When will the madness stop? Do you believe the Pirates traded Nyjer Morgan? and Sean Burnett? and Eric Hinske? Well, yeah, I believe Hinske. I can see Morgan, too. Can't Figure Burnett though. I'd say he was just part of the trade the Nationals insisted on. The Nats gave up a pitcher too, though, in Joel Hanrahan.
Here's my breakdown of the trades:
If we could have gotten a six pack for Hinske I would have been happy. He's played very little and been ineffective for the most part when he has played. Possibly the Pirates signed him this year because he played mostly in the AL in the past and they wanted him to DH against the AL in their parks. Since that part of their schedule is over they have plenty of outfielders even without Mr. Craig "I'll take my time getting to first base" Munroe. They've got Jose Tabata on the way and Steve Pearce as a short term fill in. I like Steve " Please trade Adam LaRoche" Pearce and I hope he can go on a home run tear. The Pirates need them.
What they got back from the Nationals was Lastings Milledge. He is young and was a top prospect of the Mets not too long ago. He has potential home run power but possibly potential attitude problems. Maybe another change of scenery will cure that. Also, some veteran guidance in Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez and Adam LaRoche for as long as they last.
What they lost to the Nationals was Nyjer Morgan. He had a surprisingly good start this year. Played at the end of last year and played well, but Pirates fans know the stories of Center fielders that play well for short periods and then disappear. Where have you gone Tike Redman and Midre Cummings among others. Nyjer started the season like a house of fire and continued to play well, but the batting average dropped into the .270s from his torrid .300+ start. He was a speed demon, but he did manage to get caught 8 times. Seems like a lot to me. The problem is we already have a very promising center fielder and like I mentioned we need some power. Morgan, as far as I can tell was liked by his teammates and he and McCutcheon seemed to have some chemistry in the outfield, playing in the minors together for a while. So, let's hope that Milledge will give us another 20 HR hitter. Wait and See. Hanrahan has been a good reliever for the Nats, maybe they were looking for a starting pitcher. Burnett has been a pleasant surpise so far this year and maybe they plan to convert him back to a starter. Kinda stinks because they did develop him and suffered through a year layoff during the Pirates "Tommy John surgery era" where all the starting pitchers they drafted missed a year because of surgeries.
As for the Hinske trade, a outfielder/catcher and minor league pitcher. If they breathe I'd take them for Hinske. He might have been a good guy, but not a core player.
Til tomorrow.
I already mentioned a few names from the past ala Midre Cummings and Tike. My friend Craig, not Munroe, mentioned another name Sixto Lezcano. It's always fun to remember players from the past with good names even if they weren't particularly good players. Here's one I thought of, Benny Distefano. Where are you Benny D.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
#2
Hey, everyone. Oh, nobody's checked out the blog yet.
More thoughts to think of....
Tough loss for ZD tonight. I am so happy that Zach is pitching the way he did in his rookie year. I think all of us have been waiting for him to do it like he did the first year. Everything I've read said that he would never be a dominant pitcher. I saw that first year and wondered where that pitcher went. It sounds like he finally decided to bust his butt over the offseason and it paid off. I'm not convinced that if Jim Tracy and his pitching coach, the name escapes me right now, hadn't messed with him after that first season he would have continued to be effective instead of what happened next. Then again he could have been injured and been out for a season without the changes. It's all history right now.
Anybody see that Detroit is all but giving up reupping Hoser, I mean Hossa. I guess he thinks he can find a team that has a better chance of winning than the Pens and Dead Wings.
Got an email from the NFL store the other day. They have a very cool t-shirt with dual championship info on them. Very Neat, little pricey for a t-shirt, but I'd love to have it.
http://www.nflshop.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3692054&sr=1&origkw=3692054
That's it for tonight, stay tuned for more Steel City musings.
More thoughts to think of....
Tough loss for ZD tonight. I am so happy that Zach is pitching the way he did in his rookie year. I think all of us have been waiting for him to do it like he did the first year. Everything I've read said that he would never be a dominant pitcher. I saw that first year and wondered where that pitcher went. It sounds like he finally decided to bust his butt over the offseason and it paid off. I'm not convinced that if Jim Tracy and his pitching coach, the name escapes me right now, hadn't messed with him after that first season he would have continued to be effective instead of what happened next. Then again he could have been injured and been out for a season without the changes. It's all history right now.
Anybody see that Detroit is all but giving up reupping Hoser, I mean Hossa. I guess he thinks he can find a team that has a better chance of winning than the Pens and Dead Wings.
Got an email from the NFL store the other day. They have a very cool t-shirt with dual championship info on them. Very Neat, little pricey for a t-shirt, but I'd love to have it.
http://www.nflshop.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3692054&sr=1&origkw=3692054
That's it for tonight, stay tuned for more Steel City musings.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Will the real Pirates Please Stand Up
Geez, well. Who would have believed after 75 games the Pirates would be only 5 games out and only 5 games under .500 without Nate to boot. That's a few 5's for you.
Trivia question: who currently wears number 5 for the bucs or who was the last one to wear number 5.
Answer: Ramon Vazquez.
Don't blame you if you don't know that one. He's not your household name. Here's one that is in Pirates fans homes. Number 55, Matt Capps, a real fan favorite and one of the best closers in the league that noone outside of Pittsburgh and players he routinely gets out know about.
This is my inaugural post in the Pittsburgh sports buzz blog. This is something I have always wanted to do. Write about the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. Teams I've loved since I was a kid.
I'll slip in some Panther info here and there but sorry Pitt fans, I may also slip in some Mountaineer info too.
...Back to the Buccos now.
