Opening of the Books....Unfortunately, No Conspiracy to be found.

Its long been thought by many a yinzer that Bob Nutting is some nerdy combination of C. Montgomery Burns and Scrooge McDuck lining his pockets/bank vault with money that should be spent on his team's payroll. As good of a story as below would be, it appears it really isn't the case.

Instead of swimming in his money, Nutting and the Pirates seem to have some real revenue questions and not a lot of room for error in their never-ending quest to be a contender. But didn't we know that already? 

Here are some links to different perspectives/analysis.  

First the background of the story:

The original Post-Gazette article: For the most part, just a rehashing of what the Pirates presented to the media yesterday. 

The AP story that prompted the Pirates "getting out in front of the story:" Nothing really said here that wasn't said by the Pirates in Dejan's article. Just twisted differently.

The actual line by line financial statements for the Pirates and other teams that were leaked: A lot of interesting info here including the dramatic differences in gate and broadcasting revenues between teams. 

What does this all mean?

Bucs Dugout says the whole situation doesn't nicely fit the Bob Nutting is evil media narrative. A very good discussion in the comments here as well.

Pirates Prospects breaks the situation down a couple of different ways here and here. They have the same concern I do. How can the team consistently raise the payroll with these numbers? I would have much rather seen this leak of info show that Nutting was taking 50 million a year in profits like the conspiracy theorists have long thought. Instead it appears any "meaningful" increase in payroll is going to have to be offset by an increase in revenue or decrease in spending somewhere else (as it appears the team is not interested in losing money).

Pittsburgh Lumber Company takes issue with some of the "nonsense" in the AP article.

Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke comments on his changing perception of the Pirates' finances since Nutting/Coonelly/Huntington took over.

Rocco Demaro weighs in with a practical estimate on what the profits would have brought the Pirates if they spent every dime on the MLB payroll. Hint...it wouldn't have made much of a difference the last couple of years. Spending on the amateur draft and using the profit to pay down debt is a much better use of funds while rebuilding.

The Biz of Baseball compares and contracts financial info from all of the teams leaked on Deadspin. 

And Finally:

People have complained for years that the Pirates wouldn't open their books. They did (although not exactly voluntarily). The statements show that they made profits but not the significant profits critics had been claiming. 

So, critics need a new spin. I assume that spin will be the need to sell to Lemieux/Burkle cause they are "proven winners."

Of course, those same people conveniently forget the endless money troubles the Penguins had (before and with Mario as the owner) before they literally won the lottery with Sidney Crosby, had a hard salary cap implemented across the league, and leveraged potentially leaving the city (a lot more seriously than the Pirates or Steelers did in the late 90s) to get their new arena. Their just isn't enough in this market to spend anywhere near what other teams in places like NY do if there isn't a system of checks/balances in place. Baseball doesn't have that. Hockey now does. That (and the luck of the ping pong balls) is why the Pens have been successful. Not because Mario is a financial genius.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Penguins and everything that they have accomplished. The Consol Energy Center was actually the most practical and necessary of the three new facilities due to its extensive non-Penguin use.  However, lets not pretend Mario has always had the golden touch.  Before Crosby or Malkin arrived, 11,000 people went to the games to cheer on prospects like Rico Fata, the Pens had the lowest payroll in the league, and the ticket sales department I was working in didn't have enough budget to get us envelopes or pens. Besides the shortages of office supplies, doesn't that sound pretty familiar to the current Pirates situation? Actually, the Pirates young guys now are probably better than the Pens prospects in the early 2000s. 

The main difference? There is no Sidney Crosby coming via lottery to the Pirates immediately to get them out of the hole. But there is talent coming. It just takes time now that they are finally doing a proper rebuild.

Pedro, Pedro......

I heard this Frank Coonelly interview yesterday on The Fan. The big news? He said Pedro Alvarez is "very close" to the majors. Normally I would think of a comment like that as just lip service, but its the opposite of the normal answer Coonelly or Huntington gives on a prospect. Usually, a guy has "a long way to go" or "there are still a number of issues we are working out that aren't necessarily reflected in stats" even if they plan on calling him up the next day. For example, Walker went from a "ways away" to on the team in a week and Brad Lincoln is about to do the same tonight.

So, Alvarez may be here sooner than we think. My guess is the next homestand as it would make sense to debut him at home since he is their best prospect since Barry Bonds.

Why is Alvarez probably ready? The weakness against left handed pitching has become a lot less pronounced. Actually, he is hitting better against LHPs than RHPs this year accoring to MILB.com.  He also has gotten progressively better each month (just like last year) going from a .721 OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage) in April to .982 in May to 1.022 so far in June (through yesterday's game). His strikeouts are also down from last year.

This afternoon after I started writing this post? Alvarez went 3 for 4 with double, triple and 2 run homerun. All the hits were off the left handed starter. His OPS for the year is now .924 and 1.258 in June.

Tabata is here. Lincoln is here. Alvarez should be too.

