Bucs Dugout: FanPosts

Offseason/Free Agency

Chad Bahamas — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:07:51 -0000

It looks to me like many of our veteran players are available again. If we trade Jack, Freddy or both, what is keeping us from playing a little in free agency?

By the question I don't mean signing anyone with a pulse or some pitcher like Derrick Lowe for 15 million per. I mean finding someone like Adam Dunn who may not get the multi-year deal he's looking for. 4 years at 40-48 million wouldn't be unreasonable for someone who's hat 40 homers each of the last 5 years. So Dunn may bump us up from 65 wins to 72 wins. As long as its with in budget, why not sign someone like Dunn? I think he may be the first undervalued free agent in years.

Is there anyone you think the Pirates should target in the offseason via free agency or through a trade? I saw Juan Rivera's name in another thread. Rocco Baldeli if he's cheap?

IL Prospect Rankings

Roberto — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:38:30 -0000

According to Baseball America Andrew McCutchen is the number 2 prospect in the International League, Neil Walker is the number 6 prospect, and Brandon Moss is the number 14 prospect. The only real surprise is Walker. The BA writer argues that Walker had an unusually low BABIP, and of course BA loves his defense at third.

Obviously Walker is not ready for the majors, but if McCutchen is (or is close to), this could have real implications for the Pirates. An outfield with McLouth in left, McCutchen in center, and Moss? in right would be a significant defensive upgrade all around.

Equally obviously, the Pirates should trade San Diego for Paul McAnulty. The opportunity to have the first all Scots outfield should not be missed.

No chance of an all Chi-town World Series

Ketcham Bruce — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:29:00 -0000

How happy is the PBC Nation that the Cubbies " curse " still lives on ? Even though we are in a " curse " of our own, I can happily say that the last time the Pirates won the World Series television had been invented( 1923), the United States had won two world wars ( 1918 and 1941) and man walked on the moon (1969 ). Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Long live the "Curse of the Goat " ! Go Bucs !

Jason Bay and the Red Sox, what do you think?

houksyndrome — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:33:50 -0000

I don't really care for the BoSox anymore, I was rooting for them over NY in 2004, but their fans also root for the Patriots so. . . yeah. However, I like Jason Bay - he was good for us his entire career (minus 2nd half of 2007). Thus, I think I shall root for Bay and his team in the post-season. But enough about me, what do you think? Who are you rooting for this post-season?

"We need to change our mindset as a staff"

Illinois Pirate Fan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:17:09 -0000

That was a quote from NH when asked why Andrews was being fired and so I began to wonder exactly what was the mindset of our staff under Andrews? Did he instruct our pitchers to live on the black part of the plate and discourage or even penalize those that threw strikes down the middle? I have heard that some teams will fine a pitcher who gives up a homerun on 0-2 count as well as those that teach their staffs not to throw down the middle. I have often wondered if Andrews was part of the regime that instructed that foolish mode and if so, then I'm pleased that he is gone.

If pitchers are told not to give batters anything good to hit then they are simply setting themselves up for problems when they fall behind in the count and have to throw a fastball for a strike when the batter is expecting it. I don't know how Andrews instructed his staff to throw but maybe somebody out there can shed some light on this for me.

STEVE PEARCE

camoseven — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:45:30 -0000

PEARCE PEARCE PEARCE PEARCE PEARCE

They better give him a god damned starting position next season!

Not only is he the best prospect in the system, except MAYBE Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen (MAYBE), but I screamed my head off for him all season long at Indy and god damn if I don't think he is the coolest dude ever. Have you seen this man chew gum? HAVE YOU? It is amazing. He hit a grand slam early this year here in Indy and he was poppin' bubbles all the way around the bases. He could have been our Joey Votto this year, but NOOO, we didn't call him up til late August, and even then we gave NYJER "I SUCK" MORGAN more consistent at bats.

In conlusion:

POP THAT BUB-BLE *CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP*
POP THAT BUB-BLE *CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP*
POP THAT BUB-BLE *CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP*

Pedro Photo on PG

bryanzane — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:41:15 -0000

So I saw this photo on the PG (which is uncredited) and this is what I thought, in this specific order:

First I thought: Wow, that Pedro Alvarez is a handsome dude.

