Bucs handed tenth loss last thirteen away
By Jake • Jul 18th, 2008 • Category: Jake's Take
The game played out about as expected - we said take the under in game one and that paid off, we thought Maholm would have a tough time his first game back from the break and that held true (six of eight hits went for extra bases) despite 7 strikeouts, and we expected Jiminez to be tough at home which held true.
Throw in a few fielding blunders, throw in little urgency, and throw in a lot of underperforming guys on offense right now and you get handed your 29th road loss (.341).
We’re now 4-7 last 11 games, have lost 10 of our last 13 games on the road (.231), and play 16 of our next 23 away over 25 days.
Ouch.
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Andrew McCutchen a no-pick for the Olympic team. A lot of people are very disappointed the Pirates didn’t sit on this and lobby Cutch a bit harder. The final word I got was that he was considered too raw. But he did have a good 3A ASG - two hits and some nice D.
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Brad Lincoln moved to Lynchburg. The only concern I saw about this move was that Stark mentioned he’s removing the per inning pitch count from his plan, although he’ll be monitored. That’s not a good sign in my book since we know a few arms have been raking up very high per inning counts there. Considering Lincoln’s status off surgery and rehab, we’ll have to watch this one real close because the end result of too much use usually doesn’t show up until the year after.
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Lots and lots of email about the P-G article where Doumit said he wanted to see prospects traded for pitching and the core team kept together. And then lots more email about Neal Huntington’s letter to tix holders.
Remember folks, when you see a major publication in Pittsburgh run a research type article that exactly matches a release from the front office, 99.9% of the time we’ve found the content in that article had zero merit months later. So forget what you read in the article and focus on Huntington’s letter where he basically said we have gapping holes and something has to be done.
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JVB tossed two innings and 35 pitches Thursday starting at Indy. He didn’t allow a hit or run but walked three in the first. It would seem JVB’s arm isn’t healthy yet. The P-G is reporting he was limited on pitches to be available to pitch Monday. That makes more sense.
Jake is no longer contributing at Bucco Blog, a fan blog covering the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Jake Doumit got half of what he said right trade for pitching but dont trade prospects to get it trade bay nady and who ever els that get us an arm worth while Andrews is going through pitchers like my wife goes through shoes we need a new pitcher every couple of weeks.Its crazy!!
What letter are you referring to? I\’m not a season ticket holder and have not had the chance to read it.
Captain he is refering to the letter hunnington sends season ticket holders and partial it is just a letter that thanks all the fans for their support through all the tough years and how they are planning to rebuild a make this franshise a winning one agin and so on and so on the penguins did the same thing when they were going through there rough losing period even though theres were only 6 years of tough times the bucs has been 16.That letter is what leads me to belive we are going to see some moves very quickly. As Jake said to try and fill in the holes with in the whole franshise.
Considering the Bucs can’t win on the road I’m all for blowing it all up and keeping McLouth, Doumit, and Maholm. It worked for the Pens and it’s gonna work here.
Nice to see LaRoche bat finally waking up. Wonder if there is any interest on the trade market for him so we can unload him before having to suffer through another worthless 2+ months in 2009?
I looked through the list of marginally contending teams and only found 1 possible suitor that seems like they could use a LH 1st baseman - the San Francisco Giants! They are currently 7 out in the NL West and Sabean has been making some rumblings that he is not willing to give up on this year. Despite their offensive woes, I could actually see them making some kind of decent run with a rotation of Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez.
John Bowker is their primary 1st baseman right now and he is hitting an unexceptional .274/.317/.449. He is hitting .291/.338/.490 against righties, meaning he really is not that different from LaRoche.
But I think a trade might be possible:
(1) Now that Littlefield, Purpura (Astros), and Bavasi (Mariners) have been fired, Brian Sabean is in the running for the Worst GM in MLB award. He is not necessarily a runaway favorite, but he is certainly in the running. If he can be convinced his team is still in the race, he might bite.
(2) Bowker can play OF and he is relatively unproven. LaRoche has hit .294/.357/.523 post-break from 2005-2007 and is obviously an upgrade over Bowker at 1st for the rest of this year. Maybe not a huge upgrade, but the Giants can still find Bowker some time in the OF. Also, small sample size alert, but Bowker has hit .349/.370/.744 when playing in the OF (43 at-bats) and only .234/.279/.357 playing 1st. He came up as an OF, so maybe his comfort level on defense is affecting his offense? Who knows, but I think the point could certainly be stressed to Sabean.
