Hope

John Perrotto finds hope.

We will evaluate

In this Dejan Kovacevic building blocks column, Neal Huntington explains how he is a sober, reasonable person. Not a lot to get out of this except, I guess, that the new bosses talk a good game, at the very least.

There was a time when I thought Littlefield would work out and we know how that ended.

Somewhere in there he talks about the analogy of the duck. What does that mean? At first I thought he was referencing the blind men and the elephant, where each mistakes the one part visible to him as the whole. But I thought about "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck." In that context he appears to be saying, "if we look like a team that did nothing . . . "

I am also glad to learn that the new GM sleeps well at night. Sleep is really important, and I have a hard time respecting people who brag about how little sleep they get as though it's evidence they work really hard and are good at their jobs.

Top ten things

Dejan Kovacevic makes a list.

I'll add this: odds are, someone will get maimed, pull up lame, sleep on his shoulder wrong, blow out an elbow, or do something to embarrass himself and the team. Expecting this will not make it happen, so it's not like I'm jinxing anyone.

The Bucs look one way on paper right now, but I think we can guess that some weird things will happen before the end of March.

What's your guess?

Reds sign Craig Wilson

Your pepsi is safe.

Bartolo

Dejan Kovacevic reports the Pirates are looking at damaged-goods Bartolo Colon.

This part caught my eye:

"For two innings, he looked great," one scout said yesterday from the Dominican. "There wasn't much after that, but you're still talking about Bartolo Colon here. This is someone who knows how to pitch."

Two great innings? OK.

It sounds to me like Colon could take care of the 7th and 8th innings for some team. If we didn't have a ton of guys on the list for bullpen tryouts, I'd think the Pirates might be wise to ride in there and sign Bartolo. (Or can we say ... Bartolo!)

Burnett clears waivers

PG reports.

Pirates sign Freddy

Dejan Kovacevic had details.

I have Sean Burnett pencilled in for a few try-outs in the set-up role, so here's hoping he clears waivers.

Super Bowl whatever

It's hard for me to get excited about this one. And no, I don't like commercials. That's about the lamest reason, in my opinion, for watching the Super Bowl.

So I may sit this one out. If we turn on the television, I know Rowdy Jr., who's now all of three, would much rather watch reruns of Batman Beyond. Or maybe I'll put on Game 7 of the 1979 World Series.

Whatever you do, enjoy the day.

Top prospects

Keith Law ranks one Pirate player in the top 75 prospects. Walker and Lincoln are thrown in at the end, and both have pessimistic short descriptions.

Stargell stories

Last Monday, David Mooney wrote up some Stargell stories after covering the Pirates' fantasy camp for the Brandenton Herald.

More games on the TV

The Tribune-Review reports that Fox Sports Network Pittsburgh will televise 125 regular-season games this year.

Bullpen theory

In today's Q & A Dejan Kovacevic summarizes what he hears from the new management on assembling a bullpen.

Huntington has told me time and again that all the studies he has seen or performed himself show that there is "no magic formula" in trying to predict the performance of relievers from one year to the next. Moreover, he will add, no one can really figure out why, even with all the modern advances in baseball methodology, from analytical to statistically to medical.

...

At the same time, their approach to this was not a simple throw-it-against-the-wall variety. The pitchers they signed, they think, offer different styles, different arm slots and more power than the Pirates have had in the past, and they are hoping - yes, hoping - that a handful of them pan out with some help from the new coaching staff.

I advocated the throw-it-against-the-wall approach, but I did so knowing that I'm not someone who's qualified to run a baseball team. I admire the get-one-of-each and throw-them-against-the-wall approach of the professionals.

My hunch is that, if everyone expects the bullpen to be really truly awful, they will turn out OK. As Huntington says, nobody knows, so this hunch is pretty worthless.

Catchers

Johnny Estrada expressed reluctance to sign with Pittsburgh, Dejan Kovacevic reports.

I also would not want to compete for playing time with Ronny Paulino.

