Weekend Wrapup

Weekend scores:
Friday: 3-3 Tie vs. Tampa. Boxscore.
Saturday (ss): 15-6 Loss at Minnesota. Boxscore.
Saturday (ss): 6-6 Tie vs. Baltimore. Boxscore.
Sunday: 3-1 Win at Toronto. Boxscore.

Trying something new here: a combined box score from the weekend’s four games.

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB
Tabata, RF	11	0	5	0	0	1	5
Navarro, 2B-SS	10	0	2	0	0	4	6
Walker, 2B	10	1	1	0	0	1	6
McCutchen, A, CF	10	0	1	0	0	1	8
McGehee, 1B	9	3	4	2	1	2	2
Hague, 1B	9	3	4	4	0	0	3
Barmes, SS	9	1	2	0	0	3	4
McKenry, C	7	1	3	1	1	1	2
Barajas, C	7	1	3	0	0	1	3
Jones, G, 1B	7	1	1	2	0	2	3
Alvarez, 3B	7	0	1	0	0	2	0
Presley, LF	6	1	1	1	0	0	1
McLouth, LF	5	1	2	2	1	2	1
Grossman, CF	5	0	1	0	0	1	2
Harrison, SS-2B	4	0	1	1	1	1	1
Durham, LF	3	0	1	0	0	0	0
Ponce, A, 2B	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
Norman, PH	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Cunningham, 3B	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Gonzalez, B, SS	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Grovatt, CF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Karstens, P	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Sosa, LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Vasquez, LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Cabrera, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bedard, P	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
Farrell, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lambo, RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Watts, C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Holt, Br, PR	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Santos, A, PH-RF	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Jhang, PH	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Alderson, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Aponte, F, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Beckman, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cofield, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Correia, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cruz, J, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Diaz, Jo, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fryer, C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hanrahan, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Harvey, K, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Johnson, K, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Leroux, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
McCutchen, D, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
McSwain, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moskos, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wood, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Batting:
Doubles: Hague (1), Barajas (4), Walker (3), McGehee (7)
Triples: Norman (1)
Homers: McGehee (1), Hague 3 (7), McKenry (1), Presley (2), G. Jones (4), McLouth (2)

Baserunning:
SB: Santos, A (1), McCutchen, A (4),
CS: Harrison (2), Barmes (1)
PO: Harrison

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
Bedard	5.0	5	4	4	2	2	2
Karstens	4.0	4	1	1	1	1	0
Alderson	3.0	3	0	0	0	2	0
Correia(L, 1-1)	2.1	12	10	10	0	0	1
Watson	2.0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Johnson, K(W, 1-1)	2.0	2	0	0	0	1	0
Wood	2.0	4	2	2	0	0	1
Grilli	2.0	1	0	0	1	0	0
Lincoln(BS, 1)	2.0	2	3	3	2	3	0
McSwain	1.2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Leroux(H, 3)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Moskos	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0
Resop(H, 3)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Cofield(S, 1)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Diaz, Jo	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hanrahan	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	0
Harvey, K(BS, 1)	1.0	1	1	1	1	1	1
McCutchen, D	1.0	3	3	3	1	0	0
Beckman	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cruz, J	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0

Very Good: Matt Hague, Casey McGehee, Jose Tabata
Very Bad: Kevin Correia, Brad Lincoln and Daniel McCutchen

Let me know what you think, I may keep doing these during the season.

Transactions:Traded Brett Lorin to ARI for Robby Rowland. More on this one in a post later today.
Traded Ryota Igarashi to TOR for a PTBNL or cash. A quick trade tree for this one:

Brad Lincoln and Daniel McCutchen were optioned down to AAA, bringing the camp roster down to 27. The last two cuts will have to be made by Opening Day on Thursday.

Spring Training 2012: Saturday 3/24 McKechnie Field Recap

Ed. note: Travel delays and prior commitments kept me from getting this posted sooner.

PirateFest was going on today, but I went to Pirate City instead. Luckily I arrived in time to get this shot:

Matt Hague (pirate ship hat) and Charlie Morton sign autographs.

Going inside I headed to the batting cages to see if anyone was hitting. Along the way I ran into club President Frank Coonelly and was able to ask him about the renovations that are going to happen at McKechnie Field. Specifically I asked if they considered making the outfield dimensions match those in PNC Park. Mr. Coonelly’s answers:

• They are putting in a boardwalk similar to the one on Port Charlotte.
• If they were starting from scratch they would have considered matching PNC, but the angles and the notch make it difficult to do with what they currently have.

My thanks to Mr. Coonelly for his time. On to the game! Recap. Box Score.

Excellent: James McDonald. James was wild on the first two pitches of the game, causing me worry that it was going to be a long day. He would immediately right the ship and pitch 5 1/3 innings before giving up his first hit. Final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, and 3 K. McDonald also showed a good glove and was able to coax a walk out of Astros pitcher Kyle Weiland.

Good: Neil Walker‘s 2-run single and Garrett Jones‘ 2-run bomb accounted for all of the scoring. Walker’s hit came after Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen both failed to get a runner home from third with less than two out. Jones’ shot landed more than 90 feet past the right field wall.

