A New Era for Pirates Fans

It's August, the MLB non-waiver trade deadline has passed, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are in a familiar position: last place. See, for Pirates fans, Christmas comes on the first day of the regular season, because it's virtually the only day of the entire year when we're in the pennant race. Optimism is abound, and even Bob Smizik can outline the positive aspects of that year's team.

But with a new CEO and GM who resemble change in an organization nearly bereft of talent, die-hard fans may have a reason to hope for the future of the franchise. General Manager Neal Huntington has done his best to dismantle his predecessors grand plan, and has not failed in doing so. Gone are Salomon Torres, Bryan Bullington, Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte, and Jason Bay. Tom Gorzelanny and Ronny Paulino have been demoted as part of the new management's promise to take a no-nonsense attitude.

The new-look Pirates are full of Major-League-ready AAA players, as opposed to AAA players who had no business being on a Major League team. Make no mistake about it, there have been times this season when management has had to promote such players. The difference is that Huntington did not disguise that fact, where former GM Dave Littlefield most likely would have stressed how important such players will be to the future of the franchise.

The difference Pittsburgh fans can expect to see will most likely take place next year in Altoona. Curve fans going to the ballpark in 2009 can expect to see real talent, possible future Pirates like Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, Brad Lincoln, Dan Moskos, Jim Negrych, Jamie Romak, Brian Friday, and Bryan Morris could all see time there next year.

Huntington has made a name for himself in his first year as GM because he is a risk-taker. Something neither Cam Bonifay or Dave Littlefield will ever have mentioned in the same sentence. Huntington's approach has been almost an exact 180-degree turn from Littlefield, in fact. Hard-throwing pitchers and high-ceiling bats are being brought in with as much regularity as Littlefield signed over-the-hill free agents.

The Littlefield-era was built upon taking two star position players, first Jason Kendall and Brian Giles then later Jason Bay and Jack Wilson, and meshing them with sub-par free agents, with a few less than stellar farm products thrown in there as well. The worst part though, is that Littlefield always wanted to build a team through pitching. His idea of pitching, however, was in line with the word finesse. In this era, finesse pitchers who succeed at the major league level are few and far between. Anyone could see that this fact alone would render Littlefield's teams useless.

By making trades, signing players off the scrap heap, and putting existing Pirates in new positions (both literally and figuratively) Huntington has begun the first true rebuilding process the Pirates have had in this soon to be record breaking losing streak. To the casual fan, these are the same old Pirates. I caution that where there's smoke, there most certainly is fire. When the Altoona Curve are smoking everyone next year, let's hope the fire is lit in Pittsburgh. While we're at it, let's hope that fire burns us into contention with guys like Pedro Alvarez, Brad Lincoln, Andrew McCutchen, Andy LaRoche, Jose Tabata and a few others leading the way. Let's Go Bucs!

Pirates at Baltimore Orioles (Series Review)

Record after Series: Pit (34-36) Bal (34-34)

Game 1 (L 9 - 6) Tough one to lose (you'll hear that again). Top of the order killed us in this one, as Freddy Sanchez and Nate McLouth went a combined 0 for 9. With the way Sanchez is playing right now, there's no reason to bat him leadoff, even though I must concede it did work earlier in the season. Doug Mientkiewicz and Jason Michaels, two members of the Pirate's unusually strong bench, came up huge in this one. Michaels delivered a clutch Home Run to keep us in it, though the 2008 White Flag-to-be Franquelis Osoria, would render it useless. Thanks Luke Scott. In other notes, Phil Dumatrait couldn't throw a ball over home plate after the 3rd inning and just about lost the game. Sean Burnett didn't do much better. An assist also goes to the Bucco offense, who went something like 5 innings without a hit after putting Brian Burres on the ropes early on.

Game 2 (L 8 - 7) Tough one to lose (common theme here, eh Lanny Frattare?). Top of the lineup does marginally better for itself in this one, 1 for 8 total, with a Sanchez homer. The Pirates also get long balls from Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche and Jose Bautista. LaRoche and Bautista were the unlikely (unlucky) almost-heroes here. Not much else nice to say about this one, especially from the pitching perspective. The bullpen fails again, though this time it's John Grabow and Matt Capps, both of whom gave up hugely deflating home runs.

