Jake

From today's PG http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06058/661861.stm

Bullington had offseason surgery. He's expected back in AAA by Late June/early July. Porbably out of the majors for the year. Van B was a little stiff. He hasn't thrown off the mound yet.

I just came in to see if anyone posted this yet. Fortunately, we have depth? :? We had three guys battling for the #5 spot. Now. they're battling for 4 & 5. Not a good sign. And Sean Burnett seems to be inserting himself into the battle. So, he wins the 4th spot, and Tom Gorrezelany (sp?) comes out of nowhere and wins the fifth spot!! And all left Starting rotation! :-:

To be fair, I forgot Dunn was moving to 1B. To be fair, I didn't care that he was moving to first. :P I think you do care. But, you don't want to admit it.

Finally! Some love for the Pirates! :-) Picking Duke over Sheets and Oswalt. Seriously? Sheets? Yes. Oswalt, Maybe. I like this guy better than Ollie. He just wins. :-)

Finally! Some love for the Pirates! :-)

Seriously...what's not to like? I'd take a 961 OPS in full season #2 from anyone in our organization, especially if that followed a 908 OPS in full season #1. My concerns with Jason Bay, ultimately, boil down to him striking out so awfully often (300 times in 1286 PA career). The only reason that this so far hasn't been a concern for his average (.295 career) is because he's managed to amass a ridiculous number of hits on balls in play (.351 average on balls in play career). I'm sceptical as to whether that can possibly last. High average on balls in play hitters tend to be, in order of significance, prone to hitting lots of line drives, fast enough to beat out significant numbers of infield hits and/or big time power hitters. Certain ballparks can also make a very big difference. Now Bay doesn't hit a lot of line drives (.222 last year versus a major league average of about .205, but .174 in 2004), he's not a speedster, and though he does hit for power, that doesn't really explain how he's pretty much managed to outhit all of baseball in the average on balls in play category over the last two years. He plays in a park that at least on the face of it is pretty normal, although I guess that's worth checking out. So, I guess it's possible then that Jason Bay has some special innate skill that's extremely rare, which means that he's actually a lot better even than any of you are giving him credit for (and by that I mean we're talking about the best outfielder in all of baseball period, at least if he's able to stick in centre field). Or perhaps he's heading for something of a fall. Well, not so much a fall as a re-adjustment, because he'd still probably be hitting something like .260/.340/.500, which is pretty good all the same. So it's just I'm wary of the guy, because I think the dropoff is more likely. It always is. First, I have to say, I'm impressed with your statistical knowledge. Jason Bay has been getting a lot of hits these past two years becuase he's been getting hits, as opposed to beating out hits. (Does this make sense?) Yes, a lot of them, from my memory, have been line drives. Don't forget the 32 HRs, either. Legitimate Hits. Hitting 'em where they ain't. And, I see him striking out less this year. Why? Better hitters behind him. Sean Casey over Daryl Ward. Jeromy Burnitz over Ryan Doumit (Who moves down to 6th or 7th) , Joe Randa over Whoever was healthy enough to play RF. (Yes, I know he's supplanting Sanchez in the field, but Sanchez was a lead off hitter. This is about batting order.) On another note, Jack Wilson is the best fielding SS in the National League. And, I think a .280-.290 AVG for the year is within reason. :-)

He's why we traded Mack-O-Whack. He'll fill the role of super-sub for us. Plays the entire field (OK, he doesn't catch.) He has to make the team first, of course.

When PNC Park was going up, I was working right there, either in the towers just to the north, with a great view of the stadium, or on block to the east, where we'd walk over every day to watch. It's fun having a new stadium go up! :-)

By mid season, Zack Duke will have pitched his way on to everyone's list. I think those listing bench players should list bench players, and not starters who didn't make the original list. More fun that way.

Not here. There was almost a stunned reaction to the game here. Look for me at the park! I'll be there as often as I can, including, hopefully, Opening day!

Fire & Ice: I'd love to See Zambrano Vs. Duke! Or Fight Fire with Fire: Zambrano Vs. Ollie (Or there is the medical game: Wood or Prior V. Wells. First pitcher on the DL wins. )

Welcome to the small minority of people who are actually moving here, as opposed to away from here! You'll be a Pirates fan before you know it. And Stillers, and 'Guins. There's something in the water. You won't be able to help it! I know you already have a terrible towel. It was mandatory that you had to buy one. :lol:

I hope to make it to Wrigley this year. I tried last year. The gam Zach Duke pitched Vs. Maddox. I tried to buy tickets outside the stadium, but they were starting at $60 for single seats. As I needed three tickets and didn't have $200 on me, we didn't go. This year, I'll try to get tickets first. :lol:

If you hit Southwest at the right time, they have some rediculously low fares. (I'm flying to Chicago tomorrw to go to the auto show and have a great steak.) Drop me an email when you're coming. Maybe we can meet up for a beer.

