The New Kids

Two weeks in and the Nady/Marte trade is looking very nice. Jeff Karstens takes a perfect game into the eighth inning at Arizona after holding the Cubs scoreless for six innings at Wrigley Field in his previous start. 15 scoreless innings against two first place teams: very impressive. And the other two pitchers acquired from the Yankees, Ross Ohlendorf and Daniel McCutcheon, have both pitched fairly well for the AAA club. One of the more impressive aspects of their performances has been that they’ve consistently pitched into the seventh or eighth innings with a minimal number of walks. Very un-Piratelike of them, and I mean that in a good way. Oh, and let’s not forget young Jose Tabata, rehabbing from a hamstring injury with the Rookie level club in Bradenton. In a game a couple of days ago, he homered twice. Sure this was at about two or three levels below where he will be playing the rest of the season, but it’s encouraging nonetheless.

Post Deadline Thoughts

Though the Pirates had no realistic shot at the post season this year, let alone a winning record, the losses of Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte and Jason Bay do sting. Well, really only Bay. Marte had only 2 months left in Pittsburgh and Nady would have been gone at the end of next year. Bay, though also a free agent after the 2009 season, would have been more likely to have been offered an extension than Nady. So, knowing that Marte was leaving soon and Nady, who is having a career year, soon after, I was more than fine with trading them now.

The return they got from the Yankees for the pair may turn out to be very good, but it's a little early to tell. Jeff Karstens did pitch well in his Pirate debut yesterday, and with two other pitchers and young Jose Tabata in the mix, I am optimistic. So they weren't able to pry David Price from the Rays for Nady, and they didn't receive the equivalent of 2 first round picks for Marte (A little aside: The chances of the Pirates receiving 1 first round pick and a sandwich pick for Marte in the off season were very slim. The Bucs would have had to a) decline Marte's option, making him a free agent, b) have Marte qualify as a Type A free agent [possible], c) offer Marte Salary Arbitration, d) have another major league team be willing to sign Marte to a contract worth around 3 or 4 million per year and be willing to sacrifice their 1st round draft pick to the Pirates in order to sign Marte. If the Pirates tried for the 2 picks, they would probably end up taking Marte to arbitration and receiving no draft picks. Their better option would have been to not offer arbitration and just accept the sandwich pick. Sorry, that was a long aside.) So the Pirates, a team with absolutely no depth in the minor leagues, acquired some much needed reinforcements. Sure, only Tabata has a realistic chance of being a star someday, but helping to restock the the minor league teams is worth the loss of two quality major league players.

Jason Bay, on the other hand, hurts a lot. The quality of players in return might exceed what the Pirates received in the Nady/Marte deal, but Bay is an elite player, and fan favorite. This deal might make sense in the same way the other does, but it is disappointing to lose a player of Bay's caliber.

The loss of 2 impact offensive players almost certainly means that 2009 will not be the year the Pirates return to contention. Even assuming Andrew McCutcheon shows up and performs well, and the combination of Steve Pearce and Brandon Moss can produce, and the new pitching delivers, with possibly a resurgence of Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny, it still might not be enough. Hopefully the Pirates can sign Pedro Alvarez and a few other impact players from this past draft, so that maybe 2010 can be our year. I know that's a lot of ifs, but ifs are all that Pirate fans have these days.

Just another summer?

Mid July: the time of year where the Pirates typically fade from moderate respectability. The glimpses of hope from the first half all but disappear. The team falls further below .500 and much further from the playoff picture. One or two trades later (veteran for “prospects”, usually), the Pirates somehow begin to win again. Not enough to get back into the postseason race, but enough to make us fans feel optimistic about the following season. The team put together a winning streak, led by an over performing (unbeknownst to us, though) young player. Maybe a mid-September slide ensures that we don’t come too close to a winning record, but otherwise a pleasing final two months of the season is had.

Will 2008 be any different? It doesn’t appear likely. As I write this, the Pirates are 8 games under .500 and about 10 games out of the wild card lead. Larger obstacles have been overcome, sure, but realistically the season will end in September. Winning record? Possibly. Playoffs? I don’t think so. Therefore it must be time to make some trades. With Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte the most likely to go, and with a number of potential suitors, the chance of quality prospects in return is decent. Deadline trades in recent years typically have not netted the Bucs much in return (Matt Morris [though this was kind of a backwards trade], Brian Rogers, Bobby Hill, Jose Hernandez, Ray Sadler, Ryan Vogelsong, etc.), though there have been a few good additions (Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Jose Bautista, so pretty much our starting lineup). Wow, I’m suddenly compelled to stick up for Dave Littlefield: Though incompetent in the draft and free agency, Littlefield only made one awful deadline deal that I can think of off the top of my head (I’m not counting Morris for Rajai Davis as awful because it just cost the team money and Davis probably won’t amount to more than a role player): Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton for Hill, Hernandez and some minor league pitcher named Kucher or Mucher. If I forgot one, please let me know, but I think that’s it. Just one awful trade. Well done, Mr. Littlefield. But I’m hopeful this year. Frank Coonelly and Neil Huntington seem like they know what they’re doing. I still expect Nady and Marte to go, but the return should be more substantial than we’re accustomed to.

