By Jake, on July 8, 2010, at 11:18 pm |
The Pirates have refused to pack it in won just 8 of 47 games (.170) when their opponent scored first this year and that trend continued Thursday after Berkman hit a solo shot in the first inning and Oswalt went on to pitch a one-hit shutout.
The Pirates error-filled ways continued behind Ohlendorf who pitched fairly well considering he needed a little encouragement in the 4th. Berkman opened the inning hitting his second home run of the game, Lee crushed a line drive single into left, and Ohlendorf then walked Pence on four pitches. You could just feel the emotion kick up in Ohlendorf as if he was saying to himself – oh my gosh, here we go again as he was getting hammered facing the lineup the second time through. But Joe Kerrigan made a timely visit to settle him in and Ohlendorf never looked back from that point forward even when he got into jams.
So the trend continues with Ohlendorf.. as a starter, he can handle weaker lineups for the most part as long as he has a little support at the right times, but against average hitting or better MLB clubs he gets mauled for the most part from the second time on he’s seen. And even Thursday against the weaker Astros lineup, his outs from the fourth on were well-struck for the most part.
With that in mind, it seems apparent that the Pirates have a product whose value will never be higher with Ohlendorf than it is right now. Huntington and Kerrigan succeeded in transforming a 7th inning guy into a back of the order starter in a weaker division — but nobody can dispute his ability to get outs the first time through (career .670 OPS allowed and a scant .512 in 2010). More telling is that he has done exceedingly well in high leverage situations which shows he has learned to pitch within his abilities, instead of just throwing.
The Pirates should make Ohlendorf available right now and, if they are able to package him with someone like Doumit, Jones, or Milledge, they might be able to walk away with a younger power bat in a package.
Along those same lines, I would also make Evan Meek available. There’s no possible way this young man will ever bring more than he can bring right now and quite a few teams could use his services. We have Hanrahan and Dotel for 2011, and we have Moskos (and a slew of arms who may never be starters again) developing.
The short-term plan Huntington has in motion, absent obscene free-agent spending by the Nutting clan, doesn’t require us to have three potential closers, doesn’t require us to have 10+ starters around for 2011, yet has gaping holes in power and at short, to name a couple.
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Why is Bryan Morris still pitching every five days? I thought I heard the org was going to put him on slow mo the rest of the year. He’s already +17 innings over 2009 and heading to the Futures Game which will be extremely stressful for him.
While I understand the need to continue stretching him out, there also has to be a balance which recognizes his injury history and accounts for the possibility of future problems. If he was taken to 140 innings this year (say 8 more starts), he needs to then be shut down. We can’t have him racking up 175+ innings this year and then expect him to be healthy in Pittsburgh in 2012. That’s nuts.
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On to Milwaukee where we owe the Brewers some major payback. That’s the goal, anyway. The Brewers have been ice-cold lately managing something like 2-45 with runners in scoring position over their last four games — all of them at home. Word in the circuit is that all the talk about possibly blowing up that team has them disjointed.
But don’t let that fool you.
They have been winning at home at least until the Giants – who are on a mission right now – showed up. Now they see themselves 1.5 games behind the Cubs in 4th place in the division and I think they are about to come out of their funk on us this series.
When we play at Miller we have a poor habit of swinging long (for home runs) and that results in a lot of poor AB’s and a lot of losses. If we stay within ourself, I think Maholm has a good shot of turning the Bucs into winners Friday night as long as John Russell continues to feature McCutchen at the top of the order. I think Karstens is going to open the flood gates to the Brewers bats and then Lincoln will probably get mauled and exit early, the result of two pitchers with similar stuff throwing back-to-back.
Look for a lot of home runs allowed other than, hopefully, Friday night. And look for the Brewers to make a statement to ownership in this series. If, however, their ownership has already decided to be sellers and the players have witnessed game after game of scouts in the stands, then we might actually be able to walk in and snatch three away from them. Ok, maybe two and then Lincoln’s start.
This series has the potential to be a very ugly series with both clubs showing their heads in the clouds.
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All I can say is all the print and talk shows want is stuper MARIO and do not let the facts get in the way of getting stuper MARIO the team! — New Bucs reader Ron J in yesterday’s comments
I get a lot of e-mail and one thing I’ve noticed lately is that quite a few people seem to misunderstand my agenda here. I’m not anti-Nutting because they remind me of the Beverly Hillbillies.. I’m not anti-Nutting because they are penny-pinchers by nature.. I’m anti-Nutting because they have failed to step to the plate every chance they have had to improve the product on the field.
Everyone needs to understand my stance on this one subject — it wouldn’t matter if Mark Cuban or Mario owned this franchise.. they would also fail if they acted like the Nuttings have since 2002. And there is one very simple reason why –
You don’t rebuild a multi-million dollar corporation from the cellar up using management trainees. Instead, you hire seasoned professionals.
I’m anti-Nutting because of all the Duquette’ish type moves they have made.. they put together a baseball operations department which is significantly short on seasoned pros at the upper levels, allowed them to work understaffed, then allowed those understaffed upper management to hire more trainees in the core of its operation – including one who was assigned the role of overseeing all their asset development.
That’s not smart rebuilding, that’s utter stupidity.
But that didn’t bother the Nuttings because they knew no matter how mismanaged their product might become, their investment would continue to increase in value because that’s the way Major League Baseball’s rules insulated them. They knew from the poor seasons over the years they would still draw 1.2M through the gates no matter what, they knew they would continue to receive welfare checks that could help them to reduce their internal debt load, and they knew the franchise value would continue to climb little by little regardless.
And that’s why I am anti-Nutting.. and why I would be anti-Cuban or anti-Mario if they did the same things.
This franchise owes the City of Pittsburgh, it’s business district, and the taxpayers of the region – on top of the fans who pay their bills – a competitive product on the field. Not eight years from now when all these high school kids in the system finally get seasoned, but now.
