Zduriencik

Will interview for the GM job, says Doug Melvin via mlb.com.

Game 150: Pirates at Padres

JVB vs. Jack Cassel soon. Stakes are high, as JVB is running out of chances. The Bucs trail the Padres by 15.5 games in the wild card race.

A good thing

Tim Marchman of the New York Sun likes the Coonelly hire:

One doesn't have to like the idea of quasi-collusion to admit that the most likely explanation here is simply that Coonelly, a powerful and effective baseball man, has agreed to try and turn around perhaps the game's least effective franchise.

Game 149: Pirates at Astros

Maholm vs. Backe, top of the first.

NFL week 2: Bills at Steelers

Steelers take the ball, start the drive down the field.

15

Dejan Kovacevic writes it up and the PG provides a nice photo (not good for drinking room wall) of Morris and Tracy.

Game 148: Pirates at Astros

Morris and Wandy Rodriguez starting soon.

Frank Coonelly in uniform. He'll stand in as the first-base coach. He'll help Ronny call the game, he'll steal the signs, he'll high-five all the players rounding first, and he'll try not to mix it up with the umpire calling the balls and the strikes.

Bernazard

John Perrotto on emerging GM candidate Tony Bernazard. Perrotto's source indicates that no GM interviews have taken place.

Coonelly goes to work

Frank's first CEO move is removing Armas from the rotation, Dejan Kovacevic reports. Coonelly is also the topic of the latest Q+A, in which Dejan finds the new CEO to be "loud, clear, and confident", and not your average bean counter.

Bay never met McClatchy?

New CEO Frank Coonelly boarded the team bus and introduced himself, mlb.com's Jenifer Langosch reports:

"He came on the bus and said hi before he left and wanted to show his face and meet everybody," outfielder Jason Bay said. "He said that he was going to be around more early on, to feel his way around."

Contrastingly, Bay said he has never met outgoing team CEO Kevin McClatchy.

How could the CEO in charge of day-to-day operations of the franchise never meet the franchise player?

UPDATE: sludgeworm found this nice picture of Bay and McClatchy chatting from an earlier story (by Jenifer Langosch).

Game 147: Pirates at Astros

Snell vs. Oswalt. Jack Wilson vs. Wiggy, round 2. Starts soon.

Bernazard and LaCava

Mets assistant GM Tony Bernazard and Blue Jays director of player personnel Tony LaCava have already interviewed for the GM job, SI.com's Jon Heyman reports.

Antonetti and Hahn have declined to be interviewed.

New GM will decide on Tracy

So says Paul Meyer.

After the general manager is hired, that person and Coonelly will take a hard look at people employed by the Pirates.

"I have a lot of contacts within the game who know who's good and who's not good and I've already begun that process," Coonelly said. "... We will figure out who the people are who are going to help us move forward and who the people are who have been holding this organization back."

My gut feeling is that Frank will find more not good people than good people.

Coonelly Era starts now

Today the Pirates will officially announce Frank Coonelly (pronounced COON-lee) as their new CEO, the P-G's Paul Meyer reports.

The Trib's Rob Biertempfel has a nice pro-Coonelly piece with quotes from Keith Law and an agent:

One prominent agent who has sat across the table from Coonelly during hearings described him as intense, shrewd and well organized.

"He's a barracuda," the agent said. "Very aggressive. He's not just throwing stuff at the wall to see if it sticks. He does his homework. In that regard, he's a great choice for the Pirates."

I'm willing to give Coonelly a chance, at least until he announces his new GM. All hail the new CEO!

Game 146: Brewers at Pirates

Gorzelanny vs. Bush in twenty minutes. Bucs need one more loss to clinch.

GM update

Paul Meyer mentions Amaro, LaCava, and Wren but also says Amaro hadn't heard from the team as of yesterday and Frank Wren was a "stretch".

Still no official Coonelly announcement. Maybe Nutting wants to wait until after the Bucs clinch losing season #15.

