July 2008

Pat Andriola of Fangraphs revisited the July 2008 deadline deals; of five major trades, the Pirates were involved in two, and here's his take in hindsight:

The Bay deal:

Dodgers receive: LF Manny Ramirez
Red Sox receive: LF Jason Bay
Pirates receive: RHP Bryan Morris, 2B/3B Andy LaRoche, OF Brandon Moss, RHP Craig Hansen
Winner: Red Sox, Dodgers

It was time for Manny to leave Beantown, and although the deadline seemed to have passed, these three teams were able to work a deal that would shake the baseball world. Jason Bay found the postseason in Boston and had a huge 2009, putting up 5.0 WAR. Manny said hello to L.A.-L.A. land and was unstrasburgly for the Dodgers, hitting .396/.489/.743 for the boys in blue in 2008.

The Pirates, well, they decided to go with quantity over quality, and it bit them. After a nice year from LaRoche in 2009 (2.6 WAR), he's been awful this season (-0.6 WAR), and doesn't project to be the line drive hitter he once was. Craig Hansen has had health issues and Brandon Moss was below average, but Bryan Morris does seem to be a promising prospect. Still, Pittsburgh could have done better for Bay.

And the Nady deal:

Yankees receive: OF Xavier Nady, LHP Damaso Marte
Pirates receive: OF Jose Tabata, RHP Ross Ohlendorf, RHP Jeff Karstens, RHP Daniel McCutchen
Winner: Pirates

While Nady hit pretty well with the Yankees (.270/.319/.469), Marte's inability to stay healthy and his mediocre pitching gives this to Pittsburgh. The Pirates decided to go with both quality and quantity here, getting a bunch of players who will help them in the long run, highlighted by Jose Tabata. At worst, Pittsburgh can always put Ohlendorf, who majored in Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton, in the front office.

Win some, lose some.

Kerrigan Signs Up & Winter Ball News

When Jeff Andrews was let go, the speculation was that he was shown the door so quickly in a large part because a couple of guys the Pirate suits had their eyes on were available. One of the names bandied about was Joe Kerrigan's, and sho' enuff, he landed the job.

Kerrigan, 53, went to Temple and was a first round pick in the 1974 draft by Montreal. He made his major league debut on July 9, 1976, for the Expos. Kerrigan was traded to Baltimore after the 1977 season, and played with the O's until 1980.

So that's his playing background - 4 years, 131 games, 220 innings, mainly as an all purpose reliever, and a record of 8-12, with 15 saves and a 3.89 ERA. But the position requires psychology and technique, not an arm, and he's put together a pretty solid coaching resume since his playing days.

Kerrigan has spent parts of 12 seasons as a MLB pitching coach, first holding the job with the Expos from 1992-96, after splitting the previous nine seasons as Montreal's bullpen coach and minor league pitching coach. He met Neal Huntington there, who joined Montreal's front office in 1992. Nothin' like a little networking.

He joined the Red Sox in 1997 as the team's pitching coach. In August 2001, Kerrigan finished out the season as Boston's interim manager after Jimy Williams was canned. He finished with a 17-26 record, and was in turn replaced by Grady Little when new owners took over the BoSox reins.

Kerrigan moved on to the Phillies as their pitching coach for two seasons. Then he worked as a special assistant to Yankees GM Brian Cashman in 2005 before taking over as the Yankees' bullpen coach for the 2006-07 seasons.

Kerrigan spent this year working as an on-air talking head for the Phillie's TV and radio crew.

He has to get more out of the staff than Andrews did. Besides a dozen years under his belt, Kerrigan will be an unknown to the guys he's coaching up, and that's a good thing - maybe it'll grab their attention.

If you recall, Andrews got the job because he knew so many of the pitchers from their minor league days, and they had a comfort zone with him. But we all saw what familiarity bred in that case.

He'll be the third Pirate pitching coach in three years, and the fourth in five seasons, following Spin Williams (2005), Jim Colburn (2006-07), and Andrews. Good luck to him and the staff.

> In case you were curious as to what Pirates were still playing ball over the winter, here's a list provided by Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com and a little googling:

Arizona Fall League: RHP Jared Hughes (0-0, 10.38), C Steve Lerud (.333, 0-2), RHP Jeff Sues (0-0, 0.00), RHP Derek Hankins (0-0, 2.25), RHP Michael Crotta (0-0, 3.25), INF Shelby Ford (.344, 1-5), and OF Jamie Romak (.158, 0-3).

Ford is the only regular among the bunch, and none of the pitchers has gotten over 4 innings of work yet. The Scottsdale Scorpions are 5-7 so far. Lotta good this league is doing for Pittsburgh's prospects (or is that suspects) to date, hey?

Hawaiian League: IF Jim Negrych (.273, 0-3), SS Brian Friday (.205, 0-4), 1B Miles Durham (.290, 2-16), LHP Kyle Bloom (1-0, 2.40), RHP Eric Krebs (0-0, 5.40), RHP Harrison Bishop (1-0, 6.14), and RHP Moises Robles (0-2-2, 6.75).

Durham is a monster in Hawaii, and Bloom's doing pretty well, too. The West Oahu CaneFires are 10-8 and playing everyone on the roster. Primo!

Caribbean Leagues: OF Jose Tabata, OF Chris Duffy, OF Steve Pearce, C Robinzon Diaz, C Carlos Maldonado, C Raul Chavez, IF Luis Rivas, RHP Romulo Sanchez, LHP Dave Davidson, RHP John Van Benschoten, RHP Evan Meek, RHP Marino Salas, RHP Ron Belasario, RHP Jesse Chavez, RHP Nelson Cruz, RHP Edgar Gutierrez, RHP Juan Mateo, LHP Juan Perez, RHP Ron Uviedo, and RHP Malvin Vasquez.

Sorry, dudes, not in the mood to run down the Mexican, Venuzalean, and Dominican stats quite yet. Whoops, don't have to - they're here: Pirate Winter League Stats, found by Matt Bandi of Pittsburgh Lumber Company.

Bucco Bits

>Lisa Wilson of MLB.com has a meaty piece on the Pirate's minor league season and its heroes and villians, with audio and vid clips: Pirates See Light At End Of Tunnel.

