September 2009

Screwed Again!

The Minnesota Twins signed Miguen Angel Sano today. What is that about? 

Apparently, the Twins offer came out of no where, and Sano’s agent offered the Orioles the chance to match it, but never offered the Pirates that chance. So basically Sano’s agent was out to get us. For some reason he doesn’t like the Pirates, which is completely illogical. There is no reason for anyone in the world to dislike the Pirates. Give us a break for God’s sake, we’re one of the most pathetic teams in baseball just trying to build the right way with young talent and risk taking. Is that wrong? No, so why does the world make it look like it? How come the good guys always finish last while the bank-busters go out and have all the fun? Is there no more justice in this world? What is it coming to? Ergh…
Anyways, it has been a long time so I last posted, but I’m back now. The Pirates have been doing nothing but losing since my last entry, but they actually took 3 out of 4 from the Dodgers last weekend, which was nothing short of shocking. The Pirates finished their season strong with an emphatic 11 run performance on Monday afternoon. Andy LaRoche went off, out of no where, collecting 5 hits, 2 home runs, and 6 RBI. Like seriously, if somebody told me someone on the Pirates was going to have that kind of day, Andy would be one of the last guys I’d expect it from. But he did it, so let’s hope something has clicked in his head and he goes into next year strong. It would be really good to see him hit the ball consistently, he could be a big part of the picture in many different ways. 
The Pirates have 6 games remaining this season and currently have a record of 59-97, so they have to win 4 of their last 6 to avoid 100 losses. I wish I could say I’m confident that they’ll do it, but I’m not. The positive side of all of this is the Pirates are almost guaranteed a top 3 pick in next year’s draft. The Nationals sit with 103 losses, the Orioles with 97, and the Royals with 94 right now. 
Well everybody, just enjoy your last week of Pirates’ baseball, because as disgusting as the team looks now, you are all going to miss them in a couple of months. Baseball season coming to an end, and it’s one of the saddest times of the year for me and my fellow bloggers. Sure, football season is here, and hockey season is coming fast, but those two just don’t do it for me. Baseball is my true love, and nothing will ever change that. 
p.s. 
I interviewed Lanny Frattare on Monday, and it was awesome. If you want to hear about it, ask. 

Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never Give Up!

The three words that made Winston Churchill famous are now echoing to Pirate fans everywhere. The organization has hit a low point, the lowest point of any franchise in American sports history. The Pirates were considered one of the greatest baseball teams to ever play the game in the 70′s and 80′s, and now they have been degraded to a mere punch line. I can not count the number of times I have been made fun of in the last years for being a Pirates fan, and that pace has picked up tremendously since the Pirates’ have broken the record. However, I am an optimist and I am here to tell those of you who still have enough fanhood to be reading this to not give up, never give up. 

In the book of Proverbs, we read “The night is always darkest before the dawn”. Of course, most of you know that quote from the movie Batman: The Dark Knight. I believe that this applies to the Pirates right now. This is undoubtably their lowest point and any more losing seasons after this are just solidifying a record that the Washington Nationals will soon break. So, there is really no further to fall. Therefore, I’d say the dawn is about to kick in. New Pirates’ management has begun pulling the team out of a monstrous hole that Dave Littlefield and Kevin McClatchy left it in. Neil Huntington has done a fantastic job at trading what they had (which was not winning us any ballgames) for players that very well could win us some games in the future. He has not focused on just one level to build though, as previous management had done. The organization is deep at every level, assuring that this team has no where to go but up. 
I’m not going to list any names now, if you’re interested in what future players are going to help the Pirates, you can check out my Prospect Chart. Now, during these last 17 years of losing, the Pirates have had very little talent in any level of play. It seemed that almost all of those prospects the Pirates drafted and traded for turned out be duds (see Brian Bullington, John Van Benschoten, Neil Walker). The Pirates made some fetal attempts as strengthening their future through trade, which resulted in some solid players, however was far too small-scale to make a significant difference. Management also made a couple of trades to save or gain money (see Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill). They also missed out on some trade opportunities that could’ve made this team a lot better if researched more intently (see Kip Wells for Ryan Howard). When you string all kinds of these incidents together for 10+ years, you are deserving of setting this kind of record. However, things are about to change. 
The new management has a plan, a plan that revolves around being a perennial World Series competitor instead of hoping for a 1 season surge to get over the .500 mark. The trades and signings made over the last 2 years may not have been liked by the fan base, but that’s just do to a very unintelligent following. How can fans expect to get out of a huge rut like 17 straight years of winning with 30-somethings and one year wonders starting at every position? What damage could you possibly do with 3 decent major league starting pitching and virtually nothing compliment them at any level of play? You simply cannot compete for a World Series like that. That is precisely why these trades were made. 
Now, instead of Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Nate McLouth, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, and Adam LaRoche in Pittsburgh being respected and liked by the fans, getting their share of national attention, but playing for a team that is still no where near a winning record, and much less a World Series ring, we have young talent with sky-high ceilings that are giving the Pirates a hope for the future and a legitimate shot at World Series in the near future. 
In less than 3 years, the Pirates are going to be a respected, competitive team and everyone will finally realize Neil Huntington as the Pirates’ saviour, and all be well in Pittsburgh. 

