I hope you are sitting at home getting hammered on St. Patty’s drinks as you read this post! 

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New Bucs Black & Gold League 3 drafts Thursday at 9PM.  Here is the link. Be sure to get there a bit early and do the java test to make sure you can participate in the draft. 

Good Luck! 

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Wow, not only are we facing quite a few 5th/6th type starters this spring, now teams are keeping their veterans at home too.  Facing just three of the Tigers projected opening day position player starters, and a starting pitcher battling for a place in the rotation, a Bucs lineup featuring five of our projected starters plus our #5 pitcher walked twelve Tigers while giving up ten hits, we managed just eight hits and three walks off a couple of inferior pitchers, and we ran ourselves off the bases most of the day. 

What an ugly game. 

The most hilarious part to me was when Phil Dumatrait came out and shut down three of the four batters faced.  Don’t forget, he’s with the Tigers now after Huntington non-tendered him.  What a mistake in my book since I think he’s about one-half a season from bouncing back to full form. 

And guess what? We were back out there hassling the umpires once again, this time it was Donnelly but there were others. Evidently this is acceptable conduct by John Russell, Neal Huntington, and Frank Coonelly.  And, yes, this was the same crew we jawed at the other day.  It’s no wonder we walked 12. 

No big deal.. just another “L” for us.  Oh my. 

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And yes, I’d go ahead and start stretching out Carrasco for the fifth spot in the rotation despite him getting touched Wednesday to take the ‘mental’ heat off Hart. 

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Interesting talk all of a sudden in the media about Kratz possibly taking over the backup catcher role from Jaramillo.  I don’t know where that rumor started but there isn’t a prayer in hell that’s going to happen.  Go to the bank on that one. 

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And today I heard Bob Walk or Greg Brown, both employees of the Pirates, say that there is some concern (I assume they meant in the front office) about Aki batting second because he strikes out too much. There was a hint about maybe Milledge batting there. 

Where is this stuff coming from?  He’s a career 80% contact guy and has enjoyed a .340 batting average on balls in play the last two years… in the AL East!  Show me one Pirate that can match that? Just one. You have to back quite a few years to find one because even Bay and Sanchez don’t qualify in both regards over that same time period.  Who cares if he struck out 20% in the ALED?  LOL 

Somebody, somewhere is having statistical brain farts.. I doubt very seriously he’ll strike out 20% in the NLCD. 

But not only that, he’s the highest paid player – make him give himself up for the team, since it seems we have so few who will, and hitting #2 will force him to do that. But since he’s in a contract year and since we can assume it’s highly unlikely he’ll want to stick around for another year unless Huntington pays him stupid-stupid money, I think it’s safe to say he’ll be hitting #2 most of the year until he’s dealt in July.  Just a guess. 

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Ron Washington tested positive for coke and Nolan Ryan kept him around.  Un-be-lievable.  I’m all for giving a guy a break but in this case he’s the field captain and with all the kids looking up to him…  He’d have to be AT LEAST reassigned to a desk job in my book.  

Poor decision for baseball, Nolan. 

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I’m not interested in Elijah Dukes. Man, we have enough clowns on our roster as it is. 

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Kris Benson signed a minor league deal with the D’backs today.  Good for him.. I hope he has a good season. 

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Jenifer Langosh on the Vinnie and Cook show. 

–  “Bullpen shaping up to be one of the strengths of this team.”
–  Bucs look to be ready to open with Clement.
–  No concern about Jones’ slow start.
–  Management seems to want Hart to be the 5th starter – why, she didn’t know.
–  Milledge is doing the little things right
–  Dotel should throw first game this weekend; he’s a slow starter in April; will be ready to start year
–  Donnelly is great influence in the clubhouse; he and Dotel are loud in there
–  bullpen could be this team’s strongest asset this year
–  this is a team that will have to scrape out runs
–  Ron Cook: I’m optimistic about this season. 

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Brought to you by the Indians media department:

Tribe Shuts Out Lehigh Valley 3-0 In 2010 Spring Opener 
Indians RHP Virgil Vasquez Fires Four Scoreless Innings For the Win

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Five Tribe pitchers combined to allow just three hits and shortstop Brian Friday launched a two-run longball as the Indianapolis Indians shutout the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 3-0 in the 2010 Spring Opener on Wednesday March 17 at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Fla.  The Indianapolis pitching staff started the spring out strong as five hurlers combined for a nine-inning shutout led by starter Virgil Vasquez (4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO), who earned the Tribe’s first victory of the spring, and reliever Jeff Sues (1.0 IP, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 SO), who notched the team’s first save.

The Indians offense also got off to a quick start as CF Gorkys Hernandez showed off his excellent speed by legging out a triple to lead-off the contest.  Friday immediately followed Hernandez’s three-bagger with a two-run blast to center field off IronPigs starter and eventual losing pitcher Brandon Duckworth (5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) to give the Tribe an early 2-0 lead.  The Indians would tack on an insurance run in the fourth on an RBI single by 1B Matt Hague that scored C Tony Sanchez, who led off the frame with a double. In the lineup for Lehigh Valley was former Indiana University star outfielder Kevin Mahar, who signed on with the Philadelphia Phillies organization back in 2008.  Mahar, who lived in the Indianapolis area this past winter, was named second-team All-Big Ten as a Hoosier in 2004 after he led the conference with 14 home runs and a .652 slugging percentage.

What a choice we have.. Hart or McCutchen as the 5th starter.  Hart has the inside track everybody is saying but I suppose it really doesn’t matter too much because they are both going to get hit hard.  Probably so would Lincoln, for that matter. Or Morris. Or anybody else we have hanging around right now.

But what if we started Carrasco? I mean, so what if he’s +63 innings from 2008 to 2009 and so what if he hasn’t started games in the majors since 2005.  He has four legitimate pitches, albeit his change isn’t exactly anything to write home to mom about so he’d have to start against primarily right-handed power lineups, but why couldn’t he throw 15 games and 90 innings for us then settle back into a relief role when Lincoln comes up?