As far as my agenda goes, I want to see a competitive product fielded.. simple as that. It’s time the Nuttings stepped to the plate and started allocating an additional $40MM per year on top of the current player salary budget and the higher draft budget they should be spending every year anyway. If the Nuttings honestly believe they have the best management team in baseball, then walk-the-walk.. let’s see what $65MM/per will do for three years along with $10MM in the draft.
But before I’d ever spend, I’d get rid of the trainees.. but what do I know?
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This could only happen in Pittsburgh.
Quoted from a press release at NBC Sports: “Baseballing legends Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, who became world famous after beating out thousands of other Indian cricket players in the ‘Million Dollar Arm’ competition to land contracts with the Pittsburgh Pirates, are going to have their miraculous tale transformed into a Bollywood Hollywood production. All thanks to Sony Pictures executives.
Singh, 20, and Patel, 21, entering their second season with the Class A Pirates of the Gulf Coast League, are making slow and methodical progress on the field and having All-Star seasons off of it. They were invited to the White House in May as personal guests of President Obama as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. They had their pictures taken with the president, met the D.C. United and AC Milan soccer teams and had breakfast with Indian-American actor Kal Penn. In the meantime, Sony Pictures signed a deal to make a movie based on the pitchers’ lives. Their assimilation into America culture has captured Hollywood’s imagination, with a movie scheduled to be released next summer.”
How much do you want to bet the Nutting family gets royalties in this deal? LOL
At least our players are succeeding at something.
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Some outstanding research on some of the Huntington ‘poor evaluation’ garbage that has been hauled into this organization: “What has become of all those pickups“
Then the same MLB beat writer comes back and wonders where Ryan Doumit’s power has gone.
True to the beat writers in Pittsburgh, one article hammers management, one article devalues another asset.
What a mess.
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Here’s a piece at Bradenton.com on all the injuries for the Marauders this year. I will say that one pro scout told me earlier this year he was surprised Sanchez wasn’t on the DL immediately out of spring training because when the team held infield practices, bats would be laying all around where Sanchez was trying to field. He’s lucky he survived that mess.
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The New York Times managed to get the Pirates in an article about the Tampa Bay Bucs. Don’t look – it will just upset your culture.
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Ubaldo Jimenez.. 15 wins already. Wow.
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The ( ** YAWN ** ) all-star game is coming up.
By Jake, on June 17, 2010, at 12:01 am |
“I’m admitting that, yes, Pedro Alvarez is striking out an awful lot and he does have holes in his approach. He may not be ready by early June (as I so boldly proclaimed) if he doesn’t make strides the rest of the month. But I’m also saying that this is what the minor leagues are for, they are for young players to struggle and learn. Alvarez is in AAA to polish his defense, of course, but also to learn how to hit junk. If it takes a few more weeks, a few more months, or even a year or longer, that’s fine, but perhaps we all, myself included, need to be more patient with his development so when he does come up, he’s raring to go.” — Pro scout Anup Sinha at Bucs Prospects May 11, 2010
“Right now, it’s hard for me to project him doing well at the major league level.” — Pro scout Al Phillips at Bucs Prospects June 6, 2010
I started Bucs Prospects with the goal of providing the fans with talent evaluations within our system and in the few months that site has been up and running, numerous people around the game have praised the concept and loved the scouting reports we have generated. What you don’t know about Bucs Prospects is that we also keep an intensive internal database on the players scouted. The fans are able to read general scouting reports at the site but behind the scenes we are developing what has to be one of the most intensive pro scouting databases on the web by the fans.
Granted this is the first year of our work over there, and granted we’ve only had a few looks at the main players in our system, but what many fans don’t realize is that good scouts can easily evaluate a player in just a couple of games. By the second time they see them, all they are doing is confirming their initial reports and looking for progress in the player’s weaknesses. That’s why we set the bar at three deep looks at each of our affiliates during the year.
Now I’m not going to tell you that the scouts we have employed at Bucs Prospects are the cream of the crop, but they are good evaluators who have all been recommended by others around the game. They will make mistakes just like anybody else, but that’s why we implemented a crosschecking type system where the upper level players are seen by more than one pro scout.. it helps to verify.
I mentioned last week that I believed it was better for the Pirates to leave Alvarez and Lincoln down in the minors to keep polishing their game because they both had significant flaws. I made that decision after reviewing the player database, after reading the scouts articles, and after watching some of their games myself. It was a no-brainer decision to me because the flaws they had were going to subject them to failure at the major league level and that’s not what you want to do with prospects.. you want them to have a better chance of succeeding than not when they come up.
That’s not to say Alvarez won’t play some good games and won’t go 4-4 here shortly – he very well might. But to ask Alvarez to debut on the hot corner with a soft tossing southpaw on the mound knowing he is a career 50% ground ball inducing machine, and knowing he was dragging a 8+ ERA into the game getting mauled because he can’t locate his pitches, and knowing the White Sox have been rolling, was just plain stupid. Alvarez was naked and vulnerable and, as you would expect, he made quite a few mistakes and missed quite a few balls his way.
Why he was called up at all is mind-boggling, but why he wasn’t called up to start with Ohlendorf on the mound – who is a flyball pitcher to get him settled in a bit better — just represents poor decision-making. As I’ve been saying all week, it’s the same type of ‘save-my-job-mode’ thinking we saw of Dave Littlefield in his last days until Bob Nutting finally woke up.
Alvarez will settle in fine – he won’t produce as quickly or as well as he could have if he had more seasoning and that’s all the scouts were saying he needed. Lincoln will eventually settle in too, although I’m a bit more concerned about him than I am with Alvarez. But what the Pirates are doing here is taking a risk that both these players can handle the stress of poor performances out of the chute and then rebound to finally become the player that everyone expects.
In my opinion, that was a poor risk to take because it was an unnecessary risk to take. The Pirates had no justifiable baseball operations reason to start the clock on those two players.. their short-term plan doesn’t demand it and their long-term plan benefited from these two players getting more seasoning in 3A. So the only other reason the Pirates might have needed the players to come up was to generate additional cash flow for the Nuttings. I respect the business side of the game but I believe Ogden Nutting is one smart cookie who would much rather have a long-term cash cow than immediate gratification which could also kill that cow.
