Tree of Life

27 Jun

Joel Hanrahan (Sort Of) Throws No-Hitter, by Jon Anderson

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, June 27th, 2011 – 9:15 am

From June 4th to June 25th, Joel Hanrahan went through a stretch of facing 30 batters without surrendering a hit. After allowing an RBI single to Placido Polanco in a June 4th game the Pirates won handily, Hanrahan went 9.2 innings and 3 calendar weeks pitching no-hit baseball. He allowed just 1 walk in those 9.2 innings and struck out 8. Dustin Pedroia broke up the streak with a 2-out double in the Pirates Saturday night win against the Red Sox, so we can now get a closing look at this magnificent stretch. Let's check it out, batter-by-batter:

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That's 30 batters faced and 29 retired. His lone blip was a walk to Mark Reynolds on June 20th in a game the Pirates had basically already lost anyways. This isn't going to get any national recognition, but I think this is a pretty big deal. He got 29 straight outs without allowing a hit, if he did that all in one game, his name would be in the hall of fame. Obviously, it's a lot easier to do when you have days of rest between innings, but this just doesn't happen. He's not doing it against cupcake hitters either, look at the names on that list.

In 2007, Bobby Jenks retired 41 straight batters in a row, which was a major league record for a reliever. In 2009, Mark Buehrle broke that record for any pitcher, by retiring 45 straight batters. Unfortunately, the walk held Hanrahan's name out of that discussion, and you can end it entirely now that he has allowed a hit, but the spectacularity of the streak still remains.

Hanrahan took the mound 10 times in a row without allowing a hit, and recorded 8 saves in those 10 appearances. He is currently the only closer in baseball with double-digit saves that has not blown a save. His ERA is among the best in baseball and there is very little argument that he has been the best reliever in the National League this year, if not all of baseball.

If Hanrahan would have performed this streak all in one game, I certainly wouldn't be the only one writing about it. But a couple more weeks like this and Hanrahan will be the closer for the National League All-Star team, and people won't have a choice but to write about him.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates

 

26 Jun

Clint Hurdle Pregame Sunday 6/26

published in category: Uncategorized on Sunday, June 26th, 2011 – 12:02 pm

On new catching call-up Eric Fryer's offensive ability:
"He's made strides offensively. Had a real good campaign for the amount of at-bats in AA. Was up to AAA and definitely holding his own. The combination of his skill set at this time gives us a better option at catcher than Dusty's. Dusty gave us everything he had. Offensively there wasn't much he was able to put forward, and we had some challenges on defense. So as we continue to evaluate this moving forward we're going to look internally. We're going to keep giving guys opportunities, keep getting a look at these people and giving the opportunities to play."

On the dangers of calling up a player too soon:
"If a kid can play in a minor league system now, there's an HOV lane. Just the way it is. Then we've got to finish him off up here, finish their skill set. Back in the old days you almost had to be a finished product before you got to the majors. Because they didn't want to mess with any coaching up, the coaching staff and the manager wanted guys who were ready to play. But that whole dynamic has flipped. And we're very comfortable… if you have trust in your minor league organization, and they tell you a guy can do X, Y, and Z, you bring him up and you let him show you that he can do X, Y, or Z and if he doesn't then you re-adjust."

On how careful he is not to overuse bullpen arms:
"If a guy gets up and gets ready to pitch, he has gotten hot. His arm has gotten prepared to pitch in a game. I've had managers that said 'that don't mean anything.' But you start counting those times, along with the times they pitch, and there's a reason guys blow out out there. Knock on wood we haven't had that situation. It's something that I learned probably from watching other managers. I've seen some of them do it very very well, and some of them pretty much didn't seem like them being tied to pitcher's arms and it cost. And the cost was dramatic at the end of the season. I've just never believed in pitching guys three days in a row; I never have and I never will."

On if he expects to add another bat for road interleague games (i.e. Alex Presley):
"We're still having that conversation. It's kind of nice that the other bats have picked up, though, isn't it? You know, Jones has picked up, Overbay has picked up. So that's a conversation we will continue to have."