We may be in the running for the first draft pick every year, but we do this in the the best [expletive] park in the Major Leagues. The seats are close to the field. The view of Dahntahn (To use the local parlance) is spectacular. There is nothing (besides the local team) to not like about the stadium.

No, I just can't do it. I won't get my hopes up. I'll still go to about 10 games. I'll take my daughter, who's just about to turn 5, to her sixth season of baseball games. I'll root, root, root for the home team. But, I'm just not getting my hopes up this year. Been let down a few too many times...

Here's the thing though. However good his minor league record was, and however fast his fastball was, he was NOT looking like a major league pitcher. He needed to learn how to get major league hitters out, which he couldn't do. He had the stuff to get past guys who weren't going to make it. That's one of the reasons he was even brought north in 2004. There was a quote by McClendon about how he knew how to get out minor leageu hitters, but the only way he'll learn about the Majors is to pitch up here. Something of an admission that he didn't make the team but they were taking him north anyway. And, last year, it wasn't just that he was out of shape, although that certainly accounts for at least 80% of the problem. He lapsed into his old form, his old problems, his old mistakes. Patterns that will get you a .286 ERA in the minors but will get you pummelled in the majors. Sorry, but I'm not entirely sold yet on Ollie. On a team that loses 95 games, it's hard to call someone untouchable. Zach Duke is our most untouchable, with Bay second. Ollie is third. No way I'd trade him unless I'm overwhelmed. But, I don't offer him an extended contract like Jason Bay received. Oh, Kip Wells goes for the first decent offer. Too many good pitchers waiting in the wings. But, I still think he's going to be a very good major league pitcher. And, at 29, he should have 5 more good years at least.

Our starting center fielder, lead off batter is hardly underutilized. The Cubs played Walker at 2B last year, and hit him near the top of the order, yet he appears on the list because the organization doesn't value him. Murton made a Cards fan's list and he's our starting LF. Suffice it to say we value him rather highly right now.

My understanding is that Kip Wells has never been a young lefty with Randy Johnson stuff and ridiculous strikeout numbers, and probably never will be. Really, not the point. What is a fielding independant ERA? I'm not familiar with that one. And, his career ERA is lower than Ollie's. No, it's once he lears to harness his fastball. By his own admission, he doesn't know where it's going 1/2 the time. But, that's not really the point. While one can't take away last year, take away the year before when he was hurt. He's a pretty damn good pitcher. He's not a Randy Johnson type pitcher (There seems to be only two of them, only one of them seems destined for the hall of fame.) But, this still belies (sp?) my point. Ollie has only had one really good year. Yes, his upside is higher than Kips today. Yet, Kip has had more success. And, on a decent team, I'd suspect he'd have even more success. Which, we'll know for sure comes 2007.

Our starting center fielder, lead off batter is hardly underutilized.

It's interesting to see Oliver Perez's name here. Now, I am by no means saying I want the Pirates to trade him, or even entertain offers for him. But, the guy had one good season, and it wasn't last year. He has a career ERA > 5, including his one good year. Incidentally, in that very good year, I thought he should not have made the major league team, based on how he pitched in spring training that year. And, it's not like he did much before that to warrant a spring training mulligan. Interestingly enough, The year before Ollie had his good year, Kip Wells had a fantastic year. He had the sixth best ERA in the NL. Although his record was something like 10-12, the bullpen blew at least 7 games of his. He easily could have been 15-9 or so that year. He was hurt much of the year after. Last year was a disaster for him. So, basically what I'm saying here, is Kip has done more in the majors than Ollie, yet no one here has mentioned him. On a side note, if Mack-O-Whack was still a Bucco, how many of you would want him?

We already have Jason Bay there. Maybe we could put him in Right field, though. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I saw the Mets/Reds game reffered to here (On TV, I wasn't there.) The two pitchers did switch positions as needed. One memory I have of that game, though, is the pitchers not playing the same outfield position. I'll have to check the box score, maybe that will jog my memory a bit. But, one pitcher would go to left field, the other to right, and Mookie Wilson would move back and fourth. This was 16+ years ago, please don't get on me if I don't remember it exactly. EDIT: Looked up who the outfielder was! :-)

For which team is pitching not the key? Hell, if the first four pirates pitchers pitch as well as everyone expects, we'll win the division. It may be a lot of 1-0 games, but we can still win them. If Kip pitches like 2003. If Ollie pitches like 2004. If Zach pitches like he did in his short 2005. If Maholom pitches like he did in his short 2005. Then, we'll win the division. Whatever.