For what it's worth, MLB.com's pre-season picks for 2008 Players of the Year were OF Marcus Davis, who was injured in June, and LHP Daniel Moskos, of "why did we take him instead of Matt Wieters" fame. The post-season winners ended up being INF Jim Negrych and LHP Anthony Watson.

>Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports that Brandon Moss got (or will get, we're not sure) the scope instead of the knife, on his raw knee Buc's Ross Should Be Ready For Camp.

This should cut Moss' rehab time considerably, and now the prognosis is that he'll be able to head north with the team after spring training in 2009.

>The Arizona League Pirates prospects are putting togther a blog for bored winter ball fans at Pirates In the AFL. (Thanks to Brian McElhinny at Raise the Jolly Roger for discovering that web gem.)

The Scottsdale Scorpion Seven are RHPs Mike Crotta, Derek Hankins, Jared Hughes, and Jeff Sues, along with C Steven Lerud, 2B Shelby Ford, and OF Jamie Romak.

You Can't Fire the Team, So...

Hmmmm...the Pirate pitching staff gave up the most runs, hits and walks in the NL this year. They also had the highest ERA and the next to fewest strikeouts in the League. Somebody's head had to roll after a season like that, and it was Jeff Andrew's.

He, along with first base coach Lou Frazier, fell to the axe of Neal Huntington today.

Andrews, 49, had spent 22 years in the minors toiling as a pitching coach. After last year's disastrous showing under the guidance of Jim Colburn, he was hired by Pittsburgh, where it was hoped his familiarity with the Pirate pitchers, many of whom he had tutored at Indy, would drive a revival of their early success. It wasn't to be.

The dismissal was a mild surprise, but his fate had been decided for awhile, apparently, to happen so soon after the season. And while his work didn't merit his return, the inaction of the new Pirate suits has to be blamed, too. He never had a chance to succeed with the material he had at hand.

They knew in the spring that they had problems with the starting staff. And while they brought in some help for the bullpen, Phil Dumatrait was the only rotation arm that they added. When Matty Mo quickly imploded, the five men they had were the only five they had left to dance with in 2008.

No meaningful competition for jobs and the failure to land a veteran inning-eater to replace Morris, both as a pitcher and mentor, had as much to do with Andrew's firing as his coaching did. And they know that. That's why they dealt for Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf, and Dan McCutchen.

So the pitching cost Pittsburgh more than Jeff Andrews. It also cost the Pirates their two most productive bats, Jay Bay and Xavier Nady. Those five guy sure caused a lot of turmoil this year.

Our major concern is that for many of the staff - Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, Zach Duke, Tom Gorzelanny, Matt Capps, and John Grabow - the new boss will be the fourth pitching coach in five years, following Spin Williams, Colburn, and Andrews. That's a lot of tinkering and mind games to deal with for a young crew.

As for Frazier, we'd guess his day jobs of coaching the outfielders and base-running fell short. He was a tireless worker, but too many missed cut-offs and too many gaffes on the basepaths during his watch sealed the deal for him.

Huntington said to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com: "Ultimately, I am the GM, and I am accountable for our performance. I am not proud that I had to make coaching changes this soon with people that I hired only one year ago, but I feel like this is the best move going forward."

We suggest, given the youth of the team, that he bring in a couple of veteran heads that can teach the game and provide a little fire to the troops. And we hope that he continues to really emphasize the fundamentals throughout the system, from Bradenton to Indianapolis, so the learning curve isn't so steep at PNC.

Turn Out the Lights...

The Bucs closed out the season the way they started it when they whipped San Diego in the finale today by a 6-1 tally.

The Pirate batters had a case of the back-to-backs today. First, Adam LaRoche and Steve Pearce hit B2B homers in the fourth, and the game was put away in the ninth when Jay Michaels and LaRoche came through with B2B two-out doubles, good for three runs.

The Pirate pitching did a bob-and-weave with the Padre hitters through the first six innings, but limited the NL's lowest scoring attack to one run over that span.

The Buc back-enders had a great finish to the season, with John Grabow, Tyler Yates, and Matt Capps pitching near perfect ball, marred only by Capps plunking a batter. Yates was untouchable again, striking out the side on 12 pitches.

So another tumultous season ends, 2,400 miles from PNC Park. It's time to grab a cold one and get the logs stacked for what's bound to be an interesting hot stove league over the winter.

> Adam LaRoche isn't the only Pirate that has first-half woes. Remember when Freddie Sanchez couldn't hit BP? Well, Sanchez has posted a .348 average since the All-Star break, the third-highest mark in the NL.

He'll also take an 83-game errorless streak into next season. After making seven errors in the first two months of the season, Sanchez has been perfect in the field since May 29th, and his .989 fielding percentage is second-best in the League. Not much range, we'll admit, but he's back to Steady Freddie.

For the record, Sanchez finished up the year hitting .271, and LaRoche .270. The trick will be to hot-wire the duo in April and May next year. Sanchez will hopefully come into camp with all his body parts functioning, and LaRoche...well, he's probably open to suggestions at this point.

> The Brew Crew hung on to take the wildcard spot, as CC Sabathia held off the Cubs 3-1. Our hat's off to CC. He pitched like a throwback warrior, taking the mound on three days rest three straight times. Who they're gonna pitch in the playoffs is a another question, but at least they're in it.

The Mets were dropped by the Marlins, 4-2. Ollie and Scott Olsen were both toast by the sixth, and it became a battle of the bullpens. And as far as the Mets are concerned, that's a losing proposition.

Milwaukee will go to Philly, and the Cubs will host the Dodgers. And we bet that's some somber post-game party that New Yorkers have to close down Shea.

> The Twins and White Sox both won, so here's their scenario: Chicago hosts Detroit in a make-up game tomorrow. If the Sox win, the Twins come to town for a one-game, winner-take-all match.

Whoever survives plays Tampa Bay. And this year's down-to-the-wire races once again prove that a MLB season is a marathon, not a sprint. It's also another reason the wild card is so cool.

Sunday Chatter

> Ross Ohlendorf is the third Princeton ballplayer to make an appearance in the Pittsburgh-San Diego series. The Padre's Chris Young and Will Venable suited up for the Tigers, too. Ohlendorf was teammates with both. The Orange and Black must be doing a pretty good job of recruiting these days.