Side note — here’s a quick look at the huge Alvarez debut draw:
And let’s be blunt honest here – if Alvarez and Lincoln fall flat on their face the rest of the year, which is a distinct possibility, the Nuttings will be looking at – potentially – less than 1MM walking through the gates in 2011 because there are no more hope cards that ownership can play on the fan base or on corporate sponsors. We’re talking a significant blow to short-term revenue streams which will significantly impact the growth of this franchise.
It was too big of a risk and I’m shocked Frank Coonelly allowed Neal Huntington to play this poker hand because it sure seems to me that Ogden Nutting isn’t a poker player.. he seems to want a more conservative approach which may not yield as high a reward but produces a decent return. The actions we’re seeing right now are akin to Huntington betting Nutting’s money on two 25-1 horses in one race hoping one of them wins so he can keep his job.
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As for the game, you have to question John Russell’s decision to start to inferior defenders on the left side with Duke on the mound. Perhaps Cedeno is hurt and he didn’t have a choice in the matter, I don’t know. But that decision cost the team several runs as ground ball after ground ball shot past Alvarez and Crosby and both created errors.
 When I saw this Rios ground ball scoot past Alvarez in the 6th it became apparent to me that Mr. Alvarez’s footwork is well below average. This was a ball that most third basemen field cleanly and even the below average third basemen in the game would at least knock down.
Alvarez didn’t do either and Rios eventually scored on a Konerko single and then Quentin hit a mammoth shot off the top of the center field wall scoring Konerko all the way from first.
But it really didn’t matter at that point because the Sox were already winning 3-0 before the no-play by Alvarez leading to the Sox fourth and fifth runs.
In the fourth Pierre flaired a single to left, Ramirez executed a perfect hit-and-run with a line drive into the right field corner and Milledge was a bit slow to the ball, then double pumped, and that was all Ramirez needed to take third on the play. Rios then ground one past a drawn in Alvarez to score Ramirez, Konerko walked, and then Quentin lined a sharp single to Tabata with Rios heading home but Tabata’s throw was weak and there was no play.
That put the Sox up 3-0, and Rios and Konerko scoring in the 6th put them up 5-1. Our lone run came from an Alvarez walk, a Milledge double over the third base bag, and a Crosby ground ball to short with the infield back which allowed Alvarez to score. We scored one more in the 8th when Tabata crushed one over the left field wall for his first major league home run. So it was 5-2 Sox after 8.
Side note — Konerko’s single in the 8th is below. You can see McCutchen taking steps back but he then had to come running in and the ball fell at his feet for a single. Cutch just ‘aint all there lately.
Mr. Personality, Brendan Donnelly, took the mound in the 9th and that’s when the Bucs came apart at the seams. Please note that this has been happening frequently to Donnelly much like we used to see happen to Roberto Hernandez who was another loveable guy in the clubhouse.
Nix opened the inning with a double past Alvarez who probably should have caught the ball but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one and say he at least should have knocked it down. He didn’t and the fire was lit. Jones popped out to second, and then Pierre hit a slow roller toward Walker who came in and tried to make the play but didn’t judge the bounces right and it ate him up. That put men at first and third and one out.
With Ramirez up, Pierre stole second and Doumit threw a low one to Walker which bounced a foot before his glove and the ball hit the hard dirt and shot up and past him into center allowing Nix to score. Pierre held at second. Ramirez then flied out. Rios came up and took ball four as Pierre took off to steal third and Doumit threw one to Alvarez who looked like he was a deer in headlights and scared out of his mind – Doumit’s easily catchable ball went past him as Alvarez backed away from the bag and Pierre turned the corner and headed home. Crosby also had a throwing error on the play but Pierre had already crossed the plate anyway.
One hit, one walk, four errors, and two runs scored in that inning and Mr. Personality walked off the field with glaring eyes at the White Sox bench.
There’s no question that the kids are pressing right now – they have been facing superior teams and they are 100% unstable with new guys coming in, old guys leaving, players out of position, pitchers pissed off on defensive alignments – we’re just all screwed up right now. Nobody is happy.
Except the Nuttings, evidently.
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Bucs are now 5-29 when the opposing team scores first. Ouch.
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Interesting tidbit – Duke’s change-up is being mauled this year to the tune of .346. Quentin’s flyball off the center field wall in the 6th was from a hanging change. Now think of that a second as you consider Lincoln’s inability to throw a change and the Pirates minor league system has de-emphasized learning the change-up in the lower levels.
Here’s another tidbit on Duke — in his June – July starts since 2008 he sports a 5.74 ERA, a 4-13 record, and allowed 167 hits in 130 innings of work. Some fans were wondering if he has been intentionally throwing bad leading up to the deadline. This year – the year he is almost surely on the block – he sports a 7.04 ERA in June. And his trade value now is what?
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Alvarez whiffed in his first major league at bat. A part of me was actually glad he got a little lifelong memory payback for being such an ass during the signing period after the draft.
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The Sox changed Thursday’s starter to Mark Buehrle since Peavy’s shoulder is still hurting. We should rack up some hits off him.
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Iwamura was DFA’d. Yawn.
“On paper, we do like our rotation, with Brad Lincoln coming up behind them,” said General Manager Neal Huntington. “You look at Charlie Morton, and he had one start in Chicago where he gave up 10 runs in one inning. Agents love to play that game and I hate it – ‘take away one game’ – but in Charlie’s case, it really is true. Take out that game, and he had a 3.66 E.R.A. in half a season. We’ll take that.” …
“When you have five guys who give you a chance to win every day, that’s the Minnesota Twins model,” Huntington said. “They don’t have that dominant starting pitcher, but their guys give them a chance to win a lot of games.” — New York Times, February 18, 2010
I wonder what page of the Minnesota Twins model says throwing $4.5MM down the toliet from poor internal evaluations makes sense? Or what page says the GM should understand what his pitching staff is really capable of or what health risks they are facing? I mean, when the fans get to the point of evaluating moves better than the GM does, it’s time for ownership to stand up and start thinking they have a major problem:
“[Signing Iwamura] is a two-thumbs down deal, not because of the players swapped but because of the position Huntington left us in where somebody upstairs on Federal Street felt we had to allocate ridiculous sums of money on a one-year stop-gap, not to mention too many people upstairs seem to be thinking we have more talent around than the rest of the world seems to believe.
