Archive for December, 2009

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost no players in the Rule 5 draft.  Doesn’t that make you feel warm and fuzzy about the Pirates players in the minors?  Nah, just probably an oversight on the other Major League teams. 

One word for Pirate Manager John Russell following his recent comments at the Winter Meetings.  Seriously?  ”Pedro gets here at some point, Tabata gets here at some point … and we’ve got Clement and Jones in the lineup, (Andrew) McCutchen, Aki (Iwamura) … it’s starting to look pretty potent,” Russell said.   Those players make the Pirates potent?  Jeff Clement is in the lineup card already?  What happened to proving himself at 1B?  Holy hell.  “I’ve gotten to the where it’s fun to dream now, because we couldn’t do that before. We can look and be excited about the future. And [...]

  John Raynor at Baseball Reference John Raynor Future Star?  Bleacher Report  The kid can score some runs. __________________________________________________________________________________ Baseball America said this about Raynor:  It’s worth elaborating that Raynor posted just a .687 OPS at Triple-A New Orleans, with 19 stolen bases, after posting an .890 OPS with 48 steals in 2008 at Double-A Carolina. Still, Raynor has top-shelf speed and experience at upper levels, with a chance for some upside. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Future Fish had this to say while worrying about the increase in strikeouts as he climbed the ladder: The Marlins drafted John Raynor in the 9th round of the [...]

MLB coverage of Rule 5 Draft begins at 9am.  MLB.com has some bad music up right now, with some mumbling in the background the message LISTEN LIVE AT 9AM. UPDATE:  Fox Sports Tracy Ringolsby posted this at 513am   Pirates target Rockies minor-leaguer — Pittsburgh is planning to select right-handed pitcher Craig Baker out of the Colorado system in the Rule V draft. Converted to a reliever after he signed in pro ball, Baker has spent three full years at the Single-A level — including the last two with Modesto — averaging four strikeouts per one walk, and 10.2 strikeouts per [...]

RumBunter thinks the Bucs will take a right handed pitcher today.  Yohan Pino has been talked about non-stop.  His page is here which includes his work this winter.  Aaron Breit has the power arm the Pirates love.  We would love Disco Hayes, Caminero or A-Rod, but in the end it all points to Pino or Caminero.  Who do you like?  If the Yankees let Caminero slide to number two, surely the Pirates would jump on him over Pino.  Right?  We think so. The Pirates could also lose Jean Machi today after his impressive time in the Venezuelan Winter League. The right-hander [...]

 Randy Wolf and LaTroy Hawkins should walk into the Brewers ticket sales office when they arrive in Milwaukee and thank the ticket sales force by scheduling a meet and greet with the Milwaukee faithful.  Attendance at Milwaukee Brewers games was strong this year.  So much so they are writing checks for $37.25 million for two pitchers. “I think 27 teams came here looking for pitching….., you got to do it.” Ken Macha, Brewers Manager said.  The Brewers tied the Orioles for worst ERA in the majors last season. Wolf (11-7, 3.23ERA, 160K, 1.10WHIP) signed a three year deal for $29.75 million with an option [...]

The Pirates reportedly are signing Bobby Crosby once he passes a physical.  Crosby comes over from Moneyball GM Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s Crosby was a whipping boy in Oakland.  Sort of like, well, never mind, this kid was the 2004 AL Rookie of the Year.  The reason that Miguel Tejada could be pushed out of the way. Crosby passed up other deals because he wants to play SS with Pittsburgh.  He wants to be the starting SS with Pittsburgh.  You can read all about his disgust with playing so many positions with the A’s.  Let’s trust he wasn’t [...]

  Money Ball is back on track.  The movie, that is, not the Pirates at the Winter Meetings.  The story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players. Steven Soderbergh is out.  He turned in an entirely different version of the script at the midnight hour.  Which was not approved by Sony.  And that my friends was not looked kindly upon. Bennett Miller, the genius director behind the  movie Capote is in and the movie has the green light.  Brad Pitt?  Still [...]

The Pittsburgh Kid Mark Cuban took his turn as guest host of WWE Raw last evening at the American Airlines Center. He was quite a bit more active than Ben Roethlisberger and his offensive line during their recent appearance. Cuban got caught in the middle of a war of words with The Champ John Cena and the Celtic Warrior. Cena’s sneakers can be seen in the lower left corner of the video apparently knocked silly. The Celtic Warrior then set his sights on the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. We were curious if Bob Nutting has signed up for a [...]

The St. Louis Cardinals ink Brad Penny.  That gossip that there wasn’t enough talent on the staff really are true.  One year,  $7.5 million.[Viva] The Brewers have a new catcher after signing Gregg Zaun.  [Review the Brew] The Reds are covered by Tim at Blog Red Machine and he has the Reds Trade Bait as closer Francisco Cordero and Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang. If they trade Cordero, they would cut 25 million dollars from payroll in the next two years. [BRM] Bronson Arroyo hasn’t confirmed if this will be the title of his new book:  From Lowly Pirate to Captain of the [...]