On if Hurdle feels he's "hot" right now as a manager with the moves he's made:
"I've never looked at it like I'm hot. There's two kind of people in life: those that are humble, and those that are about to be. I try to make the best move I can make for the team at the particular day. Whether it be Cleveland, Pittsburgh, in Houston, in Cincinnati. The manager more often that not is at the mercy of his bullpen. You go to the bullpen and guys get outs you look smart. You go to the bullpen and guys don't get outs, you don't look smart. That's just the way the game is. I do think there's times when you're getting real good reads on your players and your decision making can become more acute. You might roll the dice in some situations, case being the other night [Friday] with Ortiz and Veras. I also thought that was an opportunity for a defining moment for our club. And I was willing to risk it. And take the brunt of whatever didn't work out. You've got to go out and play with risk, and I think there's times for a manger to take some risk for his club to show them where he is also, what he believes in."

On if there is a Pedro Alvarez update:
"Nothing. He feels better. I just got the report this morning. We are gearing him up to play here I believe some time at the beginning of this week."

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Posted in Uncategorized

 

25 Jun

Biggest Win In PNC Park History?

published in category: Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, June 25th, 2011 – 12:18 am

It was the third biggest crowd the park has seen in it's 11th season in MLB play. The Pittsburgh Pirates walked off the field a game over .500 with a 3-1 win over the team with the best record in the American League. At night's end, a look up at the NL Central standings showed the Bucs just three games out of first place and in a tie for third place with Cincinnati. And the victory was filled with as much drama as the stands were of visiting Boston Red Sox caps, providing a back and forth emotional flow that sports fans live off.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said it best when he proclaimed afterwards, "We've got some players with some fast heartbeats, and obviously [Boston's] got a lot of players with slow heartbeats. They're probably just out playing another team tonight, but there are some guys in our dugout it wasn't just another game for us. You'd like to think it would be and they'll probably tell you it was but it was a little different on our side. We're gaining experience every day. There's a lot of guys in here who had a chance to grow up a little bit today."

A 38-37 record on June 24th is still no logical time for partying in the streets. But it felt that way to many long-suffering PIrates fans tonight.

Here were some of the quotes from Pirates players in regards to a number of key situations in the Friday night ballgame that very well could be the biggest win in PNC Park history. Perhaps until game two of the series tomorrow.

Clint Hurdle

On the win in general
"I really like it when our team wins in front of big crowds at home. That makes me smile."

On Pirates' bullpen arm Jose Veras facing Boston's David Ortiz in the 8th inning, runners on second and third and two outs in a 3-1 ballgame:
"That was pretty good drama. You've got the tying run at second, and you've got one of the better hitters in the American League at the plate. I'm not a big fan of pitching around guys. I'd rather wear it. If you're going to put him on, the next guy gets a hit, I wear it. But I went out I wanted to take Jose's temperature, I said 'What's your plan?' He gave me a plan, I said 'I'm good with that, let's go do it.' If it had come out a little not sure, 'What do you think?,' you know I had a plan in place. But he knew how he wanted to go at him, and some times you've just got to buy real estate with your players."

On why Hurdle didn't pull Veras for lefthander Daniel Moskos there:
The lefty-lefty thing, the one thing it does it covers a manager's backside. But if you're not sold on your gut, I'm not going to do it. I like the fact that Jose's got some experience. He's been able to handle those types of situations, those high-leverage situations than Danny. If something would have gotten away from us I've got Danny ready for Ellsbury. Right there, Jose was our man. I felt confident walking off that Jose was going to give everything that he got, and how it ended up it ended up, and if it doesn't work it's on me. I'm comfortable with it being on me."

Jose Veras

On the matchup with Ortiz:
"He's a great hitter, power guy. You've got to have a plan for those guys. The tying run on second base. Basically a double is going to be a tie ballgame. So, you've got to make a decision, first base is open. Make quality pitches to that guy so you don't pay for it. We've got to go in soft early with that guy, because he's a great power guy. Like J.D. Drew [who singled earlier in the inning] we threw a great fastball down and away, he hacked it for a [hit]. Late in the game like this you try to go in first pitch for a strike, and if it's a fastball they're going to jump on it. I know, I was in the American League for a little bit, I know those guys are going to jump on my first pitch fastball. It's my best pitch. So it was a good plan pitching backwards. Soft early and hard late. He's been my friend since 1996 before I signed, I've known him for a long time. He's my compadre. We've been together for a long time, since winter ball from 1998-2005, so I have a good idea how to face that guy."

