Oliver Perez's transition to soft-tossing junkballer continues. Jim Tracy:
"The other guys, that's not their mission. Those three left-handers (Perez, Zach Duke and Paul Maholm) -- their mission on any given day, when they're going to be really, really good, will not be to go out and strike out 12 or 13 guys.
"That's not the kind of pitchers that they are."
So the guy who led the National League in strikeouts per nine innings in 2004 isn't a strikeout pitcher? That's interesting. It remains to be seen how a wild flyball pitcher will be successful if he doesn't strike people out.
I can't help but feel that the Pirates are trying to sell a new version of Perez to their fans. Perhaps Tracy just misspoke. But I'm sure you'll understand why I'm inclined to be cynical here.
Elsewhere, Kevin McClatchy hasn't thought much about an extension for Dave Littlefield, but unless Littlefield becomes a PR liability for the Pirates, it'll probably happen eventually.