For real this time. Rotoworld reports that ESPN reports that a Kip Wells to Boston trade is close. DK reports a deal looks close as well. If Nixon's hurt, I'd think the Red Sox might want Burnitz to platoon with Wily Mo. Call me crazy.
And here I thought the Red Sox were just doing their best to jam everyone's phone line.
Just under an hour. Within the next 90 minutes or so, we should know what went down and what did not go down.
... the Mets might want to jump into that relief-pitcher market all of a sudden. Get well, Duaner. Milledge for Roberto!
Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe says one of his Pittsburgh sources says the Red Sox are talking to the Pirates about Kip Wells today. FWIW.
Kovacevic is killing them in the chat this afternoon. Their java won't allow cutting and pasting, so we'll have to wait for the final transcript to quote some choice lines.
... here it go. You can find the funnies on your own. Walker? Altoona? Soon? Have I been living in a cave?
Nick Cafardo reports (around 1pm) that Boston appears to be locked in a stalemate with a number of clubs. They have made demands the Red Sox won't meet. They want "Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Craig Hansen, Manny DelCarmen, Dustin Pedroia."
One team could hold up dozens of trades if they drop their hints correctly. Since trading - theoretically - improves all parties, it might be smart to do what you could to prevent other teams from making trades. If you like your team, and if you don't think you can much improve it by making trades, why not do what you can to gum the rest of the league's player movement? No good could come of it, so why not stall and stall and hope to prevent your competitors from improving themselves?
At some point, teams must give up on coy suitors and make the best available offers.
Sike, we wish that was the news. Interesting line from Will Carroll's report on the Marlins calling for Soriano:
The more involved issue is the potential shadow of the new CBA, with teams worried that a de facto salary floor might be put in place. Teams that have bottomed out the payroll would rather not make Royal-style veteran mediocrity signings, and are looking to see if there are fits or long-term signings that would make the bottom line more favorable looking to the teams writing revenue sharing checks.
With the players looking up to Florida as getting it right, we'd hope the Pirates front office would pay attention to this point. Last November, before the Casey signing, the Randa signing, and the Burnitz signing, some half-drunk blogger argued the Pirates should do likewise with their money. There's the issue of one guy making tons more than all the other guys, but I doubt this is a problem when that one guy is really good. It's far worse, I further guess, to have a handful of mediocre guys making a lot more money than everyone else.
I'd love to see the Pirates go into 2007 with one bona fide top-tier free-agent acquisition and a cast of pre-arb competitors.
Gordon Edes writes about the Red Sox working to send Mike Lowell to San Diego and get Ryan Shealy from Colorado.
Why would Colorado participate in a three-way deal that strengthens their division rival? Either they have a low opinion of Lowell, and want to inflict him on San Diego, or they are bluffing interest to get more from Kansas City or Pittsburgh, or they are not in the business to win anything this year.
The same notebook entry notes that Toronto has been in the market for a shortstop.
The Red Sox want Shealy this morning, the Boston Herald reports, and have been working on a three-way deal with Colorado and San Diego.
Will Carroll reports "The Pirates appear ready to make some minor deals, though sources tell me that Jack Wilson all but demanded to be traded over the weekend." That's in his "Will's Mill" rumor page at Baseball Prospectus. Let's say this rumor is true. What's eating at Jack?
Ken Rosenthal reports for Fox Sports that Detroit gets Sean Casey for a minor-league pitcher. Chris Shelton has been pretty wretched since about April 30.
... minor-league right-hander Brian Rogers, a AA reliever.
... Shelton demoted. Looks like the Mayor at first and the Meathook at DH.
eBay surfing: Dick's service station. Beer cans. Bucco Power. Paul Waner matchbook. Tap handle. "So comfy".
One of the top five most-emailed stories from today's Post-Gazette.
The Post-Gazette will have one of their chats later with beat reporter Dejan Kovacevic. Line up the burning questions such as "Could Jose Hernandez play right field?" or "Is it wise to break up this team now that they are on a winning roll?"
Troy E. Renck and Patrick Saunders describe the situation for their young slugger:
Kansas City and Pittsburgh continue to pursue Shealy, and he remains on the back burner for Baltimore and the New York Yankees, increasing the likelihood he will be traded before today's 2 p.m. nonwaiver deadline.Evidence of Shealy's rising value came during the past two days. The Royals offered left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt and a minor-league prospect, and the Pirates became open to trading left-handed reliever John Grabow and an additional player, with center fielder Nate McLouth a possibility. . . .
The Rockies have turned down Affeldt for Shealy straight up. The Rockies want multiple players and have to be satisfied with each to move Shealy, with one scout saying the Rockies are afraid he could turn into their Travis Hafner.
Nate Silver's PECOTA card for Ryan Shealy lists these players as comparable: Derrek Lee, Deron Johnson, Butch Huskey, Richie Sexson, Josh Phelps, Travis Hafner, John Ellis, Joe Adcock, Bucky Jacobsen, Gus Triandos, and, further down the list, Carlos Lee and Sid Bream and Craig Wilson. Shealy's "similarity index" to this list is 56, indicating a "very common typology." In other words, he looks like "just another" Richie Sexson. If Littlefield wants another Jason Bay on the plus side of his trading ledger, Shealy's a smart gamble. Not a sure thing, of course, but a smart gamble.
The addition of McLouth's name to the trade-rumor pool grows that group to something like nine or ten men from the current 25-man roster.
