Pittsburgh Pirates news and notes

SteelBucsFan

Chicken Thief
Buccos sign C Ryan Doumit to 3 year contract w/option ...

Good video, signings may lead to something in the future as far as a being new grounds for scouting ...When i first heard about this, i thought how stupid but after thinking about it ....What have we got to lose at least they are THINKING ...These kidswill probalby work twice as hard as the next , and it was smart to sign both

The late great Clemente was a young Javelin thrower with very little baseball training .

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=pit
 
The countdown begins.....


Good extension for the buccos.....I guess pirates can develop him and wait for him to become really good then trade him for more prospects who they'll develop then trade away for more of the same. It seems like an everlasting cycle dosen't it?
 
The countdown begins.....


Good extension for the buccos.....I guess pirates can develop him and wait for him to become really good then trade him for more prospects who they'll develop then trade away for more of the same. It seems like an everlasting cycle dosen't it?

Seems that way, i give mclouth till mid 2010
 
I was driving past the Allegheny County jail towards town today to where you come to the intersection with Ross Street and saw the painting of all of the famous Pirates in history on the wall under the ramp that leads from the Boulevard of the Allies to the Liberty Bridge. Pretty sad to think how long it has been and how much longer it will be before we have another star in a Bucs uniform worthy of being added to the picture.

On another note Steel Bucs, I picked up two of those Tomlin T-shirts yesterday from the store in the South Side. It is really a cool picture and a great idea by the owners of that business. A buddy of mine is getting them signed by Tomlin so I can give them away as X-mas gifts.
 
I do not think that the pirates will ever be competitive again, unless there is some kind of salary cap put into place because a city the size of pittsburgh just can't compete with the big boys of new york city who can spend without thinking twice about it. Another reason why I don't believe that the pirates will be competitive is because the front office is more concerned with turning a profit then putting out a winning club, which is fine I just don't hope they expect fan loyalty during these tough times for our economy.

Anyone else from the pittsburgh area not notice the tough times, if there wasn't national news I would never know there was a recession maybe depression depending how you look at it, because it always seems to be the same around pittsburgh area in terms of financial stability.
 
well...there's doumit and mcclouth now. mccutchen and pedro alvarez for the future. but after that, yes, the cupboard doesn't appear full...at least from the outside looking in.

but w/out knowing...w/out the #s in front of me...is pittsburgh really that much smaller of a mkt than philly, cincy, detroit, etc?

now i wouldn't ever claim they're on (or could be on) a level playing field with a team like the yanks...in terms of money, etc...due to the obvious disparities. but the reason i ask is that i wonder how much the owner is simply pocketing, and not investing in the team/company.

remember...to let disney off the hook, selig called anaheim a small mkt...which was a complete joke. all of OC, which is connected to LA, is basically equitable to saying that the borough of queens is separate from NY...and a small mkt, in and of itself.
obviously as was the case for the Halos, a change of ownership was all that was necessary...because basically having just shy of 1/2 the entire LA mkt as your base is obviously not a small mkt.

but back to Pitt. the reason i ask is because each team receives millions every single year from mlb. typically over 40 mil/year. this amount comes from each team's portion of revenue sharing, each team's share of mlb.com, each team's share of the national tv deals, etc.
and obviously the individual teams have other sources of income...before even getting to ticket sales, etc. local tv, local radio, stadium advertising, and on and on.
so my point is that even with each team's creative accounting each year...as no business in their right mind wants to pay any more in taxes than they absolutely have to pay, thus the creative accounting...how do some of these teams justify such low payrolls? knowing how much they begin with, before even 1 ticket/jersey/hot dog is sold.

obviously there are many expenses to consider...but come on. the #'s simply don't add up.
a salary cap would be great...even if it's not the soft one they currently have. but it there's a cap...which is softly at 160-something million this year...how can there not be a salary floor at 50% of the cap?
a floor would force teams to spend what they have, rather than pocketing it. like they say...you have to invest money to make money...and arte moreno is living proof of that, in terms of what he's done with the halos...since selig got disney off the hook.

but what's the real reason why pitt can't be detroit? both depressed mkts lately...but 2 very differently run organizations.
 