Second I thought: What kind of weird soccer shirt is that kid wearing? Is that a France jersey?

Third and last I thought to myself: What the hell? Is that kid in the middle sticking his finger up his butt!?!

Vote for Pedro!

An Impartial Look at the Alvarez Deal

Illinois Pirate Fan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:09:46 -0000

Baseball Prospectus is reporting that MLB informed the Pirates to work out the best deal possible as well as evaluating some worst-case scenarios that were suddenly looking very possible, primarily the one that included the initial deal being voided and the Pirates being punished by losing their compensation pick for not signing him.

They went on further to say that there is no doubt Boras won this one as he got his player more money and more benefits, which may not have been his ultimate goal. They also said they believed Cooonelly took on Boras directly and looked foolish for his troubles. Bluntly, they said that Coonelly went into a gun fight with a water pistol and ran away before shots were fired.

Finally, they concluded that not only did the Bucs lose this fight but at the same time, the negative image hit both externally and within baseball was massive as most polls taken of fans had them blaming the Pirates for this situation and that Coonelly looked like a paper tiger after making a strongly-worded statement at the beginning only to fold up like a cheap suit.

When the Pirates first had a press conference to announce the initial signing of Alvarez in August Nutting called the new administration of Coonelly and Huntington, "the single best management team in all of baseball, maybe all of sports." I wonder if he still feels this way?

Alvarez Agrees To New Deal

UtesFan89 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:58:14 -0000

In a stunning reversal of a summer-long drama, the Pirates and top draft pick Pedro Alvarez last night agreed to terms on a revised four-year, major league contract worth a guaranteed $6,355,000, according to three sources intimately familiar with the talks.

The contract is expected to be signed once Alvarez passes a physical, which could happen early this week.

It was not immediately clear which side instigated the new talks, when they began or whether they occurred with the blessing of Major League Baseball and its players' union. But one source indicated that a signed contract between the Pirates and Alvarez likely will quash a related grievance filed by the union against commissioner Bud Selig's office, offering a sign that all concerned have been duly informed of this development.

Link here.

Wow... I'll admit, I didn't see this coming. It is a major league deal, which I think means he has to be on the 40-man roster (correct me if I'm wrong please).

Does this mean that Boras wins?

Finding Elmo, er, ah, Kyle Lohse

Illinois Pirate Fan — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:40:33 -0000

If the Cardinals are astute enough to find a pitcher the quality of Lohse for $4.25 million why can't NH find someone similar? More importantly, why did the three pitchers who just 2 short years ago were considered by some to be one of the finest young starting staffs in the league suddenly become batting practice pitchers? I refuse to believe that all 3 are suffering from injuries lasting several years and so there must be another solution. Whatever the reason you just don't see this happening to teams with pitching coaches like Duncan and so I must begin to question the ability of our management team.

Charlie pointed out that minor league stats are invaluable to projecting a player's abilities and so I must ask what happened to Duke who went from minor league pitcher of the year to a whisker away from being out of baseball? What happened to Snell? He still throws 96 on accasion and doesn't appear to be hurt and so we must question his game plan. Was Gorzo's meltdown all physical or are we on track to see him go the way of Duke and the dinosaur towards extinction? These are all valid questions to which I do not have all the answers but I feel that management needs to address and soon. An entire generation of fans have matured without seeing the team win 82 games.

The day they close PNC

Ketcham Bruce — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:12:51 -0000

Tonight will be the last game for Yankee stadium, this is has been the top topic on ESPN and talk radio around the country. Yankee fan or not, people around the country have all expressed sadness over the loss the " House that Ruth Built ". My question is this, how will Pirate fans feel the day they close PNC. Honestly I was a bit sad when Three Rivers was imploded. Yea, it was an ugly concrete bowl, but our beloved Pittsburgh Baseball Club had two World Series teams there, Clemente hit his 3,000th in that stadium and on a personal note, I had seen many games there as a kid which gave me a love for baseball and the Pirates. PNC Park has the exact opposite. Beautiful sky line, green grass in the outfield and the worst team in professional baseball of all time. So how would the Pirate Nation feel after the last out in PNC Park ? I'm not sure myself.

