The Pirates Make Some Moves

The Pirates have been relatively quiet in this off-season, but that changed just a little bit yesterday, which gives me an excuse to write about them as the snow falls in McCandless, PA.

The biggest news, and it should come as no surprise, was the release of 1B/RF Garrett Jones.

The career year that Jones had in 2012 was followed by a mediocre one in 2013, and when you combine that with the fact that he is headed for arbitration for the second time this winter, well, as I said, no surprise.  In his five seasons with the Bucs, Jones produced 102 HR, 330 RBI, hit .254, and had a .774 OPS.  A left-handed hitter, he is the quintessential platoon player, and the Pirates will not pay over $5 million for that.  I have no doubt that he will catch on with some team and that he will probably do well, if he is used properly.

He was also quite popular, and appeared to be a Good Guy.  Thanks for you time here, Garrett, and all Pirates fans no doubt wish you well

The Pirates also made a trade of minor leaguers with the Padres yesterday, sending Alex Dickerson to San Diego in exchange for OF Jaff (pronounced "Jeff") Decker and P Miles Mikolas.  I know that some viewed Dickerson as a possible "first baseman of the future" and Decker has some good minor league numbers, and Mikolas seems ordinary at best.  Who knows?

On the A.J. Burnett front, nothing seems to be happening.  The Pirates have made it clear that they will not / cannot pay market value ($28 Million for two years) for the 36 year old A.J. Burnett, and Burnett hasn't changed from his Pirates-or-Retire stance, but you can be sure that his agent is trolling and no doubt some team is going to make him that market value offer. Then we'll see how sincere Burnett has been.  At the SABR meeting last week, Clint Hurdle made it clear that the Pirates need a decision from Burnett one way or another soon or they will need to move on. Stay tuned.

The Post-Gazette today listed those remaining Pirates who will be eligible for salary arbitration: Gaby Sanchez, Charlie Morton, Neil Walker, Mark Melancon, Vin Mazzaro, Travis Snider, Mike McKenry, and Pedro Alvarez.  Should be some interesting figures bandied about over these guys.  I am guessing that Alvarez will no doubt set a record for an arbitration award where the Pirates are concerned, and it will be interesting to see if the team will try to avoid arbitration with Walker by seeking to sign him to a multi-year deal.  If they do not, it will speak volumes, I believe.

The Pirates have the same questions hovering over them this off-season as they did last year, namely, first base, right field, and to a lesser extent, short stop, although I believe that Jordy Mercer has earned the job there for 2014.  Not everyone agrees.  It looks like they will seek a lefthanded hitting first baseman (who comes cheaper than Jones) to platoon with Sanchez, and that right field will still be up for grabs with Jose Tabata first among equals at this point. However, in his blog this morning, Bob Smizik raises an intriguing question about a free agent currently on the market - Carlos Beltran, and he makes a compelling argument.  Read on:

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/smizik-on-sports/2013/11/26/In-right-field-for-Pirates-Why-not-Beltran/stories/201311260120

Some good stuff to toss into the Hot Stove as you prepare to stuff the Thanksgiving Turkey. Have a great holiday, everybody!

It's Over!

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about - the streak, or, rather, The Streak, the twenty year Longest-Losing-Streak-in-the-History-of-Professional-Sports-in-North-America, is now, finally, officially over. With the Pirates' 1-0 victory over the Texas Rangers last night, The Streak has now been relegated to ignominious history.

  

And how about that game. The pitching match-up between Texas' Yu Darvish and the Bucs' Gerrit Cole was one for the ages (or it would be if this game had taken place in, say, the World Series, or a Sunday Night ESPN Yankees-Red Sox game).  Darvish was almost unhittable, allowing only one hit in the first six innings, but Cole matched him....

....and gave Pirates fans a glimpse as to why he was selected #1 overall in the 2011 Draft. He was magnificent in his start last night, and what you saw makes you almost giddy with excitement as to what he might have in store for the Pirates and their fans in the years ahead.

And how about that other #1 pick, Pedro Alvarez going to the opposite field for a double that drove in the Pirates only run and won the game against Darvish and the Rangers.

More importantly, the win ended a four game losing streak and brought the Pirates within one game of the first place Cardinals, and put them a game ahead of the third place Reds.

In the post game interview on TV, Andrew McCutchen said all the right things about understanding what the 82nd win means to the fans, but that there are bigger goals to be reached, and on and on, but look at his face and the faces of his fellow outfielders at the top if this post.  You can't tell me that this game was just another win for the team.

Now, let's win 12 or 13 (or even 10 or 11) of the nineteen games left and have a deep run into October!

We need not refer to The Streak ever again, except as we might talk about some ne'er-do-well member of the family tree who is now deceased.  And with that in mind, a word about Sid Bream and Barry Bonds....

It is one of those unimportant things in life that has bothered me, like a stone in your shoe, that people, especially this summer as it became fairly clear that the team would have a winning season, to refer to "The Curse of Sid Bream" or "The Curse of Barry Bonds" because of Game Seven of the 1992 NLCS.  Can we please stop with that?  Sid Bream was a solid if unspectacular ball player, whose career included six fairly solid seasons with the Pirates, I might add, who was just doing his job that night.  Bonds was the Pirates best player and the NL MVP in 1992, whose throw to the plate was not quite perfect.  It happens.

There are lots of reasons not to like Barry Bonds, but that throw to the plate that didn't quite get Bream isn't one of them.  And there are lots of reason to like Bream, who has chosen to live in the Pittsburgh area long after his playing career has ended.  Neither Bream nor Bonds "caused" the twenty year losing streak.  Twenty years of lousy players, and lousier management decisions, caused The Streak.  Non-existent "curses" did not.

The Lost Weekend

If you are a fan of classic old movies, you will know that the above is a picture of Ray Milland in his Oscar winning role in 1945's "The Lost Weekend".  I felt that there was no better metaphor than this for what Pittsburgh sports fans experienced this weekend.  As a matter of fact, I mixed myself a high ball after the final whistle blew at Heinz Field this afternoon.

First, the Pirates.

A sweep completed by the Cardinals today extends the team's losing streak to four, and they face the unpleasant task of having to beat Yu Darvish in Texas tomorrow night.  To make it even worse, the Cardinals laid waste to the Bucs' three best pitchers this weekend, Francisco Liriano, AJ Burnett, and Charlie Morton.  It also seemed that every time you looked, the Cardinals were doing the little things - going with the pitch and hitting to the opposite field or getting the opportunistic sacrifice fly - that the Pirates have been unable to do all season.  

A few weeks back, someone asked me who I thought would would ultimately win the NL Central, and my answer was the Cardinals.  They certainly were a better team, and a much better team at that, than the Pirates this weekend.  I still feel that the Pirates will make the play-offs, and that will mean that this season will have been an unqualified success, but unless they turn things around beginning in Arlington tomorrow night, it will begin with that one game crap shoot of a wild card playoff.

