Weekend Report Card

Hey, the Bucs have been in camp a couple of weeks, and it's time for the first GW report card of the preseason.

Starting Pitching: Absolutely an incomplete here. No one's had a longer outing than three innings, but the rotation is beginning to form, more by subtraction than addition.

Jimmy Barthmaier (0-1, 18.69 ERA), Daniel McCutchen (1-0, 5.40 ERA), and Jeff Karstens (0-0, 5.79 ERA), haven't done much to help their chances in a couple of starts and Phil Dumatrait is still tossing off of the practice mound, so Zach Duke, Tom Gorzelanny, Ross Ohlendorf, Ian Snell and Paul Maholm are looking good, at least by default. Many felt that's how the staff would take shape before camp.

But we'll see when the arms get stretched out and the troops are all back from the WBC; the rotation is still flux. There could be a dogfight among Ohlendorf, Gorzo and Karstens for the last two spots, and it will become tighter if Dumatrait makes the roster in April instead of the DL. The best sign so far is that while the guys are giving up some hits, the walks are down, and so are the runs.

Bullpen: Man, they're duking it out here. So far ten guys have yet to surrender a run, and a couple of others have looked nice, but have skewed stats because of one bad outing.

Jeff Sues and Ron Uviedo are in Bradenton for a look-see, while Romulo Sanchez and probably Denny Bautista, both long shots, are working on a ticket to the farm.

Question mark and out-of-options righty Craig Hansen has worked five innings, yielding two walks and striking out six. Another iffy guy, Donnie Veal, the Rule 5 pick-up who went four outings without giving up a run, then walked four today in an inning, opening himself up to a return to Chicago if he doesn't right himself.

Jesse Chavez has struck out a sick nine batters in 3-2/3 innings, but has a bloated ERA thanks to inconsistency - he's also given up six hits and three runs.

The guys have a month to sort themselves out, but so far, this has been a great battle to watch.

Starting Lineup: It's possible that a contest for left field could break out, but otherwise, barring injury, the lineup is set.

Andy LaRoche has shooed away the competition at the hot corner so far, hitting .600 with a long ball and four RBI. And no one is going to claim the jobs of Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit, Adam LaRoche, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, or Brandon Moss, if he can go.

Nyjer Morgan had LF handed to him, but he's hittin just .148 so far, and Eric Hinske would be breathing down his neck if not for a sore rib cage. Hinske should be back in another week, and that position could get interesting when he returns.

And if Moss is seriously hurt, the outfield becomes wide open, with Craig Monroe and Jeff Salazar becoming keepers and possibly starters, at least as a platoon, in a corner spot.

Another guy we'd keep an eye on is Jack Splat. He's hitting a meager .133, but has no heir apparent in the system, so his job is safe. Still, a poor season and the Bucs lose a deadline trading card.

Bench: The fight for starting positions should be so competitive. Ramon Vazquez and Eric Hinske are locked in, and the winner of the Jason Jaramillo/Robinzon Diaz back-up battle will claim another spot. The real battle is for the other pair of seats on the pine.

OF'ers Jeff Salazar, Craig Monroe, and Garrett Jones are duking it out. Salazar has a glove and is tied for the team lead in RBI with 7. Monroe has the advantage of a righty, and has a pair of long balls to lead the team. Jones is more of a first base type that can play some OF, ala Craig Wilson, and is hitting .368 so far this spring. Throw in corner guy Andy Phillips, who is batting .467 with 7 RBI, and the Bucs may have to make a hard decision.

They may keep two of them - Phillips can play some second base - but if they want another middle infielder, then Luis Cruz and Brian Bixler enter the equation. Neither has done much to merit a ticket to the show.

Steve Pearce and Neil Walker? The suits have made it pretty plain that they're going back to Indy. Pearce hurt himself with a calf strain, and Walker lost his value when young LaRoche came blazing out of the camp starting gate.

The Future: A couple of young guns are making themselves heard. 2B Shelby Ford, ticketed for Indy, is hitting .357 with a homer and 4 RBI. Pedro Alvarez, in limited at-bats, is still smoking away at a .456 clip. Andrew McCutchen isn't hitting all that well - .143 with a homer - but has been a force in the OF. Jose Tabata has been bothered by an achy shoulder, but has shown a great eye at the plate.

Injuries: The injury bug is the great bugaboo of camp, and it's bitten the Pirates a bit. We'll now more in the next day or two about Moss, who appears to have sprained or badly bruised his thumb. An MRI tomorrow should determine if there's a tear or not.

Phil Dumatrait, at last report, is throwing side sessions and may get to pitch live in another week. Steve Pearce has a calf sprain and Eric Hinske has a pulled rib cage. Both could be back late next week. Brian Slocum has recovered from a hammy pull, and will pitch tomorrow.

Jose Tabata has a shoulder inflammation. He's expected back early in the week, but as a DH only until his wing is 100%. Prospect Jarek Cunningham is done for the year, suffering ACL and MCL damage during an infield drill. He'll have surgery for the ACL in a couple of weeks; the suits are hoping that time span, spent on rehab, will allow his MCL to escape the scalpel.

* Break up the Bucs! The Pirates hit three homers, by Freddy Sanchez, Craig Monroe, and Garrett Jones, as they rolled 11-4 over the Astros. You may recall they hit four against them in an earlier matchup. Sanchez, Jones (who had 3 RBI), Nate McLouth, and Andy LaRoche added a pair of hits to lead the onslaught.

The Pirate pitching was solid except for Donnie Veal, who walked four, threw a wild pitch, and committed a balk in an inning of work. But a good job by Ross Ohlendorf (3-1/3 innings, six hits, but only one earned run) and perfect relief by Jesse Chavez, Evan Meek, Matt Capps, Jason Davis, and Denny Bautista sealed the deal.

