Pedro-Palooza begins

Let the fun begin.  The best and most hyped Pirates prospect since none other than Barry Lamar Bonds finally got the call the the show last night. He advanced through the Pirates system in a little over a year.  It's center stage for Pedro Alvarez as he should be in the lineup tonight, likely batting fourth or fifth, playing third base.

While I'm very excited to see Pedro up here, the Pirates dropped the ball on him big time.  So a little over a week ago, Pedro was deemed not ready when Jose Tabata and Brad Lincoln were promoted.  Neil Huntington said "We will bring Pedro up when we feel he is ready."

So what happened in a week?  Two days ago, NH reiterated that Alvarez "wasn't ready" and suddenly he gets the call he should have gotten a while ago. He didn't just magically become "ready" in the span of a week.
I personally agreed with Huntington though.  What's the rush?  The Pirates aren't competing this season, so to promote the guy, they had to be sure.  He has improved hitting lefties and will strike out a lot at the major league level, but I could care less about that.  Power hitters are supposed to strike out.  I want to see runs being driven in.  He's obviously ready, so why all of the smoke screens?

If the Pirates were smart, they would have announced days in advance that Alvarez was coming up tonight.  Look at how the Nationals handled Stephen Strasburg.  They generated a buzz and filled the ballpark.  All we hear about from the Nutting's is them whining about attendance.  Well, they had the perfect opportunity to start to do something about it and quite frankly dropped the ball.

That's the difference between well run organizations and the way the Pirates are being run.

Alvarez will sell tickets, but the Pirates could do a better job as well.  What should we expect?  i would expect the Pirates to start scoring around the league average, which is about 4.5 runs per game for the rest of the season.  they are currently well below that mark.

Haven't seen Alvarez swing the bat yet?  Well this is what you should expect.



I think it's fantastic that we finally have a guy get to the big leagues so quickly.  Trust me, many more are on the way.  While Pedro will do fine on his own, if the Pirates got behind him right, maybe some people wouldn't lose interest as soon as Steelers training camp starts.

One final note, to make room for Alvarez on the roster, the Pirates DFA'd Aki Iwamura.  that should make many of you happy.

Why the revolving Lineups?

Before I get into this, I read a couple different draft experts ranking the draft.  Two had the Pirates as the best draft, one had them ranked second and the other fourth.  That's a real good sign that things are turning in the right direction, providing they sign their picks. One said, "How can you not like what the Pirates have done?  They get the top two arms in the draft."  I like to hear praise like that.

Now onto today's issue.  Is anyone besides me tired of seeing a different lineup every game?  Let the talent play.  That's why they are starters.  I'm all for giving a guy a day off every now and then, but how can John Russell expect his regulars to hit with any type of consistency when they aren't playing consistently?  You don't need to keep your bench guys real fresh when they don't produce

It often appears that JR is picking his lineup out of a hat.  Guys like Crosby and Aki don't need regular AB's.  The other thing that drives me crazy is that every time someone seems to be going good for a couple days, he finds himself on the bench.

Clement started swinging the bat good, hitting the ball hard and suddenly he didn't play for four days.  Delwyn Young goes 2-4 with a homer and double then doesn't play.  This has happened all season.  I'm surprised he has the sense to keep writing Cutch's name in there everyday.  This is not the way to handle young players, especially when the team isn't going anywhere.

Suddenly, the conspiracy theorists are out.  Now we hear that Neil Huntington is telling JR who to play everyday.  I can't believe this is happening, or the Pirates are in much worse shape than even I thought.  I don't think either guy looks at scouting reports or anything.  I truly believe JR is just guessing everyday and hoping he gets lucky with the right eight guys.

Also I've heard Huntington is sabotaging the team.  For what?  To cost himself his job?  While I've been very happy with the guys he's brought in via trade the guys he brought in via free agency haven't been so good.  To his defense, he wasn't going after good free agents, he was going after cheap bodies to fill spots.  he was hoping to get lucky with a guy or two the same way he did with Garrett Jones.  Now isn't the time anyways to load up with free agents.  It is the time though to see exactly what you have with some of these guys and you can't do that by not playing them.

