Pirates Enjoying the Role of Spoiler

The Pittsburgh Pirates have waited all season long to get good outings from their starting rotation. Little did they know that they would have to wait until September against the first place Atlanta Braves. The Bucs received back-to-back solid outings from the likes of Brian Burres and James McDonald. While that’s great for the Pirates, it’s next to crippling for the Atlanta Braves.

While the Pirates are enjoying the the role of spoiler, the Braves offensive struggles have knocked them out of first-place for the time being. The Braves have no one to blame but themselves. Quite frankly there is no excuse for a team like the Braves to get shutdown on consecutive nights by a team that is 44 games under .500 and sports a major league worst 5.12 team era.


Quite frankly, a team that scores one run in 18 innings of play against the Pirates doesn’t really deserve to make the playoffs anyways.

The Braves can and likely will turn things around, but they have to get the bats going. The pitching is there.

One guy who will be heavily scrutinized is first baseman Derrick Lee. Lee has been a total bust since the Braves acquired him and has left a small village on the base paths for Atlanta hitting in the middle of their order.

To make it a successful final season for manager Bobby Cox, the Braves offense must heat up. If they finish the season a game or two out of first, the can look directly back at this series in Pittsburgh as the one that cost them.

For a two game stretch, the Pirates are showing a combination of good pitching, flawless defense and timely hitting.  What happened the other 100 + games.

McDonald Dazzles in Pirates Debut

Before I write this.  I will keep trying to write fresh stuff, but I've been posting most of my Pirates work on both Bleacher Report and Sports Haze, where I make money for writing.  I will at least keep the blog going and if I can get some help, then Operation Shutdown can get back to being fresh and entertaining.  I've also been posting at Clemente at the Bat so check that out as well.

Now for today's topic.

How many times have we seen it. The Pirates trade away a veteran and get a highly thought of prospect or a young player with “potential” in a deal; only to watch these guys fall flat on their face and struggle. When the Pirates shipped closer Octavio Dotel to the Dodgers for right handed starter James McDonald, who I’ve always been very high on, and top outfield prospect Andrew Lambo, I felt that it was a steal for Pirates General manager Neil Huntington.


My next thought became “How soon is McDonald going to develop arm problems in Pittsburgh.”

McDonald was thrown right into the Pirates rotation and for a change, a Pirates acquisition delivered immediate results in a Pirates uniform. The 26-year old right hander dazzled in his Pirates debut, throwing six shutout innings, allowing only four hits and striking out eight. More importantly is that he threw strikes, walking only one, earning the victory in a 5-1 Pirates win over the Colorado Rockies.

McDonald has a very good arm. His fastball will hit 96mph and has better than above average breaking stuff. I don’t want to make too much out of just one start, but he looked great. The results were far better than what Pirates fans are accustomed to.

If ever a team needed a young pitcher to step up and be effective it’s the Pirates. Hopefully McDonald can continue upward and become a guy that can take the ball every fifth day and turn in a quality outing. There sure isn’t anyone else on the staff currently capable of doing that.


Now the Pirates also have the worst luck with young pitchers developing arm problems, a problem I point the finger at the Pirates organization. Hopefully they’ve smartened up over the years and protect the guy.

One start or not, it’s a positive sign on a team with not too many positives lately.

Bucs aquire Snyder- What's Doumit's future?

The Pirates had another busy trade deadline, but unlike years past, this year there were no salary dumps or accumulation of prospects. The Pirates made three trades today and all appear to be good baseball moves. The Pirates acquired catcher Chris Snyder and minor league shortstop Pedro Ciriaco from the Arizona Diamondbacks, in exchange for Ryan Church, Bobby Crosby and D.J. Carrasco.

They also sent closer Octavio Dotel to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right hander James McDonald and minor league outfielder Andrew Lambo and also sent Javier Lopez to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for right hander Joe Martinez and outfielder John Bowker. Give the Pirates some credit for being able to sign some veteran relievers in the off-season that they were able to turn into young arms.

The biggest move of the day though was acquiring Snyder. It also now leaves a big question on what to do with Ryan Doumit. Snyder has the reputation of being one of the games better defensive catchers, something the Pirates were desperately in need of. He should be able to help the pitching staff out as well, as Snyder is know for being able to handle a staff, something Doumit wasn't capable of. The Pirates did well with this move. While Snyder doesn't do much as an average hitter, his offensive numbers are comparable to Doumit's, who doesn't offer much of anything.

Snyder is hitting .231 on the year, while Doumit is only hitting .258. Snyder's hit ten homers and driven in 32 runs, while Doumit has hit eight homers and driven in 32. The improvement though is defensively. Snyder is known for being a glove man and has a good arm behind the dish, while Doumit is the worst catcher in the game today. Doumit won't be behind the plate very often (Thank God) anymore and the Pirates young pitchers will benefit from it.



What do you do now with Doumit though? It's a shame that his fragile self got hurt again right before the deadline or there is a good chance he would have got dealt. The immediate plan is to make him the everyday right fielder and that is just an awful idea. In six seasons as a pro, Doumit has done absolutely nothing to warrant regular playing time, yet the Pirates keep finding ways to get his "bat" into the lineup. What bat?

Doumit has had one decent year offensively as a pro, in 2008 when he hit .318. That same season, he also set career highs in homers (15) and RBI's (69). Still very below average numbers though. Yet, the Pirates continue to run him out there and bat him in the middle of the order often when his track record clearly shows he's not a talented offensive player. He's hit over .260 only one other time (.274 in 2007), reached double digits in homers only one other time (10 in 2009) and other than his 69 RBI season of 2008 has never driven in more than 40 runs in a season. Not to mention he is a huge liability no matter where you put him on the field defensively.

It's a shame the Pirates are thinking about putting him in right field. You have to feel bad for Lastings Milledge. First he has to platoon with Ryan Church, who was hitting .180 on the season and now he will lose at bats to Doumit. Once he started playing everyday again, all Milledge has done is hit. When guys are on base, Milledge drrives in runs, hitting over .380 with runners in scoring position, something Doumit would know nothing about.

It's a disgrace to keep giving Doumit at bats. Now that the Pirates have better talent, they should run their best eight guys out there on a nightly basis. There is nothing wrong with having Doumit as a bench player, getting a spot start every now and then, but he shouldn't be getting regular playing time.