Da [Unemployed] Meat Hook

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This is a real shame. The Pirates will continue on with Garrett Jones and Casey McGehee, and Dmitri Young will head back to the kitchen to go after some more grub, one whole pecan pie at a time.

Will Evan Meek Regain His Velocity?

I did just another awful job of photoshopping in this one, but ignore that and read the post, it's at least a little bit informative.

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2012 Pirates Preview via Grantland

Grantland, one of the most popular sports websites on the Internet, posted their 2012 Pirates preview. There's a lot of mixed negative and positive comments, check it out:

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Cespedes to Oakland: N.L. Central Stays Weak

Yoenis Cespedes is headed to the American League

Pirates Roundtable Podcast Episode Links

Click here to view/subscribe on iTunes

Episode 11 (4/28): LINK
Episode 10 (4/12): LINK
Episode 9 (3/29): LINK
Episode 8 (3/21): LINK
Episode 7 (3/14): LINK
Episode 6 (3/7): LINK
Episode 5 (3/2): LINK
Episode 4 (2/23): LINK
Episode 3 (2/16): LINK
Episode 2 (2/9): LINK
Episode 1 (2/2): LINK
Listen on iTunes: LINK

Episode 11 Summary: More offensive woes, A.J. Burnett and James McDonald, Rod Barajas, the rough schedule, and more.


Episode 10 Summary: Offensive woes, how to fix them, how good is the pitching? and more.


Episode 9 Summary: Pedro Alvarez, Erik Bedard, Charlie Morton, James McDonald, Starting Pitcher Predictions, Nick Evans and Jake Fox cut, and more.


Episode 8 Summary: Final bench spot, Evan Meek, A.J. Burnett return predictions, FIP, hitter predictions, and more.


Episode 7 Summary: New pitcher rumor, bench spots, bullpen, march madness, division and world series predictions, over/under, Q&A, and more.


Episode 6 Summary: McCutchen's extension, Neil Walker's possible extension, Starling Marte, Pedro Alvarez's spring, Brad Lincoln's rough outing, Josh Harrison, wOBA, ex-Pirate name game, trivia, and more.


Episode 5 Summary: A.J. Burnett's broken orbital bone, the added Wild Card spot, Charlie Morton recovering from his surgery, possible disappointments for 2012, rank your top 5 fantasy baseball Pittsburgh Pirates, trivia, and more.


Episode 4 Summary: Ryan Braun, Kris Harvey, Frank Coonelly, Dmitri Young, Breakout Candidates, Nate McLouth, Casey McGehee, Pedro Alvarez, A.J. Burnett, Trivia, and more.


Episode 3 Summary: More A.J. Burnett talk, fringe 25-man roster players, Garrett Jones and arbitration, the sabermetric stat of the week (WAR), Ross Ohlendorf, Pittsburgh Blog Tournament, and more.


Episode 2 Summary: The round table discusses the possibility of an A.J. Burnett trade, the rotation with and without Burnett, the first base spot, some prospects, Dmitri Young, Alex Presley, and how our blogs started.

Episode 1 Summary: The round table discusses the Pirates offseason additions, the Twitter campaign to get Edwin Jackson to Pittsburgh, the ESPN poll that listed the Pirates and Astros as "other", and talked a little bit about ourselves at the end.

2012 Pirates Rotation: The Best Since...

I compared the 2012 rotation to rotations from the past six years (random number) on RumBunter. I even made another cute little photoshop! Ch-ch-ch-check it out.

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The Benefits of a Four Man Rotation

"I expect the real reason baseball will return to the four-man rotation will be the simplest of all: It helps win games. The five-man rotation is not on that evolutionary path; it's a digression, a dead-end alley. Just as baseball once believed that walking a lot of batters was better than throwing a home-run pitch, we are now chasing an illusion that our pitchers work better on four days' rest and that the five-man rotation significantly improves their future."   

Craig Wright, The Diamond Appraised, 1989 

A.J. Burnett Sunday Update

It looks like this deal is just about done, and Burnett will be a Pirate by the time pitchers and catchers report next weekend. Check out Pirates Prospects for all the details:

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A.J. Burnett Update

Heyman Tweet #1 Heyman Tweet #2
Don't ask me what an "okay" prospect is, but it seems like these two teams aren't as close to a deal as we thought. At first we thought the Yankees would take a $23/$10 million split on Burnett's contract, but now they want the Pirates to come closer to 50/50. That's $16.5/$16.5 million, and I don't think there's any way the Pirates are going to do that.

Obviously, the Yankees could just be bargaining here to try and get the Pirates to come as much as possible. The best trade partner for New York seems to be Pittsburgh, so I still think they'll meet in the middle somewhere. I think the Pirates will stop the compromise no higher than $11 million and the Yankees will be forced to take it.

Keep checking back for more.

Could A.J. Burnett Help The Pirates "Recruiting"?

 

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N.L. Central Top Prospects - St. Louis Cardinals (via @Cody_Elias)

I've been slowly going through the Pirates N.L. Central competition and their farm systems. Here's the rest of the series:

• Houston Astros
• Chicago Cubs
• Cincinnati Reds

For this Cardinals post, I got lazy and had someone else write it for me. His name is Cody Elias and he is also an aspiring Pirates blogger. You can read his work at bloggingbucs.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter @Cody_Elias.

First I'll give you the top 20 list for the Cardinals, then I'll let Cody do the rest:

The Pirates Will Get A.J. Burnett

I'm going on a limb here, but that's what you have to do sometimes. For some reason, I feel strongly about this. This CBS article really shows what's going on, here are some quotes:

"The Yankees and Pirates are continuing to talk about a possible A.J. Burnett trade that could lead to more activity in the form of a couple free-agent signings by the Yankees. As of Thursday night, the teams were thought to be a few million apart in the Burnett negotiations, but they were still talking and there is some hope for a deal." 

"The Yankees, in a twist, want to clear some money to sign their preferred positional candidates. They are considering Raul Ibanez and Johnny Damon as possible DH candidates and Eric Chavez as a reserve."

That "a few million apart" makes me confident. This was last night after the Pirates turned down the Garrett Jones offer. The two sides were still talking and it seems to just come down to money. Pittsburgh doesn't have to give away major league players, if players at all. The Yankees just want some money room to sign Raul Ibanez with. That's it. The Pirates just need to meet the Yankees in the middle and add a million or three to what they are willing to pay of Burnett's contract.

The Pirates would have been stupid to just jump at the first offer. They realize that they have some leverage here and they are working the Yankees down, and I really think it's working.

A.J. Burnett is a Pittsburgh Pirate before pitchers and catchers report. McBook it.

A.J. Burnett To Pittsburgh: Still A Possibility

I've been picking up some slack at RumBunter since our main writer Tom has been sick. Here's a post updating the A.J. Burnett situation:

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Friday 2/10 | News, Notes, and Links

• We got episode 2 of the Pirates Roundtable Podcast done last night, you can check that out here
• Pirates Prospects has a nice post about the trade values of A.J. Burnett and Garrett Jones
• iSports Web says the Pirates are the "team that cried wolf", I didn't really understand the argument at all, but it's a somewhat interesting read anyway

There's still very little news to talk about, but everyday we get closer to spring training, so hang in there Pittsburgh.

Trade Values of Garrett Jones and A.J. Burnett

I was going to write a post about the whole Garrett Jones / A.J. Burnett thing, but then I read what Tim had to say at Pirates Prospects, and I figured why waste my time? Read his post, it's basically all you need to know:

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