It's too bad they couldn't pull out the game against the Greinkinator today, but they did play up to the high standards they've set against some of the better arms in the league in 2009. Greinke and his sub 2 era is a tough win for any team. The Pirates made it close and managed the winning record against the AL for the season. That's a good thing even though the competition wasn't as tough as in some of the previous years.
...Anyone else impressed with Virgil Vasquez' start yesterday. I love Ian Snell (except for the automatic L everytime he pitched) but don't you think the team would have another 3 or 4 wins if you had Vasquez pitching like he did yesterday instead of Ian. Mr. Snell did have 7 or 8 Ls. If Virg had won 1/3 of those the Pirates would only be 3 or 2 games under. We'll wait another 4 or 5 starts to see if he really is the pitcher that showed up yesterday. Everybody knows that other teams start getting film on a pitcher and get a book on him after each start in the bigs. His 4+ era in AAA and the fact 3 other teams didn't want him before the season doesn't bode well for his future, but he did have a good game yesterday. Will the real VV please stand up. I like the joke his AAA manager pulled on him before telling him he was going to the big club. In his last inning he pitched he fielded a ball and underhanded to the first baseman. Upon arriving at the dugout the manager said "We don't underhand it here Virg, you're out." The pitching coach let him in on the joke.
...It was good to see Maholm finally get another win. I, along with everyone else thought he was going to be number one in the starting rotation. He is still that, but the number 2, Snell is in AAA now and number 3, ZD, has more wins than number 1, so I think I put ZD in the number one spot, hope he keeps up the solid first half. Speaking of starting pitchers, where is Phil Dumatrait. I had no idea he was going to be out the whole first half of the season. May be the last we see of him unless he's able to find a way back to the club in the bullpen. With all these trades there are starters coming out of Neal Huntington's ears. Hopefully 5 of them either with the big team or AAA, or somewhere else (Brad Lincoln) will stand out. I am happy with the 5 minus 1 (Sn___) that we have now. Karstens wasn't great but he has some potential.
...Where are you hiding Donnie Veal, how long can the Pirates keep him on that rehab assignment. Not much longer, which means they return him(not likely) or another pitcher that is useful in the big leagues will probably get sent down and they'll be short one arm.
That's about it for my inaugural post... stay tuned Burgh fans. Any ideas for a nickname for this team seaking the .501 line to avoid the record.
BTW.. saw that the Nationals were inquiring about Nyjer Morgan. It's been nice to have all that speed in the outfield. But, as we know this management team doesn't shy away from trades and NM is 29 and hasn't had a full season of success in the big leagues. Wait and see.
Trivia question: who currently wears number 5 for the bucs or who was the last one to wear number 5.
Answer: Ramon Vazquez.
Don't blame you if you don't know that one. He's not your household name. Here's one that is in Pirates fans homes. Number 55, Matt Capps, a real fan favorite and one of the best closers in the league that noone outside of Pittsburgh and players he routinely gets out know about.
This is my inaugural post in the Pittsburgh sports buzz blog. This is something I have always wanted to do. Write about the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. Teams I've loved since I was a kid.
I'll slip in some Panther info here and there but sorry Pitt fans, I may also slip in some Mountaineer info too.
...Back to the Buccos now.
It's too bad they couldn't pull out the game against the Greinkinator today, but they did play up to the high standards they've set against some of the better arms in the league in 2009. Greinke and his sub 2 era is a tough win for any team. The Pirates made it close and managed the winning record against the AL for the season. That's a good thing even though the competition wasn't as tough as in some of the previous years.
...Anyone else impressed with Virgil Vasquez' start yesterday. I love Ian Snell (except for the automatic L everytime he pitched) but don't you think the team would have another 3 or 4 wins if you had Vasquez pitching like he did yesterday instead of Ian. Mr. Snell did have 7 or 8 Ls. If Virg had won 1/3 of those the Pirates would only be 3 or 2 games under. We'll wait another 4 or 5 starts to see if he really is the pitcher that showed up yesterday. Everybody knows that other teams start getting film on a pitcher and get a book on him after each start in the bigs. His 4+ era in AAA and the fact 3 other teams didn't want him before the season doesn't bode well for his future, but he did have a good game yesterday. Will the real VV please stand up. I like the joke his AAA manager pulled on him before telling him he was going to the big club. In his last inning he pitched he fielded a ball and underhanded to the first baseman. Upon arriving at the dugout the manager said "We don't underhand it here Virg, you're out." The pitching coach let him in on the joke.
...It was good to see Maholm finally get another win. I, along with everyone else thought he was going to be number one in the starting rotation. He is still that, but the number 2, Snell is in AAA now and number 3, ZD, has more wins than number 1, so I think I put ZD in the number one spot, hope he keeps up the solid first half. Speaking of starting pitchers, where is Phil Dumatrait. I had no idea he was going to be out the whole first half of the season. May be the last we see of him unless he's able to find a way back to the club in the bullpen. With all these trades there are starters coming out of Neal Huntington's ears. Hopefully 5 of them either with the big team or AAA, or somewhere else (Brad Lincoln) will stand out. I am happy with the 5 minus 1 (Sn___) that we have now. Karstens wasn't great but he has some potential.
...Where are you hiding Donnie Veal, how long can the Pirates keep him on that rehab assignment. Not much longer, which means they return him(not likely) or another pitcher that is useful in the big leagues will probably get sent down and they'll be short one arm.
That's about it for my inaugural post... stay tuned Burgh fans. Any ideas for a nickname for this team seaking the .501 line to avoid the record.
BTW.. saw that the Nationals were inquiring about Nyjer Morgan. It's been nice to have all that speed in the outfield. But, as we know this management team doesn't shy away from trades and NM is 29 and hasn't had a full season of success in the big leagues. Wait and see.
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