Game 158: Pirates at Brewers

Maholm and Sabathia at eight.

Maholm is going for his twentieth fifteenth twelfth tenth win.

In other news, the Lions fired Dave Littlefield Matt Millen.

Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburgh Pirate

MLB and the union have settled their grievance. Pedro Alvarez is in Pittsburgh and his signing will be announced at a press conference shortly, Dejan reports. Welcome aboard, Pedro.

Game 157: Pirates at Brewers

Karstens vs. Bush at eight. The Brewers trail the Mets by one game in the wild card race, and have won nine in a row against the Bucs.

Meanwhile, testimony has been halted in the union's grievance hearing as the Bucs and Pedro work on finalizing a contract.

Alvarez and Bucs agree to new contract

Pedro and the PBC have agreed to a four-year, major league contract worth a guaranteed $6,355,000, reports the P-G's Dejan Kovacevic. Supposedly the contract will be signed pending a physical, which could happen as early as this week, and the contract would quash the pending grievance. All hail El Matatan!

NFL week 3: Steelers at Eagles

Game at four. Steelers should beware the staph infection if they get some scrapes in this one.

Game 156: Astros at Pirates

Oswalt and Ohlendorf at 1:30.

Game 155: Astros at Pirates

Jimmy Barthmaier and Scuffy Moehler open for Lynyrd Freakin' Skynyrd. Game at seven.

Game 154: Astros at Pirates

Snell and Wolf at seven open for Zambelli fireworks. Among qualifying NL starters, Snell is dead last in ERA (5.69), WHIP (1.83!), and BAA (.313). Must protect manhood.

Game 153: Dodgers at Pirates

Maholm vs. Kershaw. Bucs trail 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

Game 152: Dodgers at Pirates

Chad Billingsley and the Dodgers will play baseball at PNC tonight at seven. Zach Duke and the Bucs will try not to embarrass themselves again.

Game 151: Dodgers at Pirates

Karstens vs. Lowe at seven. Pup Night! Last chance this year to bring your dog to the park.

Game 150: Dodgers at Pirates

Ohlendorf vs. Kuroda at seven. Cutch and Neil Walker will be in the dugout, absorbing the teachings of Ronny Ballgame.

NFL week 2: Steelers at Browns

Game at eight.

Game 149: Cardinals at Pirates

Thompson and Davis at one-thirty.

The Pirates ride this two-game winning streak to 62-86. If the season ended today, I believe they would have the fourth overall pick in the draft. Only Washington (56), San Diego (57), and Seattle (57) have fewer wins.

Game 148: Cardinals at Pirates

Snell and Wainwright. Bucs down 1-0 in the top of the first.

Game 147: Cardinals at Pirates

The Pirates are still looking for win number "far more" tonight as the Cardinals send Pineiro to the mound to compete with Maholm.

Game is scheduled for seven, but the weather is not looking cooperative.

Game 146: Pirates at Astros

Zach Duke and your hapless Pirates against Roy Oswalt at 8.

Game 145: Pirates at Astros

The Pirates will attempt, once again, to stop the streaking Astros.

Gorzelanny and Moehler at eight.

Game 144: Pirates at Astros

Ohlendorf and Wolf at eight.

Game 143: Pirates at Astros

Snell and Arias at eight.

Astros are 76-67 and six games out in the wild card race. They trail Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.

This is the kind of series the Pirates lose big time. Every September they lay down for teams like this. So if this year is like last year, the year before, etc., then the Pirates get swept.

NFL week 1: Texans at Steelers

Here we go with the football season.

Game 142: Pirates at Giants

Karstens, Sanchez, and that 82nd loss on the line at four.

Game 141: Pirates at Giants

Maholm and Cain at nine.

Game 140: Pirates at Giants

Duke and Correia at ten.

Game 139: Pirates at Reds

Gorzelanny and Fogg at 12:30 this afternoon.

Game 138: Pirates at Reds

Ohlendorf and Volquez at seven.

