What Do We Have: Left Field

Left field has been home to some players with some pop in their bat in recent Pirate history. Brian Giles was an excellent power hitter in Pittsburgh. Jason Bay had a big stick too. Now the man patrolling left field, has a stick, but it is not so big, but it will do some talking.

Alex Presley has been a bit of a phenom the past few seasons. Rising from minor league after thought to the starting left fielder in a few seasons. He brings a great deal to the lineup as he can do a little bit of everything. There is enough pop to keep them honest, a good eye, nice contact, and nice legs when he gets on the bases. Putting him as a lefty at the top of the lineup, gives the team some much needed speed.

That speed that Presley shows on the bases, also helps considerably in the outfield, especially in the spacious confines of left field at PNC Park. Having Presley be able to run down balls into the gap that McCutchen might not be able to get to is a good thing to have.

I have no doubt that Presley will get the call on Opening Day 2012. If it is not him it may mean that he was traded, that the team somehow lured a top free agent, or a minor leaguer like Starling Marte had the biggest spring in recent memory.

Looking further down the line, Presley might not be the long term answer, but he has seemingly shown that he is going to be a useful ballplayer for the club for a few years. His broad skill set will keep him up with the big league club for awhile.

What Do We Have: Third Base

There might not be a guy that the club was expecting so much for, but got so little out of this season than Pedro Alvarez. El Toro was more like El Raton this season. Alvarez provided more rehab articles than any player in recent memory this past season.

I am sure that there might be some whispers around 115 Federal Street that Pedro might not have been as prepared as he should have been this season. There might be some truth to that. Just as I am sure that there are many whispers abound as to what the future holds for Pedro.

The team wants him to go to Winter ball, but they can't make him, which to me is a bit of a head scratcher. He does not have to go the whole time, but a few weeks would not kill the guy. Then again I am not a professional athlete, what do I know.

Also in looking into the future with Pedro, could a position switch be in the cards? Anyone that can make any type of projections about the future, can look at Pedro and immediately say, "Yes he will be a first baseman some day." The Pirates have a problem staffing first base, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

It might be a possibility that Pedro moves, and if so it will not happen overnight, but will take time to get him acclimated to the position, perhaps all of next spring and then some.

If the move does happen this offseason, I'd expect to see the Pirates sign a stop gap guy to hold down the fort at third. Someone that could platoon with say a d'Arnaud or Josh Harrison. If moving Pedro to first clears that position up, it would quickly make third base a very murky situation.

Preseason Predictions: A Look Back

Before the season, I made few observations/predictions about the 2011 season. Let's take a look and see how correct/wrong I was.


Five Predictions


1. Neil Walker will prove that last year was not a fluke and will continue to hit well.


I'd say that this was a solid prediction, though like Nostradamus, I made a rather vague prediction. Looking back over the season, Walker might have been the most consistent Pirate hitter.


2. Ryan Doumit will finish the season in black and gold. Is this a good or bad thing?


Surprisingly he did finish as a Pirate, and well it was not really a good or bad thing, as he missed a majority of the season.


3. Anthony Rendon will be the first overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, though he won't sign until the deadline.


Well this was not a good one, as the team select Gerrit Cole instead.


4. Andrew McCutchen will be joined by a teammate in Arizona for the All-Star game. I hope Joel Hanrahan does not have any plans for the second week of July.


I forgot about this one, but that was a pretty good guess. I would have never guess three All-Stars, but naming two out of three ain't bad is it?


5. 75 wins. That would be a huge improvement, but one that I see as the best case scenario and one that hopefully happens.


For awhile I was hoping that they would blow this number out of the water, but instead they just missed it by a few.

What Do we Have: Shortstops

There is perhaps no player on the Pirates that will generate more discussion and perhaps scorn than Ronny Cedeno. Many simply cannot stand how Ronny will from time to time simply seemingly forget that he is playing baseball at that time. Mental errors really hurt him at times.

There has never really been a question about the physical skills of Cedeno. He can more than physically play shortstop. In fact he took great strides this season, especially defensively. While he is not the gold glover that the announcers sometimes make him seem to be, he is above average. Add in the fact that that he is not a complete zero at the plate, you wonder why some may want to run him out of town. It is not as though starting shortstops are growing on trees around baseball.

