- Joel Hanrahan's elbow injury was not as serious as some people thought, and he will begin throwing again in the next couple days. A lot of the inflammation in his right elbow has dissipated and there is a chance that he will be ready for Opening Day. That's big news for Pirate fans, I sure wasn't looking forward to seeing our bullpen without him.
- The Post-Gazzette has a good article about Lastings Milledge up, posted today. Milledge is obviously pretty geared up for this season and has every desire to make it his best one so far. He is getting really serious about his career and has found a home in a Pirates uniform, next to his long time pal Andrew McCutchen.
- A couple days ago, another article was posted by the Post-Gazzette about another Pirate outfielder, Brandon Moss. This one caused me to chuckle a little bit. Moss talked a lot about how awful he was last year. Some of his quotes were quite harsh, including him saying, "I'd rather be out of this game and not ever be able to play again than to play like I played last year. It's just not worth it". I guess it's good to hear Moss say that, he is obviously pretty upset with himself and feels that he has something to prove to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for Moss, I think it might be too late. Unless there is an injury or a strong underperformance by Garrett Jones or Jeff Clement, I don't see Moss getting much playing time this year. He might not even make the team. One outfielder will have to be cut, and it certainly isn't going to be anyone but Moss or John Raynor. Personally I would like to see Raynor make the team, but my guess is that management will make sure Moss is on the 25-man roster when the club heads to Pittsburgh in April.
Catching Up, Hanrahan, Milledge, Moss
Posted by Jon on 2:21 PMCatching Up, Hanrahan, Milledge, Moss
2010-02-26T14:21:00-05:00
Jon
Comments
Well are just over a week into spring training, and I haven't made a post in a couple days. Not much has been happening, as nothing big ever does at the end of February and the beginning of March, but there are a couple things worth nothing.
Hanrahan Sidelined
Posted by Jon on 11:03 AMHanrahan Sidelined
2010-02-18T11:03:00-05:00
Jon
Comments
Looks like we're starting off spring training with some bad news - Pirates reliever Joel Hanrahan will most likely start the season on the DL.
He had some elbow pain at the end of last season, and it turned out to be more serious than he thought. He felt some pain and had some setbacks during January throwing sessions, and he has since been shut down until he sees Doctor James Andrews. It's never a good thing when a pitcher goes to see that guy.
Barring a radical healing, Hanrahan won't be pitching at all for the Pirates in spring training, and will start the 2010 season the DL. We're hoping it's not too serious and he only misses a couple weeks, but there is really no way to tell right now.
If Hanrahan misses significant time it would be a pretty big blow for the Pirates bullpen. It won't be as bad as it would have been before Huntington inked Dotel, Lopez, Donnelly, and Carrasco, but we will definitely miss his arm in the last innings. The bright side of this is that we will get to see some more competition for a spot on the opening day roster. There will be an extra spot open that 4 or 5 guys will be battling for. It should be interesting to see, but we all hope Joel heals quickly.
He had some elbow pain at the end of last season, and it turned out to be more serious than he thought. He felt some pain and had some setbacks during January throwing sessions, and he has since been shut down until he sees Doctor James Andrews. It's never a good thing when a pitcher goes to see that guy.
Barring a radical healing, Hanrahan won't be pitching at all for the Pirates in spring training, and will start the 2010 season the DL. We're hoping it's not too serious and he only misses a couple weeks, but there is really no way to tell right now.
If Hanrahan misses significant time it would be a pretty big blow for the Pirates bullpen. It won't be as bad as it would have been before Huntington inked Dotel, Lopez, Donnelly, and Carrasco, but we will definitely miss his arm in the last innings. The bright side of this is that we will get to see some more competition for a spot on the opening day roster. There will be an extra spot open that 4 or 5 guys will be battling for. It should be interesting to see, but we all hope Joel heals quickly.
It Begins Today
Posted by Jon on 1:53 PMIt Begins Today
2010-02-17T13:53:00-05:00
Jon
Comments
Happy Pitchers and Catchers Day Everybody :)
Not much news out yet, besides the fact that Neil Walker caught for Zach Duke today. That's probably not even worth mentioning, as it's highly unlikely that Walker would ever be considered to catch in the Pirates organization again, but it's the February and there isn't much news circulating, so we have to work with what we have.
