SB Nation - Delwyn Young

Should Ramon Vazquez Keep His Roster Spot?

Charlie — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:58:39 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Pittsburgh Pirates' Ramon Vazquez (5) connects for a two-run single against Cincinnati Reds' Micah Owings in the first inning during a baseball game in Pittsburgh Saturday, May 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Interesting tidbit in the Post-Gazette today:

Looks like Rule 5 pick John Raynor will be in a one-on-one battle with Brandon Moss for reserve outfield duty this spring. Locked into the bench for now are Jason Jaramillo, Ramon Vazquez, Bobby Crosby and Delwyn Young. That leaves room for one outfielder, preferably one capable of backing up in center. And Raynor might be better there than Moss.

Unlike Dejan Kovacevic, I can only speculate on what will happen, but what should happen here? Vazquez is vaguely useful in that, you know, he can play a bunch of infield positions and isn't Brian Bixler, but Vazquez hit a sub-Bloomquistian .230/.335/.279 last year, making 2009 the fourth season in the past six in which he failed to top a .620 OPS. I mostly admire Vazquez's patient approach at the plate, but that's really all he had in 2009--he looked like was praying for pitchers to accidentally walk him. I liked the Vazquez signing when it happened, but his strong 2008 campaign with the Rangers now looks very fluky. With Bobby Crosby in the fold, there doesn't seem to be any reason to break camp with another utility infielder, especially since Young can also sort of play second.

There are probably five bench spots available, and one probably will go to a catcher, and another to someone who can play shortstop. Jaramillo, Crosby and Young look very likely to make the bench, at this point. Maybe Kovacevic knows something I don't, but if I were in charge, it wouldn't be particularly likely that Vazquez would make the team next year. Assuming for now that Jeff Clement starts at first base and Garrett Jones is in right field, Moss isn't an ideal fit for the bench because he's left-handed like both of those guys. But Moss is out of options, can remain under team control for several more years if he sticks, and (despite his terrible 2009) has some prayer of hitting in 2010. There's really no upside in keeping Vazquez, except as insurance in case Crosby or Ronny Cedeno gets hurt or doesn't make the team. And even leaving Moss aside for a second, I'd probably rather keep Raynor and Steve Pearce as the last two bench guys than give a spot to Vazquez.

Of course, worrying about the Pirates careers of Vazquez and (probably) Moss is a deck chairs / Titanic situation. If Pedro Alvarez comes up, Vazquez will be gone, and if Jose Tabata comes up or the Pirates acquire another corner player, Moss will probably be gone. In the meantime, though, I think he could be a pretty decent bench outfielder--I think he's a bit better as a hitter than he showed in 2009, and his defense is good. It would be nice to stick with him for a couple more months before dumping him completely.

Perry Hill Speaks Out

Charlie — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:54:41 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

4 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates first base coach Perry Hill (8) and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, left, come to the aide of a fan who was hit by a foul ball down the first baseline in the seventh inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. Pirates's Garrett Jones was the batter. The fan was taken by paramedics from the field, and his condition is not known. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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I'm honestly not overly interested in the scene that has unfolded around Perry Hill's departure, but since the Post-Gazette has another item on it today and Buster Olney is running with it...

As dramas go, I find this one to be pretty thin gruel, and it's very surprising to see that ESPN.com thinks the loss of a first-base coach is interesting. Right off the top, the reason this is still in the news is that Hill has spoken up to dispute Neal Huntington's comment that Hill "has decided he does not want to coach." Hill says he does want to coach, just not with the Pirates right now.

It's a distinction without a difference, even if we grant that Huntington meant that Hill doesn't want to coach at all, which isn't at all clear from what Huntington actually said. The fact is that the Pirates have Hill under contract next year, so by leaving them behind, he is effectively opting not to coach. If there was anything wrong with Huntington's comments, it's that they were a little bit ambiguous.

I'm not sure I understand why this story would be national news. A coach refusing to honor his contract is, I suppose, unusual, but since Hill is just a first-base coach, I'm not sure why any non-Pirate fan would care.

