Closer Time...

It's now official; Matt Capps is a Washington National. I don't know who'd want to willingly go to the Nats, but that's a moot point. The important thing is that Matt Capps will not be a Pirate come 2010. You could spend days talking about whether or not the move was correct or not, but that isn't the point of this entry.

The Pirates have openly discussed a few options for the closer rule in 2010. The internal options are between Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan. Both are attractive options, but Hanrahan is more likely because he has previous experience as a closer with the Washington Nationals.

However, the Pirates also have eyed some external options for the closer role. Free agent reliever Kevin Gregg is considered an attractive option. Last season Gregg was 5-6 with a 4.72 ERA and 23 saves in 30 chances with the Cubs in 2009. He wasn't great, but he did okay work. His ERA+was 95 and he put up a 1.321 WHIP, definitely not great, numbers but not exactly terrible for a relief guy. The other external option is Octavio Dotel. He was 3-3 with a 3.62 ERA with the White Sox last season. He had an ERA+ of 140 and a WHIP of 1.251. Not the best ERA+, but he did pitch in Chicago so I guess that isn't too atrocious. I'd be more accepting of the Gregg signing because he's 5 years younger than Dotel. We'll see what the Pirates decide to do in this situation.

Honestly, I remain nervous about the bullpen situation of the Pirates. The Javier Lopez signing was definitely nice, but other than that, we haven't exactly done much to shore up the bullpen. I know Neal Huntington's belief is that you can't predict bullpen pitchers from season-to-season, but that doesn't mean you have to just go with a series of minor league pitchers and mediocre free agents. You are allowed to spend a bit of money on the bullpen. I am not asking for a 10 million dollar relief pitcher, but spending a little money isn't necessarily a bad thing. It isn't the Pirates way, but the Pirates way has produced 17 consecutive losing seasons, so maybe change isn't a bad thing?

There's still time left, and maybe if t he Pirates sign Gregg or Dotel, they will do great work in the closers rule for the Pirates, but I remain somewhat pessimistic about the 2010 season. Hopefully things work out, because I really don't want to see an 18th straight losing season.

First Post!!

This is attempt number two of a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball blog for me. I previously had an official MLB one, but that went belly up when I realized that you can’t actually say anything you want on there. So I figured going out on my own would be the best option. Hopefully this one actually has a longer shelf life than my last attempt.

It’s been an interesting offseason so far for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Coming off a 62-99 2009 campaign had quite a bit of work to do this offseason. A lot of trade talks featuring some pretty big stars. Will Ryan Doumit be traded, what about Paul Maholm? I am not an expert by any means, and this blog isn’t an armchair GM one. It’s just the musings of a devout Pittsburgh Pirates fan.

The one that has angered me this offseason is the continued ignoring of the bullpen. The Javier Lopez signing was solid, but he alone is not enough to help this team. I hope he bounces back from a disappointing 2009 season, but even if he does, he won’t be enough to help this team have its first non-losing season since 1992. The only other major signing was Bobby Crosby. He has a last name that Pittsburghers will adore, but will his defense make up for his lack of bat? Will he even be starting? He was brought in to compete with Ronny Cedeno for the starting shortstop job, and you have to figure that Cedeno will be the one starting come April 2010.

Other than those two free agent signings, there hasn’t been much to report in the hotstove, but the Pirates do reportedly have interest in former St. Louis Cardinal Pitcher-turned-Outfielder Rick Ankiel. He’d be a good stopgap signing until Jose Tabata is ready to make his Major League debut. I am not that confident that we’ll sign him, but it would be nice. To be honest, I don’t think the Pirates will make anymore major league free agent signings; it just isn’t how the Pirates do things. We’ll leave the signings to the Red Sox and the Yankees of the world.

Honestly, I think you can pending any injuries of unforeseen occurrences predict the opening day starting line-up of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

CF: Andrew McCutchen

LF: Lastings Millage

RF: Garret Jones

1B: Steven Pearce/Jeff Clement

2B: Akinori Iwamura

SS: Ronny Cedeno

3B: Andy LaRoche

C: Ryan Doumit

Pitching Staff:

Paul Maholm

Zach Duke

Kevin Hart

Ross Ohlendorf

Charlie Morton

This of course is pending any major trades or signings. Looking at that line up, it is young, and it might actually have some potential, especially in the outfield. Lastings Millage and Andrew McCutchen both have the potential to be elite Major League players. Andrew more so than Lastings because Lastings has to prove he can keep it together mentally. Andrew should hopefully be able to build off his amazing 2009 rookie of the year worthy season. I could see Andrew becoming a 20-50-type guy. He won’t give you crazy power, but he does have some pop, and his speed is absolutely insane. Andrew will definitely be the leader of this team, and hopefully he remains a Pirate for years to come. I don’t think even the Pirates’ front office has the gull to trade Cutch, and I doubt that will come up anytime soon. Andrew should be a Pirate for many years to come. Hopefully we finally get to see winning baseball in Pittsburgh again as a result.