The Best of the Pittsburgh Pirates Photoshops

Pittsburgh Pirates photoshops is what we love to do.  So, we tried to wrangle up the best of the 2012 season thus far for you to enjoy. Which one is your favorite?

Stetson Allie was converted to a slugger,  sending reporters to question the decision making skills of the Pirates brass. Adding to the coolness of the entire situation, Allie came out swinging when he got a bat in his hand.

Pedro Alvarez. Fascinating. Wonderfully, frustratingly,  fantastic.

Kevin Correia generated more attention with how he looked on the bench.

Alvarez inspired a season-long “Pedro Bomb Watch” with this majestic blast that had an apex of 117 feet and traveled 403 feet.

Andrew McCutchen. The Reason.

Andrew McCutchen. The Reason.

The Rise of the Bucs gained national attention.

The slide by Rod Barajas was a classic.

Marty, Marty, Marty. You will never learn.

Ahh, poor Marty Brennaman

Pirates fans are still waiting for the Jose Tabata who looked so solid as a top of the order hitter.

The Bucco bullpen has been nasty.

Brandon Phillips was so nice to the Bucs, we felt the urge to send a letter.

We heart Nyjer.

We looked at some basic peripheral pitching stats back in May when the Bucs were rolling, and saw a cause for concern.  We wrote this post.  It sucks that it started turning out to be a reality.

The Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation

Neal Huntington and the Buccos brass ignored everything and everyone, and took the best player available in the 2012 Draft.

Joel Hanrahan is closing out games with style.

Joel Hanrahan has piled up the strikeouts.

After eight starts, we called A.J. Burnett the ace stopper for the Pirates.

AJ Burnett had another dominant start for the Pittsburgh Pirates

We should sell this shirt.

The new Andrew McCutchen t-shirt

James McDonald, Big Pimpin’.

Pittsburgh Pirates Starter James McDonald had another solid outing.

We felt bad for lonely 3rd Base Coach Nick Leyva in our “How To Improve Social Media Night” post.

We showed our thanks to the Yankees.

Thanks Yankees

James McDonald is having a breakout season with the Pirates.

James McDonald deserves better from the Pirates offense

Our public service announcement to Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Joel Hanrahan? The Dictator. Prince Fielder? Not the Dictator.

Joel Hanrahan whiffed Prince Fielder to set up the rubber match today against the Tigers

The Hanrictator.

Joel Hanrahan is The Dictator or Hanrictator for short. Don't mess it up

Jason Grilli has been outstanding as the Pirates setup man.

Jason Grilli has become the Pirates set-up man by putting up some serious numbers in 2012

Clint Barmes has been anything but outstanding as the Pirates shortstop.

Go Clint

Casey McGehee’s struggles were very apparent early in the season.

Casey McGehee bounces his helmet at homeplate.

James McDonald was outstanding in our Nation’s capital.

Pirates fans have shown up in a big way on the road.  EasyasPieMan and Mike Shaeffer led the #DCInvasion.

#DCInvasion

Andrew McCutchen: CEO of NatsPark.

BUCN

M(ay)VP

Andrew McCutchen is having a May.

Neal Huntington took some heat for the offensive woes, as fans demanded an early season trade.

Pittsburgh Pirates GM Neal Huntington addressed the Bucs woeful offense

Team Zoltan

The Pirates and Marlins each have some swagger heading into the series

The Rod Barajas walk off homer ignited Team Zoltan

Andrew McCutchen’s 4-for-4 performance on May 10 against the Nats set the team up for a possible sweep, but Stephen Strasburg had other ideas.

Andrew McCutchen had a big night for the Bucs

Erik Bedard was solid for the Bucs in April and May.

Erik Bedard leads the Pirates in their pursuit of a series win against the best team in the NL

On May 9, Pedro Alvarez had his streak snapped; he had reached base safely in 12 straight games.

Pedro Alvarez had his 12 straight game streak of reaching base safely snapped last night against the Nats

We admire Bryce Harper so much, we dug deep for our inner hairstylist.

Bryce Harper is a hair thief

The Snoop?

The Bieber?

Bieber and Mayweather by HollywoodGrind.com

The Brady?

