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.

Exciting Walk-Off Win- Can The Bucs Build Off It?

Big win for the Bucs last night. If you missed any of it, you can hear my Lexycast by clicking HERE.

Lastings Milledge came through with the walk-off single and he deserves a ton of credit, but a ton of credit also needs to go to Andrew McCutchen.  After his two-out single to left, Cutch's steal of second turned out to be the big play of the game.

Now several people have stolen 50 or 60 bases, but it takes a special type of player to steal that bag, in that situation, when everyone in the ballpark and everyone in both dugouts know you are running.  Not only that, he stole it easy.

After the steal, Milledge came through with a very good at bat.  He's probably the only Bucco I would want up in that situation.  He proceeded to spoil four, two-strike pitches, before working the count full and then delivering the walk-off single up the middle for the Bucco win.

Zach Duke gave the team another tremendous start, I have since backed off my criticism of him.  He looks great and the ball just seems to be coming out of his hand much better.  That's the big thing I noticed last night.  His delivery and arm slot is real consistent right now.

If Duke keeps it up, he very well could become the ace the Pirates desperately need.  His trade value is increasing by the start. Usually, this would excite me, but with a team lacking effective starting pitching and a team with the lowest payroll in the majors; could this be a time to lock Duke up long term?

The bullpen was horrific last night, unable to find the strike zone.  Joel Hanrahan looked good, with his fastball in the 95-98 mph range, but even he walked a batter.  Javy Lopez- 2 walks without throwing a strike and Brenden Donally also walked in a run. Although, Angel Hernandez didn't do these guys any favors.  He's the worst ump in the league, with the most inconsistent strike zone.

Octavio Dotel blew his first save after giving up a leadoff triple on a fastball right down the middle, but give him some credit to get out with the game tied 3-3.

Now with the team at 5-5, coming off a big win at home; it's time they build off that and string together a few in a row.

NOTES
-Ross Ohlendoff was placed on the 15 day DL, retroactive to April 12th.  He will come off on April 27th.  Daniel McCutchen was called back up to take Ohlendorf's spot tonight.  I think he will fare better than he did in his first start in Arizona.

-Andy Laroche is not in tonight's lineup as he left last nigh'ts game in the second inning with back spasms.  He was replaced by Bobby Crosby last night. Delwyn Young gets the start at third tonight.

-Pedro Alvarez hit his fourth homer of the season last night for Indy (made two errors though). Jose Tabata has an eight-game hit streak and is hitting .351. For all you Ryan Doumit haters, Tony Sanchez is hitting over .370 at Bradenton.  I will start doing my minor league reports again sometime this week.

-Pirates are ranked 17th in hitting with a .249 team avg.  They have averaged 4.3 runs per game and their team OPS is .716

- They rank 30th in pitching with a team ERA of 6.93.  Opponents are hitting .302 off them.  That's a little misleading though.  If you take the poor outings of Hyden Penn, Charlie Morton, Brian Burres and McCutchen away, they have a team ERA of 4.01.  Not too bad of a job.  Now the other guys have to start pitching better.

-Penn cleared waivers and was outrighted to AAA Indy.

-I sit next to all the scouts at the games and lucky me, there was Dave Littlefield, scouting for the Cubs.  For his sake I hope he's better at that job than his last.

-  I should have something up for tomorrow as well.  Until then, LET"S GO BUCS.  You can listen to my Lexycast of tonight's game, which should be up 15-20 minutes after the last pitch.