Game 3 (W 5 - 4) A feel-good win if there ever was one, lightning actually struck thrice in this one, but Capps, thankfully, was able to wiggle his way out of it. This was a showcase for Jason Bay, as he went 2-3 with 2 walks, a double and a stolen base. Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera, despite his best efforts to injure every Pirate position player in the starting lineup with a fastball to the neck, somehow made it through 6 innings in this one, with Paul Maholm mostly cruising on the other side. Maholm pitched well, the only blemishes being a couple of home runs. The Pirate bullpen held up relatively well in this one, despite Capps' best efforts to screw it up again, and the Bucs were able to putt it out.

Series Record: 8-10-5. The Bucs lose the series, their 10th loss this year.

1 Big Point: Most glaring in this series, I thought, was the Pirate pitchers being unable to throw strikes. Not just in clutch situations, not when they were ahead of the count, just anytime. The walks are killing this team, and it's plausible that the Pirates would be above-.500 with better control. Several of this team's pitchers have lackluster control, and when you compound that with a low strikeout rate, the recipe for losing baseball games is nearly complete, without even figuring in the offense.

Next Up: at Chicago White Sox (38-31)

Pirates Win the First Series (Part 3)

After an awesome Pirates win today, it got me thinking about the lineup. Jack Wilson should be back soon, and though Ryan Doumit won't be back on the field for a month or so, Ronny Paulino still has to be considered an above average offensive catcher. We won't get into his defensive shortcomings (not today, at least). The offense should still be potent enough to keep the Bucs around the .500 mark. Hopefully, that scenario won't deter Neil Huntington & company from dealing Jason Bay and/or Xavier Nady for a top pitching prospect. Here's a detailed look at the Pirates' offense compared to the Cardinals and the Cubs.

Name...........AB....D....T....HR....RBI....BB....K....AVG....OPS

N.McLouth.....161...13...2....11....33.....21....21...304....1.007
F.Sanchez.....160....9...0.....1....21......6....22...250......603
X.Nady........153...14...0.....5....34.....14....28...320......894
J.Bay.........142....6...0.....8....17.....30....32...268......872
A.LaRoche.....132....5...0.....4....16.....19....40...197......624
J.Bautista....127....8...0.....4....17.....12....36...228......682
R.Doumit......103....8...0.....5....15......5....14...350......955
R.Paulino......67....4...0.....0....13......7....13...224......577

R.Ankiel......147....9...0.....7....21.....20....28...293......876
S.Schumaker...147....8...1.....2....13.....17....17...286......755
A.Pujols......143...10...0.....8....27.....41....15...357....1.097
T.Glaus.......140...14...0.....2....26.....26....28...264......786
Y.Molina......126....6...0.....2....14.....15.....5...302......770
R.Ludwick.....112...11...2.....8....25.....14....34...330....1.077
C.Izturis.....108....5...0.....0.....7.....13.....6...250......643
A.Kennedy.....106....3...1.....0....13......9....17...283......666

D.Lee.........168....11...1....10....29.....19....23...310......943
R.Theriot.....152.....7...1.....1....11.....20....17...329......816
K.Fukodome....148....11...2.....2....16.....27....26...324......892
A.Ramirez.....136....12...0.....6....26.....25....27...294......934
G.Soto........131....13...1.....7....29.....24....34...321....1.018
M.DeRosa......129.....7...0.....3....22.....22....30...287......810
R.Johnson.....121.....6...0.....1....17......9....19...256......674
A.Soriano.....113.....6...0.....6....18......7....20...257......767

I only took the top 8 players from each team based on at-bats. Notice that McLouth and Bay possess the Pirates top threats to reach via walk. Other than those two, the Pirates are a free swinging offense that has been lucky thus far. That luck will run out eventually, probably starting with Xavier Nady, if they don't start taking more pitches out of the strike zone. The Pirates, for far too long have coveted power hitters without an eye for the strike zone. Rich Aude, Brian Hunter, Freddy Garcia, Brant Brown, Chad Hermansen, Alex Ramirez, Jose Hernandez (twice), Carlos Rivera, J.J. Davis, Brad Eldred, I could go on forever. These guys each struck out around 3 times as often as they walked in the minor league career. Various Pirate GM's actually have labeled several of these guys as the future face of the organization at one time or another!

Actually, a superstar who struck out three times as often as they walk (like the guys I just mentioned) while still in the Minors comes along, on average, once every 5 years. In the whole major leagues. Yet our braintrust, if that's what you want to call it, thought we had one of those guys every year. Unfortunately, Dave Littlefield has left us with plenty of left overs. We'll call them Brad Corley's. Xavier Nady strikes me as more of a Brad Corley than an Albert Pujols. Speaking only about their betting eyes of course. Nady is a free swinger, just like the rest of the Pirates. Winning baseball takes patience. Especially for a Pirates fan - and especially from the Pirates offense.