The Red Sox visit McKechnie Field tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. Tom Gorzelanny will start, followed by Sean Burnett, Craig Hansen, Tyler Yates, Brian Slocum and Chris Bootcheck. This will be Slocum's first appearance after suffering a strained hamstring earlier in camp.

* Matt Eddy of Baseball America has a piece giving the rundown on the top positional prospects, including Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata. They offer a couple of insights that are a little counter-intuitive from what the casual fan has been fed.

Andy Phillips

George Andrew "Andy" Phillips was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers as a shortstop in the 41st round of the 1995 draft as a high school senior, but he passed and signed on with his hometown school, the Crimson Tide. Good choice, too - the team went to the College World Series three times in his four years on campus.

The New York Yankees got him in the 7th round of the 1999 draft after his senior year at University of Alabama. He signed with them, and began a hard climb to the MLB.

Phillips was assigned to the short season Staten Island Yankees, and the third baseman hit .322 with 7 HR and 48 RBI, and was almost 1:1 between walks and strikeouts.

He spent most of the next season at High A Tampa, where he moved to second base. Phillips hit .287 with 13 HR and 58 RBI, earning him a brief stop at AA Norwich. 2001 saw him back with Tampa, but after a .302-11-50 line, he moved up to Norwich in midseason, where he hit .268 with 6 HR and 25 RBI.

After hitting .305 with 19 HR and 51 RBI, it was on to AAA Columbus later in 2002. His line was .263-9-36 there. He was out for much of 2003 with bone spurs in his elbow, getting into only 17 games for the Clippers. The Yankees played Phillips almost exclusively at the corners after that lost season.

He had his coming out party in 2004. Phillips spent 10 games at Trenton, tearing it up before he returned to the Clippers. Combined, he hit .319 with 29 longballs and 100 RBI; he also charted an impressive .576 slugging % and .949 OPS.

The infielder received the Yankees' Kevin Long "Minor-League Player of the Year" Award and was voted the MVP of the International League All Star Game after hitting a 10th inning walk-off home run.

More importantly, he finally got a chance to play MLB by earning a September call-up. Phillip's debut in the show was on September 14, 2004, and he did it up in style by hitting a home run over the Green Monster in Fenway Park during his first at-bat.

In 2005, Phillips earned the James P. Dawson Award as the Yankees' most outstanding rookie during spring training. Lot of good it did him. He got into 27 games with the Evil Empire, mostly as a defensive replacement, and didn't hit his weight.

It was back to Columbus, where he hit .300 with 22 HR and 54 RBI. Was he about to join the ranks of the accursed AAAA roster?

The news got worse. In the spring, his wife Bethany was diagnosed with a rare cancer, brought on by a lost pregnancy. But he soldiered on, not even letting his teammates in on the story.

In 2006, Phillips started the year as the backup at first base, behind Jason Giambi. But a string of injuries dominoed him into a semi-starting gig, playing 94 games at first. He started out on fire, hitting .333 into late July. But he faded as the dog days wore on, and the Yankees brought in Bucco Craig Wilson to be the first base caddy. Phillips ended up with a sad .240-7-29 line.

2007 didn't start off very well at all for Phillips. His mother Linda was hurt in a car crash, and so he missed a week of his 2007 spring training and played like a man that had his mind on other things when he got back in action. Josh Phelps (remember him?) had a great camp, and overtook Phillips on the roster.

When manager Joe Torre told him he was getting cut in favor of Phelps, Phillips reportedly thanked Torre for the opportunity and asked if Phelps knew of the decision yet, so he could congratulate him. That's not the kind of story you're used to hearing from the MLB, but it's typical of Phillips.

And it had a happy ending, for Phillips, anyway. He was called back up to the Yankees in mid-June, after Phelps was DFA'ed. During the 2007 season, Phillips became key component of the team as first basemen Jason Giambi and Doug Mientkiewicz (do the coincidences never end?) both went down.

Phillips got into 61 games, and hit .292 with 2 HR and 25 RBI in 185 at-bats. But he would join the walking wounded when on September 2, when he was hit by a pitch. Phillips had a fractured wrist and required surgery, ending his season.

And his Yankee career. Phillips was DFA'ed himself in December to make room for Jose Molina. He cleared waivers, and was offered an outright assignment to AAA Scranton. He said thanks, but no thanks, and opted to become a free agent. It would start quite a 2008 roller coaster ride for Phillips.

On January 4, 2008, he signed a minor league contract with the Reds. After hitting .277 in spring training, he was assigned to the AAA Louisville Bats. He hit .315 there, and in May, the Reds added to the active roster.

Not for long, though. On June 22, Phillips was DFA'ed to make room for Jeff Keppinger, who was coming off of the disabled list. Three days later, Phillips was claimed by the New York Mets and added to their 25-man roster.

It gets wackier. He was then DFA'ed by the Mets on July 1 when Ryan Church returned from the DL, and was again claimed by Cincinnati off waivers on July 3. At any rate, all the traveling around didn't do much for Phillips; he hit a combined .231 with 3 HR and 10 RBI in 78 at-bats.

In December, he joined the Bucs as a free agent, signed to a minor-league deal. What they have is a versatile guy - he can play the corners and second, if needed, and even played LF for the Mets - with a .250 lifetime average, 14 HR and 70 RBI in 557 at-bats.

He's also a good head, often described as one of the nicest players in baseball, and a deeply religious guy. And right now he's batting .467 with 7 RBI.

The scouting report is that he's got a line drive bat with a little pop, and is fairly useful as a bench piece. The down side is he doesn't run very well, and lacks the power that an everyday corner player needs.