> Ryan Doumit's 15 home runs are the most by a Pirate catcher in a season since Mark Parent hit 15 in 1995. The club record is 17, set in 1965 by Jim Pagliaroni. It's hard to believe that in 122 years of play, no Bucco backstop has ever hit 20 homers.

> GW was pretty hard on Doumit's ability to handle the chores behind the plate, but we're glad to be eating some crow. He, with a few stretches of regression, has improved noticeably during the season at setting a target, framing a pitch, and blocking balls. He's still a work in progress, but he is progressing.

Overall, the 2008 catching line isn't much different than 2007. Pirate catchers threw out 30.6% of the wanna-be base snatchers (46-150), compared to 31.8% (35-110) last season. Doumit nailed 26.8%, Paulino 25.8%, and understudy Raul Chavez gunned out 48% of the runners. Robinzon Diaz was 1 for 1 in his lone appearance.

And we don't read much into the fact that opposing teams ran 40 more times on Pittsburgh this year, other than there were more baserunners to send between the increase in hits and particularly walks in 2008, plus some to-be-expected early season testing of Doumit's arm.

Errors and passed balls were virtually identical between the two seasons. As bad as the pitching was, the ERA went up just a tad from 4.93 in 2007 to 5.12 this season. It was terrible in 2007, and almost unbelievably, even worse in 2008.

The only major upticks were in wild pitches, leaping from 45 to 64 (to us, a combo of poor pitching and catching), and of course, those pesky walks, skyrocketing from 518 to 652 in a year. And you can't blame the receivers for that.

Doumit seems well on track to losing his old moniker of Ryan No-Mitt. More importantly, his legs held up, and he's a lock to man the dish next year.

> Dejan says that the Bucs are gonna try to hold on to Dirt Dog Doug and Jay Michaels. Mientkiewicz we can see, if a contender doesn't pry him away. But Michaels? He gave us some dramatic moments, but a .226 corner OF'er doesn't warrant an invite back to us. We will say that 42 RBI in 226 AB's, though, is clutch, and that's why they're looking hard at keeping him.

The silver lining we see from the offer is that it gives us a glimmer of hope that the Bucs were just puffing up and showcasing Nyjer Morgan, the latest Rajai Davis/Tike Redmond clone, to the baseball world. Just building value, as the suits like to say.

But with Cutch almost sure to start 2009 in Indy and Brandon Moss being sliced, it looks less and less like that's the scenario.

> BTW, the untouchable Yankee arms that Pittsburgh couldn't tear loose at the trade deadline, Phil Hughes (0-4, 7.96 in seven starts) and Ian Kennedy (0-4, 8.35 in nine starts) didn't fare as well as the pitchers the Bucs did get, Jeff Karstens (2-6, 4.03 in nine starts) and Ross Ohlendorf (0-3, 7.50 in four starts, with one more coming today). Just sayin'...

One Mo'

Well, if Jimmy Barthmaier could have gotten that third out in the first inning a little sooner, the Bucs may have come home with a scalp. But he didn't, and Pittsburgh went down 3-2.

After nailing the first two hitters on long flies, Barthmaier walked Brian Giles. You can guess the rest. A double and homer later, it was 3-0. Oh, he, Denny Bautista, Sean Burnett and Jesse Chavez shut down the Friars the rest of the game, but Chris Young and Trevor Hoffman had all the runs they would need.

Adam LaRouche and Jay Michaels drove home two-out runs to make it close, but that first inning walk ultimately did in the Pirates. They had a shot in the seventh, when the first two batters reached and were bunted to second and third.

John Russell opted to pinch hit for the pitcher with Jack Splat against the RHP Mike Adams. The book says that's the spot for Dirt Dog Doug, but if there's one thing we know about Russell, it's that he has no book.

Wilson struck out swinging, but maybe the lefty-righty thing didn't make any difference, as Nate McLouth did the same - on three pitches.

So ends another mighta-been game for the Pirates. Only one more battle before the 2008 wars end. It's been a long year.

Saturday Yada

> Even with Damaso Marte's trade and Matt Capp's stint on the DL - or maybe because - five Pirates have set career highs for innings pitched out of the pen.

John Grabow leads the pack with 73 appearances and 75 innings worked, both career highs. Tyler Yates got the call 71 times (he was in 75 games for Atlanta last year), but threw 72-1/3 innings, the most of his MLB career.

Even the lesser lights worked the most of their young careers. Denny Bautista was brought in 50 times, pitching 59-1/3 frames. Sean Burnett was called on 56 times for 50 innings, and TJ Beam hit the hill 31 times and worked 45 innings.

And with Jimmy Barthmaier and Ross Ohlendorf finishing up the campaign, we suspect that there will be more innings added to the totals.

When five guys from the bullpen have their busiest years, it sure speaks volumes about the starting staff. And with young guys shouldering so heavy a load, it's no wonder the relief corp's work become so spotty as the season dragged on.

> Ian Snell closed the year out with his best two months of pitching, with a 4.67 ERA in August, followed by a 4.33 mark in September. But that's still quite a fall from 2007, when he posted a 3.67 ERA. He finished this year with a 5.42 ERA.

He's a lock for the 2009 staff, but has to cut down on his horrendous pitch counts and get over the implosions on the mound when things don't fall his way. Snell's the only arm the Pirates have with top of the rotation nastiness, and they need him to show it next season.

> BTW, the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League announced they have signed Tanner Scheppers, giving indy ball two of the top three college pitchers available in the 2008 draft, counting Fort Worth Cats RHP Aaron Crow.

This is a good career move? Well, JD Drew hid out in St. Paul during his 1997 holdout, and it worked out OK for him. So we'll just have to wait and see where Scheppers ends up in next year's lottery.

> While in Milwaukee, Adam LaRoche had a deer silhouette, the logo for Buck Commander, tattooed on his arm.

For those of you that don't know, LaRoche is a passionate outdoorsman and hunter, and has done a series of videos with other baseballers like Chipper Jones, Brad Hawpe and Russ Springer on tracking wily deer. Buck Commander is the Louisiana-based outfit that he's hooked up with that sells hunting guides and gear.

California Dreamin'

Well, whatta ya know? There is a team worse than the Bucs.

