-P- So, in addition to the knee problems we already knew about, B.P. Chacon also has arthritis in his knee. Lovely. I don't know how this will affect him, but I look at the incredible shrinking career of Garret Anderson - who also has problems with arthritis - and I get suspicious that B.P. will ever do anything good for the Pirates. Of course, I was extremely suspicious to begin with. The Pirates need to cut him.
-P- Tony Armas Jr. has reported to camp. Also, it got buried by the Cubs preview, but Armas' community projection is open.
-P- This is the third link in a row from the Post-Gazette, but what the heck. Dejan Kovacevic has a good question:
Well put. None of the young starters in the Pirates' rotation except Paul Maholm were first round picks. I think WTM has made this argument before - in general, the thing to do is grab a position player early, then take a bunch of live arms later in the draft. Of course there are exceptions - there wasn't a premier position available when the Bucs drafted Brad Lincoln last year, so drafting him was probably a good idea. But that wasn't the case when the Pirates drafted, for example, Bryan Bullington.
-P- Onlybucs has its second Spring Training report.