On the home front, however, the Steelers did all in their power to take the attention away from the Pirates' woes by putting forth one of the worst efforts of a Steeler team in recent memory.  In a word, they stunk today, and I'd hate to think what it would have been like if they were playing a really good team like Denver or San Francisco instead of the Tennessee Titans.

I won't recite play-by-rancid-play, but I have to say a word about the running backs.  Two seasons ago, King Art II decreed that the team was going to return to "Steeler football" and emphasize a strong ground game, and they fired Bruce Ariens and brought in Todd Haley to put such a ground game in place.  The results last year were awful, and this year, it is shaping up to be more of the same.  Why is Isaac Redmon the feature back in this offense? He has never shown anything to merit this, and today, with the Steelers driving for a first quarter TD, he fumbles into the end zone and costs the team the chance to go ahead 9-0. Who knows how the course of the game might have been affected had the team scored at that point?  We can only hope that Le'Veon Bell's foot injury heals and he can get on the field for the Steelers soon.  He's got to be better than what they are running out there now.

Oh, and to make it really bad, Maurkice Pouncy gets hurt four minutes into the game with what appears to be a season ending injury. 

It is shaping up to be a very long season at Heinz Field in 2013.

Justin Morneau Is a Pirate

Here is what yesterday's Pirate trade for Justin Morneau - and the trade earlier in the week for Marlon Byrd and John Buck - means.  

It means....

• ...that the Front Office has lived up on it's promise to do what needs to be done once all of the building blocks were put in place in the franchise infrastructure
• ...that Bob Nutting opened up his wallet and spent money, significant money in the case of Morneau, to put the pieces in place for a serious post-season run
• ...that maybe, just maybe, Neal Huntington has been right all along in his "plan" to make the Pirates a contender (and regular readers know that The Grandstander has been a huge NHR critic in the past)
• ... that in terms of the 2013 season, Nutting, Coonelly, and Huntington have done their jobs
• ...that the Front Office has given Clint Hurdle, to the largest extent possible, the tools he needs to succeed
• ...that it is now up to the players on the field to finish the job

So, I would suggest that everyone quit bitching about the timing of these trades ("should have done it on July 31") and just enjoy these last 28 games of the season.  Wait until the World Series is over to fire up the Hot Stove and put Nutting, Coonelly, Huntington, and Hurdle on the griddle.

Right now, there is a pennant race to enjoy. 

Some Pirates Talk....

Some Pirates thoughts while awaiting the rubber match of the Cardinals series to begin.....

• Tuesday night's 4-3 fourteen inning loss was gut-wrenching, agonizing, aggravating, pressure packed, and ulcer-inducing.  Myself, I could not settle myself down to fall asleep for at least an hour after it was over.  But isn't this exactly what we have all been hoping for for the last twenty seasons?
• Lost amid the tumult and shouting over the Tuesday loss was the fact that Charlie Morton turned in a pretty nice pitching performance for the Pirates.  That is a good sign for the stretch run.
• If you are among those who accused Starling Marte of "hot dogging" and "showboating" when he dropped that fly ball on Tuesday because he didn't use both hands, will you also agree that every other outfielder in MLB hot dogs and showboats on every routine fly ball hit to them these days?  If you won't do that, then you haven't been watching very closely.
• That said, it sometimes drives me crazy to see guys making one handed catches.  I was taught to use both hands to catch a ball and that is how I played the game.  On the other hand, the highest level of organized ball I ever reached was intramural softball in high school.  I think that these guys are just a tad better than that.
• I learned long ago from a pretty good teacher - my Dad - that you can't fault a guy for making a physical error.  It happens.  The mental error made by Andrew McCutchen by staying on third base on that grounder in extra innings was a far more grievous sin that Marte's dropped fly ball.
• I also said on Facebook yesterday that we would learn a lot about the Pirates' make up by how they responded to that Tuesday loss.  Well, it was only one game, but Pedro Alvarez, Garrett Jones, and, especially, Starling Marte and Francisco Liriano sure responded in a positive fashion last night, didn't they?
• The Pirates could lose today's game, but they will still leave St. Louis with a two game lead, and a win would put them four ahead of the Cards.  Not too bad for August 15, I'd say.
• Bloggin' Bob Smizik points out today that the Pirates have strong, if not leading, candidates for MVP, Cy Young, Manager of the Year, and Executive of the Year Awards for 2013.  
• Let's give the Other Side a shout here, particularly, Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright. On Tuesday night, he gave up three runs on 50 pitches in the first two innings, started the third inning by walking McCutchen and going to a 2-0 count on Alvarez.  HE was as on the ropes as any pitcher could have been.  He then induced Alvarez to hit into that 1-6-3 DP, and it was like a switch got turned.  After that he proceeded to pitch seven innings, throw over 120 pitches, put a lot of men on base, but gave up NO RUNS after that, and kept his team in the game.  For those of you who long for Old School, Big Time pitching performances, that was one right there.

And now, let's take a look at some random Pirates Prospects to date....

• Stetson Allie of the West Virginia Power:  244 AB / .324 BA / 42 R / 17 HR / 61 RBI / 1.021 OPS
• Stetson Allie of the Bradenton Marauders: 177 AB / .226 BA / 23 R / 3 HR / 18 RBI / .702 OPS
• Big difference in pitching when you go from Low Class A to High Class A, it seems.
• Josh Bell at West Virginia: 407 AB / .290 BA / 71 R / 11 HR / 72 RBI / .826 OPS
• Pitcher Tyler Glasnow, West Virginia: 8-3, 2.50 ERA, 140 K, 51 BB, 97.1 IP
• Pitcher Luis Heredia, West Virginia: 4-3, 3.18 ERA, 34 K, 22 BB, 45.1 IP

And how about the Pirates two first round draft picks of 2013, now playing for the Gulf Coast League Pirates?

Reese McGuire: 129 AB / .326 BA / 22 R / 0 HR / 17 RBI / .781 OPS

Austin Meadows: 121 AB / .314 BA / 21 R / 3 HR / 14 RBI / .923 OPS

Now, the Gulf Coast League is a long, long, long way from the Major Leagues, but it looks like McGuire and Meadows are off to a nice start in their professional careers.

OK, let's all cheer on a win for the team in St' Louis this afternoon and set the goal of winning individual series from here on in.

Let's Go Bucs!                                           

17 Over

With last night's victory over Seattle, the Pirates are now 47-30, one game behind the Cardinals in the NL Central, a whopping eight and one-half games ahead in the wild card race, have the second best record in ALL OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, and have now exceeded last season;s high water mark of sixteen over .500.  Lots to be happy about, although the doom spreaders are still out there (and not without reason given the Pirates recent history), but what the hell, let's ignore the doom spreaders for a moment, and speculate on what the record might be when the All-Star break arrives in two weeks.  Let's just say that 20 games over .500 would be a nice round number.  Can they do it?