As Dejan Kovacevic notes, the team sold some tickets for this weekend's sweep of San Francisco.
Considering the insanely terrible won-loss record, it's amazing, bobbleheads or no, that they sell so many tickets right now.
It's the winning, I would guess. The All-Star Break was a good time and it put the city on its feet, baseball-wise. And since then the team has been decent to good, with only a few painfully bad adventures here and there.
Dejan Kovacevic has more than I can summarize. Names include Sean Casey, Roberto Hernandez, Kip Wells, Joe Randa, Craig Wilson, Jeromy Burnitz, John Grabow, Ryan Shealy, Bill Stoneman, Miguel Tejada, Alfonso Soriano, and Salomon Torres.
Will Carroll notes that interest in Casey has fizzled because of his strained oblique.
Rob Rossi describes Casey's Pittsburgh days in the past tense.
Earlier on Sunday, Peter Abraham, beat reporter for the Journal News, wrote on his blog that the Pirates "snoozed" and "lose" in the talks with New York.
I wondered for a moment if the Trot Nixon injury would not ignite some Boston interest in Littlefield's favorite player, but then I remembered Trot is the lefty and the Bosox already have Wily Mo Pena.
For the very latest buzz, Ballbug is a cool Memeorandum-style bot summary of baseball news. I'm not sure when this launched, but I'll be checking it often on Monday.
So, Pirate fans, now that the details of the Abreu trade are out, I ask you: is it as bad as the Aramis Ramirez trade? No doubt it's a salary dump of historic proportions.
The Phillies got a guy who is arguably a good and very young prospect, but Aramis was much more rough around the edges when he was traded. Abreu's one of the best players in the game, no doubt about it. And the Phillies got some debts cancelled for him, and little more.
... see Jim Salisbury. Also Joe Sheehan and Christina Karhl at BP.
... after some discussion in the comments, I come away thinking that the big difference between the Aramis salary dump and the Abreu salary dump is the way the teams went about it. Both teams wanted to save money. Both players had reputations for being "lollygaggers" or less-than-acceptable defensively. But the Phillies maintained the illusion of wheeling-and-dealing, of driving a hard bargain for Abreu. For months. And they stockpiled outfielders to give the fans the impression that there was a need to move one of the team's very best players to make time for guys like Shane Victorino and David Dellucci. The Pirates (after Benson came up hurt) traded Aramis abruptly. Neither team got much of anything for their star players, but the Phillies appear to have avoided the PR disaster that the Pirates inflicted upon themselves with the clumsy handling of their own salary dump.
Is it dishonorable to trade away top talent for mere cash saved? I would think so, but maybe not. The dishonor may not be the salary dump but the getting into the position where a salary dump is needed. But was it truly necessary? No bank seized Abreu to auction him off in a sheriff's sale.
Matt Morris and Zach Duke at one thirty.
... the Abreu to New York deal should expedite remaining trades. If Steven White's included, for example, then he's not joining the Pirates organization for Hernandez and/or Burnitz.
... Ken Rosenthal suggests the Pirates are out of the Shealy talks. What other first-base prospect could Littlefield be targeting? Or will we go with Jose Hernandez at first next year?
... rain delay on this one. Zach Duke pitched very well.
Dejan Kovacevic reports twelve teams scouted the Pirates last night.
He also reports that the Rockies are believed to want John Grabow for Ryan Shealy. From what we know, which is "not much of anything," the Rockies are sitting on that offer for Jeremy Affeldt. Affeldt? If I'm Colorado, I keep waiting.
I can understand why the proven contenders are not so interested in the unproven Shealy. He's a player with much more value to the Pirates than to, say, the Red Sox.
Hell yeah I'd give them Grabow for Ryan Shealy. That's the kind of chance the Pirates must take if they ever hope to raise their ship from the deep.
I make the trade unless, of course, Grabow can play first as well as he pitches. Then I'd keep Grabow and move him there. I like John Grabow.
The rest of the article is interesting in that it features Bay and Jack Wilson looking up to the Florida Marlins.
... now behind the pay wall at Baseball Prospectus, Will Carroll reports that three teams, including the Reds, are asking about Craig Wilson. "But once again," he writes, "the Pirates are asking for the moon. Here's hoping DL gets something at least moon-like for No. 36.
All hail Tom G., first win of the year. Pirates raise their record to 39-66 with their fourth win in five days.
I don't pay for ESPN Insider, but maybe I should. KPatrick comments on this fair-use sample from Buster Olney's blog.
Who knows why stuff is written, Pirates GM Dave Littlefield says, of the perception that he's too difficult to deal with. By the way: I hear that from executives around baseball a lot. What they say is that Littlefield asks for too much at the outset of negotiations -- say, the best possible prospects for second-tier or third-tier major-league talent -- and gives you no foundation from which to begin serious trade talks. But, hey, every GM has his own distinct style.
There is something of an echo chamber effect in the way trade rumors are circulated. One site can publish some totally bullshit, pulled-out-of-my-ass rumor and we find it circulating through the national media on equal footing with the work of more careful reporters from more reputable outlets. That is true. But this, what Olney just wrote, this is more or less what I expected to read in response to Dejan Kovacevic's report containing DL interview on the subject. We've been hearing tales of DL's juvenile trading abilities for years now.
I can wait until August 1 to pass a judgment on his work this month. He has an opportunity to do good for the franchise. And by "for the franchise," I mean, for the long-term winning prospects of the franchise. This is not at all the same thing as the long-term financial health of the ownership group.