The Pirates pulled off a 6-3 victory at PETCO Field tonight, thanks to Ryan Doumit's three run blast and Brian Gile's two run drop.

Ian Snell and Josh Geer were hooked up in a sweet pitching duel for five innings, both giving up solo homers. Then Geer's elbow went out, quickly followed by Snell's leg cramping on him.

Pity, too. Snell was working on a one-hitter, and after throwing 27 pitches in the first frame, had a comfortable count (for him) of 80 after five. But they both hobbled off to their respective dressing rooms, and it became a battle of the bullpens.

The Bucs got some shaky work from Sean Burnett (he got himself in more trouble with his glove than his pitches), a brief but effective TJ Beam sighting, another strong inning from Tyler Yates, and John Grabow danced out of a jam in the eighth. It was enough.

Pittsburgh clung to 4-3 lead with two outs and two on in the ninth when the usually dependable Giles couldn't get a handle on Nate McLouth's ball, and a pair of big insurance runs came home.

Matt Capps polished off the Padres on three fly balls in the ninth, and the Pirates finally put one away. It was their first win in San Diego since 2005.

> The Bucs filled their final fall ball slot when they sent OF Jamie Romak to Scottsdale to play in the Arizona Winter League. He hit 25 HR's between A and AA ball this season, but needs to cut his strikeout rate.

Romak whiffed 127 times in 410 at bats. Still, there aren't many Pirate prospects with his power, and his progress bears watching.

> Nyjer Morgan is done for the season after it was confirmed on Friday that he had a mild left hamstring tear. It's too early to tell if the injury will keep him from playing in the Mexican League during the off season, as planned.

Morgan batted .347 in the 34 games he played following his recall and reached base safely in 25 of his 27 starts since. He stole eight bases in eleven tries and scored 20 runs during that span.

Where's Ryan?

It'd be easy enough to blame Jesse Chavez for this loss. After all, he did walk Craig Counsell, of the .227 batting average, on five pitches to load the bases with two outs in the tenth to get to Ryan Braun, who deposited a slider over the fence for a walk-off 5-1 win.

But this one has to go on the shoulders of John Russell. He said he'd play to win, and he didn't do that tonight. He took the only player he has that's hitting over .281 and his clean-up man, Ryan Doumit, out of the lineup.

He just wanted to give him a blow - with 4 games left in the season, against a team fighting for its post-season life. He did the same with Nate McLouth yesterday.

Do you think that if the tables were turned that Dale Sveum would sit Ryan Braun one night and Prince Fielder the next? Neither do we.

When Nyjer Morgan left the game in the first inning with a tweaked hammy, that left the Brewer staff to face a lineup that featured six players hitting under .230, and three of them under .200. To us, it's not just poor managing to bench your big gun in a match that counts, but utter disrespect of the game.

At least Zach Duke took it like a man, carrying the club on his back while pitching superbly. He threw in and out, using his fastball as his bread and butter pitch. The Zachster scattered seven hits over seven innings, and only two were squarely hit.

Tyler Yates struck out the side on 11 pitches in the eighth, and John Grabow mowed the Brew Crew down 1-2-3 in the ninth. The Pirates deserved better tonight. Maybe Russell is saving the big guns for that crucial San Diego series.

> The Colorado doc concurred with his Pittsburgh counterparts, and Brandon Moss will make a date with the chop shop to work on his knee. We'll see if he can make it back by the spring. It'll be iffy.

> Neil Huntington, after some hemming and hawing, told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com that Neil Walker may have a shot at unseating the bumbling, stumbling Andy LaRoche in 2009, although he didn't sound very enthused at the thought.

"We're still excited about Neil Walker's growth and development," Huntington said the day they went out and got LaRoche. "Truth of the matter is that Neil has put himself in a position this year with some offensive struggles that he wasn't ready to go, in our minds, Opening Day next year."

He backpedaled a bit today, saying that "We have some things that Andy needs to work on, and we're looking forward to him capitalizing on the opportunity to take the everyday third-base job. But it's not going to be handed to him. He's going to have to earn it."

"Andy has already done some things at Triple-A that we are anticipating Neil will do," Huntington said. "But if it's not Andy, then certainly Neil Walker becomes a candidate."

Translated, it sounds to us like LaRoche is a lock to start next year at third, but if hits like his big brother in April and May...

Huntington also brought up the possibility of "creatively exploring" other options through the free-agent market or the waiver wire this offseason to find an outside answer for third.

But with two of his top prospects already at the hot corner and Pedro in the fold, he'd certainly not look for anything more than a stopgap solution to plug a potential third base hole.

> Hey, it took us all season (GW is nothing if not persistent) but we finally decided to work Google and find out just why the Brew Crew pull out their jerseys after a win.

It's not an "in your face" thingie at all, just another goofy little baseball tradition. Mike Cameron started it this year, following in the footsteps of his dad, who untucked his shirt as soon as he came home from work. So it signifies nothing more than the end of a good day's job. We can live with that.

And boy, are we glad Mr. Cameron didn't take his shirt off when he hit the door. We shudder to think what Prince Fielder and CC Sabathia would look like, bouncing all over the field topless. Beach volleyball, it ain't.

> The Dodgers clinched the West today. It took a bold move by GM Ned Colletti, who put his job on the line by bringing in Manny. But it paid off, and after an adjustment period, LA put together a title run of 18 wins in the past 23 games to notch a spot in the playoffs.

> Mickey Vernon, one of baseball's class acts and a member of the 1960 Pirate World Series winners, died today at the age of 90 after suffering a stroke. His career spanned four decades, from 1939-1960, mostly spent with the Washington Senators.

He was a two-time AL batting champion and seven-time All-Star first baseman, with a career consisting of 2,409 games and a .286 average, with 2,495 hits, including 490 doubles and 120 triples, and 1,311 RBIs, missing two full seasons during the war. Vernon is up for the pre-WW2 veteran's HOF vote in 2009.

Known as one of the great glovemen of his era, he still holds the career record for DP's participated in, taking part in 2,044 twin killings. Vernon compiled a .990 fielding average over the years.

He coached for Danny Murtaugh in 1960, and the Bucs activated him in September for the stretch run. Vernon went 1-8 as a pinch hitter that month, at the age of 42, and earned his only Championship ring.

