2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

[steelcurtain311]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

Call Neil Walker up and let him catch. This whole third base thing isn't going to work out for him. We traded Jason Bay for a future third baseman, and we have Pedro Alvarez in the farm, although he'll probably be moved to first or LF or something. Walker has no chance of ever being the Pirates third baseman. Another catcher though, they need badly. Doumit never stays healthy, as evident by this season. I wish to god we would of just drafted Matt Wieters, but Dan Moskos was such a better pick (please note an insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, amount of sarcasm there) because then we could have Wieters on the rise, and Doumit would have enough value right now to where we could trade him to an AL team (where he belongs as a DH) and then get a nice package in return.

Pirates pitching has been really outstanding. I'm very impressed.

[LetsGoPitt]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

I'm having a hard time believing that these are the same players that collapsed at the end of last season! I do believe that losing Doumit is going to hurt, though it'll be nice to have a catcher behind the plate who can actually throw the ball well. That was a fricking laser that Jaramillo threw yesterday! Having LaRoche (Adam) actually hitting the ball in April helps too. Now if only we can get Moss going -- moving him up to 5th in the order will probably help. Even whipping-boy Andy LaRoche is doing pretty well lately!

Karstens still scares me, but he's all we have. I don't know how he managed to do as well as he did last night.

[steelcurtain311]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

Yeah, Andy LaRoche is hitting the ball decent lately. Hopefully he continues to build off of that. I hope to see more power from him. I know he isn't going to be a 35-40 HR guy, but it would be nice for him to be a 15-20 HR 80-100 RBI guy.

Kerrigan did an awesome job with this pitching staff. I was reading how Russell thought he had to tear the whole rotation down, trade people, start over, Kerrigan just looked at what they had and said "This is fine. We can win with this, just needs some work." and he worked with them all, and it's showing so far.

[jHammack]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

This season so far has been great. Even with only a 9-6 record, you can see that our team keeps improving. We just swept the "hottest" team in the majors. All I can say is Let's Go Bucs!


On another note, I'm pretty happy with the way Andy LaRoche is coming around. He's not playing "great", but his defense has really improved already and he's starting to hit the ball. The Doumit loss is going to hurt us in the offense, but I think we can have some other guys pick it up. Who it hurts the most would have to be Nate because with no proven power guy behind him (other than Ad. LaRoche).

But anyways, Let's Go Bucs!

[smurface]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

Call Neil Walker up and let him catch. This whole third base thing isn't going to work out for him. We traded Jason Bay for a future third baseman, and we have Pedro Alvarez in the farm, although he'll probably be moved to first or LF or something. Walker has no chance of ever being the Pirates third baseman. Another catcher though, they need badly. Doumit never stays healthy, as evident by this season. I wish to god we would of just drafted Matt Wieters, <B>but Dan Moskos was such a better pick (please note an insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, insane, amount of sarcasm there)</B> because then we could have Wieters on the rise, and Doumit would have enough value right now to where we could trade him to an AL team (where he belongs as a DH) and then get a nice package in return.

Pirates pitching has been really outstanding. I'm very impressed.

Serious question, is Moskos the highest drafted relief pitcher ever?

and im saying the team KNEW the guy was going to be a relief pitcher when they drafted him

[steelcurtain311]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

He probably is, because yeah, he was drafted as a relief pitcher. Nobody in their right mind drafts a relief pitcher in the top 5, that's not getting anywhere near the value you want for your pick. Like, you have the fourth f-ing pick in the MLB draft and you select a relief pitcher. Even if that relief pitcher turns out to be Mariano Rivera, you're still wasting the pick. Considering they already had a guy named MATT CAPPS set up to be their closer of the future, what in the world kind of use are they going to get out of Dan Moskos?

Then they try to convert him into a starter in the farm and he gets absolutely murdered by hitters. Just such an abhorrent pick that you can't even begin to describe it. That's why the Pirates are where they are right now, because of crap like drafting Bryan Bullington and Dan Moskos.

One of the numerous rumors about Dave Littlefield's firing was that it was directly a result of drafting Dan Moskos, like that was the final straw in a long line of dumb things that the man did. Others claim it was because of the Matt Morris trade, but I've seen some newspaper writers say that they honestly believed he was already on his way out of the organization because of Moskos, and he knew it, so he made the Matt Morris trade to stick it to management.

Anyways, thank god he was dumb enough to finally hang himself with the long line of rope the Nuttings gave him. The new regime in Pittsburgh honestly seems like they're trying to put together a great team of the future.

