Thank you Bill Mazeroski.  Thank you for always being the first to hit a walk-off Game 7 home run to win the World Series.  Thank you for being the greatest second baseman to ever play the game.  Thank you for being 1/25th of the first championship in Pittsburgh in over 30 years.

I hope that you get to see at least one more World Series victory by our beloved Buccos.

Maz, thank you!

So we seem to have some valuable minor leaguers that may be playing the same position.  We've heard Frank Coonelly say we will see a meaningful increase in payroll next year.

What if we decided to ship some of our prospects to KC for Zack Greinke?  Laugh if you must, but adding him along with JMac as a two, Ohly as a three and Maholm as a four is a heckuva start.  That would leave Brad Lincoln, Brian Burress, Kevin Hart, Charlie cough (sorry I almost threw up in my mouth a little bit there), Jeff Karstens, etc. as possible fives for us next year.

Would a package of Evan Meek, Justin Wilson and Andrew Lambo be enough to get Greinke, and would it be too much to give up?  Would substituting Owens or Locke for Wilson make it a go?

Remember this is the what-if game, so reality has to be suspended a bit here.

I see this as a win-win for both teams.  Meek has proven himself to be a legit top reliever, Justin Wilson and Andrew Lambo are considered high end prospects.  Greinke is a top-end starter who will be under control until after the 2012 season.  That's two more years for Cutch, Alvarez, Tabata, and Walker to improve.  That's two years to find an answer for RF in Jones, Bowker, Pressley, Marte, etc.  We could see Tony Sanchez making his debut and splitting time with Chris Snyder.

According to a Post-Gazette article, it has quotes therefore it is an article, the Buccos should have two players finishing close to 4th in Rookie of the Year voting, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata.  That follows a year after having a player finish fourth, Andrew McCutcheon, and having a player finish 9th, Garrett Jones.  Notice that Pedro (Petey) Alvarez wasn't even mentioned, and I think we can all attest to his abilities.

While there is a dearth of highly ranked position players above any A level, we have five nice players that should be able to grow and improve (you can argue against Jones), to help us achieve the goal of a winning season and beyond.  The really good news is these are players that should be 1-5 type of hitters.  We're not talking about a guy that will struggle in the 7-8 spots, we're talking about legit hitters.

This is what a rebuild should look like from a position player stand point.  You must draft and develop, draft and develop, and then trade for missing pieces with a few of those drafted and developed players.

I am encouraged by Justin Wilson, Rudy Owens, Bryan Morris, Jeff Locke, Daniel Moskos (never thought I would say that I am glad to say it), Diego Moreno, Mike Crotta and Brad Lincoln.  However most of those guys are at least two years away and a lot can happen in 730 days, as we all know.

However, with Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie, the Zacks, Cain, Pounders, etc. after the above mentioned guys the pitching looks good. We have some nice positional players following them, right in line with some of our A pitchers.

The cupboard is no longer bare, it is legit.

We're getting closer, we're doing it the right way as far as the players go.

Now, the manager on the other hand...

How do you possibly start Ryan Doumit and Milledge with Young when Charlie Morton is starting?  The kid isn't a good pitcher at this point, that is very much clear, however how about you put the best lineup on the field, John Russell?

Sure Cutch's bat isn't playing well right now, but his defense is light years ahead of what Young and Milledge bring to the table.  Snyder's bat isn't exactly intimidating, although he had gone yard in back-to-back games, but his defensive ability is clearly ahead of Doumit's defensive ability.

To add to the Doumit should sit argument, Morton has failed miserably with Doumit behind the plate.  Perhaps it wouldn't matter, but why wouldn't you do every thing possible to help this kid succeed?

Jameson Taillon's father has confirmed to Chuck Finder that his son as indeed signed with the Buccos.  Great job Neal Huntington, great job Frankie C and great job Mr. Nutting.

mlbtraderumors    Pirates Sign Jameson Taillon http://bit.ly/c6oyOO #mlb 3 minutes ago via twitterfeed

Whew...I was more worried about Allie, but when Allie was announced before Taillon, you never really know with agents and young players.

Morris

Owens

Locke

Wilson

Lincoln

Cain

Pounders

The Zacks

Taillon

Allie

I feel good...