I guess I’m a softie for his hook which he doesn’t throw enough in my book. But that pitch should play well at PNC. Plus, he keeps the ball in the park significantly better than Hart or McCutchen do. To me, it boils down to experience – I’d give the ball to Carrasco if he has a healthy arm since management hasn’t left us any other quality choice.

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TUCSON, Ariz. — With two relief appearances under his belt this spring, Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman will make his first start on Wednesday afternoon against the Brewers.

How disssss-gusting.

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Here’s a snapshot of the Pirates hitting and pitching stats through March 15th in PDF form, and here is a snapshot of the NL hitting and pitching stats in PDF form through March 15th.  The dynamics will change over the next couple of weeks so we’ll compare these stats to those at the end of the month to see if we backslide any.

Here is a rundown of where we are at right now in team hitting compared to where we ended spring training the last few years:

2010: .243/.318/.420

2009:  .269/.342/.435
2008:  .274/.346/.400
2007:  .287/.339/.416
2006:  .284/.353/.475

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One person’s take on the floating realignment proposal:

“And what really makes a “smaller market” team anyway? It’s not the size of the city or means to spend money to make the team better. It’s simply owners who want to spend as little as possible and eke by with a profit. …

Here’s an idea: Why don’t we encourage teams to compete by putting some extra incentive in to do so? Make it like some of the European soccer teams, where if your teams stinks, it gets sent down to another league.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the Royals or Pittsburgh Pirates get sent down to Triple-A.”

Hilarious. 

Until the fans stand up and shout, not much is going to change in Pittsburgh I’m afraid.

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John Smoltz joins TBS broadcast team. Why can’t we hire men that know the game instead of listening to Tim Neverett (YAWN) or John Wehner (YAWN)? 

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Nyjer Morgan is out with hammy issue. Not that you care..

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Andy’s just dandy but Perrotto’s copy editor is DOA:

‘“We told Adam we knew he was a better hitter than what he had shown and it was time for him to prove it,” Russell said.”

Oppss..

And what about this blurb:

“The Pirates asked LaRoche to go to the Florida Instructional League at the end of the last season to work on playing second base, then negated that move a few weeks later by trading for Tampa Bay’s Aki Iwamura.  Alvarez, though, is likely to eventually move to first base and Iwamura is almost assuredly a one-year rental. LaRoche could still be the Pirates’ long-term answer.”  (my emphasis)

What the heck is Perroto suggesting?  That LaRoche will have to wait a couple of years until Alvarez gets too big and slow to handle third before taking back over?  Then why isn’t Alvarez being taught first now in camp???

Or is he saying that LaRoche may have to hit the bench when Alvarez comes up, wait until Aki leaves, then learn how to play second until Alvarez shifts to first???

I’m lost how LaRoche fits any picture except at third or on the trade block.

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From one of Nutting’s employees written in a Nutting newspaper:

Duke shines in victory

“Duke allowed two hits and issued three free passes. The final two walks didn’t appear to be his fault…”

No walks are ever the fault of the pitcher in Pittsburgh.. always blame the ump.

“In the last three games, Paul Maholm, Charlie Morton and Duke combined to allow only one run on four hits in 10 2/3 innings. The performances were against the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the Phillies – the last three World Series winners.”

I love reading this kind of stuff.. actually reminds me of real baseball in Pittsburgh instead of the artificial game played in the media nowadays.

At least two of the beat writers covering the Pirates sounded off on their concern about Monday’s home plate umpire Justin Vogel saying things like the Phils brought their own umps, that the Pirates are giving the ump dirty looks, or that Doc Halladay had a generous zone, or that he was talking too much to Ryan Doumit. That surprised me because in their game recaps, not one of them talked about the real reasons we stunk up the joint and lost.

One, we couldn’t hit the advanced pitching thrown at us, two, we were horrid on defense.

Bucs up by one in the fourth when we pick up Dejan’s game summary:

1:54: A little trouble for Duke in the fourth, runners at the corners with one out and Ben Francisco up.

1:57: And he walks the bases loaded for John Mayberry Jr.

2:01: Sac fly, and that’s it for Duke.

Sac fly is correct but just missed a grand slam by five feet might be a better call. Anyway, the game is tied 1-1 in the fifth when we pick up Dejan’s call again:

2:10: Halladay is great and all, but he’s getting one heck of a strike zone to work with, and it’s starting to visibly tick off some of the Pirates. No one’s going to do something dumb like arguing in a spring game, but Justin Vogel — a Class AAA umpire — is getting some really dirty looks. Halladay ends his fourth by getting Milledge to swing through strike three, but only after an absurd called strike made the count 0-2.

If you aren’t professional enough to contain your dirty looks at the home plate umpire, then you should step in the box expecting to get an “absurd called strike” once in a while. Don’t you think?  I’ve talked extensively over the years here about this problem.. such a slight margin of error dictates wins and losses in this game anymore that we can’t afford unprofessional showboating by the players. If the zone is bad, the manager gets off his duff and complains but our youth need to be consummate pros in the box to gain respect.  I’m telling you once again, we lost too many games the last few years from squeezed zones and poor calls because of our lack of professionalism.

Then this catastrophe:

2:23: A trying inning for Meek, in the sense that his stuff seemed good, but you could see he allowed a balk call to get to him. First, he was arguing with Vogel, then raising his head in disgust after not getting another call, then Wilson Valdez doubled for one run, and Howard singled for another. Still just two outs. Phillies, 3-1.

What the f***??  And Pirates fans wonder why we lose so many games every year.. well, here is one small reason why.

If I’m John Russell I take Meek out of the game the second he showed his attitude.  If Kerrigan and Russell – the management team representing the Pirates on the field – aren’t worrying about it, and they aren’t out backing him up, what right does this 0-3 player - who hasn’t proven anything in the game - got to showboat the ump regardless of how frustrated he is? Zero. These umps talk and every one of them will know about Meek’s actions in no time (remember my interview with an ex-ump a few years ago?).

Back to the game – Dejan said: Valdez doubled for one run, and that is technically correct. What he didn’t tell you is that there were two outs with a man on first and Valdez hit a line drive Milledge’s way that he dove for, missed, and that allowed the run to score and Valdez to reach second instead of being held to a single. 

