Pirates Journal

Former Pirates’ third base coach John Russell is expected to be named the next Pirates manager.  Russell lost his job when Lloyd McClendon lost his job a couple of years. ago.  In the meantime, Russell has been the manager for the Phillies’ Triple A affiliate. 

It looks like Russell wasn’t the Pirates first choice.  He was the fall back plan when Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell said he wasn’t interesting.  This was one of those low risk moves the Pirates are used to making and it’s hardly a hot bed where managers are fighting to coach for so sometimes we have to just take what we can get.

I was in college when the Pirates had their last winning season way back when.  Barry Bonds was in a Pirates uniform and they had just rattled off three straight division titles, only to have their World Series hopes dashed by the Braves.  That was fifteen years ago and since then, the Pirates have suffered through fifteen straight losing seasons.  Six of those will have been 90 loss seasons (if they finish with 90 losses this year like they should) and they loss 100 games back in 2001.  It’s been a tough stretch and you hope it’s close to ending.

Tom Gorzellany is one of the team’s bright spots.  He needs one more win for fifteen and 15 more innings to log 200 on the season.  His strikeout numbrs weren’t fantastic, and his WHIP was only okay but he kept runners from crossing the plate.  When you give up just 16 homeruns, that helps too.  Still this is a guy who is legit number two or three guy in a lot of rotations and you hope he’ll develop into an ace down the line.

Adam Laroche has quietly had a solid second half to what looked like was going to be a disappointing season.  His power numbers are down, but an .883 OPS is nothing to scoff at.  And August was by far his best month of the season.  So the jury is still out who got the better end of that trade with the Braves.

Jason Bay’s regression was a bit disconcerting though.  This is a guy who was a stud in the National League and this year, his OPS+ is a pedestrian 92.  It very well could be his first season as a regular where he doesn’t belt 25 homers.

Ian Snell’s meltdown after the All Star break was also of concern.  He’ll lead the team in strikeouts and innings pitched but that one stretch he had in July and August was downright horrible.  Still, I like the idea of a Gorzellany, Snell and Pat Maholm rotation coming into the season in 2008.  If they can get Zach Duke back, all the better.

So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll watch the Pirates and then we’ll have a few months of hope.  It’d be nice to see the Pirates make an offseason move of some import but I’m not holding my breath.  It looks like the first order of business if to find a new GM, and that could determine what direction the Pirates take moving forward.

The trading deadline is coming up, and while the Pirates got fleeced last year, it’ll be interesting to see what happens this year.  The Pirates have some solid markers, but it looks like the front office is so out of touch with reality that a deal probably won’t get done.  The rumored Jack Wilson for Troy Glaus offer was pretty laughable and you wonder if anyone will even want to deal with the Pirates.

There’s a great profile on Jason Bay at Baseball Prospectus.  Good stuff and it’ll give you everything and anything you want to know about the slugging outfield.

In other news at BP, it looks like Ian Snell is making some noise.  It’d be shame if we lost a quality pitcher like Snell so hopefully they’ll do whatever they can to keep him happy.

The Pirates and Reds are duking it out for last place in the Central.  In the meantime, the Pirates have to contend with the Mets.  I’m listening the games, but it’s tough getting into the games too much with yet another losing season.

It’s hard not to be too disappointed with the Pirates.  I mean, they’re not awful, and the pitching is coming around.  And despite being eight games below .500, they’re still within reach of the Brewers at nine games back.  I’m not saying they’ll compete for the division, but at this point in most seasons past, the Pirates have been out of it.

Xavier Nady has to be the team MVP so far this year.  He’s been better then Jason Bay and he leads the team with fourteen homers and 43 runs.  Throw in a .219 batting average and a .504 slugging and it gives Bay a nice complement.

Ronny Paulino has been the biggest disappointment with his .627 OPS.  I know we shouldn’t have expected him to hit .300 again this year but I know I was looking for a bit more from Paulino.  If the Pirates fall out of contention, you’d have to hope they’d see what they’re catching prospects have and maybe give Paulino more of a spell here and there.

Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell have become quite a one-two punch for the Pirates in the rotation and this is the biggest positive of the season.  I give a slight edge to Snell even though he has two fewer wins but Gorzelanny has definitely held his own.  When you throw in Paul Maholm, you have a nice front end of the rotation, now the Pirates just have to figure out what the back end of the rotation is going to look like.

Ian Snell gets the start tonight in the opener against the Braves and the Pirates will face Tim Hudson when they come ot the plate.  John Smoltz is injured so we won’t be seeing him and I’m optimistic, based on the pitching matchups, that the Pirates can take two of three in this series.

The Pirates have won their last two games and three out of their last four to push themselves eight games below .500.  Only in the NL Central would that put a team in contention but the Pirates, despite having another mediocre season, stand just a game and a half back of the second place Cubs and a large but not insurmountable 8 1/2 games back of the first place Brewers.

Freddy Sanchez is starting to heat up.  He won’t give you much power, but that batting average is now on the cusp of .300.  He’s done a great job against left handed pitching (.364/.394/.500) and he’s hitting .345 in June after going .317 May.  And he also gives the Pirates better value as a second baseman.  At third, he’s a slappy but a .300 hitting second baseman is a commodity with or without power.

Jason Bay’s OPS is down exactly 100 points from last year.  While that’s disappointing, you also know he’s going to find his stroke and that might be when the Pirates make their push.  Regardless, at $3.25 million this year, he’s a huge bargain no matter what he does. 

If I had to bet, it’ll be Tom Gorzellany who gets the nod in the All Star game.  He had a couple of rough starts there a week and change ago but he got back on track with a nice one last night.  You can’t complain with a 3.04 ERA and a 7-4 record.  In fact he already has as many wins as the team leader had last year and he could become the first Pirate since Todd Ritchie in 1999 to win 15 games in a season.

The Pirates continue their series with the Mariners and it’ll be Paul Maholm going up against a struggling Jeff Weaver.  I like our chances at winning a third straight game. 

It’s been a few weeks but the internet difficulties that the Baseball Historians network have had that prevented me from posting are through.  The end result is, I get to further report on the mediocrity of our Pirates.

Not that there’s nothing to be happy about.  Jason Bay is putting together another nice season and while he hasn’t found his homerun swing yet, he leads the team in just about everything.  I have a feel once the weather heats up, so will Bay and we’ll see that OPS back up above .900.

Tom Gorzellany has also gotten it done and he’s established himself as the team’s ace.  He leads the team in wins (5), ERA (2.36) and innings pitched (53 1/3) and he’s given up just two homeruns all season.  He’s also been simply awesome against lefties, who have hit just .121 against him.  Ian Snell has also had a nice season although he hasn’t quite gotten the run support.  You can’t argue with the 43 strikeouts in 53 innings though and his ERA is just a touch behind Gorzellany’s.

And there’s some interesting news down on the farm.  Here’s an interesting story about the Pirates two Cuban pitchers and there’s also some news on Neil Walkers transition from catcher to third base. 

And the Pirates are right in the middle of the pack in what’s probably the weakest division in baseball.   After dropping two straight, the Pirates find themselves five games below .500 and quite a ways back of the first place Brewers.  This is an important time of year though.  A nice run would go a long way toward the Pirates playing some meaningful ball well into the summer months while an extended skid means it’s just another year.  Still, you have to like some of the things the Pirates are doing.

The Pirates carried their win over the Dodgers in their finale this weekend into a four game winning streak with three straight wins over the Astros.  The Pirates got some top notch pitching in all three games as the Pirates now find themselves at an even 10-10.

On Tuesday, Paul Maholm won his first game in a very nice outing.  He gave up just three hits and a walk with four strikeouts in a complete game shutout.  Ronny Paulino went two for three and he hit a solo homerun while Jason Bay went three for four with two RBIs in the 3-0 win.

