The Curious Case of Benching Sanchez

In yesterday's 5-2 loss to the Cubs, manager John Russell opted to give a couple of starters the day off. One of which was Freddy Sanchez, who had 8 hits in 9 at bats the previous two games. Russell said that he wanted to give Sanchez a day off, and with Thursday's off day, here was a chance for two consecutive days without playing, which could be important since on Friday the Pirates start a stretch of 17 games without an off day. However, the chance for a winning road trip, a winning series against the Cubs, and a crucial win over a division rival should take priority. Granted, the Pirates will probably not make the playoffs this year, or even have a winning record, but you never know.

There has been talk (amongst fans and bloggers and such) that Sanchez being benched periodically is due to a clause in his contract that calls for his 2010 option year to kick in if he reaches 635 plate appearances, or 600 along with an All-Star appearance. Pirates' President Frank Coonelly thinks it's offensive to even speculate that the Pirates would intentionally prevent that from happening by not playing Sanchez. I think it's doubtful that that's what's happening here, but it's perfectly reasonable to broach the subject. I think the current management teams knows what they're doing, and they've given us no reason to doubt them too much, but how can a Pirate fan not be suspicious after so many years of questionable moves by the organization in general?

Back to the day off, Sanchez's last day off was May 10, against the Mets. This came 3 days after his previous day off. It was, of course, these two days off that led to the Coonelly tirade mentioned above. Now, since that May 10th game, Sanchez had played in 15 games, without a day off, so the timing of this off day is not too suspicious. And coupling it with Thursday's off day is not out of the ordinary at all. Manager's frequently use a scheduled off day to give a player 2 day's rest. However, I do think the benching had a little more to it than just resting the team's best hitter.

2009 might be a rebuilding year to some degree, or at least a figure-out-what-we've-got year. I'm sure the team isn't sure if they want Sanchez to return next year. Since this year will most likely be a losing season, and 2010 might not be much better, management has to figure out if it's worth keeping a player like Sanchez around for this entire season, as well as the next. And since that's the case, the Pirates need to see what other options they have at second. So in steps Delwyn Young, for what I believe is his third start at second this year. Young, however, did very little to put Sanchez's job in jeopardy, watching a third strike three times, popping out on the first pitch with a runner at third and no outs, and botching a throw on what should have been an inning-ending double play, thus allowing the Cubs' second run to score. Another possible replacement for Sanchez could be Shelby Ford, currently playing for AAA Indianapolis. Ford is stinking up the place though, hitting .186, with 6 extra base hits in 32 games. He also has struck out 26 times, with only 2 walks. So, I'm hoping the Pirates' management will see that the team does not currently possess a suitable replacement for Sanchez, should he depart at some point.

Back to the conspiracy theory: If the Pirates really do not want Sanchez back next year, with his $8.5 million salary, they would trade him at the deadline. Letting him walk after the season would garner the Bucs a draft pick, or two possibly, but they could get a lot more in a trade, provided that Sanchez keeps hitting like he is. Here's where Coonelly and company win: if Sanchez hits, they play him, save a day off every 2 weeks or so, and then trade him in July or keep him and his option. If he doesn't hit, they can get away with benching him more often, seeing what the trade market brings, and if the offers aren't good enough, they possibly let him walk after the season if he doesn't meet the PA requirements, or keep him. For the record, Sanchez currently has 197 plate appearances through the Pirates' first 47 games. At that pace, Sanchez will end the season with 679, easily surpassing the option threshold.

As for the financial aspects, with Adam LaRoche and John Grabow almost certain to be gone next year, and with Jack Wilson likely to be, the Pirates' payroll should remain fairly similar to this years' total, even with Sanchez earning $8.5 million. Unless the Pirates are planning to reduce their payroll by a noticeable margin, they should certainly be able to afford Sanchez.

As for where I stand, I am a huge fan of Freddy Sanchez. I understand that it's possible at some point that his salary could exceed his worth, but with no replacement second baseman around, at least until 2011 if Jim Negyrch (AA stats: .301, 21 walks, 9 strike outs) proves to be worthy, keeping Sanchez seems like a must.