Remember When September Meant Something?

How do you hold the other team to two singles and lose? Heck, it's easy if you're Pittsburgh.

Have your pitchers walk nine guys, commit a timely error, miss a ball by diving past it, and then strike out 13 times when you're at bat. The Pirates did all of that in their 4-2 loss to the Brew Crew tonight.

Two things are glaringly obvious. First, all Milwaukee has to do is show up to whip the Bucs. And secondly, September 29th can't get here soon enough.

> Well, Pedro is finally signed, sealed, and delivered. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, Gorzo was put on the 60-day DL. So now it's time to see if the kid can play ball.

Where is the question. He signed too late to play winter ball, so it looks like he's going to start his career in the Florida Instruction League. Maybe missing three months won't delay his career, but then again...well, it can't help.

He addressed two of the questions his challenge presented. Regarding the lost goodwill of the Pirate faithful, Pedro said "I just want the fans of Pittsburgh to judge me on the field as a player. Starting today, I will work my hardest to be the best I can be."

Alvarez also said that the contract situation and ensuing soap opera was on him, not Scott Boras. "Throughout this whole process, I, myself, wanted a fair [negotiation]," he said. "I thought for myself and made decisions for myself."

Let the Pedro era begin. At last.

Boo!

It's still five weeks before Halloween, but the Pirates took an early trip to their favorite House of Horrors, Miller Field, and remained 0-for-2008 with a 7-5 loss.

The Buc outfield in particular played like a trio of headless horsemen, committing two errors, letting balls fly over their head, and unleashing throws into the netherworld.

The Brewers were handed a pair of runs to start the game - Jeff Karstens actually pitched fairly well tonight - but came back and treated the Pirates in the second, when Dave Bush walked three batters, including Karstens on four piches, and then gave up two-out RBI hits to Nyjer Morgan and Freddie Sanchez to fall behind 3-2.

But with a lineup minus Adam LaRoche, who is day-to-day with a groin tweak, and Brandon Moss, who the Bucs shut down after finding out his knee may need cut after a routine check-up, the only other runs would come on a two run shot by Steve Pearce.

Jesse Chavez, John Grabow, and TJ Beam hung pitches that were turned into a pair of RBI doubles and a homer, and the Brew Crew, in a must-have game, walked off with the win after Prince Fielder's ninth inning, two-out shot.

The Pirates haven't won at Miller since May of 2007. That's downright spooky.

> The Pirate OF was brutal tonight. Morgan let a soft liner dink off his mitt, leading to a run, and later in the game had trouble playing a ball off the wall and then made a poor throw into his relay, allowing another run to cross the plate. On the other side of the coin, he had four hits. We're guessing he's modeling his game after Juan Pierre.

Nate McLouth left his feet for a ball well over his head and then launched a throw that landed nowhere near his cut-off, and that cost the Bucs a run. Pearce hesitated a second on a liner to right, and it ended up barely over his head. Yep, another Brewer run plated, compliments of the outfield.

> Moss will see a Colorado doctor soon to get a second opinion on his knee. It apparently hasn't bothered him in Pittburgh, but acted up on him in Boston earlier in the year.

He has a structural problem that may need surgery to correct, according to the Buc docs, caused by his tibia and femur grinding together at the knee, technically known as osteochondritis dissecans.

The Vail medico is Dr. Steadman, an expert in microfracture surgery, the recommended course of action to correct the problem. The procedure generally requires 6-8 months of recovery time, and that would put quite a crimp in next year's Pirate plans and Moss' career. Caveat emptor.

> No further word on Pedro. We'll see if the arbitration hearing picks up again tomorrow after being cancelled today. We've seen Rube Goldberg contraptions that were less complicated than this mess. After all, how hard is it to give someone $6M just to play baseball?

> Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors has a telling piece on the value of top draft picks and how they contributed to playoff success this year at Built with First Round Picks.

Turn Out the Lights

Except for the love the city has for Jack Splat and he for it, the game was another forgettable exercise in futility for Pittsburgh.

They lost to Houston 6-2 on a collection of dribblers, bloops, walks, misplayed balls, questionable umping, and wild pitches while serving as Roy Oswalt's personal whipping boy. Pretty normal stuff.

But when Jack Wilson stepped in to pinch hit in the fifth inning, the connection between a player and his town was never more obvious.

The fans stood and roared - well, as much of a roar as 20,000 people can make - throughout his at bat, and they pumped up the volume even more when he roped a single into left field. They rose to their feet once again when he trotted into the dugout.

At least one guy will leave with good memories of Pittsburgh.

> Pittsburgh drew 20,311 fans today, just about right on the season average of 20,113. Their total attendance of 1,609,076 was the lowest since 2004, when they attracted 1,583,031 to PNC Park, and that was during a 75-game home slate. The average attendance is the lowest since PNC opened its gates.

The MLB average since 2004 has been around 2.5 million.

When the park opened in 2001, 2,435,867 people spun the turnstiles. That's 30,834 warm fannies per game, and that represents quite a fall from grace for the franchise.

Tag Team Win

Boy, it wasn't easy, but the Bucs pulled out a 6-4 victory over the Astro's tonight in the preliminary to the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.

The Pirates scored five times in the first inning - and how's that for role reversal? - tacked on another run in the second, and went into a deep coma for the rest of the game. Ryan Doumit did the early damage, driving in three runs with a pair of doubles.

After that, seven Pittsburgh pitchers, with varying degrees of success, held the Astros to four runs. Houston got six of its leadoff hitters on, banged out eleven hits, drew four walks and got an error to aid the cause, but left 10 runners stranded as they sputtered to defeat.

Jason Davis pitched a pair of scoreless innings for the win, his second, and Matt Capps, despite some drama, shut the door in the ninth for his 20th save.

GW followed the game on MLB.com's Gameday - FSN had that crucial early season clash between Texas and Rice pre-empt the Pirates - and according to their gun, the Mad Capper was hitting 93 with his heater, even touching 96 against Lance Berkman. That's good news for 2009.

Well, one last hurrah at home, and PNC can call it a year. The 2008 season has been a long, strange journey.

> Jack Splat made his return from his finger injury, pinch hitting for the pitcher. He flew out to center. Hopefully, he can take a possible final bow tomorrow.