On SS Ronny Cedeno playing Ortiz up the middle and recording the ground out:
"He knows he's a pull hitter, he was close to the base so he got a chance to [get it] when he rolls it over to the middle. It was a great idea the way we throw to him."

On his strikeout of Marco Scutaro on a curveball with one out, prior to Ortiz:
"That's my second best pitch. I know he's a great fastball hitter, I faced him a lot in the American League when he was with Toronto. We got him right away with a breaking ball for a strike, we're not going to try to surprise him with fastballs away, he can throw the bat to it and send it to the right field line. If we would try to come in[side] he can hit it to leftfield. So, I know he's been struggling a little bit with the breaking stuff so we got it done with that."

Joel Hanrahan

On closing the game in the 9th inning against Boston's top of the order:
"It is fun beating the best. That's what you play the game for, if you want to be one of the better guys you've got to face the best so it's a lot of fun coming in there and facing the heart of lineups and really, I don't really notice that much about the hitter. I know what they can do, but I don't look at the hitter when I'm in there. Just stick to my gameplan and see what happens."

On the entire bullpen's shutout performance with 3 2/3 IP:
"That's what we've been doing lately, with everybody stepping up at whatever time. It's fun watching those guys. You're seeing Tony Watson go out there and grow right before you. I didn't know much about him before except that he was from Iowa. He's come out in those situations and been great. Resop comes in and gets a double play. It's fun watching them."

Tony Watson

On getting Boston's Adrian Gonzalez to pop out in the 7th inning with one on and one out:
"You've just got to put aside who's up there and execute your pitches. That was a big out right there in the game and I didn't want a run to cross. The numbers don't lie [for Gonzalez], he's obviously having a great year. But left-on-left that's what Clint went with and trusted in and I'm fortunate enough that he trusted in me and I got the job done. We just threw the scouting report, obviously I've never faced him. Mac [McKenry] did a great job behind the dish calling pitches, and I just trusted what he put down."

Clint Hurdle on 3B Chase D'Arnaud making his ML debut:
"I'll probably start him again tomorrow. He did a nice job today, had to be a very exciting day for him. We win a ballgame, it's a packed house. I think his Dad was here. Triple his first game. He's already tied [Chris] Snyder [in triples]. Good for Chase, that's a lifelong dream right there since you're probably six playing in the backyard to play against Big Leaguers and for it to be against the Red Sox on a Friday night crowd in front of a packed house. Special."

Chase D'Arnaud
On his first ML hit, a triple:
"You know I hit it and I was thinking to myself to be an agressive baserunner. I didn't know if it was going to be fair, I just put my head down and ran. I saw that he [the leftfielder] was wrestling it around in the left field corner and just continued on to third."

On whether he realized during the game he was in the Majors:
"I was trying to keep my head down the whole time, and it wasn't until later in the game that I started to realize what was going on around me. I just tried to keep my eyes on the field. And that was the best advice I could have taken before the game today, that really helped me. It's everybody's dream that plays baseball to get up to this level, and it's just starting to set it. After this first game I'm happy that I had a good day today. I just need to stay on course and never be too satisfied with how I've done, so tomorrow if I am in the lineup I'll be ready."

On playing third base:
"It was good, I feel comfortable there. I played there my first and second year in college and I played there three games prior to getting called up. Third base is a position that I can just be throw at and I just always seem to feel a comfort level over there, it's kind of like home to me."

On how he found up he was getting called up yesterday:
"I was in Lehigh Valley, we were on the road, and my manager called me in and he was making up some stuff, reasons to tell me that I can't play the next day. He said, 'you know you ran a :4.06 down the line to beat out a routine ground ball to short your first at bat, and then you ran a :4.2 your next one. Why did you let up?' I didn't have an answer. And then he said I ran a :4.7 rounding first base on a flyball to right, which I don't think I'd ever run that bad. Then he said, 'You're not playing tomorrow, because you're going to Pittsburgh.' I'll take it."

On how long he expects to stay:
"I hope so, I have no expectations. I can only control the things that I can control. I'm going to get after it every day and play my heart out. Hopefully I can stay up here as long as I can."