The Pirates' Risky Business

You can't teach speed. You hear it in all sports for different reasons. Baseball is of course no exception. Neal Huntington has been trying to get hard throwing pitchers into the Pirates system every since he took over. Until now, this has meant pulling guys off the scrap heap or rule 5 draft (Denny Bautista, Hayden Penn, Evan Meek, Donnie Veal etc..) who can throw extremely hard but have some issue. Usually, the issue is not having any idea where the ball is going when it leaves his hand....Neal is just hoping in each case that the Pirates can be the organization that helps the guy "figure it out." Occasionally it works (Evan Meek). Most of the time it doesn't (Denny Bautista).

Neal Huntington has taken the quest for speed to a new level in the draft. In the first two rounds, they selected the two hardest throwers available: Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie. Taillon can hit 99 mph and some say has the "polish" of a college pitcher because of  already having a four pitch arsenal. He would be the number one pick overall in a year without Bryce Harper. Allie can hit 100 mph but has some control issues at times. He was rated the #8 overall prospect talent wise by Baseball America, but could be a very tough sign as rumors claim he is looking for 3 million to skip college (reason he slipped to the 52 pick). That would be an unheard of amount for a second round pick. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus says the Pirates signing both of these guys would make it a "potential franchise changing two days." Hopefully they can get it done.

Of course there is some risk (actually a good bit) here...High school pitchers get hurt. They don't have a good track record of living up to expectations. I have already heard the jokes that the Pirates should just schedule their Tommy John surgery for next week and be done with it. However, if that is your thinking, please explain how the Pirates are supposed to get their hands on an "ace" type pitcher (like the one they saw last night, wow was Strasburg good). Those guys don't make it to free agency and they couldn't afford them anyway. The amateur draft is the cheapest way to acquire talent.

These were picks that had to be made and a team in the Pirates situation has to take the risk when guys with 99 mph fastballs and plus curves are available. Otherwise you will never end up with a rotation made up anything other Paul Maholms and Zach Dukes (at best).....I can't wait to get them signed and into the system. 

Taillon, Machado, or Pomeranz?

The MLB Draft starts on Monday. To a team in the Pirates situation, this is a huge event. Not often noted by the media but worth noting is that the organization has treated it as such over the last two years by spending more money than any other team in MLB. They have the second pick this year and will more than likely miss out on the much hyped Bryce Harper. According to my reading they seem to be down to one of three players (in my order of preference): RHP Jameson Taillon, SS Manny Machado, or LHP Drew Pomeranz. Quick thoughts on each:

Taillon is my choice because its just not easy to find someone who throws as hard as he does with "polish" at 18 years old. He has already been called a harder throwing Josh Beckett. Bryce Harper's thoughts on him:

"I caught him against Cuba," Harper said of the shutout, 72/3-innings performance last fall that won the United States its inaugural gold medal in Pan-American Games 18-and-under baseball. "Struck out 17. Nasty stuff. He's amazing."


I like Machado as well, and am of course intrigued by the A-Rod comparisons even though they probably only come up because they are both from Miami. What worries me a bit is that his eventual size (already 6 foot 3 190 lbs at 18) will prevent him being a SS over the long term. However, his hitting potential makes it a somewhat moot point where he ends up playing.


Pomeranz is very good, but he wouldn't be my pick. He is more of a sure thing and will definitely get to the majors faster than the other two, but doesn't have the upside Taillon has ("only" hits 94 occasional, 90-92 consistently). However, he is left handed and that always matters to teams. Picking Pomeranz would also oddly mean that the Pirates have 3 guys who were roommates on Mississippi's 2009 Team in their minor league system. Weird.


Interesting thing....Keith Law, who was the first to report and confirm the Bucs were going to select Tony Sanchez last year, (seemingly out of nowhere) has changed his mock draft to show the Pirates taking Taillon. Its insider only on ESPN but you can see the Pirates part.


Whatever happens in the first round, it will be just as interesting to watch and see if the Pirates continue their tendency to take tough to sign high schoolers in the middle rounds and buy them out of their college committments. That is how you can continue to stock an improving minor league system.....

Mid Week Thoughts....

Some of the things crossing my mind on this fine Wednesday evening....

-Neil Walker is off to a great start in his first week back in the majors. A game winning homer will do that. So far, he has put the attitude problems I ripped him for a couple weeks ago behind him and done what you were always told he was capable of (but he didn't do in the minors until 2010). Great to see and I hope he keeps it up. 

-Was it just me or did Ben Roethlisberger look to be about 25 lbs lighter than he normally is this time of year when he reported to OTAs yesterday? Did he start his yearly pre-training camp mma-esque weight cut down early? Or is he finally hanging out somewhere other than the bar in the offseason (like the treadmill)? Based on how things have gone so far, I am pretty convinced Lord Goddell will ultimately reduce his suspension to 4 games. Which brings him back just in time for the Browns.

