Yates has Tommy John surgery

First!

And a happy happy birthday to POH.

I had the pleasure of delivering a singing telegram to her just a few minutes ago.

Sung in my vewwy favowite Elmer J. Fudd voice...

Wabbit

Not good news for Yates. I wish him a speedy recovery.

Makes the bullpen mix even more interesting now with him not coming back.

What a surprise.  Anotehr Pirate pitcher with arm surgery.  This is our Pirate luck.

Bummer on Yates having TJ surgery. Wish you all the best, Yatesy ... many have come back from that to have great careers.

From prior thread...

@NH - "because prior front office regimes spent money on the wrong players that all future regimes are doomed to make the same mistake."

I can't speak for anyone else but I didn't think anyone was asserting this.  I thought the comments regarding past spending were looking at the club from a business perspective and evaluating the effects of poor free agent signings on the financial health of the organization and its ability to grow the business further.  Now if you wanted to tell me that Pat Meares and Derek Bell are sunk costs and that the Nuttings should put more of their own $$'s into the club to give the Bucs a better shot at winning, that makes sense.  I just don't think there was anyone in here suggesting that the FO should stop spending money because of past failures.

Another one, wow what is going on down on the farm to where we have Pitcher after Pitcher come up lame, arm troubles , etc ....NOT GOOD, Wish him the best..

Another one bites the dust--so no more theories on who goes down when Yates is ready.

Da da dum dum dum.... another one bites the dust....

Da da dum dum dum.... another one bites the dust....

Ah well...

Bah - ya beat me JAL! Curses!!!!! :)

from previous thread

@Smokey - re - Benito Santiago.

I think we gave up Leo Nunez for him, now a part time closer with the Marlins.

Another gaffe, if the fellow is healthy, sign Chris Young for $2 million, trade him for Matt Herges, and we cut him in spring training.  

You folks have been real interesting pointing out prior sins of the organization.

Regarding this one, I would say the Bay trade is up in the air regarding a good or bad move.  Right now, that is.  Bay wants supposedly 15 million a year, d-bags (like that) are offering 10, we'll see what happens

Wabbit - the singing telegram was awesome!

This is just a bummer. No other way to say it. Isn't that a year-plus recovery normally? Crappity crap crap. I'm sorry for Yates that it had to go this far, and I feel bad that he had that much pain in the first place.

Krag

Sorry about that :)

POH

Did you look at the blog links?  Birthday greeting there too.

I did JAL, and thanks.

I was sort of hoping Virgil Vasquez would show up to bring me a birthday latte, but so goes it...HA!

Dejan,

Wondering why it took two months to come to this decision. Did they know there was a tear but thought it wasn't severe enough? Or did the exams miss it?

Wishing Tyler a full, quick recovery.  

reposted from the Morning Links thread, responding to NuHo pointing out that the past five World Series winners had high payrolls

@NuHo

OK, but all those clubs come from big markets don't they?  Big market clubs can afford to take risks like that.  I submit that the Pirates cannot.  It's just too risky to tie up a lot of salary in free agents and also decimate the farm system to get players.  What if your expensive free agents get hurt?  What if those guys you traded for have off years?  You're left with a loser team, no money, and no farm system.  The Yankees, Red Sox, et al. can buy their way out of a jam like that; I don't think the PBC can.

The flip side of that is, of curse, it might make the team a contender for a year or two, maybe even as many as three or four.  That would be like heaven compared to the last 17 seasons, I guess, but it what comes after?  Remember, you have to answer the what comes after question even if the strategy fails and team keeps losing.  Seems like too much of a crapshoot to me.  I'd rather build something more long-term, but that's just me; I sure gotta admit, though, that having a couple contending seasons in the middle of these losing years would be nice.

anybody know if this frees up an extra 40 man roster spot or anything?

Hi all...

Here's hoping for a fast recovery for Tyler.

If he goes on the 60-day DL, doesn't that mean he's off the 40-man roster as well? So who goes on there?

POH,

6 months without touching a baseball followed by 6 months learning how to use his arm in a pitching motion again. He might be ready to start a "rehab assignment" next summer. You shouldn't expect to see him in Pittsburgh until 2011. People come back from this, but it's not until the 2nd year after the surgury that they seem to get back to where they were.

GrahamKoonce,

They have not yet put Tyler on the 60-day DL. If they do that, he'll be off the 40-man roster.

