The Pirates have announced that Neal Huntingdon is the new General Manager.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-pirates-gm&prov=ap&type=lgns

What, if anything, do you know about him? And what exactly is the deal with him going from Cleveland's Assistant GM to a, seemingly lesser, scouting role? Was it a demotion?

http://postgazette.com/pg/07093/774854-100.stm

Pirates' top pitching prospect has elbow surgery, out for season

Tuesday, April 03, 2007
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HOUSTON -- Brad Lincoln, the Pirates' top pitching prospect, had reconstructive elbow surgery today and will miss the entire 2007 season.

Lincoln, the team's first-round draft choice last season, had ligament damage repaired by Dr. James Andrews, the noted orthopedic surgeon in Birmingham, Ala.

Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said Lincoln will be unable to pitch for 10-12 months, but should do so in 2008.

Lincoln tried to pitch early in spring training and again last week, and the latter attempt convinced the team to send Lincoln to Dr. Andrews.

More details in tomorrow's Post-Gazette.

Oh well.

After posting a 2.35 ERA in 16 starts at AAA, and striking out 94 in 99.2 IP, Gorzelanny started tonight against the Tigers. Looks like he did okay, but his pitch count was a bit higher than you'd like.

5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

100 pitches thrown, 57 for strikes.

I'll take it. I'm very excited about Gorzelanny, one of the few Pirates' pitching prospects who has shown an ability to strike batters out (the only other one being Ian Snell).

Well, after briefly being moved to the bullpen (and making no appearances in that role), Oliver Perez has been demoted to AAA.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-pirates-perez&prov=ap&type=lgns

What will this mean for him? Is there any chance of returning to what he did in 2004? What the heck is wrong with him in the first place? Where did his velocity go?

Tampa Bay has fired GM Chuck Lamar, Assistant GM Scott Proefrock, and player personnel director Cam Bonifay.

Also, there is a new managing general partner- Stuart Sternberg- replacing Vince Naimoli.

http://www.news4jax.com/mlb/5065045/detail.html

I would guess that this is a good thing for the Devil Rays, as LaMar isn't exactly the greatest GM in the world. The AL East may be about to get very interesting in the next few years.

Well, after a rough outing against Houston, Duke rebounded last night, mowing down the Mets. He pitched 7 scoreless innings, surrendered only 2 hits, and struck out 5 batters.

He's now 6-0 with a 1.97 ERA, with a 42/16 K/BB ratio in 57 2/3 IP.

That's pretty good.

One thing I will be interested to see is how he fares when he faces a team for the second time. As yet, he hasn't faced anyone more than once, and isn't likely to do so until the first week of September, when the Pirates face the Cubs.

In some ways, it's too bad he wasn't brought up a little sooner, as I don't think he'll win the ROTY with the number of starts he's likely to get by the end of the year. Having consecutive ROTYs would be rather nice.

Duke keeps on rolling, as he tossed 8 1/3 innings against the Braves today, allowing just one run. He picked up his 4th win, backed by a home run and 3 RBIs from Jose Castillo (speaking of Castillo, a prospect retro on him might be interesting).

 He did give up 7 hits, 3 of which were doubles, and struck out just 2 batters, but one has to be impressed. This wasn't some scrub team he faced. Even with all the rookies on Atlanta's roster, their lineup still featured guys like Furcal, Giles, the Jones', Estrada, and the 8,000 year old Julio Franco.

Well, I guess I've become the unofficial Zach Duke spokesman here.

Anyhow, Duke made his 4th start yesterday against Colorado. He continues to pitch into, and out of trouble, as yesterday was his shakiest start yet. He pitched 7 innings and gave 8 hits while walking 4 batters. However, he allowed just 1, unearned, run and picked up 5 K's en route to the win. He was also backed by some early offense, as the Pirates led 7-0 after two innings.

It's tough to take much from this start, as the Rockies are probably the only team worse than the Pirates. Aside from Todd Helton, that's a pretty putrid lineup. My guess is, when he faces some better lineups, he's definitely going to struggle. However, he shown exceptional poise on the mound, so that is a plus.

Duke keeps on rolling. He tossed 8 shutout innings against the Cubs yesterday, scattering 6 singles, en route to picking up his second win of the year. He struck out only 4 batters this time, but got some key ones, including one against Derrek Lee with runners on and nobody out.

One other note, Craig Wilson got injured again; his hand was broken getting hit by a pitch. It appears that CF Chris Duffy will get called up to replace him. Duffy's not a huge prospect, but is somewhat interesting. He's hit well at AAA, and was up earlier, but didn't play much. I doubt he'll play much now, either, but who knows. Also, Wilson will likely be out awhile, so Duffy may not be a permanent replacement anyways. Going without a backup at 1B to Daryle Ward the last few months wasn't really a good idea, and that isn't likely to change. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though Brad Eldred is really ready to get called up... so unless the Pirates start working out Mike Restovich at 1B or make a trade, they'll be in a tough spot. One other possibility would be to call up Graham Koonce, but he's a lefty like Ward, so there is no platoon option.

