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FIRMLY ENTRENCHED
C Ryan Doumit WTM ESPN BBREF
1B Adam LaRoche ESPN BBREF
2B Freddy Sanchez WTM BBREF
SS Jack Wilson WTM ESPN BBREF
3B Andy LaRoche WTM MILB
UT Ramon Vazquez WTM ESPN BBREF
UT Eric Hinske WTM BBREF
OF Brandon Moss WTM ESPN
SP Zach Duke WTM ESPN BBREF
SP Ian Snell WTM ESPN BBREF
SP Paul Maholm WTM ESPN BBREF
RP Matt Capps WTM ESPN BBREF
RP John Grabow WTM ESPN BBREF
RP Tyler Yates WTM BBREF
RP Craig Hansen WTM ESPN

ON THE FRINGES
C Jason Jaramillo WTM MILB
C Robinzon Diaz MILB
1B/OF Steven Pearce WTM MILB
SS Brian Bixler WTM MILB
UT Delwyn Young WTM BBREF
OF Nyjer Morgan WTM MILB BBREF
SP Charlie Morton MILB
SP Tom Gorzelanny WTM ESPN BBREF
SP Jeff Karstens WTM MILB
P Phil Dumatrait WTM MILB
P Ross Ohlendorf WTM MILB
P Donald Veal WTM MILB
P Eric Hacker MILB WTM
RP Jesse Chavez WTM MILB
RP Sean Burnett WTM MILB
RP Evan Meek WTM MILB
RP Steven Jackson BBREF WTM

PROSPECTS
1B Calvin Anderson MILB WTM
2B/3B Jim Negrych WTM MILB
2B Shelby Ford WTM MILB
SS Brian Friday WTM MILB
SS Chase D'Arnaud WTM MILB
3B Neil Walker WTM MILB
3B Pedro Alvarez WTM
OF Andrew McCutchen WTM MILB
OF Jose Tabata WTM MILB
OF Robbie Grossman WTM MILB
OF Gorkys Hernandez MILB
SP Brad Lincoln WTM MILB
SP Bryan Morris WTM MILB
SP Rudy Owens MILB WTM
SP Ronald Uviedo MILB WTM
SP Jeff Locke MILB
SP Daniel McCutchen WTM MILB
SP Anthony Watson WTM MILB
SP Quinton Miller WTM
P Daniel Moskos WTM MILB
RP Jeff Sues WTM MILB
RP Michael Dubee MILB WTM

bottom of the 5th	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Pittsburgh Pirates Bucs Dugout	1	2	1	0	0					4
Florida Marlins FishStripes	0	0	0	0	♦					0

Join the Game Thread

Pirates at Marlins, 3 July 2009

by Charlie on Jul 3, 2009 5:28 PM EDT Comment 175 comments

Lineup

Pittsburgh Pirates @ Florida Marlins

07/03/09 6:10 PM EDT

Pittsburgh Pirates	Florida Marlins
Andrew McCutchen - CF	Chris Coghlan - LF
Jack Wilson - SS	Emilio Bonifacio - 3B
Freddy Sanchez - 2B	Hanley Ramirez - SS
Adam LaRoche - 1B	Jorge Cantu - 1B
Garrett Jones - LF	Jeremy Hermida - RF
Andy LaRoche - 3B	Dan Uggla - 2B
Brandon Moss - RF	Cody Ross - CF
Jason Jaramillo - C	John Baker - C
Charlie Morton - P	Chris Volstad - P

175 comments | 0 recs

On Garrett Jones: Let's Not Get Carried Away Here

by Charlie on Jul 3, 2009 5:11 PM EDT Comment 8 comments

As nice as it is to see a guy be rewarded for persistence, Garrett Jones should not be mistaken for a good player, and the last thing I'd want to see is a Tike-Redman-2003 situation where Jones gets off to a hot start, then gets way more playing time than he should for a year or so after that.

John Russell today:

"I'm getting excited about our lineup, to be honest with you, and that has a lot to do with Garrett," Russell said. "Once we get Doumit back, and he's on his way, I think it's going to be interesting." Of Jones specifically, Russell added, "He could be one of those guys who just hasn't been given the opportunity. We think he looks really good, and we're looking forward to seeing more."

No. No no no. Nuh uh. For anyone familiar with Class AAA baseball (and you'd think that Russell, a former AAA manager, might be one of those people), Jones is so familiar he's practically a caricature--the big, defensively challenged slugger who isn't quite good enough as a hitter to make an impact in the bigs but who puts up some superficially impressive numbers at AAA just by virtue of being there for so many years. Every year the Pirates have a couple of these guys at various levels of the system. Jones is just Graham Koonce with fewer walks. He's Brad Eldred with less power and fewer strikeouts. He's Randy Ruiz playing at a higher level. He's Adam Boeve. Ryan Mulhern. Chris Richard. Andy Abad. John Barnes. I'm sure Jones is a nice guy, but as a player, he's a cliche.

Of the twenty players listed as comparables on Jones' PECOTA card (subscription only), the only one who made any sort of impact in the big leagues was Luke Scott. The reason is simple: players like Jones put up decent hitting numbers in AAA, but they're only decent, and they're doing it in the prime of their careers, not at young ages when you might reasonably hope they'll get better. They also don't bring anything to the table defensively, so if they aren't very good big league hitters, there's no reason to keep them around. Jones' yearly OPS in the International League is about .800; I don't have the equivalencies in front of me, but that would come out to be about a .700 OPS in the majors, which won't cut it for a player of his type.