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Posted in Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates

 

23 Jun

A Conversation With Pirates #2 Prospect Tony Sanchez

published in category: Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 – 2:14 am

When the Pittsburgh Pirates lost catcher Chris Snyder to a back injury on May 27th, the team's backstopping situation officially became dire. Ryan Doumit was already on the shelf, as was the squad's most experienced AAA catcher in Jason Jaramillo. Eyes turned quickly to evaluate the franchise's minor league options behind the plate.

And when you evaluate the Pirates' minor league catching talent, the premier name is Tony Sanchez.

Sanchez was the Pirates 1st-Round draft pick in 2009 out of Boston College, and entered this season as Pittsburgh's 2nd best prospect according to Baseball America. At age 23, Tony is currently playing ball in Altoona, PA for the Bucs' AA minor league affiliate. The problem is, Sanchez isn't close to big league ready, and he readily admits it.

"I'm struggling enough as it is to hit AA pitching," Sanchez said with a laugh when asked how he'd handle Major League pitching right about now. "I definitely dreamed it, I definitely had a dream I got called up to the Big Leagues. But in reality when you think about it I've only played 45, 50 games in AA and only about the same amount of games in high A, [so] I was fairly certain they weren't going to call my number."

In fact, Tony has played 57 games for the Altoona Curve this year. And the further fact that he's hitting just .251 isn't lost on Sanchez either.

"It's been well below average of my expectations. Every level I've been at since I was seven years old, I've hit anywhere from .350 to .400. I've always dominated. Guys would stop what they're doing in the dugout to watch me hit. When I went to Arizona [Fall League] and hit .203 I lost that feeling, and now here I'm in AA and even though .250 is not a terrible number, it's still nowhere near what I believe I can be hitting. I've got myself out a lot of times, whether it be bad pitch selection or bad swing mechanics."

Sanchez is trying to stay positive through it all, but it clearly is his first professional bump in the road.

"I'm hitting .250 and I've got eight extra base hits and it's almost July, and when you think about it that's a joke, and it's embarrassing. But it's baseball and it's not easy. I'm just not getting barrel to the ball as much as I was last year and i'm not driving the ball, and I don't know what the cause for that is. Although, my plate discipline has been a little better than what it was last year and I'm walking a little more. We've been working so hard in the cages and in pre-game [batting practice]. I've watched hours of video just trying to see what's going on, and we've made a couple of little adjustments. You can't let it get to you. I mean I pride myself on being such a mental warrior, and when you're not hitting you've got to use that tool and just be mentally strong."

It was that mental strength, as well as very good on-field production which turned the Pirates attention to Tony in the '09 Draft where they selected 4th overall. Sanchez hit .327 in the ACC in three years of college ball with 24 homeruns, 49 doubles, and 124 RBI in 161 games. In 2009, his first year with the Pirates organization, Sanchez hit .316 with 7 HR in 40 games for the low-A West Virginia Power, slugging at a .561 clip. Last year in high-A Bradenton, Tony hit .314 with 35 RBI in 59 games.

And then the hard times began, starting with a .203 average in the Arizona Fall League where Sanchez scuffled with 21 strikeouts in 68 at-bats, as well as just 4 homers and 1 double. Times have stayed hard with the challenging spring in Altoona, and they've included a three game suspension by the team for Tony's criticizing of umpires on Twitter after a game, a mistake which Sanchez doesn't hide from.

"In Altoona, [there's] not a lot of places you can get in trouble, as long as you keep your mouth shut on Twitter you'll be alright," he says only half chuckling over the incident. "I don't mind [talking about it], I learn from my mistakes. Sometimes I really don't have a filter. I'll tell you what's on my mind, and when you've got 4,000 people following you and most of those people [are] newspaper outlets, you're going to get in trouble. Twitter was cool, but until I can learn how I can control what comes out of my mouth, I won't be back on. As soon as Twitter affected what I was doing on the field, I knew it was time to get rid of it. I got benched for three games, and for me to sit in the dugout and catch bullpens for three games, it killed me. It was agony, it was a severe punishment."

And to top off the nightmare year of sagging offensive production and a social media gaffe, Sanchez has made 10 errors behind the plate.

"That's something that's haunted me because I take so much pride in my defense. I love throwing the ball, I love trying to pick guys off and throw runners out, and a lot of those errors are from trying to do that. [I've] thrown balls off the legs of base stealers, a couple short hops here and there, but that's the game and that's the way my season has been going until now."