It's unfortunate that the Pirates lost him--he has a good reputation. But it's not really clear to me that his loss will be felt much. Hill's greatest value lies in his reputation as an infield coach, and it's true that the Pirates made big strides in their defense last year. But most of that improvement was in the outfield, not the infield, as good defenders like Andrew McCutchen, Nyjer Morgan and Brandon Moss (and, if you believe the numbers, even Lastings Milledge) replaced mediocre or outright bad ones like Jason Bay and Nate McLouth. Hill may well deserve some credit for Andy LaRoche's good play at third, and the Delwyn Young experiment at second turned out better than I thought it might have (although it was still pretty bad). But improvement in the infield was a small percentage of the overall improvement. Hill will be missed, but a coach is just a coach.

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I'm on the road tomorrow through next Tuesday. I suspect I will have some internet access, but I'm not sure how much, so please hang tight if the updates aren't as regular as you'd like.

Community Projection Review: Second Base

Charlie — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:45:44 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

6 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Delwyn Young hurdles Chicago Cubs' Milton Bradley while turning the double play on Cubs' Derrek Lee at first during the third inning of a baseball game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Wednesday, May 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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Freddy Sanchez was among a number of players we reviewed who didn't actually wind up with the team. Here's what we predicted.

Community: .300/.332/.419

ZiPS: .285/.324/.398

Actual (with both Pittsburgh and San Francisco): .293/.326/.416

Bonus: We predicted that Sanchez would have 548 plate appearances, thus failing to trigger his 2010 option. Actually, he had 489.

We were spot on here. A number of people were very close, but it looks like Chad Bahamas, who predicted that Sanchez would hit .290/.330/.415, was the closest.

Sanchez's numbers were better for the Pirates than they were with the Giants, for whom he posted a .619 OPS. I wasn't a big fan of the Sanchez trade that brought Tim Alderson, but purely based on the results so far, the Bucs look like pretty clear winners in that trade. Sanchez's injury issues have to be a big concern for the team that signs him on the free agent market. You'll recall that in 2008, he had an injury-plagued first half, posting a .556 OPS. In the second half, he was terrific, posting an .862 OPS.

This year, it was the opposite--he had an .834 OPS in the first half, and a .532 OPS in the second. Take the last half of 2008 and the first half of 2009, and you have a pretty good season in there. But if he can't stay healthy, and as he gets older he probably won't, he isn't much of an asset.

Anyway, Delwyn Young took most of the playing time at second after Sanchez left. It was an interesting experiment. Young tried hard and did make strides in the field, although he still wasn't close to being an average glove at second--he posted a -13.6 UZR/150 there. On top of that, his hitting collapsed completely down the stretch.

Young is a useful player, but he's probably more of a Rob Mackowiak-like super-sub than a regular player. The Pirates are considering moving Andy LaRoche to second at some point in time; while there's precedent for good defensive third basemen moving to second (or back to second) without much of a problem (Akinori Iwamura comes to mind, and so does Sanchez himself), it remains to be seen how well LaRoche can handle the position. Then there's also the issue of who will play third if that happens, since Pedro Alvarez will probably start the year in the minors and Neil Walker hasn't exactly locked down a big league job. I wouldn't be surprised if Young won the second base job out of Spring Training, but I would be surprised if he were still there at the end of the next season.

Start The 2010 Countdown: Cubs Eliminated, But Dempster Shines In 6-0 Shutout Of Pirates

Al — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:30:14 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Oustanding, Ryan, just outstanding.

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It looked for "just a hot minute", as Jack Brickhouse might have said 40+ years ago, that the Cubs would stave off elimination for another day. Ex-Cub Jason Kendall hit a one-out, three-run, game-tying homer for the Brewers against the Rockies in the ninth inning. Two innings later, though, the Rockies' Chris Iannetta hit a homer of his own, a two-run walkoff, and the Cubs' elimination number was reduced to zero.

Thus we begin "wait till next year" once again.

Thankfully, there are still a few games of Cubs baseball to enjoy for the rest of 2009 -- because you know you'll miss it when it's away for the winter -- and a few things yet to play for.