Wow... we need a new POWERarm to take his place.

Graham

it will free a 40 man spot if they put him on the 60 day DL

If Yates goes on the 60 day DL, he doesn't count against the 40 man limit. However, I believe that 60 day DL goes away before the December Rule V draft (as it does every year). So at that point...he would need to go back on the 40, unless the Pirates are willing to let him become a free agent (release).

With the trade deadline about 2 weeks away...I suspect they will just leave him on the 15 day DL for now...unless they need to create a spot due to a trade.

That's too bad about Yates. :( OK, re-post from the previous thread...

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

@NutHo,

Neither I nor anyone that I've heard on here has said that you don't have a better chance to win if you have more money to spend on payroll.

Of course you DO have more of a chance to win if you have more money to spend on payroll.

But where do you get that money? You have to get it from the fan base of the team, which can be ROUGHLY gauged by the attendance.

I've shown that teams roughly spend what their revenue is. I know - that's a shocking concept!

For example:

Philadelphia :: Attendance = 146.52% of average :: Payroll = 131.19% of average

Angels :: Attendance = 135.75% of average :: Payroll = 132.01% of average

Tampa Bay :: Attendance = 76.78% of average :: Payroll = 73.50% of average

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

What I'm saying is that miserly old Nutting to whom you are hostage is NOT appreciably worse than the other owners of MLB teams! I hate to tell you but NONE of the other owners are purposefully greatly exceeding their revenues.

The teams which exceed the attendance ratio by more than 20% are:

yankees, cubs, mets, tigers, houston, seattle, whitesox, indians

• Notice that 5 of the 8 teams are located in the 4 largest cities in the US so that more of their revenue comes from TV.

• The Indians have had a 5K+ drop in attendance this year

• The Tigers have had a 9K drop in attendance this year.

That leaves only Seattle - which has major Japanese backing and sponsorship due to Ichiro.

To raise payroll, Nutting has to grow the attendance over time in order to raise the revenue needed for more payroll.

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

@Steve - Exactly...but what we're seeing here with these numbers is that the higher payroll teams are not taking risks exceeding what the Pirates take. They are simply using their revenue in approximately equal proportion to the Pirates.

 SPORT talk has it that freddy and jack will be playing for Giants before weekend ends. Hope Huntington will get his case of bananas in the deal too!!!! Giants to give up acouple of no name prospects. reemember you heard it first here!!!!

Yates will be eligible for arbitration next year, again if I remember correctly, so with him being OOS till at least next all-star break, do you offer him a contract?

I feel bad for the fellow, but we do have a couple of similar guys, Hanson and Hanrahan, off the top of my head.

Re 60 man, opens a spot up for Dumatrait, if he's ready come September

Thunder, re Rule 5 and 40 man

I'm pretty sure you are right, Rule 5 goes away a bit before then.

You know, regarding a couple of days ago comments, I'm pretty sure I've seen more than 15-20 people post today, and I saw no domination ; }

Here what MLB says about the 40 and it does not mention end of season

The 40-man roster:

A Club's 40-man roster is a list of all the players currently reserved by a Club at the Major League level. The Major League Rules permit each Club to reserve a maximum of 40 players (excluding players on the 60-day disabled list) at any one time. From September 1 through the end of the season the entire 40-man roster is eligible to play for the Club at the Major League level. From Opening Day through August 31, however, a Club may use only 25 of its 40 players in the Majors.

Aww.!  Bad news for Yates!  When he was on, he's AWESOME!  

Good luck Tyler!  Hope it all goes well!  

PoH -

>>I was sort of hoping Virgil Vasquez would show up to bring me a birthday latte...<<

Popeater website had a photo of him and actress Amy Adams hand in hand on some California beach. Guess that's where he's spent the All-Star break. ;-)

@ Mark: Yes, I see your point and that of others in regards to spending.

Speaking only for myself, I am not advocating that the PBC spend $95 million on the MLB payroll. It would not be prudent nor wqould it be necessary.

I continue to think that if one has a plan, then you can spend incrementally more on both the big club and the farm to BUILD a winning organization as opposed to rubbing the lamp and having the genie come out saying: "Poof!! What do you need?"

As you build towards contending, the wins (I believe) will come. With increased winning will come increased interest. Increased interest means more eyes watching the team on TV. For example, do you think the Pen's get a bit more interest now then they did when Rocky Saganiuk was on the team? I am sure it costs a lot more to get an advert on during a Pen's game now than in 1980. Winning does that for you.