New Dominican academy

Dejan Kovacevic reports. Overdue, but still a positive development.

Game 145: Brewers at Pirates

Bullington vs. Gallardo, starting now.

Pirates hire Coonelly

Paul Meyer reports, via Chuck Greenberg.

Amaro

Nutting is not the only one courting Ruben Amaro Jr., Jim Molony of mlb.com reports. (read Vlad's bio of Amaro at Bucs Dugout here.)

Game 144: Brewers at Pirates

Villaneuva and Armas in half an hour.

GM candidates

Perrotto's list. Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News claims that Ruben Amaro Jr. might be the frontrunner. Paul Meyer suggests that the 30-year-old D'backs Assistant GM and former director of baseball operations for the Red Sox Peter Woodfork is also a candidate. From the Arizona Republic:

"Woodfork has carved out an expertise in all matters financial and technical, including arbitration, contracts and the fine print in roster shuffling. But he says he still has a lot to learn, including honing his player-evaluation skills.

"It's definitely something I'm going to need to improve on in my game," he said.

Doesn't sound like the proven talent evaluator that Cory wants to see.

Vlad at Bucs Dugout has excellent GM candidate bios on Logan White and Chris Antonetti.

On Coonelly, don't miss Pat.

I'm fine with a Bean Counter CEO. Expert Bean Counter who loudly and nastily argues? Better yet. If, and only if, there's a Baseball Guy who can evaluate talent as new GM.

Game 143: Cubs at Pirates

Veteranosity abounds: Trachsel and Morris.

NFL week 1: Steelers at Browns

It's nuts how much the NFL changes Sunday. Last week I slept long and late. This morning I get up at eight feeling like Party Boy.

Here we go Steelers.

Game 142: Cubs at Pirates

Zambrano and Snell starting now. Here's hoping that Snell has all the powers of Snell at his fingertips tonight.

Coonelly in as CEO?

In what might be -- as sludge suggests -- a Grimm Tribune moment, Ken Rosenthal proclaims that Nutting will make the "phenomenal" choice of Frank Coonelly for CEO. Link here.

Paul Meyer hedges for the Post-Gazette.

Vlad jumps the gun -- the fat ladies have not sung in the Pirates' front office. (They are not fat, I'm sure, but very beautiful ... I mean this rhetorically.) Do read his post, however, and click on those crazy links he dug up on Zip "he's a larned skoller" Frank Coonelly.

Littlefield era post-mortem

Dejan Kovacevic offers his analysis of the Littlefield era here in the Post-Gazette.

It's strongly worded, and it's pretty damning. I also think it's fair.

And I cannot think of anything significant that Kovacevic has left out.

Game 141: Cubs at Pirates

Hill and Gorzelanny at seven.

LITTLEFIELD FIRED!!!

Finally. Official announcement here. P-G story here. All hail Bob Nutting! Beer me!

Game 140: Pirates at Cardinals

Bullington vs. Maroth, starts now. McLouth back in CF. Phelps at 1B, Pearce in RF, Maldonado catching. Ronny on the bench, calling the game and stealing signs.

UPDATE: start of game delayed by rain again. Game on (3:35 PM).

Game 139: Pirates at Cardinals

Armas and Mulder, starting real soon. Tonight's wrinkle is Izturis at third, Bautista in center, Pearce in right.

UPDATE: Start of game delayed by rain. Game on (9:00 PM).

Honest Wagner NFL pick 'em pool

Get in the pool:
FREE PigPool at Pigskin.com.
poolname: Honest Wagner Pick 'em Pool
password: 51yardparker
If you did this in years past, you're still in the pool and you can simply login and make your picks. For more info, see Rowdy's post from last year.

Game 138: Pirates at Cardinals

Morris vs. Pineiro starts now. Morgan and Pearce starting again.