It's a little to late to be tanking it.  Don't give them that much credit.  If they were that smart, we would have David Price, Steven Strasburg and Bryce Harper as well.  The fact is that they are trying to win.  It's taking some time, but I'm still liking what I see down on the farm.

Russell has tried everything from batting the pitcher 8th to moving Cutch all around the order.  I really believe JR is out of options and just flipping the coin on guys.

To JR's defense (and that will be the only time those words will EVER come out of my mouth), his third baseman has 12 RBI's in the middle of June and his current right fielder having 17.  His five bench guys have a total of 46 so it doesn't get much better.

Right now this lineup stinks after the first 4 hitters.  However, he has to keep playing Laroche and Milledge.  Sitting them down every other game doesn't help one bit.

While it's true JR doesn't have the talent right now and maybe he should get the chance to see this rebuild through, I'm still not convinced he's the man for the job.  Pull the trigger on his job and bring in a more established manager like a Willie Randolph or a Phil Garner. This just is flat out not working.

Around the Diamond- Part 3- Second Base

Well Ryan Doumit had another big hit last night after I suggested they start batting him seventh.  No pressure on him now.  It's on to Part Three of my position by position analysis.  Both catcher and first base need upgrades.  Though if Doumit keeps hitting and Garrett Jones becomes the everyday first baseman, then those positions have immediately upgraded.

It's on to second base, which just happens to be the worst position, both offensively and defensively on the diamond.  So far, we've seen Aki Iwamura, Bobby Crosby and Delwyn Young see time there.

Let's start with Aki.  The nicest way to say it is that this guy sucks.  What is it about that Pirates uniform that just brings out the worst in good ball players?  I don't feel like looking up the exact numbers at the moment, but you know how bad he's been.  What is he like 4 for his last 60 after his gift triple last night?

On the season, Aki is hitting a whopping .166/2hr/8rbi.  YET, JR keeps throwing him out there and YET JR keeps batting him lead off.  I can't explain this at all.

What's more disturbing, is what happened to his range defensively?  If you watched him in Tampa, this guy was a talented ball player and a pretty good second baseman.  Now, he can't catch the ball if it's not hit right at him.  He also may be the worst in the league at turning the double play.  There is no way, the Pirates did the proper homework on his knee injury last season.  There has to be some effects from that.

Looking at the other two offensively, Crosby is hitting .236/1/6 in limited time, but he has shown he can't play second base as well.  Young is hitting .246/1/9.  We know from last season that he isn't really a second baseman, but what's funny is that he is better defensively than the other two.

What to do?  First, get Aki out of the lineup.  However, they won't do that, because then they would be admitting to a mistake.  I'd say deal him, but he has little trade value now.  Either put him on the bench or outright release him and eat the money.

Who should play second then?  Right now, I'd say give the job to Young.  He's no worse defensively than the others and at least he offers something offensively.  They can mix in spot starts with Crosby and Aki, but give DY the majority of the time.

Option two is to give Neil Walker a long look here.  I'd be more in favor of this, but Neil Huntington made it clear that Walker will only be a corner utility guy.  Really? then what was the point of having him play a lot of middle infield this year at AAA?  Why is he up here then if he is going to be mostly a bench player?  The reasoning just doesn't make much sense.

Option three is probably the most popular and that means calling Pedro Alvarez up and moving Andy Laroche to second.  I would be in favor of that, but the only problem is that we don't know if Andy can play second.  I think he could but that doesn't always translate.  Also, Laroche has done nothing to lose his job right now at third base.

I'd like to see Young or Walker get a ton of at bats here in the short term.  Either way, they have to get Aki out of the lineup.  Though you know as well as I do that JR will run him out there every day and bat him lead off.

