the buc stops here...

We read the news the past 48 hours, ho boy, and the Bucs are ready to break camp with just one more move left to make.

They started the day when they traded AA starter Todd Redmond, 22, to the Braves for RH reliever Tyler Yates, 30.

Yates is a power arm, which the new boss loves to collect, and he did the job against right handed batters (.213 average.) Last year he was 2-3 with 2 saves and a 5.18 ERA. He's known as a wild thing, walking a batter every 2 innings in 2007.

He'll likely get a shot at being the 7th inning guy with Grabow in Pittsburgh. The brass decided they needed another late inning bullpen arm to close out games, especially from the right side. And despite his age, the Pirates control his contract for three more arbitration-eligible years.

Redmond showed some signs of competence in a very brief 2007 stint in AA, where he was slated to start this year. But he doesn't get many swings and misses and a lot of his balls leave the yard. He's a finesse guy that needs to spot his stuff to be effective. Redmond was 8-13 with a 4.39 ERA at Lynchburg and Altoona.

But he was considered one of only four starting pitching prospects the Pirates had in the low minors, so either the Bucs had serious misgivings about the back end of their bullpen to make them pull the trigger on this deal or the new regime thought less of Redmond than the old one did.

Still, not much to get excited about, unless you're Sean Burnett, Phil Dumatrait, Evan Meek or Franquelis Osoria. One is going to pitch for Indy while the other three head north. They lose Dumatrait or Meek if they cut them.

Burnett still has an option left. He's had two solid springs, pitching lights out, and is beaucoup popular with his teammates. But he's also lefty, new at the position of reliever, and not on the 40 man roster either, so... A tough postion to be in, but better to have too many arms than not enough. (EDIT: The Post Gazette reports that Burnett will start the year at Indy.)

The Pirates bought out Byung-Hyun Kim's contract, yay. He came to camp out of shape and stayed that way, so the team paid him $300,000 to go away and cut their losses. Jaret Wright became a free agent, and maybe he can work his way onto a MLB bullpen after a good spring at Pirate City without any arm problems.

Lefty Juan Perez of the gimpy elbow (he may need surgery) was released to clear a spot on the 40 man roster. The Bucs hope to sign him to a minor league deal.

Jonah Bayliss was scrubbed from the 40 man roster, too. He'll have to clear waivers before being shipped to Indy, and he's got a good chance of being claimed (EDIT - he wasn't, and he's been assigned to Indy.) Elmer Dessens found out you can't make the club in a tub, and Casey Fossum will join him in AAA.

Masumi Kuwata, a good guy on the wrong side of his career, retired today. He was offered a spot on the Indy roster, as well as a job coaching in the organization or scouting in Japan. But it was the majors or nothing. Kuwata told the Post Gazette "I think I would like to be a pitching coach or a manager someday. But I just want to be with the family now."

Veteran Hector Carrasco, 38, was sent to minor league camp after throwing pretty dang well. He had one of the top ERAs in camp (1.29) and struck out 8 in 7 appearances. Apparently he was just too long in the tooth for the Bucs to keep now, but will be a handy insurance policy and teacher in AAA if he doesn't move on to another roster, as we suspect he may.

SS Josh Wilson was DFA'ed and middle infielder Jorge Velandia (EDIT - Velandia asked for and was given his release) was sent to minor league camp. That means that Freddie Sanchez will be in a uniform and not a hospital gown on opening day, though we'll see how long that lasts. Bixler or Velandia may get a quick call back to PNC if Freddie can't throw for a prolonged period. OF'er Kevin Thompson was sent down, too, and Chris Duffy will join him, although he's on the 60 day DL now.

Luis Rivas, 2B, was added to the 40 man roster along with Doug Mientkewicz, so their ticket to the show was punched. Nate McClouth was crowned the winner of the CF battle royale, and Nyjer Morgan was told he was sticking with the big boys as his back up.

The 2008 Pittsburgh Pirate Roster:

SP: Zach Duke, Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm, Matt Morris, Ian Snell

RP: Matt Capps, John Grabow, Damaso Marte, Tyler Yates and three of this four - Sean Burnett, Phil Dumatrait, Evan Meek, Franquelis Osoria. Burnett is probably the odd man out, for a variety of reasons unrelated to his pitching.

IF: Jose Bautista, Chris Gomez, Adam LaRoche, Doug Mientkiewicz, Luis Rivas, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson.

OF: Jason Bay, Nate McLouth, Nyjer Morgan, Xavier Nady.

C: Ryan Doumit, Ronny Paulino.

and your 2008 buccos...