Also, another birthday wish goes out to my sister, Erin, who turned 23 today. Happy birthday Erin.
Have a great day everybody, and enjoy the first official day of spring training!
Not much news out yet, besides the fact that Neil Walker caught for Zach Duke today. That's probably not even worth mentioning, as it's highly unlikely that Walker would ever be considered to catch in the Pirates organization again, but it's the February and there isn't much news circulating, so we have to work with what we have.
Also, another birthday wish goes out to my sister, Erin, who turned 23 today. Happy birthday Erin.
Have a great day everybody, and enjoy the first official day of spring training!
Birthday Wish
Posted by Jon on 6:29 PMBirthday Wish
2010-02-14T18:29:00-05:00
Jon
Comments
The Pittsburgh Pirates aren't a good baseball team. Because of that, they aren't a popular baseball team either. Because of THAT, there aren't many Pirates' bloggers out there. The good thing about that is the relationships that us bloggers have with each other. I have (virtually) met a handful of guys that share my love for baseball and blogging, and they are all really great guys.
I'm saying all of this because tomorrow is one of fellow Pirates' bloggers birthdays, and I wanted to say happy birthday by sending some of my readers his way that maybe haven't seen his blog before. He runs a very successful blog on the MLBlogosphere (at MLBlogs.com). His name is Matt, and he writes the blog "The Pittsburgh Peas". He is a great writer and has made dozens of really great posts in the last year. I have personally met Matt at the Jerome Bettis grill the night of the Penguins game 7 Stanley Cup victory. I was coming from a Pirate game and my friend and I walked over to the grill to watch the 3rd period and party with the rest of Pittsburgh (even though I really don't care for the Penguins). It was a great time. Anyways, go check at Matt, give him a comment and wish him happy birthday.
I'll be back in the next couple days with some Pirates news... or something.
I'm saying all of this because tomorrow is one of fellow Pirates' bloggers birthdays, and I wanted to say happy birthday by sending some of my readers his way that maybe haven't seen his blog before. He runs a very successful blog on the MLBlogosphere (at MLBlogs.com). His name is Matt, and he writes the blog "The Pittsburgh Peas". He is a great writer and has made dozens of really great posts in the last year. I have personally met Matt at the Jerome Bettis grill the night of the Penguins game 7 Stanley Cup victory. I was coming from a Pirate game and my friend and I walked over to the grill to watch the 3rd period and party with the rest of Pittsburgh (even though I really don't care for the Penguins). It was a great time. Anyways, go check at Matt, give him a comment and wish him happy birthday.
I'll be back in the next couple days with some Pirates news... or something.
More on Mario
Posted by Jon on 4:56 PM 1 comments
Well after having some intense discussion with some people about this Mario Lemieux situation, I realize more needs to be said on this blog.
A good friend of mine (Steve) made a comment on my last post which led to a pretty good back-and-forth argument. I'll recap it real quick and then explain my position more clearly:
Steve's Position: Steve took the stance that in order for a pro baseball team to compete for the World Series, they almost have to have a high payroll. He provided statistics to back it, and accompanied with his accepting that is not ALWAYS like that (the exception of the '08 Rays), his point was a good one. Now, the less reasonable part of his argument was when he stated that he thought that Mario Lemieux would surely save the Pirates, and until he buys them, they have no chance of competing in this league. His reasoning for this was that "Mario would pay his players more than 5 dollars". I had a major problem with those statements.
In that last post, I explained that I didn't want Mario to buy the team because I wanted to see Nutting and company finish what they started. I am one of the few who trust them and think what they are doing is the right thing and that it has a good chance of working in the end. The last thing I wanted to see was this glorified "saviour" come in and reap all the benefits of the hard work Nutting and Huntington put in. After thinking about it, that stance was very personal-centered and really had nothing to do with the welfare of the Pittsburgh Pirates as a team. So here is my new-slightly altered stance, which responds to the arguments of Steve:
If Mario would buy the Pirates, ticket sales would go up and people would be more excited about the Pirates for the first year or two. After that, if the team still isn't winning, I think the ticket sales would gravitate back to where they were last year. The Lemieux flux wouldn't last too long if the team still loses. Steve would say that Lemieux would guarantee the team more wins and people would be excited about the Pirates because they were competitive again. However, in mine and many other of my Pirates' bloggers opinions, Lemieux would have very little affect on the Pirates' win totals.
