Beam Me Up (Down) Hunty

Reliever TJ Beam was designated for assignment to make room for Eric Hinske on the 40-man roster. The Pirates will look to place him on waivers and have Beam clear them so he can be assigned to AAA Indy.

I don't think Beam will clear, and thus, will be picked up by some other team. His 4.14 ERA over 32 games (45.2 innings) isn't horrible. However, he will need to work on his K:BB ratio for better success. He had 24 Ks against 20 BBs last season.

Beam, I feel, would be a decent low risk, high potential pick up for some team out there.

Crap...I just realized that I made another Hinske related post.

Lets Go Bucs!

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photo credit: TJ Beam as a Yankee - 316sports

Maholm\Hinske\Mientkiewicz...Are We Done Yet?

I'm not in much of a blogging mood. And if you've lived under a rock for a majority of the day, then you should just smash your head off of said rock. The Pirates have officially signed Paul Mahom and Eric Hinske to their contracts.

Maholm, signed a 4 year deal worth a guaranteed 14.5 million Bucs. Actually, the contract is for 3 years, and a club option for the 4th year, Maholm's first in free agency. Given the track record of management and long-term contracts, I would expect to see Maholm on the DL by mid-May and pitching in Indy around August 15th.

Eric Hinske was signed as a free agent from the AL Champion Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays. Hinske's contract could total 2.5 million Bucs (1.5 million base pay and 1 million in bonuses). The 31 year old Hinske was signed over the widely popular Doug Mientkiewicz, and the ancient Luis Gonzalez. Hinske will be able to play the corners of the in and out fields. He is another left-handed power bat, which I think will workout well in PNC Park. Just as Maholm is leaving for the DL, I expect Hinske to be getting regular playing time at first base. That'll last until mid-June when Adam LaRoche will decide to hit well.

Now that these contracts are signed, I do not want to have to make another post featuring the names Paul Maholm, Eric Hinske, or Doug Mientkiewicz for a long, long time.

More Blogs on Hinske

Mike from The Unemployed Asshole took a bit of a Hugh Morris spin on the Hinske signing.

As Expected, Pirates Hinske/Maholm Inks Deal

As I predicted, Paul Maholm and the Pirates have agreed to a multi-year deal earlier this morning. According to Dejan, this is a three year deal, with a club option for a fourth year. This will secure Maholm through all three years of arbitration plus his first year of free agency. No monetary figures have been released as of tonight. Those should be available following a physical and the official contract signing. I'm still predicting that Nate McLouth will head to an arbitration hearing on the 17th of February.

Also, as expected, Eric Hinske was signed this morning to a one year deal. As with Maholm, Hinske will need to complete a physical before the t's are crossed and i's are dotted. A total cost has not been released, however the base salary is believed to be around $1.5 million. There could be as much as $1 million in performance bonuses.

In my opinion, these were two pretty important signings today.

Good bye Doug.

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credits: Eric Hinske - www.soxnest.com, Paul Maholm - AP Photo/Pat Sullivan

We've Made It to The Show

It has taken less than a week for the Vote for Romulo campaing to reach the big time. We have made it to the OFFICIAL PBC Blog on the website of the Post-Gazette. In his daily Morning Links post, Dejan posted a link to the WHYGAVS post featuring the Vote for Romulo Campaign.

I know you must be asking yourself, why didn't DK link to your site, Eron? Well I can answer that for you. I emailed Dejan the other day asking for the requirements to have this blog listed on the PG website. I met all but one of the requirements...I haven't been posting for at least one year. At some point today, I will post those email conversations.

Anyhow, I have to thank Pete from WHYGAVS for picking up this story. I'd also like to thank The Green Weenie, The Unemployed Asshole, and any other bloggers or message board writers that may have picked up this story and are helping to spread the word.

Of course, spreading the word isn't good enough. The Pirates faithful NEED to vote several times a day, everyday.

Lets Go Bucs!
Lets Go Romulo!

Capps Crew Represent

Twice in the past year, members of the Original Capps Crew have been published in the Post-Gazette. Perhaps its just coincidence that our seats are located right in the Notch. Anyhow, here are the two photos.