There is no immediate help in the minors, but keep your eye on Josh Harrison, who was acquired in the Grabow/Gorzo deal, and Jim Negrych, the former Pitt star.  Both are currently at Altoona and performing well.  Harrison is hitting over .300 and has a very good glove.  Negrych is back on the map as a prospect.  The power hasn't returned but is also having a pretty solid season, driving in 22 runs while hitting .275 so far. Other than that, they really don't have another second base prospect in the system.

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.

Frustrating Loss to Cardinals

Last night's 4-3 loss to the Cardinals was one of the more frustrating we will probably see all season.  With all of the blowouts and 20-0 beat downs we have witnessed so far this season, last night was probably the first time all season that the Bucs truly gave a game away.

Sure there were two errors, one each by Ronny Cedeno and Andy Laroche that led to three unearned runs against Zach Duke, who otherwise threw a pretty good ballgame.

Sure Chris Capenter threw a good ballgame for the Cardinals, but the Pirates had chances, but couldn't get that extra hit in an inning to cause any damage, leaving 11 runners on base in the process.

Sure Laroche made a huge base running blunder in the 8th that killed what should have been a big inning for the Pirates.

Despite all that, this game should have been won by the Pirates except for one big huge liability- John Freakin Russell.  Good ol' Jr cost them this one.

Two big calls by JR practically ripped a victory away from the Pirates.  First if all in the fifth, with 2 outs, Russell has Laroche in motion and he is thrown out easily trying to steal second.  I didn't like this call at all. Not with Andrew McCutchen up at the plate and Garrett Jones following.  Laroche scores anyway from first on a gap shot with 2 outs.  I will buy the fact that he was trying to get Laroche in scoring position or that even if he was thrown out, Cutch would lead off the next inning, but why risk that there?

All your doing is assuring that your best hitter will be batting with no one on base.  If you have Cutch batting third, let him swing the stick with a runner on base.  Jones has been hot as well.  Instead of a potential two-out rally, Jr ran them out of the inning.  There are times to pick your spots and run that helps win ball games and Russell just hasn't figured that out in three years.

The big blow from Russell came in the 9th though.  After Joe Mather stole second (great slide by Mather, but Aki Iwumara has to make that tag).  With a runner on second and first base open, JR elects to pitch to Yadier Molina.  Molina is a Pirates killer and had already reached base in his first four at bats.  What the hell are they pitching to him there for?  Even when the count got to be 2-0 and then 3-0, I thought for sure they would put him on.  Of course not.  Molina laced the game winning double to right center.

Why in the world is he pitching to him there?  That's just bad baseball and even worse managing and it cost the Pirates a game they should have won.

Examining The Offense

I have many topics I'd like to get into this week and I should get to at least three of them by weeks end.

I put everything else on hold to look at a major problem of this team and that's the offense.  No one has been good, especially the four guys pictured to the left. (if your scoring at home, that's Aki, Jones, Church & Clement)

What have we seen throughout the first month?  We've seen gimmick batting orders- batting the pitcher eighth and your best hitter second.  We've seen many questionable manager decisions from John Russell- running themselves out of many innings, not bunting in bunting situations, the constantly rotating batting order, etc.  However, the blame can't all really be placed on the manager here.  Eventually, the guys on the field have got to start hitting the ball.

The approach is lousy.  I don't know if hitting coach Don Long is the problem or if these guys just aren't getting it.  How many guys not named Aki Iwamura can hit the ball the other way?  Also, can anyone on this team hit a breaking ball?  Everyone of them can be had on a breaking ball that ends up below the knees. I don't know how they ever see fastballs.  Speaking of fastballs, that's the other problem. These guys are just flat-out missing hittable fastballs. Those are pitches that need to be driven.

More problems- there is no power.  Also, every time we actually do get runners on, you can bet someone is going to try and pull a pitch that shouldn't be pulled and hit into a double play.

The main thing that this team is lacking right now is consistency.  I'm talking about consistency from game to game, but I'm also, more importantly talking about consistency from at bat to at bat.  Every single one of these guys have shown at times in the first month that they can do the job at the plate, but nobody can sustain anything positive.

