 4.9 seconds in his second AB. That’s embarrassing. I expect to see LaRoche putting up those kind of numbers but not McCutchen.. nor a 4.6 from Clement from the left side. I know it was a bit chilly and the guys probably didn’t want to pull hammys, but come on – there has to be some hustle too. What’s up with that John Russell?
– Clement is pretty raw mechanically at first base. He’s obviously athletic as you could see in the first when he fielded Granderson’s grounder and flipped to Maholm covering, but he looked intimidated (Yankees?). He also made a nice swipe on an atypical bad throw from Cedeno (some things never change), he stretched a couple of times when he didn’t need to but he seemed to be comfortable doing it, and then when he needed to, he didn’t. It seems to me he’s pretty raw and I can’t help believing there’s no way he’s going to be ready for opening day, but since this is a developmental year he might as well stay with Garcia.
– second AB from Cutch and Mitre threw him a hook that completely fooled him, landed in the zone for a strike away, and then he stood in the box making a few ‘that wasn’t a strike’ faces as home plate umpire Fairchild watched intently. Then Cutch looked back at Mitre with a sly grin on his face as if to say ‘what the heck are you doing throwing that kind of junk to me in the first game’? He promptly ground out on the next pitch and nearly walked to first.
– Ohlendorf’s mechanics were so out of whack when he started pitching that he couldn’t close up and he ended up throwing down plane and jerking back like he had a whip as he finished (finished? LOL, he wasn’t finishing his pitches early on but you get the idea). He looked like he was having a lot of fun trying to rare back and heave the ball as hard as he could. I hope we don’t see him DOA in a week or two (oblique or shoulder) because of what seemed to be a lack of seriousness. I did like the unexpected hook he threw Jeter to strike him out – nice stuff, even though it is a bit early to be showing offspeed stuff.
– Brian Bass who???? Another Corrigan guy I’d guess by the looks of things.
– with Cutch on first in the first, Aki was swinging like crazy on the first pitch without a hit and run on. What’s that ‘going for personal stats’ type thing all about John Russell?
– Andy LaRoche with two good rangy plays to his left.. one was a plus play. Thank you very much Mr. Perry Hill, wish you were here.
– Milledge in his first AB: strike looking, ball, strike swinging foul, ball, strike looking middle-away.. go sit down. Unbelievable. Doesn’t he look exactly like Jack Wilson did when he reported to camp having gained 10 pounds (too much)? Yeah, he sure does. Chucky baby, chunky.
– what’s up with the new Joe ‘I want to be Jack Tripper’ Kerrigan look? Dude had hair sticking out of his hat going everywhere ala the 80′s, $250 shades covering the eyes, and a grin like, you know, everything is kewl man.. pass the bong. Glad to see our field staff make an impression. Oh my.
– Doumit with a 1.90 sec pop time (receiving the ball to the ball being caught at second) to nail the young Cervelli on a straight steal while handling a low and away fastball. Sweet.. if he cuts down more runners than advance on his passed balls, I’ll be tickled to death.
I’ll watch the rest of the game later tonight and post additional observations later if I have any.
Related posts:
and Jeter and ARod and Texiera and Granderson.
Why do you NOT bring everyone? It’s just Tampa.
oh and their non-roster invitee beat our non-roster invitee.
Glory Jake, the stuff you find to bitch about is amazing. Never mind that Maholm and Ohlie did exactly what was expected today.
not sure I ever saw entire opening day players on the road in st either.
> Glory Jake, the stuff you find to bitch about is amazing
LOL, I thought I was pretty positive for what I saw!
I will tell you my friend what I have to bitch about — we can not SCORE — it ‘s just like late summer all over again. Can we not get just a few hits even??!!
It was obvious that MLB was putting the game on TV and they wanted everyone to bring players…that is why Jeter etc. were there and played well into the game.
my not scoring comment is coming in the ninth inning of the Atlanta game…
keep bitchin’ jake, if that’s what you are doing.
Oh you will have more “observations”, you can’t help yourself, your like a person that likes to hear themselves talk.
Oh, rest assured he is bitching. Can I please hear a big “Who gives a flying f**k” on this subject, HONESTLY.
You want to know why he is “bitching”, because it makes him seem edgy, thus he gets people to comment.
If he wouldn’t bitch or complain, people would find his ramblings boring, he would get no veiws and thus would not have a site of any repute (like this actually is a site that anyone cares about anyways).
He acts like his views are so out there and that no one thinks or sees anything that he does, like he is somehow better than eveyone else, but he isn’t.
The only question I ask myself everyday, is if this guy is really John Steigerwald, because only he bitches more about this team than Jake.
By the way, bitching after game 1 is petty and pathetic, and if you look around today, most of the teams in MLB put their entire starting nine in the lineup today, so get off of it.
Have a nice day and if anyone has a problem with what I am saying then too bad.
-Mark- Pgh., PA
sniff +++ sniff ++++ sniff sure stinks in here all of a sudden.
@oilcan – let’s not hammer other opinions.
> By the way, bitching after game 1 is petty and pathetic
I expect, no demand, as a fan 100% from every player every second they take the field. The LAST thing I want to see is laziness. Thanks for the balance of your opinions.
Jake, I too don’t always agree with you, but I always have appreciated you not bashing those who bash you. It’s your blog, so naturally it is your forum to express your personal views. But if you were nasty to those who disagreed with you I would have stopped looking at your site long ago. Thanks for all your time.