Bullington, JVB, and Davidson

Three pitchers called up, reports Dejan Kovacevic. Bullington will try to protect the integrity of the rotation, but all three are unlikely to make the postseason roster.

Game 137: Pirates at Cardinals

Ian Snell vs. Kip Wells. Kip, 6-15 but hitting .340, is batting eighth, in front of 3B Brendan Ryan. For the Bucs, Nyjer Morgan leads off and plays CF, while Steve Pearce bats sixth and plays 1B.

Pirates prospects

The Trib's Rob Biertempfel reports on Pirates prospects, with a few zingers added by BP's Kevin Goldstein.

Under "mixed results", the summary at the end lists: Yoslan Herrera, Jonah Bayliss ("The skinny: Spring training success might have been a mirage"), Brad Lincoln, and Pedro Powell. Although Powell hit only .241/.320/.304 in his second full year at Lynchburg, this profile by mlb.com's Lisa Winston reports:

Powell was slowly but surely starting to learn how to play the "little man's game."

Game 136: Pirates at Brewers

Gorzelanny vs. Suppan at two eastern. Bucs need a win to stay in contention.

Game 135: Pirates at Brewers

Youman vs. Bush in fifteen. Batting sixth and playing RF, Steven Pearce.

Tracy on integrity of the game

Don't expect all of the Indy call-ups to start regularly. Jim Tracy (via mlb.com):

"You don't foresee a lot of days where you are going to have the liberty to run four or five guys out there -- who were playing baseball in Triple-A or Double-A -- in a big league game," Tracy said. "You need to protect the integrity of the game and your situation in relation to the other competitors that you're playing against."

I'd hate to see what Pirates baseball without integrity would look like.

Pearce, Morgan, and Perez up

1B Steve Pearce, OF Nyjer Morgan, and LHP Juan Perez have been called up from Indy, Paul Meyer reports.

Game 134: Pirates at Brewers

Armas vs. Gallardo soon. Jack returns, freeing Izturis to work in the dugout.

Game 133: Reds at Pirates

Morris vs. Belisle, starting now.

Duffy surgery

Chris Duffy will have surgery on his left shoulder tomorrow, Dejan Kovacevic reports. Duffy will miss the playoffs, but should be ready for spring training 2008.

Game 132: Reds at Pirates

Snell vs. Harang, starting now.

Torres to return

No structural damage to Sully's arm, John Perrotto reports. Sully is expected back in time to pitch in the playoffs.

Game 131: Reds at Pirates

Maholm vs. Arroyo, second game of the doubleheader underway. Irate Fans and Pirates Fans for Change congregating in Section 140.

Game 130: Reds at Pirates

Gorzelanny vs. Ramirez in the first game of the doubleheader, starting now. Nady's back in RF.

Wilbur on DL

Wilbur Miller tries to steer Bob Nutting clear of the Kool-Aid, in a two-part series for OBN: Part 1. From Part 2:

After more than six years with Littlefield at the helm, there isn’t a single position player on the major league roster who was originally signed under Littlefield.

Don't drink it, Bob. Please. (Links via Bucs Dugout.)

LaCava

John Perrotto and Keith Law like Tony LaCava for CEO. Sounds great to me. In addition to being a top-notch scout with an expertise in evaluation, LaCava has experience in firing people, an absolute prerequisite for this job.

Off day

As you were.

exhibition: Eagles at Steelers

Eagles lead 3-0 after the first quarter.

Game 129: Pirates at Astros

Armas and Wandy at two.

Game 128: Pirates at Astros

Morris vs. Patton soon. Kata in LF tonight for Bay. Wiggy starting at third for the 'Stros.

Torres to DL

Romulo! Sanchez recalled from Altoona to take Sully's place, Dejan Kovacevic reports. Not joining him on the DL is Nady, despite having a torn hammy. Nady will fight for DL's job in PH situations. Torres will have company around the buzzsaw in the trainer's room:

Duffy has had rotator cuff damage for two years and is considering surgery.