The reason I say this is that Lemieux really wouldn't have too much of a choice but to follow the plan that is already laid out by Huntington and Nutting. Let's face it, regardless of Lemieux's history with the Penguins and their small-market franchise, there's no way he knows enough about baseball to feel confident enough to take over the system and deviate from the plan. I'm sure he would realize that what they are doing now is the best way to do it, and even if he didn't agree with it, they would be too far into now to give up on it. Therefore, everything would go the same way with Mario in charge as it is going now. The only variable here is if Lemieux and Burkle were willing to chip in some of their own money to help the team. Now Burkle is worth over 9 billion dollars, so that's not completely out of the question. However, I can't see him investing enough of his own worth in the team to make a significant impact. It's also pretty ridiculous to say that Nutting WON'T spend money when the time is right. There is no grounds to say that Lemieux would spend money when Nutting wouldn't. When the time is right (when the Pirates have a solid core of home-grown players), the team will spend the money necessary to take us to the next level and start competing with the best teams in the league.
So there you have it. If Mario buys the team, I'm not saying anything bad will happen, I am just saying that not enough good will come out of it to make it worth while. I still stand by Nutting and stand by my stance that he deserves to finish what he started.
And if Steve or any of you disagrees with all that, go be a Yankees fan or something :)
A good friend of mine (Steve) made a comment on my last post which led to a pretty good back-and-forth argument. I'll recap it real quick and then explain my position more clearly:
Steve's Position: Steve took the stance that in order for a pro baseball team to compete for the World Series, they almost have to have a high payroll. He provided statistics to back it, and accompanied with his accepting that is not ALWAYS like that (the exception of the '08 Rays), his point was a good one. Now, the less reasonable part of his argument was when he stated that he thought that Mario Lemieux would surely save the Pirates, and until he buys them, they have no chance of competing in this league. His reasoning for this was that "Mario would pay his players more than 5 dollars". I had a major problem with those statements.
In that last post, I explained that I didn't want Mario to buy the team because I wanted to see Nutting and company finish what they started. I am one of the few who trust them and think what they are doing is the right thing and that it has a good chance of working in the end. The last thing I wanted to see was this glorified "saviour" come in and reap all the benefits of the hard work Nutting and Huntington put in. After thinking about it, that stance was very personal-centered and really had nothing to do with the welfare of the Pittsburgh Pirates as a team. So here is my new-slightly altered stance, which responds to the arguments of Steve:
If Mario would buy the Pirates, ticket sales would go up and people would be more excited about the Pirates for the first year or two. After that, if the team still isn't winning, I think the ticket sales would gravitate back to where they were last year. The Lemieux flux wouldn't last too long if the team still loses. Steve would say that Lemieux would guarantee the team more wins and people would be excited about the Pirates because they were competitive again. However, in mine and many other of my Pirates' bloggers opinions, Lemieux would have very little affect on the Pirates' win totals.
The reason I say this is that Lemieux really wouldn't have too much of a choice but to follow the plan that is already laid out by Huntington and Nutting. Let's face it, regardless of Lemieux's history with the Penguins and their small-market franchise, there's no way he knows enough about baseball to feel confident enough to take over the system and deviate from the plan. I'm sure he would realize that what they are doing now is the best way to do it, and even if he didn't agree with it, they would be too far into now to give up on it. Therefore, everything would go the same way with Mario in charge as it is going now. The only variable here is if Lemieux and Burkle were willing to chip in some of their own money to help the team. Now Burkle is worth over 9 billion dollars, so that's not completely out of the question. However, I can't see him investing enough of his own worth in the team to make a significant impact. It's also pretty ridiculous to say that Nutting WON'T spend money when the time is right. There is no grounds to say that Lemieux would spend money when Nutting wouldn't. When the time is right (when the Pirates have a solid core of home-grown players), the team will spend the money necessary to take us to the next level and start competing with the best teams in the league.
So there you have it. If Mario buys the team, I'm not saying anything bad will happen, I am just saying that not enough good will come out of it to make it worth while. I still stand by Nutting and stand by my stance that he deserves to finish what he started.
And if Steve or any of you disagrees with all that, go be a Yankees fan or something :)
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