Game 137: Pirates at Reds

Snell and Harang at 7.

The Pirates are 22 games under .500.

The NFL season begins this this week, so it's time for the pick 'em pool. If you signed up for the Honest Wagner Pick 'em Pool last year, you are still in the pool once you remember your login and account password. The password for the pool is 51yardparker. Go to Pigskin.com to revive or make your account.

And if you have some time to kill, the youtubes are full of little Steeler movies. There are not so many 2008 Pirates highlights.

Labor Day

I don't get Labor Day. To celebrate labor, no one goes to work?

The Pirates have the day off.

Game 136: Brewers at Pirates

Sabathia and Karstens at one-thirty.

Game 135: Brewers at Pirates

Suppan and Maholm at seven.

Game 134: Brewers at Pirates

Bush and Gorzelanny at seven.

Richie Zisk bobbleheads tonight.

Game 140: Bats at Indians

No game for the Pirates today, but the last-place Indians host the first-place Bats at seven. It's family night.

Family night means four box seats, four hot dogs, four sodas, and four Indians Hats will cost you $52. Funny, I don't see anything about four beers.

Who do they think they are kidding?

There might be an audio feed here.

Pedro Alvarez

I have not yet read all the Pedro Alvarez stuff -- just the postings on the PG blog, including the statements from the Pirates. My first impression is that there must be more to the story.

Game 133: Cubs at Pirates

Marquis and Duke at twelve-thirty.

Pretty good chance of rain, so this one might go on as long as last night's game.

Game 132: Cubs at Pirates

Zambrano and Snell at seven. Pirates are 57-74, and they are tied for fifth in the NL Central.

Game 131: Cubs at Pirates

Lilly and Karstens at seven.

Game 130: Pirates at Brewers

Maholm and Sabathia at two.

Steelers begin the season two weeks from today with a home opener against Houston.

Game 129: Pirates at Brewers

Tom Gorzelanny and Jeff Suppan.

Game 128: Pirates at Brewers

Zach Duke and Dave Bush tonight at 8.

Update: Pearce sent down to make way for Dirty Doug, who returns tonight. Gorzo will start tomorrow.

Off day

No game today.

Game 127: Pirates at Cardinals

Davis and Wellemeyer at 8.

Pirates are 57-69, twelve games under .500 and 20.5 games out of first place.

Game 126: Pirates at Cardinals

Snell and Looper at eight.

Game 125: Mets at Pirates

Maine and Maholm in a day game starting at twelve-thirty.

Game 124: Mets at Pirates

Santana and Karstens in an hour.

Game 123: Mets at Pirates

Pedro Martinez, Zach Duke, another Skyblast.

Dejan Kovacevic's coverage of the draft signing deadline makes Coonelly, Huntington, and Nutting look real good. Here's hoping these guys produce for the Pirates.

Game 122: Mets at Pirates

Pelfrey, Davis, another Skyblast.

Game 121: Reds at Pirates

Tonight we have Cueto and Snell, the LaRoche brothers, Zambelli fireworks, and REO Speedwagon.

This one will sell out or come close. Game starts at 7.

Game 120: Reds at Pirates

Josh Fogg returns to face his 7.98 ERA. Paul Maholm will also pitch.

Game 119: Reds at Pirates

Jeff Karstens makes his home debut against Edinson Volquez at seven. C'mon, shutout.

Game 118: Pirates at Mets

Duke and Martinez at one, weather permitting.

Game 117: Pirates at Phillies

Davis and Moyer at 1:30.

Bucs are 3-5 on this weird 10-game road trip.

Game 116: Pirates at Phillies

Snell and Myers at seven.

Here's that play Moss made last night.

Game 115: Pirates at Phillies

Only eleven more hours before Maholm vs. Blanton.

Day off

No game today.

One for the drinking room

Here's a picture for you to hang on your wall. All hail Jeff Karstens!