-If you listen to 93.7 The Fan here in Pittsburgh, you have in the last couple days surely heard about the off the wall Allegheny County Councilman who is urging Pittsburghers to root for the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals. And if you don't listen to the station, just turn it on for a couple minutes and someone will mention the story. I promise. Its part of their every twenty minutes update somehow. Both yesterday and today, Seibel and Starkey would not stop laughing and carrying on about how dumb this guy is. They replayed their interview with him yesterday first thing today and then took calls about it. How is that anywhere near compelling radio? Yikes.

-Speaking of dumb things that have somehow become part of the news, how about the Pens testing of the toilets at the Consol Energy Center? Are local news outlet that hurting for stories these days? Actually, they are probably just taking any chance they get to make bad toilet/flush puns. Cause those are funny.

-I caught up on the TV show Flash Forward over the last couple of days. It was a good show but I wouldn't recommend making time for it if as it has a cliffhanger first season ending. That would normally be fine, but the show was cancelled. 

-Finally, the Pirates are in a rain delay right now. There has to be a better option than the programming they put on during rain delays. I usually change the channel, but still have seen the Mazeroski show they have on right now numerous times. And if it isn't this Mazeroski show, its "Inside Pirates Baseball" which is on about 15 times over the weekend anyway. Would it be so crazy to just keep it with the announcers and talk about the team, MLB, maybe even interview a guy a or two?

Strasburg Debut

The Washington Nationals are going to promote the first overall draft pick in 2009, pitcher Stephen Strasburg, to the majors.

The Nats want his first start to be successful so they've handpicked an awful opponent for him to debut against.

Hmmm...any teams come to mind?

(right now, the only person on the planet who can't guess who Strasburg will debut against is Bird.)

I guess I'll tell you, Bird. Strasburg is going to debut against your Pittsburgh Pirates in the beginning of June.

The game will be in Washington, which sucks, because Strasburg is the Pirates best chance of selling out PNC Park this summer.

Unless, of course, Bob Nutting orders an Aki Iwamura Bobblehead Day...

Positive, Negatives, and the Next Wave of Pirates......

Almost two months in, the Pirates season has been up and down to say the least......

-Andrew McCutchen has continued to be much better than advertised. According to this article, he is already a very similar player to Carl Crawford and has been the best CF in the league since his callup...He is extremely fun to watch. However, McCutchen has inexplicably been moved to third in the order and constantly comes up with no one on base. So, a lot of his hits and on base skills are being wasted. Partly because.....

-John Russell's lineup construction has been unbelievably bad. Why is Iwamura still batting leadoff? Why is McCutchen not batting first or second? Why is Delwyn Young and Bobby Crosby and their low OBPs batting second? Why is Ryan Church playing almost every day? Why is Ryan Doumit batting 7th? Its almost as if Russell is going out of his way to create worst possible lineup for actually scoring runs.

-Speaking of the "leadoff hitter," Aki Iwamura has been awful. He just finished a historic hitless streak and might have 5 or 6 total hits in the month of May. And his defense has fallen off a cliff. Anthony has already declared the trade for Iwamura the worst in baseball history.

-Ryan Doumit's has been great at the plate. He is second in the majors among qualifying (ie. have played enough games to be eligible for the batting title) catchers in OPS, behind only future hall of famer Joe Mauer. On the other hand, his defense has been atrocious. Players that have no other stolen bases are routinely stealing second off him. There is absolutely no fear from opposing baserunners.

-Guys like Lastings Milledge, Jeff Clement, and even Garrett Jones to an extent have underachieved so far.

-The backend of the bullpen has been almost perfect when given a chance to win/keep the team in the game. The team has lost one game they have had a lead after the 5th inning. Evan Meek especially has gone from a guy who couldn't throw strikes at all in 2008 to being almost unhittable. He is now throwing a 97 mph fastball and 81 mph curveball.

-The starting pitching was expected to be better. Charlie Morton's struggles/bad luck have been well documented by Anthony and I. Zach Duke and Paul Maholm have been average overall. Ross Ohlendorf missed almost a month and has pitched just ok otherwise. Daniel McCutchen might as well have been throwing batting practice out there. Brian Burres and Jeff Karstens have had their moments but have basically done what you expect them to to: sprinkle a good start or two in with a whole bunch of bad ones.

I could go on and on. For every positive, there is at least one negative.

Times may FINALLY be changing for the Bucs though. Neil Walker was called up today after continuing to dominate AAA like I wanted. And he is probably just the start of a domino effect of callups/promotions. Brad Lincoln will be called up soon to replace Burres. Alvarez and Tabata could be here not long after that. Guys like Bryan Morris and Diego Moreno are being promoted in the minors with others like Nathan Adcock and Jeff Locke ready to move on as well.

Here is just one potential starting lineup by the end of June:

LF Jose Tabata
CF Andrew McCutchen
3B Pedro Alvarez
1B Garrett Jones
C Ryan Doumit
RF Neil Walker
2B Andy Laroche
SS Ronny Cedeno

That is much more impressive than what is being run out there tonight. The guys that have struggled or underachieved in the majors are finally being pushed from below......