That is the third time this spring Milledge has left his feet attempting catches he couldn’t make. The first two times only cost us 1 run, today it cost us two.  Had Milledge played the liner for a single, and assuming Ramus went first-to-third on the play, when Howard came up we would have played the shift more towards third since there was a runner there and Howard’s little grounder would have been the third out and the game still tied.  Unfortunately, the grounder went through the shift at short and that allowed Valdez to score from second who was off on the play with two outs. And, of course, Werth would never have batted in the inning and the run he drove in wouldn’t have scored either.

So I was actually glad to see Milledge bouncing his brains off the turf today forcing a boatload of runs on Meek’s scorecard because the kid deserved it for his unprofessional behavior. It’s one thing to be a competitor, it’s another thing to play the game selfishly.

And where the hell was Russell and Kerrigan during Meek’s childish outbursts?  One of them should have immediately come out of the dugout and jumped in his face. I don’t get it.. all the talk about Marine discipline in the minors and yet we allow all this “me, me, me” attitude in Pittsburgh.  I just don’t get it. 

It burns me up as a fan to hear this type of conduct by young players being allowed on the field. Not only are they jeopardizing their own rapport with all the umpires across the game, they are also throwing the team under the bus. Now I’m not suggesting one incident will cause five losses in a year, but the more it happens, and the more it is tolerated by field staff and the front office, the more we’re going to see strike zones shrink when we’re on the mound, strike zone enlarged when we’re in the box, and bang-bang plays go against us. I’ve talked about this for years here – it’s real.. it’s been happening.

Last thing on the subject and I’m moving on.. when I hear someone like Dejan saying things like: “Vogel quickly is becoming the star here. He just rung up Jeff Clement on a called third strike that would have made Eric Gregg blush, it was so far outside.” I respect he has an opinion, but he’s a newspaper man reporting news supposedly in an unbiased way, not a blogger who ASSuMEs things.

Dejan and the other beat reporters aren’t on the field, they haven’t got any frikin idea where that pitch is from high up in the press box. They might think they do, but they don’t.  Now they very well might be 100% correct on every remark, but by putting assumptions in a newspaper or at MLB.com’s website they potentially undermine the team effort just as bad as Meek did because the umps read the local coverage as well.  They have feelings.. they don’t want showboating in the press anymore than they want it on the field.. and they have senior umpires who evaluate their performance and our GM could file a grievance.  Plus, it is spring training for God’s sake.

Ok, so we lost yet another one. At least we’ve won four so far.. that’s better than the Nats who haven’t even won a game yet.  Wow, what an impeding battle for the #1 draft pick in 2011. Oh the drama we have to look forward to as Pirates fans. Whoopee!

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In my 2010 Sleepers and Foolers picks I said:

Foolers

3.  Lastings Freaking Milledge.  He might roll out of spring training looking like a new animal, but once the season starts you’ll swear he’s high all the time as you watch him floating around the outfield. Watch him awe you with attempts to make plays he shouldn’t even make, but at the end of the day you’re likely to be hugely disappointed with Mr. Milledge from day one.  And so will his teammates.

Smart hustle attempting to make a great play is one thing, and learning what you can cover and can’t is perfect in spring training, but if it continues during the season bleeding runs as I suspect it is going to happen, what does John Russell do then?  Think hard while also thinking about the size of left at PNC.

Church can’t cover enough ground in left, Moss either, and Jones would be a bleeding run stuck pig over there.  Raynor in center and move McCutchen to left?  That means you have to carry a Rule 5 guy on the bench just because you can’t count on one player. But why did we trade for him then?

I’m betting this is going to turn out to be one of the biggest stories of the year.

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The Pirates begging inning-after-inning for ticket sales during Sunday’s broadcast was a bit over the top for quite a few people, my inbox suggests.

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The Prediction Machine is the latest to put a modeling program to the test to try to predict the final records of the 2010 season. For the Pirates they suggest a 70-92 record with 0% chance they reach the playoffs. Evidently this analysis was so loved, the Wall Street Journal ran on the back page of The Personal Journal a huge 0% in red (chance of making playoffs) listing the Pirates with the Padres, Nats, and Indians.

A joke prediction website it seems, but still hilarious.

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Nice to see measurable cuts from the major league camp, and it was also nice to see quality players with upside pulled from the minor league camp today. I hope we stay focused the rest of the spring.

But I swear I heard Neal Huntington add Brad Lincoln’s name in the ‘competition’ for the fifth starter spot. Did you hear that earlier this winter? Maybe I was hearing things. Oh well, baseball is a business first and Lincoln isn’t a Huntington guy anyway. C-ya Brad.

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One of our readers opened a Buccos Facebook page last year and wishes a little promotion.  He has some great photos, plans some giveaways and contests during the year, and wants you to add yourself as a fan. So drop by.  Kewl logo, huh?

Also, don’t forget that I welcome guest posts so if you have something to say, feel free to e-mail your article to me.

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Good stuff here from Bobby Nutting (even though he’s probably just spending some of the revenue sharing money after creative accounting).

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Nice article on Ed Ott by the Lynchburg News-Advance.

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hahahahahahahahaha  That’s nearly the entire game laughing at that report on Greg Smith’s ranking.  Hat tip to BucsLover.

What a great game of baseball.  Ah, nevermind we played some of the Yankees “B” roster, and nevermind that the winds aided the power game, it was just nice to see blue skies, happy faces in the stands, and the club starting to come together.

Oh, and then there was Bob Nutting doing his best Kevin McClatchy impersonation sitting in row 1, seat 1.  At least Kevin liked baseball. Anyway…

My take on Morton.. he’s obviously not got a good feel for the ball yet but you could tell it’s starting to come around. His velocity on the stadium gun with four-seamers was in the mid-90’s, he was able to command an average to plus curveball, he threw an effective backdoor slider a couple of times, and just seemed to be having fun on the mound. I also saw some of the old Morton.. getting behind batters, not trusting his stuff to come in with pitches when he needed to, and having a hard time with command (especially late being up in the zone), but it’s too early in the spring to know if it’s because his arm just isn’t cooperating yet or because I saw same-old, same-old, softie Morton out there. In my scouting book I wrote that it was the latter.

