I hope you'll excuse the lack of analytical updates recently, but I've got an hour or so now. I'd like to check in with some individual players.
-Craig Wilson was on the bench yesterday against the Royals, even though there was a DH spot to fill and Wilson has been hitting well recently. Let's remove "his defense stinks" from the list of reasons for the Pirates' vendetta against Wilson. Perhaps the problem with Wilson really is his love of Pepsi.
-Jeromy Burnitz is hitting .235/.281/.438/.719. Think about how horrible Burnitz has been, then consider that ZIPS' pre-season projection for Burnitz was in the same ballpark as his current numbers - it was .240/.311/.412/.723. What we're seeing is what we're getting.
-Jose Bautista's stat line for the year continues to be weird. In 115 at bats, he's walked 18 times and hit 8 homers, though he's only hitting .235. Bautista's minor league record is very hard to read, so it's tough to tell what to expect from him going forward, but if he can improve his average somewhat, he could be an answer somewhere even if his walks and power come back to earth. That's hardly an enthusiastic endorsement, I guess, but that's more than I expected from him coming into this season. His defense in center has looked good, too, as far as I can tell.
-Joe Randa has hit 4-for-16 with two walks and no extra-base hits since his return.
-Adam Boeve is struggling in Class AAA Indianapolis, hitting .269/.325/.370/.695.
-White Flag Vogelsong has allowed runs in his last five appearances. In the first of those, he allowed one run in five innings in that 18-inning game against the Astros, but in general, Vogelsong has been horrible recently. His ERA is now 6.08. His career ERA is 5.82. There is nothing particularly promising anywhere in his stat line. He will be 29 in a month. I've had enough. Jonah Bayliss, anyone?
-Ian Snell hasn't allowed a homer in his last four starts.
-Salomon Torres has allowed runs in his last three appearances and has taken losses in two of the last three games. He has appeared in 44 games so far, which may be excessive. Even if it isn't, he hasn't been an asset in the bullpen this year. Torres' two-year extension is looking like a problem right now, and it hasn't even kicked in yet.