Bay, Nady...Going, going, gone?

DThe Pirates, today traded for former Phillie and Indian Jason Michaels. This move, as far as I can tell, solves two problems. One potentially, and one presently. Presently, the Pirates bench is much improved. Michaels offers some much-needed experience, as well as some pop that the Bucs did not have with Nyjer Morgan, who has been sent down.

I have a feeling that the Pirates also made this move in order to cover for the possible trade of Jason Bay and/or Xavier Nady. As well as Andrew McCutchen is hitting, the Pirates have to admit he probably will not be ready for a full-time gig in the majors this season at age 21. It's also safe to assume they will not keep McCutchen in AAA if he keeps up that OPS of 1.400. Even though they both bat right-handed, a platoon would still possibly be best for the youngster.

I don't think the Pirates will trade Bay or Nady within the next 2 months. I would be very suprised if anything went down before July. Most teams consider themselves still in contention (including our lovable losers), don't know what they need, or don't know what they have. Most of the time, teams are going to wait as long as possible in order to keep their options open. The Pirates, no doubt, are in a couple of the above boats and won't get their best available trade offer for Bay or Nady until July. Expect them to do better than the usual 2 relief "prospects", but don't expect a top 100 prospect either. Wait, they did fire Littlefield. Ok, maybe we can get lucky.

In other news, the Pirates organization has won another prestigious award. Awesome. Plus, I'm sure the press was free, which is always a huge selling point to the ownership.

"Consistency is the Key"

It was the summer of 1997, I remember it like it was yesterday. I stepped foot onto my first high school football practice. We all gathered into a big circle as Coach Tim Krysiak began his opening season speech about the upcoming year. "Consistency is the key," he said to us. That year we pulled out a strong 0-10 showing. We went on to win 5 games total the following two years before I quit. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Every year, like that 15 yr old kid in us, we line up our vehicles in the parking lot awaiting the first pitch of the new year. Then, like in practice, we tune in our TV's endless nights hoping for change. What exactly are John Russell and the Pirates orginization doing much different from my favorite Coach K?

I value the hard work Sean Burnett has put into this orginization after multiple surgeries. I also have to give a nod to John Van Ben. for his triumphant return, but lets be honest with each other. Are we really excited about the fact that two top draft picks, be it from different years, have made it to the majors once again? Or are we excited about thier level of play since thier return?

Looking into a bullpen once filled with Rule 5 draft pick Evan Meek and this years white flag Franquelis Osoria, it feels like Thomas Ian Nicholas is trotting onto the field when thier numbers are called. I dunno whether to celebrate or cry while my PTSD from the last 15 years succombs my brain. Thier play has been average at best, but like every Pirate pitcher in years past, we'll wait and pray to a God who I swear thinks we don't exist.

Meanwhile, lets focus on the batting order. While I agree with Russell's decision to drop McLouth in the order tonight, he didn't drop him far enough. Now batting for your Pittsburgh Pirates, number 38 Jason Bay. While 6 home runs in the month of April is admirable, we're still left with the fact he's posted 11 RBI's this season and I don't care how many times he walks. If he wants to be a sissy and never swing at the ball unless the bases are empty, then why is he in the 3 hole?

Doumit steps in next. It sucks he can't catch everyday, enough said. Nady's 2 RBI's put him ahead in the NL RBI lead by one. Well done. What a 5 hitter is supposed to do. Adam Laroche...well he hit another dong tonight. Just enough to keep you hoping for the opening year slump to end, but I'm not sold. He's still batting below the Mendoza line while Bautista, after the series of his career, was batting behind the Pirate killer. It makes my head hurt.

Duke's stellar outing proves what we all know through basic baseball knowledge. Keep your team in the game and your offense will try and win one for you. I guess it was Duke's turn to earn his job for another month. I swear they must draw straws in the locker room every week.

I haven't given up yet. But after losing 3 of 4 to our nations capital, if we don't pull out a series and we're already down by one when Barry Zito is scheduled for his return to the rotation tommorrow night I might have to check myself into a psychiatric ward. Worse yet go to the horse track and gamble a lot of money because I suck. I will inevitably lose all the money I take with me and that might numb the pain of being a Pirates Fan.