Money wasted is money wasted; here's to hoping Littlefield gets no love for money saved. Let his work be evaluated solely on its ability to help the team win games now and next year. This isn't personal. This is about the franchise.
And as I just said, I think he has an opportunity to do good. He's human; he can learn from his mistakes.
For the team's sake, I hope he does well. I will be the first to cheer him if he does.
Here he is, caught on film as he attempts to weasel his way into the weasely gambling business.
Dejan Kovacevic interviewed David Littlefield about his reputation as a negotiator. There is some other news in there too, particularly about Sean Casey.
The Bucs appear to have a bunch of players other teams are regarding as their second choice. Difficult negotiator or not, Littlefield must be waiting on other teams. There's no persuading the Yankees, for example, that Craig Wilson is just as good as Alfonso Soriano.
I believe it, you believe it, but those Yankees get all weird about it.
Wow. The Dodgers give up Baez to get Betemit, a 26-year-old (today! happy birthday wilson) pre-arb stud. If I'm DL, I empty the bullpen.
Kip was good tonight. It was shades of 1983 or whatever year it was when Kip was good all the time.
NTNgod of the Primer newsblog reports that the Brewers telecast announced that Milwaukee acquired David Bell.
Joe Randa is a better hitter, by a pretty good margin, than David Bell, and he's making less money this year. That said, whatever the Phillies got for Bell may be a good indication of what the Pirates might have had for Randa.
And it looks like Noonie rides again. He stands to inherit some extra PT from this Bell trade.
. . . Bell fetched a 22-yo A-ball pitcher, a real tall skinny guy who racks up strikeouts. No word there if Philadelphia is also paying some of Bell's ginormous contract.
For what it's worth, Sam Borden of the New York Daily News:
The Yanks are looking at lower-profile players such as Pittsburgh's Craig Wilson. They have liked Wilson for awhile but, as in their conversations with the Phillies, were stymied by Pirates GM Dave Littlefield's excessive requests for top talent in return. That has been a recurrent complaint about Littlefield among executives, according to a source.Recently, however, the Pirates have shown some interest in righthander Steven White, who is 2-5 with a 4.86 ERA in nine starts for Triple-A Columbus. White, according to sources, is considered by many to be among the best pitching prospects the Yanks are willing to part with and Wilson could provide depth (he plays first base and the outfield); the Bombers wouldn't be averse to taking on reliever Roberto Hernandez, too.
John Sickels looked at the Yankees' prospects in late June. No White on that list.
From Mark Feinsand's report for MLB.com:
One Major League executive said that the Yankees have expressed interest in Pittsburgh's Roberto Hernandez and Craig Wilson, and that the Pirates continue to show interest in Steven White, a 6-foot-5 right-hander. White went 4-1 with a 2.11 ERA in 11 starts for Double-A Trenton this season before being promoted to Triple-A Columbus, where he is 2-5 with a 4.86 ERA in nine starts.
White pitched at Baylor, and he's 25 years old. In early 2005, Scout.com wrote this praising him as a top prospect. Baseball America liked him in winter 2004-2005, but not in the last offseason. The Pirates scouted White a few days ago and White did not impress. Replacement Level Yankees Weblog notes White's limited arsenal as a drawback in 2005.
It's a long way to Monday.
Hey, if you thought we have it bad with these Pirates, consider what Cleveland endures.
Fellow blogger MH, purveyor of fine sarcasm, basks in the attention of WDVE for his recent history comparing the Pirates and Steelers.
John Perrotto keeps the party going. See also the usual cut-n-paste from Sports Illustrated.
In 2005, the Pirates announced the Matt Lawton for Jody Gerut deal right at the deadline -- around 4pm on Sunday, July 31. Bones was on it.
In 2004, the Pirates announced the long-rumored Ty Wigginton, Matt Peterson, and Jose Bautista for Kris Benson deal around 5pm on Friday, July 30. Bones was on it.
In 2003, the Pirates announced a bunch of trades through July, and they did a deal after the deadline, too.
July 8, 2003: Traded John Wasdin to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Rich Thompson.
July 21, 2003: Traded Mike Williams and cash to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Frank Brooks.
July 22, 2003: Traded Mike Gonzalez and Scott Sauerbeck to the Boston Red Sox. Received Brandon Lyon and Anastacio Martinez.
July 23, 2003: Traded Aramis Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, and cash to the Chicago Cubs. Received a player to be named later, Jose Hernandez, and Matt Bruback (minors). The Chicago Cubs sent Bobby Hill (August 15, 2003) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.
July 31, 2003: Traded Brandon Lyon, Jeff Suppan, and Anastacio Martinez to the Boston Red Sox. Received Mike Gonzalez, Freddy Sanchez, and cash.
August 17, 2003: Traded Randall Simon to the Chicago Cubs. Received Ray Sadler.
I think we all remember that month as the start of Littlefield's tenure. Thank you Baseball Reference.
I have a supply of candles to keep burning on the drinking table through Monday. The Pirates play the Giants at home on Sunday afternoon. There is no game on Monday and a night game at home on Tuesday. It's my guess that the Pirates make more or less the kind of trades we expect them to make on Monday afternoon.