Let's assume the worst and figure that the Bucs current five game winning streak will end today at the hands of King Felix in Seattle.  Not unreasonable, and perfectly forgivable.  That would put them at 16 over .500 with 15 games to play before the break.  Those 15 games come against teams - Brewers, Phillies, Cubs, Athletics, and Mets - with a combined record of 175-205 (.460).  Only one of those teams, the A's has a winning record.  To hit that +20 mark, the Bucs would have to go 10-5 in these 15 games.  Even against poor competition, that is asking a lot.  However, should they go 9-7 in that stretch, the exact pace on which they are playing for the season, that would put them at 56-37, or nineteen games over.  I'll take it.

Also, while 10-5 may be asking a lot, a break even of 8-7 is not asking too much and would make them 55-38, seventeen over and one over last season's high water mark.  I'll take that, too.

In any event, it is a fun little interim race-within-a-race that we can watch.

******

Since we're talking about the Pirates here, let me address a topic that has been raging since Sunday, when GM Neal floated the possibility on his weekly radio show that Gerrit Cole might be returned to Indianapolis when Wandy Rodriguez and/or A.J. Burnett return from the disabled list.  Yes, this is the Gerrit Cole who is 3-0 with a 3.44 ERA and an 8:1 K:BB ratio, and who looked like a right handed Steve Carlton in his start against the Angels last Friday.  Let's assume that Huntington has more baseball acumen than any of us and that Cole does indeed need to "work on a few things" in the minors.  That may rile me up, but I guess I can live with it.  Here's the real part of Huntington's comments that really fries my eggs.  He stated that such a demotion would have "nothing to do with" Cole's service time and attainment of Super 2 status, which would make him arbitration eligible a year earlier than the team would like.

Aside from this being yet another "business over baseball" decision by the Pirates, it is another example of NH insulting the intelligence of the Pirates fan base.  How dumb does he really think we are?  Strap on a pair and tell us the truth for once, Neal.  We might not agree with you, but we can take it.

Let's be honest, the Pirates are where they are today in large part because of acquisitions and signings of players that Neal brought here.  A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez, Francisco Liriano, Charlie Morton, Mark Melancon, Jeff Locke, Jason Grilli, Russell Martin, Jordy Mercer, Pedro Alvarez, Justin Wilson, and, yes, GERRIT COLE, and I've probably left out a few.  So just when you start getting some warm and fuzzy thoughts about Neal, he shovels another load of NHB on us about why Cole might be sent down. 

Drives you crazy.

Gerrit Cole Arrives, and Other Pirates Thoughts

Gerrit Cole, the young man who was the subject of so much sturm und drang  on Facebook's Pirate Chat and other social media when he was sent to the minors at the close of Spring Training, will make his debut as a Pirates this coming Tuesday when he starts against the San Francisco Giants.   This start will come just a little over two years after Cole was selected by the Pirates with the overall Number One selection in the major league entry draft.  Despite all the criticism - much of it coming from this particular Grandstand, I admit - of the Pirates and the NHR for keeping guys in the minor leagues too long, Cole's ascension to a starting pitching assignment, against the defending World Series Champs, no less, has been remarkably swift.  In the grand scheme of things, Cole's "long-awaited" debut, will not have taken all that long after all.

I had promised myself that when Cole did make his first start, I would be at PNC Park to see it.  Turns out that Tuesdays happen to be our Caring Place night, so, alas and alack,  I will not be there to usher in the Gerrit Cole Era.  Perhaps this is a good thing, because I recall being at Three Rivers Stadium for the debuts of both Doug Frobel and Chad Hermansen, so Cole doesn't need that particular mojo going for him.  The DVR will be cranked up and I will rush home to see what I hope will be the first of Cole's 200 wins, give or take a few, that he will register for the Pirates over the course of his career.

******

It was a tough week for the Bucs who after taking 3 of 4 from the Tigers, were swept by the Braves and lost 2 of 3 to the Reds.  At the beginning of that stretch, I had wished for a 5-5 record, but I'll take 4-6.  They will have to do better against the Reds in future match-ups, but the important thing is that there WILL be more games against the Reds this season, and remember, the Pirates are 4-3 against them so far in '13.  And, of course, there are still a lot of games to be played against the Cardinals, who don't seem to ever lose a game. 

It also looked like the best cure for such a stretch was a three game series against the Cubs, as the Pirates go for a sweep today.

******

Speaking of the Major League Entry draft,  the Pirates selected 41 players this week, many of whom will be selling insurance or coaching high school baseball five or so years from now (as will most guys drafted by the other 29 MLB teams), but it will be fun to see which guy drafted after the 30th round will catch fire and become the Next Big Thing in the Pirates system and, we hope, at PNC Park someday.  Wasn't Dave Parker drafted after the 30th round?  And, of course, all eyes will be on the two first round choices, OF Austin Meadows and C Reese McGuire.  As high schoolers, they are a long way from Pittsburgh and PNC Park, but the potential of big things lie ahead for both of them, and, as I said, it will be fun following them along the way.

******

I am ready for the following headline when young Mr. Meadows becomes a Pirate and has his first multi-home run game:

AUSTIN POWERS BUCS TO BIG WIN

Of course, by the time Meadows finally does arrive in Pittsburgh, the pop cultural reference to "Austin Powers" will be completely lost to everyone reading the newspaper, if, indeed, there still are newspapers then.

******

Sticking with the theme of Pirates draft choices,  one of the more intriguing story lines over the past two seasons has been that of Stetson Allie.  You all know the story, a high school pitcher who could throw at close to 100 mph, Allie was drafted in the second round in 2010, right behind Jameson Taillon, given first round bonus money ($2 Million) to sign, but then bombed as a pitcher to the point where the Pirates decided to make him  a first baseman.  In 2012, Allie didn't do much of anything, and he was starting to look like another very expensive bust of a draft pick, but in 2013 playing in Low Class A West Virginia, Allie has become Babe Ruth:

AB - 224

BA - .326

HR - 16

RBI - 55

OPS - 1.016

But here is the curious thing.  If you go to the Pirates website, you can link into the the Pirates "Top 20" minor league prospects to follow how they are doing, and Allie does not appear in the Top Twenty.  I am not sure what this means.  It could be that he is #21 on the list and will crack it once Cole get promoted, or it could mean that he is the next Brad Eldred. Whichever it is, it will be fun to watch the Stetson Allie Story play out over the next couple of seasons.

******

One of Allie's teammates in West Virgina, OF Josh Bell, is on that Top 20 list, and is ranked at Number Six.  His numbers in 231 AB's are as follows...BA of .277 with 8 HR, 45 RBI, and an .815 OPS.  Good, but not as good at the numbers Allie has posted.  Again, I don't know what it all means.

