SB Nation User Blog: humbucker

How much more can you take? (with poll)

humbucker — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:24:37 -0000

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.

let's consider for a moment the 2009 opening day lineup... of the 8 position players who started that game, only Ryan Doumit, Andy Laroche, and Brandon Moss remain (and if Doumit hadn't been injured, he arguably would have been traded as well). go back even further to the 2008 season opener and only Doumit remains (Ian Snell started that game, and is now gone). now, look at the lineup John Russell used today vs. Matt Cain and the Giants. with all due respect to Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones (who began the year at AAA and hopefully will continue their excellent rookie campaigns) and Zach Duke (who has pitched very well this year, and actually has a higher batting average than both his first baseman and the guy who pinch-hit for him), does that really look like a major league lineup? is there any wonder they only managed three hits and zero runs?

our Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost five games in a row, scoring a total of four runs in that span (including three shutouts), to move a season high 15 games below .500. no matter how good the pitching is the rest of the way (who knows, NH might still decide to dismantle the rotation and/or bullpen), the Pirates' offense is likely to be deeply offensive to fans of major league baseball. and the problem with sticking to a plan to build a winner in 2010 (or 2011, or 2012, or ...) is that there's still 61 games to be played this year... which brings me to my poll question. to paraphrase SS Decontrol:

How much more can you take?

it's been 17 years since the Pirates fielded a winning team, so what's 2-3 more years of horrible baseball, right?

right?!?

anyone?

Poll

How much more losing baseball can you take before you give up as a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates?

I'm done right now

23 votes

I need to see improvement by the end of this season

9 votes

I can wait until next year

20 votes

I can wait until 2011

40 votes

I can wait until 2012 or later

88 votes

180 votes | Poll has closed

All-time Pirates team (Atari R.B.I. Baseball)?

humbucker — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:28:47 -0000

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.

My criteria favored Pirates enshrined into the Hall of Fame and/or players with a World Series ring (which basically disqualifies all current and recent Pirates). In addition, players who had their best seasons with other teams are excluded from consideration (for example, Barry Bonds would be part of the Giants' revised lineup, and HOF'er Rich Gossage only spent one season as a Pirate). Thus, my starting lineup, bench, and pitching staff are as follows (links are to player pages at baseball-reference.com):

Starting Lineup:

Honus Wagner (RH, SS) - .381-4-100, 38 SB (1900)
Paul Waner (LH, CF) - .380-9-131 (1927; MVP)
Roberto Clemente (RH, RF) - .317-29-119 (1966; MVP)
Willie Stargell (LH, 1B) - .295-48-125 (1971)
Ralph Kiner (RH, LF) - .310-54-127 (1949)
Pie Traynor (RH, 3B) - .366-9-119 (1930)
Manny Sanguillen (RH, C) - .328-9-58 (1975)
Bill Mazeroski (RH, 2B) - .275-19-68 (1958)
(pitcher)

Bench:

Dave Parker (RH, OF) - .334-30-117, 20 SB (1978; MVP)
Max Carey (SH, OF) - .343-5-44, 46 SB (1925)
Arky Vaughn (LH, SS) - .385-19-99 (1935)
Bill Madlock (RH, 3B) - .319-19-95 (1982)

Notes: The rich history of the Pittsburgh Pirates means that three Hall of Famers (Lloyd Waner, Arky Vaughn, Max Carey) and two MVPs (Dick Groat, Dave Parker) don't crack the starting lineup. My selection of Manny Sanguillen (the only starter not in the Hall of Fame) as the catcher might be the most debatable choice. But as much as I liked Tony Pena's enthusiasm, defense, and occasional pop, and as great of a contact hitter as Jason Kendall once was, Sanguillen's World Series rings make him my choice.

To round out the bench, I gave shortstop Arky Vaughn the edge over Dick Groat and his 1960 MVP season (.325-2-50) because Vaughn is in the Hall of Fame and hits left-handed. Similarly, having outfielders Dave Parker and Max Carey on the bench left no room for Hall of Famer Lloyd Waner, Matty Alou, Omar Moreno (he of the blinding speed but relatively low OBP), or Andy Van Slyke. Here, the most debatable choice might be Bill Madlock, who gets my vote because he was a good hitter (with a ridiculous OBP) who earned a World Series ring as a Pirate, and is not a shortstop or outfielder. Although the Mad Dog's 1981 season was better based on rate stats, I chose his 1982 stats for the home run totals. If I had to include a (not for much longer?) current Pirate on the roster, I would probably substitute Freddy Sanchez for Madlock.