No trades or even new trade rumors today. All quiet on the How-Will-the-Pirates-Stop-Sucking? front. Legos aside, lots of other Pirates-related bloggy goodness today. Charlie links to a Beyond the Box Score new defensive metric that finds Jose Castillo to be the worst defensive 2B in all of baseball. Deadspin reports on Van Slyke's inflammatory comments on Ozzie Guillen and Hillary Clinton. Billy has some nice commentary on how the Royals and new GM Dayton Moore are trading circles around complacent loser DL.
In the news, and continuing with the Royals-Pirates comparison, USA TODAY has a long, painful piece about the Bucs and Royals, beginning with Sean Casey running into the bathroom stall after Bream was incorrectly called safe by the temporarily blinded Randy Marsh, despite the fact that Spanky blocked Bream's leading leg and clearly tagged Bream's lead-filled ass out long before Bream's lead-filled trailing leg came anywhere near the plate. Sigh. We are so over that. Anyway, in other Pirates news, Matt Wein of CentreDaily.com comments on how the ownership and front office are "re-defining futility and slowly but surely killing baseball in Pittsburgh".
The funniest thing I read today and a more lighthearted time capsule addition for the grandkids: Batgirl's latest Lego reenactment, this time of Twins' rookie phenom Pat Neshek's Tekulve-esque sidearm delivery (link via Deadspin).
Put this in the time capsule for our grandchildren.
St. Louis 58 42 .580 -
Cincinnati 53 48 .525 5.5
Houston 48 53 .475 10.5
Milwaukee 48 54 .471 11
Chicago Cubs 39 61 .390 19
Pittsburgh 37 66 .359 22.5
I don't pay for ESPN insider, so I can't read more than a few paragraphs of this Jerry Crasnick report. The thesis appears to be that Littlefield is scary:
Each July, you can count on baseball front-office people griping that some executives live in a parallel universe. This year Pittsburgh general manager Dave Littlefield, one of the game's few bona-fide sellers, is the focus of lots of carping for what colleagues perceive as unreasonable expectations.Yikes!"It's one thing to aim high," said an executive whose club recently inquired about Pirates reliever Roberto Hernandez. "It's another to scare people out of the conversation."
Jack Wilson:
"I don't know what our deal is, to be honest with you. There are so many different things you can say. Younger guys are playing. We have a younger pitching staff. Blah, blah, blah. But those are the same old excuses. Obviously, there has to be a definite change this offseason because it's been the same thing every year."Change?
"Whether it's players leaving or players coming in, trades being made, we've got to do something different to put a different product on the field because we haven't been getting it done.
This from Paul Meyer's game report.
Looking at the box score, I would say that Burnitz looked well-rested tonight. Hats off to Jim Tracy for waking him up at just the right time.
Paul Meyer notes how Jose Castillo has outgrown second base.
Sounds like maybe he'll be playing first base next year.
Snell and Sheets at eight o'clock. I am feeling the effects and might curl up under the table about now. Will probably sit this one out.
I missed this, so maybe you did too. Late last week Pat Lackey of "Where's Van Slyke" wrote this piece comparing Littlefield's trading history with that of the One Red Paper Clip guy.
It's a good piece. The Pirates should do much more trading than they do. They can't win all their trades, of course. But they can make friends and easier trading partners when they get a little less than they could have in a deal.
My point in the Shealy discussion builds on the observation that Littlefield has a history of pissing off the other GMs with his brusque overvaluation of his own players. In addition to this, he appears to only shop the players he wants to trade.
This is too clean to work. It offends. If the team wants to make trades, they have to deal from their strength. You must offer good players to get good players. If we have a surplus in one area - say, two good young third basemen, four good young relievers - those are the players that will best command what we need in return.
There have been studies tying wealth to church attendance. While I would not doubt that God loves his people and rewards them with material goods for attending church, the more practical explanation is the greater amount of barter and trade that church-going households enjoy. Church friend comes over and wires up my new chandelier for free; I give him my old lawnmower, which he repairs into good-as-new condition. We are both more wealthy for the exchange.
The secret to trading is not to leverage some gap in the relative maturity of playters. The strategy of signing old guys for July use as trade bait is a failure. The fact that old veterans are ready to play now, and young prospects are not ready to play now, does not mean that much to contending teams, no matter how desperate they are for the help. This is why Randa, Burnitz, and Casey have so little value.
The secret to trading is getting involved in a circle of people who agree to slosh the resources around. You grab and hold onto what you really need. Everyone is wealthier for it. I would not advocate deliberately losing trades. There is no good that can come from sucking up to other teams in the hopes that they will throw you a reward later. But I would advocate taking more chances. It's the only way to make more trades. The more fluid the flow of players, the more likely it is that the Pirates will be able to assemble the balance of talent they need to compete in this league.
Participating in a more free exchange of talent only stands to increase the wealth of the team. Since they can't afford to buy the players they need, they will have to work on trading for them. And the way to win at trading is to make lots of trades. And the way to make lots of trades is to offer good players in exchange for good players.
This might cause scandal to say, but if I'm the owner of the team I tell Littlefield to dangle Freddy Sanchez. If you are a bona fide professional electrician, you don't offer to paint a picture of your neighbor's wife in exchange for his lawnmower. You must deal from a position of strength to unlock the overstocked garage of that neighbor.
You want to contend and win? Eliminate your areas of weakness. You want one of those top prospects that plays a position of weakness? You offer a top player from your surplus. Of course that could be a PR disaster, dealing Freddy and moving Bautista to his natural position, all to acquire a true centerfield prospect, with maybe a longshot throw in. If the players you select bust, then you are embarrassed. But are you more embarrassed than you would be if, say, your team began the year with 30 wins and 60 losses? I would hope not.