Clayton Hamilton is out for a year after medical staff misdiagnosed a broken rib (John Perrotto report via Vlad at Primer).

Second round pick Duke Welker was shut down due to arm pain, Dejan reported last week.

Committee of One

Paul Meyer on Bob Nutting's top-secret CEO hunt, this time with no huge picture.

Didn't like this part:

And one National League front-office person thinks that, at the end of the day, Littlefield -- whose contract runs through 2008 -- could remain the team's general manager.

"Why else do you allow him to take on $15 million for next season at the trading deadline [July 31] if he isn't coming back?" that person said, referring to the $9.5 million owed to pitcher Matt Morris and the $5.45 million club option for shortstop Cesar Izturis in 2008.

Dejan mentioned that Nutting approved of the Morris trade in part because Nutting liked Matt Morris as a pitcher. As for Cesar, although he's not a good baseball player, he brings other things to the table.

Game 127: Pirates at Astros

Snell vs. Albers, starts now. Batting second, Kata is poised to attack.

Wilson to stay for now

Talks with Detroit about Jack Wilson are dormant, Dejan Kovacevic reports. So no Omar Infante, at least for now.

Biggest Stories in the Steeler Universe

Epic Deadspin Steelers Preview by Mondesi's House.

Game 126: Pirates at Rockies

Maholm vs. Morales, starting soon. Kata starting at third.

Craig Monroe has been traded to the Cubs.

Baseball Guy, CEO

Nutting says new CEO will be Baseball Guy, Paul Meyer reports. (Warning: superhuge picture of Bob Nutting precedes story in above link). Crossing off Bill Nutting and Bean Counter, today's new CEO Odds are:

Dan Duquette: 3:1
Walt Jocketty: 5:1
Joe Garagiola, Jr.: 20:1
Chuck Greenberg: 20:1
Other Baseball Guy: 3:1
Dave Littlefield: zero

Game 125: Pirates at Rockies

Tom Gorzelanny and some guy, dunno who he is, never heard of him, Joseph Fogg. Starting in half an hour.

Looking good

Thumbs up for the new PG webpage redesign.

The book

It sounds to me like Jerome Bettis has out now a fun book. Ed Bouchette summarizes on that link.

Dan Duquette, CEO candidate

Pirates CEO candidate Dan Duquette has met with Bob Nutting, the BCT's John Perrotto reports. For no other reason, Dan becomes the early favorite in today's HW CEO Odds:

Dan Duquette: 3:1
Bill Nutting: 4:1
Chuck Greenberg: 4:1
Joe Garagiola, Jr.: 10:1
Walt Jocketty: 50:1
Bean Counter: even
Baseball Guy: 3:2
George W. Bush: 1,000,000:1
Mark Cuban: 10,000,000:1
Dave Littlefield: zero

Is Dan Duquette evil, stupid, or neither? Who's missing from the list?

Duffy's shoulder

Duffy's having an MRI on his shoulder today, which we now learn has been bothering him since spring, Dejan Kovacevic reports.

Game 124: Pirates at Rockies

Armas and Dessens at nine our time.

Good times are just around the corner

John Perrotto writes about Pearce, Bixler, McCutchen, and Walker.

Not sure how the times could get any better. I'm still floating from Skyblast. But you can read it and see for yourself.

Movin' on up

Three game winning streak has the Pirates riding high.

Game 123: Pirates at Rockies

Matt Morris vs. Ubaldo Jimenez at 9:05 PM EDT.

Monday chat

Dejan Kovacevic in today's chat thinks upper management will be the first focus of the new CEO. The update on the CEO search: Paul Meyer will be reporting the search for the P-G and "there is a process in place".

Game 122: Phillies at Pirates

Snell vs. Lohse, who has a three hitter so far. Bucs down 4-0 in the seventh.

A cold rain

I am not too confident the Pirates will play today.

