I’ve had quite an experience the last 24 hours attempting to get a video crew to cover the protest Saturday as a news event.

Of the 30 – 40 calls I made, at least 75% said they no longer attend Pirates games and had no idea what was happening Saturday night. How disheartening. Some even said they were too scared – they preferred not to get involved. How bizarre.

The Pirates own the rights to any video shot within the confines of the game from devices like cell phones or cameras (look at the back of your ticket).

Will they sue you for posting a 40 second YouTube infomercial showing what happens at the end of the 3rd inning? It’s pretty doubtful, but I’m guessing they would immediately file a DCMA complaint with Google to get it removed asap. I certainly would if that was my business.

But the Pirates don’t own the rights to recordings from outside the stadium like from the Clemente Bridge or at the rally. That’s free space. So if you happen to take some footage, send it to me using the email link on the right sidebar and I’ll consider running it.

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This protest is not like the irate fans protest last year that was seen in ill-taste for the bad timing. It’s different.

The mood of this event seems to have significantly changed the last few days. No longer is it just a Pittsburgh thing. It’s now a national event with a lot of eyes watching from economists to legal minds, and everyone in between. Interestingly, I’m receiving a lot of email from fans of other teams lately all wishing Pirate fans their best.

Isn’t that something.

My official stance is that I’m against disruptive game behavior like walkouts or throwing bobblehead boxes on the field. Mom and pop that bring the kids shouldn’t have to worry that a riot is going to break out, fear their kids might get hurt from thrown objects, or hear derogatory statements from the angry fans.

I do believe in boycotts for the simple reason that if you don’t like something you shouldn’t spend your money on it, and it’s only natural to tell others how you feel.

That being said, I love the fan’s enthusiasm for the walkout but I’m still at a loss what they think they will achieve even if every single person in the stadium gets up and walks out. I mean, they have already given their money to the franchise owners.

What good is that?

True – if multi-year season ticket holders in the front rows walk out with everyone, then the message gets a bit clearer to the Pirates ownership. But I doubt seriously that’s going to happen. In fact, the odds of that happening are more than 100-1. They are probably mostly old school and there to support the organization – win, lose, or draw.

I suppose like I am.

But I wish everyone well Saturday from the players, to the fans, and to the Pirates. There won’t be a winner in all this – nor will there be a loser. But there will be a message sent – one way or another.

If nothing else it’s news, especially if fans in the other parks walk out of their seats in the third inning too.

And no, I don’t think you’ll see Kevin McClatchy sitting in his seat Saturday night. He doesn’t have anything to prove – anymore. But I’ll be very impressed if he is, and even more impressed if Bob Nutting is sitting right beside him. If I was the COB, I would be.

Also, don’t be too surprised if you see new faces in the seats behind home plate and other places where the network camera’s routinely pan if the fans there walk out. I suspect they will be immediately filled by temporary workers rushing down the aisles.

Just a guess, because that’s how big business stays big.

The Post-Gazette had a couple of interesting tidbits in their coverage Monday.

The first was this quote from Tim Leiper with Altoona:

"Center fielder Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates’ top pick in the 2005 draft, has yet to hit well for Class AA Altoona this season…

"He’s right there. He’s absolutely right there," Leiper said. "The whole league is throwing him outside, and he gets big with his swing. It happens with young players." (emphasis supplied)

That is a very, very bad sign and exactly what I have been stating in this forum has been happening to Cutch since he left rookie ball. And I vehemenently disagree with Leiper – it doesn’t happen to young players unless they are told to change their hitting style from a gap hitting machine into a slugger.

I stated in June of 2006 that McClatchy had better contain David Littlefield’s desire to have Cutch swing a long bat or he could lose his swing. Any idiot could see the young man’s game was changing for the worse and the results are now clearly written on the wall as he climbs to almost 200 at bats and is still hitting around the Mendoza line.

At first I credited the advanced league pitching for McCutchen’s demise but Leiper’s statement above clearly tells me that isn’t the case. Instead, the organization has tried to turn McCutchen into someone he isn’t, and they failed.

The only thing Andrew McCutchen had going for himself was his self-confidence and quick hands, but the Pirates have robbed him of both. It’s going to take months and months to turn him around again and Leiper might be right – Cutch might be on the verge of getting hot. But not because his approach is good, but because the better pitching is being promoted.