Let's look at some numbers after one month:
-Andrew McCutchen- .288/4Hr/8RBI- Cutch is fine.  Numbers would be better if JR didn't stick him in the 2-hole for much of the first month.  Though I have a minor concern that he's pulling a lot of balls right now-especially with runners on base.

-Lastings Milledge- .233/0/6- I do like his line drive approach.  I'm concerned that there is no power.  He shouldn't be batting third.  I don't totally mind him leading off but he's a 6 or 7 hitter.  I'm very concerned about him swinging at every low breaking ball that he has no chance to hit.  Needs to be more selective.

-Aki Iwamura- .213/2/8- I like the fact that he likes to go the other way.  I don't like the fact that his approach totally changes with runners on.  You get guys on base and this guy will swing at everything and suddenly becomes pull happy.

-Garrett Jones- .221/4/15- I've liked his patience with nobody on.  I don't like that he tries to do to much with guys on base.  That's natural though.  he's just pressing too much.  If he had a bat behind him to protect him then I think the numbers would be better.  I have been concerned with him missing many hittable fastballs of late.

-Ronny Cedeno-.203/2/6-  How bad would his number be if you take out the first 10 games? Golden rule- If you bounce it then Ronny will swing at it.  He's in like a 4-48 slump with no end in sight.  Maybe it's time to say batting the pitcher 8th was a real dumb idea with a guy like Cedeno batting 9th.

-Ryan Doumit-.308/3/12- He's been hot.  You can tell when he's going good when he's hitting the ball to center and left fields (batting left handed).  As much as I don't like him, him hitting well is essential for this team.  If he can stay hot then the lineup become deeper.  Take out a big two week slump and his numbers would be nice.

-Jeff Clement- .171/3/5- I like this guy but he's gotta start producing.  he's been a victim of bad luck, often hitting the ball hard that results in outs.  He also showed a good seven game stretch where he showed what type of bat he could have.  The Pirates desperately need his power, which he has a ton, but he can't live on promise- he has to start hitting consistently.  He can't hit a breaking ball right now and he's gearing up too much for fastballs and over swinging when he gets them.

-Andy Laroche- .323/2/6- He went on a tear when he came back from a stiff back, but how does this guy ever get a hit?  I like Andy a lot and think he could be a decent major leaguer, but this guy pulls everything.  If you have guys on base, he is a rally killer.  He has to start using all fields.  Every ball he hits is going to third or short.  If other teams played a shift on him, he wouldn't ever get a hit.

-Ryan Church- .273/0/4-  Take out the opening day bases loaded double and Church has driven in only one run in close to 50 at bats since.  Russell has continued to bat him between third and fifth in the lineup and he hasn't produced a thing.  He's a true pro which I like, but just like everyone else, he has to start hitting.

-Delwyn Young- .200/0/4-  He wins the Mr. March award for great spring training player.  If Young isn't going to hit then why is he here?  It's certainly not because of his lousy glove.  To his defense, pinch hitting isn't easy, but he's had some starts as well.  his approach is awful.  A guy could throw 10 straight balls out of the strike zone and you can bet that Young will come up and swing at the first three pitches.

-Bobby Crosby-  .265/1/5- Not much to say here except he isn't very good, though he looks like Ty Cobb compared to Cedeno.

-Jason Jaramillo-. 200/1/4- not enough at bats to comment on, but he's a good backup catcher.  Not too much to complain about.

The Pirates are hitting .234 as a team (last in the league). They have hit 22 homers which is tied for eight in the league.  Can you believe the Astros have only hit 9 homers?  The Bucs are next to last in the league with only 86 runs scored.  They have a lousy .310 OBP, also next to last in the league and they are only slugging .363 as a team.

You can see all the offensive problems.  Hopefully this team can get three or four people going at the same time and at the end of May I will have something positive to write.