> The Pirates named Jim Negrych their Minor League Player of the Year and Jeff Sues their Minor League Pitcher of the Year for the 2008 season on Saturday.

Negrych, the Pirates' sixth-round selection in the 2006, hit a combined .359 (170-for-473) with five home runs, 72 RBIs and 87 runs scored in 129 games between Class A Lynchburg and Double-A Altoona.

Sues, a fifth-round selection in 2005, also made the jump from Lynchburg to Altoona this season. The 25-year-old right-handed reliever posted a combined record of 4-2 with three saves, a 3.22 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 37 appearances.

The Meek Shall Inherit the Cellar

Man, it's painful to watch this team. Eight more walks, and three of them scored in the Astro's 5-1 victory. The Bucs only had four hits, and electing to watch paint dry seems to be the paying public's reaction to the play of the past two months.

Pittsburgh only drew 26,000 for a fireworks night, their one sure-fire attraction. At last check, they have 25,000 sold for tomorrow night's Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. It looks like the best laid promotional plans are finally losing steam to the product on the field. Football and hockey have started, and the Bucs can't compete.

EDIT - Boy, did we miss that. Not only did the Bucs sell out with 36,000 fans, but Pitt drew 50,000 and the Pens sat 16,000 on the same day. Over 100,000 locals backed their home teams Saturday, not too shabby a turnout for a "small market".

Ian Snell was wild, walking five, and his velocity was still down. But he didn't give up a hit until the fourth inning, and that was a ground ball single through the hole.

But it exposed a season-long Pirate bugaboo, the free pass - there were two on via the walk before the hit - and the double-edged sword that's Nyjer Morgan.

Morgan fielded the ball in short left and had an easy toss to the plate, no more than 200'. Any kind of on-line throw would nail the runner, the plodding Lance Berkman. They don't call him Fat Elvis for nothing.

But he threw it belt-high to relay man Andy LaRoche, who was on the infield grass, instead of throwing it through him to home. LaRoche's relay was airmailed to the backstop, and that was about all she wrote for the Pirates. How a guy can be so aggressive on the bases and so passive making a throw is beyond us.

Denny Bautista had another forgettable performance to hand the game to Houston. John Russell, who has changed pitchers virtually every other batter since the horde of call-ups arrived to stock the pen, left Bautista to struggle on the hill. In two innings, he threw 44 pitches, and gave up three hits, three walks, and three runs.

In fairness, one hit ricocheted like a Super Ball off of the first base bag, and another fell inches in front of a diving Nate McLouth. Still, both were smoked, and Bautista's fall into the abyss has more to do with his poor pitching than the baseball gods.

On the plus side, Ryan Doumit nailed two would-be base stealers and Adam LaRoche hit his 23rd homer. That's it. Oh, and the Pirates are one game closer to another top five pick in next years draft. Hmmmm...could that be part of the plan?

> Pirate pitching this year has rung up a 5.17 ERA. The NL average is 4.29. Their 615 walks are the NL's most, with ony the SF Giant staff within hailing distance. Just St. Louis has struck out fewer batters than the Buc's 909 whiffs.

Finding the plate and getting some bats to miss balls has to be job number one for Pittsburgh next year. A 3:2 strike out to walk ratio doesn't cut it.

Throw in the fact that Pirate hurlers have given up the NL's most hits (10.2/game, compared to the league average of 8.9), 101 hits more than the next worse team...well, Jeff Andrews will need Luke Ravenstahl's PR person to spin his term in office.

The hitting, although skewed by the pre-trade production, is right about at the NL average, scoring 4.6 runs per game with a .260 team average and .406 slugging percentage.

> Remember how the new ballyard was supposed to rejuvenate the Pirate franchise? Pittsburgh, which dropped to 38-41 at home, will finish with a losing home record for the seventh time in eight seasons at PNC Park.

The Buc attendance is next to last in the NL, at 19,647/game. They're ahead of Florida, which draws 16,179, and behind the Reds, which have 25,615 spin the gates every game.

> The Bucs record is now 64-90, giving them their fourth straight 90-loss season. That puts them in the same company as the Rickey-Dinks of the early 50's that lost 90 games or more in six consecutive years.

The Fat Lady Works Overtime

GW was part of a jailbreak from work at lunch with buds Tom DiNuno, Frank Garnett and Chaz Durham, escaping to catch a slacker's special on a beautiful September afternoon. And while we were treated to a competitive game, there wasn't much beautiful about the play.

The Dodgers won in twelve, 4-3. John Russell stuck to who brung him when he made up the getaway day lineup, running Jason Michaels, Chris Gomez and Raul Chavez out along with the fall wonders, Nyjer Morgan and Luis Cruz.

That tells us all we need to know about Steve Pearce, Luis Rivas, Brian Bixler, Ronny Paulino and Robinzon Diaz's places on the Pirate totem pole.

As for the game...well, start with eight Pittsburgh pitchers giving up eleven walks, four of the intentional variety.

Paul Maholm was uncharacteristically wild, giving up a half dozen free passes. Craig Hansen, predictably, faced four batters and walked three in earning a well-deserved loss. Three of the four Dodger runs were scored by a runner who walked.

Throw in a dribbler or three that could have been outs, Nyjer Morgan being easily tossed out trying to score from third with the second baseman holding the ball (we suppose Lance Berkman's lesson hasn't quite sunk in yet), and the Pirates left plays - and the game - all over the field.

EDIT - Paul Meyer said in the PBC Blog that Tony Beasley took the hit for Morgan's doomed gallop home. Doesn't anyone watch the ball?

Still, they made a run at it in the twelfth inning, putting runners on second and third with two away. They don't quit, and the fat lady didn't get to sing until Michaels popped out to second.

What the heck, nice day for a ballgame. Too bad the Bucs didn't join in the fun.

> A sight to behold: Apparently, the Blue Crew initiate their September call-ups with a bit of hazing silliness. When the Dodger relievers walked out to the bullpen in the middle of the first inning, the newcomers didn't carry their stuff in gym bags.

They had pink and blue "Hello Kitty" backpacks instead, much like you'd see on opening day - of first grade! Every now and then, you need reminded that beyond being a big business, baseball is still, and hopefully will forever remain, a little kid's game at heart.