A Night at the Ballpark

Since Anthony stole my thunder regarding Dejan Kovacevic's embarrassing puff piece on Nate McLouth's recent "resurgence" in yesterday's Post-Gazette, I instead bring you some thoughts from the game itself last night......

-This was the fourth game I have been to this year. The first three were very entertaining victories. This was a clunker. It was just one of those nights where the Ross Ohlendorf didn't have it and the hitters somehow couldn't hit a very hittable Tim Hudson. 

-Nate McLouth is a tiny guy. The 5'11 he is listed at is very generous. I never realized that when he was here. He got a mixed reaction at best each time he batted (I was expecting loud cheers after the outrage last year when he was traded). It was probably more boos though. I would think that is due to the comments about the organization he made in spring training that his publicist Dejan forgot to mention yesterday. And those new contacts he desperately needed?  They aren't helping him yet. He hit three lazy fly balls and sac bunted to help setup runners on second and third for the pitcher Tim Hudson. No mention of any of that in the Post-Gazette game summary.

-Jason Heyward on the other hand is a monster. He is every bit the 6'5", 240 lbs he is listed and just crushes the ball every time he makes contact. He was a triple short of the cycle. The Pujols  comparisons may not be so ridiculous after all. Pirate fans should be more disgusted Dave Littlefield passed him up in the 2007 draft than the constantly talked about Matt Wieters. By the way, he doesn't turn 21 till August!

-As much as I ripped him before, its time for Neil Walker to come up and play 2B. I think he has finally earned a promotion by dominating AAA. Not to mention they are wasting valuable time and at bats playing the underwhelming combo of Delwyn Young and Bobby Crosby at second base while Aki Iwamura is "hurt." The team needs to see what they have with Walker and start to figure out how the infield is going to be configured once Pedro Alvarez is ready.

-Why is Ryan Church getting so much playing time?

-Finally, there were a decent number of Braves fan there last night. Come to think of it,  there always is when the Pirates play Atlanta. Where do these people come from? The Braves don't draw very well at home, much less have a national following. Are these fans Pittsburghers who just threw their arms up after the 1992 NLCS and decided to join the winning team? Weird.

The beauty of baseball after a lackluster game like last night? You get to play again the next day. Hopefully it works out better tonight and the next time we go.....

Crying Ryan Braun

Should we add Ryan Braun to the "over-zealous D-Bag" category Jim made up for Tim Tebow? 

First, there was the incident last year where Jeff Karstens hit Braun his next at bat after he homered and seemingly admired it a bit too long before rounding the bases. This is really standard baseball etiquette but not to Ryan Braun. If there was an issue, his pitcher should have hit Karstens in that game (had a couple chances). They did not. Instead, Braun continually brought up the incident the rest of the season and how "we'll see what happens." His consistent whining ultimately led to both benches emptying months later when a Brewer pitcher finally did hit Jeff Karstens (He was probably tired of hearing about it from Braun in the clubhouse). This was a bizarre episode where Jason Kendall refused to say the correct name of the Pirates pitching coach Joe Kerrigan after the game. Instead, he was "Dave Kerwin:"

"It was fine until Dave Kerwin," Kendall said, referring to Kerrigan. Kendall continued to call Kerrigan by that incorrect name -- seemingly on purpose -- even after being promptly corrected.


"I can take a lot, but I'm not going to get yelled at," he continued. "Dave Kerwin started yelling at me...."

When asked what he thought made Kerrigan so mad, Kendall responded: "I don't know. Dave Kerwin? I have no idea."

Then last night, Ryan Braun comes up to the plate to lead of the ninth with the Pirates up two runs. He lays down a bunt to get on first (sort of a goofy move by a power hitter, but understandable that he just wants to get on base since they are down two). Prince Fielder then strikes out swinging while Braun is trying to steal second. He stole it easily cause that is what guys do against Ryan Doumit. He then tries to run to third because no one was covering the base. The problem was that Andy Laroche still had the ball and tagged him out easily. The out effectively ended the game and gave the Brewers their 9th loss in a row.

Why was Braun so excited to get to 3B with one out? Did he think his run counts as two? Why was he even running in the first place? His run means nothing. But hey, it is not Braun's fault. It was Andy Laroche's superpowers:

"Getting to third base right there wouldn't have done us much good, but I saw an opportunity," Braun said. "[LaRoche] did some Matrix stuff or something, I don't know. He was about to throw the ball back to the pitcher and did a reverse spin. It was a good play by him and a stupid play by me."

Gotcha, that explains it all.

Why Charlie is Better than this...

Anthony strongly criticized Charlie Morton below. Obviously, this is a very easy thing to do right now. Of course, he didn't look deep into the stats (as usual). As bad as his numbers are right now, there are some definite reasons to be optimistic about Morton turning it around over the long haul.