More on Andy LaRoche

baseballgg24 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:56:19 -0000

I know that everyone has pretty much discussed everything that is wrong with Andy LaRoche over the past few weeks but I think I'v come across something that has yet to been talked about. While perusing Fan Graphs earlier, (a fantastic website by the way) I ended up on Andy's page and noticed that his BABIP is an absurdly low .179 with the Pirates and Dodgers this year.

While I agree with most people that we should not freak out over 175 AB's this year, I think that at least some of Andy's problem this year is incredibly poor luck. Most players BABIP is very close to .300. I .179 figure means that LaRoche is simply not having any of his balls in play drop in for hits right now.

I am confident that next year he will come back 100% from his thumb injury and begin hitting for at least a moderate amount of power. Hopefully his luck will turn at least somewhat as well. If you have any thoughts on this or think its totally bogus feel free to say so.

Ronnie Paulino

Illinois Pirate Fan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:27:10 -0000

I was under the impression that he was called up from Indy when the roster expanded and if that's true, then I can't understand why Russell has not played him at all preferring instead to use others. Is he hurt or simply that far back in the "dog house"? I can't believe he has fallen that much into disfavor with management and that he has no trade value. What am I missing about this guy? Is it all bad attitude? Afterall, he did hit over .300 for an entire season.

2009 Schedule

Chester J Lampwick — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:00:42 -0000

The 2009 schedule just came out:

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=pit&m=4&y=2009

Open with a four game series in St. Louis while the home opener is against the Astros.

Play in Chicago for 6 games in late May. Indians come to PNC Park in late June which will hopefully get some good attention and maybe spark some emotions.

No tough period really sticks out to me, seems to be a pretty even schedule overall but still can't really tell until the other teams start playing.

Any thoughts?

Coach Minky

bucdaddy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:55:11 -0000

"Give me 25 guys who fight. Give me that over talent."

I've seen a hue and cry in some places for the Pirates to keep Minky around as long as they can as a sort of coach on the field, to see if he can impart some of his fire and desire to the other guys on the team, and I'm OK with that, I guess, as long as he's still on the field.

But if he really believes what he said, I don't want him as a coach anywhere else, because he's full of brown stuff. This isn't football, where you can perhaps overcome your physical limitations by being more willing to throw yourself headlong into mayhem than the other guy.

(A side note, I was thinking the other day about a guy I knew in high school who started for our football team as a 5-foot-4, maybe 150-pound linebacker. Like a lot of little guys, he overcompensated: He had a Charles Atlas physique and was one tough sumbitch, but for all that he was never going to win a slam-dunk contest against Julius Erving -- and yeah, I know about Spud Webb, but never mind.)

Baseball's far more subtle than that, and really doesn't call for any physical interaction between opposing players. It requires hand-eye coordination, and timing, and patience, and some thought, and being willing to fight at the drop of a glove means nothing in those areas. There are a million morons in America who think they know how to fight (ask any cop how many he runs into on a weekend), and they can be entertaining to watch, but there are only a few hundred who can hit major league pitching with any consistency.

In short, give me talent, and if we're playing a team full of Minkys we'll kick their asses eight or nine out of 10 times. But I'm not sure Minky understands this. I'd fear that a coach Minky or, worse, a manager Minky would show a preference for guys like him over guys who can actually, you know, play ball well. And we'd have gritty David Eckstein at shortstop.

It's also why I don't get agitated as some of us do when guys like Tracy and Russell never leave the dugout to argue. When someone can offer me more than anecdotal evidence that this sort of grandstanding actually wins ballgames, I'll join the chorus.

Jose Tabata: Older than we thought?

WTM — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:06:39 -0000

Here's a potentially disturbing item: Dejan reports in the Notebook today that the Pirates are thinking of putting Tabata on the 40-man roster this off-season to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Tabata was signed four years ago, supposedly at age 16. Players who sign at 18 or under aren't eligible until after five years. Either Dejan has it wrong or was misinformed, or Tabata is older than the public has been led to believe. To be eligible for the draft, he'd have to have been at least 19 when he signed, which would make him 23 now. All the hype about him has been based on the fact that he was always very young for the levels he played at. If he's 20, he's a blue chip prospect. If he's 23, he's nothing special.