> The Pirates announced that the club has extended its working affiliation agreement with Class A Lynchburg through 2010.

It's Not Over Until the Third Out...

Maybe it was because Dirt Dog Doug questioned his teammate's desire in this morning's Dejan Kovacevic piece. Maybe it was because Joe Torre stuck to the book instead of his eyes. But whatever it was, the Bucs should bottle it.

They brought down the thunder and rolled to a 15-8 vicory over the Dodgers tonight. It wasn't as easy as the score would indicate, with some sloppy fielding and another very pedestrian performance by the Zachster.

But the Bucs scored four times in the fifth inning and added eight more in the seventh frame, all with two outs and the bases empty. It was plenty enough to thwart LA, and proof positive of the old admonition to not be the third out.

Dodger ace Chad Billingsly was cruising along with a 4-2 lead, and struck out the first two Pirates he faced in the fifth. He'd finish the inning on the bench after giving up two hits, a walk, and Adam LaRoche's grand slam, a shot that hit the batter's eye backdrop in dead center.

By the seventh, it was 7-7, and Scott Proctor had mowed down five straight Pirates. But Torre went with the odds and brought in lefty Scott Elbert, their #1 draft pick in 2004, with Nate McLouth due up. He walked, and Ryan Doumit went yard.

And that was just the start. The Bucs pounded out 7 hits, the Dodgers added an error, and eight Pirates in all crossed the dish.

The Zambellis weren't in the house tonight, but the Pirates provided a Skyblast of their own for the faithful.

A couple of things became painfully obvious tonight. The Pirate attack will go as far as their first five hitters will take it, the pitching has miles to go, and Brian Bixler doesn't have much of a future in Pittsburgh.

Those have to be addressed for 2009. For tonight, just enjoy the show.

> The Pirates seem to be rethinking moving Adam LaRoche in the off season. He's under team control for one more arbitration year, and they plan to talk to him after the year on extending his contract. That's a good move, with no one else in the system ready to take over first base. The results of those talks will determine his future in Pittsburgh.

> The Pirates announced today that they've come to an agreement to affiliate with the Class-A West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League through the 2010 season. Charleston plays in Appalachian Power Park, which opened in 2005.

"We are very pleased to move to Charleston and re-establish Pirates roots with a great community," said Neil Huntington. "It is an opportunity for us to have another of our affiliates close to Pittsburgh and develop players in a beautiful facility."

The move from Hickory marks the return of Pirates baseball to Charleston. From 1971 through 1976, the Charleston Charlies were Pittsburgh's Triple-A affiliate in the International League. From 1978 to 1979, Charleston was Pittsburgh's Single-A entry in the Western Carolinas League.

You can go home again.

> The Pirates also announced their schedule for the 2009 season, which will start late because of the World Baseball Classic.

The Bucs are slated to begin the 2009 campaign on Monday, April 6 in St. Louis. Following a seven-game road trip to St. Louis and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh will return home for a nine-game homestand.

The PNC Park lid lifter is scheduled for Monday, April 13, against the Houston Astros. The Pirates will also face the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins during the first homestand

The Bucs will face all five members of the AL Central during interleague play, taking on the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers (June 12-14) and Kansas City Royals (June 26-28) at PNC. The Pirates will travel to Chicago to face the White Sox (May 22-24) and to Minnesota (June 16-18).

That three-game set against the White Sox will be followed a three-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Double your pleasure...

Bucs Feeling Dodger Blue

Judging by the line score, the Dodgers 6-2 win tonight was a laugher. And the Pirates did play like zombies much of the evening. Pittsburgh only mustered five hits off Derek Lowe and seven all together, and at least four Dodger knocks were off Bucco gloves. It wasn't pretty.

But the game actually turned on a pair of dribblers that put together wouldn't have gathered enough steam to get past the pitcher's mound. One launched an inning that shouldn't have been, and the other killed an inning that should have been.

The Dodgers were up 1-0 in the second inning with runners at first and second and one away when Lowe laid down a bunt. Three guys had a chance to make the right play, and all three blew it.

First, Jeff Karstens stepped in front of Andy LaRoche and fired a one hopper to Freddie Sanchez, covering first base. Sanchez couldn't field the ball cleanly, and it dropped beside him. He recovered in time to beat the pitcher.

But first base ump Tim Timmons missed the pick-up, and called Lowe safe. Instead of second and third with two away, the bases were juiced with one out. A sac fly - which should have been out #3 - single and double later, it was 4-0.

Karstens short armed an easy throw, Sanchez couldn't field a one-hopper, and Timmons missed a call. It added up to three runs.

In the fourth, the Pirates made their only challenge of the night. Three straight hits had a run in and runners on the corner with nobody out. But instead of making it interesting, Brandon Moss topped a ball off the plate, and it dropped five feet in front of home.

Inexplicably, he never ran the ball out. Catcher Russell Martin had all the time in the world to look the runner back at third and then start a 2-6-3 DP. Goodbye, big inning, hello, fat lady.

Karstens had another ugly line - 11 hits and 2 walks in five innings, and looks more and more like the right-handed version of Zach Duke.

> Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors reported that Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein has a source that says the union will claim that the Pirates and MLB engaged in a premeditated conspiracy, perhaps designed to take Scott Boras out of the picture by negotiating past midnight.

And you wonder why Pirate suits avoided Scott Boras clients so religiously? Our guess is that Boras may have just precipitated this whole midnight madness manuevering with exactly this scenario in mind. He then either gets the deal he wants or a juicy arbitration case. Running with the devil...

> Dale Sveum, one of the members of the Pirate's 1997 "Freak Show" that challenged for a division title until the final weeks of the season and one-time Altoona Curve manager, replaced Ned Yost as skipper at Milwaukee. He'll try to right the Brewer ship that was once a run-away leader for the wild card.

> Catch Michael's post at Hyzdu Headquarters, comparing Nate McLouth's 2008 season with Andy Van Slyke's 1988 year. You'll be surprised at the similarities.

The Bucs We Know and Love...

OK, back to reality. Ross Ohlendorf, Marino Salas, and Romulo Sanchez gave up a dozen hits and eight walks in eight innings, and the Bucs were mashed by the Dodgers 8-2 tonight.

