New and Notes After Another Bad Loss

.Well another bad loss, that probably shouldn't have happened. First of all what the hell was with the shift in the third. Ok, i will buy that you shift for Ryan Howard, but with the bases loaded and two outs and two strikes. Naturally the Pirates made it worse by pitching him outside so he has a chance to go the other way.

Not only that, why isn't John Russell shifting Andy Laroche over instead of Ronny Cedeno? Cedeno offers more range on the infield in that situation. Naturally the ball was hit right to where Cedeno would have made an easy play and Laroche had no chance.

Next batter Jason Werth then hits a 3-run HR. Sorry JR, those five runs should have been charged to you. That's bad baseball.

Before I complain about JR some more, you can click HERE to listen to my post-game report for tonight's game.

-More JR bitching. Yesterday vs. the Cubs, down a run in the 9th, why is Delwyn Young pinch hitting against Carlos Marmol instead of Jeff Clement. You're playing for the long ball in that situation and Clement took marmol deep the day before. No guarantee he does it again, but why leave a bullet left in you gun? Again, more bad managing. 

Also, if he was planning on lifting Ross Ohlendorf after one batter in the seventh, then why bother even letting him hit with two runners on?  It's not like he was laboring, having only thrown 73 pitches.  Makes you wonder is Russell has the ability to think ahead during a game.  He hasn't shown it.

This team can lose games on it's own, they don't need the manager losing game for them.

-I am a big Charlie Morton fan, but it's time to send him down to the minors for some tweaking. He has all the tools but something isn't right. Maybe he's tipping pitches or maybe he's throwing to the worst catcher in baseball; though the Pirates would never figure that out. They will keep running him out there to fail. Something has to be done to get this kid back on track. He has shown that he can pitch at the major league level, it's time to get him to be consistent every time out.

-Staring tomorrow, I will start to break down where the Pirates are at the major league level position by position, but it's time to end the Aki Iwumara experiment and bring Neil Walker up and give him and Delwyn Young the majority of the time there. They can do better that 0 for his last 27 and 2 for his last 48. This guy has Freddy Sanchez range at second base which is the same as saying he has no range.

-Minor League Notes. Bryan Morris and his 0.60 era this season has been promoted to Altoona and rumors are he will see AAA before long. Those who bitch about the Bay trade keep forgetting that Morris was the big piece of it. If Morris pans out and Laroche keeps playing well then it was a good deal.

Other minor league note- One of the top prospects in the system, who I love to rave about- Starling Marte will have hand surgery tomorrow and miss 6-8 weeks. It's the same surgery Pedro Alvarez had while at Vandy and he made a full recovery, so there should be no worries.

-Tomorrow I will look at the catcher position, which you Ryan Doumit Hater's will love.  By the way, what was with those throws?  has there ever been a worse throwing catcher?  I can't think of one of the top of my head.

Who's Gone and Who's New- Looking at the Offseason so far

Well as usual, not much to report as far as the Bucs offseason so far.  Any rumors aren't likely real anyway, so why bother with most of them.

Here is what has happened so far:

•Acquired/Re-signed: Justin Thomas, Akinori Iwamura, Chris Jakubauskas, Wilfredo Ledezma, Vinnie Chulk, Bobby Crosby, John Raynor, Javier Lopez , Jack Taschner, Brian Burress, Neal Cotts, Tyler Yates
•Lost: Luis Cruz, Chris Bootcheck, Jesse Chavez, Eric Hacker, Robinzon Diaz, Phil Dumatrait, Matt Capps
 
-Recently departed Matt Capps said recently that the difference between his new employer (Nats) and his old one, was that the Pirates ownership had no commitment to winning.  Good for you Matt and truer words have never been spoken.
 
- Everyone still hate the Jay Bay trade?  look at that contact he just signed and then honestly tell me he would have stayed.  next question is that is Bay really a $60 mil kinda player?

-Did you happen to see Adam laroche turned down a 2yr/$17mil offer from the Giants? Aparrantly he wants a 3yr/$30mil deal. Are you kidding me?  Don't worry though, some idiotic GM will give it to him.

The Pittsburgh Pirates All-Decade Team

Here goes a kind of fun topic to debate.  With all of the losing and bad baseball, the last deade here in Pittsburgh has pretty much been forgettable.  However, there have been some good players here in the Burgh, all have since been traded. I wanted to take a look at the All-Decade Team of the Bucs.  I decided this by not only stats, but how many seasons spent here this deacde.  Some of the positions were no brainers, but otheres were a challenge to come up with a decent name.  So here is the All-Decade team, feel free to dispute this.

