Marlins Claim Davidson, And Other News

Pitcher Dave Davidson, whom the Pirates placed on waivers last week to make room for Delwyn Young, was claimed today by the Florida Marlins, reports the PBC Blog. Davidson, who played for Team Canada in the WBC, appeared in only 9 games in AAA, 3 this season, in parts of seven seasons in the Pirates' system. His numbers weren't bad, but he probably would never have been more than an average middle- or long-reliever. Not a huge loss, though the Pirates still do have to send 2 players (or possibly cash) to the Dodgers to complete the Young deal, so hopefully Young will pay off.

The Bucs start a three game series tonight in San Diego, as I try to adjust to the Eastern Time Zone for baseball games. It still seems odd to me that games can start at 10pm here. Anyway, I'm hopeful Pittsburgh can continue their recent strong play and at least take 2 of 3 from the Padres. San Diego got off to a surprisingly good start this year, before struggling a little lately. Fortunately for the Pirates, Chris Young will not be pitching for San Diego. Young is a notorious Pirate killer. In 5 starts over the past three seasons, Young is 4-0 against Pittsburgh, with an ERA of 1.51, allowing only 17 hits in 35 2/3 innings. The Pirates will face longtime Giant Kevin Correia, former National Shawn Hill, and ace Jake Peavy, who is actually about as tough on the Bucs as is Chris Young. But Peavy has been hittable this year, so you never know. The Bucs are starting Ian Snell, Zach Duke and Ross Ohlendorf. I'm very curious to see how Duke follows up his horrible start against Atlanta last weekend. Hopefully, that was just an aberration.

Adam "Mr. April" LaRoche Update: Let's take another look at how his stats this year compare to his previous 2 seasons in Pittsburgh (each through 15 games the team has played):

2007: .100 AVG, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs, .490 OPS
2008: .143 AVG, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, .472 OPS
2009: .304 AVG, 3 HRs, 10 RBIs, .939 OPS

Clearly better numbers this year, but if we look a little further, we see that LaRoche has struck out once every 4 plate appearances this year. Though not exactly impressive, in 2008 he struck out once every 3.36 PAs, and in 2007, once every 3. A noticeable improvement. However, this year LaRoche has walked once every 15 PAs, versus once every 9.4 PAs in '08 and once every 6.67 PAs in '07. (Note: I am just comparing the first 15 games for each of these years.) So, is LaRoche hitting better because he's being more aggressive, or is he being more aggressive because he's hitting well?