That certainly seems like incompetence at it’s finest to me – almost as incompetent as waiting all those years to make a decision what position Neil Walker would play.

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The second tidbit was this:

"General manager Dave Littlefield said Gary Ruby, who was in his sixth season as the Pirates’ minor-league pitching coordinator, resigned for personal reasons."

Hmm..

This is a guy Littlefield put in place late 2001 to turn the pitching in our system around and now he’s walking away mid-year?

Hmm..

While just about every level of pitching in the system is tanking?

Hmm..

Someone that loyal to Littlefield would get time off to take care of a ‘personal problem’ so I have to believe there is a lot more to this story than we are hearing.

But all I can do is guess until someone with a little more knowledge emails me and gives me the scoop. (hint – hint).

Obviously one of two things is going on here – either Ruby indeed has something going on that he needs to walk away from the game, or there is discord in the organization.

I tend to believe it is the latter. There’s just too much going on right now for there not to be discord. Throw in the Lincoln catastrophe, the one outing visit by Rogers, some hints about development problems with the Cuban pitchers in the lower levels, and the entire organization’s ERA blooming like a rose in high heat, and you just can’t help wondering.

Great.. now maybe we’ll be fortunate to see Lundquist as the rover.. or Andrews. Oh my..

The org is falling apart at the seams.

After reading Dejan Kovacevic’s great article about Adam LaRoche at the Post-Gazette today, I got a bit concerned when I read:

"Tracy and hitting coach Jeff Manto have focused, in studying video, on LaRoche’s ability to pick up the ball late in its path rather than at the pitcher’s release point, as he seems to be doing now."

There are two basic adjustments a batter can make – timing or seeing the ball. Rarely, if ever, are mechanical adjustments made to a player like LaRoche.

Essentially, the Pirates are asking LaRoche to adjust his focus by attempting to guess the pitch type and eventual landing location late in flight. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because LaRoche’s bat speed is fast enough to accommodate that.

But is LaRoche’s mind?

Some players can’t pinpoint rotation until it’s too late and can only handle a broad focus instead. These type of players are more commonly known as zone hitters.

For example, Craig Wilson was a zone hitter who couldn’t recognize pitch types. And he was run out of town because he was.

So I decided to ask a scout and a hitting instructor to review 10 reels of film I had on LaRoche that included games from 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. My goal was to see if anyone could pick up a difference in LaRoche’s approach at the plate.

Both parties immediately noticed LaRoche’s unwillingness to shorten his approach with 2 strikes on him in 2007, especially because he was getting behind in the count so fast. He was much better about that in 2005 and 2006 and significantly better in 2004. Why that has changed over time is perhaps due to his maturity in the game. But he’s watching too many quality pitches float past they said.

The more reels everyone consumed, the more obvious it became to both parties that LaRoche didn’t seem to have as much advance knowledge of the pitcher he was facing in 2007 (in other words, what to expect and where) as he did with the Braves. Reel-after-reel both parties agreed – he seemed naked at the plate with the Pirates.

Here’s a case in point.. there are a lot of smaller parks in the NLCD and therefore a lot of groundball/finesse type pitchers. That isn’t the case in the NLED where LaRoche had mostly played and important because a broad focus like LaRoche has will work. But more importantly, after three years in the NLED seeing the same general pitchers over and over and playing with the Braves veterans, he was more prepared at the plate.

And as the scout said, he most likely had the benefit of a lot more advanced video systems in Atlanta to study pitchers than he has in Pittsburgh today.

And it’s showing up at the plate.

LaRoche loves pitches middle/out and middle/up and has never really done much with low stuff away which he is going to see over and over in the NLCD. But lately he isn’t even catching up to 90 mph fastballs and that drove the hitting instructor nuts the more he watched 2007 film.

No matter where you play, no matter which hitting instructor you have, no matter what type of hitter you are, your approach will always be the same at the plate.. focus on the ball. But first and foremost, you have to learn the release point of the pitcher, and that is what the hitting instructor felt LaRoche was having a problem identifying.

He felt that the Pirates might be taking him to step two before they allow him to learn step one in the NLCD, and then the problem becomes LaRoche gets confused at the plate. Which he certainly is.