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credits: Jay-Bay (6.11.08) and Luis Gonzalez (1.28.09) - postgazette.com

Bobble Bobble Bobble

WHYGAVS has joined the campaign trail to vote for the Romulo Sanchez bobblehead. This is one of the more popular blogs that follow the Pittsburgh Pirates. Thanks to Pete for helping to spread the word!

Lets Go Bucs! Lets Go Romulo!

More on Hinske

Dejan is running a piece today in the Post-Gazette that makes it sound like Eric Hinske will most likely be signing a contract with Pittsburgh later this week. As I mentioned before, Hinske would be the best of the three free agent choices we have out there right now. He's younger than Luis Gonzalez and Doug Mientkiewicz and he has more power than the ever so popular Mientkiewicz.

Hinske isn't the right-handed power bat that the Pirates were looking for, however, his power from the left could prove to be an advantage to him at PNC Park, all thanks to the 321' Clemente Wall in right field.

I've linked the three free agent outfielders career stats that have been the topic of discussion for the Pirates this off season so that you may compare numbers and make a decision for yourself who would be the better player for this team. Hinske Gonzalez Mientkiewicz

A Mientkiewicz mutiny ahoy!

Let's Go Bucs!

PS: I can pretty much spell Mientkiewicz now without looking it up.
PSS: Dejan also has a great write-up as to why it's worth it to go cheap when signing bench players

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photo credit: Right field and the Clemente Wall. baseball-reference.com

Campaign Update

The Green Weenie has thrown its hat in the race to support the Vote for Romulo Campaign. Be sure to check out the blog.

Lets Go Bucs!

Hinske in the Free Agent Outfield Mix

Earlier today it was announced that the Pirates were looking at Luis Gonzalez as a potential 4th outfielder and veteran leader. He is a guy with decent numbers, however, his age (41) is an issues with me. He's also seems to be limited to the positions in which he could play. Dejan mentioned that the Pirates were looking at several other free agents. Turns out one of those free agents will be Eric Hinske formally of the Tampa Bay Rays.



Hinske's numbers aren't quite where Gonzalez's numbers are at, however, he is a decade younger. And, unlike Gonzalez, he can play the corner spots of the outfield and first and third base. According to the article on pirateball.com, it sounds like Hinske is a priority for the Pirates and he could be in town as soon as the end of this week. It's looking less and less likely that Meintkiewicz will be back in Pittsburgh.



Because I'm lazy, check out link to the article above for all of the details on Hinske and Gonzalez.

Lets Go Bucs!

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photo credit: Eric Hinske strikes out during Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. daylife.com

Did you hear that the Pirates signed two pitchers from India?

Just thought I'd pass this along.

Huntington Admits He'll Take It From Either Side

As reported on the PG today, the Pirates are in talks with free-agent left-handed outfielder Luis Gonzalez. The primary role of Gonzalez, 41, will be to serve as a leader, a la Doug Mientkiewicz. Which means, if Gonzalez gets signed, it looks like ol' "Dirty Doug" won't be coming back to Pittsburgh.



I would welcome a guy like Gonzalez into the organization. However, he is not the right-handed power-bat that the Pirates were looking for. Neal Huntington recently admitted that they are open to getting power from wither side of the plate. Last year, Gonzalez had

341 at-bats with the Florida Marlins, batting a respectable .261 with 8 homers and 47 RBIs. He has a career .283 batting average and .845 OPS. Decent numbers, however, would his age be an issue?

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credit: Luis Gonzalez with the Diamondbacks. USAToday.com

McLouth & Maholm Arbitration

It was announced yesterday that Paul Maholm and Nate McLouth will head to arbitration hearings in February on the 10th and 17th respectively.

Given Maholm's strong performances over the past year and a half, I expect him to win his case, if the two sides don't reach an agreement by then. However, I expect that these two sides will come to some sort of agreement prior to that. I'm expecting a multi-year deal worth somewhere between 9-13 million dollars. Maholm is the kind of pitcher that will be a leader, through his actions more so than his words, and will be important to the stability of the pitching rotation in the next couple of years.

I expect Nate McLouth to head to his hearing on the 17th. The fact that McLouth is a Gold Glove All-Star, I don't expect to see these two sides reach an agreement. As several others have stated on message boards and blogs, McLouth will probably be offered a standard 1 year deal for the 3.8 million he is asking for.

If that is the case for McLouth, look for guys like Brandon Moss, Jose Tabata, Nyjer Morgan, and Steve Pearce to be front runners in filling out the outfield in 2010.