More than ballpark attendance, building a strong regional TV network is key to increasing revenues.

I think the PBC's plan is flawed. I think the PBC is underspending on the MLB level and their model will leave us with teams that are young, possibly talented but not contenders as the really talented players will be traded before reaching their prime.

Jose

First off happy bday POH! And bad news here for Yates, but I wouldn't be too angry if the Pirates put him on 60-man, and then just released him in December.

Obviously I meant 60-day not 60-man.

Any bets that we look like the '27 Yankees against Lincecum or Cain and make Zito look like he's back in Cy Young form?

Yates will be throwing at 4 months and could be back as early as 10 months since he only has to be available for 1 inning at a time. A more reasonable scenario would be by the all star break next year although Peter Moylan and Mike Gonzalez both returned after 10 months and are already being abused again by Bobby Cox. Full strength is reasonably expected between 15-18 months. Good luck to Tyler and we wish him a speedy recovery and a quick return to the Pirates' pen.

Has anyone else noticed that if you visit blogs of other baseball teams,  most of their fans think their owner is stupid and/or cheap,  the GM is clueless, and the manager should be fired?

thundercrack

Except for us our owner is cheap, and or manager is clueless!!

@ charms

Sports talk is foolish. I can see Freddy going to the Giants because they desperately need offense and four 2nd basemen have already failed this year. However, the Giants spent $18 million last year on their current shortstop (Renteria) so they are not going to dump him.

I live in the SF Bay area so it would be nice to see Freddy play here. However, it will be difficult to get a good return from the Giants. They have 4-5 positions they could potentially upgrade so they will have a lot of potential sellers to play off each other.

Jonathan Sanchez would be an interesting return for the Pirates or any club. Before his no-hitter last week, he had been demoted to the bullpen because of serious inconsistency. He also sometimes loses focus in a game. But when he is on, he can be overpowering.

Russell isn't clueless. I feel like someone needs to say that.

Thundercrack

Has anyone else noticed that if you visit blogs of other baseball teams,  most of their fans think their owner is stupid and/or cheap,  the GM is clueless, and the manager should be fired?

___________________________

Mostly one-track minded people with out true knowledge of situations.

Just look at the opinions vs real facts on these blog sites, the only thing people do when you call them out is go to stats and a lot of stats don't really tell the whole story or they become very offended.

Some people are like records, they say the same thing over and over about Front Offices, what better topic to get the masses riled up. Everyone hates the boss.

POH,

Agreed. Russell isn't clueless. He's coaching the equivalent of an expansion franchise: limited talent at the top, next to nothing underneath. I hope the front office doesn't cave to the pressure and start making ridiculous moves like firing managers or grasping for overpriced free agents who are out of gas. Stay the course. It's gonna take several years, but we've tried the other way for 17 years and it doesn't work.

Dr. James Andrews: Recession-proof.

Poh

Russell isn't clueless. I feel like someone needs to say that.

____________________________

Depends on the situation.

POH:

HB2U

HB2U

HBDPOH

HB2U

From your clueless friend in FL

 Just got my copy of ESPN the mag from the mailbox and there is an article on how baseball is now switching its focus to acquiring young talent. The feature the Pirates interviewing Tony Sanchez prior to the draft and how impressive he was as a person. Decent article and it emphasizes how even the Yankees, Red Sox and other big market teams are building through the draft.

Does anyone know if anybody stayed in pittsurgh to work on their 2nd base skills? (Young, Laroche)  

If the Freddy rumors continue, this could be a sign that the deal is getting closer.

@JAL - re 40 man and Rule 5

We can keep check of it, but I think a couple of weeks before the Rule 5 draft, each team has to set their roster, and 60 day DL and 15 day DL goes away.

This is Tylers second TJ surgery on that elbow, I read that Nady is having his second as well, you can't (obviously) believe everything you read, but the story was Xavier will have a rough time returning due to its the second surgery.  That being said, I know there are pitchers that have had two and have returned.

The question I would like to ask, and the jist of all of this is, I think Tylers days with the PBC end this year, a bad time for this to happen, will we pay around 2 million for a guy, and we have others close to him talent wise, resume wise, thats iffy??

PoH Happy Birthday, at my age though, birthdays are another day, you hope you are here for the next and you grab the fire extingusher cause all the candles light cause a lot of smoke.

