Hello Pirates fans,

I am a Giants fan who is coming from out of town to visit your beautiful ballpark tomorrow.  I heard about the alumni autographs promotion (John Smiley, Grant Jackson, etc) and I was interested.  It seems like this is a semi-regular sort of thing, so I was wondering if anyone had been a part of this before.  Is it an absolute madhouse?  Should I get there ahead of time?  Any additional info would be appreciated. 

Thanks.

Hi!

I want to learn more about the Pirates and their history and figured who better to ask  than the fans from Pittsburgh.  So what are the best histories of this team?  I'm looking for something that goes from their days in the American Association up thru to the present times in the National League.

Thank you for any recommendations you may have and please know I deeply appreciate you taking the time to help me.  :)

Let`s play the "What If?" game. We know the Pirates need a lot of talented players injected into their minor league system in order to start rebuilding for what we hope will be a much brighter future starting a couple of years from now. It will take a number of excellent drafts and procuring/developing talent from overseas to do so.

What if we don`t sign Pedro Alvarez? We would get a comparable pick in the 1st round next year-#3 overall? We would also have our own #1 pick which may very well fall into the #10 overall again. Additionally, we could get the extra comp picks for Marte.    

If Scheppers is deemed healthy and we sign him, and if we would use the millions we save on not signing Alvarez to get draftees like Grossman, Gagnon, Freeman, Miller, and a couple of others under contract, would this really be such a bad thing?

It goes without saying that Pedro Alvarez is a talented baseball player. I`d like to see him in a Pirates uniform. But I can`t help but wonder if we could go both the quality and quantity routes by not signing him and focusing our efforts elsewhere on this draft and the 2009 one. 

I just can`t help but think that there will be little help coming through the trade route this year and next, and I simply believe we`ve got to go to the greatest lengths possible to get as many talented prospects into the organization as we can.

I know this is a very unlikely scenario, but what do you guys think?

First off I want to say hey to everyone over here on Bucs Dugout, I'm a Rays fan who is over on Draysbay. Lately I've been following the Pirates a lot because of the Nady/Bay talks.

but today I want to ask you guys about Hickory pitcher Tom Boleska, he wasn't heralded to much out of High Point but he has pretty good numbers this year in Hickory. I covered him during his time at High Point and he really came on strong his last year. I was just wondering if anyone on here watches Hickory regularly or has seen him throw this year and how has he looked. Do you think he has a chance to become a fringe prospect or is he most likely going to ceiling out at AA or AAA? Thanks for the help and good luck to you guys the rest of the season. .

And may I be the first to ask:  what kind of stuff does the kid have?  Does he have any plus pitches?  Which major league starters does he compare to?  WTM, you should get over to Nady's place with your radar gun and find out.  Hey, in 2032 we could have quite the pitching staff.  Jamie Romak should also be breaking in with the big league club at about that time.  I'm calling it right now, 2032 is gonna be our year!

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/509049.html?nav=727

I strongly disagree with the Pirates on this and feel like both guys should have moved up 2 weeks ago.  I understand that both guys may need to improve their D (especially Negrych, 19 errors).  IMO, defense is defense and they could improve it just as well in AA as in A+.  Because of this I think it makes no sense at all to not move Negrcyh.  Negrych's hitting isn't going to get any better at A+, so he needs the promotion to continue his development as a hitter.  Romak strikes out a lot, which is troubling, but overall he's hitting 300 and leading the league in homers.  I can see *maybe* keeping Romak to try to reduce the Ks.  At the same time, a promotion could help Romak reduce the Ks because it might cause him to struggle and thus force him to make adjustments.  

Well, I figure it's been about three weeks, time to give another progress report about how the pirates minor league world is turning. One month is a nice chunk of time, but I don't feel like waiting til then, so 19 days later will suffice (wasnt that a movie or something?)

Indy (AAA) - Andrew McCutchen finished June on a continued slump, and wound up finishing the month with a .257 average and .642 OPS (yikes). He's been better so far this month, but his .370/870 line shows the complete absence of power that has been going on for a while now. I won't worry about it. Yet?

Brian Bixler has continued his good hitting, finishing June with a .294/.837 line and starting July off hot with a .292/.969 line through the first eight games. This good showing by Bixler certainly makes me feel a little less bad about possibly losing He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-So-As-Not-To-Jinx-It.

Ty Taubenheim got lit up for 8 runs on 7 hits in 3 2/3 innings in his first start after being sent back to Indy. Hopefully It's a blip and not a trend. Jimmy Barthmaier also struggled a bit in his first start back at Indy, not pitching poorly, but only making it through four innings. He came back strong Monday night, throwing six shutout innings against Columbus.

Altoona (AA) - Our two lone bright spots at Altoona, Shelby Ford and Derek Hankins, have nothing to shout about as of late. Hankins has gone only 15 1/3 innings in his past three starts, giving up eight runs in that span. Ford is 2-for-28 in his last eight games, and has started sharing playing time with Melvin Dorta at 2B.

Lynchburg (A+) - Now to the reason I couldnt wait to write this post. Down in Lynchburg, Jim Negrych and Jamie Romak are still absolutely killing the ball. Romak went 2-for-4 with two home runs for the second night in a row, and is now hitting .375 with a 1.37 OPS over his past ten games. He is now up to a .306 average and 1.023 OPS for the season, and his AVG, SLG< and OPS have gone up every month so far. Think it's time for him to finish solving his deficiancies in Altoona. Negrych went 2-for-4 for the second night in a row after ending his 16 game hitting streak, and is now up to a .365/.920 line for the season.