Catcher- Jason Kendall (2000-04)- This was an easy one to pick.  The Piates all-time leader in games caught was one of the more popular Bucs of the last 10 seasons.  Kendall played five seasons in The Burgh and led MLB in games and innings caught from 2002-04.  He rarely struck out and while having no power at the plate was a solid contact hitter while in Pittsburgh.   Runner up- Ryan Doumit

First Base- Adam Laroche (2007-09)- I know this will be a very unpopular choice among everyone, but he wins the job.  This goes to show how very little talent we have had in the system.  I looked at everybody and as unpopular as he is, Laroches just put up better numbers than the whole list of guys that include: Kevin Young (his best seasons were in the late 90's  he has very lousy numbers this decade), Randall Simon, Craig Wilson, Brad Eldred and so on.  Laroche averaged .270/22/85 during his tenure in Pittsburgh.  Runner-up- Young

Second Base- Freddy Sanchez (2004-09)- After being acquired and starting out at third base for the Bucs, Sanchez found a home a the Pirates everyday second baseman.  This was another easy selection.  Sanchez made two all star appearances and brought home a batting title in 2006 when he hit .344.  Runner up- Jose Castillio

Third base- Aramis Ramirez (2000-03) Oh I'd love to kick Dave Littlefield's ass for just giving away Ramirez, but it is what it is and atleast Rammy wins a job on this team. Aramis had fantastic seasons in 01, hitting .300/34/112 and 03 when he hit .282/27/106.  He also got better as a third baseman every season.  It was fun to watch him grow as a Pirate.  Runner up- Jose Bautista

Shortstop- Jack Wilson (2001-09)- Another no braineer here.  While I was never the biggest Wilson supporter, the guy was an amazing defensive shortstop.  While he never could find consistency with the bat, Jack dazzled with the glove.  The only thing we could count on in the last decade were Pirates lossess and Jack Wilson would be shown on Web Gems almost weekly.- Runner Up-  I don't really have a name for this, but I guess we have to give it to Abraham Nunez who got some time in 2000 and stuck around for a while as Wilson's backup.

Outfield- Brian Giles (2000-03) Giles likely brings home Pirate player of the Decade also.  Homerun toals of 35,37 & 38 in 2000-03, while driving in 123, 95 & 103 in those seasons.  Giles was as consistent as any Bucco up until he got dealt.  His career hasn't been the same since he left (or since testing went into effect), but he was a good ball player while he was here.

Outfield- Jason Bay (2003-08)- Losing Giles brought us Jay Bay, who also put up some fine seasons in the Burgh. Bay became the first Bucco to win the Rookie of the Year in 2004 and hit over 21 HR and 84 RBI in all of his full seasons here.  His best two campaigns were in 2005, .306/32/101 and 2006 .286/35/109, both years he went to the all-star game.

Outfield-Nate McLouth (2005-09)- Wow, was this spot hard to find a deserving guy and I choose McLoth by default, because there really just isn't anyone else.  I actually almost chose McCutchen based on a hal;f of a season.  While I don't feel Nate has done enough to be a member of an all-decade team, his one big season in 2008, .276/26/94, trumps anything the rest of the list has done.  Runner Ups- Xavier Nady, Chris Duffy and Craig Wilson.

Starting Pitcher- Josh Fogg (2002-05) Boy this is sad.  If finding a third outfielder for this team wasn't hard enough,  try looking at the pitching numbers.  My original plan was to list five starters, but to hell with that.  The soft tossing Fogg wins this spot.  I'm telling you I looked at everyone's numbers from Kris Benson to Jason Schmidt to Ian Snell to Ollie Perez, to Zach Duke and unfortunatly Kip Wells.  Fogg's numbers have them beat.  No one has had more than one season of double digit wins except Fogg, who had three.  he was 12-12 in 2002, 10-9 in 03 and 11-10 in 04.  The era was kinda awful but no other pitcher has earned the right.  Runner up- Zach Duke.