Not that I can eat birthday cakes that much anymore...

So a rumor is the Yankees are sniffing at Snell?

Bucco fan in NC

Its hard to tell, we had no sniff of the Nate trade, had good sniff of Nyjmo, but IMO of course, if Freddy gets traded, we are punting on 010.

Leadoff - re - JRs smarts

There are decisions one can question, yes Andy LaR has improved, but personally am not happy about how Moss is being handled, nor Snell and his extra long pitch count, nor other things, but hindsight is great, am just saying evidence is not there he is an Einstein of managers.

We're we prepared to get Capps out of the game on Sat, was anyone warming up?  We had starters that could have thrown due to all-star break??

@Bucco Fan in NC - "If the Freddy rumors continue, this could be a sign that the deal is getting closer."

Bucco Fan, I couldn't help but wonder a little while ago if our games in SF this weekend might turn out to be players simply changing clubhouses.

@PoH

Happy Happy Birthday to you and many more.

Happy Birthday POH.

Alright! Our Gulf-Coasters won today, 3-2. Jhonaton Ramos worked three innings of relief for the win ... 3.46 ERA.

Biz

There are decisions one can question, yes Andy LaR has improved, but personally am not happy about how Moss is being handled, nor Snell and his extra long pitch count, nor other things, but hindsight is great, am just saying evidence is not there he is an Einstein of managers.

We're we prepared to get Capps out of the game on Sat, was anyone warming up?  We had starters that could have thrown due to all-star break??

__________________________

I suppose upper management has to weigh all the intangibles of what a manager is and has done before deciding on the quality of managing that they are getting.

Field managing starting with the lineups to me is all I see, other parts of a managers duties are not visible, thus making it difficult for me to decide on stay or go for managers.

The part that I see is not something that I would grade JR out very well on.

On the Freddy rumors, last season we had Jack rumors even stronger and nothing happened.  Rumors either come true or they don't and you will not know until something happens.

Leadoff

I remember Chuck Tanner, moving Teke to LF in Frisco, the last ball was hit to him, good guys won.

Remember Leyland ripping into Bonds, I remember Leyland would cry, not a bad thing, about good things, I still tear up when I hear the Maz call, well not as much anymore.

Murtagh would take no crap, neither would Virdon

Not to vent, but how many managers just sit there while the other team rattles of 8 of 9 getting on base in the 9th?  But thats one example, I know

Its the fire, there was talk today on the blog about us here accepting defeat, I don't want him to pull a McClendon, but where's the I'm mad as heck (particularly with poor calls) and I'm not gonna take it any more?

Leaders teach and fight for their folks, IMO of course, can you quietly be sticking up for your team if you don't leave the dugout?

Don't know what to think with this FO, am watching a replay of Sportsbeat, and I saw FC, and I'm thinking who the heck is this slick haired snake oil man??

That being said, go Bucs maybe 2012?

JAL

Honestly, some of the earlier trades bother me, not Nyjmo, you can't have two energy guys in the OF and be competetive, but the Nate trade.....

I agree with your earlier post, lets wait and see, but if they trade Freddy and Jack and/or trade a young pitcher, or two, then we have to admit whats already there, we are rebuilding, the heck with this year and the next one, of course most of us will be here next trading deadline, so the asylum will live, God willing

Biz

Different people were bothered by different trades.   Trades have several problems, chief among them is the lack of players to identify the as representing the team.  We certainly know some players will change each year but most teams have a base player or two who go on and on.  Wilson has been with the team a long time but he is not a big star.  People saw Nate as a young and exciting power hitting OF and they were just getting used to him when, out of no where, he was gone.  That was made worse be they fact the team had just signed him to contract that made fans think he would be around for several more years.  

Biz

Honestly, some of the earlier trades bother me, not Nyjmo, you can't have two energy guys in the OF and be competetive, but the Nate trade.....

I agree with your earlier post, lets wait and see, but if they trade Freddy and Jack and/or trade a young pitcher, or two, then we have to admit whats already there, we are rebuilding, the heck with this year and the next one, of course most of us will be here next trading deadline, so the asylum will live, God willing

________________________________

I don't call what they are doing rebuilding, I call it restocking the system and the only chips that they have are/were position players off of the major league team to deal. The pattern I see is to trade and stock the system with pitching first, then speed, after that I don't know where they feel there greatest needs would be. I would suspect they would want to address their power needs next, IMO. I am relatively sure they want to drop players that they are paying that are not of the value that they are paying them.