Bryce Harper with the new Tom Brady 'do?

The Grandma next door?

Bryce Harper. Washington Nationals. You like this 'do?

The Coolio?

Bryce Harper as Coolio/Weird Al

Why in the hell did we think we could help Harper? Let’s just call it what it is…

Bryce Harper Hair Thief

Clint Barmes and Rod Barajas were easy targets

We are thinking about selling these Rod Barajas bumper stickers for the same price as his batting average...

We believe.

The 2012 Great Awakening Tour starring Pedro Alvarez is the hottest show in MLB.

Carlos Beltran and the Cardinals destroyed A.J. Burnett

Carlos Beltran had a monster night against A.J. Burnett

JMac was impressive.

James McDonald struck out ten Atlanta Braves in a big Pirates victory

After a 1-for-21 start, Neil Walker got red hot.

Neil Walker has been on a tear since a 1-for-21 start to his 2012 season

We couldn’t get enough of JMac.

James McDonald fired a gem in his last start.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have placed starting pitcher Charlie Morton on the 15-day DL.  We have to believe Brad Lincoln will get the start on Tuesday against the Reds.  (Oh God!)

The move was made today, but will retro to May 30 and it allows for the return of Juan Cruz to the Bucs bullpen from the restricted list.

We talked about the situation in a post earlier today.  It was rather obvious Ray Searage knew something when he was interviewed on 93.7 The Fan on Thursday morning.  That long pause simply gave it away.

The changes Morton made to his delivery are starting to take their toll on his body.   A few of us predicted this a long time ago.  But options were there?  Morton would be on tour right now with his new band if he hadn’t been reinvented.

So anyway, here’ s how it goes down on Tuesday.  Lincoln will make the spot start, and not pitch very well…..

(a)  because he hasn’t had an opportunity to trust his change-up.

(b)  refuses to throw  a changeup.

(c) because the Reds are pissed about two of three in the ‘burgh.

(d) because that fastball is soooo damn straight.

I take answer b.

The Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation

With the Pirates off day, we had no idea what to do with ourselves late last night. So we started doing some digging into the specifics behind the success of the Bucs rotation. We saw some interesting facts by looking at pitch velocity and pitch selection compared to last season. We put some of it together for you below.

May 17, 2012; Washington, D.C., USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher James McDonald (53) pitches in the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

James McDonald has taken 1.0 mph off his fastball compared to last season.  He is throwing his fastball much less than he ever has in his career at just 41%. McDonald’s career average shows him throwing a fastball 54% of the time.  JMac has added a slider which Rod Barajas talked about the other day.  The addition of the slider, which McDonald is throwing 19% of the time, has been very effective and it has allowed him to reduce his use of a changeup to just 4%, down from 10% last season.

McDonald has been having a breakout season.  His xFIP sits at 3.29 and he is a 2.1 WAR currently for the Bucs.

May 9, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Erik Bedard (45) pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Erik Bedard has lost 1.0 mph off his fastball from last season according to FanGraphs.  According to Brooks Baseball, he has lost a tick less than a mph.  Bedard is also relying less on his fastball and is turning to his changeup more than he ever has.  Brooks shows that Bedard’s changeup has less horizontal movement and is being thrown at about 3mph less than in 2011.  The previous career high for changeups thrown by Bedard was around 8%.

Bedard threw his fastball at an average speed of 89.4 mph so far this season.  In 2007 as a Baltimore Orioles starter, he sat at 92.1 for the year.

It’s odd, because Bedard has an xFIP of 3.64 and is a 1.0 WAR pitcher, but the left hander hasn’t been able to work very effeciently. But give him this, he still finds a way to keep his team in the ballgame.  He has gone seven innings on just two occassions–opening day and against the Cardinals on April 22 when he struckout seven.

Despite little run support, Bedard has pitched well, but he hasn’t been very efficient and hasn’t made it past the sixth inning in his last six starts.  Bedard allowed no earned runs in his most recent six inning outing against the Cubs.  But in two prior starts against the Mets and Nats, he has allowed four runs. He will make a crucial start in Milwaukee this weekend.