. . . Dejan Kovacevic has an early summary of his big game here.

Game 114: Pirates at D'backs

Karstens and Randy Johnson at 3:30pm eastern.

Game 113: Pirates at D'backs

Duke and Webb at 9:40.

I will be watching Dejan Kovacevic's PBC blog for any news about Andy LaRoche's bandaged right hand.

Game 112: Pirates at D'backs

Herrera and Haren at 9:40pm our time.

Game 111: Pirates at Cubs

Snell and Zambrano at two.

Game 110: Pirates at Cubs

Maholm and Lilly in one hour.

Game 109: Pirates at Cubs

Jeff Karstens will make his debut this afternoon at Wrigley. Jason Marquis will start for the Cubs. Game on at 2.

So ... guess today's lineup. I'm not sure I'd start all those new guys in a day game after moving at the trade deadline, but maybe John Russell will.

Bay traded

Kovacevic, from his blog, which still is hard to load:

UPDATE 4:56 p.m.: No updates for a while. I am heading to the ballpark for Neal Huntington's gathering. Look up something about these four players on your own, and place them in the comments. Already have three texts from people with other teams saying, essentially, "Wow," at the Pirates' return. And in a positive way. I have no opinion. The only one of these prospects I know is LaRoche's brother. Hansen throws 97 mph. I hear the ESPN guys gushing about it hear in the background, too.

He asks that you post whatever info/dirt you have on these guys in the comments over there.

. . . (earlier) . . .

By Dejan Kovacevic | 4:30 p.m. Thursday

The Pirates traded All-Star left fielder Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox as part of a three-team deal in their only move before Major League Baseball's 4 p.m. deadline.

Boston sent outfielder Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the deal. The Pirates will receive Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, Andy LaRoche and Avery Morris.

Video here: Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, Andy Laroche, and Avery Morris, who is a little younger than I expected.

. . . more news from DK:

The Pirates will receive third baseman Andy LaRoche - Adam's brother - outfielder Brandon Moss, and right-handed pitchers Craig Hansen and Bryan Morris. LaRoche, Moss and Hansen will join the Pirates' 25-man roster for the game tomorrow in Chicago. Morris will be assigned to Class A Hickory.

Three of these guys will be in Chicago tomorrow. Brandon Moss is a 1B/OF and could start in left. Hansen is this relief pitcher, I guess. Avery Bryan Morris (no relation to Matt, Bones tells me) must be this low-A starter.

Afternoon of July 31st

Trade deadline in 90 minutes.

Here are some links to jam on:

Dejan Kovacevic's PBC Blog. Kovacevic, the beat writer for the Post-Gazette, has much better access and information than most. Unfortunately, the Post-Gazette was not prepared to handle a high level of traffic this afternoon, so it often stalls out and does not load right now.

Jim Furtado's last-minute trade news thread. Baseball Primer is a gang forum with hundreds of outstanding posters who are fans of all the big-league teams. If someone delivers a scoop on the ratio or on TV, a Primate will probably share this here. You will also get a mixture of mainly amusing and very good analysis from a group of people who are, on the whole, unusually well-informed.

Ken Rosenthal's blog for Fox Sports always delivers some inside dope.

Jayson Stark reports trade deadline news here for ESPN.

Will Carroll might have news on the Baseball Prospectus Unfiltered blog.

A Pirates-fan-only version of Primer is the OnlyBucs.org forum. Look for the most recent posts in the "OnlyBucs Fan Forum" -- the threads are sorted by most recent post, which you will see if you peruse the right column of the fan forum's home page.

You might also check the comments to this post, if haloscan holds up and can deliver them on this, a very busy day (I imagine) for haloscan-powered blogs.

Enjoy the day. I expect little to no trading to happen this afternoon, so I will kick back, put my boots on the table, savor a beer or two, and listen to the bugs hum.

No game tonight. Karstens will get a chance to go all Drabek on the Cubs tomorrow at two.

