Pirates Cove VII (2012)

T

TigerVoiceChris

Active member
Here's hoping this season has another hot start that continues maybe all the way to the END of the season!

Pirates got the offseason kicked off by signing...Rod Barajas. :dang: About to be 36, Barajas is a career .238 hitter, but has some pop in his bat left. Hit 16 homers in 98 games with the Dodgers last year. I can only assume he will platoon with McKenry, since Barajas has only played over 100 games 4 times in his whole career. Still, catching was a need with Snyder and Doumit leaving, and with how weak the FA market is this year, maybe only Ramon Hernandez was rated higher for catchers, and he would have cost a draft pick to get. So Barajas may have sadly been their best option.
 
 
One good thing about Barajas is that he apparently ranks very highly in handling pitchers. At least that's the gist I got from skimming some blog-type stuff.

Any little thing that helps!
 
If spun is right, I wouldn't mind Barajas mentoring McKenry or Jaramillo in how to handle the staff. Next season it would likely be Jaramillo behind Barajas, since Jaramillo is out of minor league options.

I wouldn't really mind an outfield of Tabata, Cutch and Presley. But they'd need some pop at 1st, because even if they were to bring back Lee, he could really show his age any minute, and I just don't think Jones is any kind of answer. Sadly, I'm not sure there's really anyone out there that the Bucs could get. The FA market is either too expensive or not worth the money. Lee may actually be the most likely option, and not one that excites me. Maybe see if Carlos Pena is up for another one year deal? Or do they bring a guy like Matt Hague up?

Who's the shortstop next year? Cedeno is mercifully gone, but I'm not sure D'Arnaud showed he was ready for the show last year. The only other major options are Ciriaco and Wood. Not much better.
 
So thought I'd update with a few notes about the offseason thusfar:

SS has been cleared up, Ciriaco and Wood are both gone, and the Pirates decided to bring in Clint Barmes. Barmes spent most of his career with Colorado, and played for Houston last year. Barmes had his career year in '09 hitting ,245-23-76.

Xavier Paul won't be part of the outfield picture, as he was released. In his place, Nate McLouth returns after several unsuccessful years in Atlanta.

Ross Ohlendorf will be replaced as well after being released. In his place will be oft-injured but talented Erik Bedard. Lefty Jo-Jo Reyes will also be looking for a spot in either the pen or the rotation. Either way, depth in the pitching staff is needed after they hit the wall midway through last season. Another lefty will be in the pen in Brian Tallet.

The backup plan in case Pedro has another down year will be Casey McGehee from the Brewers. McGehee is also in the mix to compete for the first base job, which is still fairly undecided right now. McGehee has some good pop, having a career year in 2010 with .285-23-104. McGehee will compete with Garrett Jones, Jeff Clement and Nick Evans, a part time player over the last few years with the Mets. Things were so thin at first that the Pirates even worked out Dimitri Young, who hasn't played in the majors since 2008. He'd reportedly lost about 75 pounds and showed great conditioning, but the Pirates passed on him. Thank goodness, because I think McGehee and Jones are fine enough options.

The Pirates have been working hard to add more depth to the pitching staff, making offers to Roy Oswalt and Edwin Jackson, both of whom turned the offers down. Currently, the Pirates are considered the frontrunners and most likely to acquire A.J. Burnett from the Yankees. Reports have been the Pirates taking on about $13-15 mil of the remaining $33 he's owed over the next two years, and maybe giving up an "okay" prospect (non-roster) in return.
 
Just looking at the roster, I think they could end the season with a better record than last year. Pujols and Prince Fielder on no longer in the division, which will definitely make a bit of a difference.
 
Exicardo could be a very good player, but if there's one area in the system that really doesn't need more bodies it's OF.
 
anyone have a predicted opening day lineup? any "major" changes?

just want to generate some thoughts/discussion.
 
I think it will be something close to:

Lineup
Jose Tabata - RF
Alex Presley - LF
Neil Walker - 2B
Andrew McCutchen - CF
Pedro Alvarez - 3B
Garrett Jones - 1B
Clint Barmes - SS
Michael McKenry - C

Rotation
Erik Bedard
Charlie Morton
A.J. Burnett
James McDonald
Kevin Correia
(Jeff Kartsens)


McCutchen will probably be the only consistent HR threat in the lineup, but hopefully they get SOMETHING from Alvarez this year and a little more from Walker.
 
d'Arnaud needs more time in the minors, IMO. With Barmes starting and McGehee backing up the corners, he won't see much playing time at the major league level. I think Josh Harrison will be the utility guy instead. Crotta is a little more surprising, but with Grilli, Meek, Resop, Cruz, White Cutch and maybe Moskos is the bullpen picture, I guess it's easier to send the guy that still has options down.
 
TigerVoiceChris said:
d'Arnaud needs more time in the minors, IMO. With Barmes starting and McGehee backing up the corners, he won't see much playing time at the major league level. I think Josh Harrison will be the utility guy instead. Crotta is a little more surprising, but with Grilli, Meek, Resop, Cruz, White Cutch and maybe Moskos is the bullpen picture, I guess it's easier to send the guy that still has options down.
Click to expand...

Awesome :laugh:
 
Phillies win 1-0.

Solid pitching effort, but nothing from the plate, just like last season. Just two hits for the Pirates today.
 
I'll give them a one day pass on getting 2-hit...the entire league has trouble getting hits off Halladay. But it was encouraging to see Bedard pitch so well, especially against a decent offense, even without Utley and Howard.
 
Took 10 innings, but the Buccos picked up their first win! Karstens stifled the Phillies offense, allowing only 1 run in 6 innings. Cliff Lee did the same to the Pirates, but in the 10th, Barajas hit a 399 foot shot at a 400 foot wall, got a double and eventually scored when Alex Presley hit a slow roller to short with 2 outs and beat the throw by Rollins. Hustle won the game for the Bucs!

1 down, 80 to go!
 
A series win against the Phillies. Nice way to start out the season! And it wasn't really lacking in anything. Solid baseball all around for the most part.
 
That's pretty good for the Pirates. It seems like the Phillies offense is going to be a huge question mark.
 
The starters put in pretty solid performances:

Bedard - 7.0 IP, 4 K, 1 ER
Kartsens - 6.0 IP, 2 K, 1 ER
McDonald - 6.0 IP, 3 K, 2 ER
 
2-1 vs a team that won over 100 games last year? I'll take it.

We knew the offense would still be suspect and it showed, but to no surprise considering we faced Halladay and Lee. Offense was timely and pitching was stellar. Pitching should get better once Burnett joins the rotation.

Bats need to keep improving so as to take the pressure of the starting rotation.

Let's go Bucs!
 
Halladay and Lee are pretty good, so I can forgive if they didn't set the bats on fire in those games.

They did manage to get 11 hits yesterday, so that's promising.
 
I agree, facing Halladay and Lee, there's no way I would have seen them taking this series.

Wonder if this has anything to do with what Hurdle has been preaching all offseason. Finish what you start! They played tough til the last out and it paid off, getting both wins at the end of the game surging from behind.

Starting pitching looked great. Hearing that both Burnett and Morton could be back by the end of the month. Wonder who that pushes out. Corriea?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top