Golfing, Falling, Pirates Winning, Neal Does Well, and a New Award

Cleaning Out the Mental In-Box, Memorial Day Edition.....

• Had a delightful round of golf today at Moon Golf Club.  Well, the company - Dan Bonk, John Coley, and Fred Shugars - was delightful.  The golf, not so much.  I have been playing golf for 30-some years now and am approaching age 62, so I am what I am as a golfer, so I don't get angry anymore when I play poorly, but I do get disappointed when I just know that I'm capable of playing better.
• A note to the Moon Golf Club:  I want a rematch, at which time I intend to kick your ass!
• Hey, how about those Pittsburgh Pirates???? 31-19 after taking two of three from the Hated Brewers in Miller Park!  When things like that happen, maybe it's a sign that this is the year that the World Record Losing Streak ends. Still a lot of grass to mow, however.
• A little over a week ago, we all looked forward to what was thought to be a soft part of the Pirates schedule, 13 games with the Brewers, Astros, and Cubs.  The Pirates came through that patch with a 10-3 record.
• Now the team faces ten games against good teams, the Tigers, Reds, and Braves. Five games at home, five on the road.  I'll be happy with 5-5 on that stretch, and would love it if it included two of three against the Reds.
• 10,000th Win Contest Update:  The Pirates are playing at a .620 clip that, if maintained, would bring win #39, aka, the 10,000th Win in Team History, on the 63rd game of the season.  This pace is making Don Lancaster look like Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.  Don called for this win to take place in game #65.  No one else is even close.  It will take a losing stretch of epic proportions (kind of like what happened last August) for Don to not take this prize.  
• Speaking of Don Lancaster, this past Tuesday he won his primary election race for Borough Council in Indiana, PA.  Go get 'em in November, Don!
• The performance of the Pirates is being sparked in large part by the following factors: (1) the Other Worldly performance of closer Jason Grilli, who became the closer due to the Joel Hanrahan trade, (2) the also Other Worldly performance by set-up man Mark Melancon, who was obtained in the Hanrahan trade, (3) the spark plug performance by catcher and free agent signee Russell Martin, who some have stated has been the team MVP, (4) five wins by Wandy Rodriguez, (5) five wins by Jeff Locke, (6) continued outstanding performance by AJ Burnett, (7) solid performances from fifth starter Jeanmar Gomez., and (8) a 3-0 start by free agent signee Francisco Liriano.
• What do the eight guys listed above have in common?  They all were brought here by the maneuverings of General Manager Neal Huntington.  Yes, I who have spent so much time and blog space bashing the NHR since the close of last season, now must give the GM credit where it is due.  Oh, he still drives me crazy with his line of say-nothing NHB, and there is still two-thirds of a season to be played, but so far, a "Well Done" to GM Neal for 2013.  Final grade to be delivered in October.
• Speaking of Joel Hanrahan, there seemed to be some gloating among Pirate Chatters (the Neal Loyalists?) when he started poorly with the Red Sox, and even some "told-you-so" type comments when he had to undergo season ending surgery, which I felt was bad form.  Hanrahan served the Buccos loyally and well, especially in 2011-12, I, for one, feel bad about what has befallen him since the trade, and wish him well when he returns in 2014.
• Do any of you out there watch "Mad Men"?  If so, do you agree that last week's episode was bizarre at best and downright awful at worst?  Let's hope that that episode was an aberration or else we could be talking shark-jumping here.
• I mentioned earlier that I will be turning age 62 in a few months. Not sure there is a correlation here, but yesterday morning, while crossing a North Side street on my way to breakfast with some friends, I fell down.  Don't know what happened, what caused the misstep, but all of a sudden, it was "DOWN goes Frazier!"   Skinned my knee, jammed my wrist, and suffered major embarrassment, but otherwise, came out okay.  The lesson is, something like this can come out of nowhere, so, as they said at the Hill Street Station "Be careful out there."
• Maybe that fall explains my complete inability to hit a wedge shot or make a putt today.
• How about that nutty Sergio Garcia?  First there was his incessant whining about Tiger Woods two weeks ago at the Players Championship, followed this week by, to be kind, racially insensitive comments about Woods at a press conference in Europe.  For all of Sergio's utterances, we bestow upon him The Grandstander H.A. Citation.  Hey, Sergio, this is for you:

(Photo courtesy of Dan Bonk Enterprises)

• The "H.A. Citation" will now become a semi-regular feature of The Grandstander. 
• And I will accept nominations for future Grandstander H.A. Citations, so let me have your suggestions.

The 2013 Pirates, 20% In

The Pirates have now played 31 games, one game short of the 20% mark of the season.  Time to take my first critical look at the team for the season.

POSITIVES

• The team stands at 17-14, three games out of first place and in a virtual tie for second place in the NL Central.  Given the schedule they faced in the first month of the season, they are much better, record-wise, than I anticipated.
• Starling Marte: .325, 5 HR, 16 RBI, .918 OPS.  Need I say more?
• Russell Martin.  After a slow start, he is hitting .272, 6 HR (leads the team), 11 RBI, and .905 OPS.
• Travis Snider, Gaby Sanchez, and Garrett Jones all hitting well.
• Andrew McCutchen, despite a horrible slump on the last road trip, still leads the team in RBI with 17.  You know he will perform.
• The bullpen 8th/9th inning tandem of Mark Meloncon and Jason Grilli has been other worldly.
• A.J. Burnett, a true ace and leads the league in strike outs.
• Jeff Locke has shown glimpses of being a good starting pitcher.

NOT SO POSITIVES

• Pedro Alvarez hitting .178 with 35 K's in 101 AB, and a .563 OPS.  Yes, there are those 5 HR and 13 RBI, but when he does not hit a home run, and they are his only extra base hits thus far, he's pretty much the same hitter as Clint Barmes.  Seeing him absolutely crush a home run, makes the rest of his performance all the more frustrating.
• Speaking of Clint Barmes: .192, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .497 OPS and 21 K  and only 4 BB in 78 AB.  Positively unacceptable.  And while people rave about his defensive prowess, sorry, but I don't see it.  The seamhead SABRmetrics guys may say differently, but when I watch him, he seems, at best, pretty ordinary to me.
• James McDonald.  Never know which JMac will show up, and more often that not, it's been the Second Half JMac from 2012 that we've seen so far.
• Jonathan Sanchez was a complete and absolute disaster as a starting pitcher.  He was glaringly bad (yes he was, Clint).  At least the team ended this experiment before the calendar turned to May.
• The anticipated help from injured pitchers is not looking good.  Charlie Morton had a setback in his rehab and who knows what's wrong Jeff Karstens.  Francisco Liriano is set to join the rotation this coming weekend.  Need you be reminded that Liriano has been an ordinary-to-bad pitcher pretty much since 2010?  We must, however, keep an open mind on him.
• Utility infielder John McDonald.  Why did Neal trade for this guy, and why is he still on the team?