One of those goals was set by Ryan Dempster. He wants to throw 200 innings for the second straight season, and went a long way toward that goal with a masterfully pitched five-hit, 6-0 shutout of the Pirates. Dempster reached 195 innings with one start to go (on Sunday), lowered his ERA to 3.51 -- within range of the 2.96 he had last year -- and threw his first CG shutout since he was a member of the Marlins on July 3, 2001. It was the Cubs' second shutout in four games, and the first thrown by a Cubs pitcher at Wrigley Field since Jason Marquis blanked, coincidentally, the Pirates on May 9, 2007. Odd notes from that game: only one Pirate who played that day remains on the club (Ryan Doumit), and Marquis' opponent that night was current Cub Tom Gorzelanny (John Grabow, who came over from Pittsburgh with Gorzelanny, also pitched in that game).

Dempster was outstanding. Though he gave up two doubles, both leading off innings, those runners were stranded and only one other Pirate (Brandon Moss, who walked and went to third on a Delwyn Young single in the second inning) made it past first base. Dempster threw 120 pitches (81 strikes), which wasn't even his highest total of the season (he threw 121 against the Brewers in a 12-6 loss on May 9) and had the Pirates under control all night.

Meanwhile, the Cubs were taking advantage of Kevin Hart's wildness -- something he exhibited even when he was throwing fairly well in his four Cub starts before the trade to Pittsburgh -- and some shoddy Pirates defense in putting six runs on the board off Hart in the first four innings. The Pirates made three errors, all of them on what appeared to be routine plays, helping the Cubs score two unearned runs out of the six. The Cubs drew seven walks in all, four by Ryan Theriot -- who was an excellent leadoff man last night, reaching base all five times he was at bat. (That's not an endorsement of Theriot for leadoff -- I still believe the job should go to Kosuke Fukudome -- just a note that he did a good job yesterday.)

The win clinched a winning season for the Cubs with their 82nd win. That's the first time the Cubs have had three consecutive winning seasons in 37 years, since 1970-71-72. And it's the first time they have done so in a manager's first three years in 74 years, since the 1933-34-35 Cubs had three straight winning years in Charlie Grimm's first three seasons as manager. There remain other personal goals besides Dempster's 200 innings; Carlos Zambrano goes today for win #10 to finish in double figures, and Sam Fuld still seeks his first major league RBI (only two players, both 100+ years ago, had more plate appearances in a season than Fuld has now -- 103 -- without an RBI). I'd like to see Tyler Colvin get some more playing time in the final six games, too.

Last night's announced crowd was 35,308. That brought the season paid attendance to 2,989,120, so today's first-game attendance will put them past the 3 million mark for the sixth straight year. Last night's opponent, the chilly weather, and postseason chances being basically over kept the in-house count to what appeared to be about 15,000. The bleachers were about half-full (maybe 2500) and the rest of the park about one-third occupied, many of whom left after the seventh-inning stretch. The Cubs will have to make definitive moves to improve the team, and in my opinion not raise ticket prices, to keep drawing in 2010 the way they have the last three seasons.

The first game of today's split doubleheader begins at 1:05 pm CDT -- the first time a game has started at that time at Wrigley Field that I can remember. The game preview thread will be up at 11:30 am CDT.

Dodgers Lose To "The Best, Around"

Eric Stephen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:25:14 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Andy LaRoche was the man today for the Pirates

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On a day the Dodgers looked to clinch the National League West, Andy LaRoche had the greatest game of his career, with two home runs, two doubles, a single, four runs, and six RBI. Delwyn Young added a double and a walk, but alas both men play for the Pirates now, leading to a 11-1 drubbing by Pittsburgh, delaying the division celebration by another day.

A Chin-Lung Hu sacrifice fly following an Orlando Hudson triple in the ninth inning prevented a shutout, so at least we have that going for us.

LaRoche was a triple shy of the cycle when he laced a double to center in the sixth inning. He made a wide turn at second, but thought better of it, even though it was 8-0 at the time. Still, 13 total bases is nothing to sneeze at. The last player to amass 13 total bases against the Dodgers was Todd Helton at Coors Field on May 29, 2003.