Trade time

Ground is shaking.

. . . Peter Gammons says you can go to bed.

. . . good morning. Jayson Stark says Manny deal is 50-50.

Game 108: Rockies at Pirates

Cook for the hapless Rockies. Duke for the Pirates. Game starts at seven.

Dejan Kovacevic is providing frequent updates on his new blog. There is no better source for bloggy information.

the 30th

Good game last night.

Today is a trade rumor day. All kinds of trades may or may not happen today or tomorrow.

Game 107: Rockies at Pirates

Rusch and Herrera at seven. Throw the sinker, Yoslan.

Game 106: Rockies at Pirates

Your 2007 NL Champions, who have won 9 of 10 and just swept the Reds, will scrounge up a starter to face Ian Snell tonight. The Rockies are ten games under .500; the Pirates are nine games under .500.

Beer

DFH 60 min for me. This is a beer that you really must pour out into a pint glass to drink. I tried to drink one straight from the bottle and did not like it. There seems to be a syrupy thing straight from the bottle that I don't taste from a frosty pint glass. Am I nuts or what.

I've had enough of these Pirates for the weekend. What are you drinking?

Game 105: Padres at Pirates

Jake Peavy and Paul Maholm at 1:30.

As you wait for the game, read Wilbur. He's persuasive.

Game 104: Padres at Pirates

Banks and JVB.

Nady and Marte for Tabata, Ohlendorf, Karstens, and D. McCutchen

I read some of the trade comments left by people on the other blogs. First off, people pay way too much attention to the pissy comments made by television broadcasters and rival GMs. You will grow gray and die before these people talk about Pittsburgh in a way that's fair and not infuriating. The Pirates should be run to win games and not to please the media or impress the scouts and GMs who work for other teams.

So throw out all the complaints that reference a rival's or a media personality's snap opinion. Evaluate the trade for yourself.

Here's what I say. I'm not a fan of trading excellent everyday players for long-shot prospects. In theory I think it's not sound. In practice it can work. It depends on the players, and it depends on the prospects.

Xavier Nady is a 120-game-per-year player. He's already played 90 games this year. He might go on to set a career high in games played; maybe he'll play 150 this year and set a new career high in at-bats (468 is his current career high). Guys like this tend to be underrated, but I don't think Pirate fans are reacting to the trade like this is the case. He's not the equivalent of Jason Bay or Jack Wilson in the playing time department. For the sake of argument, let's not regard Bay and Wilson as every-game players any more. Still, the difference between a 125-game player and a 140-game player is large: it's two weeks starting a replacement player.

Nady also has a career OPS under 800. He's 29 and he's having a career year. To put his career in perspective, his most comparable batters are Pedro Munoz, Shane Spencer, Herb Perry, Don Lenhardt, Dick Kokos, Harry Anderson, and Jim Greengrass.

He's been a great player this year and, by all reports, an even better clubhouse personality. I don't see him as someone who has a career that suggests he would also be a great player for us in 2009 and 2010. He's the kind of player you trade high.

Damaso Marte? He's a relief pitcher.

I like the prospects the Pirates got for these guys. I think they got a good haul. I also think the team has an unusual and urgent need for starting pitchers. I don't think the trade makes the 2009 Pirates significantly worse, and I think that even the 2008 Pirates might not be so worse off as people are talking.

Sure, Nady was one of our best hitters, but the shape and nature of his relatively long career suggest that he was likely to cool off or get hit by a pitch and miss a month.

Marte was our best relief pitcher, but where's there is opportunity, some kind of breakout usually follows. There's a good chance that someone will pitch as well in the vacancy created by Marte. And relief pitchers are not the most dependable variety of ballplayers.

... update ... the change of players does not alter my perception of the trade. Three minor-league starters with some promise plus Tabata for Nady and Marte is a good return. I'm not persuaded by overconfident prospect forecasting, so comments like "middle-relief fodder" or "#4 starter" don't carry a lot of weight with me. Such comments might depress my expectations, as they should, but there are no guarantees. Given the chance, some players will grow and outperform expectations. Others will wilt and fail.