Closer- Mike Williams (2000-02)- Difficult choice between Williams and Jose Smoke Mesa, but Williams wins.  Even though he was traded in the middle of his Bucco run and resigned, Williams posted seasons of 24 and 22 saves, but had a monster season in 02 of 46 saves.  There have been others along the way like Mike Fetters, Soloman Torres and Matt  Capps, but the nod goes to Williams.  Runner up- Mesa

My Thoughts on the Neil Huntington Rebuild

Many have asked about my overall opinion of Neil Huntington's rebuild of the Pittsburgh Pirates or for my letter grade of it, so here we go. This may be long so bear with me. First of all we are going to look at this as a 2 year rebuild, not just at the current trades of this season.

First I want to look at the guys that we dealt, since opening day 2008. In no particular order, they were: John Grabow, Jose Bautista, Tom Gorzelanny, Freddy Sanchez, Ian Snell, Jack Wilson, Adam Laroche, Nyjer Morgan, Sean Burnett, Nate Mclouth, Jason Bay, Damaso Marte, Xavier Nady, Soloman Torres and Ronny Paulino. A total of 15 guys that had spent time on the big league club the last two seasons.

For the most part, everyone on this list was under 28 and contributed somewhat at the MLB level. I will argue that we really didn't part with much at all. Aside from Bay, who went into an ideal situation, with a stacked lineup, where he will see a ton of fastballs; what did we give up? Maybe you can argue about Mclouth, but I still view him as a very good player, not a superstar. I would rather have Andrew McCutchen in center field than Mclouth, and that is no knock on Nate.

The rest of the list are just simply average to above average major leaguers. Most were upcoming free agents who weren't going to be here anyway. We really didn't give up anything other than a collection of guys who simply were not getting the job done in Pittsburgh. Most of these guys really had no value here and that includes Sanchez and Wilson. A total rebuild was necessary and that's what Neil Huntington did different than his predecessors. You can't rebuild a franchise like the Pirates by dealing one or two guys. The farm system needed replenished. Aside from Bay, none of the guys will be impact players for their new clubs. We really didn't give up anything of value. I thought Huntington said it best when he said, "It's not like we broke up the '27 Yankees."

Now, I will agree that a rebuild like this, requires taking on some risk. It requires an excellent job from the scouting department all the way up to the GM. This time they can't miss with their decisions. Do we know what we got with all the acquisitions? Not at all, and don't expect all these guys to pan out. Out of the 30 guys brought in since opening day 2008, if 15 prove to be solid major leaguers, then it was a great job by Huntington.

Now realize one thing, when Huntington took over the team, the cupboard was bare. Entirely empty. At the minor league level, there was McCutchen and Neil Walker. That's sad. The Pirates farm system was drained completely, by years of mismanagement. In Huntington's two seasons, he has tried to completely give the farm system a make over. You don't think he's doing it? Take a look a the current list of top 10 prospects. Only Brad Lincoln remains on that list from the Littlefield era. Now after the job Huntington did, Walker isn't viewed as a top 15 prospect. I'd say the makeover of the system is working.

The 30 guys brought in, in no particular order: Robinson Diaz, Jeff Clement, Andy Laroche, Lastings Milledge, Gorkys Hernandez, Jose Tabata, Tim Alderson, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, Jeff Locke, Argenis Diaz, Ross Ohlendorf, Delwyn Young, Nathan Adcock, Bryan Morris, Kevin Hart, Mariano Salas, Josh Harrison, Brett Lorin, Aaron Pribanic, Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen, Kevin Roberts, Jose Ascaino, Hunter Strickland, Ronny Cedeno, Tyler Yates, Charlie Morton, Joel Hanrahan and Jason Jaramillo (I hope I didn't leave anyone out). that list doesn't include finally having a couple of good drafts and even signing a guy like Garrett Jones. On paper, it looks like quite the haul in exchange for a bunch of guys who simply weren't in the plans.

It's entirely about value and how you value a certain player. All I hear is complaining that all we got was minor leaguers. Well, that's the point. The idea is to be able to compete for years to come, not just take a shot at .500 one season. While I see value in what we got in return, it is a hard thing to figure out how these guys will do at the MLB level. Could I be over valuing some of these guys? Sure. However, the Pirates fan base definitely is guilty of over valuing guys like Wilson, Sanchez Gorzo,etc. Like it or not, none of those guys brought anything to the table for the future. Take your blinders off and realize that we really didn't part with much during the last two years. Again, the goal is winning, not taking a run at.500.

Now from here on, everything is based on projections and how these guys do at the minor league level. I expect Clement, Milledge,Hernandez, Tabata and Alderson to be solid major leaguers with upside. That's five more than currently on the roster. Mostly everyone else projects into the next tier of guys that should get to the big leagues, especially the 3 arms acquired from Seattle. If a good portion of these guys succeed, then it was a good rebuild.