The psyche is a delicate flower

In today's Q&A, Dejan Kovacevic writes about the uncertain bullpen. Here he describes part of the risk involved:

There might be only three holes, actually, if Franquelis Osoria lives up to the team's expectations this spring, but three is still an awful lot. It is a risk not only for the Pirates' ability to be competitive in 2008 but also, and more important, to damaging the psyches of its many young starters. What will happen if Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm and Zach Duke repeatedly watching seventh-inning leads vanish?

What will happen? The Pirates will lose a bunch of games.

And I disagree with the idea that the team has to do something to stave off a potential threat to the potentially delicate psyches of young starters. First of all, if the psyche of a young starter is that fragile, he's not going to make it no matter what you do with the bullpen.

Second, I think this kind of thinking establishes bad expectations for the starters. Their job is to pitch as well as they can. There should not be this idea floating around that it's expected that any one of these guys will not pitch well if the bullpen blew a lead for him after his last turn. The failures of one set of players can never be something that is commonly identified as a worthy or even likely excuse for failure by another set of players. The quality of the bullpen has no effect on the quality of the start, and we should not talk like it does.

There is, however, one way that a weak bullpen threatens the starters. If the manager is reluctant to remove someone because he has little faith in the setup options, then there may be a risk to the health of the starter. But this is easily avoided with reasonably strict adherence to pitch counts or some other, smarter pre-established workload expectation.

And I've seen a lot of mediocre to bad pitchers who can put up good statistics - be effective - for months at a time. It's not that hard. Get the defense ready, throw the ball where they can't hit it too hard, try to get three outs. Even a mediocre lefty can be pretty tough on some good hitters.

The bullpen is not going to be terribly good, but I don't see how this is a grave problem for the starters or the closer provided that the manager is not allowed to slag all the decent arms to accomplish immediate short-term goals.

We will cohere

More building blocks from Dejan Kovacevic at the Post-Gazette.

Part of the new plan: every summer the Pirates will send six pitchers to Dr. James Andrews.

Careless

Dejan Kovacevic reports that the current Pirates don't care much about the future of the organization.

Hey, I think we already knew that.

He wonders how this will affect their play. Again, I think we already know the answer to this question.

I've done it my whole life and believe I will do it again

Dejan Kovacevic reports the grilling fans laid on management. Frank Coonelly comes across like a real badass.

I have not complained about these guys not spending money so far. I want to believe these guys. I have some confidence in them. It should not be that hard. But I am concerned that all this talk about saving the money for later is just bull.

We'll see.

New guys

Looking at the 40-man roster and the list of NRIs, I see a bunch of names that aren't so familiar with the Pirate uniform:

Olivo Astacio
Jimmy Barthmaier
Ronald Belisario
Phil Dumatrait
Kevin Thompson
T.J. Beam
Adam Bernero
Hector Carrasco
Elmer Dessens
Casey Fossum
Mike Thompson
Jaret Wright
Raul Chavez
Michel Hernandez
Miguel Perez
Jorge Velandia
Jose Macias

Odds are that some of these people will get some PT this year. Which one(s) do you think will perform well enough, or be in the right place at the right time enough, to get some big-league playing time?

How to spend money wisely

Dejan Kovacevic links today to his older story about Mickey White.

If it only takes $0.25M to sign the likes of Ian Snell and Nate McLouth at the end of the draft -- that was fifth-round pick money for 20-something rounders -- obviously that's a place where the Pirates could gain an advantage on the higher-payroll teams. When you consider that a "proven veteran" costs about $8.0M per year to contribute mediocrity and stifle the promotions of younger players promising a potentially greater upside, it makes no sense NOT to spend like a drunken sailor on draft day.

The Pirates have been taking one for the team on draft day for most of our recent memory. They've been suckers, holding down costs for the Yankees and Red Sox.

The draft is one place where we can really see the team's true priorities.

New scouting director

Dejan Kovacevic writes a lot about Greg Smith, the Pirates' new scouting director, and what all he says about what all to do with what all the picks the Pirates are going to have.

Sounds good to me, but I think I will reserve judgment until I see some results. Also I'm curious how WTM would translate all that scouting drafting talk.