Which brings us to August, were a youngster fools us into believing for another year. Who will it be this year? Steve Pearce? Andrew McCutcheon? Uh…I guess that’s it. Okay, so I’m sounding all cynical, but years of losing has jaded me. Years of losing the same way. But despite all I’ve written, there really is hope. Sure the pitching has been awful this year and there is no depth in the Minors, but the offense has been very good and the team plays with more intensity than in recent years. That does count for something. And now that I think about it, the youngster who “over performed” last year was Nate McLouth, and he actually turned out okay. He even plays centerfield (for now), which has been the most common position for our false hopes.

So, our upper management is now competent. Our team manager and coaches seem all right too (cut Jeff Andrews some slack, people). The team plays harder and more as a team than under Jim Tracy, and probably Lloyd McClendon. The Curse of the Center Field Tease has been broken. A winning record can’t be too far behind, can it?

Pirate Musings

The Draft

Alright, so I’m a bad blogger. It’s been nearly a week since the amateur draft and I haven’t posted anything. I’m here to make up for it. So I do like picking Pedro Alverez in the first round. (I like it very much. Ha ha.) I’m not too terribly worried about Scott Boras being his agent. I mean, the Pirates currently have one of his clients in Xavier Nady and five or six odd years into his career there is nothing too terribly unusual or cumbersome about his contract. The Boras factor could pose a problem six years into Alverez’s major league career when he reaches free agency and demands $20 million per year. Though under that scenario, Alverez must have been putting up some special numbers if he could possibly demand a salary that high. So at the very least, the Pirates could have Alverez for six years. If he’s awesome and they can’t sign him, he could be traded for quite a bit. If he’s a disappointment, they’ll probably save a little money. The other issue with Alverez is his recovery from a broken hamate bone in his hand. So, I’ve read that the hamate bone is useless. I have also read that having the hamate bone removed (which is what Alverez did) will sap a hitter of his power for 12 to 18 months. So I guess that means it takes the hand up to a year and a half to learn how to deal with its missing useless little bone. Whatever you say. Anyway, the Pirates seem unconcerned with this, so I suppose I should be as well.

The Pirate’s second round pick, pitcher Tanner Scheppers from Fresno State is another intriguing option. He too is coming off injury, this one a fracture in his throwing shoulder. This injury was enough to scare most teams off someone who was thought to be a high first round pick not too many months ago. Well, if he can make a full recovery, Scheppers seems to have tremendous upside. The Pirate’s system is not exactly rich in pitching, so the risk here is absolutely worth it.

Capps Blows…

…Save. Matt Capps does not blow. Sorry for the misleading headline. He’s a tremendous pitcher and I’m very happy with him as the team’s closer. But even the best closers cough up the lead now and then. This one stands out more because it was against the lowly Washington Nationals and because this is not a way the Pirates lose. Actually the Pirates seem to lose in only one way: The starting pitcher struggles and the offense can’t quite make up for it. Also, the way the Pirates win is similar: The starting pitcher struggles and the offense barely compensates for it. So I guess when Capps figures in the decision it’s news. Also, to give the guy a little credit, it was his third straight game and the ball really was flying out of the yard that game.

Is Duke back?

Over his last 8 starts, Zach Duke has put up some very nice numbers: a 4 and 2 record, a 3.40 ERA and a WHIP of 1.37 (which is good for Duke)I don’t want to jinx him, so I’ll say no more.


Sorry, Doug. I was wrong.

Back in March, I was trying to figure out who would make up the Pirate’s bench. I figured there was no way Doug Meintkeiwicz would make it, despite some impressive sound bites early in camp and the respect his teammates showed for him. I questioned why the team would need a second bench coach, since he wasn’t likely to see the field often. Well, here we are in June, and though Doug does not have the most impressive stats, he has made a legitimate contribution to the team. He has filled in (bordering on a platoon, really) at third and played a little right field, in addition to some spot starts at first, his natural position. And though it seem most games he starts he ends up with an error and an 0 for 4, the games that he does contribute in he practically becomes the Pirate’s only offensive catalyst. And, of course, he doesn’t back down from a 6’10” behemoth. My apologies, Mr. Meintkeiwicz.