It got so bad that Juan Pierre even went yard, his first round tripper since September 18, 2006, two years ago.

The Bucs avoided the schneid when Adam LaRoche smacked his 20th HR with two gone in the ninth. Oh well, so much for the joy in Mudville.

> Jimmy Barthmaier is penciled in to take the hill on Saturday, against the Astros.

> Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker are now in the 'Burgh, getting their team orientation and marching orders for the off season.

> Some unintended blowback from the Junichi Tazawa situation might be brewing.

He's the Japanese righty that asked the teams in his homeland league (NPB) to not draft him so he could go directly to MLB. A lot of teams are on him; even the Pirates are kicking his tires, although they're not thought to be major players in the chase.

A little background first. The NPB players that are under contract have to be "posted" by their team to move across the deep blue Pacific. Basically, this means that the team that holds the contract puts it up for bid. The highest MLB bidder gets 30 days to ink its man, if the bid is acceptable to his team.

If they get their guy, the fee goes to his team, and if not, the player has to play for the NPB for another year before being eligible for posting again. It serves as a transfer fee between the MLB and NPB, and prevents MLB teams from raiding players under contract.

The system works just fine for the NPB teams, but not so well for the players, who lose the ability to market themselves to the league, as a true MLB free-agent could, the tradeoff to get out of their contract early.

Posting does not apply to free agents, players who have ten or more years of service time with the NPB or amateur players who have never played in the NPB. The amateur loophole is the one that Tazawa is trying to exploit.

Of the 37 Japanese-born players playing in the MLB, only twelve have entered the league using the posting system. Their fees have ranged from $56M for Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka to $300K for San Diego's Akinori Otsuka. The others have either been free agents or vested veterans because the MLB and NPB have an informal agreement to keep their hands off one another's prospects.

And this is why the Tazawa hunt is straining the relationship. They consider MLB's interest in the RHP as a power raid on their feeder system. But what are the NPB's options?

One, according to Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors (who got his dope from Patrick Newman of the NPB Tracker), is that a NPB team could sign an American amateur player as retaliation. A player like, oh, Pedro Alvarez or Aaron Crow.

It's a convoluted path to follow, but rest assured that it's a set of dots that Scott Boras will have no problem connecting if the opportunity presents itself.

St. Louis Meltdown

The whoosh you just heard was the air coming out of St. Louis' balloon, as they were swept by a suddenly rejuvenated Pirate ballcub, 7-2. With 14 games to go and three teams ahead of them in the wildcard race, it's fast nearing the time to stick the fork in them.

Of course, we thought the same thing of the Astro's after Pittsburgh swept them in July. Instead, they just gave them a wake-up call.

The only sign of life the Cards showed was when they charged the field in the eighth inning. Ron Villone had to be restrained by Jason LaRue and a couple of other teammates after Doug Mientkiewicz and Aaron Miles started yapping at one another. He was ejected for his WWF act. Dirt Dog sure knows how to keep a game interesting.

It started the play before, when he slapped the ball out of Mile's glove at second. Mientkiewicz told MLB.com's Todd Krise that "We talked about it. [Miles] said he would do the same thing if the game was close. I didn't deliberately smack at him. That's what you're supposed to do. I didn't try to hurt him."

"I don't know what I've ever done to Ron Villone, but you might have to ask him."

The fat lady warbled early today, as the Bucs crossed the plate six times in the first two innings. They were helped mightily in the opening frame, when the Cards failed to convert a couple of balls into outs - and yes, scorer Bob Webb called them hits.

John Russell showed he knows how to juggle an 18-man pitching staff, using his bullpen to shut down the Redbirds, starting with the opening pitch. Jason Davis and T.J. Beam, the eventual winner, each put together three solid innings.

Romulo Sanchez, Sean Burnett, and Craig Hansen polished off the last three frames, and the Bucs have put together their first three-game winning streak since late July.

For Hansen, it was his fifth consecutive scoreless outing. But we're still not sold on him. He's taken something off of his fastball in an effort to find the plate, but he still walked a pair today in a no-pressure situation, and was shaky last night.

In the past month, the league is batting just .219 against him. But his on-base percentage is a horrid .405, with an ERA of 10.38. Until he can control the plate, he remains a huge question mark.

But you can't ask for much more out of the Pirate bats, even without Ryan Doumit, who was given a blow on getaway day. The first three guys in the lineup - Freddie Sanchez, Luis Cruz, and Nate the Great, who homered - combined for six hits and a walk, setting the table to score six times.

Luis Cruz is starting to grow on us. He appears to be a dependable contact hitter, and his fielding has improved as he's grown accustomed to the speed of the bigs. Brian Bixler and Luis Rivas look like they're about to become yesterday's news.

Hey, who knows - maybe he's auditioning for Jack Splat's spot. Stranger things have happened. And with $7M and a prospect or two at stake...well, just thinkin' out loud.

The middle of the order, 3-4-5 hitters McLouth, Adam LaRoche, and Brandon Moss, drove home seven runs. They also teamed up for six hits and a walk. McLouth is becoming the perfect bridge between the scorers and the bangers at the three hole.

Moss is looking particularly comfortable at the dish. He told FSN that the NL plays an entirely different game than the AL, both in strategy and pitching, and it seems like he's catching on to its nuances.

Even Andy LaRoche got in on the fun, ending an 0-21 nightmare with three hits. Let's keep our fingers crossed - he started the slump after his last three-hit day, which ended an 0-27 slide.

And we saw something today we can tell our grandchildren about. Nyjer Morgan came in late in the game - as a defensive replacement! He subbed for Steve Pearce.

All in all, a great weekend of baseball for the Pirates, and one we hope bodes well for 2009.

> In spite of its recent bullpen blowups, the Pirates are 45-2 this season when leading after seven innings. The scary part is that they've led after seven frames only 47 times in 149 games, and still have 63 wins. They may be bad, but they don't mail in games very often.

> Look for the Buc management to push for an aggressive off-season training program for the players. After Paul Maholm, Doumit and McLouth came to camp slimmer and more prepared for the grind of a 162 game season, and Matt Capp's new-found religion after he went on the DL, the benefits are fairly obvious. It's a big part of the accountability thing they've been pushing.