generally speaking, I have supported Neil Huntington and all the moves he has made since becoming general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  he inherited a mess at the major league and at the minor league level, and there is little wonder why the Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992.  let me repeat: I understand what NH is doing in the draft and with trades, and why he has basically burned the Pirates' major league roster to the ground since he took the job.

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Who remembers Atari's "R.B.I. Baseball" arcade game, from 1987? In it, you could pick one of the 10 teams of the Atari League (Oak, ChC, LA, StL, Hou, NYY, Bos, SF, Cin, Atl), and play against either the computer or another player. The 10 teams included player stats from throughout the team's history (e.g., the Yankee' lineup included Ruth and Gehrig plus Maris and Mantle, with Winfield and Mattingly also available). The starting 8 for each team were set, but there were four more position players on the bench, and you had four pitchers to choose from in any order. While most of the rudimentary stats provided for each player were historically accurate, the designers took liberties with the stats of the then-current players featured. (For more information about this game, Gantry's RBI Baseball Page is irreverent but recommended.)

Naturally, the Pirates weren't among the 10 teams of the Atari league (although the game can apparently be 'hacked' to add any team). But if they were, which 16 players (the starting eight, plus four reserves and four pitchers) would you choose to represent the Pirates? My choices are after the jump.

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Tim Brown's recent column for Yahoo! sports focuses on the game's best prospect., but Pirates fans shouldn't read it unless they keep all sharp objects out of reach. 

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The Pirates should sign former All-Star relief pitcher Derrick Turnbow, who was just DFA'd by the Brewers.

Why?  He has a power arm (265 K in 257 2/3 career innings), which is in line with Huntington's philosophy.  But mainly because he's a perfect fit for the Pirates' bullpen.

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Yesterday afternoon my wife went to get a haircut, so my 8-month old son and I had the place to ourselves.  I turned on the tv to WGN, to see if the Pirates game was televised, and sure enough it was:  bottom of the 5th inning, 5-3 cubs.  We watched Osoria give up two quick hits and a run, then Fontenot hit for pitcher Ryan Dempster.  As we watched Adam 'Useless in April' LaRoche fumble an easy ground ball, my son made perhaps the most fitting and succinct criticism of how the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing:

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The Post Gazette reports that a press conference will be held at 2:30 EDT to officially fire Jim Tracy, and presumably other members of his coaching staff and other front-office personnel (hopefully including Ed Creech):

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07278/823179-100.stm

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I completely forgot to guess at Mapp Capps' performance, and now Charlie's original post is too old to accept new comments.  if the community projections are still open, here's mine:

60/4.50/40/15

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... or his cardboard cutout, anyway.  Earlier this month, I was in San Diego for a conference.  My hotel happened to be right next to Petco Park, so I wandered into the Padres' gift shop after lunch one day.  (With the (near) life-size cutout of Brian Giles and his power swing beckoning me inside, how could I resist?)  Alas, I didn't have any film for my camera at that time (film cost $17.50 for one roll in my hotel's store!), and the cardboard cutout was nowhere to be found the other three days I was there....

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