The pitching wasn’t as good in the other two games but it was solid enough.  Yesterday, Salomon Torres blew another save and he gave up two runs in the ninth.  Seven innings later, Adam LaRoche singled home Jack Wilson in the bottom of the sixteenth to win it.  Shawn Chacon threw four innings of shutout relief in extra frames and John Wasdin threw two shutout innings and he picked up the win.  A nice start by Zach Duke (one run in seven innings) was almost wasted.  At the plate, Chris Duffy went three for six and LaRoche finished the game with two RBIs.

The Pirates finished the sweep this afternoon.  Tony Armas had his best start of the season and he gave up one run in five innings while Jonah Bayliss picked up the win with two shutout frames.  Torres was hit hard in the ninth and he gave up two runs before he gave way to John Grabow for the save.

The Pirates look to extend their streak with three games against the Reds this weekend.  It’ll be Ian Snell against Eric Milton tomorrow in the opener.  I like our chances in that one.

The Pirates are sliding fast and they needed a win in their series finale with the Dodgers to just avoid a sweep.  Friday’s game was downright ugly.  Tony Armas, Jr. was hammered for eight runs in just 2 2/3 innings and the Pirates picked up just two runs in the 10-2 loss.  Jack Wilson scored both runs and Jason Bay went two for four.

Saturday’s game was close even if the score doesn’t reflect it.  Ian Snell threw a very nice game and he gave up just two runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts in seven innings of work.  Unfortunately, Salomon Torres blew another save and gave up a run in the ninth and then Shawn Chacon gave up a game ending grand slam in the tenth inning as the Pirates lost 7-3.  Jack Wilson had three more hits and he both scored and drove in a run.

Tom Gorzelanny came to the rescue yesterday and he improved to 3-o with a solid outing.  He gave up three runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts in six innings of work.  This time Torres shut down the Dodgers and he picked up his sixth save and Chris Duffy had a big game.  He went three for five with three runs and Adam LaRoche hit a solo homerun in the 7-5 win.

The Pirates have tomorrow off and then the Astros roll into town.  Paul Maholm gets the start in the series opener.

The Pirates dropped both games of their two game series with the Brewers and in each of the games, Pirates pitching gave up seven runs.  In the opener, Paul Maholm was hammered and he gave up five runs on ten hits with three strikeouts in six innings.  The loss dropped his record to 0-2 on the season.  Jason Bay was the hitting star in the 7-3 loss. He went three for three with a walk, a run and an RBI.

In today’s game, the hitters did their job but Zach Duke took it on the chin. He gave up seven runs on eleven hits and a walk in four innings and the loss dropped him to 1-2.  Xavier Nady provided most of the offense in the 7-5 loss.  He went three for four with a homerun, three RBIs and two runs.

Next up is a tough three game series against the team with the best record in baseball.  Tony Armas will throw in the opener and the Dodgers will throw Randy Wolf.  You wonder if .500 is going to be a distant memory after this series.

Huh, maybe that time off did the Pirates some good.  They hit the road and took both games in their series against the Cardinals.  They got some very good pitching and the end result is a .500 record.  They even passed the Cardinals in the process.

Yesterday, it was Ian Snell who threw a good game.  He threw seven solid innings to pick up his first win of the season. He gave up one run on three hits and four walks with six strikeouts.  Salomon Torres picked up the save with a shutout ninth and he ended a pretty tough stretch.  Xavier Nady had the bit hit with a two run single and Jason Bay drew a bases loaded walk to account for the Pirates three runs in the 3-2.

Tom Gorzelanny was even better today.  He pitched 8 1/3 and he held the Cards to just a single run on four hits.  He walked three and struck out two in the 6-1 win.  Adam LaRoche had the big hit of the game.  His three run homer put the Pirates up comfortablely 5-0.  Jack Wilson had two hits and he scored twice in the win.

Next up is a two game series against the Brewers.  Paul Maholm gets the start and hopefully he can get back on track tomorrow.