The scout said why don’t the Pirates just leave LaRoche alone. If he is more comfortable being a zone hitter, let him be one. The hitting instructor immediately shot back that the Pirates don’t want just contact from LaRoche, they want power and it was obvious from his approach at the plate the Pirates are going to let him flounder to see if he can develop the recognition so he can become the power hitter they want.

That blew me away. Is LaRoche Littlefield and Manto’s sacrificial lamb this year?

What I mean is, Dave Littlefield has uttered numerous times he is looking to 2008 and 2009 – not 2007. There is no question they need power from LaRoche to make 2008 a reality. So are they going to force him to sit in that box swinging a long bat to see if over 500 AB’s he can finally make the adjustment?

It seems so. At least, that’s our conclusion because the way LaRoche is swinging the bat right now. He seemed to be attacking the zone well early in the season, but now his timing is so disrupted, even his trademark timing mechanisim of bouncing the bat above his shoulder is missing a beat. And this has resulted in poor quality swings and being late in the zone.

He simply isn’t focused — the very thing they are attempting to get him to make adjustments on.

We just heard that LaRoche is being benched in favor of Ryan Doumit at 1B tonight. None of us believe that is the answer. As Bill James mentioned in Bucco Blog’s interview, the Pirates can’t platoon him – they have to play him. And let’s be serious, we’re starting Gorzelanny who loses his composure with poor D and we’re playing Doumit at 1B???

That doesn’t make sense.

The hitting instructor had a better idea for the Pirates rather than sitting LaRoche – have him and Manto go to the bullpen and work on tracking pitches before every game if they are insisting he make the adjustment to seeing the ball later in flight.

And respect LaRoche’s true style. Some players just can’t focus on the ball to the plate as well as others can and they learn to attack the zone where they know their strength is using other methods like a broad focus and speed of the pitch.

Perhaps all they need to do is just back off and let LaRoche be LaRoche and then place him in the lineup based on who he is, instead of trying to remold him into what they want him to be so they can place him on the card where they want?

Here is the link to the original post: [link].

After I posted that piece, I was hammered. Even Bill James mentioned that the scout was probably thinking about facts that were around the game a few years ago.

But the scout’s observations have come to play out:

"Bucco Blog: Tell us how you view LaRoche’s offensive capabilities.

Scout: Line to line hitter with a plus bat to both fields when he chooses the right approach at the plate. He gets into trouble when he gets too patient or he swings a long bat. He has two plate approaches: impatient at the plate and a lot of contact and power at the expense of higher K’s or patient at the plate and no power."

There’s no question that Adam LaRoche’s approach at the plate has been to patiently swing a long bat. He’s almost too patient and the result has been little to no power.

When I asked Bill James about LaRoche being a platoon player, he was very adamant that the Pirates should not view him that way – LaRoche needs to play everyday.

But the scout insisted, even after I spoke with James, that he felt LaRoche would be a perfect platoon partner with Nady, with the trade off being a reduction in defense for more runs scored. At one time the scout even mentioned Neil Walker as a potential platoon partner at first when they didn’t know what to do with him, and before the Pirates shoved him to third

LaRoche seems to be starting to see the ball a tad better hitting .250 over his last three games, although it probably has more to do with a little luck and the quality of pitching the Pirates have faced more than anything because he hasn’t changed his approach at the plate at all.

Not even batting 6th.

I respect Bill James more than just about anyone around the game and I’m sure what he said about LaRoche will pan out over time – he’ll hit about .280 and get about 30 dingers. And let’s face it, LaRoche is a notoriously slow starter each year so there is some hope still in the tank.

Yet, I can’t help wondering if the scout might eventually end up being right – that LaRoche may not get to .280 – not even close. If I’m Dave Littlefield or Jim Tracy I continue to play LaRoche everyday without a question.

But if I’m Jeff Manto, I would be back looking at film from LaRoche’s farm days with the Braves wondering what the scout meant by impatient with a lot of contact because we certainly haven’t seen that side of LaRoche yet.

Lonnie Chisenhall, the Pirates 11th round draft pick that was arrested recently, can not be signed by the Pirates I learned today. When Chisenhall attended his first class, the Pirates lost their rights to sign him.

Chisenhall was hitting .313, had 13 rbis, played for South Carolina (13 letters), the incident happened on March 13th, after being selected in the draft by the Pirates whose owner was born on the 13th day of the year.

Wanna bet he gets 13 years on Friday, April 13th?

