Morning baseball talk, 11-8-09

Firsties.Cause Drew71 is asleep

1. Cutch     -    R

2. Akinami   -   L

3. Legend   -   L

4. Pedro      -  L

5. Doumit    -   S

6. Ankiel or M Byrd   L or R

7. Milledge   -   R

8. Cedeno   -   R

Bench:

Jaramillo    -   S

Moss         -   L

Walker       -   S

D Young    -  S

LaRoche    -  R

That's a good lineup and a damn good a versatile bench.  

Vasquez is there till Pedro is ready.  He then gets traded for a warm 6-pack of Old Milwaukee.

Rotation will be "average to good" because of the competition of 10 decent starters.

Pen needs $6-7 million plus improvement on what is there...

This team will win 82 and give us a fun fall!!!

Just an opinion....

Hitting Coach Extroardnaire,

LLOYD B FREE

HEAR YE HEAR YE

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Executive Vice president and Director of Media Marketing

Date:  December 5th.

Complete information to follow

                        ATTENTION ANNOUNCEMENT

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I'm pretty sure LaRoche will be at 3B till Pedro gets there, no? He will be sweating and will be in a put up or shut up situation. Myself, I think he will put up and push Aki from the lineup. I think it's going to be an interesting year to see how it shakes down.

There's also going to be a competition if Neal can get Ankiel, Blalock or someone else. Normally, there's going to be one guy that falters. That really could be anyone - Milledge, Jones, or Ankiel/Blalock. After 2 months, Tabata will be called up and get a chance to replace whoever is the faltering player.

If all are tearing it up, then you've got a good problem to have. You've got to believe if Tabata is raking at Indy, he's going to be called up at some point.

Mark,

...and the logjam could get really interesting if Clement has a good spring training. The club could have some heavy hitters- How sweet would THAT be?

Lloyd - it's too early for me to think.  Sorry to be so slow in the morning, but could you provide a key for your list?  What do the L/R/S mean?  And who's making coffee this morning?

Morning Links

60 Odd Miles Up 79: ‘Pirates Blueprint’ is simply what everybody else is already doing

www.alliednews.com/.../local_story_310172514.html

Bleacher Report--Arizona Fall League Quick Hit: Has Donald Veal Turned the Corner?

bleacherreport.com/.../285817-afl-quick-hit-has-donald-veal-turned-the-corner

Plenty of fireworks at Rising Stars Game

mlb.mlb.com/.../article.jsp

Rising Stars Game Boxscore

mlb.mlb.com/.../stats.jsp

Does anyone know if ESPN or MLB Network will be re-airing that Rising Stars game?

THE OFFICIALLY UNOFFICIAL PBC BLOGS AND MLB LINKS:

Sandlot Swashbucklers--Win For Taubenheim, Homer For Walker

mvn.com/.../win-for-taubenheim-homer-for-walker.html

Raise the Jolly Roger-Let’s get to know Akinori Iwamura

raisethejollyroger.com/.../lets-get-to-know-akinori-iwamura

The Green Weenie--Bye Bye Boys

oldbucs.blogspot.com/.../bye-bye-boys.html

Rumbunter-Jack Wilson Is Your Ex Girlfriend. Keep It That Way

rumbunter.com/.../jack-wilson-is-your-ex-girlfriend-keep-it-that-way

MLB Transactions

www.cbssports.com/.../transactions

Bucco Fans--Pittsburgh Pirates 2010 25-Man Roster Projection

www.buccofans.com/.../2010-25-man-roster.html

Bucco Fans Wiki--Kinks to roster info and more

buccofans.wikispaces.com

FanHuddle--Pirates 2009 Season Review: Paul Maholm

fanhuddle.com/.../pirates-2009-season-review-paul-maholm

Pirate Winter League Stats

mlb.mlb.com/.../org.jsp

VOTE-This Year in baseball Awards

mlb.mlb.com/.../index.jsp

GGG

L means hit from left, R hits from right, S switch hitter

Answered my own question - looks like the MLB Network will be re-showing the Rising Stars game Monday at 4:00PM Eastern time as well as 12:00AM (which is technically Tuesday).  

