SB Nation User Blog: Illinois Pirate Fan

2008 Dick Martin Award

Illinois Pirate Fan — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:53:16 -0000

Has just been given to Trainer Brad Henderson and his assistant, Mike Sandoval, and his staff for their ability to keep their players healthy. The Bucs lost only 385 days to the DL in 2008, the best in the league and only 24 days were lost by starters. He was commended after Snell missed just 16 days and came back staying healthy throughout the rest of the seasonl. Special mention was also made for their ability in keeping Jason Bay on the field after the previous year's knee problems so NH could replenish the minor league system with a trade.

The real reason I mentioned the award was because the records indicate that winning this award can be a leading indicator of future success. Previous winners, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee, won their awards at the start of the upswing in their franchise's fortunes. Maybe this is the start of our own turnaround?

How to Build a Baseball Team

Illinois Pirate Fan — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:45:44 -0000

Kevin Goldstein has written an interesting article which shows that the Phillies actually have drafted more of their productive players, as opposed to acquiring them from other teams, (Howard, Utley, Rollins, Baldelli, Burrell, Hamels, & Myers) than the Rays (Longoria, Crawford, Upton, and shield). Yet, for some reason the press seems to give the Rays much more credit. Perhaps, it's because they went from worst to first while the Phillies have several successful seasons.

Hidden in his article was the depressing reminder that the Pirates had the #1 choice in the 2000 draft and chose to pass on BJ Upton despite the fact all of baseball seem to know he was the premier player. As we all know, the Pirates then chose Bryan Bullington with the #1 pick passing on such tother alent as Loewen, Everts, Greinke, Kazmir, and Hamels. He then goes on to remind us how management chose Moskos over Wieters last year. It's hard enough being a Pirate fan without people continuously reminding us how poorly we've drafter. I realize that hindsight is 20-20 but one would think that the law of averages would dictate that we would be right on just one of our top draft choices. I still have a difficult time in understanding how we can be this bad for this long and how all of our highly-drafted pitchers could all develop arm problems. Don't colleges keep pitch-counts?

Trade Adam LaRoche?

Illinois Pirate Fan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:35:19 -0000

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Giants are looking for a first baseman and willing to trade either Jonathon Sanchez or Matt Cain in return. If that is true then I think NH should investigate and see if they might accept LaRoche for one of these two pitchers. I've always been an admirer of Matt Cain and would welcome him to our rotations if possible. I've always been impressed by his Hits/IP ratio and the fact he is only 23 and throws right handed are both big plusses. On the other hand, Sanchez is two years older, throws left handed, and had a much higher ERA.

I was very surprised to read this article because it didn't make any sense to me from the point of the Giants but they might really need a big bat and LaRoche did end the season strong.

"We need to change our mindset as a staff"

Illinois Pirate Fan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:11:09 -0000

That was a quote from NH when asked why Andrews was being fired and so I began to wonder exactly what was the mindset of our staff under Andrews? Did he instruct our pitchers to live on the black part of the plate and discourage or even penalize those that threw strikes down the middle? I have heard that some teams will fine a pitcher who gives up a homerun on 0-2 count as well as those that teach their staffs not to throw down the middle. I have often wondered if Andrews was part of the regime that instructed that foolish mode and if so, then I'm pleased that he is gone.

If pitchers are told not to give batters anything good to hit then they are simply setting themselves up for problems when they fall behind in the count and have to throw a fastball for a strike when the batter is expecting it. I don't know how Andrews instructed his staff to throw but maybe somebody out there can shed some light on this for me.

An Impartial Look at the Alvarez Deal

Illinois Pirate Fan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:58:19 -0000

Baseball Prospectus is reporting that MLB informed the Pirates to work out the best deal possible as well as evaluating some worst-case scenarios that were suddenly looking very possible, primarily the one that included the initial deal being voided and the Pirates being punished by losing their compensation pick for not signing him.

They went on further to say that there is no doubt Boras won this one as he got his player more money and more benefits, which may not have been his ultimate goal. They also said they believed Cooonelly took on Boras directly and looked foolish for his troubles. Bluntly, they said that Coonelly went into a gun fight with a water pistol and ran away before shots were fired.

Finally, they concluded that not only did the Bucs lose this fight but at the same time, the negative image hit both externally and within baseball was massive as most polls taken of fans had them blaming the Pirates for this situation and that Coonelly looked like a paper tiger after making a strongly-worded statement at the beginning only to fold up like a cheap suit.

When the Pirates first had a press conference to announce the initial signing of Alvarez in August Nutting called the new administration of Coonelly and Huntington, "the single best management team in all of baseball, maybe all of sports." I wonder if he still feels this way?

Finding Elmo, er, ah, Kyle Lohse

Illinois Pirate Fan — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:30:35 -0000

If the Cardinals are astute enough to find a pitcher the quality of Lohse for $4.25 million why can't NH find someone similar? More importantly, why did the three pitchers who just 2 short years ago were considered by some to be one of the finest young starting staffs in the league suddenly become batting practice pitchers? I refuse to believe that all 3 are suffering from injuries lasting several years and so there must be another solution. Whatever the reason you just don't see this happening to teams with pitching coaches like Duncan and so I must begin to question the ability of our management team.