Cedeno is due a raise, approximately $3.5 million for next season, which is again still a bargain considering what is out there. I shudder to think of the Pirates going out on the free agent market and finding someone to come in at shortstop. That guy would be considerably more expensive and perhaps not all that much better production wise.

Many are going to clamor for Chase d'Arnaud to be the shortstop next season, but really he has been very overmatched. His defense has been somewhat shaky and has clearly been overmatched at the plate. Right now Cedeno is a better option than d'Arnaud. In a year or so that might not be the case, but for the time being, keeping Cedeno is not the worst thing in the world.

What Do We Have: Second Base

The Keystone corner might be one position on the field where the Pirates right now are comfortable. Neil Walker, the former catcher, has made big strides this season and has seemingly put a stranglehold on the second base position for the Bucs.

Walker has improved defensively this season, which was the one real goal for Walker this year to see if he could stick at second. While there is still plenty of room to grow defensively, this still just his second season playing the position. With more time in at second, he will be more than serviceable at second.

Offensively Walker took some steps forward. He was a solid run producer for the club and, as of this writing, has 12 home runs. If he could add some more power and draw just a few more walks, he could be a really special offensive player at second base. Right now he depends too much on getting a hit than a walk, which is not alarming but could be a problem if bat speed slows down. This could also be a reason why when he slumps he really slumps.

After Walker there is not much in terms of second basemen. Josh Harrison could be classified here, but he has more experience at third. A host of potential shortstop candidates could be placed here if they fizzle there. Guys like Chase d'Arnaud, could one day be considered a second base option.

For the time being the Pirates could be a lot worse off if they did not have Walker. Having him at least gives the Pirates some level of comfort. A definite storyline moving forward will be whether the Pirates extend Walker to a long term deal, which could very well happen, as it makes baseball and PR sense.

What Do We Have: First Base

It has seemingly been since Willie Stargell moved to first that the Pirates have been struggling to find someone to replace him. Recent attempts included bringing in Adam LaRoche, Lyle Overbay, and Derek Lee. All of had some sorts of 'success' but have not been the answer.

Many are going to clamor for the Pirates to bring back Derek Lee. He has played well for the Pirates, but bringing back Lee will only again put a band aid on a bullet wound. He would only be here for a season or two at most, leaving the club still without a solution.

Garrett Jones is another option at first base, but he has been tried there before at first base. The club seems like him in the outfield and in his platoon role.

Other options include Steve Pearce, who is out of options and probably on his way out, Matt Hague, who to me is the new Steve Pearce, and not ready prospect, Matt Curry.

That leaves the Pirates with little options. Even if the club were high on Hague, you could not really count on him for much offense being a rookie at the big league level. If they like Jones as a platoon, we might be in store for a first base platoon between Jones and someone else, perhaps a free agent. Another possibility is that we could see a free agent first base signing, either from the major league level or a minor league guy like Garrett Jones was a few seasons ago.

To really attempt to fix the situation, a trade might be the best scenario. Trading from strength to another team to find a first baseman. Looking at a team that has a guy that is blocked at the big league level or has lost out on a position battle, might be the best case.

What Do We Have: Catchers

The catching position is one where the Pirates have seemingly had trouble finding a guy to hold down the fort since Jason Kendall became an expensive and not very useful player. This past season, I believe the Pirates have used 7 men behind the plate, maybe even more. Right now there are 6 catchers on the roster, but not all will be a part of the team next season.

Easily we can scratch Chris Snyder off the roster, he is injury prone and will be too expensive. Snyder, who appeared in more games last season with the Pirates than this season, will not be really missed.

Ryan Doumit, a vanguard of the past few Pirate teams, will more than likely be following Mr. Snyder out of town. Doumit he of the defensive deficiency and the bat that only plays as a catcher, but he does not play defense as a catcher.

That leaves a MASH unit of players that will perhaps make up the catching position for the Pirates; Eric Fryer, Jason Jaramillo, Michael McKenry, and Matt Pagnozzi. The recent acquisition of Pagnozzi perhaps tipped Huntington's hand of going into next season with a bunch of guys and finding one that sticks.

