Another test for DL, Nuttings

The rest of the month represents another big test for Littlefield and the ownership. To what extent are Littlefield's hands tied here? Will he, as Wilbur suggests, hamper his own efforts to acquire talent by working to save the owners some money? Is he under orders to trim salary?

If the Pirates fail to acquire the talent they so badly need - this team won only one in three games before the ASB - it will be yet another reflection of the misguided and perhaps villainous priorities which have determined so much of the team's recent losing.

If the Pirates do acquire the talent they need, and if they eat salaries in the process, then would this be a cause for hope? I've long argued that GMs learn from their mistakes. Can Littlefield? Has the ownership given him broad discretion when it comes to the financial impact of potential trades?

We can only know by his actions. If they acquire talent at any cost, there will be hope. If nothing happens and all we hear is continued grumbling about the stubborn delusions of Littlefield, then we're stuck where we've been, hoping for some kind of fan revolt and political solution.

New York Daily News: Littlefield is difficult

Bill Madden of the New York Daily News writes of the difficulty the Yankees experience with Littlefield:

The Yankee high command has always kind of liked Pirates outfielder Craig Wilson (another free agent-to-be) for both his bat and versatility. But it has never had any success in dealing with Pirates GM Dave Littlefield, and apparently it's been no different recently. They would be willing to give up a middle tier prospect for the 29-year-old Wilson, even though he, too, is a rental player, but have no interest in taking on Jeromy Burnitz's big contract, which Littlefield is attempting to package with Wilson. Even though the Yankees might also have interest in Pirates setup man Roberto Hernandez, it doesn't appear as if the Yankees are ever going to be able to do business with Littlefield.

Of course the wealthy, winning Yankees are full of contempt for the "poor," losing Pirates. But is that a whine Madden reports at the end of that paragraph? Or another bad sign suggesting DL's Bonifay-like overvaluation of his own 30-60 players?

Damaso Marte

Yesterday Ken Rosenthal reported the Astros were scouting Marte. The Mackowiak for Marte trade looked good at the time, but Marte has been something of a disappointment with the shoulder woe and all those baserunners he's allowed.

the Marlins' youth movement

John Perrotto writes about the Marlins' $15M payroll.

More trade dope

This could be a long trade-dope bender we've embarked upon. David Briggs offers this bit of news for MLB.com. In it, he upgrades the Pirates' pursuit of Shealy to "heavy." Heavy pursuit. As in heavy-footed? Or hot and heavy? We will ... find out.

Let me shoot down some cavilling objections I've heard to this pursuit of Shealy. (I like the word cavil. It works for me.)

One: he's not left-handed. Jimmykat brought this up in the consistently amusing PG Bob Smizik chat transcript. This kind of thinking got us Jeromy Burnitz. The Pirates have to be flexible; they have to make the best choices from the available options. Unless you can recommend a left-handed first baseman languishing in someone's farm system, do not raise this trivial objection. As we saw today, he can double into right-center just fine, and often. Park effects are real but tiresome in that too many people exaggerate their importance.

Two: he's gonna be expensive. Who cares? The Pirates, because they are the Pirates, should make this trade. They can not afford top-quality first-base free agents. Shealy comes with the usual, incredibly favorable rookie contract. When you really need something, you should not be ashamed to pay for it. Give the Rockies what they need and move on.

Three: the Rockies will want young players. Great! That's about all we got. The inconvenience of being stuck with Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz, and Sean Casey after the deadline pales beside the inconvenience of starting the season 30-60. If the Rockies want young relief pitchers, fine, I say, they should have them. The Pirates can replenish the bullpen with our collection of failed starters now toiling at AAA.

As for the other objections, they remain open questions. Is his nose hard enough? He has to be hard-nosed. Can he flat-out hit? It has to be flat-out. Does he play the game right? If he doesn't know the rules, that's a strike against him, of course. And last but not least, is he clutch? Today he struck out with the game on the line. Not all objections are cavilling--some are quite serious. They are edifying. They proceed deep from the principles which are the heart of Pirate baseball. I thank my fellow fans with the intelligence to note them.

More Shealy talk

OK, so who would you move for that Shealy kid? I'd empty the bullpen and call up some familiar names from Altoona. The Rockies and Pirates are made for each other at this point. They can make a trade that makes both teams happy. There's no sense waiting any longer, either. Please do it, DL, and do it now.

Game 96: Rockies at Pirates

Jason Jennings and Zach Duke today at twelve-thirty.

... Shealy in the lineup, batting fifth.

So who wants Ryan Shealy?

Raise your hand if you want Ryan Shealy. Dejan Kovacevic reports the Pirates, along with a bunch of other teams, are after him.

Shealy will surely be traded soon. For all kinds of reasons, he just must be traded this month. What happens then, is anyone's guess. He'll be 27 in August, and he can only play first. They tried him in the outfield, and he hurt his elbow hitting the cut-off man. There have been published reports speculating that Shealy can't have much trade value. He's old for a prospect, and his skills are somewhat one-dimensional and altitude-inflated. That said, when I read about a 27-year-old hitting prospect, these days I think Josh Willingham. Shealy, even though he's right handed, is surely the kind of lottery ticket the Pirates should be buying. Think of the money we'll save!

The Rockies appear to need what we have in abundance. The X factor here, however, is Josh Fogg, whose reasonably decent performance as a Rockie must have him right by the owner's ear. Who knows what twisted intelligence he will pour into their ears. Will Josh Fogg let this trade happen?