Charlie pointed out that minor league stats are invaluable to projecting a player's abilities and so I must ask what happened to Duke who went from minor league pitcher of the year to a whisker away from being out of baseball? What happened to Snell? He still throws 96 on accasion and doesn't appear to be hurt and so we must question his game plan. Was Gorzo's meltdown all physical or are we on track to see him go the way of Duke and the dinosaur towards extinction? These are all valid questions to which I do not have all the answers but I feel that management needs to address and soon. An entire generation of fans have matured without seeing the team win 82 games.

Ronnie Paulino

Illinois Pirate Fan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:24:33 -0000

I was under the impression that he was called up from Indy when the roster expanded and if that's true, then I can't understand why Russell has not played him at all preferring instead to use others. Is he hurt or simply that far back in the "dog house"? I can't believe he has fallen that much into disfavor with management and that he has no trade value. What am I missing about this guy? Is it all bad attitude? Afterall, he did hit over .300 for an entire season.

Now that I've climbed down off the ledge...

Illinois Pirate Fan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:22:46 -0000

I have had time to formulate a plan to infuse some talent and excitement into the Bucs and feel it would bring excitement to the team as well as win more than 80 games.

1B-sign Adam Dunne for some much needed left-handed power. He'll go crazy in PNC with the short porch in RF. Then, trade LaRoche, the elder, and pocket his salary. Besides, he's gone after next season, anyway.

2B-Sanchez...Trade him for whatever you can get, play Cruz, and pocket the salary.

SS-it doesn't matter. Just sign a slick fielder. That's all you need at SS. Eckstein will do or sign the first warm body we see swimming off the coast of Venezuela if Ekstein wants too much. Trade Wilson and get whatever you can for him and save the $7 million.

3B-forget Alvarez. We're going to lose him. Give LaRoche a full season and pray lots of Rosaries. Save the $6 million.

C-Doumit is good and Paulino is a capable backup

OF-Bring up McCutcheon and Tabata and give them a chance along with McLouth and then play them every day. Stop wasting valuable A/B on aging players who are hanging on to increase their pensions like Michaels, Rivas, Gomez, and Minky.

SP-Sign Kyle Lohse and Oliver Perez (Brad Penny/Jon Garland if neither is available), give Ohlendorf and Dumatrait a fair chance, keep pitching Snell and Maholm because they are going to improve, and reduce the starts of both Gorzelanny and Duke. Enough is enough. Geesh! Oh, yeah, dump Karstens, he stinks and brings nothing to the table.

Part of the FA signings can be funded from the money we saved by not paying Morris next year plus the bonus we won't have to give to Alvarez because we'll lose him to the arbiter. Additional available funding will come from the savings from having traded Sanchez, Wilson, and LaRoche. It's a terrible idea to have the bulk of your money tied up in middle infielders who can't hit for power and don't have any speed on the bases. The rest of the money, God forbid, might have to come out of the owner's pockets but it can easily be made up next year in attendance and concession revenues. Besides, if either McCutcheon or Tabata is as good as advertised then we'll make a fortune in jersey sales and endorsements. This team would neither lose 90 games nor be boring and that would put butts in the seats which would translate into money. Finally, using the draft choices we received for LaRoche, Wilson, and Sanchez so we can draft more talent and continue the pipeline. If management is as good at evaluating talent as everybody says then they should have no trouble in doing so.

An honest question for Vlad

Illinois Pirate Fan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:03:56 -0000

In yesterday's loss to the Reds, Russell started the following players:

2B-Gomez: Why not play Cruz there and see what he can do? We already know what Gomez and Rivas are capable of doing and neither of them are part of our future. Why not play someone young and give them valuable experience?

1B-Minky: Why not play Pearce and see what he can do? We know Minky is not part of our future and so playing him is a waste of time that could be apportioned to a young player.

SS-Cruz: No problem playing him and so 2B suggestion can be ignored for today, but not in the future. When Bixler plays SS put Cruz at 2B.

LF-Michaels: Why not play Morgan or Pearce? Michaels is not part of our future. He's taking up valuable A/Bs.

C-Chavez: Why not play Paulino? Chavez is not part of our future. He's taking up valuable A/Bs.

I cannot understand the logic of starting any of these players at this point of the season. It's wasting playing time that could be better spent on younger players. What could possibly be going on in Russell's mind?

Wouldn't it make sense if...

Illinois Pirate Fan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:28:53 -0000

1. Duke was withdrawn from the rotation for the rest of the year and stop letting him use up valuable starts? He has no future as a starting pitcher. How long must we endure him?

2. Pearce alternated with LaRoche at 1B when he's not playing RF in hopes of getting him more A/Bs? Then, place him in RF when he's not playing 1B. LaRoche is gone after next season so let's start grooming his replacement.

3. To bench "0-for-3vas" and Gomez and let the rookies replace Sanchez when he's hurt and needs a day off so we can see what they bring to the table?

4. Let Paulino catch every other day to see if he's learned anything and give Doumit some well-deserved rest?

5. Can someone please tell me the status of Dumatrait? What is the extent of his injury? I was somewhat impressed with him before he got hurt.