That is perhaps the best option at this point. One a free agent would only be for one season and would not be much better than Chris Snyder or Ryan Doumit. Additionally the top catching prospect on the farm, Tony Sanchez, struggled at AA at the plate. The organization would more than likely love to have him straighten things out in the minors than in Pittsburgh, leading to a lame duck type of year.

The best guess then for what to expect next year would be a stop gap at catcher, until Sanchez is ready. A combination of Michael McKenry and either Pagnozzi or Jaramillo is what we can expect. The Pirates will more than likely simply bide their time until Tony Sanchez is ready. If they can get good defense from this platoon, it might not be all that bad, but we cannot expect to see much offense if any.

Falling Apart

It has been awhile since I posted, as I have been traveling and under the weather, but luckily nothing really has happened all that much with the Pirates. Mainly the wheels have continued to fall off the wagon as the season draws to a close. Words seemingly cannot explain how much the team has changed from the one that had played earlier this season. They look more like the same old Pirates than the Pirates that looked to be perhaps turning a corner.

Where we fooled this season? Perhaps. Where we simply just not there yet? Maybe. Are we close to becoming a contending team? I don't know. I will attempt to take a look at those questions as we wind down more this season. What can we expect from the various players on this team, where does improvement need to be made?

This season was fairly important for the Pirates and this upcoming offseason might be one of the most important in team recent team history. How they are able to address the shortcomings of this current team and position it for the future will determine a great deal this offseason.

Has the team grown or has it stayed pretty much the same? That is the question to be asked and one to try to figure out.

Extending Andrew

MLB Trade Rumors linked a story from ESPN.com that stated that the Pirates and Andrew McCutchen were far apart on signing a deal. That of course was reported by Jim Bowden, who must have been using some connections from his days serving under Syd Thrift, to glean this information.

I would think that if they were really far apart the local guys would have heard this already. I don't know if they are far apart, but I do know that the Pirates need to do what ever it takes to ensure that Andrew McCutchen is happy and in black and gold.

Look at the recent games. They only reason to watch is to see what he does. What he has been doing is phenomenal. He is starting to really tap into the potential that many saw as he came up through the system.

We are seeing a break out of power from the young centerfielder, while also not seeing other parts of his game suffer. Quite literally, we are seeing Andrew McCutchen slowly figure it all out.

As he figures more and more out about the big league level, he will become even more dangerous than he is now, which is a pretty scary thought. What is more is how depressing that it is thinking if he is not a Pirate.

Tim Dierkes says that it might take a contact similar to that of Justin Upton to get him to sign. Many would have thrown that out there as what to expect without knowing too much about the contract talks. I would not be surprised to see him get that money. If the team wants to start building at the big league level, ensuring that Andrew McCutchen is locked in is a huge part.

Neal Gets His Deal

What had seemed to be inevitable happened for fact on Sunday, the Pirates extended the contract of Neal Huntington for three more seasons. It was almost a forgone conclusion that he was to be extended, it just finally happened in time for his weekly radio show so that it could be discussed in some detail.

With the news of the signing, it is a time for some reflection as well as to look forward to what the future might hold.

In his previous 4 seasons, Huntington has done what frankly needed to be done. The team was full of players that would not be with the team much longer and it was faced with a farm system that had nothing to be able to send to the majors. Huntington then embarked on a fire sale of epic proportions moving anything that was seemingly not nailed down for any type of useful player that he could get via trade.

Some of those trades worked out and some did not, but in the grand scheme of things accumulating players was basically all that could be done.

Additionally the team adopted a much more aggressive route to the draft, spending top money to land players that they felt were top level players. It has brought in many more talented players than previous regimes, though we are still some time away from seeing if they spent on the right players.

Spending money on major league players seems to be a fault of Huntington as he has failed to spend wisely in the free agent market. Aside from minor league deals for bullpen arms and the Kevin Correia deal, his signings of guys like Ramon Vasquez, Bobby Crosby, Eric Hinske, Ryan Church, Lyle Overbay, Matt Diaz, amongst others have not really panned out well for the club.

While Huntington has grown a great deal as a GM there is still plenty more room to grow. He has implemented a great deal to improve the organization, though with this current deal, the focus is going to be more on what he does with the major league part of the organization.