I was driving past the Allegheny County jail towards town today to where you come to the intersection with Ross Street and saw the painting of all of the famous Pirates in history on the wall under the ramp that leads from the Boulevard of the Allies to the Liberty Bridge. Pretty sad to think how long it has been and how much longer it will be before we have another star in a Bucs uniform worthy of being added to the picture.


i walk under that bridge and by that painting every day going to and from work....

i'm glad that they cleaned it up recently and put bars up above it to keep the pigeons from shiting on it all day....
 
C-man some of those draft moves i wont blame them but Burnett and Bullington had a lot of hype going into the draft. However the article gives a lot more credit to the Pirates then they deserve. They are not the Clippers of the MLB because the Clippers actually sign players for a lot of money and the Clippers had a good season just a few seasons ago. I think the Clippers even had potential at one point when Brand and Maggette were healthy along with Kaman just a few years ago.

Yanks - If the Pirates were good I think they would no longer be a small market teams. I believe that the Steelers will always be first, but this could easily turn into a baseball town during the summer. Even with a shitty team people come, and PNC park is great experience. The owner does have more money to spend, but he doesnt want too. You know fans might be mad but who can blame them because its really baseballs fault that the Pirates are like this. Not because of the salary cap, because they let owners pocket luxury tax. But who can blame a guy for pocketing 20 million for doing nothing.

Touching onto that article more, I agree that Ramirez and Lofton trade were mind blowing. I will never forget that day and I couldnt believe it, but then I could. Not only was Ramirez coming into his own but just earlier that season Lofton had a 26 game hitting streak. Correct me if im wrong but we also traded away Reggie Sanders that season.

Heres something else that really bothers me. A Pirate has never hit a ball into the river, some have come close, but its never happened. In the All-Star game, we watched homerun, after homerun going into the river. I know its the derby, so its not the same, but still, it was depressing.

Here is a great list about the Pirates, some of you read this site too
 
I love the Pittsburgh Pirates. They were my boyhood team, they were my inspiration for playing 14 years of baseball, and they’re still my favorite team to this day. Some of my fondest childhood memories include coming home from school, making sure all my chores were done, and then getting to stay up late to watch Barry, Bobby Bo and company eventually self-destruct in the NLCS each year. But those days seem like a lifetime ago. Actually, they’re a generation ago, because I estimate that anyone 21 or younger has no memory of the Pirates as a winning organization.

The team last had a winning season in 1992. We’re closing in on 15 consecutive years of losing. I’ve seen the Clippers and the Bengals in the playoffs in my lifetime, so I know it’s at least possible to think that the Pirates have a shot. But getting to that point is a lesson in patience.

What I wanted to talk about today is the plight of the Pirate fan. Save for a few exciting championship runs in the late '80s/early '90s, the franchise has given their followers a whole lot of nothing since that 1979 championship. I know there are fans of other franchises that can sympathize with the cause, but I’m not looking for pity. This is a city that is dying to embrace a winning baseball team, but has a team that refuses to cooperate.
A perception exists that the Pirates have no fans. Totally untrue. In reality, there are still legions of Pirate fans. They are out there on a cold January afternoon attending PirateFest. They are out there running a blogger's roundtable of Pirate issues each week. They are out there to the tune of almost 2 million in attendance for a 95-loss team. If anything, they have very loyal fans.
To steal a line from Hustle and Flow, it's hard out here for a Pirate fan. Despite all the love for them, they keep giving us reasons to make us question our loyalty. So I decided to outline 79 reasons why it's so hard to be a Pirate fan. Why 79? In honor of 1979, the last Pirate team to appear in the World Series.
So wish us luck in the coming season. But keep in mind that the last Deadspin preview I wrote for a team didn't help their season too much. To Pirate fans, hang in there. Don't give up hope. And try not to choke on your own vomit after reading this.
79 Reasons Why It’s Hard To Be a Pirate Fan

79. Jabba the Jimmy Anderson. The gut heard round the world.
78. Welcome to Hell. That's how "team leader" Jason Kendall would welcome new Pirates to town.