After an exceptional major league debut, Zach Duke has had another fine start. He's tossed seven shutout innings against the Phillies, allowing six hits and one walk, while striking out eight batters. Among those strikeouts were two by Bobby Abreu. Not too shabby. Currently, he is in line to pick up his first major league win, backed by a two run homer in the 4th by catcher Humberto Cota.

I know his K rates in the minors were a little low, but so far, he's been K'ing a lot of batters. I suppose it could just be that batters are unused to facing him, so it will be interesting to see how he does in his next few starts and when he faces a team for a second time. Also, I wonder where Milwaukee and Philly rank in terms of strikeouts- it could just be that he's been lucky enough to face some strikeout prone teams.

Against Milwaukee tonight:

7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 1 HR, 1 WP

Barring a Pirate rally in the 8th, Duke will pick up a no-decision. I'll take the start, especially the 9 strikeouts.

Now, if they can just make room for Ian Snell in the rotation....

Sigh... You know, I realize the purpose of the 300 character minimum, but it's still kind of annoying. On the other hand, I suppose it's not as bad as the forums at ESPN, which have a 1000 character maximum...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05181/530944.stm

So much for Ian Snell getting a chance to start. That honor will be going to Zach Duke on Saturday against Milwaukee. And once again, the Pirates make a serious of moves that make absolutely no sense.

First, Mike Gonzalez goes on the disabled list. So they call up lefty reliever Mike Johnston. Okay, makes sense so far. Johnston makes one appearance, gets hammered against a good lineup, and is immediately demoted in favor of starter Ian Snell. The explanation was that they wanted another day of rest for Ian Snell, who had just pitched, before calling him up. Okay.... Considering that they carry 7 relievers anyways, I highly doubt that would have been an issue. God forbid Ryan Vogelsong make more than one appearance in a week or pitches in anything other than a blowout.

Then, Oliver Perez goes crazy on a laundry cart, breaks his toe and goes on the disabled list. Okay, the logical thing to do would be have to Snell move into the rotation, and recall an actual reliever (or just skip the 12 man staff altogether and call up a hitter, but that's another story). Actually, initially, that latter suggestion looked like the path they were going to take, as they recalled outfielder Nate McLouth. At this point, the moves are still somewhat questionable, but if Snell gets to start and McLouth actually gets to stand in the batter's box a few times, I'm good with that.

But now, Act III. Instead of allowing Snell to replace Perez in the rotation, the Pirates are going to call up Zach Duke. Now, I have no problem with Duke getting called up. But, they aleady had Snell on the 25-man, and Duke is not on the 40 man roster, so to call him up, they will have to get rid of somebody from the 40 man. And to make room for him on the 25 man, McLouth will almost certainly be the one demoted. Oh, and Snell will remain in the bullpen. For now, as I can't imagine Lloyd McLendon going long without complaining that he only has one lefty in the bullpen.

Argh... I think this team needs a roster management expert, as they have clearly shown they have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

Um, sorry for the rant...

The Pirates have called up Nate McLouth and placed Oliver Perez on the disabled list with a broken toe(from kicking a laundry cart). I'm guessing the recently called up Ian Snell will take Perez's place in the rotation. This is a good thing.

McLouth is hitting .307/.385/.438 for AAA Indianapolis with a 30/38 BB/K ratio and he's 23/28 stealing bases. I like McLouth, but if he gets called up just to rot on the bench like most young Pirates, then it's a dumb move. He needs to be playing everyday. On the other hand, maybe it will lead to a sooner pruning of Tike Redman from the team.

http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/pg/05179/529672.stm

Ryan Doumit has been called up by the Pirates; Ty Wigginton has been demoted.

Doumit is hitting .344/.414/.632 with 12 HR in 163 ABs for AAA Indianapolis.

Wigginton has hit a whopping .204/.261/.398 so far, has basically been benched in favor of Freddy Sanchez, and recently complained about his benching.

INDIANAPOLIS -
Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand Ian Snell threw a no-hitter, striking out nine and walking just one batter in the Indianapolis Indians' 4-0 victory over the Norfolk Tides on Sunday in the International League.

Snell (6-0) is the first Indianapolis pitcher to throw a no-hitter in a nine-inning since Tom Carroll on May 24, 1974.

Jon Nunnally hit a three-run homer for the Indians.

http://tinyurl.com/e2j8t