Time to go back to a Traditional Batting Order

It was kind of fun bashing John Russell the other day so let's do it again. (For everyone that sent emails or text complementing me on the post- Thank You)

What is with the gimmack batting order? I'm tired of this already also.  Let's look at the numbers first. After today's game, the Pirates have scored in exactly seven of their last 60 innings. NOT GOOD.
They have scored three runs or less in ten of their 18 games, and the best one is......... Wait for it.......... They have been outscored 130-62 so far in 18 games.  That's a run differential of -68.  Again, NOT GOOD.

Now, most of the run differential can be attributed to the pitching staff (I will get to them tomorrow), but alot of it is on the offense just as well.

Problem 1- Why is Andrew McCutchen batting second.  I will tell you why, because John Russell wants to make things appear like he is managing this team.  It makes no sense.  By batting Cutch second, you take his aggressiveness away from him.  He's never gonna see a fastball to hit batting second.

Why? Because by batting Cutch second, JR has taken the guessing game away from the other manager.  With a guy on, are they ever going to bunt or hit and run with their best hitter?  Of course they aren't and the other manager knows that.  Therefore, he sees breaking ball after breaking ball with runners on until he gets to a three ball count.  Batting Cutch leadoff, he is naturally going to see more fastballs to hit because the other pitcher doesn't want to walk him, allowing him to steal a base or two.

Cutch's numbers are a little down, but he has had to work hard for what he's gotten so far.  Move him back to the leadoff spot and the numbers will begin to rise again.  Aki Iwamura is a more than capable two-hole hitter.  He can handle the bat.  He is better suited to bat second anyways.  They could take advantage of that ability to lay down bunts and hit and run with him.  I have no idea what the thought process going into batting Aki leadoff and Cutch second.

I don't want to hear about that by batting the pitcher eighth and Ronny Cedeno ninth, Cutch will drive in more runs.  Granted the math supports batting the pitcher eighth if you have an Albert Puljos, Ryan Braun or Ryan Howard.  Last time I checked, the Pirates didn't.

The numbers suggest it isn't working.  Through 18 games, the eighth spot (pitcher) in the order has stranded 32 base runners- nearly 2 a game.  More often than not, lateley; they've come up with men on and two out. In contrast, the 9-1-2 combo that Russell figured would drive in so many more runs have driven in a total of 16 runs- or less than 1 per game and only have 3 RBI's combined in the last 12 games. 

It worked for a short time early, with Ronny Cedeno benefiting the most batting in the ninth spot.  Now that Cedeno has cooled off drastically, combined with Cutch not getting good pitches to hit; it's time to realize that the experiment is flat out not working.

I could also go on about having Ryan Doumit in an RBI spot that he's not capable of producing in, but there isn't many other options for Russell there so i won't go on a rant about that. This apparantly is JR's form of managing, putting people in situations that they are doomed to fail in. 

Put Cutch back in the leadoff spot and Aki in the two hole.  Bat the pitcher ninth.  Andy Laroche will likely benefit from it as well.  Just another reason that John Russell has to go and has to go soon.  Again, Neil Huntington.  Make a change and make it soon

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly of Week 1

Well, it took seven games to get below .500, if you took the over, well then you likely are a winner.  I haven't gotten around to writing much this week because I have been deathly ill (Doctor was unable to determine if the cause of the sickness was due the the Pirates pitching lately, but maybe I need a second opinion).

So after a week, I still have a decent buzz about this team.  Like everyone else, its not nearly the buzz after a 2-0 start, but unlike everyone else, I didn't expect them to win the World Series afer two games.  Good news is the Reds come to town so maybe they can win two out of three at home (a little cheap shot at my friend Michael Hammons Big Red machine)

Well let's get into discussing.

THE GOOD
- Zach Duke's two starts have been somewhat impressive.  I know I'm hard on the guy, but this is the way he should be expected to pitch pretty much everytime out.  Let's hope Duke has a third solid start on Friday.  So far Duke is 2-0 with a 3.00 era in 12.0 ip.  I will take that.