Let's Go Bucs!

Propaganda

I know that it's a little outdated but if it worked of Obama, then it'll have to work for Romulo.



Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credit: obamaicon.me

Virgil Is A Pirate

The Pirates have finally filled out their 40-man roster with the signing of Virgil. The right-handed pitcher had a 12-12 record with 4.81 ERA and 115 K's compared to 37 walks. Over his six year minor-league career, Virgil has gone 54-48 with a 4.25 ERA, 610 K's and 185 walks.

Those seem to be some great minor league numbers. However, it doesn't seem like these numbers have been able to translate to The Show. In 2007, he made 5 appearances for the Tigers, including 3 starts. His final numbers there? An 8.64 ERA, 16.2 innings pitched, 16 runs, 7 homeruns, 5 walks and 7 strikeouts.

Does John Van Benschoten ring a bell? Great minor league pitcher that was never able to translate it into major league success. But hey, good luck to the guy!

Let's Go Bucs

Word is Spreading

Thanks to the fine folks at Bucs Dugout.com. The word about my Vote for Romulo campaign is spreading. It's also in the comments section of this morning's PBC Blog.

Let's Go Bucs!

There's Something About Paul

The Pirates have apparently made a vital step towards ensuring they build the foundation of their starting rotation. According to MLBTradeRumors.com (by way of the Tribune-Review) the Pirates have made an offer to Paul Maholm.

The article states that a multi-year contract is being negoiated between the two parties. Maholm stated that they continue to exchange numbers and that the numbers are not too far apart. Although Maholm finished 2008 with a 9-9 record, it was the best record of the starting rotation. He was, without doubt, the most consistent pitcher on their rotation.

Of the starters, he led in ERA (3.71), Innings Pitched (206.1), and Strikeouts (139). I'm sure there may be more stats where he was leading the team, but I'm too lazy to look them up. Point is, if this guy is healthy, he has shown the potential over the past year and a half to be an ace...at least a Pirates or Royals ace. Many people are predicting, including yours truely, that he will be the Opening Day starter.

The Pirates need to come to a multi-year agreement and have this guy under their control as long as possible. Hey, if he can get his face smashed up by a line drive and come back to play and pitch well, then you know that there has to be something about him.

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credit: Billy Crystal & Paul Maholm. NY Daily News

Final Numbers

Hope springs eternal in PirateNation. This year's PirateFest had the thrid highest attendance since the 3-day festival moved to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. 15,127 faithful packed into the Convention Center these past 3 days. I guess it's a good thing the event was moved to the larger of the two exhibit halls.

Let's Go Bucs!

VOTE ROMULO!!!

Bobbleheads...they are a staple at PNC Park. Any season where less than12 bobbleheads are given away is considered a bad PR season and almost a guarantee to have record low attendance at the ballpark.

However, this year, I expect the largest turn out EVER for a bobblehead night. On Friday, September 25, the Pirates will be giving away a bobblehead that the fans get to choose.

My shelf is full of bobbleheads featuring well known and respected players. It's time to give the no name bullpen pitchers some credit. That is why I am beginning my grassroots campaign right here, right now to have the Romulo Sanchez bobblehead.

Click here to write in Romulo Sanchez as the 2009 Fans Vote Bobblehead. You have until April 30th.

Let's Go Bucs!

Edit: I've created a Facebook Group. Join and spread the word!
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photo credit: Romulo Sanchez - pirates.com

PirateFest 2009

I will be heading off to PirateFest 2009 in about 12-hours. Watch for an update to this post sometime later tomorrow.

Edit: There seemed to be a rather large crowd at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for the third and final day of PirateFest 2009. By the time my wife and I got to the convention center, which was shortly after 10am, there was already a long line of Season Ticket Holders and VIPs to get in 1 hour early. In fact, there was a decent line of "regular people" waiting for the doors to open to them at 11am.

I really only had two things I wanted to do while at PirateFest, get a Freddy Sanchez autograph and to see Matt Capps to say "hi" and see how life has been for him.