Tony swears the collection of tough times has not destroyed his mental fortitude.

"I'm having fun behind the plate, I'm smiling back there. I'm working harder back there for my pitcher than I am for myself at the plate. There's so many ways for me to have a good game; I mean I can call a good game, I can control the running game well, have a couple plays at the plate, block the ball and keep runners out of scoring position, or I can hit the ball and drive in three runs. But it's been my defense that has kept me happy."

And as promising as Tony's defense skill-set has been, his game calling is also a work in progress for a guy who never called pitches in high school or in college.

"I'll be the first to tell you I make mistakes almost every other inning. But [Altoona pitching coach] Wally Whitehurst is there to let me hear it, to correct me or to tell me when I had a good plan."

Tony Sanchez is by no means Major League ready as summer begins here in 2011, even in a year of desperate catching-depth times. But rest assured, one of the franchise's top prospects is hard at work with his measures to be ready the next time that void needs filled.

–//–

As a postscript, here are Tony Sanchez's thoughts on two fellow highly touted Pirates prospects that are in Altoona as well: pitchers Tim Alderson and Bryan Morris

-On Alderson: "He started off extremely strong [this year], he just a hit a little speed bump. He took a hard line drive off the wrist, and when he came back from that he kinda lost the zone a little bit. His next two outings, he was kind of feeling for it, I don't know what was going through his head. He struggled a little bit. But last night he threw an inning, and was throwing his fastball and curveball for strikes, and he looked great, so hopefully he's on his way back up to where he was in the beginning."

On Morris: "He has electric stuff, a great arsenal. When he's on he can be extremely dominant. He's just been a little inconsistent in the starting rotation with fastball command, and when you don't have fastball command it's tough for me to call offspeed pitches late in the count. Since they've moved him into the bullpen, he's been lights out. I don't know if he wants to be there or not, but personally I think that's a really good move for Bryan because he can really dial it in for one, two innings and give you a quick six outs."

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Posted in Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates

 

21 Jun

Bud Selig Out to Ruin Small Market Baseball Again by Jon Pennline

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 – 1:40 pm

Does the title seem harsh for this post? Sorry, Mr. Selig but I cannot possibly hide frustration in the fact that you are seriously considering placing a hard-slot system in signing the amateur draft picks.

For those who don't know, the Pittsburgh Pirates have spent more money in the draft than any other team in the last three years. It has been the Pirates' model for building a successful franchise to draft the most talented players and sign them away from their college commitments/high contract demands in order to build up the system. These signings have yet to show any reward at the major league level as it is still far too early. However, given the small market in Pittsburgh, the draft is the only way the club can hope to improve their chances at becoming competitive.

Other franchises have already seen success by investing heavily in the draft. The Tampa Bay Rays went to the 2007 World Series with a team almost entirely comprised of prospects. The Milwaukee Brewers have built up their payroll through raised attendance, stemmed from becoming a competitive team after signing talented draft picks in the early 2000s. The Cincinnati Reds, a once proud franchise like the Pirates, were stuck at the bottom of the NL Central basement for most of the 2000s until they started investing in the draft to select players such as Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Travis Wood and Mike Leake. Last year, the Reds won the Central and now are currently in the hunt to repeat.

If Major League Baseball places a hard-slot system on the amateur draft, you can say goodbye to the hopes of small market teams, including Selig's own Milwaukee Brewers. That's right, the commissioner's favorite team is a small market team and a cap on draft spending will further damage their chances of competing. Why is it so important to place a cap on the draft? No idea. Maybe it is unfair to pay amateur players a ton of money when those players were passed up by other teams due to high contract demands. Never mind the fact that the Yankees have a payroll that exceeds $202 million while the Red Sox have a payroll of $161 million. The Phillies are usually in the bottom of the ranks in draft spending. Why? Because they have the second highest payroll in baseball at $172 million. The Brewers? Their payroll is around $85 million while the Pirates are at $45 million. Like the Brewers, the Pirates will increase their payroll once their prospects are up for a contract extension.

