Ten little braves walked? Oh my!

Just three days left in our pledge drive.  We were blessed to bypass our $1,000 goal and currently have $1,290 in pledges.

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. Plus, those who pledge will partake in additional benefits during the year!

You can read more about the pledge drive 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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“Losing for so long, there’s so much negative things being said about the Pirates. It’s tough to read them. You get defensive. The thing is, it’s true, and it’s tough to deal with that negativity every day. .. There’s certainly a lot more talent in the [Pirates] system.  It’s just … (pauses) … not every prospect hits.  So, I guess Pittsburgh fans don’t want to hear it, but time will tell.”"

Nate McLouth as told to MLB.com today.

Nate’s right – negativity is tough to deal with. But he’s also right in the fact that most of it is true.  I was hammered by a couple of folks in my comments section yesterday on this subject and, while it doesn’t bother me in the least, it does show that some of my readers don’t understand my writing style.  So let me explain it to you now.

If I don’t mention something, I’m generally pleased with it and have no desire to talk about it. I expect Maholm or Ohlendorf to throw around the plate, I expect Doumit to call a good game, I expect McCutchen to beat out infield hits, I expect better than average defense from our players as a whole, and I expect relievers to pitch out of jams.

What I don’t expect is laziness, youthful players showing up umpires or opposing pitchers, mistakes and miscues repeated over and over, or pitchers throwing three fastballs in a row. 

When the players put on the uniform, I expect them to play to the best of their ability every second they are on the field, I expect them to play the game the right way, and I expect our management to enforce the same.  If those events don’t happen, I’m going to single them out.

If you want to read fluff, then go read some of the other Pirates blogs because I have strong opinions. I don’t care if you like or agree with my opinions because that’s not the intent of this blog – I’m not here to make friends, I couldn’t care less how many people visit every day, and I’ll be the first one to tell you that I have agendas.

Chew hard on the fact this is a  B L O G  where opinions are expressed. If I don’t pat Duke on the back from throwing a three-hitter, oh well.  If I don’t give credit to Jones for hitting a home run, oh well. And if I don’t jump on the apologist bandwagon, oh well.

I write what I feel, I write what my gut says to write, and I’m going to keep writing what I want.  If you don’t like what I have to say, then either a) open your own blog;  b) write your opinion in a comment here subject to my censorship rules since this is my house;  or c) hit the road Jack.

I love this game.

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I didn’t have a chance to listen to the Braves game but from what others e-mailed, it sounded like another horror show starting with pitching and ending with fielding.

Early spring training is the best time to judge player motivation by watching things like who is hustling and who isn’t and who seems to feel pressured and who doesn’t. I also like to watch events like pitch counts and defensive positioning because over the years I’ve learned that what you see early on in the field is typically what you will see during the year.

I’m not too focused on who is hitting the ball until they get about 30 at bats under their belt, how anyone is pitching until they get to throw to live batters two or three times, what “position duels” there are because I believe those decisions were made in October, or who is out there playing and who isn’t.

Honestly, spring training is kind of boring for me other than being able to scout the younger players in the minor league system because those kids are playing hard battling for roster spots in the higher leagues right now.  That’s why I’m sending out some pro eyes in the next week or two to report their findings back to us. It’s a great time to evaluate young talent.

One thing that was evident from the box score today was Morton’s inability to find the strike zone.  I’d guess that’s typical for a soft sinkerball guy early on.. he probably has very little action on his stuff and being soft, he’s not trusting anything he throws.  That’s my own guess.  Give him a couple weeks into April before you start wondering whether or not he’s got anything in the tank. Hopefully he’s working on his secondary pitches.

The fans are probably freaking right now wondering what’s up with Pedro Alvarez having struck out four of his last five at bats.  Let him settle in to his first big league camp.. he’ll come around. But it’s pretty easy to see what opponents think his weakness is as they are force feeding him junk away he’s chasing like a mad man. I don’t see that as an issue either – not yet anyway. Let’s see if he can adjust over his next 20 AB.

Nice to see Lincoln get some action. I don’t expect we’ll see too much out of him until he settles into his starting routines.  Next year is his year even though he might see some action in the senior circuit later in the year.

Ten walks issued by Pirates pitching.  Wow.

I see the Braves were running on Milledge and he ended up nailing Conrad at third. I think we’re going to see a return of the Bay-type days where opposing teams run like crazy on our left fielder this year.  We’ll see if that holds true.. it did later in the 2009 season.

Bucs travel a short distance to Sarasota Friday playing the Orioles who have Tillman starting.

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Minor league spring training games are tentatively scheduled to begin on March 16th this year. I’ll post the schedule once the Pirates finalize it. 

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I appreciated the feedback you provided in the polls the last two days.  Here is a list of the highest rated responses:

– you desire my game recaps
– wish we had live game chats
– want more draft coverage
– and seem to be pleased with the blog theme overall.

Thank you – I’ll incorporate those ideas into the 2010 season.  I’ll be doing a bit of house cleaning so you can easily get to the scouting correspondents work.

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Oh my, draft positions were assigned today to the B&G2 New Bucs fantasy league which has a live draft 3/21 at 11 AM:

I draft 6th there.  You guys are going down!

If you left a comment here desiring to play fantasy baseball and didn’t get your invitation, let me know by e-mailing me using the Contact form in the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

Those who received their invitations, or who set a desired league to play in over at the private web page, have until the 10th to register at MLB or you’ll lose your spot.  Contact me if you have any questions.

Related posts:

1. Bucs have a chance to actually impress me by taking…
2. 2009 Draft
3. Classics
4. Ah shucks, we lost; Perrotto canned? Naw.?!
5. Pirates interested in HOW many players? LOL