JAL - Of  course!  Thanks!  Stuck in a hotel room in Perry IA on business... waiting... and waiting... someone is supposed to come and get me... and waiting... no coffee.  

Yesterday with that Arizona Fall League showcase was the first time I saw Jose Tabata and Dan Moskos in action.  Tabata looked sharp with 3 hits, though he looked below average in Center Field.  He will probably be a solid LF/RF and very good #2 (or even leadoff if McCutchen develops enough power to hit in the middle of the order).

Moskos was questionable, but he did strike out Dustin Ackley who was the 2nd draft pick behind Strasburg and a very solid athlete.  He gave up a few hits and looks like he needs more seasoning, though.  

Veal has better raw stuff than Moskos if he can ever control it from the left side.

Loyd:

Like the line-up, but who plays short when Cedeno needs time off? I think you need a utility infielder on the bench.

I don't believe Byrd or Ankiel or any other FA's are the answer or are going to happen in RF. I also do not think that Jeff Clement will emerge aa a starter @ 1B this year - although I'm hopeful for 2011.

That said, It looks to me like a 3-way platoon at 1st and RF w/ Jones, Pearce and Young until Tabata is ready. As someone mentioned yesterday, NC will likely go dumpster diving at Yankee stadium....and that may not be so bad.

JAL...thx for those Winter Stats. If Veal has truly turned a corner, we can just pretend HE was the pick before Wieters and not Moskos. :=]

Are those stats correct for Giminez? Lots of walks. Any scouting report on him? Unfortunately, as a  C I guess he's buried on the depth chart. I see we're his 3rd team, so he's probably just org filler.

I like Walker's power numbers in relation to his number of ABs. However, it looks like he'll never hit for average. Maybe we should move HIM to 2B also?

Lee

Here is bit about Giminez from Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/.../H%C3%A9ctor_Gim%C3%A9nez

and here are his minor league stats

www.baseball-reference.com/.../player.cgi

Lloyd, I like your lineup, too. But it seems a bit weird seeing LaRoche on the bench ... I know, I know ... he's yet to REALLY prove himself, but I like the way he came on at the end ... got a good feeling from that, that it won't be long for him.

Yeah, he might not do it here, but I say before he's relegated to bench duty - he'll be gone. It might effectively be like it was with McLouth/Cutch - when Alvy comes up, if LaRoche has had a good half season, he's outta here for a basketful of low A prospects.

And, I guess it would be nice to have him on the bench. I just got a feeling though that he'll likely be moved when Alvy gets here.

Or, Lloyd, IF LaRoche does come on seriously with the bat ... say 25-30 home runs a year, continues the great defense ... say they put Alvy at first and Legend in right field ... that could be awesome!

Cutch - 20 home runs

Aki - 15 home runs

Legend - 35 home runs

Pedro - 40 to 45 home runs

Doumit - 20 home runs

Milledge - 20 home runs

Cedeno - 15 home runs

The eighth guy? I would say if we could get that kind of production, if we could get 20 home runs out of our next free agent landing, it would be awesome! Let's not forget about Tabata!

Gentlemen, THIS looks like a different club to me!

Loyd:

Like the line-up, but who plays short when Cedeno needs time off? I think you need a utility infielder on the bench.

I hate to say it but  Ramon Vasquez is the guy

Good morning all.

I saw a little of the game from the AFL last night.  Tabata and Moskos looked good.

Lloyd...from what I gathered at the last gathering, Andy will start at 3rd, unless something major happens.  What happens when Alvarez comes up will be determined by where they put him when he comes to Pittsburgh.  

I think Vazquez is primarily a bench guy.  :-)

21 posts.Looks like this place is going into hibernation

Maz...it's Sunday and it's been slow the past couple of Sunday's.   Besides it's a beautiful day here in the Burgh.  :-)

DMac-Here too.It was 77 yesterday and the same today.There isn't much to post about till next month.

DMAC is right, FC listed only a few lock on position players to start the season short of something block buster happeneing and one of those locks was Andy on third if Pedro does not start there himself.