Personally, I would have rather spent stupid money to get Sano and keep Hill than to bring in Iwamura. And, yeah sure, I’m glad Nutting is spending some money. It’s just not going where I personally think it should have gone considering the build up in the division and our rebuilding mode.” — Jake at New Bucs, November 4, 2009
And I wonder what page of the Twins model says not to play a player drafted by the previous GM, or else blow the internal evaluations so bad you just didn’t know what you had in the player?
“General manager Neal Huntington said Tuesday, upon placing first baseman Steve Pearce on the 15-day disabled list because of a sprained ankle and recalling Walker, that Walker “will be used as a corner utility player who can help us with his versatility and bat,” adding that “he will see playing time off the bench and in spot starts.”‘ — Post-Gazette, May 26, 2010
And just where the heck is Chuck Tanner and Bill Lajoie in all these ridiculous moves? Are they being silenced that much? Where are the media? Nobody is calling for Huntington’s job as if they all think this is normal and acceptable. How many poor deals, poor evaluations, and poor strategy moves does a GM have to make before everyone finally wakes up and goes – oh crap, this isn’t going the way it should be going? I mean, Bozo the Clown could have done the last three drafts and walked away smelling as sweet as Huntington – maybe even better.
So what, exactly, has Huntington really done except screw this organization up even more than it was?
“Signs grew more ominous as the ballpark came into view. Traffic around the ticket booths, described by a team official as an all-day trickle, was still just that: a trickle. I approached a 24-year-old fan named Alex Harrington and asked, “Are you buying tickets to see Alvarez?”
“Who?” he said.
Oh, boy. I said the name again, and while it seemed to ring a bell, Harrington wasn’t here for Alvarez. He was here to take a buddy from Chicago to see the White Sox and “to kill some time.”
Let’s Go Bucs!
Surely, the next person I approached would be pumped for Pedro-palooza, even if the Buccos had lost nine straight. But I swear this is what Mike Biosko, a middle-aged man from Cranberry, told me when I asked if he and his buddy had come for the Alvarez unveiling.
“No, we’re here to see if they lose 10 in a row,” he said.
Seriously? You drove in from Cranberry just for that?
“Yes,” he insisted.
At that point, I wanted to call up Pirates owner Bob Nutting and MLB commissioner Bud Selig and scream into the phone, “Do you see what you people have done to this fan base?”‘ — Joe Starkey, June 17, 2010
It’s not the losing. It’s The Plan.. the Blueprint. Garbage in, garbage out.
Kindergarten’s over.. let’s move the bean counters out and get some respected men in this organization that know what they are doing.
By Jake, on April 30, 2010, at 10:48 pm |
I’m traveling and will only be able to catch the first few innings of the game before my flight so let’s talk about a few hanging chads instead.
You’ve heard the talk circling around the media that the Nuttings might be selling, and if you ask anyone around the game right now why Neal Huntington hasn’t been extended, you are likely to hear that they believe Huntington’s future is tied to a future sale. I’ve already stated I haven’t heard anything concrete about the Nuttings selling and to instead stay focused on the reality of the business side of the game. Let me put it another way..
The Bucs are in their third year of a full rebuild and opened the season with a tough early schedule with quite a few question marks and a lot of young players on the roster. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this team wasn’t going to contend so I’d guess their plan was to have an early year scapegoat and that was probably John Russell. You know, the manager is always the first to fall. So instead of extending Huntington which, in turn, would have allowed him to extend Russell absent ownership interference (which includes Coonelly in my book), the Pirates brain trust probably decided it was a better PR move to keep hope in the fans tanks in the form of a potential head or two to be bounced instead of extending them earlier in the year.
So, I’m not in the camp that believes Huntington didn’t get extended because of a potential sale. Fact is, Huntington and Russell make so little that, if Ogden did sell and the new owner wanted to go a different way, they could have just sent them all home for the 2011 season.
That being said I will tell you I continue to hear whispers of concern within the organization much like I did in 2006 before it was announced the Nuttings were taking out McClatchy. My gut feeling is that Ogden Nutting simply wanted a cash cow during the recession and just happened to be in the right place at the right time to make a few extra dollars with his Pirates holdings. It’s hard to blame the guy. With the new CBA quickly approaching which could alter the way money is distributed within the game and/or some finger-pointing at owners not spending like Nutting, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them run.
Joe Starkey recently called for the Pirates to extend Russell and Huntington. Starkey’s argument was less than persuasive. As a fan, I’m totally against Russell being extended and feel he should have been fired long ago. However, I doubt Frank Coonelly has the balls to make any controversial decisions that will affect this club while his name is being thrown around as a candidate to replace Selig, even as faint as they are.
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The game just started and Aki doubled and Cutch picked him up with a very nice double into the left centerfield gap. Morton took the mound and his misery started on the second pitch which was hammered into left for a single and, seven pitches later, Ethier took him deep putting the Dodgers up 2-1 after one.
A couple of quick notes — Morton is looking into the dugout before every pitch with men on so it’s very possible Kerrigan is calling part of the game for Morton. I can’t think of any other reason why Morton would be looking in every pitch. Second note is that he remains up in the zone with his stuff and that only spells impending disaster.. it’s just a matter of time (but this is the 2010 Dodgers, huh?). He’s shown a plus curve early but he can’t get anyone to swing on it – batters are keying on his fastball.
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Kevin Hart with a torn labrum. I expressed my shock and disgust for that trade a long time ago and this only solidifies my position. I wonder if the Bucs even took the time to give Hart an MRI before making the trade? I doubt it.
Don’t forget we traded for him knowing he was +121 innings from 2007 to 2008 and then we ran him +50 innings from 2008 to 2009. That’s incompetence at its finest. Side note — don’t be too surprised if you eventually see Morton heading for surgery too; Ohlendorf is a candidate as well. All these guys have huge inning swings over the last few years.