Hiroki Kuroda took the loss, giving up seven runs, but ~~five~~ four of those were unearned, all in the second inning. ~~The last Dodger to give up five unearned runs was Derek Lowe on June 16, 2005.~~ Apparently, one of the runs in that second inning has become earned.

After the Dodger bench was emptied, Juan Castro finished up the game in left field, just the second time in his career he has played the position. He played one inning against the Astros on June 23, 1996, back in his first stint with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers are still going to win the division, some time this week, I'm almost sure of it! They also still have a good lead in the race for best record in the National League. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least slightly worried.

It will be a long and unhappy plane trip to San Diego for the Dodgers. But there is still plenty of baseball to be played, both this week and beyond.

Chad Billingsley starts division clinching attempt number three tomorrow night at Petco Park, against Cesar Ramos, making his first major league start.

WP - Zach Duke (11-15): 8.2 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

LP - Hiroki Kuroda (8-7): 4 IP, 8 hits, 7 runs (3 earned), 2 walks, 3 strikeouts

Box Score

In case you were wondering about the title, Andy LaRoche used to come to bat at Dodger Stadium with this song as his AB music:

Dodgers Can't Finish, Magic Number Still at One

Brendan Scolari — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:19:02 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

2 months ago: Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton (51) and catcher Russell Martin walk off the field after serving up a bases loaded double to Pittsburgh Pirates' Lastings Milledge in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009. The Pirates won 6-5. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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The Dodgers let one slip through their fingers today when they fell 6-5 to the Pirates. Although runs were at a premium for much of the contest, the Dodgers broke a 2-2 tie in the 9th inning by scoring three runs off of Pirates reliever Matt Capps. However, Jonathan Broxton (with the help of his fielders) was unable to shut the door on the Pirates, allowing four runs and only recording one out to give the Pirates a 6-5 win.

Clayton Kershaw made his first start since injuring his shoulder and went 4 innings while allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Both runs scored in the third inning on three hits, two singles and a double. The Dodgers scored previously in the inning when Rafael Furcal singled in Orlando Hudson, so the scored was 2-1 Pirates.

The score stayed that way until the 7th inning. James Loney led off with a single and Ronnie Belliard hit a double to put runners on second and third. After a strikeout and an intentional walk the bases were loaded with one out for Jim Thome. Thome grounded out to short which allowed Loney to score to tie the game at 2. Rafael Furcal then grounded out to end the inning.

In the 9th inning closer Matt Capps came on for the Pirates. He allowed three straight singles which put the Dodgers up 3-2 before Orlando Hudson layed down a sacrifice to move the runners to secnod and third. It is more than a bit questionable to give a free out to a struggling closer when you already have the lead. Manny Ramirez came on to pinch hit but was intentionally walked because there was an open base. Rafael Furcal then reached on a fielders choice to score the second run of the inning. After Juan Pierre lined out a passed ball let Russell Martin score to put the Dodgers up 5-2. Andre Ethier struck out and Jonathan Broxton came in for the bottom of the 9th.

Broton allowed two singles to start the inning to Delwyn Young and Brandon Moss. Andrew McCutchen then hit a double play ball to Furcal but he didn't play it cleanly and so the Dodgers only got one out. Andy Laroche then hit an infield single which Furcal threw away, allowing a run to score and the runners to move to second and third. Broxton intentionally walked Garrett Jones, bringing up Lastings Milledge with the bases loaded and the score 5-3. Milledge singled to right center field and Ethier misplayed and then overran the ball, allowing all three runners to score and giving the Pirates an improbable 6-5 win.

Here's the win probability chart for the game. On the passed ball that put the Dodgers up 5-2 their win probability was up to 96.5%:

via www.fangraphs.com

Tommorow is the finale of the four game set as the Dodgers try once again to clinch the NL West (their magic number is currently at 1). The Dodgers had the champagne ready but the loss meant the celebration has to wait at least one more day:

(The loss sent) clubhouse attendants into a mad scramble to clear out the party supplies for another time and, as it turned out after Colorado's win, another day.

Hiroki Kuroda (8-6) will face off against Zack Duke (10-15) at 9:35 AM tommorow morning.