And duh, the Pirates could use middle relievers and #4 starters, so the minor-league pitchers fill an obvious need.

So, for sure, the trade is not killing the Pirates this year or next.

And as always, more comments in the comments ...

Game 103: Padres at Pirates

Baek and Duke, starting about now.

... sounds like Marte and Nady to New York-A for half a AA team.

... Bones & Rowdy give the trade two thumbs up.

High draft picks are for Losers

The off-day Dejan Kovacevic describe the Alvarez situation in this report of his phone call with Scott Boras, a burly dude who wears black turtlenecks and expensive watches.

Boras argues that Alvarez is a can't-miss player, an elite prospect. He compares him to the best players he has represented out of the draft. (I wouldn't make comparison to J.D. Drew, if I were Boras, given the way he bungled the Philadelphia negotiations, but whatever.) Boras argues that the Pirates need to pay Alvarez a lot of money because it's a good investment for the Pirates. The Pirates, obviously, are balking at the high asking price. And they are of a mind to offer less each week that goes by without seeing Alvarez in the minor leagues getting ready for next year.

The Pirates got themselves into this situation by Losing. Littlefield avoided players like Alvarez in the draft, a plan with predictable bad results. One, the Pirates have not produced so many good players with their high draft picks, and a winning team team needs good players. So, two, the Pirates have been perpetual Losers. And three, the fans of the Pirates caught on to this cheap philosophy and have wisely demanded better from the new leadership.

Boras must know the pressure that the Pirates are under to pay what he wants for Alvarez. Here the new leadership pays a price for the incompetence of the old leadership. They are over a barrel. They have to sign this guy. They could not sign him, but this would surely perpetuate losing much more than the opportunity cost associated with overpaying for Alvarez.

The way to get out of this situation is not get into it. The truth of the matter is this. The Pirates do not want high draft picks. High draft picks are for Losers. Literally -- you have to lose a lot of games to get a draft pick capable of claiming a player like Pedro Alvarez. You lose that many games, get that high a draft pick, and then you pay the Loser's Fine to the Bad Man in the Black Turtleneck.

The Pirates need good players to stop Losing. So, obviously the way to solve the problem begins with getting the good player. Once they get the player, the next step is equally obvious: stop being such Losers. That's the only way to avoid getting into this situation again.

Game 102: Padres at Pirates

Friars come to town to match Clay Hensley up against Yoslan Herrera. Game on at 7.

Alumni autographs day. Former Bucs Grant Jackson, Barry Jones and John Smiley will sign autographs on the Riverwalk from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Bones and I met John Smiley in his rookie season. He was amused.

Game 101: Pirates at Astros

One more game on fantasy island before the Pirates come home to face the Randy Wolf-less Padres. It's a day game. Snell and Moehler will start.

Game 100: Pirates at Astros

Maholm and Cassel at 8.

I happily slept through last night's adventure. Today I was going to pack up & send in the win meter for repairs, but it looks like it buzzed to life while I was sleeping. FWIW it's humming pleasantly, perhaps because Maholm is the scheduled starter.

Game 99: Pirates at Astros

It will be JVB and Runelvys at eight.

Game 98: Pirates at Rockies

This again. Duke and Cook at 3.

Game 97: Pirates at Rockies

In what's likely to be a low-scoring game, Yoslan Herrera starts tonight against Jorge de la Rosa.

Game 96: Pirates at Rockies

Snell and Rusch at 9.

Game 95: Pirates at Rockies

Pirates have been much more entertaining than in previous years, and they come out of the All-Star break six games under at 44-50.

There may or may not be a whole lot of talk about trading players soon. The place to get prospects, I think, is the draft. I have not done any scientific studies of the question, but I doubt any of those fabled winning small-market franchises were built on trading very good players for lottery tickets. More likely they drafted well year after year.