I Think Freddy's Slump Is Over

In tonight's 10-8 win over the Cubs, Freddy Sanchez became the first Pirate since Wally Backman in 1990 to have 6 hits in a single game. Sanchez singled 4 times, doubled, homered, scored 4 runs, drove in 3 and even stole a base. The Pirates totaled 18 hits, 7 of them for extra bases. After coming from behind to defeat the White Sox on Sunday, and in doing so snapping a 5 game losing streak against the Sox, it is especially nice to see the team get a win against the Cubs in the series opener. These Cubs, along with the Brewers, and all American League teams for that matter, have had the Bucs' number the past few years. The win tonight also clinched a .500 record on this 10 game road trip, the Pirates' longest of the season. A split or better in the remaining two games would give the Bucs an impressive winning trip.

There was some bad news, however. Closer Matt Capps left the game in the 9th after taking a Geovany Soto line drive off his right hand. No word yet on the severity. Losing Capps for an extended period would certainly be costly for the Bucs, especially after he has seemed to regain his form of late.

Up next, Ian Snell versus Sean Marshall on Tuesday, followed by Zach Duke against Carlos Zambrano on Wednesday. A nice gauge as to Duke's improvement this season will be in how he fares against Alfonso Soriano. Soriano is hitting .560 in his career against Duke, with 3 doubles and 2 home runs, in 25 at bats.

Even Under My Watchful Eye, the Pirates Lose

Tonight's Pirates/White Sox game was televised on WGN and I can't say that I've seen too many White Sox games before and I may not care to again. Not because the Pirates can do nothing against them. Well, not just because of that. What I really can't stand is their horrible announcers. Well, one of them at least. I didn't really pay attention to their names while I was watching, but I think Ken Harrelson is the guy. He does the play-by-play but he sounds like a color commentator. He's obnoxious and annoying and the general feel for the broadcast is amateurish. Plus, though this is no fault of the announcers, though maybe the broadcast team in general, I could hear heckling like never before during a televised game. Seriously, it went on, very audibly, for the first four innings, and then occasionally thereafter. It was mostly harmless, like "Hey Wilson, your helmet's on backwards!" or "Andy LaRoche, you suck!" which was said while Adam LaRoche was batting. However, I did hear a heckle of Jason Jaramillo that sounded a bit racist. To be fair, I'm not a huge fan of WGN's Cubs coverage either, but at least Bob Brenley and whoever else they have are fairly professional.

As for the game, well, a fellow named Clayton Richard completely dominated the Bucs tonight. He was one of the players in the potential Jake Peavy deal that fell through. Richard did look very sharp out there; it wasn't just the Pirate hitters' incompetence, though there was a bit of that. On the plus side, Ross Ohlendorf pitched pretty well, nearly throwing a complete game. Ohlendorf was especially sharp early on, but then got beat a bit, as the game wore on, by leaving too many pitches up. There were actually a handful of balls hit very well off him that fortunately found their way into the gloves of Pirate defenders, though a fastball that stayed up to Alexei Ramirez and a hanging curve to Jermaine Dye both ended up in the seats. Still, it was nice to see another solid start. Andy LaRoche looked very good today, making a number of fine plays at third, singling twice, drawing a walk and stealing a base. And we did reach that point in the ninth, with Andy due up and 2 outs. I was very worried that John Russell would send up good ol' Ramon Vazquez to hit for him. Fortunately, Andy was allowed to hit and, in perhaps a "This is what happens when you don't pinch-hit for me" moment, he roped a single to left. Of course he was stranded and the Bucs lost 4-0, their third consecutive defeat. Perhaps their fortunes look better tomorrow, when they have a clear disadvantage in the pitching match up: Jeff Karstens vs. Mark Buehrle. Because having a better starter sure doesn't seem to matter.