[LetsGoBucs]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

One of the numerous rumors about Dave Littlefield's firing was that it was directly a result of drafting Dan Moskos, like that was the final straw in a long line of dumb things that the man did. Others claim it was because of the Matt Morris trade, but I've seen some newspaper writers say that they honestly believed he was already on his way out of the organization because of Moskos, and he knew it, so he made the Matt Morris trade to stick it to management.

Anyone know what Littlefield is doing these days?

Great start by the Buccos. It's nice to be nearing the end of April and things are going good. It's great to see Adam LaRoche hitting this early in the season. Let's hope they can keep it going.

[Marino]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

Big 10th inning there by Burnett. A couple of errors on possible double play balls only to get Kouzmanoff to fly out and Hundley to strike out, I am quite impressed.

[steelcurtain311]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

I think it's time to at least take the Pirates seriously as a competitive ballclub, if not a great one. Their pitching has been very good, and their lineup has far exceeded expectations so far. I'm really happy with how good the LaRoche Bros have looked. Benching Andy after his horrible start seemed to be the right move by Russell, since he's been hitting and driving in runs nightly ever since.

Man, we beat down the Padres now too, Pads and Marlins in back to back series. They lit up Jake Peavy for 5 ER with a good portion of their starters out, no Nate or Freddy, and another solid performance by Ross Ohlendorf.

[mjb2124]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

Anyone know what Littlefield is doing these days?

I believe he's scouting for the Phillies.

[mjb2124]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

I think it's time to at least take the Pirates seriously as a competitive ballclub, if not a great one.

I hate to be the "negative nellie" as I'm really enjoying the way the Pirates are playing right now, but this isn't a great ballclub IMO. Competitive? Definitely right now, but the season is a marathon, not a sprint. A lot of things can happen and I'm of the opinion that we'll know more about this team come the second half of the season.

With that said, this is the most fun I've had watching this team since the early 90's. I'm 32 now and haven't seen this team pitch, field, run and hit as well as they are in a long time. The big question is - can it last? Time will tell. One thing is for certain, the Pirates needed to start the season doing well...as odd as it sounds, they needed to learn how to win. They've done that and now need to continue doing it.

[steelcurtain311]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

Oh I know. They've had starts similar to this in the past 15 years, but I think on a talent and determination scale, this is our best bet to see a winner in a long, long time. When you factor in we have fresh offensive talent on the rise in the farm system with Pedro/McCutchen, combined with what we have up with McLouth, Andy LaRoche, etc, you have to see it as somewhat promising.

They just need to continue their trading trend this season. It shouldn't of ended with Nady/Bay. Doumit needs to get unloaded at some point for some more prospects, maybe Adam LaRoche too, Jack Wilson definitely. They've passed on sooooooo many great trade opportunities with Wilson over the past 3 seasons, I don't understand it. Well, Littlefield is responsible for most of the stupidity, like not trading him for Jair Jurrjens, but still. Nate McLouth could be highly valuable in a trade, but he seems to be someone they want to build the team around. I loved Nate last year, he has a great attitude, plays hard, seems to be talented, but I still think he played way over his head. I doubt he's going to have another big season like that, so if they get a great offer for him, I'd take it.

We need pitching prospects really bad. All we really have in the farm that look to MAYBE be good MLB pitchers is Bryan Morris, who is injured and a question mark anyways, and Brad Lincoln, who is coming off of TJ surgery and probably won't see the MLB until next season at the earliest. Although it's said that Lincoln looked great off of the surgery and didn't lose anything off his fastball. He's bounced back at a great pace. Still though, that's MAYBE two MLB pitchers we have on the horizon. And then no other real standout talent.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

I hate the Pirates.



Just kidding. I'm surprised the Padres didn't get swept with how they were playing recently and how the Pirates were going. Obviously the Pirates are the better team which shouldn't be a surprise.

What's up with Nate McLouth? Is he injured? Also, it looks some of the starting pitchers are realizing their potential, although it may be too early in the season to claim that.

[steelcurtain311]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

They took Nate out of the lineup because he's hurt, but shouldn't go on the DL or anything from what I've heard.

[DirrtySouth78]

Re: 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates

I think the addition of Jow Kerrigan is helping the pitching staff. When you have a pitching coach who actually knows what he is doing and don't try and change everything it can help. Walks are down, seems like they throwing alot more strikes, don't get behind every batter, getting key groundballs. Stuff like that makes a difference, not as many high stress pitches, not as many pitches thrown period.

And Adam LaRoche is hitting in April, thats something I'm not used to. Don't know how long it will last, but as of right now I actually enjoy watching the Pirates play.