As far as I know, too, the Pirates are under no great need to trim salary.

And it also does not look to me like the Pirates have a lot of top minor-league talent that's blocked. Is it so urgent that Pearce graduate? If so, he's about the only one.

The team surely needs more reliable starters. So does most every other team in the league. The Pirates will have to grow their own. It's hard to see how trading Xavier Nady would solve the problems with the rotation.

Tonight it's Maholm and Jimenez in mountain time at like 9 o'clock.

Off day

Nate did pretty good last night. All hail Nate!

Week-long road trip starts tomorrow in Colorado.

All-Star Game

Tonight at 8. Nate McLouth to win it at the end.

At the break

Pirates are 44-50.

Home Run Derby tonight.

Your lying eyes might say otherwise, but the guy on the mound will not be Tom Gorzelanny.

Game 94: Cardinals at Pirates

Pineiro and Snell. This afternoon.

Happy Slovak day.

Game 93: Cardinals at Pirates

Yoslan Herrera makes his major league debut vs. Todd Wellemeyer at seven.

Game 92: Cardinals at Pirates

Zambelli Fireworks!

But, you have to sit through a baseball game.

Kyle Lohse and Zach Duke at seven.

Game 91: Yankees at Pirates

The teams will try to make up that postponed game from last month.

Paul Maholm and Ed Asner at seven.

Game 90: Astros at Pirates

Scuffy Moehler and John Van Benschoten at 7.

Game 89: Astros at Pirates

Backe and Snell at 7. Snell, like Dumatrait yesterday, comes off some extra rest.

Game 88: Astros at Pirates

Runelvys Hernandez and Phil "Kama Sutrait" Dumatrait at 7. Dumatrait returns from the rest that he needed to recover from the strain of so many difficult positions.

And, the Brewers kick off the silly season by making a big trade.

Game 87: Pirates at Brewers

Duke and Suppan at 2.

Game 86: Pirates at Brewers

Maholm and Bush at 7.

Game 85: Pirates at Brewers

Tom Gorzelanny and Ben Sheets this afternoon.

Pirates are 40-44 but only 15-25 on the road this year.

Also curious in the standings right now: The Rockies are 35-51. We had a pretty interesting debate the other night about whether this Pirates team is underachieving or overachieving. Opinions were split down the middle.

I've always thought that it should be "not hard" to finish at .500, and that a .500 season should not be regarded -- all by itself -- as evidence that a .550 season was the inevitable next step. A .500 breakout could be followed by a .450 slump. It also seems to me that I can look around the league every year and see a bunch of .500 teams that are pretty sorry. Are they lucky or are they overachieving? Or, are the 67-win teams underachieving?

The recent history of the Rockies tells a story. I'm not sure what is that story, but it seems somewhat relevant. Colorado win totals from 2001-2008: 73, 74, 74, 68, 67, 76, 90. Hmmmmmmmm.

Off day

No game today. An orthopedic surgeon and a physical therapist offer their comments on internal rotation deficit. Meanwhile, Dejan discusses Capps, bunting, and stadium etiquette in today's Q+A.

Game 84: Pirates at Reds

John Van Benschoten and Daryl Thompson soon enough.

Matt Capps out for July and August and I guess, September as well. I'm not a medical professional, and I don't understand his injury, but as a fan I know that when they say "eight weeks" it usually means "rest of the season and maybe some of next season too."

Insert expletives here.

Game 83: Pirates at Reds

Zach Duke takes on Edinson Volquez tonight at seven. Six games under and back in the basement, the integrity of the travesty appears safe. For now.

Game 82: Pirates at Reds

Paul Maholm vs. the Harangutan starting soon. Paul Meyer notes that for the first time in 52 years, the Bucs' pitcher is not batting ninth.

Game 81: Rays at Pirates

Gorzelanny vs. Sonnanstine starting now. Bucs are on pace for 77 wins.