Eric Kratz was impressive Jake. Smacked a 2 run double in the gap and almost threw out a runner from his knees who had a huge jump on the pitcher. Jean Machi was also impressive , Taschner did okay.
he was – you can tell is hungy. I like that.
bucco I was shocked how well Machi pitched…but most our guys did ok….
Maybe Aramis Ramirez took a break from being a lazy waste of space to coach the Pirates on baserunning. If they completely stop making to first on groundouts, we’ll know for sure!
Uhhh… Ohlendorf struck out AROD. Jake are you sure you watched the game?? And by the way it’s the first game of spring training!!!! Give it a rest!! Why you even consider yourself a Bucs fan is beyond me.
> Ohlendorf struck out AROD. Jake are you sure you watched the game??
sure did, via a 3″ screen toting a 6 yr old through an airport. Thanks for the correction.. they all look alike over there.
> Why you even consider yourself a Bucs fan is beyond me.
because I expect more when they put the uniform on? come on now..
nobody wants to play in that weather. Ive seen that game a hundred times early in the spring.
Ross struck out AROD lookin not Jeter
I keep coming back and trying to read this site but all I get from it is blah , blah , blah , blah ,…….. He betches about Ross’s one inning and he doesn’t even know who he faced. Wow! Jake’s credibility factor is going to an all-time low. And I love the way he has nothing good to ever say about Cutch but he always thought Ronnie Paulino was the real deal. LOL! What a joke . You can rest assured that this was my last time trying to read this gawd-awful site!
Why so many haters? With the exception of Maholm and Ohlie, there really wasn’t much to get excited over. Granted it is day one, but I have to agree with Jake… Wheres the power??? Our pitching cant win games when all we are going to score is three runs a game.
they aren’t haters, they are optimists and good for them! Some optimists are louder than others, that’s all.
Yes I agree there wasn’t much to get excited over but two starters having good innings is good for the first game. Jackson and Vasquez need to be given the boot these two are jokes and don’t deserve a chance on the team. I can’t wait to see Duke and Morton pitch!! I also would like to see Jones (Brandon) in the lineup not to mention Crosby because Cedeno and Diaz looked horrible at SS.
And you want us to pay for this negative crap? Maybe you should put this behind a paywall, so I have a reason not to look at it!
You have a young team, it’s the first game of spring training. Let’s talk about the positives here, please.
You can’t wait to jump on Cutch dogging it down the line, but fail to mention him leg out an infield single in the first inning.
You jump on Russ for overthrowing, but fail to mention that he had a 1-2-3 inning.
I’m sure there is more, but I don’t think it’s worth looking into.
Come on, guy.
you’ve been pro-org whining against everything I say since 2006 or 2007 Billy. I’ve learned that if I have you making a comment, I’m locked-n baby!
Kidding aside, when you learn to read my material you will learn that if I’m talking about it, then I was pleased. You’re getting there.
This organization, not team, is better than it has been in years. These young guys are in for a long season, but when they gel, it will be fun to watch.
But, they are young and their are holes in the rotation, so you should have plenty opportunity to b!tch all season.
And hey, I must enjoy it. I keep coming back. It’s in a way like a Howard Stern type interest. “What is he going to say today!”
Pirates
1. McCutchen, CF
2. Crosby, SS
3. Milledge, LF
4. Church, RF
5. Clement, 1B
6. Alvarez, DH
7. LaRoche, 3B
8. Young, 2B
9. Jaramillo, C
Braves
1. McLouth, CF
2. Heyward, RF
3. Jones, 3B
4. Glaus, 1B
5. McCann, C
6. Diaz, LF
7. Hinske, DH
8. Infante, SS
9. Conrad, 2
Alvarez.. on. the. bus. again. Pay your dues baby. Should be a good game but I’m at the park with youngin’ and can’t hear it right now.
Well guys if you dont like it then dont read it and complain… yeah its great to be optimistic, but wait til the Buccos are 15 games out by the end of the second month of baseball and the tone will change.
@ George H,
I guess the operative words in your comment are “but wait…” I think that is why there are so many negative comments to Jake’s largely negative post. Give us a day or two of spring training to have a positive attitude for crying out loud!!
Yeah Im actually really pumped for the season and Im very optimistic but I dont like how everyone is bashing jake for his opinions.
you got my back, eh? I’m used to it George. They think this is a newspaper instead of a blog where opinions are featured. I enjoy any comment, even those that hammer me.
wow-7 walks already!Is it windy??Catcher’s fault-bad pitching?I hope kratz makes the team. Just a thought Jake-maybe you could have a once a week section on who is helping their cause to make the team and who isn’t. maybe a top 5 risers/fallers chart. just a thought.
Bill
Pedro 0-3 3k’s
Andy goes yard 4-2 ATL
ouch. thanks for the updates neil!
be here all year
We didn’t look so hot today. The players who are battling for spots don’t look like they are even trying. I have hope for our starting lineup and are starting pitchers. Are we gonna see Sanchez in spring training???
Machi has to be hungry, there’s a spot open the one Hanrahan has left cause he will probably on the DL. Pedro will probably struggle at times during the spring he’s trying to get his timing early on so his k’s will be up. Jason Jaramillo better hit this spring cause Kratz could be hot on his trail for the backup spot.