John Perrotto stirs up a big bowl of rum, rainwater, cane sugar, and floating lemon slices. Drink up!
Paul Meyer spotted some suspicious-looking people at the ballpark last night.
The Minnesota Twins, looking for an infielder with a solid bat, had a scout at last night's game. The Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers also had representatives in attendance who were doing something other than simply "coverage scouting" of the Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers.
What were they doing? Someone call Homeland Security.
All hail the Stats Geek, who makes the best-yet case for getting Ryan Shealy.
I also have a little candle burning in my drinking room.
Funny account of that Bon Jovi concert by Scott Tady for the Beaver County Times.
With women in Polamalu and Roethlisberger jerseys standing on their chairs while their men waved Terrible Towels, you could have called the event Yinzerpalooza.Before the music started, the celebration featured the official dedication of the long-desired fifth Super Bowl trophy, placed in steel column inside Heinz Field's Coca-Cola Great Hall.
Then multi-platinum selling hard-rockers Nickelback performed loudly, followed by the Steelers introductions and a video presentation of behind-the-scenes, post-Super Bowl celebrations by team members. Next up was Bon Jovi, fronted by full-haired singer Jon Bon Jovi, still setting the bar impossibly high for 40-something dads with three kids.
Zach Duke and Doug Davis, eight o'clock. The Pirates are 35-65 with an 11-39 road record.
Here is a link to Dejan Kovacevic's Monday chat.
Conceding that Shealy's potential may be overhyped, I would regard the acquisition of him as a potential "big deal" (read the Q & A to get my context here). So I disagree there with DK. To me, such a deal would depart from the predictable, too-well-established losing strategies of the last few years. These losing strategies have gone unpunished, and they will continue to go unpunished. If this trading deadline comes and goes like the last few trading deadlines, I see no cause for hope. If Littlefield starts showing that he is willing to do things differently, I would be encouraged.
Trading a young player from a position of surplus, for a young player at a position of need, would be an innovation for Littlefield. Littlefield appears to "wheel and deal" with a chip on his shoulders, as though the rest of the league owes Pittsburgh some favors. If he thinks, once again, that he should get the kind of talent we need for the kind of players he wants to trade, he's going to be disappointed. And so will we.
The Pirates need more talent to compete in 2007. Period. Where does Littlefield expect to find that talent? It's not on our minor-league teams. It won't be in the second- and third-tier free agent pool. Where will he get that talent?
Dejan Kovacevic reports:
The primary pieces getting shopped are those eligible for free agency after this season, meaning outfielders Jeromy Burnitz and Craig Wilson, third baseman Joe Randa, first baseman Sean Casey, starter Kip Wells and reliever Roberto Hernandez.Littlefield strongly suggested that he will not be parting with players the Pirates can keep for the long term.
"We've had some discussion about those kinds of trades. Could they be a possibility? Sure. But most likely, you wait until the offseason for those types of trades."
D'oh! Sounds like we wait for the real trades then. This team is doing so good as it is; I don't see why DL would feel any urgency to mess much with the current chemistry.
Writing behind the Baseball Prospectus pay wall:
The news move in the group is bringing up Shealy, but it might only be as a taster for teams interested in acquiring the young slugger. He wasn't having a monster season for the Sky Sox, hitting .284/.351/.568. As promising as that power looks, 20 walks in 249 PA is adequate at best, and if he's hitting .284 in one of the PCL's best hitters' parks, what should you expect from him at some other altitude? Add in that most of the damage was done against lefties--six of his 15 home runs, in less than a quarter of his PA--and that he's coming up on 27 (I'm using "young" a bit loosely today), and you've got somebody who isn't good enough to force Todd Helton out of town on his own, and who probably won't be much more than a quality platoon player for somebody else.
First, if this opinion is commonly held, you have to wonder why Shealy has attracted such attention from so many teams.
Second, no one knows what Shealy would do at the major-league level. He might take off, he might regress, he might play about as expected. His career path is hardly normal; he's been blocked at AAA, with nothing to prove, for some time. And his 2006 numbers may also be affected by the position switch they tried on him. Regardless, the Pirates, with their lack of slugging first-base prospects, need to take the chance on his upside more than other clubs need to take such chances.
If he's nothing more than a lefty masher who's average against righties, he could be paired with a left-handed first baseman, maybe a veteran, who starts against about half the righties. Such a plan should produce the needed 725 PAs of good run production needed from that position.
It does not have to be Shealy the Pirates acquire, and soon, but he fits the profile of the kind of player they should be acquiring ASAP. He fits the profile as well as any available player would fit it: no one will ever trade away a David Wright. The Pirates have to draft and develop their own obvious hitting superstars.
Alan Schwarz of the New York Times:
“[Starting pitchers are] the hardest thing to evaluate talent-wise,” said Schmidt, who has been traded in midseason twice, by Atlanta to Pittsburgh as a rookie in 1996, then to San Francisco in 2001. “A lot of us are late bloomers. A lot of us don’t have success until we’re in the right environment. A lot of times it takes getting released or traded to wake up and think about what’s in front of us. I found that extra gear that I didn’t know I had.”Arroyo added: “Each individual situation is different. I got waived as a young, healthy pitcher who they probably didn’t think was going to pitch as well as they wanted him to. I think most other guys have something to do with injuries — guys can’t stay healthy. And every now and then you get a guy like Turnbow, who throws 100 miles an hour and very wild, and maybe he needs a certain pitching coach or a certain comfort zone.”