The Pirates also have to keep Shealy away from San Francisco if they hope to trade Sean Casey. For that reason alone, the Pirates would be smart to raise the bid on the Rocky Mountain man-child.

This particular Kovacevic notebook contains many other trade-dope-hound nuggets that will be on next week's test. Study up.

Casey at the deadline

Since the Pirates have reverted to Dipshittery, we'll interrupt tonight's game thread to pretend it's not happening.

In the meantime, sober Grant of McCovey Chronicles analyzes the trade market for Sean Casey for your distraction.

Game 95: Rockies at Pirates

The Pirates try to make it four of five tonight. Two in a row is nice, a win after a loss is good, but until they often win six or seven of ten, there's no hope for improving the winning percentage. The easy way to do that is to win five or six of seven. The more you win, the more you need to win. Psychologically, the tendency may be the reverse: with the Pirates we have seen a lot of "we just won some games, let's get drunk or something and go to the ballpark and play like dipshits."

Jeff Francis and Tom Gozelannyfrattare at seven.

Casey wants to stay; Shealy might play

John Perrotto writes about Casey's answer to the stay-or-go question. He did the same thing yesterday for Jack Wilson.

I understand why a reporter would ask such a question, but I don't see how it's news when they answer the question this way. It would only be news if the player put his foot in his mouth. And said something that made his agent smack a horrible slice from the fourth tee.

Perrotto also notes, in agreement with nearly all published reports, that the Pirates have yet to approach Casey about an extension.

The Rockies, who are in Pittsburgh, on a losing streak, and in some pretty desperate need of a shot of adrenaline, recalled first-base prospect Ryan Shealy last night. The Pirates should take a long look at this guy. Asked about this roster move, Hurdle said perhaps he'd give Helton a night off.

Here's to hoping Shealy gets an audition tonight. Do it, Clint, do it.

Burnitz a burden

The Yankees want Roberto Hernandez. The Staten Island Advance reports this much about the talks:

An official with one of the teams involved said the Yankees were in "very serious" discussions with the Pittsburgh Pirates about relief pitcher Roberto Hernandez. The official, who requested anonymity because he didn't want to jeopardize the discussions, said the Yankees and Pirates had spoken several times in the past few days and that he believed Hernandez to be the Yankees' top relief-pitching target right now.

The Yankees, who had a scout at the Pirates' series over the weekend, have spoken with the Pirates about several players, including infielder/outfielder Craig Wilson and reliever Solomon Torres. But it's the 41-year-old Hernandez in whom they appear most interested.

Hernandez posted a 2.58 ERA in 67 relief appearances last year for the Mets. When he became a free agent in the off-season, the Yankees tried to sign him, but he went instead to Pittsburgh on a one-year, $2.75 million deal. The Pirates are out of the race now and looking to dump some salary. It's unclear what the Yankees would have to send back in return, but they rejected the Pirates initial request that they take outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, who's making $6.7 million this year, as a condition of a Hernandez deal.

Burnitz is hitting .227 / .275 / .414 so far this season. Dan Szymborski was right; these numbers nearly match his .237 / .309 / .415 projection.

Making the Squad

So it's porn in July from the NFL network?

And did you see they will broadcast eight consecutive Thursday night games, beginning with Thanksgiving? Huh. So we gotta get the NFL network to watch the Browns-Steelers game this year?

Game 94: Rockies at Pirates

Kim and Wells. DK chat transcript (link here) has some interesting stuff, including, "The veterans want out, no question." May this be the first off-season in which Littlefield does not hire a bunch of veterans.

Pirates to talk to Casey

Amid many articles, in the PG (Dejan's) and on the AP wire, suggesting a contract for Casey was more and more unlikely, Rob Rossi reports for the Tribune-Review that the team will talk to Casey's agent this week.

They ought to talk, for sure. I'd suggest Casey accept a job as a player/coach. He can play first base three or four nights a week and coach first base the other nights. And duh since he'd be a coach I'd expect him to work for reasonable wages.

Littlefield speaks truth

In this AP story on maybe trading Sean Casey, Littlefield is quoted as saying:

"We've got a lot of interest in a lot of players," Littlefield said. "I don't want to undermine the fact we've got a lousy record. But, as far as pieces go, we've got good individual pieces -- now we've got to turn that into a better record and a more complete performance on the field."

If by "undermine" he means "ignore," as the context suggests, then he's speaking the truth. If he means "excavate the earth beneath," then I'm less sure. And if he was misquoted on that part, then who knows, perhaps he was misquoted throughout.

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. The Pirates have a lousy record. A spectacularly lousy record. A suspiciously lousy record. With some good individual pieces. Ergo, Littlefield speaks the truth there. If the Reds can be 49-44 right now, I say this Pirate team could be right there around .500 as well.

Game 93: Nationals at Pirates

Livan Hernandez and Paul Maholm at one thirty. The Pirates are feeling good and look for their third win in a row.

Trading Jack Wilson

An infield of Castillo - Sanchez - Bautista looks pretty strong. DK reports the Pirates are fielding offers for Jack Wilson. Such a move would make a lot of sense. A team that has lost as much as this one has no business getting sentimental about the players who have been along for that ride.

Game 92: Nationals at Pirates

Astacio and Snell tonight.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2

We skipped the game and saw this film last night -- it was good, like Raiders of the Lost Ark, with obvious Star Wars elements, in an early American setting.