I've been reading up on our American League equivalents, the Royals. They made a couple of moves this weekend, sending Mark Teahen to Class AAA Omaha to "work on his hitting," recalling outfielder Aaron Guiel, and telling the miserable Joe Mays he has three days to decide whether to accept a minor-league assignment. Guiel was hitting .420/.619 for Omaha.
Perhaps more importantly, owner David Glass has expressed frustration with the Royals' performance:
At the time, Glass still was wincing over the Royals' 5-20 start, matching the worst ever in 1992, reached on Wednesday night in a loss to the Minnesota Twins.
Changes are in the offing, he indicated, without being specific.
As another Pirate fan asked this weekend, when are we going to hear Kevin McClatchy seriously express frustration about the way the Pirates are performing? And when are the Pirates going to make changes that acknowledge and attempt to address the serious problems with this team? Teahen was the top player acquired in the deal in which the Royals traded Carlos Beltran - a lot rode on their getting that trade right, but now that they haven't, they aren't pretending that it was great.
So when will Oliver Perez be sent to the minors? When will Jeromy Burnitz be told he has three days to accept an assignment or not? Heck, when will he finally be removed as the starting right fielder? When will something be done about the catcher situation? When will Ryan Vogelsong or John Grabow be pushed aside to make room for one of the many pitchers (like Scott Strickland) performing well at Class AAA Indianapolis? We're waiting.