Doonelly was all over the place today, Chulk continues to impress but his stuff just doesn’t excite me. I don’t know if he warrants a spot in my 25-man or not yet. And Machi just needs to go away dragging Karstens with him.

Doumit continues to be a catastrophe behind the plate waving his mitt at the pitcher in the windup, receiving the ball and moving the mitt too quick, bouncing around, stabbing for balls, etc, etc, etc.. then I saw something with him that really concerned me.

In the fourth inning he got good wood on a Sabathia pitch. His swing mechanics were nearly textbook (for him anyway), the ball seemed to explode off the bat, but then it landed in short’ish center field for an out (with the wind blowing out that way, no less).  As he touched first and headed back to the dugout I noticed him flexing his right hand over and over.

Thinking that maybe he just stung his hand, I put the at bat frames into my super-duper slow motion video processor and looked close frame-by-frame and saw what seemed to be his hand twitching and a slight rotation of the right wrist as he flexed his fingers in and out walking back toward the dugout.  So I decided to go back and review every at bat since July last year that I had recorded a hard knock for him. Sure enough, I found it a couple of times.

I’m guessing by what I saw is that Ryan Doumit’s wrist is not 100% yet.  I’d also venture to guess the reason we didn’t see more desire for Doumit this winter is because other clubs have seen the same thing.  But realize these are my own observations.. I don’t know whether Doumit’s wrist is still hurting him or not. Maybe what I’m seeing is awkward swings putting more pressure on the right wrist because he doesn’t trust it yet? I don’t know. 

Regardless, it’s obvious to me he’s continuing to favor that right wrist so I’m going to knock down my projected expectation for him this year.

One guy who has been stinging the ball in the games I’ve watch this spring is Andy LaRoche. It’s refreshing to see a LaRoche actually do something with a bat in March!  Kidding aside, he’s been a tick unlucky in that not as many as he deserved have fallen in, but his swings have been impressive.  I wish he wasn’t as much a guess-hitter as he is, but maybe it will work itself out. One thing I don’t like seeing with LaRoche has been his refusal to be selective at the plate after a batter reaches. He’s up there hacking guessing at the first pitch and, if it’s close, he’s swinging. That’s not a good ‘team’ game plan.

Clement looks a little lost with the bat so far but he’s got that sweet swing that makes you feel he could bust out at any time.  I suspect he’s going to need a lot of consistent at bats before he does, but the times where that light goes off with him, he drives the ball.

McCutchen looks like he is on a mission. He tends to chase some bizarre pitches at times but if the ball is anywhere around the plate, he’ll typically put it in play. I just haven’t seen his afterburners cut in yet. He actually seems to be lollygagging a bit around the bases some. Maybe he’s protecting those hammys?

And how about Mr. Power, Aki? Dude went long today. Ok, so it was wind-aided and would have been a routine out in every park in the game, but still, he drove it without even trying to. That’s not something I’ve seen from him over the years with Tampa.. he’s been more of a contact gap hitter. I hope he stays within himself. He also stole a base.

Cedeno left after sliding into second like a wiener - head first. Cano stepped on his right hand plus crushed his knee into his jaw twisting his neck. Crosby took over and did a good job but you can easily see the difference in range between Crosby and Cedeno. We can’t possibly open with Crosby.

Milledge?  He’s still jerking around on the diamond in showboat mode. He gets a double and then turns the corner without picking up Beasley and then gets caught in a rundown. Later in the game he tries to steal second and got such a bad jump, he probably should have just returned to the bag but he kept going and Cervelli (with a 2.09 pop! by the way) nailed him with ease.

Good defense, good pitching, nice swings, good times, and a win.. all under blue skies. And how about all those retirees in the stands in Bradenton? Man, that took me back to the way it was 30 years ago. Good stuff.

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We made a few cuts and still have 60 players in ML camp. Wow.

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After watching a few more spring training games outside of the Pirates, I’ve come to the conclusion that our pitching is a bit ahead of many teams right now.  Most of the vets seem to be still out working on different things each inning where our guys are locked in every outing (except Ohlendorf, that is).  I’m not sure I like that because I can’t help wondering about injury potential — forcing the arm to meet the mind so early. It’s too regiment.. too stiff.. too impersonal to me.

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I’ve purposely withheld my prediction on this years win-loss record for a couple of reasons. One, I am hoping we’ll see a few more acquisitions from the wire and, two, I’m not convinced there won’t be some trades here shortly. I’ll post it by the 26th.

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Frank Coonelly called John Raynor “interesting” today in the broadcast. I think it is safe to say Mr. Raynor will be going back to his old team, as he probably should despite a good spring so far.

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August 6th.. Andrew McCutchen bobblehead day. I need a volunteer.. I’ll buy the tickets, you go and send me the bobblehead. Leave a comment below if that interests you.

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Bryce Harper update:

From the Sports Information Director at the College of Southern Nevada:

“The College of Southern Nevada baseball team had to endure quite a bit in Saturday’s Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader.  They had to overcome poor pitching, poor defense, lack of offense, and taunting from Western Nevada College, who won the opener 8-2 before the Coyotes won the finale 3-0 at Morse Stadium…

Bryce Harper smacked a solo home run – his eighth of the season – to right-center field in the first inning to put CSN (19-5, 6-2 SWAC) on the board.  He was then ejected in the top of the 2nd inning for a taunting incident.” (my emphasis)

Here is the report I got back from the game:

“Bryce was tossed for taunting the opposing team after being given a warning an inning earlier.  After hitting his HR, he pointed toward the WNC dugout on his trip around the bases and was given a warning.  He made a bow gesture when WNC’s leadoff hitter in the 2nd inning hit a blooper to right-center, and that is when the infield umpire chucked him.  As Bryce walked off the field, yes, he did have some words with the umpire, but it was never a shouting match with the umpire.” 