Here are some of the oddities in Morton's 2010 stats after eight starts (courtesy of Fangraphs):

-Morton's left on Base percent (or strand rate) is 43.8%. The Major League Average is 71.5%. The worst number from a pitcher in 2009 that pitched at least 100 innings was 59%. In 2009, he was right in the middle of the league at 71.4%. Last night, Morton allowed 7 baserunners and 6 scored. These numbers are just impossible to maintain. Especially considering....

-His strikeouts are up and his walks down. He is striking out a very good 7.64 batters per 9 innings in 2010 compared to 5.75 in 2009. The walks are down over 1 per 9 innings as well (3.71 to 2.55). So, less balls are being put in play. That is always a good thing.

-His HR per flyball rate is 20.5%. Typically all pitchers, even the most dominant or most hittable ones, linger around 10%.

-Morton's Batting Average on Balls in play is .387. Again, this is way above the major league average of about .300. Morton's last year was .310 and .304 with the Braves.

There are plenty more stats that skew towards the unlucky for Charlie. I think you get the point though. It is almost impossible for him to keep these bad numbers up the way he is actually pitching. Its much more likely things will start to even out and his numbers the rest of the way are more in line with what we expected.

As for Anthony's boy Nate McLouth and that trade in general? Guys who (on a good team) are 4th or 5th outfielders themselves tend to bring back high risk, high reward guys like Morton and Hernandez (Locke is much more than a "questionable" prospect but some other time..). His contract was only team friendly if he kept hitting like he had in the first two months of 2008 when he would have been worth the money. He has not come close to doing that (with either team). Sure, he has had some unluckiness of his own in 2010 as his BABIP is a bit low, but he is also striking out more than ever (by a lot) with a drastic decrease in power. That is a terrible combination. Its very possible Nate peaked in those first two months of 2008.

Oh, that gold glove McLouth won? Its routinely viewed as one of the bigger jokes in Gold Glove voting history. Here is a post right after it happened by the author of a Pirates blog.

Most sane people view this trade as Huntington selling as high as he possibly could on a nice but not franchise changing player. Anthony will eventually get there with the rest of us.

Oliver Perez

Former Pirate Oliver Perez was demoted to the bullpen by the NY Mets over the weekend.

What happened to this guy? He was supposed to be the next great left handed pitcher in MLB. With the Pirates in 2004 (his first full season after a couple partials), he had a 2.98 ERA with a staggering 239 Strikeouts in 196 innings (11.0 Ks per 9 which led the league) as a 22 year old.  His ERA+, which is a measure of how good someone is (or isn't) against the average pitcher, was 145 that year. 100 is average. The best number from the current "aces" of the Pirates staff Zach Duke/Maholm is Maholm's 114 in 2008.

Perez was so good that year the Pirates would have lines of people around the block buying tickets any home game he started.  I know cause I waited in line for a half hour or so to get tickets on a random Wednesday afternoon game in August. Perez was literally worth the price of admission. He was super animated and just plain fun to watch with his unorthodox motion, up to 98 mph fastball with movement, and nasty slider. You could even see the crowd watching to be sure he did his superstitious skip over the foul line on the way to the dugout. The Pirates seemingly had a Cy Young candidate for years to come. This was the kind of pitcher the organization had literally never had in a 100+ years.

Something changed in the winter of 2004/2005 though. The most commonly held belief is summed up by the PG (very good article on the issues before the 2006 season):

.....Perez was instructed to skip winter ball in Mexico to rest. He took the order too literally, though, and did virtually nothing to keep his arm in shape. That essentially wiped out his mini camp.


Just before spring training, he slept awkwardly on his left shoulder and fell so far behind it took him until late June to begin rounding into form.

In that 2005 season, he was not very good at all and even missed two months after breaking his toe while kicking a laundry cart out of anger. He never came close to hitting 98 mph. Most of the time he was 91 or 92 at best with terrible control. He was so bad in 2006 that the Pirates sent him to AAA and ultimately traded him to the Mets for Xavier Nady. It was an obvious sign that the Pirates had given up on him. With the Mets, he was good but not great in 2007 and has gotten progressively worse since.

He has never come close to duplicating the 2004 season for more than one game here and there. He is walking more hitters than ever while striking out less. His fastball in 2010 is averaging 88 mph (soft tosser Zach Duke territory), 10 miles per hour slower than he would hit in 2004. He is just 28 years old, but all signs point to him being, as Fangraphs describes above, "broken." At least the Mets gave him a big 3 year extension before the 2009 season.

Is Oliver Perez another casualty of the Dave Littlefield regime's laziness? Should someone have been sent to Mexico that fateful winter to monitor a 23 year old kid's off season program? Especially one as emotional and fragile as Perez? And who was THE franchise ace? I think so. Is everything in Perez's career since related to that winter? I doubt it. But noone can argue that he has never looked the same.

What could have been.

Bring on the Cubs!

After a 4-3 win this afternoon, the Pirates are now 5-0 against the Chicago Cubs. If only they had 100 more games against them......

-Andrew McCutchen is 11 for 14 in the four games he has played against Chicago with a .785/.813/.1071 batting line.