One final thought from spring training and Hart – March 6th against the Phillies he pitched and a friend of mine at the game who coached some in div 1 baseball told me Hart wasn’t able to finish his pitches and concerned that he was putting a lot of pressure on his shoulder. In that post that day I said:
“I received from someone at the game (not a pro) who said Hart didn’t look like he was finishing his pitches and Kerrigan went out one time to try to get him under control again. Media reports suggest Hart was just pumped up but when a guy throw that many balls.. You also have to wonder why Kerrigan didn’t send Jaramillo out more often to Hart with his messages.. why take a chance in the guy hurting himself if he’s opening up too early or landing hard?”
I’m guessing Hart was already hurt before that outing.
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Opps.. Morton just gave up a blast to Loney on a hung slider in his breadbasket with two outs and two on. Clement and Crosby both had errors in the inning booting ground balls so Morton won’t take a bad hit.
McCutchen with a run saving dive in the 4th. Wow – nice play.
There’s my flight call.. gotta go.
By Jake, on April 9, 2010, at 1:02 am |
I don’t get it.. our young guns score 15 runs off 19 hits producing the second best OPS in baseball through the first two games and then sit Milledge, Cedeno, and Clement in favor of Young, Crosby, and Church and promptly get our butts whipped. I mean, those three are utility players for a reason – they aren’t good defenders and, low and behold, they didn’t field the ball Thursday either. True, they did hit the ball – John Russell had his matchups on the right card there, but what he seemingly failed to understand is that it takes defense behind the pitching too.
When I saw the lineup card I was pretty peeved and wondered if I did my own matchup data wrong. I could see the positives of Church and Crosby hitting, but I simply couldn’t find a place to play them on the diamond. Church is an embarrassment in left, Crosby at short with Maholm on the mound was like putting a square peg in a round hole to me, and I never even considered Young in right. It was a horrid defensive scheme behind Maholm and it played out as expected.
Even more amazing to me was that, with Church playing this huge left field at PNC, we still had him play shaded to center like he has some speed or something and he was beat play after play after play as routine line drive outs turned into doubles. Only once did I see a gap shot taken away with the alignment and when that happened it really didn’t matter because John Russell had already handed the Dodgers the game.
So it’s the top of the 7th and we’re down three runs and we need a pitcher – who do you bring in if you want to keep it close? The correct answer is: anybody but Hayden Penn. You got it. His stuff was so plain, so ordinary, so worthless out of the bullpen that he was probably later rushed to the hospital for the physical abuse he took. After I watched him give up a single, single, double, single, triple, and another single to the first six men he faced, I angrily shut the tv off and walked away.
How could John Russell have so little faith in his offensive unit to bring Penn in like the game was already 10-1 or something? Did he think he was still in spring training and the game didn’t count? I mean, if he had any design to develop players this fine day why didn’t he have Milledge and Clement facing the tough right hander (Billingsley) out of the shoot?
Puh-lease.
“I’ll wait to pronounce the Penn and Raynor additions bad roster management but that’s what it looks like to me.” — Jake, a few days ago
I waited long enough.. seen all I needed to see.. Penn has to go or John Russell is going to use this kid way too much thinking he’s doing a great service to the organization by developing him in-game, much like he’s probably going to use Church and Crosby too much thinking he’s saving young players (ie: Milledge, Cedeno, and Clement) from being embarrassed.
* Jake hits his head against the wall knowing full good and well this is only the start to another poorly managed season with Russell at the helm *
I’m not going to go over who made the 300 errors in this game because I’ve already called out Carlos Garcia too many times since opening day, but here’s just a sampling of our infield woes.. double plays not turned, relay throws dropped, numerous poor throws across the diamond, inability to glove the ball, and so on. All fundamental baseball, all fairly routine plays, and quite a few of them not executed allowing too many runners to advance too many extra bases and a couple of extra runs to score.
What a shame.
And you know what? I was actually getting excited watching Milledge play so hard on defense. Really – I was buying in to him. Even at bat he was hitting the ball hard.. not every one was falling for a hit, but he was stinging the ball.
But then he was benched. Rested. Protected. Whatever.
And Cedeno, who had a smoking hot winter ball season, was hitting over .400 while fielding almost everything cleanly the first two games. Amazing stuff.
But he too was benched. Rested. Protected. Whatever.
Enough of the ranting but I’ll close it off wondering why the heck we don’t make a simple decision – one way or the other.. either we’re going to go out every day and play to win, or we’re going for the first pick in the 2011 draft. Make up your mind Neal Huntington.
I thought Maholm threw the ball pretty well. He doubled up a few too many pitches which he got burnt on and his infield let him down which cost him one of the four runs he allowed, but overall he kept us in the game through six solid innings. I especially liked his slower hook.. it registered in the high sixties one time and completely surprised batters when he threw it.
The Aki leadoff experiment isn’t looking so good despite what Sky Andrecheck might believe from books he’s read or models he’s played with. Sure, it’s way too early to pronounce this a bonehead move but the more you watch Aki swing at the first pitch, the more you watch Aki fly out to left, and the more you watch Aki ground out or into a double play, the more you want to see McCutchen back in the saddle at the top of the order and more hit and runs when Aki swings the bat.
And considering all the weak hits Doumit has lucked out getting (one-handed swings generating slow rollers, little flairs, and the like), and the way Jones is hitting the ball, why is Doumit batting fourth and Jones third? I mean, if Aki is a ‘very good hitter’ and has ‘the ability to get on base’, then why not let him hit third and let ‘punch-and-judy’ hitter in Cedeno bat second? Then, of course, bury Doumit in the five or six hole where he probably needs to be since one person can only be so lucky for so long in this humble game.
Not to belabor Sky’s humorous work but did you see this point he tried to make:
“Regardless of how the Pirates fare this season, their unorthodox lineup is a boon for the future of the franchise. Small-market teams must maximize their advantages where they can, and picking up a win here or there by employing clever, evidence-based strategies is a sign that they are on the right track. .. With more decisions like these, it won’t be long before Pittsburgh emerges from its long spell of misery and brings home a winner.”
