Pirates-Ohman talks heat up

I guess the ants haven't marched yet. I see Dejan made it to Bradenton safely...and is already on the job.

I just don't understand spending ANY money this year on free agents, given how awful this team is going to be. What's the purpose of spending $2 million on a bullpen guy when the starting corps is going to dig holes the anemic offense won't be able to dig out of? Put that money aside, save it for signing draft choices or for when the day comes, three or four years down the road, when a free agent signing might actually be important in the standings.

Thunder

I think the ants have been staying in tonight.   So if they sign Ohman, who would that knock out--let's see--Capps, Grabow, and Yates have already been given places--Burnett and Hansen would have to clear waivers and so would Veal and even if did the Cubs would be able take him.  Would they let all three go or just 1 or 2 and which one?  If they take 7 then they keep all three and add Ohman.  

I am hoping thy keep Veal IMO he has more of a up side then a down one.

this is my first post but fan for 51 years.

JKid

Kinda giving up early I see.  The offense is not great but I would call it anemic.  After the trades last season they still averaged over 4 runs a game and that was with no production from 3b and SS.  This season they should get more from both and the bench will have more power than it did last season.

In today's market $2 million is cheap for an experienced player.  As to why go after him at all, several reasons--the starters have performed well in ST--at least 3 of them--will it continue--I do not know.  Still, a good arm in the pen has value in several ways--including giving more possibilities in trades.

First of all - Page Odle

What kind of a name is that for an agent??  I'd rather have Jose's wifes names..

Re - JJ - what a wonderful theme song for JAL's mission, and JAL, I mean no respect, what you are doing brings the spice of life to the asylum, IMO

But IMO, Hawaii 50 suits you better

Re Ohlman-

IMO, dollars are dollars, at work, they count stuff entirely different, you spend it on this, ok, you spend it on O&M, no go, hey it all comes out of the same pocket, does it not?

IMO, 2 million more would have gotten us Rocco or another reasonably priced FA for more than one year.  This offer IMO reminds me of previous leadership where we have $$ to spend and its burning a hole in someone's pocket.

IMO just another sign that for some reason they want to trade Grabow, who would IMO willingly sign for that next year.

Keep, IMO, the people that want to be hear, build from that

Last Update of the day

First Annual PBC Blog Pirate Season Record Contest Update:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Bucco...............99-62 / 173 HR's

POH..................96-66 / 173 HR's (Proxy vote by Sir L)

DMAC................90-72 / 150 HR's

Groat2Maz.........86-76 / 166 HR's

Baywatch...........86-76 / 144 HR's

WhyStanBelinda..86-76 /  156 HR’s

BillyKidd………..86-76 / 127 HR’s  (submitted by e-mail to JAL)