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We seem to have enough interest to start a fourth New Bucs Fantasy Baseball League. If you want to play MLB.com’s fantasy product for free, don’t have a lot of time to spend, but wouldn’t mind a chance at $10,000, leave a comment below and I’ll send you an invitation.

B&G3 League is now full and the Fantasy Baseball link above has been updated.  Here’s the draft order for this Thursday at 9 PM:

Draft Pos.	East
5	PIT3
2	Oil Can Boyds
3	Three Rivers Thump
8	PeterGammonsGrandson
Draft Pos.	West
1	NY Pirates Fan
7	Ruffled Panties
4	City of ChampYinz
6	Yasugi Bushi

I was a bit disappointed to hear today that clubs are calling the Bucs on players but we’re asking for the moon.  I respect that the season is about to start and some of the inquiries made could significantly impact our season if we traded the player asked about, but in at least one case I heard we were offered quite a haul and we still demanded more.

I’m going to go on the record as saying that the Pirates should air in the media their request to extend Maholm for two additional years. “We’ve approached Paul Maholm to extend his contract” would do it.  If we can’t get him to ink those two years, then we absolutely need to be thinking hard about dealing him asap.  We’ve already passed too many opportunities from what I’ve heard – some I understand because the players offered had little to no value for us in the short-term, but at least one offer had significant young talent involved which makes me wonder why we didn’t make the move. 

The 2011 free agent market is potentially saturated with starting pitching which is likely going to drive down the return in trades so we can’t be hesitating like we are. I respect Frank Coonelly has to balance the financial needs of the organization (things like ticket and suite sales, corporate sponsorships, and the like) with betting the organization’s talent, but dang, we also can’t get stuck holding the bag because we failed to move. Been there, done that, with this regime already.

I suspect Coonelly and Huntington have made a measured decision that there will be quite a few clubs in the hunt in July which will reduce the number of arms available, but I think they measured with a bent ruler. I think there is a huge gap in talent between those who have it and those who don’t this year and I suspect we’re going to see a riverboat full of starters available to be moved in July at a significantly lower cost than Maholm because he has one additional year under his contract.

We can’t be hesitating like we are.. we can’t keep losing value.. we need to keep acquiring talent.. we can’t stop. 

Take some risk Frank.. let’s pull the triggers on some of these deals.  I understand you want to save face with the fans since you said you are done moving veterans, but you can’t stop in the mission.. you have to keep getting stronger.

And, no, this isn’t only about Maholm.. we’re passing by other deals too by asking the moon in most cases, I’m hearing.

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I’ve been hammered by folks wanting to know more about what the deal is in the minor league camp I’ve been concerned about. I’ll say this and then we’ll wait to hear what the Pirates have to say sometime in the near future.. there are reports that players are just up and walking away.  I can’t say who is involved so don’t ask. I mentioned the other day that I hoped it all worked out and you never got to hear about it, but that evidently isn’t going to be the case.

Unfortunately, this has the chance to explode because quite a few people in the system are upset. Some have expressed their position with the Pirates, and some haven’t yet.  Plus there are a few others on the cusp that the Bucs know about from the last couple of years.

Now I’m not trying to paint a picture that all is doom and gloom in the Pirates minor league system because it’s not. I talked about the potential for fallout/turnover from the shift in management style the last two years here.. we expect a tick higher rate of turnover because of that style change. Some refuse to buy in, others just hang it up for personal reasons.  But at some point there has to be just as much an effort in retention as there is in development.

That’s all I should say right now. I hope some of it works itself out.

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Photo of Kratz not handling the throw as Iglesias scores today. Photo credit: Getty Images

 I didn’t listen to the game since my son had a t-ball game but casually looking at the box score told me a few things.

Like we have no offense.

It’s amazing that John Russell started a solid contact hitting group and they pretty much came up empty despite near tropical storm winds in the area.  But, neither did the Red Sox with their bazillion dollar lineup even with us throwing some 4A pitching their way later in the game.  So maybe the hitters are still in la-la land?  I usually think 20 – 30 AB is about what it takes for the average major leaguer to start seeing the ball well, maybe 50 AB to start getting in a groove, but, man, we’re not seeing anything out of anybody in our games unless it’s a blowout across the board.

I’m not sure what all that is about yet.

It was discouraging to see Carrasco with two walks in the five batters he faced, sad to see Clement picked off first (how. does. that. happen. with. Garcia. over. there??), nice to see Young swinging the bat as he’s surely being watched by a few teams (not that anybody will pay our price, that is), and strange to see a game ending triple play although not too unexpected considering it’s spring training and 4A players were in the game.

So we’re now 3-7.  Not that it means anything but with all the youth, you really hope they would pull together at least in the spring and get the job done.

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This teacher just might be the Pirates next minor league pitching rover.

Goodness gracious.

Rays 16, Pirates 15.  How many touchdowns did Tabata have? Goodness gracious. And poor Tabata. The kid has it hard enough learning how to cover the ball in right field off major league bats, but he ends up having to take the field playing center with winds up to 45 mph.  I’m sure he’ll be using those skills the rest of his playing career.

So what can we take away from this game that has any meaning whatsoever?  Doumit not catching again (early spring, the old man is resting some)? Veal not being stretched out (we don’t know what he did in the bullpen after his one inning of work but it’s starting to look like he might be a candidate for the pen)? Russell’s lineup hitting Clement behind Doumit (we hope that doesn’t continue or Clement will likely end up with a .200 BA as a result with LaRoche behind him).  That Karstens is still in camp (sayonara)?  Or that Young all of a sudden decided to put on his game face (scouts aplenty at the game)?

Not too much can be taken from games like that so let’s instead talk about fan patience that we keep hearing about.

Steve Blass said something like this in the MLB broadcast today while talking about Alvarez:  the fans don’t want to, and rightfully so, but they have to be patient.  It was a casual statement.. one we’ve heard every year over the last decade, but it still struck a nerve with me when he said it. 

Why?  Because in dealing Nate McLouth to acquire Charlie Morton, Huntington started the clock on the first wave by having to bring up the centerpiece of that wave in Andrew McCutchen to replace McLouth.