When this cap is instituted, next year, the small market team will start to deteriorate, thus creating the six team league we were accustomed to seeing before 2007. While the Pirates may have loaded up on talent at the right time, the ability to continue that influx of talent will drastically take a hit. They'll still take the most talented players on the board, but the days of signing mid-round high school kids away from college are over. Teenagers will turn down 100k if it means going to college, getting redrafted, and signing for $1 million.

This decision is void of all logical reasoning to keep 30 markets interested in "America's Past time". Then again, Mr. Selig has never tried to draw the interest of 30 markets; it's always been about Yankees vs. Red Sox, under his tenure. If we're going to cap draft spending and, consequently kick down the small market teams, why not cap free agent spending and payroll to level the playing field?

Tell me, Mr. Selig, why should I or any other small market fan, care about your league? A league which you nearly destroyed with a strike in 1994, embarrassed with a steroid scandal in the early 2000s and possibly caused total disinterest now, with the silencing of small market baseball.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers

 

15 Jun

Trapped in AAA; Alex Presley is Major League Ready by Jon Pennline

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 – 8:36 am

He may be listed at 5'9 190, but Alex Presley could pass for 15 years old. With his small stature and baby face, the numbers in AAA will make you scratch your head. Presley is currently leading the Indianapolis Indians in average (.340), slugging (.523), on-base percentage (.391), home runs (8), RBIs (33) and has only registered one error in the outfield. Those numbers have people scratching their head in another way, as well. The biggest question seems to be, "why isn't this kid playing at PNC Park?" While he does tend to strikeout a little too much (47 this year) the Pirates aren't exactly lighting up the scoreboard every night. A call up for Alex Presley could spark the Pirates offense on a similar scale to Josh Harrison. When you look at all of his tools, he has the potential to be a solid player. Not an All Star by any means, but a solid outfielder who could help hold things down until Starling Marte is ready in 2012. For all of his talent, there is still one problem that is keep Presley from making the trip to Pittsburgh.

He's left handed.

The Pirates have two left handed hitters on the bench who can play outfield and can either hit for more power, or play better defense than Presley. Although Garret Jones has hit only 6 home runs this year, he is starting to heat up a little bit from his slow start. Meanwhile, Xavier Paul is playing just good enough to not get cut. And then there is Matt Diaz. A player who is playing good enough to get cut. The only problem is, the Pirates would have to eat his two year, 4 million dollar contract and they would still be in need of a right-handed stick to come off the bench. Still, Presley could help fill one hole in the Pirates' team: hitting. As of June 13th, the Pirates are ranked 25th in batting average among all major league teams. While Tabata, McCutchen and Walker have all been hitting, this season, the bottom half of the lineup has been putrid. Lyle Overbay showed some flashes of being the hitter the Pirates were hoping to see when they signed him to a $5 million contract this winter. However, he's highly underachieved this season batting .236 with just 5 home runs. With the injuries at catching, Ronny Cedeno cooling off and Brandon Wood starting at third, there is little to no confidence in the lineup after the four hitter.

As it stands, Alex Presley should be the guy. He should at least get a chance at the major league level. The only issue is the road block of left handed hitters keeping him from ascending to baseball's most competitive stage. With a road series against the Cleveland Indians, Presley could get the call to DH while the Pirates try to duct tape the rest of their injured team together to form somewhat of a lineup. If he takes advantage of his call up by hitting, he may be able to stay for a little while longer. At this point, the Pirates have to take all they can get, offensively. While the pitching has continued to be spectacular this year at some point in the game you have to score at least one run to win.

Social media is also crying out for the Pirates to make a move for Presley. There's a popular "hashtag" on Twitter called #freealexpresley, where fans collectively show their outward cry for the young outfielder to be promoted. The expression probably doesn't faze Pirates' management at this time, but it does become louder and louder as the team struggles to put runs together. One month through the season, people looked at the pitching as overachieving while the hitting was viewed as underachieving. Since then, the situation has not yielded a change. While the starting rotation has prevented AAA pitchers, like Brad Lincoln, from getting a call up, there's been a plethora of opportunities, with injuries, for the AAA hitters to get a shot at the bigs. Presley may not contend for the triple crown in the majors, but what do the Pirates have to lose in bringing him up? Even "burning" an option would seem irrelevant if he proves he can't compete in the majors.