WP - Matt Capps (4-8): 1 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 1 walk, 1 strikeout

LP - Jonathan Broxton (7-2): 0.1 IP, 4 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 1 walk, 0 strikeouts

Pirates Improbably Beat Dodgers on Lastings Milledge's Walk-Off Hit

Charlie — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:56:33 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

2 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates' Lastings Milledge (85) leaps into the arms of teammate Zach Duke, left, after hitting a base clearing, three-run walk-off double off Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton in the ninth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009. The Pirates won 6-5. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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I can't believe the Pirates won this game, which you could feel them losing as soon as Matt Capps entered a tie game in the ninth. The Dodgers could have clinched the NL West with a win today, but thanks to a crazy ninth-inning comeback by the Bucs, they'll have to wait.

The Pirates took an early lead by scoring two runs in the third on a wild pitch and an RBI double by Andy LaRoche. Daniel McCutchen started and got some help from the Dodgers, who ran themselves into two outs in what could have been a troublesome fourth inning. Still, he pitched well overall, allowing only two runs in six innings and outlasting Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers tied the game in the seventh, though, and the Bucs couldn't retake the lead in the bottom of the inning despite a hustling one-out triple by Andrew McCutchen.

Joel Hanrahan returned and pitched a scoreless eighth, leaving with a score of 2-2. Normally I'm a fan of using your closer in high-leverage situations like a tie game in the ninth, but that's only when your closer is actually your best relief pitcher, which Capps plainly isn't right now. I found myself wondering why John Russell didn't just leave Hanrahan in. Anyway, Capps gave up three runs, leaving behind a 5-2 deficit.

Delwyn Young began the bottom of the inning with a single off the Dodgers' excellent closer Jonathan Broxton, though, and Brandon Moss and Andy LaRoche followed that with singles of their own. LaRoche's brought in Young and left the Bucs with men at second and third following an error by Rafael Furcal. The Dodgers intentionally walked Garrett Jones for the third time in the game--it was a weird game--and Lastings Milledge followed that with a long hit to right-center that probably only should have scored two runs, but was misplayed by Andre Ethier, allowing Jones to come home. What a wild game. It wasn't quite the Pirates coming back for six runs against Billy Wagner and the Astros, but it was close.

UPDATE: And... Capps gets the win. Traditional statistics!

Dodgers Look To Wrap Up Division Today

Eric Stephen — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:00:18 -0000

More photos » by Jack Dempsey - AP

Your throne awaits

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Team	W-L	GB
Dodgers	93-62	---
Rockies	87-68	6

Sure, the Dodgers have clinched a playoff berth, but they are just getting started. Their magic number to clinch the National League West is just one, so a win this morning against Pittsburgh would get the job done. Either one Dodger win or Rockies' loss would assure the Dodgers of at least a tie for the division. But since a tie between the two teams would assure that both are in the playoffs, the division goes to the team that wins the tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker happens to be head-to-head record, and the Dodgers have already clinched the season series against the Rockies, winning 12 of their 15 match ups.

Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for his first start in 23 days. Kershaw, who struck out four Nationals in two hitless innings of relief Tuesday night, will be on a pitch count today, likely around 70 pitches or so. This will be Kershaw's 50th start as a Dodger. My, how time flies.

Daniel McCutchen, who allowed four runs in five innings at Dodger Stadium last week, gets the start for the Pirates.

Ronnie Belliard last night had three hits and three runs scored, including his fifth home run since joining the Dodgers. He is hitting .333/.385/.625 in 22 games in blue.

Casey Blake, originally in the lineup Saturday, was scratched because Joe Torre "took him out of the lineup because he didn't want to risk him re-injuring his left hamstring on the rain-soaked field," per Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. With a storm still in the Pittsburgh area and rain likely today, I wouldn't be surprised if Blake sits again.

In former Dodger news, Delwyn Young is in the worst slump if his young career. He has seven hits in his last 76 at-bats, and is hitting .092/.169/.145 since August 26. Andy LaRoche, on the other hand, homered last night, and is hitting .279/.343/.459 in September.

Happy 32nd birthday Vicente Padilla. May you enjoy these next eight days, the final eight days you will be on the active roster for the Dodgers.

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Check out Xeifrank's simulation of today's game here.

