It's been been an interesting ten months to be a Pirate fan, particularly on this site that Charlie has done such a great job in updating, maintaining and using to educate so many of us.

When Neal Huntington was hired last year there were a myriad of opinions as to whether we hired the best man for the job. Huntington's resume appeared a bit lacking in that he had seemingly moved down in his most recent position with Cleveland. He was young, but many of the best in the game were even younger when hired, and he came from an organization that has generally thrived under the leadership of Mark Shipiro. My only argument on his behalf at the time was that we give the man a little time before we throw him under the bus with his predecessors (who so richly deserved it).

The organization had a quiet off-season with virtually no signings of note and certainly no trades above the radar. I won't go through the many moves that have taken place since March. If you are viewing this site you are probably aware of everyone of them. But, NH and Frank Coonolly had a plan that they outlined and they stuck to it. And today I think we have seen the first steps come to fruition. I would go so far as to say this month is a seminal month in the past 15 years of the organization.

NH stuck to his view that many in the organization had underperformed in the past year and deserved an opportunity to be given another chance. Many people thought the idea of giving Xavier Nady the right field job was folly. Steve Pearce had earned the opportunity and Nady was no part of the future. I was leading the call to dump Bay for a bag of balls, thinking last year was the beginning of a precipitous decline.

Needless to say the organization's decision to stick with them has now paid off in spades. In return for a year and two months of Nady and Bay and two months of Marte and two potential sandwich picks, the Pirates have received eight young players of varying talent and projectability.

Being firmly in the camp of defending the trade with the Yankees when all the talking heads feel we got fleeced, I will restrain my enthusiasm in endorsing the Bay deal. (How did NH keep Grabow out of the deal with the Red Sox desperate for left-handed relief help.? Another great move.)  The reality is these trades won't be properly evaluated for two or three years if not longer. The Yankees got the two best players in the Nady deal. Nobody can argue that. But the Yankees' objective are different than the Pirates'. The Yanks can play for this year every year. We can't.

There is no question that NH got a haul for Nady, Bay and Marte. Were they the best deals possible? Who knows. Would the Bucs have gotten anything close to that in the off-season? Well, if they had gotten just LaRoche and Tabata I would have been surprised. Combined with the draft, and the hopeful signings of the top two picks in the next two weeks, the new management team has stuck to the plan. They have taken risks, acquiring Jose Tabata and drafting Tanner Scheppers, and they have gotten big returns for Nady and Bay. We can debate whether they were the best deals or not. But I think, assuming Alvarez is signed, Neal Huntington and the management team's first season has followed a well thought out plan and been an unqualified success. Congrats Neal. It's a good day to be a Pirate fan for a change.

The best records in May thus far belong to 1.) Houston Astros 2.) Texas Rangers 3.) (tie) Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates (all 8-4).

Please start gathering the animals in pairs and collecting wood.

Seriously, if this continues we are going to run into the "Well, we are only four games out, do we really want to trade (insert name) at this point?  The division isn't very strong we could really steal it" argument.  I have been a firm believer that if we get good starting pitching--not average, good--this team is capable of playing .500 baseball.  But regardless of the team's record, I think Bay and Marte have to be dealt.  I'm willing to think harder about Nady and Grabow.

I was at the Pirate game Wednesday afternoon in New York.  The Bucs beat the Mets 13-1 on a beautiful day at Shea.  Sounds like things were all good, right?  Wrong.  It resulted in one of the silliest and riskiest managerial decisions I have seen in a long time.

Let me preface my rant by saying I obviously wasn't on the mound and wasn't in any way privy to any conversation that took place there.  Okay, that's my qualifying statement.  Now let me set the scene.  Bottom of the fifth, Pirates ahead 8-0, one out, man on first and Luis Castillo pops out to Ryan Doumit in foul territory.  Two outs.  However, Tom Gorzelanny appears to have suffered some sort of injury when he threw the pitch, the trainer, manager and infielders gathering to assess the situation.  A few minutes of conversation ensues and Gorzo tests himself out by throwing a few pitches.  It's clear he isn't 100%.

Now, here we have a young pitcher who is one of the key building blocks in your future plans.  He's had some shoulder problems this year early in spring training and has a history of minor back problems.  If it's a 3-2 game in September and we are two games out of first place, I'm pretty sure I'm taking him out.  But, in this situation we're ahead 8-0 and it's the end of April.  Well, you know where this is headed.  Because of the situation and Gorzo only needing to get one more out to be in line for the win, all involved come to the conclusion that he can stay out there.  As Russell and the trainer came off the mound I shouted my opinion and was close enough to the field to think they may have heard it.  Gorzo ends up getting David Wright on a ground out to end the inning and is done for the day.