We don't know how great a chance he has to break with the team - Craig Monroe and Eric Hinske are the early favorites for a couple of spots on the bench (although Monroe still has a month to blow his bench spot), and the Pirates have to decide if they want a corner-type player or a middle infielder to compliment Ramon Vazquez.

And geez, you'd think that he deserves a break, considering all the bad karma ex-Bucs Craig Wilson, Josh Phelps, Doug Mientkiewicz and Jeff Keppinger laid on him already!

* The Bucs got back on the winning track, clubbing the Twins 10-1 today. The LaRoche boys had a pair of hits (Andy is hitting .538), as did Garrett Jones and Andy Phillips. Jeff Salazar drove in three runs.

The pitching was top notch, too. Zach Duke, Daniel McCutchen, Craig Hansen, Chris Bootcheck, Tyler Yates, and Juan Mateo gave up one run on fives hits, with two walks and three punchouts. The last four guys have yet to yield a springtime run; the competition for the bullpen is getting kinda interesting.

The 7-3 Pirates will host the Astros on Sunday in a 1:05 p.m. contest at McKechnie Field. Ross Ohlendorf is expected to start for Pittsburgh in the contest against Houston's Brandon Backe. Jesse Chavez, Matt Capps, Denny Bautista and Donnie Veal are also on tap to work against Houston.

* Brandon Moss bent his thumb making a diving effort at a catch today, and here's what Jen Langish of MLB.com has to report:

"Moss sprained the ligament in his right thumb in the second inning of Saturday's game against the Twins while trying to make a diving catch in right-center field. The ball skipped off the ground and pushed his thumb sideways, as Moss described it.

He was to have X-rays, and likely an MRI, done when the Pirates returned to Bradenton, Fla. It will be after those tests come back that the Bucs will have a better gauge on the seriousness of the injury.

A worst-case scenario would be tissue damage or a torn ligament, which sometimes requires surgery depending on the severity of the tear."

John Perrotto of the Pirate Report is already wondering what moves the Bucs will make if Moss has a torn ligament and is out for any appreciable amount of time.

* Cory of the Pirate Revolution reports that high school pick Jarek Cunningham has injured his knee again - he fell some in the draft because it was was hurt last year - and may miss some serious time, according to Danny Moskos' blog. He was already being moved to second base; a major blow-out could turn him into a corner player.

The Other McCutchen

It took the Yankees two grabs to finally get their hands on RHP Daniel McCutchen. The Evil Empire drafted him straight out of Norman (OK) high school in 2003, but he chose to attend the University of Oklahoma instead. He was a reliever, but took off as a starter during his junior year as a Sooner.

After turning down offers from the Rays (2004) and the Cardinals (2005), the Yankees proved the third time was the charm, drafting him in the 13th round of the 2006 draft and finally getting his name inked on the dotted line.

McCutchen worked in nine games that year, two for short-season Staten Island where he started, and then at A Charleston, where he worked out of the pen. He posted a combined ERA of just over 2.00 in 30 innings, going 2-0 with a save.

McC derailed after that, testing positive for amphetamine; it was in the meds he had taken ever since college to control ADDS. The 50-game suspension continued into 2007.

After serving his time (the Pinstripe suits didn't hold the drug rap against him, believing it was a mistake of carelessness, not habit), McCutchen started at High A Tampa, where he had an 11-2 record, 2.50 ERA, and a 1.06 WHIP.

The Yankees bumped him up to AA Trenton Thunder, where he finished the season 3-2, with a 2.41 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. And he spent the season in the rotation, where he's been ever since.

He continued to steadily advance, beginning 2008 at Trenton (4-3, 2.55 ERA) and then getting the call to Scranton-Wilkes Barre in AAA. He went 4-6 for SWB, with a 3.38 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and two complete games. And he apparently caught the Buc's eye while he was there.

When they began their July housekeeping, he was part of the return package in the Nady-Marte deal. Originally it was supposed to be pitchers George Kontos and Phil Coke joining Ross Ohlendorf and Jose Tabata, but for an unknown reason - probably because the Pirates wanted guys nearly MLB ready rather than projects - he and Jeff Karstens got the tickets to Pittsburgh instead.

So it was see ya' to the coalfields and howdy to mid-America, as McCutchen joined Indy. He wasn't all that there, going 3-3 with a 4.69 ERA - the first time it had ever gone north of four as a pro - though his WHIP was still a respectable 1.17 with the Indians.

The problem at Indianapolis was the longball - he gave up a dozen in 48 innings of work. It could have been his workload catching up to him; he went from 142 innings in 2007 to 171-1/3 in 2008. But more ominously, it could be that his rep as a strike thrower got around, and guys were happily hacking away at his offerings.

McCutchen is a control pitcher, yielding just 2 walks per nine. And taking into account his minor league line - 2.97 ERA and 1.09 WHIP - it could have just been a small sample of work being skewed.

His pitching arsenal consists of a 4-seam fastball that gets to the plate at 91-93 MPH (top at 94) that he locates well; a 2-seam fastball clocked at 89-91 MPH, but without much movement; a curveball that's considered his best pitch, thrown in the low 80s with a bite, and a splitter that features a late tail and sink.

He's also working on a change that he threw some in Indy, a must for every Pirate pitcher under the new regime, and actually wanted to develop a slider, but the Bucco brass said enough was enough for the time being.

The 26-year old McCutchen has one other thing going for him - he's a fierce competitor. While that fearlessness is generally a good thing, sometimes it leads to him challenging a batter that he has in a pitcher's count, and it also rushes his delivery at times, a problem that dates back to his Yankee days. Some think that his mental bulldog attitude makes him a natural to close.