THE BAD
- All other starters have combined for a 12.31 era

THE UGLY
- Daniel Mccutchen's fourth inning in which the D'backs scored a whopping 13 runs. (not all were charged to McCutchen but 9 overall were)

THE GOOD
- Charlie Morton's first 2 innings on Friday in which the first 5 outs came by strike out

THE BAD
-Charlie Morton's third and fourth innings where he continued to fall behind in the count and looked likie a different pitcher.

THE UGLY
- Ryan Doumit calling a lousy game for Morton.  If Adam Laroche said the D'Backs knew what was coming befor Doumit even called it, after the first time threw the order, that's not a good sign of a catcher being able to adjust when calling a game at the MLB level.

THE GOOD
-Octavio Dotel and most of the guys in the bullpen pounded the zone for the most part and showed they can get people out.

THE BAD
-Hayden Penn was lousy in three appearences.  The Dodgers first six batters got hits off penn in his Bucco debut.

THE UGLY
- Have I mentioned Hayden Penn?

THE GOOD
- Garrett Jones three homers in his first five at bats.

THE BAD
- Jones has had only 1 hit the last five games

THE UGLY
- There is no one to protect Jones.  Jones and Ryan Doumit are a combined 1 for their last 27

THE GOOD
- Not Ryan Doumit

THE BAD
-Ryan Doumit

THE UGLY
- Wait for it........ Wait for it....... Did you guess Ryan Doumit?

THE GOOD
-The Pirates have been agressive on the basepaths, going a perfect 8 for 8 swiping bags so far

THE BAD
-When your down 10 runs in half of your games, you can't utilize your speed and run much

THE UGLY
-Ryan Doumit....... I'm sorry, i couldn't resist

THE GOOD
- Aki Iwumura and Ronny Cedeno are off to surprising good starts

THE BAD
-Those are the only two off to good starts.

THE UGLY
-The next time someone gets a big hit with guys on base will be the first since Ryan Church's pinch hit opening day double.  Someone's gotta pick it up.

THE GOOD
- I've been happy so far with both Jeff Clement and Lastings Milledge.  The numbers will improve for both.  It's also encoraging to see the way Milledge is hustling all the time.  A sign of a guy taking things like it's his last opportunity.

THE BAD
- I like batting Milledge in the three hole, but he also must show some power.  He has had some bad luck early. scorching some balls right at people. However, if you bat Milledge third, Somehow, somewhere you have to protect Jones in the lineup or he won't see another good pitch to hit all season.

THE UGLY
- I can't resist.  Ryan Doumit.  He just isn't capable of batting in a run producing spot. With the way Cedeno and Aki have gotten on base early, batting the pitcher #8 isn't that terrible, but Doumit shouldn't be hitting above seventh.  He's lousy (Just watch, after I ripped him to death, he will have a huge game tonight)

FINALLY THE GOOD
- It's only been seven games.  We've got a lot of Bucco baseball to look forward to. (Technically, depending on your perspective, that last statement could also qualify as THE BAD & THE UGLY for you as well)

Take care and I will have something tomoorow as well.  If you haven't yet, go to http://www.lexy.com/ and follow our Pirates broadcat for the year.

Discussion- 2010 Lineup

John Russell has shown his new look lineup the past couple spring games and says it's likely to be the lineup for most of this season.  Biggest things about it is that Aki Iwumara will leadoff while Andrew McCutchen will bat second.  Also the pitcher will bat eighth this season.


Looking at it top to bottom
1. Iwumara 2b
2. McCutchen cf
3. Jones rf
4. Doumit c
5. Milledge lf
6. Clement 1b
7. Laroche 3b
8. Pitcher
9. Cedeno ss

First, do you like Cutch batting in the 2 hole?  If you buy into the theory that the leadoff guy is really only guarenteed to lead off an inning once then I guess it makes sense.  Aki is capable of doing the job in the leadoff spot.  The idea of batting Cedeno 9th is to have have two leadoff hitters batting back to back to get men on base for Cutch and Jones.  If that's the case bat Cutch third. 