The only good part about starting the wave early is that, since McCutchen spent more than 31 days in the minors to open the season, we won’t lose a year of control with him and he got a nice jump in development during years that are projected to be poor.  The bad part is that the rest of the projected offensive power for that wave isn’t ready (Tabata and Alvarez), we’re quickly running out of years of control on our veteran pitching (Maholm in 2011 unless we exercise a $9.75M 2012 option, and Duke in 2011 unless he is extended), and the wave’s catcher is far from ready (Doumit’s contract ends after 2011 unless we pick up a 2012 & 2012 options for $15.5M). 

So what good is it to have patience if the wave is an unorganized mess?

If Sanchez, Tabata, and Alvarez were all rushed to Pittsburgh in May this year, it would still be 2012 before they would be starting to produce at a meaningful clip but by then our rotation would include Lincoln and Morton and a cast of junk or misfits like Ohlendorf, Veal, Hart, and McCutchen. I don’t include Maholm because there is less than 5% chance he’ll still be with the club then, not to mention the remote chance we would even spend to pick up his option.

If we instead hold Sanchez, Tabata, and Alvarez in the minors thru 2011, forced them to sit out 31 days in 3A in 2012, and then brought them up and aligned them with the next wave, the pieces start to fall in place a little better with Bryan Morris, Morton and Lincoln still be around, Locke and Alderson would certainly be ready by then, Owens and Lorin would be potential options, D’Arnaud, Friday, Mercer, and Cunningham would be set for the middle of the diamond, McCutchen could still be around and extended, and some depth would be available right behind them. It would piss him off, but McCutchen has options left and could sit and fester with Alvarez and Tabata in 3A through 2011 too stretching out his years of control as well.

Throw in two years of development with all those guys and we’d be looking at a run by 2014 and have numerous years of control with them all together. At least the middle of the diamond would be set, pitching would be advanced and deep, the bench strong with the youth here now developing, and the only need would be two corner power guys.

If we’re going to preach patience, then we need to see management take logical steps to protect the commodities of the wave instead of burning them up in the name of a few tickets sold during years the team hasn’t a prayer on paper. Why risk losing the years? 

If we’re not going to act as we preach, then screw it – bring up Sanchez, Tabata, and Alvarez May 5th and let them get their development the hard way asap so that we have a chance to fill holes and make a run in 2011 before our pitching walks out the door.

But that’s my take.

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I have a couple openings left in our MLB.com fantasy leagues which are free (chance to win $10,000) and super easy to get involved with.

1 opening for a live draft on 03/20 at 08:00 pm ET
3 openings left for a live draft on 03/18 at 09:00 pm ET

Leave a comment below if you would like to play.

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When should we do our first live game chat?  The two next broadcast games are Sunday at 1 against the Yankees and Saturday at 1 vs Boston.  I can’t wait to try out the new software.

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Meaningless but fun stats through play Wednesday :

Did you know that the Pirates had the best team ERA in the NL at 4.22? They also had the third best K/9 rate in the NL at 7.4.

On the other side of the coin, the Bucs .293 OBP is not only the lowest in the majors, but so low the front office has to be sweating bullets. 

And bet you never expected to see Pedro Alvarez at the top of the NL leaderboard in….  triples.  I certainly didn’t.

So far Cubs have issued only 18 walks all spring, third lowest in MLB.  Second lowest?  Brewers.  Hmm..  The Cubs pen is pretty solid despite what you may have heard.

Oh, and Chapman throws again for the Reds Friday.

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Top Prospect Alert:

Chris Sale pitches Friday night against USC Upstate in Spartanburg, SC.  Game time is 4 PM.

Streaming Video: http://ASun.TV
Live Stats: http://www.UpstateSpartans.com

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Do you realize there are only four additional Pirates games scheduled to be broadcast this year?

Lots to talk about and little time so let’s get going.

The Orioles game had an exciting first inning and then fizzled.  I especially liked the part when Duke took the mound, got two fast outs, then gave up a line drive to Adam Jones that should have been a routine out in my mind had McCutchen been playing straightaway center, but he was in as usual and the ball floated right over his head to the wall for a triple.  Duke just looked down at the ground for a minute then walked slowly back to the mound and you could tell by his body language he was one pissed off camper.

Nine pitches later he had walked two batters, his 1-0 to Luke Scott was telegraphed and Scott crushed it through the right side, Church bobbled the ball, and two runs scored as a result.  Wiggy then hit another 1-0 telegraphed Duke offering to the left side which was also a fairly routine but Crosby’s first step was a stumble and the ball shot through scoring another run. That brought Montanez to the box who drilled a belt-high fastball into right to load the bases, and Turner mercifully ground out weakly to Alvarez.

That is classical Zach Duke.. he lets his emotions get the best of him way too much and the end result is an Ollie Perez clone just throwing anything over the plate not really caring what happens from that point forward. Usually he gets himself back under control after a few batters but not on this day.. he didn’t get that far until he took the mound in the second.

And did anyone else catch Pearce handing Alvarez an error? Alvarez was coming in hard on a little tapper, fielded it cleanly, and on the run threw across his body to Pearce who had to stretch to try to pick up the one-hop throw. Unfortunately for Alvarez, Pearce lifted his glove a split second early and the ball scooted underneath for an E.

I thought to myself, where the heck is Brian Boehringer these days?  To me it sure looked like Pearce didn’t try as hard as he typically does to glove that ball, but, hey, what do I know?  Hilarious. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mr. Pearce in the first cut after that play and him being thrown out at third running from first on a ball hit to left.

I’ve tempered my expectations about Pedro Alvarez since he pulled his greedy power-play with Boras after being drafted but I think I’m warming up to him. The reports of him having pitch recognition problems seem to be accurate the way he was lunging for the ball in a couple of his at bats. He obviously needs some time in the upper levels of the system and probably should have played Mexican League baseball, but I guess his weight issue was more of a concern. I’m not so sure.  But when he finally puts the bat on the ball, it’s crushed.  He even flashed some good leather but it’s pretty easy to see why scouts suggest his instincts and size might warrant a move to first in the future.  Perhaps that was a blunder on Huntington’s part.. worrying too much about value and not enough about his short-term needs to spend last year working him at first instead of thinking Clement was the answer? Hmm..