Don't forget to RSVP for True Blue LA Day at Dodger Stadium, on the next-to-last day of the regular season, October 3 against the Rockies. There are five tickets left.

Get your guesses in for our today's "One, Two, Three Strikes, You're Out," here.

Game Time: 10:35am

TV: Prime Ticket

Baseball Reference Preview

Pirates Lose Again, 4-0

Charlie — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:26:08 -0000

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

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The Pirates today lost yet another game that no one saw; again, it wasn't on TV, meaning that if you're in the Pittsburgh area, you didn't see it unless you had access to Extra Innings or were physically at the game. MLB.tv, which carries every game for me when I'm in San Diego, won't show the games to folks who are in market.Paradoxically, I'm excited to get out of the Pittsburgh area and back to California, so that I can watch my Pittsburgh-based team.

There's been something deeply strange about the couple of weeks I've spent in Morgantown, prevented from watching the games, while checking box score after box score in which the Bucs score one run at most. Today, the Bucs were missing Garrett Jones, Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young, making their already-awful lineup even more awful. And even in that last sentence, there would probably be more than a few knowledgeable fans of other teams who would probably find it odd that the Pirates' lineup is so bad that it yearns for guys like Jones, LaRoche and Young. Those same people might also be surprised by a trip to ESPN.com's Pirates stats page, where you see LaRoche's face three times because he's leading the team in average, RBI and OBP... largely because he's the only Pirate this year with more than 400 at bats.

It's all very sad, this team that no one sees, fielding a lineup where no one hits, and playing game after game where no one scores. I probably feel the Pirates' complete invisibility more than most; it's very hard to blog games I can't watch and that no one writes about, and I actually wonder if indifference to the Bucs right now might be higher than at any point since I started blogging about them. It affects Bucs Dugout's traffic and just generally makes the whole enterprise less fun until something interesting happens. Also, I'm not a football fan, and I miss having minor league box scores to check each day.

Mostly, though, I see this streak of awful baseball as a price that needs to be paid for the years in which the Pirates could have undergone a complete rebuilding, and didn't. And actually, despite losing game after game, I think these Bucs could be whipped into a good team quicker than you might think. The starting pitching, actually, has not been bad; several hitters, including Jones, Andrew McCutchen and Ronny Cedeno, have been better than expected; and Lastings Milledge has showed a fair amount of potential. One of the most problematic areas--the first base / right field position that isn't being played by Jones--should soon be resolved by the arrival of Pedro Alvarez (or Jose Tabata), and Brandon Moss will move into a reserve role for which he'll be better suited. The bullpen has been dreadful recently, but bullpens experience a lot of fluctuation year to year, and a good GM can fix a bullpen quickly if he prioritizes it. The Pirates have been bad since the trades they made in June and July, but there's more there than you'd guess from their record.

Still, the Bucs are a couple sticks shy of a load right now, and it'll be a bumpy ride toward contention, if the Pirates ever get there. But if I squint right now, I can begin to see something bright on the horizon, and if the Bucs have to be a little worse than usual in the meantime while they pursue it, that's fine. I do wish they'd score some runs, though, and a TV appearance now and then would be nice.

Doug Mientkiewicz Gets Eighth At-Bat of Season

Charlie — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:37:30 -0000

Remember when re-signing Doug Mientkiewicz was the most important thing since ever? Fun times.

I generally try not to call out people for things they said seven months ago. I've certainly said my fair share of things that turned out to be wrong, or silly, or irrelevant in retrospect. Every baseball writer has, and it's good to be forgiving, because predicting what's going to happen in a baseball season can be an almost comically inexact science.

The furor over Mientkiewicz, though, was so amazingly shortsighted that it deserves to be mentioned again, just so we don't go through it again in a few months with some other player. The entire 2008-2009 offseason was dominated by talk about how important it is to re-sign Doug Mientkiewicz and how important it was to not trade Jack Wilson. We talked about those things at least once a week.

Mientkiewicz has done nothing, and although neither team could have known it at the time, if the Pirates had kept the Dodgers from signing him, the Dodgers would probably still have Delwyn Young. But hey... veteran leadership!