You know Cutch won't be sacraficing like many two hole hitters or hitting behind the runner and why should he when he is your best player.  My fear is that there goes any fundamental team baseball the Bucs would play.

Batting the pitcher 8th?  Does it really matter?  Overall I'm not really a huge fan of the constructed lineup, but I don't hate it either. I think they will be solid 1-3.  If Doumit, Milledge and Clement can have decent years then the Bucs could surprise some people and score some runs.

Look, things weren't working the traditional way so it can't hurt to try something new.  Your thoughts?

McCutchen wins Fifth Spot in Rotation

Finally we have seen a job won and lost based on performance with the Buccos.  Daniel McCutchen has been named the teams fifth starter, beating out Kevin Hart for the job.  McCutchen has been impressive all spring, although not against major league hitters all of the time.  The main thing that won him the job has been his ability to throw strikes consistently.

That's exactly what cost Hart the job.  After struggling at the end of last season, going 1-8 as a Pirate, Hart couldn't figure out the strike zone this spring either, with an alarming walk rate.  While many in the organization still consider Hart to have the better stuff of the two, his inabilty to throw strikes led to him being one of eight cuts.

Some have said McCutchen doesn't have great stuff, but I disagree.  His fastball may only top out at around 92, but he has pretty decent command of his two-seamer and breaking stuff and generally keeps the ball down in the zone.

While winning the fifth starter competition is big for McCutchen, it's not that big of a deal for the Pirates right off the bat.  Up until April 24th, the Bucs will only need to use their fifth starter once, on April 11th.

In addition to Hart, the Bucs also cut Chris Jakubauskas and Neil Walker- all three will be sent to AAA.  Brian Myrow, Hector Giminez, Brian Burress, Wil Ledezma and Jean Machi were all assigned to minor league camp.

OTHER NOTES
-Zach Duke was named opening day starter.  No surprise, but I didn't feel he was worthy off it.  I feel Ross Ohlendorf or Paul Maholm would have been a better choice.

-Octavio Dotel has been throwing to batters and should be ready for opening day.

- Not that spring averages mean much, but several pencilled in regulars have not swung the bat well.  All hitting under .200 for the spring are Aki Iwumara (.199), Jeff Clement (.194), Andy Laroche (.194) and Brandon Moss (a whopping .038)

-Former Bucco Nate McLouth is only 1 for 30 on the spring with 15 K's.

-Bucs got shelled by the Astros today 11-1.

Around the Diamond- Second Base

Looking at the second base job, which was a mess after the Freddy Sanchez trade (which will turn out to be a great trade), the Bucs sured up the position by acquiring Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Rays, shortly after the World Series last season.

This improves the position significantly.  While not an all-star, Iwamura is a solid glove man and he can handle the bat.  As long as he is healthy, Iwamura should do well batting in the 2-hole behind Andrew McCutchen.

Iwamura is a career .281 hitter, with little power.  Coming off knee surgery, I also don't look for him to do much in the running game.  What he can do though is have professional at bats.  He will be good at hitting behind the runner and moving guys up.  He should be a surprise to most Pirates fans that aren't used to seeing good fundamental baseball being played.

Aki will get most of the time this season and could be spelled by the likes of Bobby Crosby and Delwyn Young.  Ramon Vazquez, coming off a lousy 2009 is still in camp, but is a good bet to be dealt before the season begins.  Neil Walker is still in camp as well and has started taking ground balls at second.

One thing to keep an eye on is Pedro Alvarez.  When he gets the call this season, will Andy Laroche start to play some second base?  Easier said than done.  Look for Aki to stay there for the long haul this season.  he also could always be moved at the deadline if the team feels Laroche can play a solid second base

Position Grade compared to the rest of the league-  C+ -  A little above average.  Headed in the right direction, but no help from down on the farm.  Overall, a very thin position in the organization