Bucs Dugout is dead, long live Bucs Dugout (fantasy)

azibuck — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:02:57 -0000

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2008/3/15/163346/764

After nearly running away with the regular season title, Charlie's team faltered late but held off the contenders to win the regular season title in the Bucs Dugout H2H fantasy baseball league. Alas, the faltering carried over into the playoffs and Charlie's squad was bounced by JimBibbySweat.

Charlie beat me both times in the regular season, but my lame squad came on in the last few weeks to secure the 6th and final playoffs spot. I won my quarter- and semifinal matches and now face JimBibbySweat in the finals.

Looking back at that link, my draft sucked, but the exceptions were standouts, like Sabathia, Lincecum, and Nate. The bit players I got in the middle-late rounds led my late charge, like Ethier and Overbay. I traded Shields for Aubrey Huff which was as key as anything else.

Congrats on a great season Charlie. I'm not sure I have a definite preference for roto or H2H. Liked them both. I'm pretty certain I'd be good but out of the running if we did roto this year, so I like that aspect of H2H. But I'll probably get pummelled in the finals and will feel just as bad.

Now that I've climbed down off the ledge...

Illinois Pirate Fan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:58:18 -0000

I have had time to formulate a plan to infuse some talent and excitement into the Bucs and feel it would bring excitement to the team as well as win more than 80 games.

1B-sign Adam Dunne for some much needed left-handed power. He'll go crazy in PNC with the short porch in RF. Then, trade LaRoche, the elder, and pocket his salary. Besides, he's gone after next season, anyway.

2B-Sanchez...Trade him for whatever you can get, play Cruz, and pocket the salary.

SS-it doesn't matter. Just sign a slick fielder. That's all you need at SS. Eckstein will do or sign the first warm body we see swimming off the coast of Venezuela if Ekstein wants too much. Trade Wilson and get whatever you can for him and save the $7 million.

3B-forget Alvarez. We're going to lose him. Give LaRoche a full season and pray lots of Rosaries. Save the $6 million.

C-Doumit is good and Paulino is a capable backup

OF-Bring up McCutcheon and Tabata and give them a chance along with McLouth and then play them every day. Stop wasting valuable A/B on aging players who are hanging on to increase their pensions like Michaels, Rivas, Gomez, and Minky.

SP-Sign Kyle Lohse and Oliver Perez (Brad Penny/Jon Garland if neither is available), give Ohlendorf and Dumatrait a fair chance, keep pitching Snell and Maholm because they are going to improve, and reduce the starts of both Gorzelanny and Duke. Enough is enough. Geesh! Oh, yeah, dump Karstens, he stinks and brings nothing to the table.

Part of the FA signings can be funded from the money we saved by not paying Morris next year plus the bonus we won't have to give to Alvarez because we'll lose him to the arbiter. Additional available funding will come from the savings from having traded Sanchez, Wilson, and LaRoche. It's a terrible idea to have the bulk of your money tied up in middle infielders who can't hit for power and don't have any speed on the bases. The rest of the money, God forbid, might have to come out of the owner's pockets but it can easily be made up next year in attendance and concession revenues. Besides, if either McCutcheon or Tabata is as good as advertised then we'll make a fortune in jersey sales and endorsements. This team would neither lose 90 games nor be boring and that would put butts in the seats which would translate into money. Finally, using the draft choices we received for LaRoche, Wilson, and Sanchez so we can draft more talent and continue the pipeline. If management is as good at evaluating talent as everybody says then they should have no trouble in doing so.

2009 draft?

houksyndrome — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:02:06 -0000

We already will have 2 very early 2nd round picks and it is looking more and more like we will have 2 very early first round picks as well (possibly 2x top 5). I have heard that this year's draft class is better than last, particularly w/respect to pitching. Last time I checked, our org. needed more pitching (understatement). Who are considered the top prospects in the 2009 draft? This Alvarez thing sucks, but if we can get two stud pitchers out of it then I won't be so bummed. Thoughts?

Jack Wilson injury

Thunder — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:35:15 -0000

DK is reporting that Jack Wilson will miss much of the remainder of the season with a hairline fracture of the finger.

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/pbc/archive/2008/09/08/today-pirates-astros-9-8-08.aspx

I'm not sure why he would try to come back for a very few games, if healthy, especially since we end the season on the road. Looks like Cruz and Bixler will get a real chance to show their stuff.