And you thought this stuff only happens in the majors? [link]

Salomon Torres, Josh Sharpless, Yoslan Herrera, and Tom Gorzelanny (13 letters), and Steve Lerud, David Parrish, and Johnah Bayliss (all born on the 13th) better be careful this year.

Freddy Sanchez (13 letters) seems to already have taken his blow and walked away.

Feng shui expert Raymond Lo said that according to ancient Chinese belief, the Year of the Pig (2007) is symbolized by two elements — fire sitting on top of water. — link

We certainly have our share of water in Pittsburgh.

You know you are creating excitement in camp if you are a prospect with less than 100 at bats in AA and you still haven’t been reassigned to the minor league camp just two weeks before opening day.

Meet Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates number one prospect.

The last week has been anything but offensively friendly to McCutchen as he’s put up just 1 for 12 numbers. However, when he isn’t providing bat speed, he’s throwing out advancing runners like the fine play he made against speedy Neifi Perez at third base from center field in Tuesday’s game – his second assist in just 14 games.

Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager David Littlefield must be talking to himself wondering why he didn’t move McCutchen to AA a week earlier last year to give McCutchen the opportunity to play in the Arizona Fall League over the winter.

The Pirates primary center fielder is Chris Duffy who had a tremulous 2006, first battling through a hamstring injury to get the center field job out of spring training, hitting below the Mendoza line (.200) through his first 98 at bats, getting demoted to AAA, and then refusing to report.

The Pirates placed Duffy on the restricted list, he eventually reported, was recalled in August, started off slow going 3 for 32, and then he put up white hot September numbers (.336/.403/.458) over his last 27 games.

This spring Duffy headed into camp with all the challenges removed as he was pronounced the team’s starting center fielder earlier in the winter. Through Tuesday’s game, Duffy is off to the same slow start he had in 2006 hitting at the Mendoza line.

Enter stage right Andrew McCutchen who is hitting .286 despite the recent 1 for 12 run.

David Littlefield has adamantly stated McCutchen will not break camp with the team, and few doubt his words. Yet there is no mistaking the silent message that Littlefield is throwing Duffy’s way by keeping McCutchen in camp well beyond his rightful due – pick up your game or you might be heading to AAA again.

The Pirates also have another speedy center fielder in camp by the name of Luis Matos who would get the call to play center if Duffy isn’t available, providing he breaks camp still with the Pirates. Matos signed a minor league contract with the Pirates but there was no mention if Matos has the right to seek employment elsewhere if he doesn’t make the team’s 40-man roster, as many veteran type players routinely ask for.

Matos is currently hitting .324/.329/.559 showing why he is still in camp. Although he has a long injury history that includes shoulder problems, Matos might be considered by some as a favorite to break camp as the team’s center fielder. That could place McCutchen to open in AAA to see if he can master hitting advanced off speed pitches and learning major league routes playing center.

A couple of teams continue to express interest in Duffy, namely the Braves and the Marlins. Duffy has never been happy in Pittsburgh and it seems his playing time is now at a crossroad.

Would Littlefield even consider trading him? That’s the $1MM question.

In the meantime, McCutchen is being watched closely as he starts to see more advanced pitching. So far he hasn’t been able to adjust but he’s only seen 10 – 15 at bats or so. Good hitters hit no matter what and some believe if McCutchen is allowed repetitive at bats against better pitching for a few days, he’ll make the adjustment and start to hit again. Others believe McCutchen should be in minor league camp playing every day right now.

David Littlefield has to feel good that he has three speedy, outstanding defenders to pick from for the top of the lineup. Now, will he take the right one? Some believe if he does, that will be the difference between the Pirates winning 80 or more in 2007.

These three ladies are the senior members of the "LaRoche’s Ladies" fan club. They live in the Atlanta area and took time out of their busy college schedule to come down and spend time with Adam.

They are also huge Braves fans, so don’t let the Pirates shirts throw you off. All the same, they were as excited to see Adam before his trip to Winter Haven the other day as Adam was to see them.

The picture above was taken at the Pirates/Yankees game and you know they are going to be great half-Pirate fans since they didn’t buy Yankee outfits.

"A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit; but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives". -Anne Davison

I’ve updated their photo album with a few other pictures they sent me which you can find on the right side-bar.

Ahoy Mateys!