Boon for the future??!? Maximize advantages??!? Pick up a win here and there with clever evidence-based strategies??!?
On the right track??!????
What the.. ?? Yeah baby, a win or two per year is going to just put us over the top with our $35MM payroll, huh? Goodness gracious.. sometimes I wonder why everyone likes to belittle Pirates fans.
On the right track.. LOL
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You want to look.. go ahead. And here’s the real deal.
“Robert Nutting, has been using money the team has been getting from the league’s revenue sharing system ($40 million in 2009) to buy out minority owners of the team.”
No duh.. we’ve been saying that here for two years.
“Sponsors, led by PNC Financial Services Group, are furious at the team’s horrendous performance and want action.”
God Bless David Roderick. Stay focused folks.
“One banker says the team will likely be on the block this summer for between $280 million and $300 million.”
On the block? Never happen. Sold before anyone knows it? Very possible.
As you all know, I could write a 100 page thesis on this subject but I won’t waste your time.. nothing’s happening right now that is worth talking about.
Not yet.
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And here’s another punch.
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And yet another one – Nutting family and right-wing propaganda??? No! Who would have thought??
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Mack Ade interviewed the WV Power’s Quinton Miller and Evan Chambers at Bucs Prospects, and Mike Newman is on the scene scouting the series and will report back to us including Miller’s Friday night start.
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Marauders First Pitch Voyage video – very kewl stuff in Bradenton. They went on to win 18-3 with Bob Nutting in attendence. 18 runs.. shame on you PJ Forbes.
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And, yes, I saw the Forbes Business of Baseball team valuations and saw where the Pirates were, once again, listed with $100MM in debt. I shot their editor an e-mail and I hope to have some answers for everyone in the next few days.
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Harry in CA.. I’ve e-mailed you five times over the last 3 weeks.. check your spam box. If nothing is there, send me your phone number and I’ll call.
By Jake, on February 27, 2010, at 10:36 pm |
Eight days left in the Pledge Drive to keep the paywall down. You can read about it here and here. So far $428 has been pledged toward our $1,000 goal. Pledges can be made here.
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Traveling tonight so short post.
Q: I usually keep my hopes for the Pirates in check. I fully expect them to lose 100 games this year, if not their usual mid-90s. But I will be paying close attention to their minor- league clubs. .. Truthfully, I think its extremely difficult to build an entire team from within.
Bob Smizik: I think you have the right approach, Nate. Low expectations for this season but increasingly higher ones in the years ahead. The Pirates have placed their bets on the amateur draft. It’s not a perfect way to build a team but it seems the only way they can do it. ..
The picture Smizik paints above shows, imo, one of the main problems the fans have in proper evaluation of the current regime. Simply put, he’s content waiting for higher expectations in the years ahead as we build via the draft. No matter where you go to read about the Bucs and ‘the plan’ that’s the message you are hit with.
The problem with that mindset is that there is no accountability for the last two years. For instance, the Nutting family has refused to infuse any of their own cash since 2007 to prop up our draft position during a full rebuild that Bob Nutting said he is the co-architect of.
One way the Nuttings could have done that is by keeping Jason Bay through his contract years which would have resulted in two additional draft picks in 2010 from Bay walking out the door as a free agent. All things being equal, that would have provided us with the 36th and 57th picks in 2010 for an additional $10M or so paid to Bay.
Obviously that $10M infusion would have ultimately been reduced some from Bay’s market value (ie: suite sales, corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, etc, etc, etc) and then wiped out totally from future value received if just one of the two draft prospects contributed as expected – if the second one was a hit as well, then Nutting would have actually banked a considerable profit. That assumes, of course, that Greg Smith and Neal Huntington properly identified, selected, and signed two solid players.
And perhaps that’s exactly the issue – maybe the Nuttings didn’t trust Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington and his staff enough to ultimately bring them that future profit? Instead of risking those personal funds (which we now know would have been at least been covered from the profit they stated the organization made in 2008 and 2009), they instead chose to dump Bay’s salary off the books.
Now going back to Smizik’s assessment and fan perceptions.. are we really committed to rebuilding through the draft if we haven’t leveraged our draft position opportunities considering 12% of the 2009 Type A free agents (three in Gonzalez, Grabow, and Bay), and two of the Type B (Nady and LaRoche), had been under our control when the new regime took over? By my count, that’s a potential for three additional first round picks or no less than three additional second round picks, plus no less than three first round sandwich picks but could be as high as five.
Imagine that a second.. we could have had no less than eight selections before the 82cd pick overall this year and possibly as many as ten of the first 82. Now THAT’s rebuilding through the draft folks. And we could be supplementing that while rebuilding by bringing in ’better bets’ over the next few years in signing free agents with high Elias ranks and giving them stupid money one-year deals. We couldn’t lose because the value of free agent compensation far exceeds any stupid money paid out unless it’s $10M over true value received.
We’re not rebuilding by the draft – all we’re doing is spending as little as possible to get by.
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Iwamura is evidently not 100% yet. Not that we believe he ever will be during his stay with us, but that’s a story for another day.
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Hilariously posted at Pirateball.com as if mocking Pirates ownership.
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Joe Blanton will pitch against the Bucs in Bradenton when the Phillies come in March 6th. They aren’t wasting any time, although it will be interesting to see how many pitches Blanton actually throws. How ironic is it that Coonelly’s old buds send a right-handed soft tosser over to get lit up. Make sure you place your bets on that game.
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“I feel like the most complete player I’ve ever been. I feel like I can be a threat on both sides of the ball. I’m excited to see what I can do.” — Lastings Milledge as said to MLB.com
I, I, I, I, I, I.. well, at least the I’s have it.
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Nyjer Morgan, the good corporate guy – he learned fast in Pittsburgh. Now he’ saying in Washington that there’s a “vibe” in the clubhouse that he didn’t feel in 2009. You know, like we’re hearing about the Bucs in 2010, and we heard in 2009, and 2008, and 2007, and 2006, and..