Very Bad: Ryota Igarashi showed very little control and is looking at a steep hill to climb if he wants to make the team. The five batters he faced went walk, walk, homerun, ground out, infield hit.

Pictures:

Another beautiful day at McKechnie Field.

Lineups. (J.B. Shuck?)

Jose Tabata in the batting cage.

Garrett Jones followed.

A good day for autographs. Morton signed a lot on his way to the clubhouse after his appearance at PirateFest.

Rod Barajas signed after a turn in the batting cage. Someone asked him about possibly setting a new record for homeruns by a Pirates catcher.

Andrew McCutchen is good people. He signed every day that I saw him.

James McDonald does some long toss to get loose...

…and then warms up to Michael McKenry in the bullpen.

Create an animated gif

Former Pirate outfielder and manager Bill Virdon watches.

Mini McGehee doesn't appear to like the mini-parrot.

When the gulls start landing on the field, you know the game will be over pretty soon.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a wrap up and final thoughts.

Spring Training 2012: Friday 3/23 McKechnie Field Recap

If you missed it, check out Part 1: Pirate City.

As I walked into McKechnie I got word that Pedro Alvarez was in the batting cage.

Animated gif maker

This is five shots of five different swings I’ve put together in a gif. Pedro looked to be swinging well and the ball had a good sound coming off of his bat. The coach pitching to him was having him work on staying back. This was bout two hours before news broke that Alvarez has discomfort in his knee and will be held out for a few games. As you can see he’s not wearing a brace and I saw no sign of a limp. But as someone who has some knee issues of my own, I can say that certain movements trigger the pain more than others. It may be an issue where he can’t run or field as well as he needs to but swinging does no harm.

On to the game. Recap. Box Score. Pictures at the bottom.

Good: Charlie Morton was lights out. 4 IP, 2 H, 2 K. Mostly groundballs. I’ll have more on him below. Matt Hague continued to look strong in his bid to make the big league club both at bat (2 run HR) and in the field (nice pick of a throw in the dirt.) Jose Tabata went 3-4.

Up and Down: Casey McGehee booted one easy grounder but made a nice play later on one which was hit harder. No hits fell in for him but he hit the ball square each time. Rod Barajas went 0-3 but had a good throw to catch Georgia Tech alum Tony Plagman stealing.

Nearly Bad: Chris Leroux got Charlie Brown’d during his one inning. A line drive had him duck so fast his hat came off. Luckily he wasn’t hit or hurt and finished the inning without incident.

Just Bad: Daniel McCutchen was more unlucky than anything else. Most of the hits he gave up were soft ground balls that just eluded the defense. However, the grand slam was a no-doubter to centerfield.

After the game I was able to briefly speak with Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington. I asked him about Morton not being named to the rotation for the opening week in contrast with his stellar outing today, and if it was just a matter of getting him stretched out. I didn’t have a recorder so I’ll paraphrase in an attempt not to misquote Mr. Huntington.

• The team is in a fortunate position in that the schedule allows them to “find out where he is” and take the time to make sure Charlie is healthy and ready to go without rushing him.
• In a similar situation last year with James McDonald, James came back too quickly to start the year and ended up not performing well in April.
• Asked if Charlie could be used the first time the 5th starter is needed on April 14, Huntington responded that it was “an option.”

Barring any new developments, my gut says to look for Charlie on the 14th. Many thanks to Mr. Huntington for his time and words.

Pictures:

Lineups

Morton doing long toss while Barajas stretches.

Clint Hurdle signs an autograph.

Just for Pat at WHYGAVS, a signed Andy Van Slyke ball that was up for auction.

Former Pirates' manager Jim Leyland.

Former Pirate Rafael Belliard took out the lineup card.

Sellout, full house.

Morton throws a warmup pitch.

Dinner was a nice piece of grouper with a baked potato and a Maker's and Coke. Oh, and this great view.

Tomorrow: Last day. Probably go to Pirate City and see if A.J. Burnett will be throwing his simulated game there.

Tuesday Trade Tree – Casey McGehee

Last night the Pirates traded Jose Veras - who was a candidate to be non-tendered and released – for Casey McGehee.

There’s nothing but upside to this deal. McGehee hit .223/.280/.346 last year but the two seasons prior were .285/.337/.464 and .301/.360/.499 for his age 27 and 26 seasons.

Where does his true talent level lie? Casey’s batting average on balls in play (BABIP) the last three years was .330, .306, .249. The league average is usually in the neighborhood of .300, so the easy conclusion is that he was lucky in 2009, unlucky in 2011 and that his true ability is around his 2010 output.

Personally, I think that would be asking a bit much. If the Brewers believed he could still hit .280 consistently with 23 HR’s they wouldn’t have traded him for a relief pitcher who is prone to meltdowns. On the Pirates he’ll be Pedro Alvarez insurance and in the mix at first base. I’m not sure how he would fit in a platoon situation; after being slightly better against LHP in 2009 and much better against them in 2010 he was horrid against lefties in 2011.

The most likely scenario that I see (assuming Pedro doesn’t go in the tank): he hits .270/.330/.410 and forces the team to find him 300 PAs. That would make this a good trade.