Game 121: Phillies at Pirates

Moyer and Maholm at seven. Skyblast again, so I expect a full house with lots of fans arriving around the eighth inning.

Craig Monroe

Dejan Kovacevic reports that Craig Monroe has cleared waivers.

Game 120: Phillies at Pirates

Durbin and Gorzelanny at seven.

Durbin has been in the bullpen, and he's not expected to go too many innings tonight.

Coming off a shutout, Gorzelanny is due to get bombed. I'm hoping he's better than that, but I've developed that expectation over the years. It seems to me that a lot of starters get blown out in starts after the All-Star game and starts after complete-game shutouts.

Pirate news

Dejan Kovacevic's P-G notebook has something to say about Littlefield's contract extension, Jack Wilson clearing waivers, and that prospect guy who wanted "$10 million and a major-league contract." (The nerve of that guy ... thinking the Pirates have $10M in payroll to throw away.)

Game 119: Mets at Pirates

Brian Lawrence and Tony Armas. The Benny Hill music starts at seven.

After the game ... Skyblast. And Styx in concert. Yes ... Styx.

Skyblast + Styx = sold out Pittsburgh baseball stadium.

Game 118: Mets at Pirates

Maine and Morris, starting soon.

67.8

The Pirates are on pace for 67.8 wins.

Game 117: Mets at Pirates

Snell vs. Hernandez, starting now without Kuwata, who has been released, and Doumit, who was put on the DL, Dejan Kovacevic reports.

Armas and Morris, Doumit and Paulino

Brian O'Neill makes some comparisons.

Phelps to catch

Dejan Kovacevic reports that Tracy says give him credit, Phelps looks good catching the ball.

Games 115 and 116: Giants at Pirates

Cain and Maholm, Lowry and Youman. Game one at five.

I'm off to scout Latin America, but I hope to be back in time to catch the second game.

God to punish Pirates

Great, just great.

Salomon Torres explains in Post-Gazette report from Dejan Kovacevic.

God's wrath will surely end the Pirates' long run of winning seasons.

It was fun while it lasted.

Game 114: Pirates at Giants

Gorzelanny and Zito at three.

Preseason football: Packers at Steelers

Steely McBeam to play quarterback in the second half.

Game 113: Pirates at Giants

Armas and Lincecum sometime later this afternoon.

Low-cost talent

Dejan Kovacevic notes the Pirates have signed Victor Zambrano and inserted him into the Indianapolis rotation.

Ronny Ballgame

Ronny did a good job catching the ball last night. From Dejan Kovacevic's Post-Gazette recap:

Ortmeier was between Bautista and Paulino at home plate, and the throw would have to go inside the runner.

"I was expecting it to come to the other side," Paulino said.

Because of that, Paulino had to dramatically change his glove position to backhand the ball and, as he did, Ortmeier was beginning a hook-slide to elude him.

But Paulino, as he had earlier in the game on a similar play at the plate, swept his tag and banged Ortmeier in the back of the helmet.

"All I tried to do was to find a way to get the ball to Ronny," Bautista said. "He made the better half of the play."

The view from the other dugout was half-and-half in that record.

"That was a heck of a play, and it ended up being the ballgame," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "Their third baseman did a heck of a job to get to the ball and make the throw, and the catcher made a really good tag."

. . .

For Paulino, that tag and the previous one- on Ryan Doumit's excellent throw from right field that gunned down Pedro Feliz in the second -- might have represented vindication for a catcher who has struggled all season with plays at the plate.

"Give credit to our catcher," Tracy said. "He had a terrific game."

Unlike Paulino, Matt Morris did not play well, except, in my opinion, for the part when his veteranosity induced a double play after beguiling the Giant hitters with seven consecutive balls. "That's not how I pitch," he said.

Game 112: Pirates at Giants

This does not start for about four hours, but I am already drinking beer and tailgating somewhat around the old radio.

Matt Morris and Russ Ortiz tonight.