Take a chance, Pirates. At worst, Alex Presley will have the same production as hitters who have already shown they cannot contribute on a major scale. This offense needs a spark and the biggest risk you would be taking with Presley, is that he may be just as putrid as the bottom of the lineup.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates

 

13 Jun

Jordan vs. LeBron by Jon Anderson

published in category: Uncategorized on Monday, June 13th, 2011 – 2:32 pm

In high school and through his first 7 years in the NBA, LeBron James wore number 23. That was no doubt a testament to Michael Jordan, the former Chicago Bull who is regarded to be the best player to ever play the game. The number was certainly not the only comparison between these two players, and LeBron has faced measuring sticks pointing to the great MJ his entire career. James seems to have enough talent to eclipse Jordan at some point and be considered the best to ever play the game, but his performance thus far leaves him well short.

The obvious argument that we will be hearing for years to come is that LeBron doesn't have the hardware to even be in the same conversation with Jordan. The Bulls won 6 NBA Championships with Michael Jordan as their best player, and that is 6 more than LeBron James will have for at least another year after he disappearing in the crucial moments of seemingly every Finals game in the past 2 weeks. If you watched Jordan play at all in his career you would know that he almost always played his best basketball in the fourth quarter.

If you ask me, just looking at championships and clutch play does not lend itself to a fair comparison, so let's hit the stat book and go a little deeper.

Here are the stat lines for these two greats side-by-side (using per-game stats to not short LeBron for only being halfway or so through his career):

Jordan: 38.3 min, 30.1 pts, 5.3 ast, 5.2 reb, 2.3 stl, 0.8 blk, .497 fg%, 0.5 3pm, .327 3p%
James: 40.1 min, 27.7 pts, 7.0 ast, 7.1 reb, 1.7 stl, 0.8 blk, .479 fg%, 1.4 3pm, .329 3p%

Looking at those lines, Jordan only wins 3 of the 8 categories (points, steals, fg%), not counting minutes. LeBron has better numbers in assists, rebounds, 3 pointers made, and 3 point percentage. From here you could argue that James is a more complete, and therefore better player. However, this comparison just isn't that simple.

You must first keep in mind that the Cavaliers team that James played on through the first 7 years of his career was far inferior to the Bulls team Jordan was on for much of his career. Until this year, when LeBron joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, he had never played with anyone you could call a star in the league. Jordan played alongside Scottie Pippen (who is on every top 50 player list you'll ever find) and Dennis Rodman (one of, if not the greatest rebounder in NBA history). This complicates the comparison process quite a bit.

Let's stay with statistics, but we'll go a little more in depth and use some more complicated statistics. Here are the stats I'm going to use (all courtesy of http://www.basketball-reference.com):

Offensive Rating (ORtg) – an estimate of points produced (players) or scored (teams) per 100 possessions.

Defensive Rating (DRtg) – an estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions

Offensive Win Shares (OWS) – an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to his offense

Defensive Win Shares (DWS) – an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to his defense

Win Shares (WS) – an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player

Win Shares Per 48 Minutes (WS/48) – an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes

Now here's the numbers:

Jordan: 118 ORtg, 103 DRtg, 150 OWS, 64 DWS, 214 WS, .250 WS/48
James: 115 ORtg, 102 DRtg, 80 OWS, 39 DWS, 119 WS, .227 WS/48

Just looking at the basic statistics, James seems to have a slip, but you look at these more in depth statistics that are more relevant when comparing players from different teams in different era, it's a clean sweep for Jordan, and it's not close.

Those two stat lines above show the contributions these players have made on their team's ability to win basketball games, disregarding their teammates performances, abilities, and the outcome of the games.

So there you go, there's the first James vs. Jordan argument in history that didn't use championships as its main arguing point, and Jordan still wins it.

There's no hands down fair way to compare players that played at different times, and there may never be a consensus on who is better between Jordan and James, but from my point of view, James has a long ways to go before he gets anywhere near the great MJ.

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10 Jun

Phase 2 Signing the Talent; Why Josh Bell Could Be an Easier Sign Than Expected by Jon Pennline

published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, June 10th, 2011 – 8:18 am

Since Bob Nutting became the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2007, the franchise has tried to shake the stigma that they're one of the stingiest teams in Major League Baseball. In the 2008 draft they selected Pedro Alvarez to be their franchise third baseman. With Scott Boras as his agent, Alvarez signed a major league contract worth $6.335 million.

