SB Nation User Blog: calig23

Question for indiansfan.

calig23 — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:51:50 -0000

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?

The Pirates are cursed- Brad Lincoln.

calig23 — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 01:39:12 -0000

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.

Tom Gorzelanny

calig23 — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 01:22:02 -0000

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).

Oliver Perez

calig23 — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:47:23 -0000

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?

Upheaval in Tampa Bay

calig23 — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 17:47:13 -0000

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.

Zach Duke: 6-0

calig23 — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 17:18:15 -0000

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.

Zach Duke. Again.

calig23 — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 01:30:56 -0000

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.

Zach Duke update...

calig23 — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 17:35:03 -0000

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.

Zach Duke, start number three...

calig23 — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 17:24:28 -0000

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.

Zach Duke again

calig23 — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 01:24:44 -0000

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.