Andrew McCutchen

im no expert but im liking our outfield right now, but if McCutchen can make it better then be all means bring him up

I would say that if anyone is gonna be replaced it will be Nyjer. There is no way we can give up on Moss and put him on the bench. I would be fine if Nyjer lost his starting job to McCutchen but I can already here the general public up in arms if he isn’t starting. The way I see it when Cutch comes up, Nate is in left and Moss stays in right.

with Cutch. This article cites his batting average, K:BB ratio, runs, stolen bases and performance over the last seven games as proof of his readiness. Batting average: .288, doesn’t really blow me away frankly. Plus, there is no context: a guy hitting .288 and slugging .550 is very different from someone hitting .288 and slugging .350. K:BB ratio: very good, always has been and likely always will be. No problems here. Runs: great that he’s leading the league, but this is not a stat I want to base promotions/demotions on. SBs: this is one area he was supposed to be improving, his SB efficiency, and so far he has. Props. Finally, performance over the last seven games is meaningless to me. Jared Keel is batting .333/.472/.722 with 6R 2HR 9RBI and 5BB over his last ten games. Time to bring him up?

Why would you start the clock on a kid who will just be starting to hit his stride when his turn for free agency comes along? The kid is only 22 and its not like his presence will make us a conteder anyway. He really doesnt add enough of a return in the outfield now (versus what we are putting out there) to start the clock. Give him a full year at AAA and allow him to grow into his body. There is no need to rush him.

I was for promoting him coming up mid-year but after how Nyjer has played, I am now for leaving Andrew down at AAA for the year. Unless Nyger or McLouth goes down for an extend stretch, let Andrew hone his game. Then next spring, let the competition begin!

Are we fairly certain that McCutchen will be up at some point this year or is that not a given??

If Nyjer keeps playing so well, then we can be in an interesting position of trading from strength. We could trade Nyjer this year and play McCutchen OR we could wait until Spring Training.

If we trade Nyjer, it will be because we can-not because we need to. He is cheap, and he is not about to be a FA. All things for which he could get us a good prospect from a team that needs a CF. His age is his only drawback, but some teams might not care about that. When was the last time the Bucs were in such a postion? Not in many years!

I don’t think we would want to keep McCutchen down at AAA next year. I think that beginning next year he needs to start playing in the majors.

No way. There is no way we will ever get any type of decent return for Nyjer. There is zero track record and 28 is 28. One half of a season for a 28 year old trending way above his average numbers may net us a mid-level prospect at best. Nyjer fits a role on the team and IMHO is someone we can keep around at a reasonable cost until he hits FA. His speed is valuable, but his recklesness would reduce our return from other teams.

Ride Nyjer and Moss this year and open up the competition next year. Then we let McCutchen earn it before we anoint him with a position. The only way he plays in the bigs this year is prolonged injury to multiple OFs. We could cover if a McClouth/Moss/Morgan go down, but lose two and then maybe it would be time. I would not be averse to that.

The Pirate front office would take that in a heartbeat.

If that were so, he’d be in Pittsburgh right now.

I still have doubts about NyMo’s long-term viability as a starter.

His long-term future in Pittsburgh is as a fourth outfielder, pinch hitter/runner, and spot starter.

That said, there’s no need to rush Cutch.

I don’t mean to sound negative, but I keep reading about how 2012 is our year. Unfortunately, I disagree. If you look at our potential roster and rotation, it seems to me we may be able to play winning ball but still have no real chance at winning the division or a wild card in 2012.

C – Doumit – If he stays healthy he is a fringe top 5 offensive catcher with mediocre defensive skills

1B – Adam Laroche – If he is still around he is a solid offensive 1b, but no where in the league of the Pujols, Tex, or A. Gonzo.

2B – Andy Laroche – Assuming he moves to 2b to clear space for Pedro but doesn’t explode as far as potential, he could be an above average offensive 2b but would certainly not be a defensive wizard.

SS – No clue – Bixler or whoever.. who knows. If we find someone who isn’t terrible offensively but excellent defensively it would be far from the worst thing in the world.

3B – Pedro Alvarez – Lets hope he explodes into a .290 – 35 – 120 type of guy.. great

LF – Brandon Moss – Although I’d love to see Tabata break out and become an all-star quality corner outfielder the chances have been seeming to slim.. at least by 2012. This leaves us with Moss, and barring a huge breakout, a servicable corner outfielder who won’t be terrible as our 3rd best offensive outfielder. (I’m assuming he can reach a .280 – 10-15 – 80ish range.)