77. The pants-less Jose “Chico” Lind. Yes, I know that he was no longer a Pirate when it happened. But the vision of my childhood second base role model sans pants still scars me to this day.

76. The 2006 trade deadline deals. Such high hopes. So many teams in need of a player to put them over the top. Pirate fans were so excited. And what do our "assets" land us? Among others, Shawn Chacon, Brian Rogers, and Jesse Chavez.

75. Benito Santiago. One of the many players that the Pirates were about 20 years too late on.

74. Bobbleheads, bobbleheads, bobbleheads. I count nine of them on the 2007 schedule

3. Starting pitcher Ian Snell, who let it be known that he would never be caught living in Pittsburgh. Ironically, this came out the same week as Sienna Miller's famous anti-Pittsburgh rant.

72. The Pirates get to host the All-Star Game in 1994...and your Pirate rep is…Carlos Garcia.

71. Jack Wilson calling out underachieving 2B Jose Castillo. Hey, I'm all for ripping a guy if it is deserved. But it helps if said messenger was not a massive disappointment since his career season in 2004.
70. Jon Lieber for Brant Brown. The Pirates rescued the ball-dropping Brown from unforgiving Chicago fans, and he responded with a .232 average in 1999. I thought of this trade every time Lieber took the mound for the Yankees in the 2004 playoffs.

69. No rivalries whatsoever. In football, we have Steelers-Bengals, Steelers-Ravens, Steelers-Browns, Steelers-Patriots...in baseball, we have Pirates-Royals.

68. National TV…a pipe dream. The Pirates are never on national TV. I'm surprised they even broadcast the All-Star Game last year, considering it was being played in Pittsburgh. So imagine my surprise when I heard on the radio that ESPN was going to broadcast a Sunday nighter between the Pirates and Mets last August. I thought hell froze over. Turns out that ESPN made a mistake, because the game was actually the Phillies versus the Mets.

67. Willie Stargell falling 25 home runs short of 500. Yet Rafael Palmeiro sits at 569. Just doesn't seem fair.

66. The best stadium in the country, soiled by the worst team. 415-555 since the opening in 2001.65. “It’s a freak show!” That's the catchphrase of Pirate announcer Greg Brown, most notably announced after a walk-off home run by Mark Smith in 1997 to cap an extra-inning no hitter. Considering the team, actually a very appropriate catchphrase.

64. Chad Hermansen. A Pirate minor league manager named Woody Huyke once said the Bucco prospect "could walk on water". Six seasons, 13 homers, and a .195 career average. Kinda missed the mark on that one, Woody.

63. The 12 inning perfect game loss. Only a Pirate could throw 12 perfect innings against a lineup featuring Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews, but Harvey Haddix did exactly that in 1959. See, the Pirates couldn't score runs then, either.

62. The Anna Benson for Ty Wigginton trade. The rare trade situation where both teams lose. And to think the Pirates originally asked for DAVID WRIGHT!

61. They have a pitcher named Bayliss. Does he start nonsensical arguments with teammates?

60. Their big free agent splurge of 1996: Mike Kingery.

59. The self-destruction of Tim Wakefield. This is an example of Pirate luck: Wakefield goes 8-1, 2.15 as a rookie, helping the Pirates within an eyelash short of the 1992 World Series. In his second year, he implodes to a 6-11, 5.61 mark, and he was ultimately released in 1995. He was signed by the Red Sox and has won 137 games since then.

58. Waiving Bronson Arroyo. Another waiver move by the Pirates to make room for their overabundance of talent, Arrroyo was let go in 2003 and scooped up by the BoSox. He periodically checks in with the Pirates to show them his 2004 World Series ring that he won alongside Tim Wakefield.

57. Jason Kendall’s broken ankle. Nothing like a compound fracture to ruin countless Fourth of July picnics in the Greater Pittsburgh area.