DOWN ON THE FARM

• Gerritt Cole, Indianapolis (AAA) -  6 G, 29.1 IP, 2-1, 2.45 ERA, 21 K, 17 BB, 1.30 WHIP
• Jameson Taillon, Altoona (AA) - 6 G, 35.2 IP, 2-3, 3.03 ERA, 36 K, 12 BB, 1.18 WHIP
• Alen Hanson, SS, Bradenton (High A) - 114 AB, .237, 0 HR, 13 RBI, 24 K, 11 BB, .617 OPS
• Gregory Polanco, OF, Bradenton - 111 AB, .324, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 17 K, 12 BB, .907 OPS
• Josh Bell, OF, West Virginia (Low A) - 113 AB, .274, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 30 K, 10 BB, .815 OPS
• Luis Heredia, P - Will pitch for short season Jamestown Jammers when their season begins in June.
• These are the Top Six prospects in the organization.  Cole is 22 years old, Taillon and Polanco are 21, Hanson and Bell are 20, and Heredia is 18.

OUTLOOK FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT

• As I said, the team is in a better position, Wins-and-Losses-wise, than I thought they would be at this point, so that's a good thing.
• Starting pitchers, with the exception of Burnett, have not shown the ability to go deep into games.  If this trend continues, that will tax a bullpen that has been very good so far, especially the back end of that pen.  Need I remind you that Jason Grilli is 36 years old?
• We all anticipate the arrival of Gerritt Cole sometime around Father's Day.  Will that be enough?
• In other words, as I have said in both my Spring Training and Season Preview posts, where this team goes all depends on its starting pitching, and it has to pick up and be better than it has for the team to sustain its current +.500 status and end the WRLS*, let alone compete for a post-season berth.

* In case you forgot, "WRLS" stands for World Record Losing Streak.

Selected Short Subjects

Lots of odds and ends to deal with this Sunday morning, but before getting to the fun-and-games that are the usual topics here, I must comment on the events that took place in Boston this past week.  Like most of you, we were spellbound while watching the horrific events unfold.  Salutes all around to the people of Greater Boston, all of the first responders, and for all of the law enforcement agencies who tracked down the perpetrators so quickly.   Against that background, I hope that certain members of the United States Senate are able to sleep well this week in the knowledge that the Tsarneav brothers were apparently able to obtain such massive amounts of weaponry without having to undergo those pesky background checks that they, the Senators, and their benefactors, the NRA, so adamantly oppose in their defense of the Second Amendment.

Okay, no one comes to The Grandstander for political commentary, so back to the usual topics.....

We attended the Montour High School production of "Legally Blonde, the Musical" this past Friday evening.   We attended with our friends, Dan and Susan Bonk, whose daughter, Emily, had a role in the show.

This was the third high school musical that we have attended this spring, and, as with the others, we come away in awe of the talent and energy of the kids who perform and work in the crew of these productions.  I've said it before and will say it again, there are few things in life that make you feel better than attending a high school musical.

*********

 I finally got around to reading the book "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn this week.  As this book has appeared on the fiction best seller list for well over a year, I figure that there is a good chance that you have already read it yourself.

(No spoilers will follow.)

In the book, Amy, the beautiful and semi-wealthy wife of Nick, has disappeared, and it looks like foul play was involved.   Nick becomes a suspect, a media circus ensues, but did Nick do it?  Where exactly IS Amy, and why can't authorities find either her or her body?

As thrillers go, this is a pretty good book, a real page-turner (has anyone ever used that phrase in describing a book before?), and I would recommend that you read it, but I will say this, the two main characters of the novel, in my opinion, are two of the most unlikable people I have ever come across in fiction.  If you've read this one, do you agree with me?

********

In the sports world this week, Duquesne had a double dose of bad news, and, really, is there any other kind at The Bluff?

First off, women's basketball coach Susan McConnell-Serio left Duquesne, where she had been very, very successful, to take the same position at Pitt.  Pitt will be playing in the much higher level Atlantic Coast conference, and her salary reportedly doubled to about a half-million dollars a year, so how can you blame her?  Duquesne AD Greg Ammodio said all the right things about the fact that Susie elevated the Lady Dukes' program to a degree that this becomes an attractive position to another talented young coach to come in and pick up where McConnell-Serio left off.  We'll see.

Then came the news that five players from the men's team are leaving, four seeking to transfer, and one moving over to play on the Dukes' soccer team.  At first blush, this was seen as yet another disaster for the basketball program.  On further thought, when you realize that the Dukes won exactly one (1) conference game this past year, it's not exactly the UCLA Bruins of Lew Alcindor that are being broken up here.  Also, later in the week, Coach Jim Ferry announced his recruiting class for next year, so maybe it will all turn out for the best.

Still, one gets the impression that the Administration at Duquesne is not fully committed to do what it takes to play and compete on the highest levels of college basketball, even in the city of Pittsburgh, Robert Morris has clearly moved ahead of them in the local college hoops pecking order.  Some have suggested that perhaps Duquesne should de-emphasize to the point of perhaps leaving the Atlantic10 and moving to join Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference. 

An interesting thought.

********

The National Hockey League hit pay dirt a few years back when they came up with the Winter Classic, an outdoor hockey game, played in an enormous football or baseball stadium, and nationally televised on New Year's Day.  Played when it's only televised competition were a bunch of now mostly irrelevant college football bowl games.  The Winter Classic pretty much had the national TV stage to itself, and the game has been a ratings bonanza.  

So, if one outdoor hockey game is terrific, the NHL punjabs said to themselves, wouldn't six of them a season be six times better?  Disregarding the fable of the goose and the golden eggs, that is what the NHL is proposing to do.  So what was once unique and wonderful, will now be just another gimmick, and that New Year's Day "special" game, will be special no more.  It will go the way of dunk contests, home run derbies, and college football bowl games.

********

I had told myself that I was not going to get into any serious analysis of the Pirates season until they had played about 25 or 30 games, or about fifteen to twenty percent of the season, and I am going to pretty much stick to that.  However, when it began, much was made of the ten game home stand against the Reds, Cardinals, and Braves that started on April 12.  Be honest with me now, when that home stand began, if someone had set the over/under on Pirates wins at 5 and 1/2, how many of you would have voted the "Over"?  I sure wouldn't have, but the Bucs now sport a 6-2 record with one game left against the Braves this afternoon (one game was rained out).  Pretty good, regardless of what happens this afternoon.  