From Keith Law's twitter feed...

keithlaw    From a front office exec not with the Pirates: "Also hearing PIT will ink both Taillon and Allie."

If true that's a very nice sign that the Buccos still believe in their plan of drafting high end players not just to draft, but to actually sign.

It will be interesting to see how the Buccos handle the Rule 5 protection in a handful of years.  We should have some very tough decisions to make, or some serious trade chips.

I think the way the front office handles the Bowker, Lamb, Moss, and Pearce situation may give us some insight.

According to DK's twitter feed...

Dejan_Kovacevic    #Pirates Ray Searage new pitching coach, minor-league field coordinator Jeff Banister new bench coach.

Interesting move by the Buccos.  I expected some serious changes during the offseason, but for it to happen now shows me there were some major problems in the clubhouse between the front office and the coaching staff.

For those in the know, are the new guys people that could be permanent replacements or should we start putting a wish list together?

RHP Denny Bautista was just let go from the San Francisco Giants, according to mlbtraderumors.com.  He strikes out a lot of batters and walks a good deal too.  He has a a WHiP of 1.54 and an ERA of 3.74 this year.

He's 29 and still throws relatively hard.

If we're throwing Chan ho Park at the wall to see if he sticks, why not Bautista?  Neal Huntington like him at one point, will he bring him back for another shot?

So I was reading the Post-Gazette on line and I saw a train wreck on the left column, Bob Smizik was insinuating that the Pirates dumped salary on the mlb trade deadline day.  I was dumb enough to read the comments and the majority were like lemmings jumping off the Clemente Bridge, simply spewing hate because that's what Pittsburghers like to do.

I was going to post a reply, but they have deactivated the new account sign-up feature, I'm sure that had nothing to do with people that want to reply to stupid blog posts.

Luckily somebody responded in the thread with the EXACT response I would have used...

Overall, when counting all guaranteed money that the Pirates sent out and took in with these three trades, as well as the $3 million payment from Arizona, the Pirates will be adding $450,000 in guaranteed payroll commitment for this year, and an additional $3.5 million next year.

That's from DK.  The same DK that Smizik works with.  The same DK that have been on the Buccos beat for years now and should be considered the expert in these kinda things.  Nice work Bobbo!

Didn't really cost the Halos a whole lot either.  They sent Saunders, Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez and PTBNL.  Heck our Buccos could have offered more.

I think this should serve notice to Bucco fans, don't expect a lot when or if we make some deals.  Even a player like Maholm won't bring a nice haul.  And if that is the case, don't move people just to move them. 

We can still deal in the off season.  Everybody knows this year is about the younger players learning and growing.

I'll go with...

Buccos

Dotel, Lopez and D Young (he would be an excellent bench guy on a contending team)

Indians

Iwamura (and yes we'll eat a lot of his contract)

blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, boing, boing, boing, boing, other similar words used to take up space in this spot

Still Terrible...4 ER 2ks 2 bbs 11 hits in 5.1 innings of work.

I can't wait to see him back up here in a couple of weeks.  I'm sure JR/NH will say "He did the things we wanted him to do.  Mentally he's in a good place, physcially he's in a good place, so it's time to see what he can do up here."

If anybody actually thinks Morton isn't getting called up soon, they're kidding themselves.  Morton is NH's biggest failure, arguably, and he's going to give him another shot, soon.

Don't worry Cav fans.

We, as Bucco fans, have been thru this.  We've seen what happens to a team that is gutted.  Sure you offered the money to your heart and soul, and we didn't, but the end is the same.

Keep your chin up.  It's easy for a small-market team to rebuild after losing their best players.  The Pirates lost Doug Drabek, Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds and AVS in the early nineties.  We've clearly and quickly bounced back from our losses.

For the record, my heart actually breaks for Cav fans.

So Charlie has now made 6 starts in AAA on his "rehab"/designation stint.  He's not looking all that good. 

ERA 4.50

WHiP 1.50

K/BB 23/13

He has had 2 "quality starts", those that remember my rant know how much I love this stat.  In those 2 quality starts he had one true gem.  It was a 2 hit, one walk win over Durham where he gave up only one run.  That was three starts ago. 