Reactions To #17.

Well instead of making a post of my own talking about the Pirates recent 4-sport record-setting of consecutive losing seasons in a row, I’ve decided to just post what my fellow bloggers are saying. 

First, Brian of Raise The Jolly Roger, said this:

The Pirates lost today (4-2 to the Cubs). It was loss number 82 in a 162 game season, assuring that the Pirates will finish under .500 for a record 17th consecutive year. That goes for all four major North American pro sports.
I really don’t need to go into a long post about the last 17 years of this franchise. We all knew this day was going to come this season, and everybody has discussed how it got this bad at length for quite a while now. Still, I feel obligated to get some thoughts down on such a momentous occasion, so here goes:
In 1992, the Bucs lost a lot of their core to free agency and the like. A playoff team turned into a losing team pretty quickly, and while most teams recover from years like that, it didn’t happen (and still hasn’t happened) in Pittsburgh.
In 1992, I was one year old. Now I’m 18 and have never cheered my favorite club on to a successful year. Why? A simple combination of lack of money and awful decision making. People will say, “it’s amazing that in 17 years they couldn’t even get lucky once and have a good season.” Teams don’t get lucky. They have resources, either in talent evaluation skill or money. Up until about two years ago, the Pirates had neither.
You can win with bad decision making if you have enough money to make up for it (exhibit A: the New York Yankees). You can win without much money if you have a brilliant front office (Oakland, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, etc.). The Pirates will never have the kind of money that the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, and Cubs have. Blame it on a small market, or Bob Nutting, or Kevin McClatchy, whoever. It’s a fact. You have to accept it. To overcome it, the Bucs had to draft well, develop players well, and use every single resource they have as well as they can and then sell it off for as much as they can get. It’s hard, and not particularly fair, but as we see year-in and year-out with the clubs I just mentioned, it’s definitely possible.
Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield failed miserably. Countless top draft picks have flamed out. Foolish trades were made with nothing but money in mind. Precious dollars were used on mediocre veteran free agents to fill a positional gap for a season or two, while draft picks were going unsigned and Latin American operations were a joke. People will say “the Pirates have been rebuiliding for 17 years, why should we believe they’re doing it now?” The Pirates were not rebuilding under Littlefield and Bonifay. They were, for the most part, just being amazingly stupid.
So now the new guys are in town and we still haven’t seen a result, just more trades and more losing. Any blog reader knows that I’m a believer in Neal’s strategy. It’s not that it’s gauranteed to work-it’s just the only option the Pirates have. Anything else would be the same old story-and it’s about time the Pirates have learned their lesson.

Jake from bucco-blog.com writes : 


I’ve been asked for comments on the Pirates organization as they close in on the record of 17 consecutive losing seasons, so here’s a few thoughts..

1. My beloved Pirates have won five World Championships. That’s more than the Mets and Cubs. Combined. Come back and talk to me when they catch up.

2. Ok, so our current ownership group runs the franchise like a Piggly Wiggly. What do you expect? Until Major League Baseball changes the welfare rules, I’ll continue to post an annual “Look How Bad We Suck” here every September for you to read.

3. “The Plan” is yet another chapter in “The Great Deception” and if you believe anything else, you’re as dizzy as the other 1.4M fans who flocked to PNC Park in 2009. We might have a little more talent in the system than we did two years ago, albeit little to no impact, we also missed way too many opportunities for the ‘best’ player. We’re still spinning our wheels.. the future is far from bright.

4. Our current roster is, far and away, the worst fielded product in Pittsburgh since Branch Rickey rebuilding days in the 50′s. It didn’t have to be this way had we had just a speck of better short-term planning.

5. Under the ‘new regime’ we have rovers quiting, quality field staff unwilling to serve out their terms, numerous cases of player cries for help, internal charges of unapproachable management, and one of the least experienced scouting staffs in the lower ranks. Yes, our GM was a virgin when he took over, our PD director a virgin, and our club President a virgin. On top of that two are lawyers and one a holistic practitioner. Throw in a virgin manager and.. Hold the jokes please – it’s really not funny.