-The Pirates have outscored the Cubs 32 to 14 in 5 games while being outscored in the other 31 games 206 to 96.

-In their last 6 innings against the Cubs, the Pirate bullpen has 11 strikeouts.

If you are getting dominated like the Cubs are against a team that just allowed Homer Bailey to throw a 90 pitch shutout the day after Johnny Cueto one hit them, how can Lou Pinella's job not be in jeopardy?

Did I mention they have a guy in the bullpen making 18 million dollars for the next handful of years? What a disaster of a team.

I wonder if the Bucs could trade some of the games against Milwaukee or St. Louis for more against the Cubs?

Neil Walker and Entitlement

Neil Walker was supposed to be the guy who saved baseball in Pittsburgh when he was drafted in the first round of the 2004 draft out of Pine Richland High School. The hometown kid who made good and got to star for his childhood team. However, it hasn't exactly worked out that way so far....

Instead he has never had a truly "great" year in the minors, and with Pedro Alvarez/Andy Laroche around is staring down the barrel at a long term utility role with the team. Now, just as he starts to really hit at AAA (in his third season there), there are reports of attitude problems (again). From the PG on Monday:

Frank Kremblas, Indianapolis' manager, and Kyle Stark, the Pirates' director of player development, are firm disciplinarians, which is part of the equation. The other, according to the team, is that Walker, in addition to failing to run out a popup last week, has generally reacted poorly when disciplined.

"We're not isolating Neil," Huntington said. "We're challenging a lot of guys, and there are challenges like that across baseball in systems that do it the right way. If you want to coddle and pamper your athletes, then you won't have any issues. But you'll also have underachieving athletes.



This goes hand in hand with Walker last year claiming "Dave Littlefield guys" like Brian Bixler and himself were not getting a fair shot with the current management team. At the time he made that quote, Walker was hitting in the .240s with little power in AAA, and I dare you to find a guy who was worse than Brian Bixler was in his limited MLB time (a 57% strikeout rate!). I am pretty sure Neil Huntington (or any GM) doesn't care where you came from if you can play. Of course a lot of Littlefield players got shipped out or weren't brought up to the majors. Here's the thing though. Most of those guys stunk. Players worth keeping like Andrew McCutchen are here and part of the future. I would be annoyed if Huntington had not cleaned out the dead weight and started over.


Walker's problem seems to be that he feels the organization owes him a spot in the majors because of who is. The problem is that things don't (or at least haven't since Dave Littlefield left) work that way. He has never earned a chance to play everyday in the majors by tearing up the minors. He has always just been ok and advanced because players don't really stay at a level more than a year.  In fact, I think that if  he was a middle round draft pick not from Pittsburgh, very few people would even know his name. 


Walker is still only 24 and based on the way he is hitting in 2010, he could certainly still end up somewhere in the Pirates long plans (maybe at 2B or RF). However, to get there he needs to work hard,  let his play do the talking, and start acting like a true Pittsburgher.....

The Airing of Grievances.....Pittsburgh Sports Media Edition

This is the first installment of what I hope is a semi-regular feature where I participate in everyone's favorite part of Festivus....

Pittsburgh has more than its fair share of sportswriters/sports personalities. Here are my thoughts on some of the major players (or at least the guys I read/listen to the most). This is based on no inside knowledge whatsoever, just my opinion based on what I read/listen to everyday.....


-Ed Bouchette (Post-Gazette Steeler Writer)...Ed is really knowledgable and reliable about the Steelers and always has the "scoop." Probably because he basically works for the Steelers. He is all but writing press releases for the team at this point. Objectivity does not appear to be in his repertoire anymore.

-Dejan Kovacevic (Post-Gazette Pirate Beat Writer)...The guy I read the most. He covers the Pirates better than anyone one else by far and enjoys it more than anyone covering the Pirates probably should. However on the negative side, he always hides behind the guise of "I am a beat reporter who reports the news, not opinion" when someone asks his opinion. That would be fine, but that statement is often made right after he has written a particularly opinionated game story or article, like the one linked here. For another example of his opinion writing, see his response to the article/comments in this link. Why would you have to defend something if it is totally factual? And I have never seen a reporter so attached to departed players...

-Rob Biertempel (Tribune-Review Pirate Beat Writer)...Has he ever broke a Pirate story? I can't think of one. Dejan seems to outwork him tremendously. Not to mention he seems annoyed to be covering the team half the time. I think the only reason I even know him is because I went searching for other local options when it was announced that Dejan's Pirate blog was going to the Post-Gazette's pay site PG-Plus.

-Rob Rossi (Tribune-Review Penguin Beat Writer)....Most of the time, he is alright besides talking about himself a little too much. Other times, he seems determined to protect Crosby at all costs and run down Malkin. See the rip on Malkin's english in his bio here. I think he eventually leads a charge to trade Malkin.

-Chuck Finder (Post-Gazette Pirate et al Writer)....Chuck tries to win a Pulitzer prize with every article he writes. Wordiness is putting it mildly. Just try reading something of his and I guarantee that by the end you will either have a headache or have no idea what you just read. I would link to his writing but I don't want to punish anyone.