No pitcher frustrated more teams than Schilling — a self-described head case as a youngster — who was traded three times (by Boston, Baltimore and Houston) before he turned 26 and rounded into shape with the Phillies in the mid-1990’s.
Littlefield is often condemned for releasing Bronson Arroyo, but that was something that did not strike me, at the time, as completely crazy or foolish. He was not a good pitcher for us. Arroyo had 29 starts in three years as a Pirate. He had a 113:85 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and he gave up 217 hits in 187 innings. With the 85 walks, that puts his WHIP at what, above 1.60 as a Pirate.
Sometimes a player will only go so far in an organization. I read a study once about revenge as a motivating factor, I forget what or where it was, but it opened with the author's somewhat scary realization that a good portion of the population spend most of their lives directing their energy into a pursuit, a career, whatever, mainly to revenge themselves upon some doubter or jackass or other kind of hated person.
Lately DL has shown what I've regarded as maybe too much patience with some guys. Job security may be a better influence on some young starters than others. You'd hate to be cruel to players just in hopes of spurring them to better play, but it might be wise to look for new ways to motivate underperforming people.
Here's to hoping that the recent demotion helps Oliver Perez return to some useful shape or form.
Tom Gorzelanny and Dontrelle Willis at one. Might be a quick one.
... missed the second half of the game, but it looks (from the boxscore) like a good one from all but certain members of the bullpen. Milwaukee next.
Nick Cafardo wrote this master's thesis on the current trade market for the Boston Globe. It suggests that lots of things are happening. If Wily Mo Pena becomes available for a starting pitcher, I would think that our "small-market GM" would be inquiring. Not to say that this is DL:
One GM of a small-market NL team said, ``When you're a big-market team, you can trade a pitcher like Arroyo because you can always replace him. I'm not saying you snap your fingers and it happens, but you can deal or you can sign a guy, take on a bigger contract, whereas a small-market team like ours, if you have a reasonably priced starting pitcher, you hold on to him for as long as you can."
But it could be.
The Red Sox and other high-profile perennial contenders probably control the pace of trading more than the Pirates right now, so if you are truly jonesing to calculate the odds that certain players become Pirates, you might do well to study the news on other teams, making your best effort to separate the credible reports from the less confident and more speculative.
Ken Rosenthal is another daily if not hourly source, at this point in the season, for mind-altering trade rumors.
In an earlier thread, Jason5280 comments on this Denver Post report by Troy E. Renck. Dan O'Dowd will wait until the deadline to make his best deal for Shealy. Regardless of their position in the playoff race, provided that Helton has not suffered a career-threatening injury, the Rockies will surely trade Shealy if he can become a minor-league free agent at the end of the season. (Correct me if that's wrong....)
... that must be wrong. I have to not believe everything I read. Looked up the various stuff about the reserve clause. It's clear. If Shealy's on the Rockies' 40-man roster, he can't get minor-league free agency. From what I can find, Rule 5 says minor-league free agency is an option for players who have been with an organization for six years (not counting the draft year) and are not on the 40-man roster. 2002 was Shealy's first pro year, but this wouldn't count since it was the year he was drafted. He hasn't been with the organization that long, and the Rox should not have any trouble keeping him on the 40-man roster if needed.
What is the obsession with Matt Capps? There Rob Rossi reports that he is off-limits in trade talks. I don't understand how one young relief prospect could have some remarkably higher potential than another young relief prospect.
Matt Capps looks destined for greatness, yes, but c'mon, a great relief pitcher throws about 70 innings in 62 appearances.
Speaking of fatigue, how does Jose Bautista bounce back from last night's game?
Game logs could be used to measure the effect of rest on performance, if we knew for certain that players rested on days they did not play. The more I think on this, the more I think it's likely that rest will always remain an unknown factor to statistical analysis. One advantage young people have over old people is the ability to sleep. Guys in their early 20s can sleep twelve, fourteen hours a night, no problem. Guys closer to 40 find this harder to accomplish. A father, regardless of age, with a young one will be up many times in the night. Some people do not sleep well in hotel rooms. Others can, but they cannot resist the nightlife. Byung-Hyun Kim, when he came up as a 20-year-old, slept most every non-playing moment of the 2000 season. Other guys use their days off to kill large animals and carry them up stairs. Toward the end of the season, we know a large group of players are suffering from the sleep-affecting side effects of regular stimulant use. So it's likely that some players get more rest in the sixteen hours after a game than others get in the next forty-eight hours.
Someone could generate splits for various players, and that might suggest that they have done better or worse with more or less time off between at-bats, but we could not be sure that this was isolating fatigue as a variable.
Six o'clock. Light rain at four, rain forecast all night, but this doesn't look any different than the last two days.
Kip Wells and Ricky Nolasco, a 23-year-old right-hander that lefties devour.
Joe Randa has been a great bench player, so the Pirates would do well to keep him. They need to practice winning if they are ever going to win, and there is no time like the present for winning.
The assumption seems to be that you don't pay bench players big money, and Randa makes big money, so of course the Pirates must trade him.
This puts the cart before the horse. Randa's contract is a done deal. Now that he's lost his starting job, it's time to find some use for him which maximizes his value. Not to get a return on the investment of his salary, but to get a contribution toward a winning team. And Randa has shown he can do this.