Since then has gone 3.1 and 5.0 innings respectively.  He's given up 10 baserunners and 7 baserunners as well.

My question to the community is when do we cut bait with Charlie Morton?  At some point we are going to need the rotation spot in Indy for Owens, Morris, Wilson, Hart, Veal, DCutch, etc.  Do we retard somebody's progress so that Charlie Morton can continue to fail?

I don't want to sit through another Kip Wells or Kris Benson.  I'm tired of hearing about million dollar arms with 10 cent heads.

According to twitter (Moskos and Jen Langosch)...

Daniel Moskos and Alex Presley are headed to Indy.

Congrats to both.

According to twitter (Moskos and Jen Langosch)...

Daniel Moskos and Alex Presley are headed to Indy.

Congrats to both.

According to twitter (Moskos and Jen Langosch)...

Daniel Moskos and Alex Presley are headed to Indy.

Congrats to both.

According to twitter (Moskos and Jen Langosch)...

Daniel Moskos and Alex Presley are headed to Indy.

Congrats to both.

Absolutely filthy stuff going on down there for their entire staff, but the starter with the worst WHiP is Tim Alderson at 1.41, which isn't bad.

Rudy "future Bucco real soon" Owens is at 0.94.

Justin Wilson is at 1.18.

Jared Hughes is at 1.29.

Bryan Morris is at 1.31.

These guys have a serious shot at helping us out soon.

Lets go Bucs, lets go Bucs, Lets go Bucs

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Please join this page and support Steve Blass' inclusion in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Please join this page and support Steve Blass' inclusion in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Please join this page and support Steve Blass' inclusion in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Please join this page and support Steve Blass' inclusion in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Please join this page and support Steve Blass' inclusion in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Please join this page and support Steve Blass' inclusion in the baseball Hall of Fame.

Driving home from the game today with my son, the Buccos are 16-1 when my son and I attend a game the last two years and that's no joke, I was listening to the post game show.

Rocco Demara kept promoting his blog on piratesextrainnings.com and I thought why haven't I checked that out lately.  So I went home and logged on to it, then I realized why I hadn't cared for it much.  The guy doesn't do his homework.  He states that Dotel has a friendly contract for next year with a club option which would make him easier to trade.  How is it that I know his option becomes mutual, therefore taking some vaule away, while a guy that is paid to follow them doesn't?

I don't know about you guys, but when I read somebody and they make factual error, I kinda blow them off.  It's not like he's a poster on this site, where most of us are a little drunk while typing.

We're almost halfway done with this year and we all know we're looking for individual improvement instead of wins.

So, who makes the most improvement from now until Opening Day next year to earn starting spots.

LF Tabata

2B Walker

CF Cutch

RF Jones

3B Alvarez

1B Pearce

C Kratz (I think/hope Doumit is moved to an AL team for his benefit)

SS Cedeno

P Ohlendorf

The major holes on this team are Catcher and SS.  We have what appears to be the answer at Catcher with Sanchez, but SS is a different story.

I've thought about the Buccos moving Walker to SS, he appears to have the athletic ability to play Short, he has the arm and he would be a nice bat.  If the Buccos were to sent him to the AFL to learn the craft, maybe we have the answers for 2B internally. 

Laroche or Negrych might be able hold the fort down at 2B.  They could be a band-aid or an answer, either way I don't see how they couldn't be an upgrade for our middle infield.

Assuming Alvarez gets called up soon, like tomorrow.  Who will be the next crop of players we see making the jump?  Maybe a better question, who do you WANT to see called up and when?

I believe we'll see Crotta in September.  After that I believe we'll have to wait for the next legit group of guys to come up.  I believe that group will include Morris, Moskos, Owens, Sanchez and Wilson.  I am guessing we'll see these guys at the end of next year.

The pitching rotation...

Ace  Taillon R

2-Rudy Owens L

3-Bryan Morris L

4-Tim Alderson R

5-Brad Lincoln R

The bullpen...

Mike Crotta R

Michael Dubee R

Tony Watson L

Danny Moskos L

Diego Moreno R

Evan Meek R

Justin Wilson L

I see Moskos being the set up man and Meek being the closer.  Crotta would fit in nicely as a long man and Dubee and Moreno would be very nice pieces as 7th inning guys. 