CF – Cutch – The topic of this post. By 2012 we can help hes hitting leadoff (or maybe 3rd if his power develops). If its leadoff I think .280 (with good OBP) – 8 – 60 – 40sb is reasonable to hope for.

RF – McLouth – Putting up the numbers he put up last year and this year. Nuff said

Although I know the bench is important part of any team, I am excluding thoughts about what it will be like in 2012 cause I have no idea.

WHICH LEAVES

OUR PITCHING STAFF… which (lets be honest) will never be better than average with the arms we seemingly have in Pittsburgh and our system. Of course a miracle could always happen.

Ultimately, this leaves us with a good, but not great playoff caliber team in 2012, at least in my humble opinion.

Therefore, I think that we will be looking playoffs around 2015, if we make the right moves. We should wait on starting the clock on Cutch and others. We will probably have to trade Adam, Moss.. maybe McLouth and even Andy Laroche in order to put together a team with a shot at winning it will. The pieces we get out of those trades will be the foundations, along with our upcoming drafts and Cutch, Tabata (I still have high hopes) and Alvarez. This also is why I think we have to take a chance on guys like Sano and sign him if all possible. Even with his huge price tag, if so many other teams are interested him and hes willing to sign is Pittsburgh, we shouldnt pass that up.

Let’s hope for the playoffs in 2012, but I know its gonna happen in 2015.

Feel free to flame me! :D

2011-2012 is a fairly reasonable time frame for contention (not necessarily winning). That assumes that Pedro is ready in that time frame…Cutch develops as expected…we get something out of Tabata by 2012…and we draft/develop at least 2 pitchers and 1 SS.

Starting to see signs that Lincoln could be a piece of the puzzle. Friday/D’Arnaud/Mercer should see at least 1 of those develop at SS.

Right now…I think our staff for 2010-2011 could be Maholm, Ohlendorf, Duke, Lincoln and Gorzo. Snell goes to the bullpen (closer??) or traded.

Mark my words….Pedro Alvarez will be our starting 1B next year. Simple as that.

in Pittsburgh in April 2010. He will be playing third base at Altoona, making a lot of errors, hitting a good number of HRs, and realizing how hard he has to work to make it to the majors-let alone be successful there.

The team is not going to start his MLB service clock til he proves he is reasonably ready for the daily grind of the majors. He has a lot to prove first at A+, AA, and AAA.

Can he hit consistently? What position is he going to play? Most of us think it will be first base. If so, then he will need to get time at that position too before he is brought up. It makes no sense to start playing Alvarez at first when he debuts in Pittsburgh.

Alvarez didn’t play so much last year in college coming off the injury, and then didn’t play in the pros last summer because of the contract situation. He followed that up with showing up out of shape early this year in Florida. It may very well take him til 2011 before he is ready to contribute offensively and defensively on a consistent basis in Pittsburgh.

Time will tell. I think Pedro Alvarez has the POTENTIAL to be a good power-hitting corner infielder for the PBC for many years.

But then again, I seem to remember Bonds, Bonilla, and Van Slyke struggling at times for a number of years honing their games….

1) He’s not a 21 y/o kid. He’s a 22 y/o man(birthday was in Feb.) and he had 3 years’ baseball experience in the SEC.

2) Alvarez has proven so far NOT to be ready for the upper levels of the minors, let alone MLB. Yes, he was recovering from injury, but he certainly didn’t do himself any favors by getting fatter than hell during his off time. He needs to keep his fat ass under control before trying to take the “weight of an entire organization on his shoulders.” ( A recent pic I saw of him looks like he’s got a little less junk in the trunk. The organization has reportedly gotten it through his head how hard he will have to work to make it and stick in the big leagues.)

3) We could do worse than Adam LaRoche at the plate and definitely in the field, and may very well do so next season. (Just like we find out how much worse things can get when Jack and Freddy get hurt.)

4) At this point, Alvarez is clueless at third base and hasn’t even tried to play first. And noooo…, making the move across the diamond is not as simple as a short walk across the field.

5) Pedro Alvarez may finish this season in AA, but he will not be our starter at first base in April 2010.

6) We all want the Pittsburgh Pirates to get better as soon as possible, after suffering through so much disappointment from that day of hell in October 1992. But we still have to be patient for a few more years, unfortunately.