Now to the question on why we are just getting good prospects in return and not great ones. To start, I thought we did well with Alderson and Clement this week. First part of the answer is that top tier, home grown guys just aren't available anymore, especially arms. Secondly, we didn't have any talent to trade worthy enough of teams shelling out top prospects. We traded average guys with no upside. Which is why I was shocked the Giants parted with Alderson for Sanchez and that we got a guy like Clement in a deal for Wilson and Snell. I thought the whole process of Huntington worked. In each case he sold low and bought high. No longer did we trade trash for trash. We traded trash for upside and I am fine with it. I do feel it was important to rid itself of the losing culture that spreads throughout that locker room like a cancer.

Therefore, we really only brought in 2 big time prospects, but not by lack of trying. So as far as a letter grade, I give the whole process a solid B. Everyone brought in has some upside and something to offer this team in the future. Just look at the organization from March 2008 until today. We had zero power and now we have a few guys with major league power in the system, We had zero arms and now we have a ton of guys with not only potential, but serious arms strength. We are stacked at a few positions, most notably outfield and corner infielders.

I also feel it's important to create competition throughout the organization. We haven't had that in a long, long time. We have more talent all through the organization now, than at any point in the past. The guys currently on the MLB roster now get a chance to prove they belong. They can secure a job for years, by simply producing. If not, there are now guys behind them to push them for jobs. Healthy competition is always good.

Part two of the rebuild is soon to begin. I still expect Duke and Capps to be shipped out, either in August or in the off-season. Now the goal is to start filling in at the MLB level. Spring training will be fun to watch, as many of these guys will be given opportunities to win jobs. Some of the outfield prospects can now possibly be dealt to sure up other positions. So, Neil Huntington's work is no where near done.

Part 3 of the rebuild is on Bob Nutting and I don't know if that's a good thing. He absolutely has to start spending some money on the product on the field. In the next two seasons, we should be able to add quality on the free agent market (I say quality because I know superstars are out of the question). By 2011, there is no reason, a team like the Brewers, in a smaller market should have double the payroll as the Pirates. Fans got the worst news possible today, when Nutting announced that ownership will not change anytime in the near future.

However, this is it. I bought into the plan and have liked the results so far. The payroll is down to the $25-$30 mil range. It's time to start adding and most importantly, it's time to start winning. No more rebuilds. This is the group that the organization likes, well let's start producing and winning. The goal here is 2011 and 2012.

McCutchen Makes a Statement

Andrew McCutchen made a statement last night with his 4-5, 3Hr,6 RBI & 4 runs game last night in an 11-6 victory over the Nats. The statement pretty much says that even at the young age of 22, that after the latest round of trades, this is now his team. In just 51 games at the MLB level, Cutch is batting .293 with 6 HR and 31 RBI's out of the leadoff spot, and could be well on his way to a Rookie of the Year Award.

The reason I say it's his team now is simple.......He's a stud. Over the last decade, the Bucs have had several good players and a couple very good players (Bay, Ramerez,etc.), but they haven't had a stud. That's part of the reason we don't win. Cutch is capable of doing anything on the baseball diamond. He is blessed with enormous speed which makes him a great center fielder. Most of the times, opponents will have to hit it out of the park to get it over his head. He has an above average arm as well, but that is one part of his game that needs some work.

The thing I like the most about the young stud is his approach at the plate. He is a gap to gap guy, but as he showed last night, he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. I love the approach though. He is poised and seems like he can handle any situation. The one thing I don't want to see is Cutch start trying to hit the ball over the fence. Keep the approach the same. He is also a fantastic base runner. his speed showed last night when he scored on a double to left from first base. The only thing I would like to see more out of Andrew is for him to run more. He is currently 9 for 9 stealing bases, but I would like to see him be more aggressive.

McCutchen is the difference between the past Pirates and the present/future Pirates. He is the player, the rebuild is centered around, and he is the player to start leading to Pirates to success in the future. So, why wait ? Make this Cutch's team right now. Am I jumping the gun after just 51 games? I don't believe so. You can tell when a guy is a legit major leaguer and this guy flat out is.

Face it, we haven't had many blue chip athletes around here the last 16 years. It's time for the young McCutchen to take control of this team and show what he is and what he will become. That is simply the best Bucco since a guy named Bonds.