Perhaps you don't sign him to that salary with the intention of using him in a part-time role. I only half agree with that thinking. It's not my money so I wouldn't care; if I can get the walls for cheap, I'll spend extra on the decorative windows. The point is to make the best team you can make, and that is not the same thing as maximizing the value you get for your payroll dollars at every single position.
If I was the GM and I was put on a specific budget, I would spend that whole budget every year. I'd stock the team with as many young pre-arb guys as possible, and I'd make all these guys starters. Fatigue is not as much of an issue with them, and they stand to develop more rapidly with the playing time. Then I'd spend whatever I have left on veteran players to come off the bench and (this is important) look good doing so.
I would take two or three bench spots and make them cozy sinecures for 300 home run guys who clearly can't cut it on a daily basis any more. I would invest those positions with honor and dignity, which means a lot of money.
Look at Randa's splits. He has a 1057 OPS in 27 July at-bats. He's been a lousy pinch-hitter (2 for 11), but he's been very productive starting every third day.
As with the case of Jeromy Burnitz and Sean Casey, was this not predictable? I was impressed with the potential of rotating Burnitz, Casey, and Craig Wilson through two starting spots. Too bad I underestimated the team's capacity to screw up that potential. All three of those guys have been better in less than full time work. And does that not make sense? One is old, and one is "injury-prone" which I guess means not "a tissue problem," as Will Carroll suggests, but a fatigue problem (are injuries not more common when a player is tired?). The third is lumbering. The abilities of these players clearly diminishes once they cross a certain threshold or concentration of PT over time. Of course those guys, to a man, would disagree; if I weighed 400 pounds, I'd still insist I could run relays with a 22-year-old shortsop if I wanted to.
If I'm the GM or the manager, I don't let the players tell me when they need their PT cut back--I let their performance do that. I don't go out to the mound and say, "Pedro, you looked gassed. Can you get this guy out?" I say, "Pedro, you did good today. Now go take a shower, you smell bad." Everyone plays only with a full charge in their battery, and it is performance, not the players's piehole, which tells us how charged they are. If an older guy or a thicker guy or a distracted guy is slumping, I assume he needs some time off. And I don't mean one day game after a night game--I mean, he starts every other day for a week or two.
The Luis Gonzalez story and the better-known Shea Hillenbrand story suggest that players have this idea that it's some great insult to not start on any given day. That's just wrong. I would take that out of them. There's more than one template for a winning baseball team. If the Pirates work very hard to mainly start young, pre-arb players, they ought to be able to save enough payroll that they can pay more than anyone for bench players--and still have a lower overall payroll (if that's necessary).
The other thing that happens when you wear out the old guys, or force them into a situation where they must take all kinds of uppers on a daily basis to "get up" for another game, is that you embarrass them. Jim Tracy has humiliated Jeromy Burnitz this year. Burnitz's career might be over, he's been laid so low. And once they are embarrassed, they are in no position to provide the wise counsel or coaching or mentoring everyone expects they might impart to the younger players.
If the Pirates had hired Jeromy Burnitz for pinch-hitting in clutch situations, and for starting two or three times a week, then I have no doubt that Burnitz would be the proud owner of decent stats. And he could be playing the role of the crusty grizzled old sailor who gets off his ass only to deliver a big hit or have a big day. Instead, he's now in a position where he's clearly been a liability and a prime cause of the team's one-in-three winning percentage. He's embarrassed; he's humiliated; he's exactly what the young players do not want to be when they grow up.
Burnitz and Randa should be welcome the rest of the year--in roles that are reduced to the point that they are effective when summoned for duty. Sean Casey would be a better player, with better stats and, I would guess, more good influence on the younger players, if only Tracy more often started Craig Wilson at first.
The AP reports that the Giants acquired Shea Hillenbrand to play first base.
The Tribune-Review says the Pirates are giving the cold shoulder to Colorado's trade demands.
The Red Sox, late entries into the Shealy fox chase, will audition another young left-handed starter.
This is not right. The internet saved baseball, if it ever needed saving. All hail the internet.
Paul Maholm and Scott Olsen at seven-thirty today. 95% humidity in Opa Locka, Florida. You might want to make some alternative plans for drinking-room entertainment this evening.
... Quickly, more reading material for this Friday afternoon. Wilbur has a list of potential Rule V losses here. Jason5280 comments on this piece, which suggests the Rockies would send Shealy to Boston so Boston can make a trade that helps San Diego, one of the Rockies' three rivals in the West. Kevin Blackistone of WFFA in Texas says the the Pirates are still interested in Pumpkinhead.
... still more linkage: Rosenthal embarrasses himself a little bit with this breathless oracle performance ("To beat the Mets — and really, that's what this discussion boils down to — the Cardinals need to either acquire a starting pitcher such as Lieber or a reliever such as the Pirates' Roberto Hernandez." ???) Jim Molony focusses on the Randa situation. Randa will help the team off the bench for the duration, so I'm hoping he stays. The young starters must practice their winning, and I think Randa would be a help. SI does their usual cut-n-paste. These things are good to look at. They remind us how interconnected all these trades might be. Even if the Rockies and Pirates are making moon eyes at one another, it's possible that a third (and/or a fifth and sixth) team is holding up a deal by promising a better offer once this or that other thing gets worked out. If all the Rox are doing is dealing Shealy, it could be that they wait until the deadline for some better offer from Boston that maybe never materializes. Fun story here about child-GM Jim Bowden. The Nats could hold up everyone with two players (Soriano, Livan H.) perhaps topping the wish list of contending teams. I'm not sure who this person is, but George Von Benko summarizes trade news here.