Pittsburgh Pirates.com
Picture by Al Behrman/AP

Yah, we know we promised you guys that we wouldn't obsess on the current Pirates too much, but as a reprieve from the bios of the Bucco alums working in Pirate City, we thought we'd take a peek in the crystal ball and see who the Green Weenie suspects will break camp with the team:

The starting lineup:

Nate McLouth CF
Jack Wilson SS
Freddie Sanchez 2B (His shoulder looks like it's gonna be a problem of unknown duration. He may be headed to the DL. EDIT - he was diagnosed with shoulder inflammation. How that affects him in the field this season is still up in the air.)
Adam LaRoche 1B
Jason Bay LF
Xavier Nady RF
Ronny Paulino/Ryan Doumit C
Jose Bautista 3B

The alternate lineup:

Nyjer Morgan CF
McClouth OF
Sanchez 2B
LaRoche 1B
Bay/Nady OF
Paulino/Doumit C
Bautista 3B
Wilson SS

No brainwork here. These lineups were pretty much set in stone after the league meetings failed to spark any deals.

The "If Freddie isn't ready" lineup:

McClouth/Morgan CF
Wilson SS
Bay LF (He's the wildcard - Bay hit .285 out of the 5 hole in 2007, and only .226 batting third, .241 at cleanup. Nady also did his best work out of the five spot. LaRoche thrived at cleanup, but none of the group is a three hitter. So Russell could juggle the middle of this lineup a variety of ways. Maybe when McClouth and Morgan play together, Nate will bat third. Or maybe he'll pick a lineup out of a hat. It may work just as well.)
LaRoche 1B
Nady RF
Paulino/Doumit C
Bautista 3B
Luis Rivas 2B

The pieces fit much more nicely, though far from perfectly, with Sanchez, but he looks like he may be out of action for awhile. We don't really have a true top of the order, and his absence would make tweaking the lineup a lot more problematic. We have some guys for the 4-5-6 slot and lower, but we're still a few bricks shy for the first three spots of the batting order. There is no ideal way to put this mash up of hitters into a classic scoring lineup.

The 2009 lineup:

Chris Duffy CF (McClouth becomes our spare OF'er.)
Sanchez 2B (If he's not traded by then; Bixler and maybe Shelby Ford could be ready, although Ford is more likely a couple or three years away from the bigs.)
Andrew McCutcheon LF
Steve Pearce RF
LaRoche 1B
Doumit C (He'll be ready to take over if he can prove to management that he can stay out of the tub, although the platoon play could continue if Paulino responds to some competition and a reduced workload that plays to his strengths. There are a lot of Leyland disciples in the organization, and he made a habit of platooning his catchers in Pittsburgh.)
Bautista 3B (Neil Walker arrives in 2010 and Bautista becomes a super sub.)
Wilson SS (We don't have anyone ready to take Jack Flash's spot yet in the system, so we think he'll still be around. He'll move to the two spot if Sanchez goes.)

Bench: Paulino/Doumit C (The Pirates seem serious about platooning them this year), Morgan OF (We think they'll keep him to showcase and up his value as trade bait; his age works against him), Luis Rivas 2B (Freddie's health is a big issue, and Rivas can play SS too), Doug Mientkiewicz & Chris Gomez (Utility guys that can pinch hit and fill in at the corners) and Josh Wilson SS only if Sanchez lands on the DL to start the season. In any case, Rivas looks like our Opening Day 2B.

Kevin Thompson is the OF insurance policy at Indy until the young pups are ready, and Josh Wilson joins him so that Brian Bixler can play 2B every day. It's too bad Ray Olmedo got away. He could have given us a little more depth up the middle, a real weakness in our system. Michel Hernadez, 30, and Raul Chavez, 35, buy the organization a little time to develop some catching.

Rotation: Tom Gorzelanny (LH), Ian Snell (RH), Paul Maholm (LH), Zach Duke (LH), and Matt Morris (RH) of the horrid spring and worse contract. We're not sure what order they'll pitch in; they could switch Gorzo and Snell or Morris and Duke.

And we're penciling in Morris very lightly. We think Phil Dumatrait (LH) and Ty Taubenhiem (RH) go to Indy to log some serious innings as starters to see if they're worth a bottom of the rotation spot. Whatever made Dave Littlefield saddle us with MM's albatross of a contract?

Bullpen: Matt Capps (RH - closer looking for a big contract), Damaso Marte (LH - setup), John Grabow (LH - 7th inning hold), Franquelis Osoria (RH - ground ball pitcher), Sean Burnett (LH - we think the move to the pen is permanent), Evan Meek (RH - a young power arm and Rule 5 pick that the Bucs will baby in 2008 so he can get some quality time in Indy in 2009, plus no other RH's have really stood out), and Byung-Hyun Kim (RH - only because of his contract. He's been lit up in Florida.)

If they don't carry Kim, there are three other righties that have looked OK in Bradenton that could take his spot - vets Hector Carrasco who had two strong seasons before bombing last year, Matsumi Kuwata and perpetual prospect Jonah Bayliss. Kim has some pedigree and the upside to pitch in the seventh if he gets it together; if he doesn't, the Pirates have a decision to make.