Tomorrow they will begin a ten game road trip against the Phillies, Cardinals, and the Hated Brewers, and they will do so with no worse than a .500 record.  If they can win five, six, or, dare I say it, even seven games on that trip, that weekend series with the Nationals that begins on May 3rd could be a mad house at PNC Park.

Let's hope the Grilled Cheese keeps on coming!

Predictions for Your 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates

A busy schedule of Church-related activities this Holy Thursday-Good Friday-Easter Sunday Weekend made me realize that if I want to get my Pirates Prediction for 2013 out there before Opening Day, I better do it now, so here goes.  I also thought that I would lead with the Pirates' current Jolly Roger logo, which is scheduled to be out into mothballs at the close of this season.

This is also being written in the shadow of the big news in Pittsburgh sports today:  the Penguins blockbuster deadline deal for Jerome Iginla.  As one contributor on Facebook put it....."The Bucs give you a future that never comes.  The Penguins give you NOW."

Sigh.

Oh, well, many of my thoughts, feelings, and questions concerning the Bucs going into Spring Training still stand.  I won't retype them here, but if interested, please go here:

http://www.grandstander.blogspot.com/2013/02/spring-training-begins.html

I am optimistic about the everyday line-up.  I feel good about McCutchen, Alvarez, Walker, and the Jones/Sanchez platoon at first.  I am hopeful that Marte will blossom and be a good to very good player.  I am reasonably hopeful that Russell Martin will be enough of an improvement over last year to be considered a Plus for the team.  Barmes at short rates nothing more than a "Meh" from me.  He won't kill you in the field, but, man he needs to be more than the automatic out he was for much of last year.  Right field remains a question mark.  I hope that Travis Snider and/or Jose Tabata can emerge to be more than the mediocrity that manned that position last year.  I hope that their play will not force the Pirates to play Garrett Jones in RF.  That would upset the balance of the platoon situation at 1B, which I feel could be a strong point for the team.

OK, that brings us to the pitching staff.  For five and one-half seasons, Neal Huntington has been telling us about how pitching will be the Moses that will lead the Pirates out of the World Record Losing Streak (hereafter referred to as the WRLS, and thank you for that, Dan Bonk) Desert.  He will draft young stud pitchers that will be the backbone of championship Pirate teams.  In 2013, the Pirates pitching staff will include Jonathan Sanchez (1-9, 8.07 ERA in 2012) and Jeanmar Gomez (5-8, 5.96).  While Gomez may be nothing more than a long relief mop-up, garbage time last-guy-in-the-bullpen type, Sanchez is going to be one of the STARTING PITCHERS.  Does that tell you all you need to know about where the Pirates are headed this season?

Let's look at the starting rotation as of Opening Day:

A.J. Burnett - I feel good about him as the lead starter.  On the other hand, he is 36 years old.

Wandy Rodriguez - Another guy I feel good about.  I think that he and Burnett could provide a solid 1-2 punch in the rotation.

James McDonald - Need I say more about his Jekyll-and-Hyde 2012?  How much faith does that give you?  A question mark, at best.

Jonathan Sanchez - At the outset of Spring Training I said, "Sure, it doesn't hurt bringing warm bodies like Sanchez into camp.  It's if they end up making the team is when you might have a problem."  I may be proven wrong, but for now I'll stand by that statement.

Jeff Locke - Well, critics have been saying for years let's give the young guys a shot, so let's be open minded on young Mr. Locke, but in the Post-Gazette story this morning, Michael Sanserino wrote : "In a four-man battle for what eventually turned into two open spots in the rotation, Locke was never the most impressive player on the mound in terms of the quality of his pitches."  Talk about damning with faint praise.

Of course, the NHR tells you that waiting in the wings come late May or early June are Jeff Karstens, Francisco Liriano, and Charlie Morton.  All have shown signs at one point or another of being good pitchers, but they ain't Maddox, Glavine, and Smoltz either.

And of course, the biggest pitching elephant in the room is Gerrit Cole.  If we were looking at baseball matters only, Cole would be on the team right now. I will grant that a baseball case could be made that he does need more time to face Triple-A competition, but of course, it is about more than that.  It is about money, it is about years of control, it is about delaying free agent eligibility, and, probably more important to the Pirates, arbitration eligibility.  Yes, we all know that all other MLB teams do the same thing with their big time prospects, but not all other MLB teams have been on a twenty year losing streak.  The NH Kool-Aid drinkers standard line is, "Do you want Cole for a couple of starts in April and May of 2013, or do you want him for a full season in 2019?"   Well, if games in April and May count the same as games in August and September, then, yes, I want him here now if he is in fact one of the Pirates best pitchers.  Simple as that.

As for 2019, well, as the was said above, "The Bucs give you a future that never comes."

And by the way, the argument of having Cole for a full season in 2019 really ticks me off because it automatically assumes that the Pirates will lose Cole once he does become eligible for free agency.  What kind of message is that sending?

I haven't even mentioned the bench.  When you swing a deal in the last week of Spring Training for a 38 year old good-field-no-hit utility infielder, that kind of tells you all you need to know, doesn't it?  The team is in big trouble if someone like Walker, Alvarez, or, God forbid, McCutchen goes down for any significant length of time.

So what's the bottom line?  Given the competition in the Central Division (Reds, Cardinals, Brewers), I don't see a post season berth for the Bucs, so that begs the question, can 82 wins be achieved to end the WRLS?  When I look at the eight man line-up, I think, yes, it will end this year.  Then I look at all the question marks on the pitching staff, and I say, it's not gonna happen.  Beyond Burnett, Rodriguez, and MacDonald (and even he is a huge question mark), I don't see the guys beyond them - Sanchez, Locke, Liriano, Karstens, and Morton - getting it done.  Maybe Cole will be the savior, but will he arrive soon enough?  

(And consider this possibility, the Pirates are floundering at 12 games under .500 in mid-June, and Cole has a bad start in Indy.  GM Neal announces that since the Pirates do not seem like they will contend, and since Cole had a rough outing, the Pirate swill keep him in Indy for a full year for more seasoning and experience at the Triple-A level.  That way, they can now have control over him through 2020.  Does anyone think that that COULDN'T happen?)

So, my call for 2013? Seventy-nine (79) wins, same as last year and the WRLS goes to 21.  I really, REALLY hope I'm wrong, but I'm just not feeling it.  I will be more than happy to celebrate the 82nd victory, and I'll even have a glass of Neal Kool-Aid should the team contend for the post-season deep into September, but, as I say, I'm just not feeling it.

In the meantime, I can't wait for the 2019 season.  That is going to be one helluva a great Pirates team.

A Sunday Morning Sports Brunch

A Sunday morning look at the wide, wide, world of sports.....