Apparently to this point no one else wants to pay these players what they are making either.

@Pot

 happy birthday.

Hey Guys! And Gals - guess what?

GUESS WHAT!

On a blog called "Behind the Steel Curtain" the blogger talks to Ohlendorf about the team's chances for the second half and GET THIS.

<<The team finished the month of June 15-14, the first winning June since 1996 (if I recall correctly). Despite a couple of tough stretches in May and having the lineup altered with multiple personnel changes, you guys are just 6 games out of first place and perhaps just one or two solid weeks of play from being right back in the thick of things in the NL Central during a year where it seems like all the teams are going to beat up on each other and prohibit any one club from running away with things. Do you guys still feel optimisitic about your chances to make a run later this summer?

Ohlendorf: Aside from a few rough road trips, we have played really well this season.  I don't really see anyone running away with the division, and I like our team right now.  I definitely think we still have a shot at winning the division, especially now that we have our cleanup hitter Ryan Doumit back.>>

HOW'S ABOUT THEM APPLES! HE HAS HOPE! PLENTY OF IT!

Mua-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaaa

Happy Birthday PoH!  May you have many more happy birthdays and continue to give the rest of us... Plenty of Hope.

Happy B-day PoH.I need to get to work,I'm 19 posts behind on my quota.At least I got my avatar changed so my life is fulfilled for one more day. ;-)

Ha--pp-----pyyyyyy Birthday POH.  May you live the next X number of years as well as you have for this number.

I think I know what you wished for : Pirates Playoff Tickets in 2009!!!  

Questions re: Yates

1) Does the team pay him his full salary of $1.3 million even though he's been injured since mid-May? Is there some type of insurance policy to recoup at least part of this money?

2) Who pays for all of these doctors visits and any surgeries players have? How much does a surgery like this cost? Do the players have health insurance (I can't even imagine what that must cost) and do they pay for it or does the team?

3) Will the Pirates offer him arbitration for next season (I hope they won't)? If they do, would his salary go up even though he likely wouldn't be able to pitch for any more than a small part of the season?

These may be dumb questions, but I'm curious.

@POH , HAPPY B DAY

You just made my day with the ROSS comments, THATS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT, LETS GO ,YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

9.5 IS NOTHING IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, and always remember , to gain a game you dont need the whole division to loose , just the team that occupies first that day ...LETSSSSSSS GO ..YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

48jj

#3 is easy--if a player is eligible for arbitration the team does not have to offer him arbitration it is automatic unless they get work out a contract before arbitration is done--the Pirates and the player both submit what they want or willing to pay and the arbitrator picks one.  The only the team offers arbitration is when he is coming to Free agency, like Adam.

#1 is easy too--you get your basic pay regardless of whether you play or not unless the eam can make a case that violated the contract.

Here is the link and it will in either Dejan's or my morning links tomorrow

www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/.../btsc-talks-with-pirates-pitcher

48jj.   I think the players are insured for 60% of their salary, but I wonder if AIG insures them.   I believe each MLB Contract includes full medical to compensate for workman's comp claims.

I know Lloyd's of London used to offer HUGE insurance policies on body parts (Clemens' elbow), not certain if they still do.  

I think the Taco Bell Roosevelts commercial finally ended.

I think the Taco Bell Roosevelts commercial finally ended.

That's a coincidence, yesterday I almost wrote that the Pirates had avoided any major pitcher injuries so far this year, but I stopped short because I was being superstitious and didn't want to jinx them.  So much for that. Check it out. pittsburghsportsbuzz.blogspot.com

Daryl, I think the Pirates need a good fight like the 1979 team did.   I think a good fight, say against the Brewers when Fielder goes down like Fraizer.  

Not that I'm advocating violence, but that started the 2004 Red Sox into their late season roll, and the Arod slap didn't hurt.

Thanks JAL

But I won't rain on anybody's birthday wish, so I'll be quiet, and I can't buy into others constant rant about the FO

Good tidings to all in tot PBC fans everyhere, keep the ffire burning no matter which camp you choose to burn

Slow night but a good fishing one, lurkers come out

Bucco Nation (40 States in the Union)

Still looking for inmates from the following:

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Minnesota, North Dakota,

Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Wyoming

We do have 11 countries represented: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Phillipines, Scotland and lest I forget, the good old USA,

Welcome Xataki, and you know, IMO if the mates go somewhere overseas, and they send a post card, it’s a hit for the Bucco Nation, heck you are in China and still check on the folks in the asylum.  Xataki – you be careful over there

You know I’m missing people mates, thanks for any help to keep this list growing.