According to Baseball America's 2008 prospect handbook, McCutchen's future may be in the bullpen. They think that aggressive energy channels better during a short outing rather than over nine innings. We'll see; the Pirates have him penciled in as a starter, and that's how he'll make or break his name in the organization.

McCutchen got an invite to camp, and hasn't been terribly impressive yet. But the suits think he has an outside chance of making the roster - after all, it's good to be a righty that throws strikes in this organization.

But the more likely scenario is for him to join the rotation at Indy after camp. Though he is 26, he only has 53 starts and 340 pro innings under his belt. McC is Rule 5 eligible in 2010, and while his goal in the long term is to nail a spot on the staff, in the short term he has to make sure he knocks somebody off next year's 40-man roster.

* The Bucs lost 8-5 to the Rays today. They banged out five extra base hits, and Neil Walker had three knocks while Freddy Sanchez, Ryan Doumit, and Andy Phillips collected a pair, but they couldn't overcome Jimmy Barthmaier. He gave up six runs in 1-1/3 innings, and Virgil Vasquez gave up another deuce in the fourth.

It just reinforces the suit's mantra that you need starting pitching to win. But there was a bright side to the day's work: six Pirate relievers threw 5-2/3 frames of shutout, one hit ball, so there was some good mixed in with the bad.

The Pirates will travel to Fort Myers tomorrow to take on the Twins at 1:05 p.m. Zach Duke is scheduled to start, with McCutchen, Tyler Yates, Craig Hansen and Chris Bootcheck in the queue. Bootcheck and Hansen have made four scoreless appearances so far this spring; the bullpen guys on the whole have been sharp in the early going.

* Hey, you'd think Gift Ngoepe, a recent international Bucco signee, would be all goo-goo about Pittsburgh. You'd think wrong. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle found out during an exhibition game against Oakland that he's a big A's fan.

South Africa second baseman Npho "Gift" Ngoepe, 19, is a Sotho tribesman who grew up on a baseball field; his mother worked at the clubhouse in Randburg. He's also a longtime A's fan, and he wanted to see Giambi, Eric Chavez and Bobby Crosby.

"On PlayStation, I'll be like, 'Giambi's up, he hits all the home runs, that's big!' " Ngoepe said.

What, he never heard of Pops?

Can't Win 'Em All

* Jeff Karstens got rocked - 3 runs in 2-2/3 innings (with all the scoring coming after two outs), giving up 5 hits including a homer (and he even picked off a runner) - while Ron Uviedo got clocked - five runs in 1/3 inning, topped by a grand salami served up on an 0-2 pitch - as the Bucs went down to the Reds today in 10 innings, 10-6.

Paul Maholm started and was OK except for a rough second inning, yielding a run on two hits in three innings and lowering his spring ERA to 1.80. He needed only 30 pitches to get through his outing. Donnie Veal continued his strong Sunshine State showing, pitching a perfect eighth frame.

Shelby Ford and Andy Phillips each had a pair of knocks to pace Pittsburgh. Luis Cruz, who was pulled Tuesday when his hip flexor flared up, returned and smacked a RBI single.

The 6-2 Pirates host the Rays at 1:05 p.m. at McKechnie Field tomorrow. Jimmy Barthmaier will start, followed by Virgil Vasquez, who is making his first outing of the spring after suffering from some arm soreness, and a string of relievers are slated to work afterwards.

* Where art thou, Steve Pearce? He's been out since February 26th with a strained calf, sez Tribune Review beat man Rob Biertempfel. Pearce is still day-to-day.

* Bucs in the WBC had good days, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette.

John Grabow made his debut with the U.S. team, pitching 2/3 of an inning in a 9-5 win against Philadelphia. He allowing one hit and plunked Ryan Howard.

Ramon Vazquez went 2 for 3 with an RBI for Puerto Rico vs. the Boston Red Sox, and Dave Davidson pitched a scoreless inning of relief, with two strikeouts, for Canada vs. the New York Yankees.

He also reports that Joe Kerrigan may start giving his relievers a couple of innings per outing instead of the traditional one and done, depending on the pitch count. It seems they've been throwing so well that they're not getting enough work in one frame.

* Lynn Henning of the Detroit News, in a Notes column, reports that:

Kyle Bloom remains very much alive in his quest to make the Tigers as a Rule 5 prospect. Bloom, a 26-year-old left-hander...allowed only one hit and a walk in two innings.

Bloom is known for his curveball, something the Tigers hoped he would display with regularity. "I need to use it more," Bloom said after Wednesday's stint. "I've got confidence I can get anyone out if I throw it for a strike."

Bloom pitched for Altoona last year, with a 5-8 record and 4.19 ERA, but made the MLB radar with a lights out performance in Hawaii, where he was 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and made the All-Star team.

Another Notch On the Belt

* The Pirates kept on rolling, adding the Twins' scalp to their belt this afternoon by a 2-1 score.

Young Andy LaRoche provided the offense with a fifth-inning, two run homer, and Craig Monroe hit a pair of doubles.

Seven Bucco pitchers held Minnesota to four hits. Tom Gorzelanny started, and had a bumpy ride; he was supposed to go three innings, but left after two. He threw 35 pitches, and 20 were balls, as he gave up a run on a hit, two walks, and a K. But he did coax four groundball outs, and his sinker was working when he got it over.

But the bullpen was sharp again. Chris Bootcheck, winner Sean Burnett, Tyler Yates, Craig Hansen, Juan Mateo, and Evan Meek, who notched his third save, shut down the Twin City hitters over the final seven frames. Meek fanned two of three batters he faced in the ninth.