56. Jim Leyland. Managed the Pirates to three straight NLCS disappointments, as well as four 5th-place finishes and one 6th-place finish. Still a beloved person in Pittsburgh. I can't figure it out either.

55. Oliver Perez committing hate crimes on laundry carts. He's your problem now, New York.
 
54. The legend of John Wehner.

This guy is amazing. Consider some of these facts on the current Bucco broadcaster:
-- In 11 major league seasons, he had only 804 plate appearances, approximately once every other game.
--He was released four times (Pirates '96, Dodgers '97, Marlins '97, Pirates '01)
--He was signed by the Pirates on five separate occasions (1988, 1999, 2000, January 2001, August 2001)
--He earned a little more than $1.5 million dollars in his career. Remarkable for a player with so many years of experience.
--He appeared in the playoffs twice. With the 1992 Pirates, he struck out in both at bats. With the 1997 Marlins, he was brought into one game as a defensive replacement.
--He has played every position except pitcher at least 3 times
--He hit the last home run in Three Rivers Stadium.
--He also made the final out in the stadium, as the team was rallying against the Cubs and he popped out.
--His years of perserverence paid off in 1997. After signing with the Florida Marlins in March to reunite with former Pirates manager Jim Leyland, he actually won a World Series ring with the fish.

53. The end of the KDKA radio era. 1920-2006. Rest in peace.

52. The Pirates...where careers come to die.

51. Lee Tunnell. I once said of him "imagine Roger Clemens, only more intimidating."

50. Fireworks. And lots of them.


49. They have to be the only team to host two All-Star games (1994 and 2006) without having a winning season in any year in between.

48. Jose Hernandez. Our version of Morris the Cat. He's now been signed three times by the team, despite averaging 183 strikeouts a game from 2001-2003. He just won't go away. Why can't we fall for a guy like Ichiro?

47. Rich Loiselle, Freddy Garcia, Chris Stynes, Ivan Cruz, J.J. Davis, William Pennyfeather, Adrian Brown, Turner Ward, Lou Collier, Doug Strange, Chris Peters, Todd Van Poppel, Mike Benjamin, Wil Cordero, Emil Brown, Adam Hyzdu, Omar Olivares, Tony Alvarez, Jeff Reboulet, Matt Stairs...Just a few players we tried to talk ourselves into rooting for over the past decade and a half.

46. The Pirates can't get a drink. Through the first six years of PNC Park, not one Pirate has hit a home run into the river on a fly. Imagine watching my joy as I endured slugger after slugger knocking them in at the Home Run Derby in July.

45. Doug Frobel. Have you ever seen a more pathetic looking Rated Rookie?

44. Six million dollars, 16 homers and a .230 average. That's what one season of Jeromy Burnitz will buy you.



43. The Cobra. Dave Parker, the tragic figure of the We Are Family Pirates, who preferred cocaine to steroids. He also preferred Jason Voorhees masks when batting.

2. The Mendoza Line, baseball's universal symbol of incompetance at the plate, comes from the below-average batting skills of former Pirate Mario Mendoza.

41. Pirate employees stuffed the ballot box on behalf of Pirate players for the 2006 All Star Game.

40. Interchangeable management. Cam Bonifay, Dave Littlefield, Jim Tracy, Gene Lamont, Lloyd McClendon...the names change, the results stay the same.

39. Matt Lawton. Of course, the Pirates sign the one of the few known steroid users whose performance wasn't enhanced.

38. One of the rumored reasons they disliked slugging outfielder Craig Wilson: he drank too much Pepsi.

37. Kris Benson, not a Cy Young winner. Let's just say Peter Gammons was a little off in his 2000 predictions.

36. The 1980 trade of Bert Blyleven and Manny Sanguillen to Cleveland for Gary Alexander, Victor Cruz, Rafael Vasquez, and Bob Owchinko. I didn't realize Dave Littlefield was the GM back then, but apparently he was.