You get the idea.
Now I wonder if that vibe he’s feeling is a good vibe, or a bad one because they only have three starters?
Ouch.
By Jake, on January 16, 2010, at 11:37 pm |
(Edit 11:00 PM Sunday night: No post Sunday eve as I’m working diligently on a followup to this post which I should have up Monday by dinner time.)
Bill Madden in Sunday’s New York Daily News:
“[T]he union is far from done pushing this revenue-sharing issue. Next up: the Pirates, who have been the most blatant team of all when it comes to pocketing their revenue sharing, trading off all their highest-paid players and creating a mausoleum of their beautiful taxpayer-funded new park. ..
But have faith, Buc faithful. The players’ union is coming to your rescue.”
Madden’s article represents the first honest ray of sunshine I’ve seen as a Pirates fan since 2002. I just hope he’s right.
Dejan reported January 12th: “I just communicated with a source outside the Pirates who confirmed that the Pirates are not a target for a similar push…” Well, no matter which writer is correct, the fans win if for no other reason than we are getting press on the subject. I tend to believe Coonelly and Nutting fought off their first challenge by releasing small amounts of their financial picture, but we’ll see. We’ll see. Plus I’m guessing Chuck Greenberg becoming an owner won’t hurt our cause either.
Dang, I’m actually getting some goosebumps thinking about it all. I mean, will the Nuttings run instead of fighting back or being forced to spend $65M? I’m betting they would. Maybe all these years of hammering these yo-yo’s here will finally pay off with a little prize?
Never forget – We’re on a Mission From God.
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Sounds like the bullpen has taken shape now that they inked Brendan Donnelly and Dotel is waiting in the wings for Huntington to clear a parking place. Assuming they go with 13 in the pen, I suspect we’ll see:
Dotel closing
Hanrahan and Donnelly as bridge workers
Meek (bridge trainee), Lopez, Carrasco, and Jackson or Hart (either one have an option?) as middle relievers
Kartsens long
Rotation of:
Ohlendorf
Maholm
Morton
Duke
McCutchen
Not exactly the depth or talent that the Reds, Cubs, or Brewers have, or even the Astros for that matter, but the Cards are in trouble if they don’t find some pitching or money.
As for Donnelly’s deal at $1.5M with an extra $1.5M in incentives, unquestionably it’s nice to have a guy with his experience in the pen. That being said, his stuff hasn’t exactly returned to being crisp offerings. With the Marlins last year he had a nice ERA but when you look at video you see quite a few floaters.
Simply put: we paid too much for him if he gets anything near the $3M. Actually, we paid way too much for him.. stupid money high. Maybe we did that because Huntington and Kerrigan believe his split-finger will play better in the division? Or maybe there is a lot more concern about the health of both Hanrahan and Meek that we aren’t hearing about? I don’t know, but I do know he doesn’t have $3M stuff – never had.. even to a team who couldn’t get anybody else to sign.
I’ll wait and see if Dotel signs before doing some model runs.
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To my untrained eye, it looks like the coaching staff and Clement has plenty of work to do to turn him into an average first baseman by April 5, but the Pirates sound optimistic.
That’s Dejan talking.
If Clement is dead set in his mind to remain a catcher, you would think he’d resist efforts to convert him to a first baseman. If Clement does resist, then it’s up to Russell and Huntington to “correct” that thinking which only leads us down the path to more of that counterculture stuff I was talking about the other day. Along those lines, Huntington told Pirateball.com recently:
We want him to come into camp as a first baseman,” Huntington said. “If that doesn’t happen, then maybe we consider the possibility of him as a catcher, but that is not our priority right now.” — emphasis New Bucs
I liked the fact Neal Huntington publicly gave the young man the benefit of the doubt. He’s saying “Jeff, we respect you want to catch but we need you here for now and we trust you are going to work hard to help us meet that need.” Considering the high number of head cases we’ve had on our roster dragging down morale the last few years, I think Huntington’s quote speaks volumes to Clement’s character.
Now it’s up to him — will he join the “dark side” or stand up and be a leader? This is classical old/current Pirates culture vs new/desired Pirates culture. Which one will win out? It better be leadership or we might be destined for a lot longer period of culture problems in Pittsburgh.
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Pirates tickets in high-demand!!?! Imagine that.
Oh wait, both packages include tickets to either the Yankees or Red Sox games. It only makes sense that our fans want to see some real baseball players. Ok, ok.. I’ll stop.
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It’s getting close to that special time of the year when we generally see extensions handed to the brass. Don’t be too surprised if you see another two years handed to Huntington, but I’d feel better it’s only one.
By Jake, on January 3, 2010, at 11:21 pm |
I think I’ve been fairly patient as a fan with the Pittsburgh Pirates ownership group the last few years. I rallied behind the organization during the yellow t-shirt protests in 2006 because I felt the timing of the protest was wrong, I rallied behind the organization again in 2007 when yellow t-shirts gave way to key lime pie colored shirts in protest because they were unorganized and going to do more harm than good, and this winter I shot holes in another fan protest that was gathering steam.. again in the name of the organization.
Lately as I look across the Pirate Nation I see a mostly unhappy group who seem to be content that the ‘new regime’ are ‘doing the right things’.. ‘making decisions and sticking with them’.. ‘on the right track’.. ‘rebuilding the core foundation’.. etc, etc, etc.. and so I have purposely kept my whimpering low-key praying things were going to be different. After all, Frank Coonelly was saying all the right things even though in my heart I felt we weren’t accomplishing much (see my blog posts the last two years).
Then today I pick up the Tribune-Review and read Rob Biertempfel’s article on the Pirates spending and found this buried nugget:
“According to data provided by the team, the Pirates since 2007 have spent more than $11 million on long-term capital improvements. The club also boosted scouting, the draft and international player signings by more than $10 million.