The 6-1 Pirates head to Sarasota tomorrow to visit the Reds at 1:05 p.m. Paul Maholm will start, followed by Jeff Karstens, Denny Bautista and Donnie Veal.

* Rob Beirtempfel of the Tribune Review says the Pirates have signed all their zero-to-three year players now, and shares a couple of the known salaries. No big money was dished out, which is a small surprise considering they signed Brandon Moss, Gorzo, Jeff Karstens, and Phil Dumatrait.

He also mentions that there are some Pirate ties on the Dutch WBC club that Pittsburgh played yesterday, like Randall Simon, who's hoping to put his sausage swatting days behind him and catch on with a MLB team in 2009, IF Yurendell DeCaster, and pitching coach Bert Blyleven.

* MLB.com's Jen Langosch has articles on outfielder Craig Monroe and bullpen hopeful Evan Meek, both off to strong spring starts.

* John Perrotto of the Pirate Report has a profile of new Pirate utility wanna-be, Andy Phillips, who's spent five seasons, mostly in bits and pieces, in MLB.

* Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette writes that the Pirates penciled in Billy Maz on today's locker room lineup card as a memento of his final day in the 2009 camp. We'd have paid to see him take another swing, but by gametime, he was replaced at DH by Brandon Moss.

* Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLB Trade Rumors has a linked list of the Top Twenty free agent signings of the year. Not everyone came away with a bagful of balls. And he doesn't have Manny's signing yet. He inked a two-year deal that sounds very similar to the one the Dodgers offered him in December.

* Finally, Ben Walker of the Associated Press has an article on the kid that was traded for ten bats in the indy leagues last season. It didn't work out very well for him; after a season filled with "Batman" music and endless interviews, he quit the team and OD'ed. We hope John Odom's troubled end wasn't an aftermath of the so-called trade.

Bucs Take On the World

* The Bucs sneaked past the Netherland's WBC squad 5-4 today, led by Garrett Jones' three RBI. The Europeans don't have any MLB players on its roster, so the Pirates reciprocated by sending a decidedly B side on the field.

Andy Phillips doubled in another run, and Jeff Salazar hit his second homer of the spring. The bad news was that Luis Cruz, coming off of a hip sprain, had to leave after a couple of innings. He had just an outside shot of making the team, and spending too much more time in the tub won't do his chances any favors.

Donnie Veal pitched a scoreless inning of relief, his fourth of the spring, striking out the side. Closer Matt Capps fanned a pair in his inning of work. Romulo Sanchez and Jeff Sues pitched scoreless innings, too.

Ross Ohlendorf, Jesse Chavez (unearned), Denny Bautista, and Daniel Haigwood all yielded runs during their time on the hill.

The Pirates will play the Twins tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. at McKechnie Field. The game will be available on free webcast via the Pirate's homepage, www.pirates.com.

* Good news on the WBC front: Ian Snell pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and whiffing three, for Puerto Rico in a tune-up against the Twins. Utility man Ramon Vazquez went 1-for-4. And Dave Davidson pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Canada to pick up the save against the Blue Jays. He struck out one.

* The dope on Jose Tabata's achy shoulder: he has mild rotator cuff inflammation, but no structural damage. He won't throw for a week to let it settle, and play it by ear from there.

* Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review announced that the Pirates signed a handful of their pre-arbitration players today.

They are RHP Craig Hansen, who will make $825,000 after making $700,000 in 2008; LHP Sean Burnett will take home $408,500 after earning $390,000 last year; RHP Jimmy Barthmaier signed for $400,500; and third baseman Neil Walker, LHP Donnie Veal and catcher Steve Lerud got the MLB minimum of $400,000. If they don't play in the majors, they'll make $32,500. It's a tough life in the bushes.

* Nate McLouth has a Q&A session with Matt Crossman at The Sporting News today. Among other things, he said "If our pitching starts stepping it up, there's no saying what we could do."

* John Perrotto of Pirate Report has a piece on hopeful Steve Pearce, trying to win a spot against a boatload of OF/1B types brought into camp this year.

* Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors picked the worst 45 contracts in baseball - and hey, ex-Buccos inked three of the top dozen. They're Gary Matthews, Jr., Jeff Suppan, and Jason Schmidt. Jose Guillen's deal is in the mix, too.

Save It For The Season

* Holy Gino Cimoli! The Bucs ran their record to 5-1 in the Grapefruit League, winning, of all things, a pitching duel, 2-1 over the Reds.

Zach Duke, John Grabow, Craig Hansen, Ron Uviedo (who got the win), and Evan Meek, who got his second save, threw up zeroes, while Daniel McCutchen yielded a run in two innings.

They were backed by outstanding grabs compliments of 3B Neil Walker, CF Nate McLouth, and LF Andrew McCutchen, who also threw out a runner at the plate.

McCutch scored the winning run on an infield single, coming home on an Andy Phillips two-out single. Ryan Doumit, who was the DH, plated Jason Jaramillo for the first score. Jaramillo also gunned a pair of would-be base larcenists.

Yesterday, they whupped the Tigers 6-4, with Nate McLouth lining a three-run homer and Freddy Sanchez chasing another pair home with a hopper that sneaked past short. They put up a five-spot against Zach Miner and rode that inning to the win.

Jimmy Barthmaier was rocked for three runs, but the guys behind him stuck their finger in the dike long enough to claim the victory. Sean Burnett gave up a run (and got the win; baseball is a funny game) while Donnie Veal, Chris Bootcheck, Tyler Yates, Jeff Sues, and Juan Mateo, who picked up the save, tossed goose eggs.

Hey, we know it's early in the Sunkist season, but after last season's finishing el-foldo, a little bit of success is just what the doctor ordered for this group. It seems that a little competition does help players to focus, after all.