6. While ownership names have rotated some and a few have been bought out, don’t forget for one second that Robert Nutting has been the Chairman of the Board of this franchise since January 2003, the year our top prospect, Aramis Ramirez, was dealt for a can of corn. The Nutting family has been in almost total control since – one way or another – and are firmly in control today. If you want a fans take on the Nutting ownership clan, mine would be this: nerdy misers who love to control others for a profit.

Oh, I could go on and on but it isn’t worth it. If I was granted a few wishes, I would ask for:

- realignment. Come on, why does my team always start the year with a double-whammy of a six-team division AND being in a smaller market?

- all the Pittsburgh boys brought in to turn this club around. I mean, look around, there are so many qualified Pittsburgh men working for other clubs it isn’t funny. I’d start with Branch Rickey as the President and hope he hired Tony LaCava as the GM.

- a reduction in season ticket prices for 2010.


The reaction over at bucsdugout was this: 


The Bucs clinched their 17th consecutive losing season, setting a record for major American sports, with a 4-2 loss against the Cubs today.

Today’s loss was actually reasonably typical of this year’s team, from the seven innings I saw. They didn’t pitch terribly well, but they didn’t pitch horribly, either. The fielding was fine. There wasn’t anybody in the lineup who obviously doesn’t belong in the majors. They weren’t embarrassing. But they just didn’t hit enough. PNC was mostly empty due to the rain, and many of the remaining spectators were Cubs fans, watching the Pirates play mediocre, but not horrible, baseball.

If there’s any sort of thread that connects the 1993 squad that began all this losing to the 2009 version, I don’t see it. In fact, I’m too young to really put the first several years of the streak into perspective, and I associate most of the middle years with horrible, blunderous baseball played mostly by guys who either didn’t belong in the big leagues at all or were so old that the Pirates shouldn’t have been bothering with them. (Not that those categories are mutually exclusive.) This version of the team really has neither of those problems. They’re just not good enough right now.

Given what Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington inherited, that’s no surprise, and the obvious strides the Pirates made with young players, in the minors and with some in the majors, this year, suggest that someday soon things are going to be different. And so, although I know I’m supposed to feel some sort of disgust about this epic skid of losing seasons, I simply don’t. I felt it three years ago when Dave Littlefield was running the team into the ground. I’m not a football fan, but my brothers are both hardcore fans, and I was sitting on the couch with them when they saw that the Raiders had traded a 2011 first-round pick (quite possibly a top ten pick) to the Patriots for Richard Seymour. That was an extreme version of the sorts of bizarre moves Littlefield made on a regular basis. Whether you like what the Bucs have done the past two years or hate it, there’s a coherent rationale behind about 95% of the moves they’ve made. If Coonelly and Huntington can get this ship turned around, then being a Pirates fan is going to feel great for once.


For a different perspective, the writers over at TheUnsportsmanlikes have a series going where they look back at the positive Pirates’ moments in this long series of losing.


Also, of course, go read what Matt has to say at the Pittsburgh Peas.

Ross K’s 11… Pirates Lose.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are now 1 loss away from being the first franchise in sports history to have 17 straight losing seasons. The Pirates suffered a tough loss to a Cardinals team that didn’t even start Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, or Yadier Molina. All 3 of those guys got at bats in the 10th inning of this game, but Pujols’ at bat was the only one that really mattered. The game headed for extras tied at 1 as the Pirates couldn’t get the big hit they needed to win the game in the 9th. Albert Pujols pinch hit to lead off the inning and hit a 3-2 fastball over the centerfield wall to put the Cardinals on top. Albert dropped his bat and admired his shot, which you don’t see from him very often. I was kind of upset with Albert there. He’s one of my favorite players and the guy in the league that I have the most respect for, and seeing him admire a shot that barely made it out of the yard kind of made me question his cockiness. 