What's so important about Freddy Sanchez that I needed to get his autograph? Last year, the Pirates sent out these two prints of artwork to Season Ticket Holders. One was of Jason Bay, the other of Sanchez. They are actually pretty nice, so I always thought it would be cool to get them signed and framed and hang them with some of my other sports memorabilia. Thanks to J-Bay being traded to the Red Sox last season, I won't be able to get his print signed until I visit some American League stadium where they will be playing. Anyhow, my wife and I stood in line from 10:30 until 12:15 just to get this print signed. I mentioned how stupid people are to wait in line that long to get things signed by human beings that really are no different than you or I, they just have an above normal athletic ability. However, I took my dumb self and stood in line for nearly two hours and got the print signed.

We didn't hang out long enough to go check out some of the game shows that fans can play with the players. We did, however, checkout one of my favorite places to go during PirateFest, the Lost Treasures game used items store. This is the place where I bought my holy "Amazing Jesus" Bobby Hill BP jersey. Before I mention what I bought there today I suppose I should take a quick journey with you down memory lane...

About a year and a half ago, my wife and I got married. Since we are both huge baseball fans, we decided that following our rehearsal and dinner, we were going to take about 40 family members and friends to the game at PNC Park. My wife is a huge fireworks fan as well, so it all worked out with it being Fireworks Night. That was on September 28, 2007. So, since that time, I always thought that it would be cool to have something, besides the ticket stub, from that game as a memento. The lineup card was one of the better things that I could think of. For the past two years, I have gone to PirateFest and to the store at PNC Park, looking for this specific card. Well, after several years of exhaustive searching, we finally found the card, in of all places, the last stack of cards we looked though. Great success!

We had the opportunity to see Capps prior to his autograph session. It was good to see him and see that he is enjoying married life. My wife and I were a little caught off guard however, when she went to shake his hand and he went in for the hug. It's been a rather cool experience seeing him go from someone the fans hardly knew to one of the more popular players on the team. Plus, he's just an all around swell guy.

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credits: Me with the 1979 World Series trophy & Freddy Sanchez signing a print exclusive to season ticket holders - my wife. The lineup card from the night of our rehearsal dinner - me.

Opening Day Roster

With less than 3 weeks until the start of Spring Training, there has been pleanty of talk on the blogs and message boards on who will be brought north to St. Louis once April 6th rolls around. Assuming there aren't any major injuries in Spring Training, here is who I expect will be coming to Busch Stadium.

Opening Day Lineup
Nyjer Morgan - LF
Freddy Sanchez - 2B
Ryan Doumit - C
Nate McLouth - CF
Adam LaRoche - 1B
Brandon Moss - RF
Andy LaRoche - 3B
Jack Wilson - SS
Paul Maholm - P

Pitching Rotation
Paul Maholm
Ian Snell
Tom Gorzelanny
Ross Ohlendorf
Zack Duke

Bullpen
Matt Capps
Tyler Yates
John Grabow
Sean Burnett
TJ Beam
Jeff Karstens
Jimmy Barthmaier
Evan Meek

Bench
Jason Jaramillo
Luis Cruz
Steve Pierce
Ramon Vazquez

There you have it. My Opening Day lineup and roster for the 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm sure there will be a lot of disappointed Pirates fans because of the lack of a Doug Mientkiewicz. That's ok, disappointment is an emotion that you are required to be able to withstand when you cross into the gates of PNC Park.

Let's Go Bucs

More Uniforms, PiratesFest & Braden Looper

I took the opportunity to check out some other Pirates blogs and message boards regarding the new uniforms. It seems like a majority of people are happy to see the red jersey gone. More people seem to be happy that the sleeves are back as well. I don't get this. I think the vest look was great. Whatev. The sleeves aren't bad...except for the new solid black one. To those of you that don't like them...kudos to you.

It sounds like fans were pretty harsh this year when it came to the management Q&A session at PirateFest Friday night. A lot of people were disappointed with the rather quiet off season. Even more people were disappointed with the fact that Doug Mientkiewicz has not been signed yet. I really feel that if "Dirty Doug" isn't signed back to the team to sit on the bench and play the occassional corner infield or right field, you will see a mutiny at PNC Park. He is easily the most popular player on this team.

Of course some little kid asked about whether or not Jack Wilson will be traded. Jack is a hero to the kids. I'll be glad to see him come back simply because the only reasonable shortstop back up that we had last year was Luis Cruz.