Pitching Staff:

Doug Drabek (RHP) - 22-6, 2.76 ERA (1990)
Bob Veale (LHP) - 17-12, 2.84 ERA, 276 K (1965)
Vern Law (RHP) - 20-9, 3.08 ERA (1960)
Kent Tekulve (RHP) - 10-8, 2.75 ERA, 31 SV (1979)

Notes: With only four pitchers needed to "fill" the roster, my criteria were to include three starting pitchers, with at least one left-hander, and one relief pitcher. Although he does not have a World Series ring and will likely never make the Hall of Fame, Doug Drabek made the list because he was the last Pirates hurler to utterly dominate N.L. hitters. Among left-handed starters, Bob Veale got the nod over John Candelaria and Harvey Haddix because I wanted a flamethrower on the staff. For the last starting pitcher, I chose Vern Law's Cy Young-winning season over solid pitchers like Babe Adams and Bob Friend. Finally, for the lone relief pitcher, I chose Kent Tekulve over Roy Face and Dave Giusti for his durability, and because Teke's unconventional sidearm delivery makes an interesting contrast to the other three pitchers.

But enough of me yakking... who would you pick for your "Atari League" all-time Pirates team?

Pirates fans - do NOT read this!

humbucker — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:42:08 -0000

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.

if you guessed that the prospect was drafted in the first round of the 2007 draft by a different team, after the Pirates had made their first selection, and is a Scott Boras client, then you probably know who it is without clicking the link. but don't say you weren't warned....

The Pirates should sign Derrick Turnbow...

humbucker — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:34:00 -0000

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.

Just look at his 2008 numbers – 12 hits and 11 runs in 6 1/3 innings and a 13:5 BB:K ratio (for a 15.63 ERA and a WHIP of nearly 4!), plus the league is hitting .414 against him. And maybe we can then trade Matt Capps to the Yankees for a case of sunflower seeds, so Turnbow can compete with Evan Meek for the closers' job.

Granted, Turnbow hasn't made any errors this year, which may be a deal-breaker. However, at the plate he has struck out in half of his career at bats, so I think the Pirates should take a chance on him anyway.

/sarcasm

my 8-month old son's assessment of the Pirates

humbucker — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:17:47 -0000

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:

He filled his diaper with his smelliest load of poop to date.

We left the room to change his diaper, and returned to find it was still the bottom of the 5th inning, and the score was now 10-3. We'd missed another error on what should have been an inning-ending double play, which was immediately followed by a 2-run homer from A-Ram, before the inning mercifully ended.

We watched Ryan Doumit launch a solo home run in the top of the 6th inning, and then in the bottom of the 6th watched Marte walk the bases loaded before I decided to conserve diapers and change the channel. Sure, his reaction to the Pirates' crappy play may have been a coincidence (although certainly appropriate), but there was no sense risking the poor tot more grief. (I should have spared my self the grief of checking the score later last night, but I digress.)

So now the Pirates are 7-11, third-worst in the National League. Despite a league-leading 24 errors and all those extra-inning games, the Pirates now have a ML-worst 5.71 team ERA, and a ML-worst 1.69 WHIP. Stock up on toilet paper and diapers for your kiddos, folks, because it's going to be a looooong year.

don't let the door hit you on the way out, Tracy....

humbucker — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:49:12 -0000

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

most Pirates fans would agree this was a long time coming (almost 2 years, by my count). I hope they replace Tracy with someone competent (Tony Pena would be my preference). for now, let us celebrate this act of competence from our PBC!

Poll

Who's the next Pirates manager?

Tony LaRussa

2 votes

Tony Pena

8 votes

Jeff Cox

0 votes

(someone else)

39 votes

Phil Garner

7 votes

Joe Girardi

11 votes

67 votes | Poll has closed

Matt Capps projections (part 2)

humbucker — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:36:14 -0000

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

Capps was mostly effective last year, although he had as many blown saves as he had wins. He really faded down the stretch, perhaps due to overuse (as a younger player, anyway). I hope he doesn't blow out his arm this year.

I met Brian Giles ...

humbucker — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:28:11 -0000

... 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....

And thanks for the restaurant recommendation, Charlie, but I never did make it out of the 'Tourist Central' downtown area. But for a 'business' trip, San Diego was really nice, and my wife and I will have to return as tourists sometime.

Poll

Which cardboard cutouts of famous people have you met?

Paul Stanley (Kiss)

0 votes

Jimi Hendrix

1 votes

(other)

0 votes

Terry Bradshaw

1 votes

Angelina Jolie (as Lara Croft)

1 votes

Dimebag Darrell (Pantera)

0 votes

Mario Lemieux

0 votes

Elvis!

0 votes

The Ramones

1 votes

Brian Giles (former Pirate)

1 votes

5 votes | Poll has closed