Anyways, it was a fantastic baseball game before that swing. Ross Ohlendorf had his best start of the year (it seems I’ve been saying that a lot lately). He struck out 11, which is unheard of for a Pirates pitcher. He was in the zone all game long. His velocity wasn’t any higher than normal, but his breaking balls were moving more than I’ve ever seen. His sinker was the strikeout pitch tonight, it seemed that almost every strikeout came along with an assist, as Ryan Doumit had to block the fanned-at balls in the dirt and tag the runner out or throw it to first for the guys who actually ran. Most guys weren’t even running because they were so mad at themselves for being fooled that badly and swinging at a ball in the dirt. Ross threw 104 pitches and could have pitched another inning if he were not going to lead off the 9th inning for the Pirates. Instead, Matt Capps pitched a 1-2-3 9th and earned the right to stay in the game and try to put up another 0 in the tenth. This was not to be however and Capps was tagged with his 8th loss of the year, which is just atrocious for a closer. His ERA is well over 6 and he is slowly becoming one of the most disliked Pirates. 
Despite the loss, it was a positive game for the Pirates. Ross Ohlendorf just keeps reaching new limits. He keeps getting better, no one really knows where his ceiling is. He shows different positive things every start, and who knows how good he could be if he starts putting those all together consistently. The offense was anemic again tonight, notching only 1 run and 6 hits in 10 innings. It’s even worse that the Cardinals sent Mitch Boggs to the hill. 
Another thing I noticed tonight is that the Cardinals are one incredibly deep team. They were able to win a game when 2 best hitters watched the first 9 innings from the bench. Granted, they didn’t win the game until Pujols entered the game, and they were facing one of the worst offensive teams in the league. However, having guys like Troy Glaus, Colby Rasmus, and Rick Ankiel to fill spots off the bench is pretty impressive. Their bullpen is equally deep. Tonight they sent Trever Miller, Blake Hawksworth, and Ryan Franklin to pitch the last 3 innings of the game. All 3 of those guys have ERAs well under 3.00. (Miller and Franklin are below 2.00). They also have arms like Kyle McClellan and Jason Motte in there, and they can mow some hitters down as well. If I were a Cardinals fan, I’d really be liking my chances at a World Series this year. Their rotation is solid, their offense is one of the best, and their bullpen is near the top of the league as well. That’s a good combination to have. 
As for the Pirates, we’re still pretty far away from a winning season. It’s encouraging to see our pitching staff doing such a great job, but it’s discouraging to see guys like Andy LaRoche, Delwyn Young, Brandon Moss, and Ryan Doumit really struggling at the plate. Those are guys that we are really going to need to play well to give the team a shot at the playoffs next year (especially LaRoche and Young). Help is on the way, Jeff Clement, Jose Tabata, and Pedro Alvarez will all be in the bigs next year and they could provide some serious run support to the lineup. 
Tomorrow’s a new day, and the Pirates can make history… for all the wrong reasons.

Arguments…

So I was at the Pirate game with my school yesterday… started talking about the Pirates with a couple of other kids in my class. One kid started talking about how the trades were awful and with this management the Pirates will never win. He went on to say that having an outfield or Jason Bay, Nate McLouth, and Andrew McCutchen, along with Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson would have made the Pirates a playoff team this year. I went on to remind him that without the trades they made they would have guys like Virgil Vasquez, John Van Benschoten and Ian Snell starting, which would result in nothing close to a playoff birth. 

He didn’t take my correction very well and went on to say that Jack Wilson was the best defensive shortstop in the league… I went on to ask him if he could even name 5 other shortstops in the league… and things got pretty heated. 
At one point in the argument he muttered 7 words that pushed me over the top. “You don’t know what you’re talking about”. WOW. That ticked me off so much that I knew I would end up making a large scene if I responded and probably making my fellow classmates think I’m nuts, so I just kept my mouth shut after that. 
Bottomline is, it’s people like this that are really going to ruin the Pirate fan experience when the team starts winning. I can guarantee that when the Pirates put it together and have a winning season or are in a playoff race, this kid will immediately jump on the bandwagon and start saying “Yeah, I’ve followed the team all my life” and act like a real fan. It’s people like this that have ruined the Pittsburgh Penguins for me. 
All my roommate does is bash the Pirates. He’s a big baseball fan and he watches the games with me, however he only has bad things to say. The only guy he doesn’t say bad things about is Garrett Jones, and then he acts like I’m stupid when I tell him that Jones is 29 years old and this year is more likely than not a fluke. Garrett Jones will not have another year like he is having now. It would be different if he was 23 or 24, like my roommate thought he was, however he is not. Garrett has been great for the Pirates, I like him as a player on this team for the next couple years, however he is not a part of the long-term future like an Andrew McCutchen or Pedro Alvarez. 
I think I like being a Pirate fan better when I just focus on the stuff myself or go to games with the handful of people I know that actually understand baseball and the rebuilding process. 
Can anybody relate? 

Rookie Of The Year Race Heating Up

One of the most intriguing awards given out at the conclusion of the baseball season is the rookie of the year award. This year’s National League ROY race is going to be a good one. There are 4 serious contenders for the award this year, two pitchers and two Pirates. Here’s how the race sizes up, in my opinion.