Mike Crotta has righted his ship after getting pounded by Kinston on Ju8ne 19th, posting a 1.89 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 19 innings over his last three outings.

Hickory (A-) - Albert Laboy continues to hit reasonably well, going 2-4 with a solo homerun tonight to bring himself to a .312/.891 line since his demotion at the beginning of June. Good to get that confidence rebuilt, hopefully.

Matt Hague also went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, and is now hitting .413 with a 1.26 OPS in his first 14 games as a Crawdad after a .333/.844 line in State College.

Brad Lincoln, unfortunately, has been roughed up for 19 runs on 25 hits in only 16 innings in his last three starts, with the one bright point being 13 strikeouts and no walks. Have to keep an eye on this one.

State College (SS) - Short season has kicked into gear since the last update, but not everyone can shoot through State College like Mr. Hague. Of course, there's still some hitters to talk about. OF Cole White went 3-for-4 with a double tonight and has now posted a .410/1.09 line in his first 11 games as  Spike.

3B Matt Payne has also looked respectable, posting a .333/.808 line in 17 games in spite of a three-game hitless streak.

Bradenton - Lastly, the results arent up from this afternoon's game, but even so, 18th round draft pick and SS Jarek Cunningham looks not too terrible so far. He has notched a .412/.1.15 line in his first ten games as a Pirate, so we'll see what happens.

It would seem that it is about time to bump Negrych and Romak up to Altoona, and Negrych being replaced in Lynchburg by 3B Hague probably wouldnt be far behind. I know small sample sizes and whatnot, but it seems at this particular moment, third base has suddenly gone from devoid to somewhat deep.

I'm new to this site (more of a Steelers fan), but I grew up watching the Pirates.  I've been reading the site for a few weeks, and I've seen a number of people saying something like "we still need more pieces", and questioning whether the Pirates could contend with their roster.  I confess I'm not a baseball expert and most of my knowledge of the Pirates comes from stats, but when I look at this roster, I see a ridiculously young team with a bunch of ~.300 hitters and a number of very young pitchers who have at least shown that they are capable of a 3.5 to 4.0 ERA.  Obviously Gorzelanny and Snell are crapping their pants this year, but they have 5 SP's and a closer under the age of 27.  Is it possible that Snell and Gorzo return to form?  I don't know enough about how baseball players develop, but is it unreasonable to expect that in a few years the Pirates will have a strong rotation to go with their solid lineup?

I could understand trading Marte, Nady, and maybe even Bay while their stocks are up, but do the Pirates need more than a little more depth?

With Capps injury Marte likely moves into the closers role which, if everything goes smoothly, could significantly increase his trade value or at the very least make him a type A free agent.  Also, Capps isn't being used in meaningless situations for the next two months not that I'm saying next year will be meaningful but, Capps is only 24 (which I seem to forget sometimes) and maybe he should be handled a little more carefully.  I'm not saying he's been abused but, I like to see Capps around when this team finally turns the corner in 2014(hopefully)

Here are my first half grades for the Buccos. These grades are based on pre-season expectations and in season performance.

Catchers

Ryan Doumit  A-

Has been outstanding offensively, and his defense is improving. He would be an all-star candidate if not for injury.  Speaking of injuries, hopefully he will stay healthy.

Raul Chavez C+

Has played well defensively, and he hit his first homerun in three years. A little more O would be nice.

Ronny Paulino F

Bad D, bad with the stick, and he appears to have lost the confidence of the pitching staff. He's now playing in Indy.

Infield

Adam LaRoche D

Paul Maholm has a better on base percentage .303 to .299. Only has 7 homeruns.

Freddy Sanchez D+

He is not the same player he was the last two seasons. Is the shoulder to blame? At .233 maybe he should batting 8th and not 2nd.

Jack Wilson B+

How much did we miss him when he was injured? Has played nice D, hopefully we will see a little more pop from him in the second half (0 homeruns).

Jose Bautista B-

Started off slow, but has been hitting the ball hard of late. Defense has been spotty .958 fielding percentage.

Doug Mientkiewicz B

He has been a solid bench player, and contributed some key hits off the bench. His presence has been good for the club.

Luis Rivas C

Luis played some dreadful defense during Jack's absence, and he started off slow offensively. He has played better of late, had a two homerun game.

Chris Gomez B

He's hitting .318, what else can you ask of a utility infielder? Well, you probably could ask him to field better then .959.

Outfield

Xavier Nady A-

He's on pace for 20 homeruns and almost 100 RBI's, but he has cooled off some after his hot start. Spent time on the DL again.

Nate McClouth A

Excellent first half, though he has slumped a bit lately. Easily can be called the MVP of the first half. He has contributed timely offense and superior defense.

Jason Bay A-

He has answered the questions surrounding him coming into the season. Bay has stayed healthy, and productive. He's getting better as the season progresses.

Jason Michaels B

Jason has had some big hits, and his aquisition has helped solidify the bench. Having him will probably make it easier it trade Bay and/or Nady.

Nyjer Morgan F

His .143 batting average landed him in Indy. It's hard to believe he had a chance to start in Spring Training.