The Bucs are better off getting some innings for Dumatrait and Taubenheim in Indy instead of stunting their potential in the pen. They should put some heat on our underperforming number one picks pitching there. (EDIT - the drawback is that Dumatrait is out of options; we thought he had one left, our bad. That has to figure into their thinking, too.)

Outlook: Pittsburgh didn't lose much and didn't gain much from last year. It's a club in transition, and half or more of the positional players will be gone in a season or two. In the meanwhile, the honchos will be busy trying to restock the lower minor league system. If the pitching holds up, 75-80 wins in a weak division are possible. There are just too many holes in the lineup to overcome. But hey, in a couple of years, there just may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel. 2010 looks like our new window of opportunity.

crystal blue persuasion

Yankee DH Billy Crystal from MLB
Photo by Kathy Willens of Associated Press

OK, we admit we were honked when the Yankees sprung the one-day minor league signing of 59 year old comedian Billy Crystal on the world. Of course he would get his day in the sun against the Pirates. They wouldn't dare bat him lead off against, oh, lets say the BoSox. Schilling might drill him.

But the more we thought about, the easier it was to come to grips with it. The Evil Empire did clear it with the Bucs first before announcing it. To a man, from management to the roster, they all seemed to have no problem with it. And if it was OK with Paul Maholm, it's OK with us.

After all, baseball is supposed to be a game, and it is the dog days of spring training when interest kinda lags among the fans. So lets have a little fun and stir up some good PR for a change. How often do the Pirates make the top fold of the NY sport pages?

Maholm did his part, striking out Crystal. And he had enough class to throw him nothing but heaters with something off them, no breaking stuff to embarrass him. Crystal did his part by softly hooking a foul down the first base line and working Maholm for a full count before whiffing.

And he did at least go down swingin', on ball four, if reports are accurate. (The word is out that Crystal has poor plate discipline, hehe.) Had he taken the pitch, Maholm had already decided what would be next, according to MLB.com. He told them "If I walked him, I was trying to pick him off." Playtime only lasts so long.

The Yanks were smart enough to bat him leadoff and kept him in the dugout and off the field so the circus could end quickly and the business of baseball could begin.

Maholm and Crystal exchanged autographed balls after the game and had nice things to say about one another to the merry media mob (several publications called him the "Yankee Quipper," with good reason.)

A win-win situation, especially when the Bucs end up with the victory after being no-hit by Mike Mussina for five but hanging in there long enough to take Jeff Karstens to school. Maholm traded zeroes with Moose, so obviously he wasn't too distracted.

Now if we can sign Michael Keaton next year, just before we play the Yankees...

spring thoughts...

Pirate City from Escape to Sarasota

Today, I'm taking one of my infrequent excursions into 2008 Bucco baseball. Not that anyone asked, but here's my take on the first coupla weeks of camp:

What were the Bucs thinking of, bringing 38 pitchers to Pirate City? And so far, 33 of them have gotten into games.

Phil Dumatrait is the only new arm to impress me so far. He's starting today, and we'll see if he can keep breathing down Zach Duke's neck. He seems like the frontrunner as of this moment to take Shawn Chacon's starter/long man spot if his Tommy John'ed elbow is finally 100%.

But Dumatrait's main claim to fame is giving up three straight home runs in the first inning (and that was just last September for the Reds), and you have to be more than a little wary of what's down the road. But he was a first round draft pick, and the Reds thought enough of him to send Scott Williamson to the Bosox to get him, soooo....

Sean Burnett's done a decent job so far this spring, too, and the next three weeks will tell his tale. His control has been fine, and that was a huge question mark in his past. He's also eying Chacon's old role. Franquelis Osoria has been sharp although he had a streaky few weeks with the Bucs last year. Brian Bullington and John Van Benschoten look like they're on the fast track to Indy unless they turn it around, and in a hurry.

The battle for the bullpen may go to the final cutdown. There's still a half dozen or more interesting arms around, a mix of power, finesse and questions, and we'll see what they've got when the roster becomes a little more manageable, hopefully in the very near future. It's time to thin out the herd.

(Praise the Lord, they cut the roster down to 50: Pitchers Dave Davidson, Luis Munoz and Romulo Sanchez went to AAA Indy. Pitchers Yoslan Herrera, Jim Barthmaier and Ron Bellisario were sent to AA Altoona. Pitcher Olivo Astacio was optioned to A Lynchburg. Six other players, pitchers Adam Bernero, Mike Thompson, Dan Moskos and Jesse Chavez, outfielder Jose Macias and catcher Miguel Perez, were sent to minor league camp to be reassigned.)