Heads began to turn. Finally, the team was selecting the most talented player and not just a player with a cheap price tag

In the 2009 draft the Pirates took Tony Sanchez in the first round which was viewed as a "signability" pick in what was a relatively shallow pool of elite talent. In that same draft, however, they went over-slot on multiple pitching prospects including Zach Von Rosenberg, Colton Cain, Zack Dodson, and Jeffery Inman. For those who don't know, the term "over-slot" means the Pirates sign draft prospects for more money than the amount projected by round. While it is still way too early to tell if these signings will contribute at the major league level, the Pirates have at least showed they are serious about flooding the organization with talent.

After drafting and signing Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie from last year's draft, the Pirates have compiled a notable amount of prospects with MLB potential. They also compiled the most money in the league to sign those picks over the last three years combined. While credible media outlets, such as Baseball America and MLB Network, have labeled the Pirates as "a team heading in the right direction", Neal Huntington saw an opportunity in the 2011 MLB Draft to add more pieces to the puzzle. The question the Pirates now face is, will they be able to sign these players?

Gerrit Cole will be signed by the Pirates. Yes, he is advised under Scott Boras. Yes, he is the first overall pick. But the Pirates will get a deal done to add a fourth potential "ace" to the future rotation; the other three being Luis Heredia, Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie. At the very least, Cole gives the Pirates a better chance to add an elite arm to the major league roster should the other three pitchers not pan out. However since Cole is advised by Scott Boras, this will go down to the last minute of the signing date in August.

Josh Bell is, far and beyond, the biggest question mark when it comes to signability. Before the draft, Bell wrote a letter to all 30 teams, advising them not to draft him. Obviously, the Pirates did not listen to the young Texas high school outfielder when they selected him in the second round. There is credible doubt that the Pirates will not be able to sign him away from his scholarship to play at Texas. However, there are reasons for optimism that the Pirates will be able to sign him.

If Josh Bell truly had zero interest in turning pro out of high school, why did he select Scott Boras as his agent? Why not select his parents? Or, better yet, no one?
The Pirates, who always go over-slot on players in the draft, will have more cash to spend because they are not pursuing elite talent in the international market. The Pirates spent $2.6 million on 16 year old Luis Heredia, last year but appear to have no serious interest in potential elite players this year. With the later picks projecting to be relatively easy signs, including third round pick Alex Dickerson, the Pirates can focus most of their coin on the first two rounds.
Since this looks to be the last year teams will be allowed to sign over the slot, it is entirely possible Josh Bell will lose money by going to college. For example, if the Pirates offer Bell $4 million and he decides to go to school and become a redraft in 2014, he would most likely need to be a top 5 pick to earn the same signing bonus. If the Pirates offer more, it would be foolish to turn them down. Since college is extremely important to Bell and his family, why can't he go to college after his career ends? Why not go back to school when you have millions of dollars already secured instead of risking injury to fall off the draft board completely?
Whether the Pirates sign Bell or not, you cannot fault the front office for selecting him in the second round of the draft. He was listed as the top corner outfielder in the draft by Baseball America as well as the second best high school hitter. A switch hitter since the age of five, the kid simply adds depth to an otherwise shallow position pool. However, if the Pirates do not sign Bell, they'll get the same exact pick in the 2012 draft which contains a loaded high school class.

Then again, if the league does go towards a strict signing system in 2012, the Pirates can be more aggressive in pursuing Bell's talent. You can say what you want about GM Neal Huntington's trade history, but you cannot fault his ability to get a deal done. He's had to be aggressive in the past and Josh Bell could be his toughest potential client. Yet, as he stated in an email to MLB.com, "the upside is worth the risk [of Bell not signing]". If you want to know the potential difference of Bell signing from an organizational talent standpoint, think about this: without Bell the Pirates probably move from 19 in the talent rankings by Baseball America, to 11 or 12 (because of Gerrit Cole). If the Pirates do sign Bell the Pirates are easily in the top 10. The Pirates recognized that potential when they drafted him and the front office will do everything in their power to sign him. If they do, the price tag will likely be so high that the franchise's moniker of being "cheap" will almost seem laughable.

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Posted in Pittsburgh Pirates

 



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