Diehard..............85-77 / 150 HR's

Luckydog……...85-77/ 131 HR’s

Arriba Wilver......84-78 /  140 HR's

Pirata 13..............84-78 / 138  HR’s

BigPoppaPump...83-79 / 163 HR's

PapaCoach........83-79 / 151 HR's

Uncle Dude........83-79 / 147 HR's

Teddykinz..........82-80 / 166 HR's

PghFanin NH......82-80 / 141 HR's

TripleG................82-80 / 145 HR's

JHadar.................81-80 / 165 HR's

Larry Z...............81-81 / 136 HR's

Pirates018..........81-81 / 145 HR's

Pi-Rat……….81-81 / 166 HR’s

JaxBuc………….80-81 / 144 HR’s

JosePagan..........80-82 / 168 HR's

DingerBucFan.....80-82 / 145 HR's

ForbesFieldMem..80-82 / 137 HR's

CAPN.................79-83 / 134 HR's

A-Ron..................78-84 / 176 HR's

BucFan54............78-84 / 155 HR's

PI Stingray...........78-84 / 144 HR's

Indianafanatic......78-84 / 139 HR's

JL........................ 78-84 / 140 HR's

Kragbax...............78-84 / 124 HR's

UglyKen...............77-85 / 147 HR's

KMRempel............77-85 / 141 HR's

CecilioGuante21…77-85 / 159 HR’s

BayareaBuc........76-86 / 141 HR's

JAL......................75-87 / 162 HR's

G-man..................75-87 / 128 HR's

BondsGoat............74-88 / 147 HR's

Shane..................74-88 / 137 HRs

CubReporter.........74-88 / 133 HR's

Emoneypitt...........73-89 / 145 HR's

Iratefan................72-90 / 137 HR's

Bizrow.................72-90 / 132 HR's

Drew....................71-91 / 128 HR's

Bringbackbonds....70-92 / 144 HR's

JoeyBats..............70-92 / 135 HR's

Dan W...................70-92 / 136 HR's

DrewRit21.............70-91 / 119 HR's

BuccoBlues..........69-93 / 131 HR's

Nitro.......................69-93 / 122 HR's

Thunder................68-94 / 140 HR's

PDXPirate.............67-95 / 133 HR's

Demery………….66-96 / 119 HR’s

WietersforPres…..65-97 / 133 HR’s

Cave Bonifield......65-97 / 127 HR's

Disgruntled Goat...65-97 / 121 HR's

Frustrated 314……65-97 / 121 HR’s

21sthebest...........64-98 / 121 HR's

Yotum...................63-99 / 132 HR's

AmarilloFats.........62-99 / 126 HR's

STLRFANRC........61-101 / 120 HR's

JuniataKid............60-102 / 139 HR's

Andy Van Slice....10-152 / 3 HR's

We do kinda need the bullpen help, and Atlanta has a good track record for pitchers.  

Gamer

Welcome to the asylum.  Info on adding an avatar can be found by clicking on my name or avatar.  

Meds and straight jacket at the front desk.

Bizrow

Thanks--doing what i can

Bizrow-Grabow's getting almost 2.4 mil this year.Since he's going to be a free agent I'm willing to bet with a good year he'll want $4-5 mil and a 3-4 year contract.So we're probably talking about $12-18 mil/3-4 years  for a long reliever that will be 31 this fall.

Okay, okay...  I have endeavored to reduce the confusion by re-changing my avatar...  Drop by the Teachers' Lounge if you care about my inspiration...

And Will Ohman -- rumors abounded earlier that we might pursue him to trade Grabow?  Or would he just be extra help...?

SirLochsBay- Your ava ......who dat?

Talk about embarassed.  Missed that the sign Ohman to trade Grabow line of logic was already brought up.

And here, I was hoping for Veal to make the big squad.

So many ifs, but so much hope.

And we still have another week plus to wait until these games are played for keeps...

I guess that's why this place is called an asylum... *G*

Geez!  I was hoping extra help!  I don't want Ohman at Grabow's expense!  YIKES!

I hope we get Ohman. He'd be a solid addition to the bullpen. I know the Pirates aren't expected to do much this season but this really seems like a minimal investment for a good veteran and backup for Grabow who probably is going to be gone by July.

*Off the topic a bit but if Pitt keeps putting me through games like this, I might need to go into a real Asylum soon. I guess maybe I've found the right place after all.

Sir L

Veal is still very much in the mix for the pen

that' all from here tonight

Goodnight to all and to all a good night

what worries me about ohman is that mug shot. that guy can't be 31. 51 maybe...

if this is real, methinks hansen is odd man out. too bad- so much upside I thought. gotta love guys with heat. even though I kicked the wheels under the veal yesterday, I like him too. I really can't see them giving up on burnett.

it may also be a fire sale thing- guy's still around and the bucs are still bottom feeders in the free agent thing.

the grabow scenario is too painful to consider.

Gamer 45

As JAL welcomed you aboard, welcome, you are with good friends (excuse all typing errors, there are gremlins about)

51, so you missed remembering 60, but do remember the later 60's.71, 79, the anguish of the 80's and then 89-91'

The first tihing to rememeber is we and the staff are here to help you and youwill help us

Second is you belong here with us, thanks for joining, muvh llike a sticky fly trap you are caught

Third is you put your foot in the H2O and  it wasn't that cold at all, jump in all the way and come home.

Fourth is to pick the PBC won/loss record and how many homers they will hit this year, there is a major award to be Next, get thyself an alvatar , any of your choice, and we all enjoy the diversty and insaneness of the ones chosel

Put your two cents in at any time at all, any topic but right now or soon, your prognostication of PBC wins.losses this year plus a guess as to the number of PBC dingers this year, Major awards can be one.

I guess the last words of advice is to be kind to ladies and always follow the directioin of three people, Nurse Cratchett, Jal and the power in the siyk the mighty DL

You can'tp wrong, your bed is 112 in the new LIttlefield wingk wake up is at 700, breakfast is at 730,therapy starts when you get on the sitel  As for me i read and listen and coment when theres an opening

maz:  From your comments on the Other Stuff thread, I think you know the crime fighting character portrayed here by the inimitable Walter Matthau, but for those who haven't, the avatar is none other than Lieutenant Zachary Garber of the NYC Transit Authority from The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (us.imdb.com/.../tt0072251)  Seriously, if I had to choose ONE movie to take with me on a deserted island, I'd be hard pressed to leave it behind.