* Jose Tabata has some "soreness" in his shoulder, and is getting sent to the hospital for an MRI; the results should be in tomorrow, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette. *knock on wood*

* The local papers report that John Grabow was chosen to replace reliever Brian Fuentes for at least the first round of the world tournament, and perhaps longer. That's ten Pirates on WBC rosters, and Grabow is the first to make the US squad.

* Remember that little "tweak" Jeff Andrews used on Sean Burnett last season, moving him to the far end of the rubber? Well, Joe Kerrigan has untweaked him, according to Jen Langosch of MLB.com.

* Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review wrote: Adam LaRoche looked puzzled when he walked into the Pirates' clubhouse the other day. "Do we have a guy named ... um, Ford playing for us?" LaRoche asked a group of reporters.

Yah, we do. He's profiled, with a vid, in the Trib.

* John Perrotto of the Pirate Report has a piece on outfield hopeful Jeff Salazar.

* Baseball America's Matt Eddy reports that ex-Bucco lefty Dave Williams has come back from Japan and signed with the Washington Nats, replacing Odalis Perez on the 40-man roster.

Pirates Entering Goldmine...Or Minefield?

Much ado has been made about the new suits building a Dominican Baseball Academy and mining the talent-laden Latino countries for ballplayers. And it's only natural; after all, the Pirates is the team of Roberto Clemente, and he may still be the the ultimate trump card in signing a Spanish-speaking ballplayer.

The upside is tremendous. The kids play ball as soon as they're old enough to run, much like kids from the minefields played football in Western PA, and for the same reason - it's a ticket to the good life, maybe the only one available.

In 2005, Chevrolet picked its "Latino Legends" team:

• Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
• First base: Albert Pujols
• Second base: Rod Carew
• Third base: Edgar Martinez
• Shortstop: Alex Rodriguez
• Outfield: Roberto Clemente, Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero
• Starting pitchers: Pedro Martinez, Juan Marichal, Fernando Valenzuela
• Relief pitcher: Mariano Rivera

Not a bad bunch, hey? And you could add Big Papi Ortiz, Alfonso Soriano, Miguel Tejada, Carlos Zambrano, Johan Santana, Aramis Ramirez, Bobby Abreu, Magglio Ordonez, Rafael Furcal, Jorge Posada, Bengie Molina, Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Delgado, Adrian Beltre...well, you get the picture.

And it's a pure buyers market. Unless you're from Puerto Rico, whose players are eligible for the entry draft because the island is an American Territory, it all comes down to scouting and signing. Everyone's a free agent.

The Pirates used to be a big player in mining Latino prospects back in the days of Howie Haak, bringing home guys like Manny Sanguillen, Rennie Stennett, Omar Moreno, and Tony Pena. But under the Dave Littlefield era, the Bucs refused to compete.

GW looked over the 40-man roster, and there's nary a Latin soul on it that was originally signed by the Pirates; even 22-year old Venezuelan Ron Uviedo was first inked by Seattle. The last Latino the Bucs signed that made it to the show was Yoslin Herrera, a Cuban free agent. Before that, you have to go back to Jose Castillo, discovered in 1997.

Now that's changing. The Pirates upped the pot of bonus bucks available to scout Rene Gayo to $2M, nearly tripling his previous budget. The Dominican Academy is coming on-line. Talented Latino players wearing Pittsburgh colors are beginning to pop up in the Latin Summer Leagues and the GCL.

It's a good time to get into the market. Oddly enough, Littlefield's reluctance to enter the Latino star wars may be a saving grace, because now MLB has several people under federal investigation for a money scam involving Latino contracts.

The key player in finding Latino talent is the "buscon," a native middleman who scours the countryside for raw prospects, often setting up makeshift baseball camps for them, and then shopping his players to the major league scouts.

Though some big bonuses are given out, generally, by US standards, it's small change exchanging hands. But to poverty stricken 16 year-olds (the age Latinos can sign), a low-six figure cash payment is like hitting the lottery.

This leads, of course, to some pretty shady dealing. Notoriously, one can never depend on a kid's age being what he says it is; they know that the younger they are, the more desirable they are to baseball.

But this scam is a little different. The scouts, management, and players agree on a contract, and then the MLB club jacks up the bonus on paper, splitting the difference between the scout and the suit. How widespread is the practice?

As of last week, at least eight employees of MLB teams have been axed, including a high-ranking White Sox executive and three of his scouts. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox also fired Latin American scouts.

In the last four months, MLB's Office of Investigations has set up shop in the Dominican Republic, hired five Spanish-speaking investigators and pledged cooperation with the Dominican Sports Ministry to improve the overall system.

The probe, first looking at the Dominican Republic, recently expanded into Venezuela, where MLB has uncovered similar problems. The FBI launched its own investigation last year, but no one has been charged criminally - yet.

Now the hot potato has dropped in Washington's lap. One scout was canned, and GM Jim' Bowden's head rolled today when he resigned. As ESPN reports:

Jim Bowden resigned Sunday after four seasons as the Washington Nationals' general manager, leaving under the cloud of a federal investigation into the skimming of signing bonuses given to Latin American prospects.

"My resignation is based upon my realization that my ability to properly represent the Washington Nationals has been compromised because of false allegations contained in the press," Bowden said in a statement. "There have been no charges made, and there has been no indication that parties have found any wrongdoing on my part."

Sports Illustrated, citing an unidentified baseball executive familiar with the investigation, reported on its Web site last week that the FBI is looking at Bowden's actions as far back as 1994, when he was GM of the Cincinnati Reds.

Pittsburgh hasn't been involved publicly in any of the hanky-panky, probably because Rene Gayo is by all accounts a straight dude, and in truth, there was no real Pittsburgh money being tossed around for anyone to skim.