The One Quarter Mark (roughly)

So, the Pirates sit at 19-23, just over one fourth of the way through the season, following last night's 2-0 loss to Gavin Floyd and the White Sox. Anyway, yesterday I planned to write something ominous about how the Pirates have won 7 of 10 games, and 3 consecutive series, and were headed to their second stop on a road trip, a stop with bad memories for the team. Rewind a bit, back to late April. On Monday, April 27, the Pirates had won 7 of their last 9, and three consecutive series. They were about to make the second stop on a road trip, at a place where the Pirates have no luck recently. Well, that first place was Milwaukee, and that game began the Bucs' worst stretch of the year, losing 12 of their next 13. Last night, the Bucs lost to the Sox, of course, and these are the same White Sox who trounced the Pirates last June by a combined score of 37 to 15 in a sweep. You see, I worried that even comparing the current Pirates to the late April Pirates would alert the baseball gods to this apparent cycle and condemn the Pirates to return to their patented sorry ways.

Well, though the Pirates did lose last night, I'm happy that Zach Duke continued to pitch well, tossing the complete game. This a day after Ian Snell was decent, though very inefficient with his pitch count, against the Nationals. Though both of these games featured very poor hitting by Pittsburgh, not so much the leaving men on kind, more like the not even getting them on to start with kind. And apparently, according to the Post-Gazette, John Russell was not happy about this.

Also, the Pirates completed their trade with the Dodgers for Delwyn Young yesterday. All it took was sending the Dodgers AA reliever Eric Krebs and a crisp $1 bill. Actually, I'm not sure if the dollar had to be crisp. And in this situation, where the deal called for 2 players to be named later or 1 and cash, and the 1 and cash was chosen by Los Angeles, how does the $1 get to LA? Do the Pirates just wire it? Maybe LA sets up a direct deposit account with the Pirates. Or do the Bucs give it to Krebs with instructions to make sure Frank McCourt receives it? By the way, this McCourt is the Dodgers owner and not the writer of Angela's Ashes, but if anyone knows the value of $1, it's the second McCourt.

Lately much has been made of John Russell pinch hitting for Andy LaRoche late in the game. First off, I'm not sure there's much benefit to this strategically, aside from maybe having a left-handed hitter face a right-handed pitcher, which doesn't always mean a lot. Since the first 2 weeks of the season, LaRoche has been a much better, and more consistent, hitter than Ramon Vazquez. And, if LaRoche is meant, or at least hoped, to be such an integral part of the Pirates' future, I don't know why you would want to send him a vote of no confidence. I did a little research and came up with some stats: Ramon Vazquez, as a pinch hitter in general, is 2 for 9, plus some walks. Pinch hitting for Andy LaRoche, he is 0 for 3. Anyone else pinch hitting for LaRoche, 0 for 1. This does not include when a player, usually Vazquez, is brought in on a double switch, or just given the start over LaRoche. So, based on the results, Vazquez hitting for LaRoche seems like a bad idea. Just in case, I checked out the batter-vs-pitcher stats for the last couple of situations where Vazquez hit for LaRoche:

May 21, vs. Joel Hanrahan. Coming in, Andy LaRoche: 1 for 1. Ramon Vazquez: 1 for 2
May 15, vs. Huston Street. Coming in, Andy LaRoche: N/A. Ramon Vazquez: 0 for 1

Neither case provides an obvious advantage in pinch-hitting Vazquez for Laroche. Maybe Russell's a little too in love with lefty-righty match ups.

Last month I posted Adam Laroche's current statistics, along with where he was at at the same point in 2008 and 2007. Now that his early hot streak is clearly over, it's only fair that I give a little updated comparison:

Through 42 games,
2009: .227, 7 HR, 20 RBI, .777 OPS
2008: .191, 4 HR, 16 RBI, .606 OPS
2007: .204, 4 HR, 20 RBI, .674 OPS

It's starting to look like things are evening out. Unfortunately.