Well, word comes out today that Gorzo is going to miss his next start to make sure this flare up in his back settles down and he's 100% next time out.  Now, I have no idea if the couple of pitches he threw to Wright after the initial tweak caused any further harm.  Maybe not.  But the shortsightedness of the decision to leave him in an 8-0 game at that point is beyond comprehension in my view.  It was a horrific decision.  And it's these kinds of decisions that can really set the franchise back.  I think most of us have come to realize that wins and losses aren't necessarily a very good reflection of a pitcher's effectiveness.  We now have much better tools to measure that.  Russell's preoccupation with getting Gorzo a win really put the pitcher and his team in a very precarious situation.

Hopefully, Huntington, Rob Neyer or someone else out there was watching this and will make sure it doesn't happen again by telling Russell that he should manage to win games for the team and its long term benefit, and not manage to promote an individual's stats.

Bucs Dugout now appears to be a daily stop on Rob Neyer's (of espn.com) daily blog tour.  In looking for info about the release of Matt Morris, Neyer went back and reviewed what Charlie wrote at the time of the original transaction and cites virtually his whole post from that day.  The post from Charlie was fantastic and turns out to be spot on eight months later.  Rob gives Charlie well deserved kudos for his great writing and insightful commentary.  Again, congrats Charlie.  Here is the link (subscription required). http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3372329&name=Neyer_Rob

There has been a lot of discussion about the Pirates' relievers during the 7-6 start because of the extraordinary number of innings that they have had to pitch.  Although the team has only played 13 games, every reliever on the staff as made at least four appearances.  What this means, for better or worse, is that we really do have a chance to evaluate what we have across the board even though the sample size in terms of games is relatively small.

Let me get my opinion out there right up front.  The Pirates bullpen is much better than people generally think it is.  Before looking closely at the Pirates relievers I think it helps to take a look around the majors at the back end of other bullpens so that fans have a frame of reference.  The most loudly voiced complaint seems to be that the Pirates lack depth--that guys like Evan Meek (who has gotten off to a poor start) and Phil Dumatrait are terrible and therefore we don't have enough good arms to have a good bullpen.  Take a look at the relievers on the perceived better teams in the majors.  Virtually every team has a couple of guys who have questionable major league talent, guys most fans have never heard of.  Also, I think it is illustrative to look at the Arizona Diamondbacks last year.  The Snakes were the rare team to make the playoffs while scoring fewer runs than they gave up.  How did they do it?  Their better pitchers pitched the high leverage innings and were very good.  The back end of their pen gave up a lot of runs in blowouts.

Because the Pirates have played so many extra inning games, and multiple extra innings at that, guys like Meek and Dumatrait have had to pitch high leverage innings that they generally would not be expected to pitch.  What should normally be expected is to have Meek pitch two innings in a 7-3 loss to the Cubs as he did last week, but to never see the mound in a game in a game like the 6-4 win over the Dodgers last night.  In the course of 162 games the Pirates will play 40-50 that are generally decided by the seventh inning.  Innings need to be pitched but they aren't high leverage innings.  These are the games where we should expect to see the Meeks and Dumatraits of the world get their work.  Unfortunately, in the first two weeks, the back end has had to be used in high leverage situations that you wouldn't normally anticipate.  Sure it will happen ten times a seaon, but you don't expect it four or five times in the first two weeks.

So let's take a look at what we have.

Matt Capps: Capps has shown that he can be an above average closer who could develop into an elite one.  His best attribute is his ability to consistently throw strikes.  Because he has yet to develop a second plus pitch, he will still blow the occassional save, but you never expect him to not have command of his fastball, which is why his season-opening appearance was so surprising.

John Grabow: I think Grabow is quickly developing into one of the better lefty relievers in the game.  While at the beginning of the season it appeared Grabow might often pitch the seventh and Marte the eighth, those roles may now be flipped.  Grabow has two plus pitches, good command and is not just a situational lefty--he can give you more than one inning if needed.  He has been lights out since last August and has not allowed a run in nine appearances this season.  (This is what Pirate fans can dream Sean Burnett becomes.)

Damaso Marte: Seemingly impossible for lefties to hit.  Lefthanders have a .194 career batting average and .571 OPS against him through last night's game in LA.  The biggest issue with Marte is his command, but he can get a strikeout at any time.  The early success of Tyler Yates means that Marte is more likely to be used as a situational lefty going forward, with Yates taking the ball in the seventh.  There is no chance Marte is on the club in September.  He will be traded at the deadline.

Tyler Yates: The most pleasant surprise of the early season, Yates has been fantastic.  Huntington gets high early marks for getting a power arm on the cheap.  Yates has yet to show he can command his fastball every time out, but he appears to have a decent sinker/slider and his best attribute may be his ability to pitch almost daily.