Many eyes will be watching what he does to fill the holes at the major league level this offseason. There are glaring needs at first, short and catcher. How he goes about filling those will determine how hot his seat gets next season. If the Pirates were to have a season like the current one next season, it might be mighty hot for him.

A Tale of Two Pitchers

I found the following stats below rather intriguing when you look at the two of them together.

	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
Player A	3.66	26	26	162.1	160	72	66	11	50	6	97	1.29	8.9	0.6	2.8	5.4	1.94
Player B	3.7	28	27	153.1	143	76	63	10	55	1	139	1.29	8.4	0.6	3.2	8.2	2.53

Granted there is a huge difference in those numbers as one was put up by a major leaguer and the other by a minor leaguer. Nonetheless, I was taken aback by how similar they are with the results. Essentially they are very much alike, except the one strikes out a lot more batters that the other, while giving up slightly more walks.

I don't want to make the direct comparisons, just found it interesting to see how these two players have performed this year and finding such a striking similarity was odd.

The one has pitched in the majors for 7 seasons, he is the one with the top stats. That would be Paul Maholm. The bottom guy? Well he is set to make his big league debut on Saturday. Those are the stats of Jeff Locke.

Again I am not saying Locke could be Maholm or do what he did, but the stats are interesting to look at.

Paul Maholm Moving On?

Today the Pirates placed Paul Maholm on the 60 day DL, essentially ending his 2011 season. Is it his last in the black and gold? It could very well be his last, as he has a rather pricey option to come back next season, that hte Pirates might not pick up.

A first round pick out of Mississippi State in 2003, Maholm was seen as the quintessential safe pick. A lefty with some plus pitches for a college guy. Seemed projectable. Could move quickly. He would never really be an ace, but could be very dependable.

Essentially that was the case with Maholm. He pitched some in 2003 with Hickory in 2003 then made it to Lynchburg in 2004. 2005 saw his best minor league season, as he started at Altoona and made it to AAA, going 7-3 in 22 games, striking out 96 in 117 innings. He would then go 3-1 in 6 starts in Pittsburgh that season. From then on he would be a fixture in the rotation.

The wins and losses seemed to fluctuate for Maholm and on the surface make him look like a worse pitcher than he was. He was pitching on some pretty bad teams with poor run support, so the losses would pile up. If you look at the other stats you could really predict what he would do. You could literally pencil in 170-200 innings pitched, 100-120 K's, and 60 BB. His best season might have been 2008 when he went 9-9 and made career highs in innings pitched, 206, and K's, 139.

He was and is not a swing and miss guy. He pitches to contact and depends on the team around him to help him. He sometimes hurt himself with the long ball, but more often than not you could say the rest of the team let him down.

Have we seen the last of Paul Maholm? Maybe. He is going to be pricey next season and he could be showing some signs of wear now that he has been on the disabled list a bit. I could see bringing him back for one more year, but not many more than two.

Would you want to have one more year of Paul Maholm or would we want to start to see what all of these young guys can do? Eventually they will need their trial by fire and keeping Maholm and tried hand that is not going to improve nor stay here longer is going to help that process.

Maholm has been a big part of the Pirates during the last 7 seasons. Perhaps it is time to move on and let others take their turn. It might not be easy to do, but might be the best for the organization.

First Base

With the Bucs taking two of three from the Cubs on the road, it should give fans a good feeling about the upcoming series against the Astros, but recently they have had problems with the Astros, so it is not the good feeling one once had.

As the season is slowly drawing to a close, one thing has jumped to my mind. It is whether or not the Pirates should look to try to bring back Derek Lee for next season. In the offseason, he was a target of the Pirates to play first, but he went to Baltimore instead.

Clint Hurdle seems to want to have him back as he would like to have veterans available. That is no argument at all. I'd like to have Albert Pujols, but he makes as much sense as bringing back Lee.

The club is past the point of looking for duct tape fixes. Bringing in Derek Lee would be yet another fix like that. I would much rather see the club try an internal and younger candidate to see if they have one, or trade for a younger more attractive candidate.

This club needs to be looking towards the future and not continual stop gaps. To a certain extent they did do that this season. Many younger players played and played significant time. Bringing back Lee would essentially repeat this season again, leaving first base up in the air for the near future again.

As nice as having Lee hit that grand slam over the weekend was, it will be better if it is done next year by someone who is part of the future.