Kent Tekulve, Advance Scout

DK reports. Tekulve will travel around, scouting 150-160 games.

"The Pirates did not employ anyone in such a role the past three years, general manager Dave Littlefield explained yesterday, because the task of analyzing future opponents was performed through a combination of scouting agencies, statistical services and video analysis.

That method drew private grumblings late last season from a few coaches and players, who complained they were not as prepared as other teams. In September, one coach showed the Post-Gazette a scouting report on one of the Chicago Cubs' position players that left blank spots next to categories such as "hitting weaknesses" and "defensive weaknesses.""

I wonder if, to scrape up enough change for Teke, Ogden released the hounds on the computer simulation people responsible for the Tike-hits-third embarrassment.

Welcome back, Teke. All hail advance scouting!