(3) The Giants started the year with Ray Durham (36), Omar Vizquel (41), Bengie Molina (33), Randy Winn (34), Rich Aurilia (36), and Dave Roberts (36) factoring prominently into their 2008 plans. They obviously do not mind taking on vets, despite potentially blocking a younger player.
(4) LaRoche is under team control through 2009 and the Giants do not have any better internal options at 1st. So he is not just a rental, but gives the team an offensive upgrade for 2009 as well.
If Sabean somehow bites on this argument and has interest in LaRoche, what could the Pirates ask for back? Sabean would be nuts to offer any of his best young arms in return (Tim Aldeson, Madison Bumgarner, and Henry Sosa). I would probably start the conversation by asking which of those 3 guys was most available, but it would not be a deal breaker for me if Sabean would not give up one of them (Sosa seems like the most likely to be traded since there are some thoughts he may end up in the bullpen).
If none of those guys are available, I think Neal should ask for 3 or 4 lottery ticket guys that are lower in the Giants system. Pablo Sandoval is a big boned catcher who has killed the ball this year (albeit in the Cal League). I think he would be a good addition. Here is a laundry list of names that look interesting, either from perusing some BA articles and chats or from looking at minor league stats: Jesse English (LHP - HiA), Ben Snyder (LHP - AA), Joe Paterson (LHP - HiA), Kevin Pucetas (RHP - HiA), Waldis Joaquin, Wilbur and Jorge Bucardo, Jose Casilla, and Hector Sanchez.
I the Pirates can get Sosa, then they might only get 1 or 2 other prospects. If they cannot get Sosa, then they should ask for at least 3 or 4 prospects. The Giants tend to do a good job finding arms and the Pirates need them, so trying to get Sandoval + 3 arms strikes me as a good strategy.
I mean, does anyone really want LaRoche on the Pirates come April/May 2009?
I think we are stuck with LaRoche. Every other GM is aware of his first half struggles. He would he be hard to move, and wouldn’t bring much back. His only value is to a contender who needs him for the rest of this season. I don’t see the Giants as contenders.
i am calling it right now xavier Nady to Atlanta for Chuck James, and Branden Jones.
edit by jake — I sure hope you called that wrong Ryan - James had a rotator cuff tear last year and nursed it back this year. No surgery = red flag. And Jones has been another Doumit with so many injuries, but he does have some nice tools.
LaRoche will be dealt at the deadline next year. It actually hurts his value with the one year remaining, team that trades for him will have to deal with April - June in \’09. Next year they will have his hopefully hot bat for the pennant chase. We need to cross our fingers that \’09 will be the exception. Neal could make a great statement by moving him, but 2-3 b/c prospects will be all he could resonably get. There is still time for injuries too. If someone\’s big time 1b goes down then LaRoche could be their answer. He is at least an above average defender. Florida is rumored to be dangling Jacobs. I would think a team would want him over LaRoche. If Florida can get the piece they want with Jacobs, maybe they might want LaRoche to replace him. Now I\’m really reaching. Maybe LaRoche can tag along with Jack to LA for Loney and others. Torre does prefer vets. I have read that LA may trade his brother to Oakland for Street. There is a lot of chatter out on the web concerning trades and it could become very interesting and franchise changing. I still feel that only one or two moves will be made by Neal.
Chuck James and Brandon Jones? That would be a pretty miserable return for Nady. James would be nice, but for his injury struggles. Brandon Jones is suposed to be OK at everything, but great an nothing. Plus his stock is down this year. I like the Braves as a suitor for Bay or Nady, but not for that package.
DealNothington, the question is not whether you or I see the Giants as contenders (clearly, we do not). The question is whether Brian Sabean believes they have an outside shot. If he does, then he might be interested in a trade. I am just saying that it never hurts to give him a call.
Everyone knows about LaRoche struggling in the first half, then they also know that he is very, very good in the second half. That is worth something leading up to the trade deadline. The big problem is that there are not many teams in need of a 1B/DH this year.
I, for one, hope the team moves Bay, Nady, and LaRoche! They already have replacements for 2 of the 3 spots (Pearce and McCutchen) so its not like they will be running a total bum out to a corner position. All 3 are at peak value now (such as it is, for LaRoche).
Jake- i do agree that would be a bad offer for Nady, and ya im not to highly on Jones either. but is there any chance the pirates can trade Nady for Jair Jurrjens? any chance braves deal him? now what is your prediction Jake of who the pirates will trade at the deadline, and for fun lets all predict who will be pnc parks new home for some players.
Jake, did you hear we had a scout at David Price\’s last start. There are no position prospects on that team we should be looking at. I would do a Price for Bay deal in a heartbeat. That would be much better than getting Kershaw.