The NCAA tournament hopes for the Robert Morris University Colonials came crashing down at the Sewall Center yesterday with a 69-60 loss to Mount St. Mary's, and believe me, the nine point spread doesn't reflect the totality of the Mount's win.  RMU took a lead early and the Mount tied the game at 15.  Then the Mount took the lead and never again lost it.  Late in the second half, their lead went to over twenty points.   A too-little-too-late Colonial surge in the final minutes made the final score look closer than the game actually was.  Actually, from the very beginning, this game just didn't feel right for Robert Morris.  Poor Shooting + Tenacious MtSM defense = A Bad Day for the Colonials.

On the bright side, as regular season Conference Champion, the Colonials do get an automatic bid to the NIT, so they got that going for them, which is nice.

*****

The Pirates seem to be pretty much under the radar this Spring Training, and maybe that's a good thing.  If there are low expectations, then there's no where to go but up, right?

In taking a look at the averages in this morning's paper, however, let's ignore the fact that Jerry Sands, Neil Walker, and Pedro Alvarez are all hitting below .200, because Spring Training stats are meaningless, and instead look at the stats of Starling Marte and Jose Tabata, because good  Spring training stats offer Hope, right?

Marte is following up a torrid winter League campaign and is hitting .421 (8-for-19) this spring.  Tabata is hitting .333 (6-for-18) with four doubles, a home run, and five RBIs.  Both of these lines are encouraging, but the more intriguing story to me is Tabata.

After a disappointing season that saw him injured and sent back to the minors in 2012, he seems to be a forgotten guy, one who will be, at best, the fourth outfielder for the Pirates.  He is still, however, only 24 years old, and maybe being out of the spotlight has removed some pressure, or maybe he just gets it that this could be his last chance to make it with the Pirates, but what if this hot Grapefruit start isn't just another spring training flash in the pan?  What if this is the year that he breaks out and becomes the player that everyone hoped he would be?  How great would that be?

*****

The biggest sports story in the city today however involves, you guessed it, the Steelers, and their releasing of James Harrison.  He's 35 years old, he's been injured, and he was making too much money.  He was also, probably, still the team's best linebacker, but that third factor - "making too much money" - is what spelled the end for Harrison as a Steeler.   As all NFL teams do, they decided that it was time to reduce that contractual obligation, but Harrison balked, so bye-bye, James.

A one time Defensive Player of the Year, and the author of one of the greatest plays in Team and Super Bowl history, that 100 yard interception return for a touchdown, Harrison was also, how can I say this, a thug on the field, a guy with numerous illegal hits, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines to his dubious credit.  There are lots of guys in all sports who you like when they play for "your team" but you dislike intensely when that play for the "other team."  Steelers fans will realize this the first time Harrison, playing for another team, goes helmet-to helmet  with Ben Roethlisberger or Antonio Brown.

*****
The Pitt Panther hoopsters begin the Big East tournament this week in New York against much nostalgic weeping (literal and figurative) because this will be the end  Pitt's association with the Big East Conference.  Hey, it was great run, but please let's stop with the gnashing of teeth over this.  Last I looked, the conference to which they are headed has a pretty good reputation as a basketball conference, doesn't it?  I would think that games against Duke, North Carolina, NC State, and Wake Forest will soon be the equal of games against Georgetown, Connecticut, and Villanova.  Plus, Pitt will still play Syracuse, so we'll still have Jim Boeheim to  kick around.

Of course, the "Big East" will survive as a basketball-only conference consisting  of, for now at least, the seven Catholic universities in the conference, and this, Ironically, is what the Big East started out as in the first place way back when.  I heard sportswriter Bob Ryan on the radio the other day saying that he absolutely loves this, and that the fact that this is occurring at all is the extension of a huge middle finger by college basketball to the "Football Is Everything" culture of college athletics.  Great line.

*****

I have been trying to watch the World Baseball Classic, but it's hard to get into.  Maybe if the USA advances that will make it pick up the interest quotient.  On the other hand, it seems that the WBC may best be remembered for that Pier Six brawl between Canada and Mexico yesterday.  If that is the case, perhaps the concept needs to be re-thought.

Spring Training Begins

Other than a post on the changing of the team's Jolly Roger logo in 2014, I have come to realize that I have not issued a Grandstander post on the Pirates since the calendar turned to 2013.  Unbelievable.  However, today is the day that the Bucco pitchers and catchers reported to Pirate City in Bradenton, so I am compelled to write one today.  I will attempt to do so without once using the phrase "hope springs eternal."

So, what do you write about after 20 losing seasons, and after two seasons that started so promisingly only to see the team collapse, and to collapse in an historical fashion, in the final months of each of those seasons?  Part of my current anger with the Pirates as led by Neal Huntington has been their ability to suck all of the optimism right out of me, even at the dawn of Spring Training when hope spri....oops, sorry about that.

The Pirates off season was highlighted by major publicity gaffes when the minor league brain trust of the NHR (Neal Huntington Regime) issued deranged internal memos and led the minor leaguers in a series of Navy SEAL-type drills that may or may not have led to injury to some of these key young prospects.  This, along with that aforementioned collapse led to a comprehensive top-to-bottom one man review of all team operations by top man Bob Nutting, aka, Capt. Nuts, after which nothing much happened to change things other than than the hiring of some 70-something year old scout from that Yankees as a special advisor to GM Neal.  Oh, and the SEAL-type drills have been discontinued.  Maybe.

On the personnel side, the team traded All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan because he was headed for arbitration where he would have been awarded a $7 million salary.  They signed a catcher, Russell Martin, who hit .211 for the Yankees last year, and in what is to me a perfect symbolic metaphor for the entire history of the NHR player development and acquisition strategy, they signed Francisco Liriano, a free agent pitcher with a broken arm.

On the face of it, I have no real problem with the Hanrahan trade.  A "closer" will emerge, be it Jason Grilli or someone else, who will get the job done.  Four players came to Pittsburgh from Boston in the deal and none of them overwhelms you.  If nothing else, "organizational depth", a battle cry of the NHR, will be enhanced. (Nice to know that the Indianapolis Indians will be strong this year.)  Martin, whatever he might have left in his tank, will be an improvement over Rod Barajas.  As for Liriano, who knows (a) when he'll be able to pitch, and (b) how effective he will be when he does?  According to Jim Sproule (Official American League Scout for The Grandstander), he's pretty much garbage.

But enough of that.  What can we look forward to and be excited about?  Let's break it down by position.

Outfield.  As with everything with the Pirates, you start with Andrew McCutchen.  He's the best player on the team.  He was an MVP candidate last year until he leveled off a bit in August and September.  No reason to think that he will be anything less than the All-Star caliber player he has been the last two season.  Starling Marte should get the job in left field from the get-go, and I think that he could be a quality major league player.  Right field becomes a guessing game....Jerry Sands, Travis Snyder, Jose Tabata, even Garrett Jones.  Snyder was a key acquisition at the deadline last year, but he was injured and didn't show a whole lot.  I think he gets first crack at keeping the job.