Pirates Win 4th Straight, Barely Climb Out of Cellar

With last night's ugly, ten-inning victory over the hapless Nationals, the Pirates picked up their fourth win in a row, and sixth win in their last 8 games. The win, coupled with the Astros loss to Milwaukee, moved the Pirates into fifth place, albeit by only percentage points. I make a point of this because there's no telling how long the Pirates will be ahead of anyone in the standings. It's a good feeling, too. And, in what may actually be somewhat of a pitcher's duel, the Pirates can win their third consecutive series, and fifth straight game, with a win today. Paul Maholm starts for Pittsburgh against John Lannan. Though these two are arguably the best starters on their respective teams, their career numbers against one another are not pretty. Maholm vs. Washington: 0-2, 6.12 ERA. Lannan vs. Pittsburgh: 0-2, 7.00 ERA. So, maybe that pitching duel's off.

Also, I'd like to take a quick look at the Bucs' offense. Most people, myself included, felt that this year's offense would be noticeably worse than the pre-trading-deadline offense of 2008. With Jason Bay and Xavier Nady being replaced by Nyjer Morgan and Brandon Moss, that made perfect sense. Well, thus far in 2009, through all 39 games, the Pirates have scored 182 runs. Through 39 games in 2008, the Pirates scored 185. The difference is negligible. But can the Pirates of 2009 sustain this level of offensive fortitude? Certainly if they keep playing the Nationals and Rockies. But, seriously, as a team, they can. If you look over their individual hitting statistics for the season, no one is clearly outperforming their own capabilities, and I'm including Morgan here, since it's no shock that he can hit .300 and steal bases, though his gradually increasing walk total is a pleasant improvement. If anything, some players are performing below their own standards: Adam LaRoche we know will pick it up later this year, but Eric Hinske is homerless in 59 at bats and Ramon Vazquez is hitting just over .200. And don't forget, Ryan Doumit will return around the All-Star Break.

So, yes, the offense can keep it up. That I'm not too worried about. And the starting pitching, that's sustainable too, as Maholm hasn't gotten it going yet, and I still think Snell will find some consistency. What troubles me is the bullpen. Can they keep it up? It's entirely possible, which is a horrifying prospect.

The Long and Not Too Winding Road

The Pirates embark today on their longest road trip of the season. Longest in terms of games scheduled, but quite short in terms of mileage. (The team actually finishes up the first half with a 9 game, 10 day trip to Miami, Houston and Philadelphia, which may end up seeming like the longest trip.) They play 4 in Washington beginning today and then head to Chicago for the final 6 games of the trip, 3 each against the White Sox and Cubs. A very odd scheduling quirk here.

This comes after some complaining has been done in recent years by the Pirates' management and fans about the team's schedule being created solely to make life more difficult for the Pirates, with multiple long trips to the West Coast, and such. I never believed the Pirates were the unfair victims of preferential scheduling, but looking over this year's, there do seem to be some minor improvements over recent seasons. In 2008, the Pirates played 5 series on the road against NL West teams, including one stretch with 3 in San Francisco bookended by 3 in Cincinnati and 4 in Houston, without a day off, and another with 3 in Phoenix after 3 in Chicago and just prior to three more in Philadelphia. Rough stretches for sure.

As for 2009, the Pirates have already played at San Diego, which was the first leg of a 2 city road trip, with days off at the beginning and end. In June, the Pirates play at Denver as part of a 6 game trip which begins in Minnesota. Also, that trip is bookended by days off as well. Late July sees the team travel to both Phoenix and San Francisco on the same trip, which concludes with a day off. The Pirates play at Colorado again in August, part of a 6 game trip and begins with a day off and ends at Chicago. The Pirates' penultimate road trip of the season takes them to Houston and Los Angeles, and, once again, it is bookended by off days. Clearly, this year's schedule gives the Pirates nothing to complain about.

As for the games themselves, I am very hopeful that the Bucs can keep this offense going against a very bad pitching staff in Washington. The trip ends with a couple of weak spots for the Pirates. They have had quite a bit of trouble with the Cubs in recent years, and inter-league play has just destroyed the team. With 10 games, we'll see the entire rotation twice through, and I'd bet that each position player gets at least one start over this stretch. The Bucs will get the first taste of the DH this weekend in Chicago. 2 lefty's are scheduled for the White Sox, so Craig Monroe might get himself a pair of starts. It should be fun. Well, it might be fun.