According to Coonelly, the Pirates have poured their operating profits back into the club and also “had to borrow very modestly,” which added to the team’s $100 million debt.” (emphasis New Bucs)
Remember all those years ownership fed us “financial flexibility” stories while turning a “modest” annual profit by fielding a near worthless product? Are we now supposed to believe that those funds vanished into thin air since ownership has made it clear for the last decade they don’t take dividends?
So where did the money go?
And according to Biertempfel, they just added even more debt to the $100M they already had. How could that possibly be? If the franchise is worth around $275M, thats a preposterous 36% debt load fifteen years after purchasing the franchise for $61M ($90M price tag minus the $29M owed to the URA they didn’t have to pay).
And the Pirate Nation believes we’re headed in the right direction!?! I’m sorry but it’s inconceivable to me that ownership will ever be in a financial position to be able to field a competitive club, and that’s putting it nicely.
I was so desperate to believe in a rebuilding process that I put blinders on the last few years hoping upon hope things would get better, but I have just taken them off since the Nuttings seem hell-bent on their own mission. Bob Nutting, you win the Con Man of the Decade award in my book for allowing the fans to be fleeced as COB.
It looks like we need to start a nerdy mission of our own.
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Update Monday January 4, 2010:
Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College who was recently hired by Major League Baseball as a consultant, just passed this note to me:
Jake, I am not sure how they could be adding to debt in last couple of years. It doesn’t compute for me either, unless they are making substantial new investments in the ballpark.
As Erik first noted in the comments below and Dr. Zimbalist suggests, the added debt was most likely from long-term capital investments like the Latin academy. Dejan actually broke the story first on December 7th when he said this in his article:
Coonelly.. [said] last week that the Pirates put all their profit in that span toward $11 million in baseball-related capital investments and, even then, needed to incur additional debt to cover the rest of the amount.
Those capital investments included a $5.4 million baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, $2 million toward the renovation of the Pirate City complex in Bradenton, Fla., and the recent purchase of a new Class A affiliate to play in Bradenton. (Note by Jake – we later learned from Dejan that the price to purchase the Bradenton club was $3M).
Now follow along.. they had $10.4M in capital investments and less than $11M in profits. Seems to me they pretty much wipe each other out.
So why borrow?
This isn’t making one bit of sense to anybody I ask and I finally see why Dejan was so excited over his December 7th article.
By Jake, on December 29, 2009, at 9:48 pm |
In one of my recent posts I told you that I spent part of two days talking with ex-US Steel CEO David Roderick who had been associated with the Pirates in one form or another for decades through three ownership groups beginning in the seventies on John Galbreath’s board.
The man is a true legend in recent Pittsburgh Pirates history, and even a bigger legend in the city of Pittsburgh. Bluntly put, if there is a more powerful person in Pittsburgh over the last half-century, or a more knowledgeable person about the Pirates over the last thirty years, I don’t know who it could possibly be.
When Mr. Roderick spoke about the Galbreath family I could feel the love pouring out of his heart as he spoke. When Mr. Roderick spoke about the Pittsburgh Associates who bought out the Galbreath family, again I could feel the genuine care he had for the group and their mission. The same was even true when he spoke about Kevin McClatchy and his goals which he supported.
Then he stunned me when he said:
“The current group shouldn’t be owners.”
I swear it took me a minute or two to regroup after he said that.. my mouth went dry, my heart started racing wildly, and my brain instantly froze. When I became capacitated again I listened intently to him recite his reasons why and nearly went into cardiac arrest by the time he finished. All I wanted to do was to reach through the phone and hug the man for every fan who had felt the same pain I had felt watching this team recently.
As I held back my tears of joy, I rambled question after question at him and he gallantly answered each and every one of them. Toward the end of our conversation it dawned on my inexperienced journalistic mind that his intentions were for the city he cherished with all his heart, and to the organization he loved so dearly. The Nuttings weren’t the target of his discontent — their business model was. A model he was none to happy with.
I told you this simple story because I personally walked away with newfound hope knowing a person with his credentials was as concerned as I was as a fan. No, it won’t equate to more wins in 2010, I’ll grant you that. But his passion is so profound and his connections so deep, others are sure to listen to him and that’s all I can ask for as a fan in things I can’t control. I pray you walk away with that same sliver of hope I did.
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ESPN 1050 is reporting the Mets have signed Bengie Molina and that, ladies and gentlemen, starts the clock on a possible Ryan Doumit trade. I assume it’s going to take either a young major league ready power corner outfielder with a glove to get the job done, or a package of prospects and a free agent corner outfielder signing. Just wild guesses. I still don’t buy into the ‘we’ll hold him until July hoping to raise his value’ because Huntington has been burned too much with that game. Stay focused – if Huntington gets a package even close to reasonable, I believe Doumit is history.
I’m also starting to hear Paul Maholm’s name for the third time this winter. I don’t have any information other than his name is floating in so far unsubstantiated circuit rumors, but the fact his name is out there again tells me we must be getting some inquiries on at least a couple of our young starters.. Maholm being one of them.
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I keep saying things like ‘if Huntington gets’ but we all know the real deal. This is, and will remain, the Frank Coonelly Show.
By Jake, on December 6, 2009, at 9:14 pm |
Will Ogden and Robert Nutting be controlling owners of the Pirates one year from now? The start of the Winter Meetings brings news that the Nuttings are about to go under the microscope, according to two sources.
The first look will come from a local media report Monday morning which is all but certain to set off fireworks around the game; the second look may come from one of the most powerful men in Pittsburgh over the last three decades which will stun anyone who hears it; and the third may come from a report on revenue sharing released by Major League Baseball. I said ‘may’ in two of those because I haven’t confirmed those events will happen just yet, only that I’m aware of them from sources.
I have a big picture view of what is contained in the first two of the three reports above and all I can say is that our patience may be starting to pay off. Not only will it be a long year watching this club on the field, it’s going to be a long year of immense debate with the Pirates squarely in the middle.
So buckle your seat belts because you’re in for a bumpy ride starting in less than three hours and the first wave will only be a ripple that will seem almost unbelievable to your ears. It’s the volumes of waves that follow that initial ripple that – perhaps – will make or break the Nuttings in Pittsburgh.
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