So in the name of something positive I'll share something that I noticed today.  I was looking for late season fantasy usefulness when I stumbled across former Pirate Rajai Davis who is playing for Oakland and having a pretty solid season.

But I thought that his numbers looked awfully familiar so I did a little comparison and came up with this...

Rajai Davis

Tony Plush

Almost identical, no?  I can't access fangraphs for some reason so I can't do a check on defense aside from range factor but the gains of Nyjer in that area are probably cancelled out by Rajai's higher slugging.

Now the point isn't to point out that we should have held onto Rajai Davis, because he was pretty terrible here, but instead to point out that fast slap hitters are a uniquely volatile commodity.  The fact that we flipped one for a 24 year old who has put up an OPS+ of 104 while playing solid and improving defense AND a relief pitcher who has probably been our most reliable bullpen arm has to be considered a high point of the season.

You know, just to remind everyone that we have a plan and all.

Hey guys, if I told you that Snell was nibbling the corners, running late into the count and giving up homers to the New York Yankees through three innings what would you say? 

Wouldn't have expected it huh?

And I'm not posting this because I wish Snell ill, in fact I hope that he really succeeds out west because I have a soft spot for the M's, but good god man, learn from your mistakes.

I stop by and read Bucs Dugout everyday...the information is good, the discussion is lively, and we all love the Pirates.  Which is great because its nice when other people share your addiction.

But this Garrett Jones argument has got to stop, its ruining my wa.  So I signed up to try and bring some peace.

To the supporters...RELAX.  JR might be comatose but he's not going to bench a hot bat.  Thats just not how baseball managers think, they're a conservative bunch by nature.  So expect Jones to keep trotting out there until he's done hitting.

To the extremely ardent Jones supporters...you might want to temper your enthusiasm.  The odds of him regressing to the projections and being Adam Hyzdu are much higher than the odds of him pulling an Ibanez or a Ludwick.  So take a deep breath and enjoy the homers while they last.  Lets all hope that they last for a long time.

To the detractors...RELAX.  With Adam out of town and Pearce on the way up Jones isn't blocking anyone anymore.  Pearce is going to get opportunities at first and in the outfield against mostly lefties.  He should do well.  And if he doesn't, thats a separate problem.

The the extremely ardent Jones detractors...you might want to temper your enthusiasm.  There are many reasons why Jones will cool off but this is still baseball and in baseball strange things pop up from time to time.  If Bernard Gilkey can OPS .955 over a full season or Bill Swift can finish runner up for the Cy Young at the age of 31 than its perfectly reasonable to think that Jones could finish the season with nice numbers.  Black swans do happen and they happen all over the place.  You should never stake your reputation on never seeing one.