Bedard has made ten starts this year, one was cut short because of back spasms which many felt would lead to further complications.  The lefty made 15 starts in 2008 and 2009.  He missed 2010 and started 24 games last season between Seattle and Boston.

Various outlets have reported Bedard is a 100 pitch guy.  We don’t see much of a problem with that if he can be more effective in June.  Obviously the big factor is Bedard’s health.  If his effectiveness improves and he can keep taking the ball every fifth day, the lefty could garner interest at the trading deadline.

May 25, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher A.J. Burnett (34) pitches against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

A.J. Burnett’s velocity is sitting right around where he was last season with the Yankees.  His average fastball is 92.5 mph about two tenths off where was last season with the Yankees.  Burnett has been a lightning rod for the Pirates staff and sits at 1.0 WAR for the season after 50 games.

The key for Burnett has been the ability for the right hander to get the bad guys to beat the ball into the ground resulting in groundballs.  In 2011, he induced a groundball percentage of 5.8 on his fastball–he has grown that to 9.12 percent this year.  In 2011, he induced a groundball percentage of 15.9% on his sinker that has grown to 19.05% in 2012.  Burnett has also increased groundballs off his changeup by over 9%–from 10.5% in 2011 to 19.7% in 2012.  Burnett’s curveball is getting over 2% more whiffs in 2012 than it did in the American League in 2011.

Burnett was a great pickup for the Bucs.  It will be interesting to see if his success continues as the Pirates approach interleague play where the opposition could have some familiarity with him.

August 19, 2011; Pittsburgh,PA, USA: Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Kevin Correia (29) in the dugout against the Cincinnati Reds during the fifth inning at PNC Park. The Reds won 11-8. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

Kevin Correia has lost 1.2 mph on his fastball from last season.  The right hander has averaged 89.4 mph, down from 90.6 last season.  Correia has relied on a changeup nearly 5% more than last season.

An All-Star in 2011, Correia seems to be destined for dismissal unless he can continue his fortunate ways.    Despite a phenomenal .227 BABIP, the California kid has a negative WAR for the Bucs.

Charlie Morton continues to baffle us.  We have dug into the numbers and there isn’t much that can be concluded.

We found that Morton’s velocity is off just over one mph and perhaps that has made his sinker more hittable?  Bob Walk discussed that he thought this might be a cause for less movement on the pitch, but the numbers don’t back that up.

The right hander has cut his walk rate in half, his strikeouts are down over 1.3 per nine innings pitched, his homeruns allowed are killing him, and he is stranding less runners.  Morton, as always, is a puzzler, but maybe it goes back to his hip surgery in the offseason?

Ray Searage was on 93.7 The Fan yesterday and gave a great interview.   When Jim Colony asked Searage if he felt that Charlie was healthy, there was a rather long pause followed by “ummmmmmmm…. as far as I know.”

Despite the success of the Bucs staff, there should be concern about Correia’s BABIP–it’s nearly impossible to think he can maintain a .227 which is the lowest of his career.  Can McDonald and Burnett continue to be so dominant?  Seriously, what’s up with Charlie?  And is Bedard’s dip in velocity a concern, or merely a sign that the veteran is pacing himself for a long season?

We would like to think that Correia can battle through his reduction in velocity, but if he can’t, the Pirates have Jeff Karstens waiting in the shadows.  Charlie Morton scares us.  Maybe he is hurt?  If he’s not, he should certainly see some luck start going his way if he continues to pound his sinker.  But if not Rudy Owens, or several other successful AAA pitchers could get an opportunity to show what they have at the big league level.

A.J. Burnett seems locked in for the long haul.

JMac is going to get tested more than he ever has in his career.  Can he hold up?

Erik Bedard, who also has showed a reduction in velocity, remains the wild card for the Bucs rotation as they move into the second third of the season.

One positive to note looking forward for the Pirates is the fact that the month of June isn’t filled with aces coming out of the bad guys dugouts starting with dodging the two best on the Brewers staff tonight, so perhaps the Bucs can find some offense to help out a pitching staff that has been nothing short of remarkable after 50 games.

Thanks to Brooks and Fangraphs for the data