35. Jody Gerut. The coveted 2005 deadline-deal power bat who can't even run.

34. Dock Ellis throws a no hitter…on LSD. Pirates pitchers can't just throw nine-inning no-hitters without an asterisk. They throw 12 innings and lose, they throw 10 innings and need a walk-off grand slam to win, they throw them on LSD...

33. Tabaka-Wilkins '98. This alcohol-fueled brawl between two pitchers was the most fight the Pirates showed the entire year.

32. Their greatest base-stealing threat? Former manager Lloyd McClendon.

31. Yuslan Herrera. The Pirates finally sign a Cuban defector, and who is it? A guy whose opponents batted .340 against him last year. Jose Contreras he is not.

30. Mike Williams' 2003 season. 1-7, 6.14 ERA, 28 saves, and the Pirates' lone All-Star rep.

29. Listening to Yankee fans saying they can't get rid of A-Rod fast enough. I know, he can't win the big one. Of course, neither could Peyton Manning. But I digress. Guys, I appreciate your high expectations of your team, but as a Pirate fan I just can't relate. Of course, as a Steeler fan I can totally relate.

28. Kevin Polcovich. Looked like a paperboy. Played like one too, with his .189 average for a half season of work in 1998.

27. The Raul Mondesi Era. For obvious reasons, my favorite. Arguably the most intelligent player in Pirate history for the scheme that rescued him from the Baseball Bermuda Triangle in 2004.

26. Steeler camp doesn't start soon enough. I'm sending Dan Rooney a letter to petition a May 1 start to camp this year.

25. They even screw up Opening Day, as evidenced by their 2006 choice of actor Michael Keaton, who bashed them in a press conference earlier in the day

24. Al Martin. Al can best be summed up with that crazy story he told about when he played college football at USC, going so in depth that he talked about tackling Leroy Hoard and his tree trunk legs. Unfortunately, that never happened. Folks, your seven-year starter in the outfield.

23. Kevin Young’s contract. Possibly the biggest waste of $24 million you could ever make, unless you consider other Pirate contracts.

22. The 1995 lineup: Mark Parent, Mark Johnson, Carlos Garcia, Jeff King, Jay Bell, Al Martin, Orlando Merced, and Jacob Brumfield. I get nightmares just blogging about it.

21. Roberto Clemente taken before his time. Just not fair.

20. The Jason Schmidt trade. The Giants get a Cy Young runner-up and three-time All-Star. The Pirates get Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong. Boo-ya!

19. Their 2006 starting center fielder, Chris Duffy, goes AWOL. Apparently Mr. Duffy did not watch the Raul Mondesi "How to Get Out of Pittsburgh...FAST!" instructional video.

18. Salomon Torres’ beaning of Sammy Sosa in the head. Actually, this was kind of entertaining.

17. The Pat Meares signing. When I think that Meares had a lifetime average of .258, never played a full season, and made almost $21 million as a result, I am reminded that America is the land of opportunity.

16. The Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Concert. Nice job by the Pirate event planners, who booked a San Francisco-based punk rock cover band to play a postgame concert (featuring fireworks, of course). Styx would've been a better choice for this crowd. That's why they're scheduled for August 16th this year, followed by Smash Mouth on the 17th and the Povertyneck Hillbillies on the 18th. Stay cutting edge, Pittsburgh.

15. Bill Mazeroski’s home run being constantly overshadowed by the Shot Heard Round the World. Maz hits the first walk-off, series-ending homer in MLB history, and we're supposed to believe that Bobby Thomson's home run in a pennant game is bigger? Let's connect the dots...Thomson's home run was FOR New York...Maz's home run was AGAINST New York...hmmm...

14. The only MLB lineup ever filled out by a computer program.

13. Raising ticket prices after a 100-loss season in 2001. Seriously, do they ever weigh the pros and cons of some of these ideas?

