The Pirates have demoted Nyjer Morgan, perhaps to replace him with Indianapolis outfielder Kevin Thompson, who's no world-beater but can handle all three outfield positions and hit a lot better than Morgan can. The Pirates claim this is about Morgan's "development," but one hopes they don't really think that; Morgan is what he is.

I'm already on record in support of this move, so I won't belabor the point. Instead, I'd like you to ponder, for a second, how many games the Pirates would have lost already if Jim Tracy were still manager and the Pirates were starting Morgan and Ronny Paulino instead of Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit. What might their record be? 8-26? 10-24?