I would assume Crotta and Meek could handle the leadership roles of the bullpen and theoretically Lincoln would be the "old-man" of the rotation.

The accepted definition of a Quality Start is six innings pitched and three earned runs given up.  That equates to a 4.50 ERA.  So what does this mean when the team a pitcher is playing for doesn't average 5 runs/game?  You could have numerous Quality Starts, yet quite a few losses.  If your team must average at least five runs/game for you to garner a win, you're not a a Quality Starter for most teams, an ok starter perhaps, but not a Quality Starter.

Looking at the teams this year that average over five runs/game you would only have Milwaukee, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, Toronto, New York Yankees and Boston that could win a game consistently when their starters turn in a Quality Start.  That doesn't even cover all the playoff spots.

Basically what a Quality Start boils down to is it gives the pitcher's team a legit shot to win, but when your team doesn't average more runs than given up, how is that an acceptable start, let alone a Quality Start?

Quality Starts are a good idea, in theory, but it shouldn't be used in the way it is currently written.  A Quality Start should be based on what the team averages offensively.  For example, the Pittsburgh Pirates average just over three runs a game.  That means that a pitcher must have an ERA under three.  Does it make it more difficult to have a Quality Start in Pittsburgh compared to the New York Yankees, where a pitcher must have an ERA under five, of course it does, but that's not the point.  The point is a Quality Start should be defined as a performance that gives the pitcher's team, not some general team, the best opportunity to win.

Five innings pitched, one hit, one walk, seven strikeouts and ZERO runs.  He was pulled after the fifth, only 61 pitches, when he was dominating the Charlotte lineup.

If he doesn't come up soon, then the Indy coaching staff has some explaining to do.

. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Five innings pitched, one hit, one walk, seven strikeouts and ZERO runs.  He was pulled after the fifth, only 61 pitches, when he was dominating the Charlotte lineup.

If he doesn't come up soon, then the Indy coaching staff has some explaining to do.

MLB is missing the boat when it comes to scheduling series around holidays.  In what should be a perfect opportunity to help some of the teams with attendance under 20,000/game in 2009, MLB decided that four of those six teams should have series away from home this Memorial Day weekend.

Florida and Toronto, a Canadian city that doesn't celebrate Memorial Day, will be the only beneficiaries of having the boon of holiday attendees.  Meanwhile Pittsburgh, Oakland, Cleveland, and Kansas City will be on the road. 

In a sport where perception is the rich get richer, MLB has seen it fit that the rich will indeed get richer.  Teams like the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, or six of the top nine teams in attendance per game in 2009 will get an unneeded boost.  These are teams that will sell out no matter what, therefore use the few day game opportunities for those teams that could use the boost. 

Considering day games bring in a younger crowd, hence the kids' days around the league on Sundays, it would also be a nice way to expand interest in the younger generation that has more interest in the NFL, or in Pittsburgh the NFL, NHL and NCAA.

Lets also not forget the boost the local businesses and economies would receive.  The teams that are hosting these higher attended games will see restaurants filled before and after the games, bar traffic will increase, hotels will see more rooms occupied, parking garages will see more cars, etc.  

However, MLB has proven, once again, that they either simply don't care about improving their brand in their least popular markets, or they just don't think.

Oh, and for those wondering, KC, Oakland, Florida, and Toronto are away for the Fourth of July weekend.  KC (who did they upset in the scheduling department?), Florida, and Cleveland will be on the road for Labor Day weekend.

--Next Rant...why the Quality Start is so pointless, and it's not why you think.

I've only been a member/viewer for a few weeks, but I've noticed a trend going on here.  There is way too much swearing going on at Bucs Dugout, especially during the game threads.

I know most of us are probably adults, 18+, but there are probably some young Bucco fans that view this, or some young kids that may walk by a computer screen.

I'm actually surprised that this hasn't been addressed by Charlie or some of the other people involved in the site. 

Can we do our best to tone down the swearing?

Greg Brown just said that Doc Holliday went to the count of 3-0 against only 18 of 916 batters last year.  That is absurd!  That means that only 1.9% of the batters he faced got to that count.  I wonder how many of them walked or ended up as an out.

