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News Roundup: Monroe's Lack of Hustle

Some links, leading off with a few interesting items in the Post-Gazette:

-P- Craig Monroe's lack of hustle in the Twins series apparently played a role in the Pirates' decision to let him go:

To find out one significant reason why the team cut loose outfielder Craig Monroe, one must rewind to a play Tuesday in Minneapolis, which, no coincidence, marked his final at-bat with the team.

With two outs in the eighth inning and the Pirates trailing, 8-2, Monroe struck out swinging over a Glen Perkins pitch that got away from catcher Joe Mauer. Monroe ran casually -- somewhere between a jog and a run -- to first base and was safe only because Mauer made a throwing error.

Monroe did not make another appearance in the three games leading up to being designated for assignment late Friday night.

No one associated with the team discussed the play for the record, but the coaching staff and front office, multiple sources confirmed, were livid.

I'm not sure why you'd need a poor play like that to convince you that Craig Monroe is awful, but that play made me angry too.

-P- Nyjer is fast, but McCutchen is faster. That triple last night? Whew! 

-P- The same story says that West Virginia pitcher Rudy Owens will probably be promoted soon, which is exciting. Owens, 21, has a 2.20 ERA with 65 strikeouts and 11 walks in 69.2 innings. I'm not sure how he'll fare at Lynchburg, but he's proven he deserves to be there.

-P- Brad Lincoln has officially been promoted to Indianapolis and will join the Indians' rotation.

-P- Tony Sanchez hit a game-winning single in his pro debut for State College last night.

-P- I know the game in Denver last night didn't end well, but I was happy to see Nyjer Morgan, Andy LaRoche and Brandon Moss have big nights--the offense has been missing them for a while. Charlie Morton looked pretty good, too.

-P- Somewhat off-topic: yesterday I missed a golden opportunity to hype a great Pittsburgh band my group played with last night. They're called Meeting of Important People, and they make extremely catchy, well-made pop songs that sound a little bit like Weezer, or maybe the Shins, or Nada Surf's last couple of records. They're a really good live band and very nice people who listened to me prattle on about extremely dorky music-theory stuff for upwards of a half hour, so they're well worth getting to know if you live in the area, or even if you don't. I highly recommend their new record.

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Spikes win! Spikes win!

Haven’t gotten to say that much.

It was a good day for debuts. Sanchez, Quinton Miller and Diego Moreno, a Venezuelan who signed at a later than usual age but who supposedly can reach the upper-90s. Considering that Miller was making his pro debut as a HS kid facing more experienced players, he did OK. Bad first inning but fine after that, and 9 of 10 outs on ball in play via grounders. Moreno did pretty well, too. Can’t remember the last time the Pirates had actual pitching prospects at that level other than college guys who’d just been drafted.

by WTM on Jun 21, 2009 8:06 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

What'd you think of Miller's motion...

…if you don’t mind me asking?

by Vlad on Jun 22, 2009 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Pretty high-effort motion, or at least that’s my recollection from March. I don’t really know what’s a good motion or not, though. Kris Benson threw with a very easy motion and turned out to be very fragile.

by WTM on Jun 22, 2009 6:38 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

He was pretty high effort pre-draft, too.

I was curious about whether they’d been working on his mechanics down in Florida.

by Vlad on Jun 23, 2009 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Meeting of Important People

They’re great and have been my favorite band to listen to for a little while. For those of you who live in Pittsburgh, they play around the city all the time. Charlie, maybe it’s tough for you to get here but you should schedule a show with them in Pittsburgh sometime soon.

by DITO on Jun 21, 2009 11:11 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

That will hopefully happen in September.

by Charlie on Jun 22, 2009 2:03 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Not Familiar With Them...

But you had me @ Weezer…will be checking them out.

by Mick Kraut on Jun 22, 2009 8:47 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Not familiar with that band or Charlie’s, but a blogger who writes intelligently about baseball and has the ability to nerd out on music theory has my attention.

Pittsburgh Black And Gold -- So new, it still smells like paint!

by JustinM on Jun 22, 2009 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Morton.....

I know this is premature, but i watching Morton last night and it was great to see a Pirate pitcher missing bats with a repertoire of pitches. Morton may not be the best pitcher on the staff at this point, but he certainly is in the conversation of those having the best stuff. And, he was willing to throw all four pitches in different situations.

I think the projection of his ceiling being a 4th or 5th starter type is way off the mark. If he has the mental makeup he clearly has the stuff to be a front of the rotation starter.

Very encouraging.

by dtoddwin on Jun 21, 2009 11:42 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

*correction

Sorry, should say “I was watching Morton last night”

by dtoddwin on Jun 21, 2009 11:42 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

if all else fails

we are loaded with possible bullpen guys. Snell would be an excellent bullpen guy. well hed be better than what we saw last night.

by bucsreport on Jun 21, 2009 1:27 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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