We think this scandal is more criminal than the doping tabloid fodder, but hey. It's easier to hate on fat cat gadzillionaires than on scrawny Latino kids. As a nation, we seem quicker to anger over drugs than white-collar crime (although that may change soon enough, when everyone's retirement money suddenly comes up missing, along with the investment managers.)

And it does give Pittsburgh a tremendous window of opportunity. They're apparently free of dirty dealings with the players and their families, and can tap in on the goodwill of the Great One and the other Latino Bucs that followed him to Pittsburgh. They have no baggage to discard and a deeply imbedded, if dated, tradition. And now they're in finally in the "show me the pesos" mode.

It could prove a goldmine in the making for the talent-starved Pirate organization. But they have to watch where they step; there's still plenty of minefields to cross.

Bucs Hammer Four Homers, Hold Off 'Stros

* Hey, the Pirates played longball (well, it was windy) against the Astros today, and it was just enough to edge the Texans, 6-5.

Brandon Moss, Robinzon Diaz, Craig Monroe, and Jeff Salazar went deep, and in typical Bucco style, three were solo shots. The Bucs also added a little giddy-up to their game with Andrew McCutchen and Nyjer Morgan swiping sacks, though Ramon Vazquez got caught. The Astro's stole three bases of their own.

Paul Maholm was sharp, getting the win after two innings of one-hit ball with a couple of K's. Jeff Karstens got tagged for a run on a Brian Bixler boot (talk about your broken record!), and Matt Capps, Evan Meek and Craig Hansen each added a scoreless inning with a K to the cause.

Denny Bautista and Jesse Chavez didn't fare so well, each giving up a deuce. Both of Chavez's runs came with two down (that third out is so hard to get sometimes), but Bautista's outing was just plain bad.

If you want the inning-by-inning, blow-by-blow rundown, Eron of the North Shore Notch live-blogged the contest.

The 3-1 Bucs will host the Tigers tomorrow afternoon. Jimmy Barthmaier is expected to go for the Bucs, against Detroit's Justin Verlander. We'll see what words of wisdom Jimmy Leyland has to impart to his still loyal Pittsburgh fan base.

* On the aches and pains front, Eric Hinske's bruised ribs could take anywhere from a couple of days to a week to recover. Luis Cruz is about 100%; he should be ready to play tomorrow or Monday. And Phil Dumatrait will pitch BP next week; he may be a couple of weeks away from throwing in a game, according to the Post Gazette.

* The Pirate minor league camp will start March 6th, and the young uns' are reporting already. The positions for the lower levels are starting to fall in place after last year's infield-loaded class got their feet wet, according to MLB.com's Jen Langosch.

Jarek Cunningham, the Pirates' 18th-round pick, played 11 games at short and 26 games at third in the GCL last summer. He raked at Bradenton, and the Bucs want to keep him in the everyday lineup.

Both Chase d'Arnaud (fourth round) and Jordy Mercer (third round) are slotted to be everyday shortstops at the Class A levels. Third base is taken up by Jeremy Farrell (eighth round) and Matthew Hague (ninth round). We imagine there will be a spot at the hot corner for Pedro, too, probably at Lynchburg or Altoona.

So to unblock the high school whiz, Cunningham is making a move to second. It's a good idea; there's not much behind Shelby Ford and Jim Negrych, the assumed AAA and AA starters this season.

Kyle Stark added that the jury is still out on Daniel Moskos starting or working out of the pen. "We've got to decide throughout Spring Training if it's better for him to get more opportunities or more innings," he explained.

* The Post Gazette and Tribune Review both did a piece on Canadian minor-leaguer Dave Davidson, who joins Nyjer Morgan as a hockey player turned baseballer. "I was a goon," Davidson told them, with a laugh. "I led the league in scoring and in penalty minutes. I'd score two goals, get in a fight and go home."

* How low has baseball's reputation sunk thanks to its steroid scandal? Associated Press' Fred Frummer reports that softball, trying to get reinstated as an Olympic sport in 2016, rejected making a joint presentation with baseball. Why?

The IOC voted to drop baseball and softball in 2005, and softball officials have said their sport was hurt by baseball's doping scandals.

The president of the International Softball Federation, Don Porter, made this announcement Friday: "We have offered the IOC a doping-free, universal team sport that reflects the values of Olympism all over the world."

*ouch*

* You think Scott Boras drove the Pirate suits nuts? How about his wheelin' and dealin' with Manny and the Dodgers? Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors has all the weirdness. Post Gazette blogmeister Bob Smizik even took note of the craziness in la-la land.

Which Gorzo Will Show In 2009?

Hey, we saw that Tom Gorzelanny started today's Grapefruit League loss to the Braves. He's not to blame, though - he worked a pair of frames, getting out the first hitters 1-2-3 on seven pitches, and then struggling a bit through the second inning with a couple of walks to start things off, on eight straight pitches. But he escaped unscathed when he coaxed a DP ball from the next batter.

So it was a promising start - no hits, and all six outs were recorded thanks to ground balls. But those walks...

Gorzelanny, an Illinois native from suburban Chicago, was drafted in the 38th round of the 2000 draft by the White Sox as a high-schooler, but didn't sign with the local nine. Instead, he opted to pad his resume with some college ball.

He spent two years at the University of Kansas and a third season at Triton JC, where he was 7-2 with a 2.47 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 66 innings. His reward? Gorzo was selected by the Pirates in the second round of the 2003 draft. He was the 45th overall pick, and signed for $775,000. Pretty good decision to wait it out, hey?