Daniel McCutchen put on a show throwing two solid pitches. You have to like him for a 7th inning role.. I think that’s where he ends up with his light stuff. Just a guess, mind you. I was also glad to see scab Donnelly pitch.. he didn’t appear to be throwing his best stuff but his fastball was sitting around 93 with little movement, which is a concern to me. Maybe he was overthrowing or the FSN gun was off because I don’t remember him ever throwing that hard. And Chulk with two more K’s.. un-be-lievable.

We managed seven hits with Vazquez picking up two solid knocks probably knowing he’s being watched by a couple of clubs right now.  Funny thing about that, he seemed to be running full-bore.. no lingering effects of a bad leg I could see but I didn’t have a stopwatch on him either.

It was a good game and it seems the pitchers are well ahead of the hitters right now. 

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I have a couple openings left in our MLB.com fantasy leagues.

1 opening for a live draft on 03/20 at 08:00 pm ET
3 openings left for a live draft on 03/18 at 09:00 pm ET

Leave a comment below if you would like to play.

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Dejan dropped a bombshell on us today:

“Cain, a 19-year-old left-hander who was the team’s ninth-round draft pick in 2009, had minor back surgery after a previous ailment inflamed over the winter.”  (my emphasis)

Previous ailment???  You mean to tell me that we drafted this kid and signed him agreeing to pay $1.15M knowing he had previous back problems? 

OMG.. and we wouldn’t take a risk signing Tanner Scheppers?  That’s crazy and doesn’t add up.

I shouldn’t say this because I wasn’t there but this is a perfect example of the type of crap that got Greg Smith in trouble managing a board in Detroit which partially led to the collapse of the Tigers farm system. Some people just have too much voice.

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Dejan also had this blurb in another article:

“The dominant overall impression is that it’s striking to me how disciplined everything is. The players move with almost military precision from station to station, the managers and coaches are wound tight as a drum, and there even is a sign on the bulletin board listing 11 players who that day did not maintain clean lockers. (No kidding. The player’s name is there, and right next to it is something like “Clothes hanging.”)”

I told you about the locker in the middle of the clubhouse action last year that was the laugh of the circuit.. Kyle Stark made it clear to the players that there is a place for everything and everything better damn sure be in its place.

You can’t treat young men like babies and expect them to respect you. You have to treat young men like men.  They aren’t going to Iraq to fight a war, they are playing baseball for God’s sake and it’s not their fault the anti-cheap ownership herd mentality exists. I realize they are valuable commodities but, come on, they are also human beings with feelings too. There is such a thing as too much and this is too much as I’ve been warning my readership here for two years now.  

.. “the managers and coaches are wound tight as a drum..” .. no doubt. Anybody want to venture a guess on how many of those field staff will jump ship after the season ends?  Remember now, these are all Stark hires who knew what they were getting into before they signed who would be running (think Troy Buckley, among others).

.. “there even is a sign on the bulletin board listing 11 players who” .. go sit in time out!

And, no, none of this stuff is what I was talking about the other day. There’s even more to come your way, although I hope it gets to the point you never hear anything because then it all worked out (unlikely).

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I’m still having a tough time finding someone to scout the Curve in the Eastern League but I’ll keep plugging along. 

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Here is the Pirates spring training minor league game schedule:

Mar-15 — CAMP DAY
Mar-16 — CAMP DAY
Mar-17 — 3A/2A @ PHI, 1A vs PHI
Mar-18 — CAMP DAY
Mar-19 — 3A/2A @ TOR, 1A vs TOR
Mar-20 — 3A/2A vs NYY, 1A @ NYY
Mar-21 — 3A/2A @ NYY, 1A vs NYY
Mar-22 — 3A/2A @ PHI, 1A vs PHI
Mar-23 — 3A/2A vs PHI, 1A @ PHI
Mar-24 — CAMP DAY
Mar-25 — 3A/2A vs TOR, 1A @ TOR
Mar-26 — 3A/2A vs NYY, 1A @ NYY
Mar-27 — 3A/2A @ NYY, 1A vs NYY
Mar-28 — CAMP DAY
Mar-29 — 3A/2A vs TOR, 1A @ TOR
Mar-30 — 3A/2A @ TOR, 1A vs TOR
Mar-31 — 3A/2A vs NYY, 1A @ NYY
Apr-1 — 3A/2A @ NYY, 1A vs NYY
Apr-2 — 3A/2A vs PHI, 1A @ PHI
Apr-3 — 3A/2A @ PHI, 1A vs PHI
Apr-4 — CAMP DAY

So let’s talk about what it will take to not be another pretender team since we’ve been able to see the Bucs play a little.

Obviously we have a gaping hole at shortstop as neither Crosby or Cedeno are major league answers. Since Neal Huntington left the club short-changed here, and because we don’t have any talent in the upper system, we’re going to bleed defensive runs at short all year.  The free agent market was thin but I suggested in November we needed to go after Orlando Cabrera or deal from our moderate pitching strength to get a younger player ready to take over the position.  Neither happened and now we’re stuck.  For us to be more than a pretending club, for me it has to start with our defense up the middle starting with Cedeno. We’ll go as Cedeno goes.

The second most obvious hole we have is at first base.  Clement is athletic enough to handle the position defensively with enough reps, but can. he. hit. major. league. pitching?  Huntington’s short-term plan is to either open with Clement’s unknown bat or toss him aside and put Jones at first and let Church play right. Either way we end up with a pretender at one of the corner positions and that spells trouble. But I’m not going to go out as far on a limb as other media writers suggesting that we’ll only be as good as Clement can hit, instead I’m going to say we’re only going to be as good as Tabata can hit and field the ball because that’s ultimately the way it shakes out.. Tabata in right, Jones at first, and Clement catching. How soon these position adjustments are made will determine whether we have a chance to break the pretender role or not, although I don’t expect Clement to be catching full-time until later in the year or next year.