Franquelis Osoria: What Osoria has going for him right now is that he is 26 and has a plus sinker.  He lacks great command and has had some trouble keeping the ball in the park.  Expect to see him often in the fifth and sixth innings, but he is at best a tiny piece of the puzzle.

Phil Dumatrait: I have no idea.  I have yet to see him pitch live and he clearly is on the bubble.  The Pirates view him as their long man and spot starter as needed so we really haven't seen him fill that role expect in the extra inning game against the Cubs.  A 26 year old lefty with 11 major league appearances, Dumatrait is a commodity the Pirates can keep around for the moment.  He must clear waivers to be sent down, which he may, but there doesn't appear to be a need to do that yet.

Evan Meek: This is where I'm ready to get into a literary fistfight with the average poster on this site.  Meek is 24 and has never pitched above AA before this year.  The Pirates acquired him from the Rays in the Rule 5 and has to be kept on the roster or offered back to the Rays, or clear waivers, in order to be sent down.  So, he is on the roster or gone, most likely.  After his appearance against the Cubs last week when he issued 5 walks (2 IBB) and was only hitting 85 on the gun, many were calling for his immediate release.  This is beyond shortsighted.  Look, I'm the first to admit Meek will most likely not develop as hoped and will thus not be part of the organization's plans a year or two from now.  But, wow, when every Pirate fan in the world acknowledges the Pirates aren't going to contend this year, don't you think it is worth seeing a bit more of a 24 year old power arm that maybe can become someone like Tyler Yates?  Don't expect Meek to pitch many high leverage innings.  That he has to do so against the Cubs so early in his career was unfortuante, but occassionally it is going to happen.  Let's see where we are on June 1 after he has made 12 appearances.  Expect to see Meek when we are down five in the latter half of games as we did in his nice outing last week.

Sean Burnett: Where to start?  Sean Burnett has become a cult hero because of the Post-Gazette coverage of him.  Clearly Burnett appears to be an all-around nice guy, who just had a baby, who everyone likes, who has comeback from arm surgery, who is a fierce competitor.  But really, Sean Burnett?  The guy has zero history of success in the majors.  He didn't give up a run in spring training last year and bitched about not making the club.  He then went down to AAA and got shelled, giving up 83 hits and 39 walks in 70 1/3 innings.  This year he gets moved to the pen in spring training, pitches nine scoreless and doesn't make the club.  However, in the Post-Gazette coverage they emphasize how the players see no accountability because it shows how performance doesn't matter.  They emphasize a throw away line by Huntington to further rile the masses.  To Burnett's credit, he has pitched very well thus far in Indy, even apparently hitting 93 on the gun, which would be faster than his pre-surgery days.  But, the Pirates want to see him pitch back to back days and show consistency out of the bullpen.  Let's see him do it for two months.  Having Sean Burnett come up in April and fail doesn't help anyone.  Let him build his confidence in Indy.  Inevitably someone will go on the DL and Burnett will get his chance.  Just remember, Grabow is his ceiling, but Dumatrait is much more likely.

The Key: The answer with the Pirates' bullpen lies with the starters.  If the starters only go five innings every night, this bullpen, like any other is going to wear down and not live up to my high expectations.  However, if we can get seven innings three times through the rotation and five twice, this sets up to be a very effective group.  No bullpen is built to throw 30 innings a week and this one is no exception.  But if they only have to throw 15-20, this will prove to be a Pirate strength (just like it was in 2006),  and will be one of the better pens in the majors.

It's one game and gets all the appropriate caveats.  McLouth, Nady, Doumit and Yates all looked good.  Capps and Marte can reasonably be expected to perform better.  But, what can we expect out of Jason Bay?

Early in spring training Dejan Kovacevic wrote about Jason Bay's miscues in the outfield.  Both Bay and Kovacevic were willing to write this off as early in spring training and blamed it on the conditions in Bradenton, the wind, high skies, etc.  I found this a little more than curious because catching flyballs is something 8 year olds can do rather easily and isn't a "skill" that should have to be polished each year.  Can there be mitigating circumstances to making a play?  Of course there can and sun or wind will certainly at times make routine plays difficult.

However, Bay last night was a horror show.  He made a good running catch in the first inning and then made two other rather routine plays into adventureous ones by getting bad jumps, misreading the trajectory and taking bad routes.  But, it's the play in the ninth that blows my mind.