If it's between Veal and Hansen...hard call.  Neither have been impressive, but IMO, Veal goes because Hansen was part of the Bay trade.

*la la la la...not thinking about the Grabow scenario*

Well, you can see my prediction and im stickign to i, the 90's had hope, maybe for the first time since then we have hope, not real godd hope, but some hope

Thats why 72-90 wins the holy grail this year

And hey!  It's a baseball related avatar!  The French title is "Les Pirates du Metro!"

us.imdb.com/.../tt0072251

Pitt made it past the Sweet Sixteen. Woo Hoo, Woo Hoo!  Something tells me the Pi-rates are going to break the streak of 16 this year.

Good night folks, Bizrow is going back to his blankys and avarar under the covers, he will sleep dreaming of Veal throwing 100 mph sliders, Hansen with 3 walks the third week of June, Freddie hitting 320 end of April, AdLa hitting his weight in April and Cubbies not on top for the start of their second millineum.

Sweet dreams all

As much as I like JG I think he is gone.The best scenario is to get a SS for him. Bix is getting better,but I'm not sure if he's an everyday player.While I like Ford too I'm not sure he's ready either.So a trade for a 2B or a SS is a possibility. The main area we are weak in the minors is middle INF.

I'm glad to see that the Pirates are pursuing bullpen help.

@Juniata - I really don't think that the Pirates saving money this year, means that they spend anymore next year or in future years.

Plus, I may be in the minority here, but I think the Pirates will be a vastly improved team this year over last year.  

Most people seem to feel like the offense can't recover from the loss of Bay & Nady. But I feel like there's a very good chance that the team will have a much better all-around team, especially off of the bench.  How soon we forget that Nady was so highly thought of that he was in a platoon situation not so long along, and had an amazing career year.  This could just as easily play out to be a breakout/career year for Moss or Andy LaRoche.  

I don't deny that Bay, on the whole, will not be replaced.  But I think improvements in many areas over last year, will compensate for his loss.  For instance: Andy LaRoche is going to be a huge improvement over Jose Bautista.  I really think that Brandon Moss is going to make us forget Nady (which is tough for me to say, because Xavier was my favorite player on the team last year.)  

I think Eric Hinske, Ramon Vasquez, Craig Monroe and, hopefully, Garrett Jones, give the Pirates not only a bench, but the HUGE difference over players such as Chris Gomez & even Dirty Doug (sorry) is that this year's bench are actually guys who can START for this team.  That will turn out to be huge.  We all remember when Jack Wilson was out.  And if Adam has his typically slow start, suddenly now you can put someone of the caliber of Monroe, Hinske, Vasquez or Jones out there.  This is a much, much more balanced team.

The only part that scares me about this team is Nyjer Morgan.  But I realize at the first sign of trouble, McCutchen comes to the team and never leaves again.  (BTW, I'm guessing by saying that Andrew McCutchen is a 5-tool player that we are talking about the next Andy Van Slyke here).

So it all comes down to pitching....and that leads us back to the Pirates working to improve the bullpen.  Which I think is a great sign.  If even one or two starters has even a slight improvement over last year, it will be nice to have some reliable bullpen arms.  

Let's not forget, the difference between the Pirates being at the bottom and being an outside contender can be done by finding a way to win 1 extra game every 2 weeks (that's 14 more wins).   Anything can happen over a long season.....

Signing Ohman definetly puts Meek in the minors for another year. The problem is, who do you remove from the 40 man. It is filled, and you need to add Craig Monroe and possibly Jason Davis or other palyers. trading Grabow for a fifth starter or a right handed bat is a possibilty. Maybe even for Jeff Baker. I think the Pirates are worried about the bone chips in his pitching elbow. They could flare up at any time and he would miss a considerable amount of time.

@impliedi,

I like your style, nice post.

Anybody else notice how many more runs are scored in the GL league? That dry air must add a few feet to a fly ball

@mazfromiowa - It's either the air, or the double A pitchers.

Impliedi...Nice post!  Good to see you again!

I think Dumatrait starts the year on the DL...so that temporarily opens up 1 spot, which logically will be filled by a pitcher.  Beyond that, I have no clue.  I'm going to blissfully ignore the possitbility Grabow being traded for now, since I can.    ;-)

Maz...I don't know...the Cactus league has had a ton of long balls too...the winds have been crazy in the Valley of the Sun.  I can't imagine FL being drier than Phoenix...but I've never been to Phoenix in the spring either.

I must be the thread killer this week...so I'll sign off for tonight.

Hope everyone has a good one and catch you tomorrow.

OOps I meant the Cactus league has scored a lot more runs.