The Bucs assigned him to the short-season Williamsport Crosscutters of the New York-Penn League, where the club took the title. He went 1-2 with a 1.78 ERA and was named the 10th-best prospect in the league by Baseball America.

Gorzelanny moved up to A ball in 2004, and was 7-2 with a 2.23 ERA for the Hickory Crawdads, striking out 106 batters in 93 innings and allowing just a .193 opposing average.

He once again was on a championship team and would have been second in the league in ERA but ended up 19 innings short of qualifying when he was promoted to the High Class A Lynchburg Hillcats later during the season.

There, Gorzo put up a 3-5 record, with a 4.85 ERA, and 61 K in 55-2/3 innings. He was named the 13th-best prospect in the South Atlantic League and the 11th-best in the Carolina League by BA. He was on the fast track.

In 2005, Gorzelanny spent the season with the Class AA Altoona Curve and had a 8-5, 3.26 campaign, striking out 124 in 129-2/3 innings, and finishing ninth in the Eastern League in ERA. Called up for a September cup of coffee with Pittsburgh, he allowed eight runs in six innings. Well, you gotta start sometime.

He began 2006 with Class AAA Indianapolis Indians and went 6-5 with a 2.35 ERA, giving up 67 hits in 99-2/3 innings and league leading 94 strikeouts before he got his call to the show.

Actually, Gorzelanny was selected to play for the US team in the 2006 Futures Game, but the Bucs decided his time was now. Gorzelanny had his Pirate year cut short when he was sidelined from mid-August until mid-September with elbow tendinitis. During his time in the rotation, he was 2-5 with a 3.79 ERA.

The only cloud on the horizon was that he walked 31 in 62-1/3 innings, and struck out 40. A punch out guy in the minors, it looked like he'd have to finesse his way around the major league hitters.

Still, he was named Pittsburgh's Minor League Pitcher of the Year and Baseball America rated him the #4 prospect in the International League. He had the best K/9 ratio among all IL starters that year.

Gorzelanny was considered the next big thing for the 2007 Pirate staff, but he sure didn't show it in camp. He was rocked for four runs in his first inning in Grapefruit League play with a worrisome drop in speed.

He walked 14 batters in 20 innings, yet still made the team over Shane Youman and Sean Burnett, who had pitched much better in camp. His Grapefruit League ERA was 7.96. But not to worry; it just goes to show what camp's worth.

Gorzelanny started off his campaign 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA, picking up 3 of Pittsburgh's first 7 victories. On May 14, he singled to left for his first MLB hit in his 37th career at-bat.

It earned him a summer of free golf as he won a bet with Adam LaRoche: if Gorzelanny hadn't gotten a hit by the end of May, he would have had to buy LaRoche a new golf driver.

Gorzelanny finished 2007 with a 14-10 record and 3.88 ERA. He led the Pirates staff in wins and was second to Ian Snell in ERA. His control was fine, walking just three batters per nine innings, and he had some pop in his pitch, striking out six guys per game.

Jim Tracy tried to reward him with a 15th win, but it was a move that backfired. Gorzelanny had his highest inning count, and by a lot: 40-1/3 frames more than his best, 161-2/3 innings in 2006. Many argue that he should have been shut down in mid September, or at least given some extra rest, but it wasn't to be. Neither was that extra W.

Gorzo was a young gun, and the Pirates were going to ride his arm in 2008. Well, it didn't exactly work out as planned.

He battled control problems throughout the first half of 2008, walking 61 and striking out 53 in his first 87-2/3 innings while allowing 99 hits. He was 6-7 but with a 6.57 ERA and was leading the NL in walks.

On the Fourth of July against the Brew Crew, the left-hander yielded 11 hits, 4 walks and 8 runs in 4-2/3 innings. It was off to Indy for last year's ace.

Gorzelanny did well at Indianapolis. In seven starts, he was 3-1, had a 2.06 earned run average and walked only four in 35 innings.

"There were a few things that he needed to do," Pirates then-pitching coach Jeff Andrews told Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette. "One was getting his fastball command back. That was probably the No. 1 issue. The velocity we're used to seeing would have been a bonus had that come all the way back. His velocity came back a little bit."

"There also was the focus on the mound, the concentration, the not letting things get to him and not be so defensive in his approach to pitching and not worry about contact."

He made his way back to the show, but it was the same ol', same ol'. His final stats were 6-9, with a 6.66 ERA and 70 walks against 67 strike outs in 105-1/3 frames.

Gorzo didn't even make it to the finish line. His season ended with a ligament problem with his finger in mid-September. The whispering campaign started - he was out of shape and not doing his work, perhaps the results of being overworked in 2007, being a pet of Tracy's, and having no competition for the rotation spot early on.

Gorzelanny quickly forgot about 2008 and began on his 2009 come-back. His first step was losing 15 pounds. Next, he began work on a chronically weak left shoulder. He said it was an off-and-on problem all during his career, but became a nagging, everyday presence last year.

The 26-year old LHP has got the pedigree to come back and contribute as at least a solid mid-rotation guy. Gorzelanny throws a 90+ mph fastball, which he can complement with a change-up. He has a very good slider, and doesn't give in with runners on base.

We'll wait and see if his physical condition helps him rediscover his heater. It pretty well sat at 90 MPH last year after routinely hitting 93-94 in the past.

And he'll have to learn to trust his stuff. As with so many Pirate pitchers, he has a pitch-to-contact style. Gorzo has to embrace Joe Kerrigan's credo of pounding the strike zone and not pitching from behind. Cutting down on the walks, the hitter counts, and the high pitch counts has to be at the top on his to-do list.

If he can return to near his 2007 form, the Pirate pitching staff has improved by leaps and bounds without a move being made. If not...well, Ross Ohlendorf's looking good so far, hey?