...so are they going to get this game done tonight? I sure hope so ... five of seven has me looking forward to it.
Jeromy Burnitz is 4-for-12 with three home runs and a walk this year, when pinch-hitting.
"Yankee Insider" Jim Baumbach reports for Newsday that Littlefield wants too much prospect for Craig Wilson. Baumbach continues:
The Yankees also have to wonder how much of an upgrade Wilson would be over Aaron Guiel, who has impressed Torre with his heads-up play thus far.
Hmmm ... let's see ... Craig Wilson ... 29 years old ... 1831 career at-bats ... .269 / .361 / .489. Aaron Guiel ... 33 years old ... 902 career at-bats ... .246 / .321 / .414. Pretty close! Practically the same, in fact.
There's no difference there that is not erased by some impressive heads-up play.
Craiggers is no Alfonso Soriano or Bobby Abreu, to be sure, but he's at least as useful as Reggie Sanders at this point.
Dejan Kovacevic reports in his notebook:
Colorado's desired return for first baseman Ryan Shealy -- a player the Pirates have discussed with the Rockies -- is a young middle reliever.
So, what are we waiting for? How many days could it take to iron the letters on the back of a jersey?
If the young man does not already own a black suit with gold pinstripes, shame on him; that's no reason to hold up an announcement.
Five wins in seven games since the ASB. Not everything about the lineup makes a whole lot of sense these days, but who needs sense when you have victories.
67% humidity right now on Dan Marino Blvd. Ian Snell and rookie winner Josh Johnson in an hour.
... This is half a day old, but something to talk about:
ROCKIES SCOUTING JAYSArt Pontarelli, of the Colorado Rockies was scouting the Jays last night. The Jays and Rockies have been talking about first baseman Ryan Shealy, a DH-type slugger, since before the break. Colorado turned down an offer for lefty reliever Scott Schoeneweis this week.
The Rockies are looking for young players like pitcher Brandon League.
That's Mike Rutsey and Bob Elliott for the Toronto Sun. Scott Schoeneweis!
With so many trades to make, DL has to start somewhere. If all the Rockies want is one young left-handed pitcher, and a reliever will do, they should make their choice, the two teams close the deal, and the Pirates move on and build around that deal.
Seriously, if the spastic Mike Gonzalez could play first base and could outslug our other options, who wouldn't be all about converting him to that position?
Another scoop from the Onion.
PITTSBURGH—After five years of serving Pittsburgh as their state-of-the-art sporting facility, PNC Park, the home of the rundown, poorly maintained Pirates, said Tuesday it is threatening to leave Pittsburgh unless a new team can be built within the next three years."I love the city of Pittsburgh, but the Pirates are an old, dilapidated club built from other teams' spare parts, and its very foundation is rotting away," the stadium said to reporters assembled in its press box. "I had every intention to stay here for the duration of my career as a ballpark, but given that I haven't seen any realistic long-term plans for improving my resident team's ramshackle condition, I would be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about taking my services elsewhere."
San Antonio must be a likely suitor for our stadium.
(All hail Dan of Primer for the link.)
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Jason Jennings and Zach Duke today at twelve-thirty.
... Shealy in the lineup, batting fifth.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Livan Hernandez and Paul Maholm at one thirty. The Pirates are feeling good and look for their third win in a row.
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.
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.
The Sporting News reports Casey could wind up in San Francisco.
On the non-blockbuster front, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the Pirates could deal Sean Casey to the Giants if they can't work out a long-term extension. Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz and Craig Wilson are all likely to head out of the Steel City as well; unfortunately for Pirates fans, it doesn't seem that the same can be said for GM Dave Littlefield.
Casey's career has shown that he's good in limited doses and bad when playing game after game after game. Tracy went to the well more than once too often after Casey returned from his injury. Casey needs regular rest. He'll probably come back from the ASB and hit real well for a week. Then he'll go 0-for-16 over a four-game stretch. Two weeks of 660 OPS later, Tracy will give him one day off.
Casey should be starting five days a week, and he should be getting days off even after an 8-for-12 series. Endurance is not his middle name. The Pirates have plenty of guys who can play first for a game or two. It is the easiest position to fill. It should not be difficult to find time off for Casey by playing the usual platoon advantages with the corner outfielders and middle infielders capable of manning first.
This is another example of how the Pirates fail to get the most from the players they have. Littlefield once talked about flexibility, but Tracy has been anything but flexible. Certain players must conform to certain narrow expectations. When they don't, Tracy takes a page out of G. Ogden's playbook and demonstrates an inflexible patience that only makes the matter worse. This macho stubbornness may look good in the mirror, but it's not been effective as a strategy for managing our young ballclub.
The Pirates won't recognize Casey for what he is. So like most of you, I hope they do not sign him to an extension--at any cost. Even if he's cheap, he's a Loser if he clogs the first-base position with daily 770-820 OPS production.
Rick Pedone of the Osceola News-Gazette compares their charms.
We can find things to talk about while we give the old cold shoulder to Nutting's losers.
The Penguins released their schedule for the upcoming season.
Can anyone recommend a small handful of Penguins sites? We could use some non-Pirate-related reading material for the slow moments here in our drinking room.
Ben is now the hero of a soap opera. "Playmakers" was all wrong. The next television drama based on the NFL should be much more like "General Hospital."