4. Garrett Jones

The Pirates first baseman/outfielder has been fantastic since his call-up on July 1st. Garrett has provided some serious pop in the middle of the order, hitting 18 home runs in 55 games (that’s about 1 every 3 games, a pace that in a full season would result in 50+ homers). Jones has also been hitting for good average, his season clip is at .294 right now. He also adds an element of speed, as he has shown while swiping 9 bases in his 2 months with the club (he’s been caught only once). Despite all these great numbers, I think the fact that he didn’t play the first 3 months of the season will almost rule him out of this race.

3. Tommy Hanson

One of the Braves top prospects, Tommy Hanson burst on to the scene this year in early June. Hanson has been remarkable. He has made 15 starts as a Brave and won 9 of them. His ERA is a beautiful 3.15 and his most impressive stat is his 7.4 SO/9 rate. Hanson has unbelievable stuff and has been making some of the game’s best hitters look lost at the plate. If you were to watch him pitch you’d never know this was his first year in the majors.

2. Andrew McCutchen

If you have ever read this blog, you know how I feel about this guy. Andrew McCutchen has been the Pirates’ best player since his call up on June 4th (after the Nate McLouth trade). Cutch is sporting a very impressive .284/.359/.489 line. He has shown some power as well, hitting 11 home runs in 79 games (one every 7 games, a pace of 20+ in a full season). McCutchen’s best aspect has been his speed and his defense. Andrew has swiped 15 bases while only being caught 3 times. This number seems low, the kid has the speed to be one of the best base stealers in the game. Once he gets more knowledge of pitchers and more confidence, you’re going to see him stealing over 50 or 60 bags a year. His defense is remarkable, he covers more ground than anyone in centerfield and has made some ridiculous catches. However, all of this is not enogh to put him in front of the leader of the rookies,

1. J.A. Happ

The left handed young star of the Philadelphia Phillies has been ridiculous in 2009. He’s been with the team all year, but started the season in the bullpen. On May 13, he moved to the rotation and has been there ever since. He’s logged 149.2 innings this year and has a season ERA of 2.77, which is the 5th best ERA for starters in the National League. Happ has a 6.3 SO/9 rate and an impressive 2.00 K/BB ratio. He has won 10 games for the Phillies and is just another reason that the Phillies are cruising a top of the East division and putting them as a favorite for the World Series again this year. 2009 isn’t the first year Happ’s been in the majors, but it’s the first year he’s qualified for the league leaders, so it’s known as his rookie year. In 2007, Happ logged 4 innings (in 1 start), and in 2008 he got 31.2 innings (4 starts, 4 relief appearances). He’s been awesome for the Phillies and has a bright future ahead of him.

All that said, I wouldn’t mind seeing Happ get beat up a couple times in the last month of the season, raise that ERA a run or so… I really want McCutchen to win this award.

New Faces, Same (Last) Places…

Don’t have much time here, so just a quick update on the last few days:

We are now in September and the Pirates have made a couple of moves to expand their roster. The first move was bringing up Daniel McCutchen, who I blogged heavily about earlier. He made his ML debut by going 6 innings and giving up 3 earned runs. It was a quality start and he put the Pirates in a position to win, that’s what we like to see. However, if he wants to have a future in this rotation, he’s going to have to do better. His velocity was about where I had pegged it earlier, in the 91-93 range and occasionally touching 95-96. His next start has to be determined, but I’m guessing Monday against the Cubs. 
The other moves the Pirates made came yesterday when they brought up Neil Walker and Virgil Vasquez. Neil Walker is quite the story. 
For those of you who don’t know, the Pirates drafted Neil Walker in the first round of the 2004 draft as a catcher (he has since been moved to third base). Neil was a hometown boy who went to high school at Pine Richland. There was loads of excitement in Pittsburgh when they drafted him, but he never really answered the call in the minor leagues. He was plagued with injury and a bunch of mediocre play and took til now to make his big league debut. This was due to the fact that he was absolutely raking in AAA in August. He was hitting in the .400′s and seemed to be hitting a long ball 3-4 times a week. 
Virgil Vasquez had a stint with the Pirates earlier in the year when he was the 5 starter for awhile after Jeff Karstens was moved to the bullpen. Kevin Hart took Vasquez’s spot in the rotation after the July 31st trade deadline and Vasquez had been in AAA ever since. He is now in the bullpen and should provide some good long-relief. 
The Pirates have, however, dropped 6 in a row (all on the road). It’s absolutely unexplainable how this team can play so badly on the road. They are 2 completely different teams depending on if they are home or away. Let’s just all be thankful that they play well at home, where we can go watch them. 
I’ll be attending the game Friday night, and then heading home for the weekend, I’m pretty excited about it.
Let’s go bucs!
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