-John Perrotto (Former Pirate Beat Writer, now editor of Baseball Prospectus)....John seems to have developed a personal agenda against the Pirate organization after being let go by the Pirate Report (owned by the Nuttings who own the team) last year. In fact, he now claims the Nuttings have spies in the press box listening for any bad words about the team (here, will have to scroll down a bit). Not mentioned by John -for his own safety I am sure - is that if the spies hear the wrong thing, the KGB comes and whisks that particular reporter off to Siberia.

-Bob Smizik (Blogger on Post-Gazette.com)....Bloggin Bob might be the first person to actually become a better writer after "retiring." He still spends most of the time writing as what we can call his "Grumpy Old Yinzer" character, but will throw in the occasional well-researched and thought out article that he never did before.

-Ron Cook (Post-Gazette Columnist, 93.7 The Fan Host).....No one brings the negative like Cook (except maybe Anthony). The pairing with Vinny on the radio is actually a very good Yin and Yang, postive vs negative combination. Assuming Vinny can avoid being sucked into the negative abyss by Cook.

-Bob Pompeani (KDKA TV)....Just take a look at his Twitter feed. I know Twitter is not the most formal of outlets but still....Would a period or capitalization somewhere be that much to ask?

There are obviously way more guys to talk about out there, but I figured I'd end this before you started comparing me to Chuck Finder.

Thoughts on these guys or ones I missed?

Happy Mother's Day....Saturday Night in the Burgh

First off and most importantly, Happy Mother's day to all mothers.

I didn't see the Penguin's victory live last night. My wife and I were at PNC Park in the Heinz Field-esque weather watching Jeff Karstens smoke & mirror his way to six shutout innings and a victory against the mighty St. Louis Cardinals.

Weather Tangent....Weather like last night is one of the downsides of buying a ticket package and picking your games ahead of time. Its actually the second of three games we have gone to that have been unseasonably cold but not raining. Its also further proof that Pittsburgh has the wackiest weather around. Wasn't it 75 and sunny for Thursday and Friday night's games? We were actually hoping for a rainout while driving in a downpour and especially while eating/drinking at the Bettis Grill. However, once we got in the park, we were prepared (bundled up) enough that the cold wasn't that bad. The wind had noticeably died down since 5:30 when we parked the car. Actually, if you take away the annoying clueless wackos behind us, I really have no complaints.

Anyway, the clearest sign it was the city of Pittsburgh's night? When Joel Hanrahan blew away Albert Pujols on strikes to end the eighth inning, stranding two runners on base and perserving the Pirates 1-0 lead (when I think everyone in the building expected a three run homer). It was like the Mighty Casey striking out in shock value. The Pirates added an insurance run in the ninth and Octavio Dotel struck out the last two hitters to end it just a minute or two after the Penguins had survived the Canadiens' last minute push.

I did watch the Penguins game via DVR. Its just not the same when you know the outcome though. I did pick up a couple things:

-Malkin dominated for shifts at a time. Its amazing he only had one assist.

-Fleury faced the most action he has faced in the series and responded accordingly (enjoyed the action actually). Its too bad he didn't get the shutout. I am not sure how the referee still "had sight of the puck" on the Montreal goal. Apparently he has x-ray vision.

-Crosby may have zero goals in the series, but is making a ton of little plays that make a difference. He has not let the goal scoring drought affect his backchecking/defensive effort in general. They will need at least more of the same (if not a goal) to finish Montreal off.

-I'll take Mark Letestu over Fedotenko or Ponikarovsky any day. Letestu is always around the puck and seems this close to scoring a goal. The other two seem bored to be to playing.

-Did Craig Adams have the hardest legal hit of the year at the end of the first? Wow.

-And again, great things happen when Kris Letang hits the net.

Will this frustrating series end on Monday? Or will the Canadiens find a way to send it back to Pittsburgh for potentially the final Mellon Arena showdown? Who knows at this point? Not me. I had this series over two games ago.

Bookcases and Links

A week and a half ago I ordered a bookcase. It came on Thursday (way before it was supposed to and with free shipping, so far so good) and I was all prepared to put it together and rearrange my basement room accordingly this afternoon.....I then open the box and see there are no instructions, no way to attach the various pieces together and neither of the two legs. Awesome and about as frustrating as listening to Anthony or Jim try to justify their ridiculous arguments.

I just emailed the company asking the missing parts be shipped out, and won't throw them under the bus yet. Its possible that stuff fell out of the box during the UPS process as they definitely weren't careful with the box. It was somewhat busted open at the one end.

So, instead of spending my afternoon building, I present to you some random links:

-Deadspin and Mondesi's House comment about the Ben Roethlisberger Sports Illustrated article and the media in general. I wanted to write something about this subject (mainly the revelation that KDKA withheld a Ben story more than once) but these guys sum up my opinion better than I could.

-Fangraphs sees some good signs from the Pirates offense. If only they could avoid having two guys tagged out at third base on one play...