Tonight it's part two in the ongoing series, "Is Matt Morris a better bet, going forward, than freely available low-cost pitching?"

Morris was tagged for four earned runs in his last start, so he's still looking for his first quality start as a Pirate.

Friday afternoon

Any outrage du jour on the menu, or is it just the usual fare?

Game 111: Pirates at Diamondbacks

Snell and Davis starting soon.

Steely McBeam

The football gods were frowning, Robert Dvorchak reports.

Game 110: Pirates at Diamondbacks

Paul Maholm and Byung-Hyun Kim in fifteen minutes.

Kim has made 14 starts this year. He's averaged 5.64 innings per start. He's gotten 8.05 strikeouts per 9 innings to 6.39 walks, 7.69 hits, and 1.30 home runs. He's earning $2.5M this year as the option year after a one-year, $1.5M contract signed with the Rockies before the 2006 season.

For those of you who read the previous comment thread, Matt Morris has made 22 starts this year. He's averaging 6.5 innings per start. He's gotten 4.84 strikeouts per 9 innings for 2.52 walks, 10.76 hits, and 0.75 home runs. He's making $10M this year as part of a three-year, $27M contract signed with the Giants before the 2006 season.

Paul Maholm has made 22 starts for the Pirates this year. He's averaging 6.27 innings per start. He's gotten 5.28 strikeouts per nine innings to show for his nine-innings averages of 2.54 walks, 9.52 hits, and 1.11 home runs. He's making 403K in this, his third year of major-league ball.

Perrotto on the Morris signing

John Perrotto is still scratching his head over the Morris deal.

On one hand, I suppose there is a lot of head to scratch.

On the other hand, the rationale behind the trade looks clear enough to me. The same kind of bad things we might predict about Morris's future performance could also be said about the future of Jeff Suppan.

It is crazy that reliable starters command so much money. It is crazy, too, that pre-arb players make so little. But that is the way it is these days.

A starter was, I think, a need and not a want. And when you need something, you cannot complain persuasively about the price. This is especially true if you get what you need for less than the going rate. And I think that, in the Morris deal, the Pirates acquired a veteran starter for much less than they would have paid in the off-season free agent market. After all, they were able to acquire his expensive skills for only 1 1/2 or (if they pick up his option) 2 1/2 years. No starter like Matt Morris would settle for a one- or two-year deal.

Littlefield may negotiate like a fantasy-league jerk--as Dejan Kovacevic's report might suggest--but he has made some good trades.

P.S. I'm not suggesting that a number of good trades should be enough to save his job. We can give credit where it is due and still be disappointed in his performance as GM.

Game 109: Pirates at Diamondbacks

Gorzelanny and Owings, starting in twenty mintues.

Winners and losers

Early in the year the Arizona Diamondbacks (63-50, first place in the NL West) ranked as the youngest team in the NL. So I've considered them proof that age was not the problem with the 2007 Pirates (44-64, last place in the NL Central).

These days, the Pirates are a bit younger overall (27.8 to 27.9), but the Diamondbacks have an impressive list of players who are 24 or younger: Edgar Gonzalez, Micah Owings, Miguel Montero, Stephen Drew, Mark Reynolds, Carlos Quentin, Justin Upton, Chris B. Young.

The kids of Pittsburgh are Matt Capps and Zach Duke.

There must be a lesson in there somewhere.

Snack business thriving

Sitaua Faala'ula'u has repaid $6.26 of my $25.00 loan to her.

Eldar is also doing well.

Enjoy your off day.

exhibition football: Saints and Steelers

NFL Network ball-hogs the exhibition opener. I make a point of ignoring exhibition football, but with the new coach and whatnot, I will follow the events of this game. And perhaps there will be some good reading about it tomorrow.

Game 109: Reds at Pirates

Gorzelanny vs. Arroyo, delayed by rain. Cesar starting at third and batting second.

UPDATE (4:30 PM): Game postponed until Aug. 28th.