There is talk of the Pirates showing some interest in reliever turned started Braden Looper. I don't really see him as being someone who will greatly improve the starting rotation. Then again, I'm not expecting much to come from these rumors.

Let's Go Bucs

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photo credit: Braden Looper - NY Times.
photoshop: Braden Looper in the new Pirates Alternative Jersey - Me

New Uniforms and More

The much anticipated new jerseys were revealed today at PiratesFest, and I must say that I am meeting them with mixed emotions. Let's take a look at this picture, and I will simply move from left to right with commentary on each jersey.



I'll start with last year's lone Pirate All-Star, Nate McLouth. Nate was able to shine on the national stage in last year's All-Star game. Unfortuniately, he seems to be lacking an All-Star look in this new solid black jersey. The button up jersey features a gold "P" over the left chest and the player number on the lower right side of the jersey. HATE IT! I say get ride of these things and bring back the red jerseys.

Moving on. Our next model is Matt Capps, superstar closer and all around swell guy. He is wearing the pin stripes with the vest jersey and t-shirt under it. This is the look the Pirates have had for the past several years. Since I've had season tickets, I've seen these jerseys worn mostly on Sunday afternoon games. I like it, it's in.

Next is Mr. Nyjer Morgan. As you can see, Nyjer is sporting a solid gray away uniform. It's a mix of the old unis from around 1990 which had the cursive "Pittsburgh" across the chest and the recent away jeresys. They have had the gray look for about two decades now, but the 1990's is the most recent I can remember. I like it, it's in.

Finally, there is the 2006 NL Batting Champion Freddy Sanchez. He is sporting a uniform simlar to that of Nyjer, only in white, and it says "Pirates" across the chest. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, but I'll end the uniform discussion with an I like it, it's in.

It looks like "Mr. Almost Perfect" Jeff Karstens will be sitting out the first week or so of Spring Training. Due to some elbow soreness from minicamp a few weeks back, Karstens was shut down for a few days, and it looks like the Pirates will be taking it easy on him for the start of training. All the better in my opinion. There is no need to rush him. We've seen that he has potential to be good (held opponents scoreless through his first 15 innings last year). I'm looking forward to big things from this kid in the upcoming season.

I'll be back tomorrow with more musings. Look for my PiratesFest update on Sunday.

Let's Go Bucs

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photo credit: Players modeling new uniforms. pirates.com

The First...The Last???

Let me start by saying that I feel as if I am a horrible writer. Let me also say, that aside from physical comedy and the occasional one liners, I'm horrible at keeping people's attention and making things exciting.

Now that I've shared all of that information, thus discrediting anything I say on here and scaring off just about everyone from reading this blog, let me share some of my hopes and dreams for this thing.

I'm hoping to update this on a regular basis, starting tonight, on the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates. Inspired by Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke and Dejan Kovacevic's posts on the Post-Gazette web site, I want to be able to share with the world the views of a season ticket holder who isn't obsessed with the Pirates or baseball in general, but into them enough, and loyal enough to drop $1600 a year for the past 4 years to be considered a die-hard fan by most people I know.

I'm looking forward to what, without doubt, will be another long season on this journey to the number 17. No doubt, there will be nights where I feel like sticking a screwdriver into my temple, or Sunday afternoons in July and August where I am asking myself, "Why the hell am I sitting on these hot metal bleachers sweating my balls off", as the Pirates will more than likely be losing yet another Sunday afternoon game.

We will see how long this lasts. Does anyone want to place an over/under on the number of games I'll make it through? Will I even make it to Spring Training? Time will tell.

The annual PiratesFest convention will be going on this weekend at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. For the second time in about 3 years, the Pirates will be announcing a new alternate jersey, ending the reign of terror of the red jersey. A lot of people, players included, HATED, these things. Initially, I wasn't a fan of the red jersey, however, over the past year or so, they started to grow on me. Not to worry though...these red jerseys will forever be immortalized on an Adam LaRoche bobble head. I am sure that many fans will be dancing in the streets knowing that by the end of the 2009 campaign, Adam LaRoche and the red jerseys will be gone from the organization.

I am going to try to update this blog over the next few days to share my opinions about some of the things that have happened with the team recently, including my outlook for the '09 season. I may even post pictures from my trip to PiratesFest on Sunday.

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credit: Romulo Sanchez flanked by David Davidson walking to the bullpen. Me.