-According to Empty Netters, Guerin should be back tonight and may replace Ponikarovsky. NHL trade that has worked out worse...Devils getting Kovalchuk or the Penguins getting Ponikarovsky?

-The always classy New England Patriots disappoint some middle school kids. I think someone should be suspended under the personal conduct policy.

-And America's Finest News Source has a different take on the Buccos and how to deal with the struggles.

Have a Safe Trip, Don't Hurry Back?

Maybe Anthony should leave the country more often?....On the first day he is gone, the Pirates go out and destroy the Cubs 11-1 for their first blowout victory of the year.  If him leaving is what it takes to get the Bucs rolling and winning a game by more than a run or two, I'll take that trade off. Nicaragua can have him....

How about Anthony's favorite Bucco whipping boy Andy Laroche? He walked 3 times and scored 3 runs in the blowout. He's holding steady at .320/.407/.467 for a .874 OPS with 3 homeruns.

Jason Bay? Now .238/.345/.376 with one home run and a .721 OPS.

I know, I know....Its way early, small sample size for the stats, etc...But let's enjoy it anyway.

Don't go Birdside, go Bayside!

Brian argued that the Pirates may have the last laugh in the Jason Bay trade. Let me see if I capture the essence of your argument, Bird.

We have a 3rd basemen who might be a good enough hitter that if he gets moved second base might be top five in the National League? And a pitcher that we hope no longer stinks in A-ball? (But look at the guy's picture... I can't wait to root for that.)

Weaker than the bones of your air-friendly skeleton, Birdman. And you completely lost me with the stats... weren't you the guy just chiding Anthony about sample size?

You're right that Jason Bay has some flaws. But no list of these flaws would include "wasn't a huge trading chip in 2008." Think of it in reverse: if the Pirates wanted to move LaRoche and Morris today for a proven player, what could they get? Not Franklin Gutierrez, and certainly not Cliff Lee, who were offered together by Cleveland for Bay and Ronny bleepin' Paulino. The Pirates thought they deserved more and nixed it.

Oh, by the way - if you've got twenty bucks, I've got a paper and pencil that could be an OK letter someday.

Properly Evaluating the Jason Bay Trade

July 31st, 2008. The Pirates trade Jason Bay to the Red Sox. The Red Sox send Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers and Craig Hansen/Brandon Moss to the Pirates. The Dodgers send Andy Laroche and Bryan Morris to the Pirates.

The trade was initially viewed as a win for the Pirates by the national media. However, because of Moss' struggles, a freak nerve disorder to Hansen, Morris' rough 2009, and Laroche not being Mike Schmidt at 3B in his first year in the majors (not to mention being the brother of a guy who wasn't the most popular Bucco), it has seemingly been "officially" ruled a disaster of epic proportions by most.

However, I do not think it is that simple. As trades for multiple prospects often do over time, this one might ultimately end up in the Bucs' favor after all.

How you ask? An update on the important players in the trade:

-Jason Bay left the Red Sox in Winter 2009 and signed with the Mets. All in all, the Red Sox got what they expected offensively from Bay, but watched him play defense that can be nicely described as "statuesque" in the tiny Fenway Park LF. Not so nicely put...he made Manny Ramirez look like Roberto Clemente out there. The Red Sox were unwilling to offer the number of years Bay wanted due to concerns they had regarding his knees. I think its fair to say the Pirates should not have kept a guy with questionable knees to patrol the giant LF at PNC Park for years to come, no matter what he brought offensively. Well, at least not for the money the Mets gave him. By the way, the 31 year old Bay has a .774 OPS and 1 homerun so far in 2010.

-Andy Laroche seems to only be getting better and at age 26 should be just now coming into his prime. He is hitting .323 with a .397 OBP in 2010. If he stays anywhere near those numbers (or even .280 with a .350 or so OBP) after a likely move to 2B when Pedro Alvarez comes up, he could be an all star and top five second baseman in the National League. 2B who can hit are not easy to find. From a pure "Wins above Replacement Player" view, Laroche added 2.5 wins to the Pirates total in 2009. He could end up close to the 5.0 wins Bay added to Boston last year by the time 2010 is over.

-Bryan Morris may have turned the corner. After a rough 2009 that included a short team imposed suspension, he has been almost unhittable in 2010. He has a 0.98 ERA in 27 2/3 innings with 26 Ks and 3 walks. Looking at his numbers, the suspension might actually have been the wake up call he needed. He will soon be in AA and could be on target for a late 2011 call up. He just turned 23 in March.

So in 2011 or 2012, the Pirates could very well have an above average starting 2B and a #2 or #3 starter (anything from Moss or Hansen is a bonus) for a guy who was involved with one playoff series victory in Boston and likely had no future in Pittsburgh. That seems like a pretty good trade return to me.

Neil Huntington only had one great trading chip -more on that some other time- is his quest to rebuild the Pirates. He cashed it in and I think there is a good chance he ultimately has the last laugh.....