12. Jason Kendall’s contract. The $60 million singles hitter.

11. Simply awful drafting. The Pirates always stink, so they always get a high draft pick. The problem is, their draft picks rarely pan out. Since 1979, the Pirates have had three players who they developed who hit 30 or more HR in a season in a Pirate uniform: Aramis Ramirez in 2001 and Barry Bonds in 1992 and 1990. Before you write to correct me, they didn't develop Jason Bay or Brian Giles.

10. The arrival of Adam LaRoche. LaRoche was celebrated as if the Pirates traded for a combination of Albert Pujols, Babe Ruth, and Roberto Clemente times 100. Anything less than 82 home runs and 195 RBI this year would be considered a disappointing season.

9. Randall Simon…weiner whacker.

8. The Aramis Ramirez Trade. Seen by many as the ultimate waving of the white flag by the Pirates as a legitimate franchise. They dealt the promising 3B, who had a reasonable contract, to the Cubs at the 2003 deadline, throwing in Kenny Lofton to boot. The Pirates received strikeout machine/3B Jose Hernandez, backup IF Bobby Hill, and minor league Matt Bruack. A sad day in PirateLand.

7. Francisco Cabrera and Sid Bream. I hate you both.

6. A serious lack of development. Players don't get better when they are drafted by the Pirates, they get worse. Their 1st-round picks in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002, all pitchers, all blew out their arms. After changing their direction to drafting position players, the Pirates selected pitcher Brad Lincoln in the 1st round of the 2006 draft. As expected, Lincoln was promptly shut down for the year shortly thereafter. Direct your ire at Senior Director of Scouting Ed Creech and Senior Director of Player Development Brian Graham, who are clearly stealing paychecks.

5. The McNutting Era. The Pirates' ownership group of Kevin McClatchy and the Nutting family has resulted in a combined record of 783-996 since 1996 (an average of 72-90). They're the anti-Steinbrenners.

4. The Pittsburgh Drug Trials. I'm always proud to be a Pittsburgher when I see Bryant Gumbel interviewing our old mascot about how he sold drugs to Dale Berra.

3. Operation Shutdown. I know it's been talked about for years, but the nerve of Derek Bell to threaten a shutdown still amazes me. He was coming off of a .173 season, and to that point in spring ball he was hitting .148. The defining moment of a generation of Pirate jokes. By the way, this is Bell's 2006 booking photo for getting caught with a warm crack pipe at a traffic stop.

2. Barry Lamar Bonds. We don't remember the Balco Barry that you see today. We remember a different Barry. The one that threw a hot pizza on the head of R.J. Reynolds during a team flight.

1. 14 consecutive losing seasons and a total of just seven winning seasons since 1979. This is a franchise that went from 1927-1960 between postseason appearances, so there's some history of long droughts. Although as droughts go, we may be in for the baseball version of "The Dust Bowl".

(this was written before 2007 season)
 
Pirates Top Prospects
1. P. Alvarez 3B (AA)
2. A. McCutchen OF (AAA)
3. J. Tabata OF (AA)
4. B. Lincoln RHP (AA)
5. N. Walker 3B (AAA)


i don`t want Rocco has never done much still young tho...Would rather get Pearce/Morgan /Cutch/Moss playing time..

It looks as if Pirates will stand pat with what they have as of now...Maybe Wilson gets traded or some relievers picked up off waivers but thats about it ...i`M OK WITH THAT ..We need to find out what some of these prospects can do before they grow old in the minors or sitting on the bench....My pick to click would be Pearce but he really is a 1b and until Laroche moves on he will just get platooned in the OF and we will waste a valuble year or two ...Like we did with McClouth...Pearce has hit every where he`s been except for last season ..
 
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lol...that's a helluva list. someone sure put a lot of their time into putting that thing together.

as for their top 5 prospects listed above...the 1st 2 are real good, and the 4th could be. overall though, they have drafted horribly in hindsight.
but tabata isn't going to amount to much. yanks were high on him...until he stopped hitting altogether...which was coincidentally a few months prior to the trade. and in terms of walker...well, with the younger laroche there now, and pedro just around the corner, he'll have to find another position...providing he makes it to the show.
 
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