Good, Bad, and Ugly All In One Game

It looked like the Pirates were going to get rocked today. Turns out that it was only Tom Gorzelanny and Chris Bootcheck that were rocked. The Buccos put up a decent effort, but lost to the Red Sox 15-14 in 10 innings.

Gorzo is starting to look a lot like Gorzo of 2008. Horrible. With the numbers he currently has, it'll be a miracle if he makes the starting rotation on April 6th. He currently has a 7.50 ERA and leads the team in walks. Definately not the 14-10 pitcher of 2007 that everyone was hoping for.

It looks like Tyler Yates, Craig Hansen, and Sean Burnett all pitched well. Jose Tabata went 3 for 3 and hit a game tying double.

Indeed it was a tale of two stories today.

-------

It looks like Brandon Moss will be able to start on Opening Day. His thumb injury doesn't seem to be as serious as first thought.

-------

Romulo Sanchez was the biggest name of the first cuts for the spring. This is an obvious attempt by Pirates management to keep the Vote for Romulo campaign down! We will not back down and we will not stop. A Vote for Romulo update and campaign push will begin when I start to post some serious posts and not these half-assed posts.

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!