I don't foresee much of a drop off from the pitching this year. It's not like Chacon and Solly Torres lit the baseball world afire in 2007. Of course, the bar to equal last year's performance isn't set all that high, either. The team's ERA was 4.93, ranking 14th in the National League in 2007. That's a 1/2 run worse than the NL norm and a huge gap to close.

This year's record depends on Gorzo, Ian Snell, and Paul Maholm going deep into games and the back end of the rotation, whomever they may be, holding up their end of the deal. I'm not so certain that Matt Morris' spot is etched in stone.

If Tony LaRusso still wants him, well... It's all about the starting pitching getting to the eighth inning anyway, when Damasco Marte and Matt Capps take over. It's still a battle royale to see who gets the ball before then.

And I like Marte going against all comers instead of being a one batter specialist. His stuff was filthy last year. It's time the righties got a sniff of it, too. Besides, we need him to claim that setup role.

The position battles? I don't see any except in center, and to me that's an audition for next year's fourth man between Nyjer Morgan and Nate McClouth.

I can very easily see Steve Pearce, Chris Duffy and McCutch patrolling the PNC lawn in 2009, and maybe sooner. Kevin Thompson has been playing well, and if Morgan loses out to McClouth and gets sent down, he could stick. It's a numbers game for him.

Jason Bay and Xavier Nady are deals waiting to happen. They're both nice players, but now the dynamic duo are just blocking the next class of young lions. Nothing is as Darwinian as MLB. Do I hear Toronto and San Diego knocking on the door...?

Adam LaRoche is raking, a great sign for a slow starter. We don't have anyone on the horizon to take on Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez, and they give us a pretty sweet middle with the bat and the leather. I'm glad they're signed and in Pittsburgh.

Jose Bautista is set at the hot corner, at least until Neil Walker gets a full season or two under his belt or we make a deal. I like him better off the bench, where I think his versatility and occasional pop are better used. But what you see is what you get, and I don't see anyone else even taking grounders at third.

And no, my crystal ball is pretty misty on the cage match for our bench. How does a team end up with so many first base - outfield hybrids?

Do they keep a real catcher behind Ronny Paulino? Michel Hernadez and Raul Chavez have looked good in limited action behind the dish, and at very least give us some organizational depth while Candy Maldonado is serving his time at the fat farm. And hey, they can throw out guys that try to steal on them. What a novel concept. Not every stolen base is the pitcher's fault.

If Pearce goes back to Indy, does Ryan Doumit catch or become another outfielder? Is it Chris Gomez or Doug Mientkiewicz as your Bucco utility infielder, or does Josh Wilson's or Luis Rivas' glovework earn a spot? Brian Bixler will go to AAA and play every day, hopefully.

My jury's still out on the Double-B who has always impressed me as a utility type infielder. Brent Lillibridge, who we sent to Atlanta as part of the LaRoche deal, was the heir apparent in my eyes. But there's no doubt we need some help up the middle, although I've heard good things about 2B Shelby Ford who played in A Lynchburg last year.

And while all of this is kinda interesting, I'd much rather see a last place club have competition for its' starting jobs rather than for the 5 men who sit and serve. Still, it should keep the pot stirred for the last three weeks of camp, especially if we move some guys sooner rather than later.

One last thought: Why did they do Maldonado and Josh Sharpless like they did? When I was in the army, it didn't discharge you for being out of shape. The sarge got your butt up early and put it to bed late while you did a little more PT and a little less mess hall. That might have been a better example to the team. Maybe the Player's Association doesn't allow its' members to run extra laps.

Stay tuned. There should be a lot of twists and turns before the smoke clears on the road to Turner Field and the 2008 season.

bradenton note

Spring Training from Escape to Sarasota

I like what I'm reading from spring training.

Manny Sanguillen, 63 years young with knee brace and all, pushing Ronnie Paulino aside to show him how to take a throw at the plate. Maz keeping an eye on the middle infielders. Steve Blass talking about Pirate pride. Billy Virdon back in center field, Teke with the pitchers. Gary Varsho taking Nyjer Morgan to task for not sliding the right way. Fielders being made to yell "I got it" three times on a pop up. Chuck Tanner, who's forgotten more baseball than most of the current Bucs know, sharing lessons and outlook with the players from his always sunny side of the street.

Every education starts with the ABC's. Hustle and the basics can never be taken for granted, even, or maybe especially, at the major league level. And it's really nice to see the Pirates embrace their history for a change. The team should be aware of the legacy that's been passed on to them.

Yah, I know it sounds more like the first week of little league practice than the show. But it's a start. Pride and professionalism have been sorely lacking for awhile with these guys. It may not translate into wins in the short term, but it's a needed ingredient if they're ever to become successful. Even if the roster hasn't changed much, maybe the attitude will. It has to.

Every journey begins with a single step.

If you'd like to see Sangy at work , the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has a video clip shot by Peter Diana at camp that you might enjoy.