Infield.  Pedro Alvarez was the key question coming into last season.  He is not a question this year.  He hit 30 home runs last year and he will not be a "bust", and that was a strong possibility as recently as April of last season.  He needs to be more consistent and avoid those 2-for-40 stretches that seemed to always follow amazingly torrid stretches when he'd hit six homers in eight games.  It would be nice if he cut down on the strike outs, but if he hits 30-35 HR's and gets a bit more consistent, I'll live with the K's.  At first base, Garrett Jones had a coming out year last year when he was used as a platoon player (only 74 of 475 AB's were against lefties), and he produced big time.  The team needs to find the complimentary RH hitting first baseman to platoon with him.  That could be Gaby Sanchaz, Sands, or one of the several dozen or so "outfielder/first baseman" they seem to have on the roster.  One cautionary note:  Jones is up for arbitration and could be headed for a $7 million or so salary, which means he could be sent packing by GM Neal at the orders of Capt. Nuts.  Neil Walker had a terrific year last year until a back injury put him pretty much on the shelf for the last six weeks or so of the season.  Not so coincidentally, this is when the team started going in the tank, too.  I know a little bit about bad backs, so I worry about Walker and his health situation, and I hope that this is not the beginning of a downward spiral for him.  At short stop, Clint Barmes returns.  Whoopee.

Catcher.  In his blog today, Bob Smizik points out that the Pirates have not drafted a catcher who has played in a single major league game, since the Cam Bonifay Regime drafted Ryan Doumit in 2000.  THIRTEEN YEARS AGO!!!!  Sorry, but that is just pathetic.  Anyway, Russell Martin now becomes the overpaid, multi-million dollar stop gap. Maybe he'll succeed where the likes of Barajas, Chris Snyder, Benito Santiago and other forgettable backstops failed. 

Pitching.  Here we go, here's the basket where the NHR has placed all the eggs.  Some bullet point thoughts:

• I'd love to believe that A.J. Burnett, at 36, will duplicate the season he had last year, but will/can he?
• I'd love to believe that First Half J-Mac and not Second Half J-Mac is the real J-Mac, but is he?
• Nice that the team was able to re-sign Jeff Karstens after he was DFA'd, but why weren't 29 other teams anxious to sign him as a relatively cheap free agent when they had the opportunity? 
• I am excited about having Wandy Rodriguez for a full season.  Really.
• Charlie Morton, who showed signs of being a really nice pitcher in 2011, comes back from Tommy John surgery, probably in June.  What kind of pitcher will he be?
• Liriano, from what I've read, may not be ready to pitch until June.  Maybe he'll be the young phee-nom he was with the Twins all those years ago, but I'm thinking if he's as good as Kevin Correia was last year, the Pirates will be lucky.
• Kyle McPherson and Jeff Locke, two of the young gun prospects, may fight it out for the fifth starting spot.  These are the kinds of guys who come up through the system and HAVE to make good for the "Plan" of the Pirates to work.  In brief major league tries so far, they haven't shown the goods yet.
• Bullpen.  Something will emerge here.  This is one thing that Huntington appears to be able to do each year.  If Grilli can't do the job that Hanrahan has done, someone will emerge to get those last three outs when needed.
• You notice that I have yet to mention Gerritt Cole, the Overall #1 of two years ago.  No matter what happens in Spring Training, I fully expect Cole to start the season in Indy, but if he shows anything, anything at all in Indy, I expect that Cole will be the first guy called up to start when someone falters or is injured.  Even then, there is always the chance that the Pirates, in an effort to delay Cole's arbitration eligibility, will NOT bring Cole up, even if it is obvious he should be called up.  If THAT happens, my frustration will reach the breaking point, and I may burn tickets on Federal Street at the foot of the Stargell statue!

So, in the end, am I excited that Spring Training has started and we'll soon be hearing some Grapefruit games on the radio?  Of course I am!  Will this be the year the losing streak stops (and say it with me now, "the longest losing season streak in North American professional sports history")?  I will wait until the conclusion of Spring Training to attempt to give an answer to that question.  As I have said before, the fact that I can no longer generate unbridled optimism at the start of Spring Training is perhaps the biggest wrong that has been perpetrated upon me by the NHR.

It's Official: The Hammer is Gone

The news reports from the weekend are now official:  the Pirates have traded Joel Hanrahan, All-Star closer, who is the victim - in the Pirates point of view - of his own success.  He performed so well that he became too expensive for the Pirates to keep.

Hanrahan and infield prospect Brock Holt are off to the Red Sox and the Pirates receive these four players in return: pitchers Mark Melancon and Stolmy Pimentel, infielder Ivan DeJesus, Jr., and 1B/OF Jerry Sands.  Here are some of my thoughts on this deal.

1. You can probably defend and make a case in defense of this deal, based upon the potential of the four players  coming here, and Neal Huntington will no doubt be spewing the Nealspiel from now until Opening Day doing just that, however...
2. ....this is yet another deal where the NHR (Neal Huntington Regime) seems to be looking towards the ever expanding and undefined "future" while not necessarily latching on to the chance to win NOW, in 2013.
3. Jerry Sands seems to be the same player as Clint Robinson and Travis Snider.  First baseman/outfielders.  Is Neal going for the throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach?
4. I am sorry to see Hanrahan go.  I liked him, but at the same time, he can and will be replaced.  Finding a closer is not all that difficult, even for a team like the Pirates. (maybe).
5. Even putting the best light on this, this deal still reeks of being a salary dump, pure and simple.
6. Even if you can make a case, baseball-wise, for this deal, given the NHR track record in such deals, how confident are you that it's going to work out for the Pirates?
7. And  I say the odds are less than 50/50 that Garrett Jones will in a Pirate uniform come Opening Day.

As always, big Pirates news are always accompanied by some great quotes from Huntington, the wacky Nealspeil we have come to know and love.  Here's one of them:

"I'm not saying that Mark's (Melancon) going to become Joel, but sometimes we get caught up in what we've done today and not necessarily take a look in how we've gotten there."

That is a quote directly from the Post-Gazette this morning.  Can anyone tell me what exactly he was trying to say there?

For the next bit of Nealspeil, I turn the stage over to my friend Fred Shugars and a comment he made on Facebook Pirate Chat this morning.  Take it away, Fred:

NH on adding Holt to the deal: "He was somebody Boston came after, and we reluctantly put him in the deal". That does make Neil sound like the bully just took his lunch money.

Thank you, Fred.  Couldn't have said it better.

If you are reading no great sense of outrage on my part, what can I say?  The Pirates have succeeded in numbing me on such matters over the course of the NHR.

But, hey, we're baseball fans, right?  Everything looks good over the Hot Stove, right?  Maybe this one will too.

Watch, but don't bet.