Pathetic Pitching Perturbs Patient Pirate Partisan

Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny figured to be the two horses in the Pirate’s starting rotation this season. They were easily the two most consistent starters a year ago and they’re young. I figured the only way they wouldn’t pitch just as well, if not better, than last year would be if they got injured. Well, two months into the season and neither one is hurt. Unfortunately, they’ve pitched much worse than I could have imagined. Gorzelanny has had some trouble with bases on balls in the past, but this seems new to Snell. Four walks in a game would have been ridiculously high for him the last couple years. He’s already surpassed that on a few different occasions this year. And Gorzo? I hate to hit someone when they’re down, so I won’t.

Through April and May, Paul Maholm has pitched about as well as he did in the first third of 2007. Last year, he turned that so-so start into a very consistent and efficient 15 starts or so from June through August. Perhaps more of the same is on the way.

Zach Duke has looked very good at times this year, but quite awful at others. But this year, the good innings appear much more frequently than they have the last year or two. At least with Duke, we know walks will never be much of a problem.

Phil Dumatrait has looked very good in almost every one of his starts. Very good for three or four innings. Very bad for one or two. He’s still young and he’s only made a half dozen starts for Pittsburgh, so I remain optimistic.

Breaking news: Bryan Bullington, the first overall pick in the 2002 draft and very infrequent member of the Pirate’s pitching staff, was called up today from AAA Indianapolis. Marino Salas was sent down, so it appears Bullington is here for long relief, at least for the time being. He has had little success in his two previous stints in Pittsburgh. I seriously hope the third time’s the charm.

Tonight’s game: Speaking of pitching, Phil Dumatrait delivered perhaps the best pitched game by a Pirate this season: 7 innings, 2 infield singles, 0 earned runs, 2 walks, 9 strike outs and, most importantly, a win.

Watch out for the Bucs!

If I were to judge the Pirates based solely on the just completed three game series against the Giants, I would have to consider them a playoff caliber team. Impressive hitting (one huge offensive game, one with just enough, and one come-from-behind win with some nifty clutch work), solid starting pitching (Duke pitched very well up to the eighth, Dumatrait was fantastic, and Maholm was decent, save one bad inning), and exceptional defense (no errors *, a handful of double plays, and some highlight reel catches). Unfortunately, this series may have been the exception to the rule. But I’m very glad that I was able to watch a dominant three game sweep by my Bucs.

In the larger scheme, there were certainly some specific positives to take from the series:

Two struggling key players starting to come around: Freddy Sanchez, now hitting from the leadoff spot, had seven hits in the series. Adam LaRoche, always a slow starter, had a couple big hits, including a home run and the go ahead RBI single on Thursday. I’m very encouraged by the fact that the Pirates offense has been fairly decent this year despite Sanchez and LaRoche struggling, along with Jose Bautista and whoever is playing shortstop. I realize that Nate McLouth will not hit 50 home runs this year and Xavier Nady will not drive in 162 runs, but even if those two come back to earth a bit, we’ve got Sanchez and LaRoche waiting to take their place. Barring injury or trade, the Pirates could easily finish in the middle of the pack this season in most offensive categories. I know that doesn’t sound very impressive, but for this team it is.

The backend of the rotation improves: Zach Duke, who is very crucial to the starting rotation being better than average, had his second consecutive strong start on Tuesday. Granted, the opponents for these two games were Washington and San Francisco, but the fact that he did pitch well against anyone is good enough for me. And Phil Dumatrait, who pitched three fine innings against Washington last week before a power outage caused a delay, followed that up with a terrific 5 2/3 on Wednesday against the Giants. Dumatrait nearly pitched 6 scoreless innings in that start, which I believe gives him more scoreless innings pitched than Matt Morris this year (I just made up that stat, but seriously, it might be true). If Duke and Dumatrait are capable of this, at least on occasion, it takes a lot of pressure off Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. And those two could probably use that to help them get back on track.

The bench improves: I love Nyjer Morgan. He seems like a great person and he plays very hard. But languishing on the bench and starting once every three weeks is no way for him to develop as a ballplayer. Now he has the chance to play regularly, I assume in left field with our lord and savior Andrew McCutchen in center, for the AAA team. So to fill the roster spot, the Pirates acquired Jason Michaels from the Indians. Michaels is a veteran who can play anywhere in the outfield (center may be questionable however) and can provide a more imposing bat off the bench. Since Nate McLouth is superhuman, most of Michaels starts should be in left or right field, as Jason Bay and Nady will surely need more days off before long. With open spots on the 40-man roster and a small price to pay for acquiring Michaels (an insignificant player to be named, plus the Indians will pay a large chunk of Michaels’ salary), this deal has little downside. It helps the team this year and it allows Morgan to progress as a player.

Next up: 4 games against the Atlanta Braves. Now we find out if the Pirates are turning the corner and becoming a better team, or if a lesser team just made them appear better.