Out of the second hole above comes our third obvious hole – lack of power on our corners. Milledge, Jones, LaRoche, and Clement or Tabata just aren’t enough thump. And if Huntington eventually comes out and says his intention was to build a doubles oriented offense, then that theory also fails.  Milledge is going to sting the ball when he makes contact, but the probability of his contact rate being high enough to warrant talk isn’t very high; Tabata will be a rookie in 2010 so we can’t expect too much from him; and — honestly — who knows what LaRoche, Jones, or Clement are going to do. That’s a lot of question marks from the four corners. In order for us to avoid the pretender label, three of the four corners are going to have to be league average or better offensively.  Good luck on that one.

Our fourth concern has to be in Doumit’s inability to stay healthy. His habits as a receiver suggest he’s going to get hurt along the way.. the question becomes, how bad? I don’t think anybody questions his ability to hit the ball when he’s healthy but, is. he. healthy?  Flip-a-coin. We need Doumit to step up in 2010 and be the offensive threat he can be or we might as well write off the 2010 season.

Defensively, we’re going to bleed runs. Aki will save as many as he gives up, Cedeno will give up more than he saves, LaRoche seems solid enough to save a few, Clement at first in development mode will bleed runs, Jones in right may seem like a neutral offering but to me he’s below average defender out there, Cutch should save us runs now that he’s in his second year but I’d be happy with +0 instead of him giving up runs, and Milledge and Doumit will both bleed runs, albeit Milledge looked great on some defensive metrics (not mine though). With all the pitch-to-contact arms we have, this is not a dream defense by any means.

That leaves pitching. I’m content that Maholm will produce at a mid-rotation level but still find himself trying to pitch out of too many jams, Duke may be a stat king but his stuff is so ordinary he’s likely to get hammered big time this year because everyone knows he only has one game plan – stay away, Ohlendorf living upstairs is a logistical nightmare but he got away with it last year – the question is, can he again, and who knows what to expect from soft-hearted Morton.  With three of the four starters being sinkerballers, how can we possibly expect anything from them during the start of the season with it being cold and their arms still tight?  It’s likely to be the end of April before they get loose enough for us to see high enough groundball rates for us to have a better chance, so look for some ugly games early.

And who exactly can even be our #5? The technical definition for a #5 is something like a guy who can give you 120 innings while keeping you in more games than not, but Hart and McCutchen are bigger question marks than our problem at short.  We need someone to step up during the last half of spring training.. Bryan Morris, Brad Lincoln, McCutchen or Hart, Veal.. someone has to. If not, then we can just mark the calendar three out of four every-fifth-start days with an “L”. We’re that bad off.  Throw in Kerrigan’s desire to limit innings to Duke and others because of fatigue, throw in the potential of arm abuse from heavy workloads two years ago from Morton and Ohlendorf, and throw in unhealthy relievers we are carrying, and, man, we really have some big question marks with this group. And don’t be too surprised if you see us having to use Carrasco to close games during the season.

On the utility side we have a backup catcher who can’t block the ball or hit, we are carrying a Rule 5 outfielder for some insane reason, and we have wannabes hanging around in Crosby, Pearce, Vazquez, Moss, Walker, and Young.

That’s one hell of a lot of question marks to overcome so here’s a couple of suggestions..

We are going to see a lot of players dropped off rosters and put on the wire here shortly. And I mean a lot. I think it is imperative that Huntington latch out and grab some of the better talent that becomes available. So far he’s refused to take risks but that needs to change.

Another way that can help is for Coonelly to green light Huntington to burn a few of the extra years of control we’ve gained the last couple of years. It will cost more in the long run to do that, but we can advance our development by at least one-half a year if we do. For instance, Tabata breaks with the club, Jones goes to first, Jaramillo who I believe has one option left, goes to 3A, Clement goes to backup catcher or to 3A if Jaramillo doesn’t have an option, and Lincoln is added to the rotation once we have a need for a 5th starter.  I wouldn’t push the envelope on Alvarez just yet and would wait to bring him up in June.

That’s an aggressive stance financially but I think it’s necessary to shut down some of the bleeding defensively, to add some offense down the road, and to get Lincoln on track ASAP so that we can deal one of our starters in July like Maholm if we get an offer we can’t refuse.

Those are a few ways that might sneak out a few more wins for us. What ideas do you have?

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I watched some of the Yankees game and wondered why all the pitchers in spring training seem to be missing high so far?  Have mound heights changed? Has side work changed? Or is it because I’m watching the same staffs over and over and over?  I suppose the third answer is the right one. 

Sabathia was crushed missing high and being too predictive as he looked to be working on certain pitch types each inning and was punished as a result. I thought one guy was impressive – Romulo Sanchez.. the guy Huntington gave away for Eric Hacker who we let walk away last winter. Go figure.. think there was a little extra motivation in Sanchez’s heart during Tuesday’s performance?

Anyway, once the Yankees brought in the garbage in Boone Logan and the youngsters in Hector Noesi and Jeremy Bliech, our backups went to work and put a “W” up for us.  And yes, I saw Jones’ towering blast.  LOL

It’s a typical spring training.. pitchers who threw competitively all winter or who have early stuff look like a million dollars, and pitchers who need more time or want to work on things regardless of the outcome are getting hammered.  It’s pretty hard to decipher any of it without more information.

So who do we play Wednesday? The Yankees again? Boooorrrrringggg.  No, it’s Baltimore.. the team with a lot more problems and question marks than the Pirates (is that possible?). Perhaps we need to trade Young to them? Anyway, Duke throws against Bergesen and they have Hendrickson scheduled as well. We’ll see Donnelly, McCutchen, Chulk, and Jakuwhatever.  Too bad we missed Millwood this trip.

I’d say we can start looking a bit closer at stats starting this weekend.

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My son had his first t-ball game.. great stuff.  He played first and actually caught a solid grounder and tagged first, missed a throw from the pitcher, and missed another grounder. At the plate he went 3-3 like most of the kids did.  Fun, fun, stuff.

And I swear I saw Boras hanging around passing out business cards to the parents. I dunno, maybe I was mistaken. Maybe..