I've never heard of command like that to start a batter. 

Can anybody else think of a record or stat that is absurd?

So, which Pirates prospect that busted were you absolutely convinced they would be a star in the bigs.

For me, it was Bobby Bradley. All I read about was how advanced he was as a youngster, how he had great breaking stuff (I should have read it as arm problems coming), etc.

I was clearly wrong about him.  He never even made it to the bigs.

I admit, I was wrong.

So it's Mea Culpa time Pirate fans.

It would be interesting to see what everybody thinks of NH's moves thus far that either brought players into the mix, or sent them out.  Simply say win, lose, draw.

1.  Jesse Chavez traded for Aki Iwamura.  Lose

2.  Releasing Matt Capps. Lose

3. Sean Burnett and Nyjer Morgan traded for Joel Hanarahan and Lastings Milledge. Draw

4. Selected RHP Evan Meek from the Rays in the Rule 5. Win

5. Acquired RHPs Marino Salas and Kevin Roberts from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for RHP Salomon Torres. Lose

6. Acquired RHP Tyler Yates from the Atlanta Braves for nonroster RHP Todd Redmond. Lose

7.Acquired RHP Denny Bautista from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for RHP Kyle Pearson. Win

8.Acquired INF Andy LaRoche and RHP Avery (Bryan) Morris from the Los Angeles Dodgers; Acquired RHP Craig Hansen and OF Brandon Moss from the Boston Red Sox; Sent OF Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox. Draw

9.Acquired RHPs Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen and Ross Ohlendorf and OF Jose Tabata from the Yankees in exchange for OF Xavier Nady and LHP Damaso Marte. Win

10. Acquired C Robinzon Diaz from the Toronto Blue Jays and assigned him to Triple-A Indianapolis. Lose

11. Signed INF Garrett Jones. Win

12. Signed free agent outfielder Eric Hinske, who had been with the Rays, to a one-year contract. Draw

13.Acquired RHP Charlie Morton for OF Nate McLouth. Draw

14. Traded INF Freddie Sanchez  for P Tim Alderson. Win

15. Acquired Jose Ascanio, Kevin Hart and Josh Harrison for John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny. Lose

16. Acquired Jeff Clement, Ronnie Cedeno, Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin, and Nathan Adcock for Jack Wilson and Ian Snell. Draw

17. Acquired Argenis Diaz for Adam LaRoche. Draw

So I go with 5 wins, 6 losses, and 6 draws.  Whay say you all?

The other day I got into a discussion about John Russell's ineptitude as a manager.  I brought up several points, although the discussion focused mainly on batting the pitcher 8th, and among them was bullpen management.

Tonight is another prime example of Russell's complete lack of ability to manage a bullpen.  We're already short on picthers and then CJ gets hit by a line drive.  Hardly Russell's fault, but what he did later in the game is certainly worthy of a WTF.

Javier Lopez is brought in to relieve Carrasco.  Perhaps a little early to pull DJ when your bullpen has been worked heavily lately, but certainly not a completely absurd move considering DJ had already thrown 40+ pitches.  However Lopez ONLY THREW ONE PITCH AND GOT PULLED.

Why the hell do you pull Lopez after one pitch?  Unless he's injured, there is no reason to pull him.

18.1 innings over the last 4 games and we pull a pitcher after one pitch.

Just dumb management...

DCutch is up in the bottom of the second in a 1-0 game.  GI Jones is on third and R Doumit stands on first base with two outs.  Instead of having R Cedeno, or any other position player for that matter, up, we send DCutch to the plate.  He promptly grounds out to Short Stop. 

What happened next is this...the Pirates promptly give up 3 more runs in the next half inning, on their way to the worst loss in franchise history.

So, obviously we won't know what would have happened had the Pirates tied the game or *gasp* taken the lead, but we do know what happened with the way things were set up.

You lose 17.5 at bats for every spot you go lower in the lineup.  So far, of those 17.5 at bats we've seen at least 3 opportunities where the pitchers have been up with two outs and a total of eight runners, five in scoring position, on the pond. 

None have scored.

I'm not naive enough to assume that batting the pitcher 8th would have won us the game, but it could have changed the dynamic, we won't know.