From China no less, impressive, IMO, great

I can't understand why they've wasted all this time.  He's been resting it almost all season and very little progress.

I read the post with Ollie, what the heck would one expect him to say, IMO he's untouchable this year, at least.

We are or soon be a one legged man, in a kick fight

Not to be crictical, but really?

or we showed up for a gun fight with a knife..

Reasonable goal for second half:  pick up 4.5 games on Reds and finish ahead of them.  If that can occur, then see what happens if rest of division struggles.  

POH - Happy BD & many more to come!!

On another topic, I am really interested in how well the team performs the rest of this year & I have mixed emotions about the possible upcoming trades.  While I understand the logic of the FO's strategy with these trades, I also believe that if this team stays together the rest of this season they might come together & surprise us all!  I think they would have a very good chance at a significantly better winning percentage than that of the first half, possibly even over .500 for the last part of the season.  Being over .500 for the year would be even better, but I don't think there is much chance of that.

However, as POH says, have hope, have plenty of hope!!!

Out for the night --Good night to all and too all a good night

Back tomorrow with the morning links

Please bring on the Trades! This team is soooooooooo boring to watch.  Get rid of Freddy, Jack, Adam, Grabow, Duke, Maholm....Bring in kids who will play hard and build for 2012.  If a player on the roster wont be there in 2012 then there is NO need for them.

Milledge hit two out tonight in an 8-4 loss. Jordy Mercer also homered.

Scott421

I agree with you about Adam, but the others had some nice plays and/or games in the first half.  I do believe that the young players on the team will get better the rest of the season - it would be fun to watch the PBC make life miserable for the various playoff contenders for a change!

That said, if the draw some high quality prospects in trade, I'll be OK with that as well!

Hey all, just got back from the Lynchburg game (I went since Potomac is about an hour drive and Milledge was with the Hillcats).

As Bay said, Milledge hit two HRs, but he struck all four balls pretty well. The 2nd AB was a sharp liner that had 2B all over it, but the 3B snared it for a nice play. The 3rd AB was a well-hit flyout. It may just be A ball, but Milledge looked comfortable at the plate. He also signed for me and seemed like a nice, sorta quiet kind of guy.

I also wanted to check out D'Arnaud and Mercer while I was there; Chase went 0-4 with a walk and didn't look overly comfortable at the plate. He popped out twice on pitches that, if he hits them a bit more squarely, would usually find the seats. He looked alright in the field, with decent range and arm strength, thoug his accuracy seemed a bit off. No real red flags though--to my untrained eye.

Mercer played well at 3rd, making the routine plays and hitting a HR, as well.

De Los Santos played CF, and looked alright, but his speed wasn't what I expected. He got CS on one play when the P-Nats pitched out and still barely got him. I'd have to see him again to evaluate.

I was happy to get Chase to sign before the game, but the big surprise was a guy I wasn't expecting. I'm not usually one of "those guys," but I noticed a rather big guy, calling out to some of the Lynchburg players and coaches. I told my buddy the guy looked just like Pedro Alvarez, though I wondered why he'd be there. Sure enough, it was Pedro, who I got to sign when he wasn't looking too busy. He seemed like a nice kid and the players all seemed happy to see him, so I'd take it that he was a pretty well-liked guy.

It was a cool night and i figured I'd share my amateur opinions.

Nice job Scout Yotum, nigj]ht all, no stinkbugs out tonight and the happy people are preoccupied

Go Bucco Nation, like it or not, we;re here for the duration, duration undetermined

Eric Kratz goes deep in AAA AS game... 2-2, 2b, HR, 2 runs

I forgot to wish good tidings to all of the mates out there, be sre to take your meds, but only as prescribed

Anyone see Eric Kratz smash that ball into left???

Way to go! Atleast one Bucco rep has made an appearance!

Is anyone watching the AAA All Star Game?! Their field reporter is HORRIBLE. He has no personality and asks the worst questions I've ever heard.

"Were you looking heater on the 3-0 count or were you looking KNUCKLEBALL?"

Who in their right mind would look knuckleball?!