Brian McCann, the good hitting, rather slow-footed catcher comes to bat with two out and runners on first and third in a 9-7 game.  McCann is more of a pull hitter, yet Bay was playing him straight away two steps in front of the warning track.  Now, I won't put this all on Bay, it is also on the coaching staff but he shouldn't have been playing that deep.  But, that's the least of my concerns.  McCann's hits a high pop into shallow left or slightly left center if you want to be picky.  Bay charges hard and appears to camp under the ball.  The ball lands 20 feet to his left and behind him.  Bay wasn't available to reporters after the game but McLouth said each thought the other was going to catch it.  Having watched the replay 20 times I don't know how that can be the case.  Bay comes in apparently under the ball and stops.  He never raises his hands to indicate he may have lost it.  He never looks at McLouth in anticipation that McLouth is going to catch the ball.  He never asks for help.  It's completely inexplicable.  I don't understand what happened.

I, like virtually every other Pirate fan, hope Bay reverts to the form seen in 2005 and 2006.  But, I am becoming very concerned that we have already seen his best and even more concerned that the effort and intensity that one might expect are completely gone.  Again I hope I'm wrong, but last night wasn't a good omen.  It was a good win and there lots of positives to be taken away, but I fear we've seen the end of the good Jason Bay and the hopes of garnering something of value at the trade deadline are misguided.

Many of you may have seen this already but I thought I'd link you to the article about the Bucs purchasing two new video pitching simulators.  I found the link through Rob Neyer on espn.com (subscription required) and he found it through Baseball Think Factory.  Here is the link: http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=83131&Itemid=9. One thing that stands out is that four teams currently use the machines, the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets and Indians.  While clearly these are four of the richest teams in the sport, they also happen to be four of the most successful.  Who knows the level of correlation.  But, with all the shots that have been taken at the new management over spending money and doing things the same old way, I think it is important to acknowledge steps like this.

It may not be the elixir we are all searching for, but clearly seems to be worth investing $500,000 to find out the benefits.

Charlie got referenced by Rob Neyer on his ESPN.com blog on Thursday http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=neyer_rob&entryDate=20080221 (subscription required).  In fact, far more than referenced--Neyer quoted extensively from Charlie's comments on BH Kim.  I love Neyer and think it's great he feels this blog is worth looking at as a resource.  Congrats Charlie, great work.

I like Freddy as much as the next guy and think that a salary around $4.5 million this year makes sense for everyone involved.  Assuming he hits anywhere near the level he has the past two years he'll make $6 million in 2009.  Sounds reasonable.

Dejean has suggested that after that, when Freddy becomes a free agent, he will command a multi-year deal at 8 figures/year.  Please, dear god, don't let that be with the Pirates.  If we commit $30+ million to a 32 year old second baseman two years from now I will......I don't know, eat my hat?

If Freddy ever makes $10+ million/year I will be absolutely floored.  I find it much more likely that Freddy will make his max number next year in his last year for arbitration.  GMs are just too smart in today's day and age to pay $7,8,9 million/year for 32 year old middle infielders with no power.  This is exactly what we don't need.  The organization has two years to use Freddy at a reasonable salary and look to develop his replacement.  In this instance, not pursuing a long term deal seems like the right move.  Freddy's not 25.

The comparison of Sanchez and LaRoche is silly.  Freddy is a good second baseman who hits with little power and appears to have somewhat limited mobility which isn't going to improve.  LaRoche has 35 HR potential and a left handed bat in the middle of the lineup.

If we're making investment choices, this is a no brainer.  Please don't listen to the shouts of the fan base.

p.s.  Why didn't we pursue Lieber?  The Cubs paid him $3.5.....shouldn't we have offered him $4?  Is this insane since we aren't going to compete this year, so it's just throwing money away?

Okay, I know throwing out trade ideas gets silly and people love to play GM, so if I apologize in advance--but tell me if you think this makes sense. This article in a Cleveland paper (http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18985138&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46370&rf i=6) suggests that the Indians will be looking to upgrade.  In the article the guy suggests a deal of Cliff Lee, Jhonny Peralta and Franklin Guitierrez or Ben Francisco for Jason Bay.  That sounds like a lot to me and I'd make that deal in a second--even without the outfielder as the third player.

Then, as a follow on, Tampa is looking for a shortstop until Reid Brignac fully develops.  We turn and trade Jack Wilson to Tampa for Baldelli.  I'm guessing we may have to add another piece (Guitierrez from the trade above?). Baldelli is signed for reasonable money through 2010 ($6, $8, $9 million roughly).  Obviously he has had huge injury problems, but, if he can stay healthy he can play center and McCutcheon can play left when he eventually comes up.

We add another starter (although I'm not sure a soft tossing lefty is exactly what we are looking for), Peralta replaces Wilson, Baldelli replaces Bay.

Does this make us a better team?