Jones had a great game yesterday. I get that. If this is the sort of excitement Russell needs to get him through the day, fine. If he wants to take it into account for a while as he sorts through a bunch of uninspiring corner outfield options, I guess that's also fine for now. But let's not go too far here. I suppose anything's possible, but there's really nothing in Jones' minor league record that says he's going to be helpful as anything more than a bench outfielder.

8 comments | 0 recs |

News Roundup: Huntington: We Acquired Milledge Because We Could

by Charlie on Jul 2, 2009 9:58 PM EDT Comment 28 comments

MLB - New York Mets/Pittsburgh Pirates Box Score Thursday July 2, 2009 - Yahoo! Sports
Garrett Jones came within a single of the cycle today.

Huntington answers fans' questions | pirates.com: News
An unusually blunt answer from Neal Huntington:

Why trade an outfielder for an outfielder when we need middle infielders? -- Josh J., Bethel Park, Pa.

Huntington: Because Milledge was available. He was a premier prospect in baseball (the No. 1 prospect with Mets in 2005-06) with five tools. He has a very high ceiling. At 24 (Morgan is 29), Milledge is still young and can develop into an above-average Major League player.

It'll be interesting to see how Huntington's behavior will change when (or if) the Pirates acquire enough talent to shape into a good team. The Rays' transition from merely acquiring talent to aiming to contend happened extremely quickly--their 2007 team was a collection of mismatched parts, but with one big trade (the Delmon Young / Matt Garza deal) and a couple of positional changes, they suddenly became one of the best teams in baseball. The Pirates are still very much in the mismatched-parts stage, which is as it should be for now and probably for the next two years or so.

Taiwan Baseball: Pirates on a Roll....Sheng-Chin Hung Signed
In addition to Ping-Hung Chi, whose signing hit the news a few days ago, the Pirates have also signed pitcher Sheng-Chin Hung and first baseman Chi-Wei Hsu from Taiwan. Of the three, Hung may have the most upside. He can hit 91 MPH with his fastball and also throws a curve and change.

Kiley McDaniel Liveblog
Baseball Prospectus reports that the Pirates are one of two teams (along with the Royals) in on Dominican prospect GianCarlos Santana, brother of the Angels' Ervin Santana. The younger Santana recently threw as hard as 91 MPH. Also, the Cardinals signed outfielder Wagner Mateo, one of the big prizes of this year's Dominican class.

Lynchburg 9, Winston-Salem 5
Eric Fryer, recently acquired in the Eric Hinske deal, went 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored in his Lynchburg debut. Also, Jamie Romak just realized he knows how to hit Class A+ pitching.

Donald Veal: Stats
Donald Veal now has twelve walks in 12.7 innings at Class AAA Indianapolis. He'll probably still be with the Pirates at the end of the year thanks to these "rehab" shenanigans, but it's becoming increasingly clear to me that he's not really a prospect.

Is this thing on?: A must see Snell video and my All-Star ballot
Indianapolis announcer Scott McCauley picks his International League All-Star team.

The Canadian Press: Canadian left-fielder Jason Bay becomes American citizen
Jason Bay became a naturalized U.S. citizen today.

28 comments | 0 recs |

Pittsburgh Anthrocon's Furries 'Freak Out' Mets Reporter

Via Twitter, Mets reporter Kevin Burkhardt said, "Our hotel in Pitt is overrun by people dressed up as animals. Anthrocon? And they act as animals. I have seen it all and I am freaked out. I just took a picture with a person who was dressed like Ralph Wigam as a Beaver."

1 day ago Androgen Jar Jimmy comment 7 comments 0 recs

Pirates believed to make offer for Sano

Hopefully, it's better received than my offer to Scarlett Johansson.

1 day ago Androgen Jar Jimmy comment 17 comments 0 recs

Game Thread

by cocktailsfor2 on Jul 2, 2009 1:59 PM EDT Comment 344 comments

Perhaps we can make this the game thread, since Charlie's apparently otherwise occupied, or perhaps the timed thread did not go up?

It's forcing me to get 75 words up to make this a fan post, so we can use it as a game thread. What shall we talk about? The weather? My upcoming shoulder surgery? How are you? Are you watching or listening to the game? The rain delay is over, so here we go...

[Ugh--my fault. Thanks for taking care of this, cocktails. -Charlie]

344 comments | 0 recs

Ian Snell Describes Personal Struggles

by cocktailsfor2 on Jul 1, 2009 11:03 PM EDT Comment 35 comments

Link to interview with video HERE. Snell says his battle with depression caused him to request a demotion. He also says he has contemplated suicide.

I know most of us, if not all of us, spent some time criticizing Ian Snell this season (and last), but true depression is something that should be taken very seriously.

Perhaps going back to a "familiar place," - Indianapolis - will be therapeutic for him. I hope to see him turn it around.

[Yikes. I wish all the best to Ian, obviously, and hope he can get his thoughts together. Some of his actions and comments the past couple weeks make a little more sense now. -Charlie]

35 comments | 0 recs |

Bucs Sign Two More Draft Picks

by Charlie on Jul 1, 2009 10:38 PM EDT Comment 3 comments

The Pirates announced three draft pick signings today--in addition to third-rounder Evan Chambers (noted a couple posts below this one), they also signed 13th-rounder John Gourley and 18th-rounder Ryan Beckman. I don't know much about Beckman, who's a reliever out of community college in Texas, but Gourley could be pretty interesting--he was a fairly highly regarded infield prospect in North Carolina who the Pirates signed away from a commitment to East Carolina. He probably won't stick at shortstop, but he should be able to play elsewhere in the infield.

3 comments | 0 recs |