Rodriguez can play just about any position on the diamond, and it makes sense for the Pirates to go out and get a guy that can do this becuase their previous super utility player will now be playing 3rd base full time, that is Josh Harrison. Hopefully Rodriguez can do something similar to what Harrison did last year. It will be interesting to see how the Buccos utilize Rodriguez's talents this upcoming season.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Another Acquisition: Sean Rodriguez
The Pittsburgh Pirates have acquired super utility player Sean Rodriguez from the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later. Rodriguez hit a mere .211 last year, but his value is more than what his batting average reads.
Rodriguez can play just about any position on the diamond, and it makes sense for the Pirates to go out and get a guy that can do this becuase their previous super utility player will now be playing 3rd base full time, that is Josh Harrison. Hopefully Rodriguez can do something similar to what Harrison did last year. It will be interesting to see how the Buccos utilize Rodriguez's talents this upcoming season.
Rodriguez can play just about any position on the diamond, and it makes sense for the Pirates to go out and get a guy that can do this becuase their previous super utility player will now be playing 3rd base full time, that is Josh Harrison. Hopefully Rodriguez can do something similar to what Harrison did last year. It will be interesting to see how the Buccos utilize Rodriguez's talents this upcoming season.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Justin Wilson traded to the Yankees
On Novmeber 12th the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they have yet again acquired another Yankees catcher. This time, it is Francisco Cervelli. They got him for a deal with the Yankees straight up for lefty relif pitcher Justin Wilson.
Before Cervelli, it was Russell Martin (now with Toronto) and Chris Stewart who have both performed very well for the Pirates, so hopefully Cervelli can continue that trend.
Wilson will definitley be missed, as would any lefty pitcher that can run it up to 97-98 mph, but he did struggle last year posting a 4.20 era with 30 walks in 60 innings. Cervelli hasn't been able to put together a full seasons worth of games because of injuries and suspensions, so it will be interesting to see what he can do to help the Pirates this upcoming season.
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| Former Yankees catcher and now Pirates catcher, Francisco Cervelli photo courtsey of: pittsburghsportingnews.com |
Before Cervelli, it was Russell Martin (now with Toronto) and Chris Stewart who have both performed very well for the Pirates, so hopefully Cervelli can continue that trend.
Wilson will definitley be missed, as would any lefty pitcher that can run it up to 97-98 mph, but he did struggle last year posting a 4.20 era with 30 walks in 60 innings. Cervelli hasn't been able to put together a full seasons worth of games because of injuries and suspensions, so it will be interesting to see what he can do to help the Pirates this upcoming season.
Position Report Card: Closing Pitcher
This post will be short, sweet, and too the point. Any Pittsburgh Pirate fan should like Mark Melancon. Not only is he dominant on the mound, but he is a great person off the field. On the field, Melacon attacks the strike zone with he 90-93 mph cutter. He took over for Jason Grilli as the Pirates closer when Grilli was traded to the Angels. He struggled at first, which is to be expected with a player taking on a new role, but he then found his own and competed as one of the top closers in the National Lague the rest of the way.
Melancon finsihed the season with a great 1.90 era in 71 innings pitched. He converted 33 of his 37 save attempts, good for an 89.2%. Known for his control, Melanco only had 11 walks giving him an incredible .87 WHIP. WHIP is the statistic that basically tells you how many baserunners the pitcher allows per inning. Anything under one is great.
***Overall Grade B+
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| Pirates closer Mark Melanco photo courtsey: piratesprospects.com |
Melancon finsihed the season with a great 1.90 era in 71 innings pitched. He converted 33 of his 37 save attempts, good for an 89.2%. Known for his control, Melanco only had 11 walks giving him an incredible .87 WHIP. WHIP is the statistic that basically tells you how many baserunners the pitcher allows per inning. Anything under one is great.
***Overall Grade B+
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Position Report Card: Relif Pitcher
Today I am going to focus on relif pitchers, but not the closer, stay tuned for my take on the Pirates 9th inning situation in my next post. Middle relievers, or 'bridge' guys are very important to have as a ball club. I have a little bit of experience with this position myself as well. This summer I was the 8th inning guy for the Mat-Su Miners of Palmer, Alaska in the Alaska Baseball League.
This year's bridge or set-up guys for the Buccos were lefties Tony Watson and Justin Wilson as well as righty ground ball specialist Jared Hughes. It was a new thing in 2014 for these guys becuase Mark Melancon (the current closer) had that role last year while former Pirate and current Angel Jason Grilli was in charge of the 9th inning.
Tony Watson had an incredible career year in 2014. He was selected to represent the Pirates in the All-Star Game which is extremly rare for a middle reliever. Watson racked up 77 1/3 innings pitched while holding a 1.63 era. He also only surrendered 64 hits in those innings while striking out 81 batters. A very, very soild 8th inning guy.
Justin Wilson came back down to earth this year after a great 2013 season. Although he will not get a chance to retain form with the Pirates, as he was traded to the Yankees this offseason. The Yankess are going to be very pleased with the young flamethrowing lefty. I think he will definitley succeed in the AL East. Wilson ended the year with a 4.20 era. His problem was with the strike zone. He walked 30 batters in 60 innings pitched, which is not good.
Lastly is Jared Hughes. I have always liked Hughes, he is a ground ball pitcher like myself. He pitches with a lot of passion and it was great to see him really come into his own and succeed this year. Hughes had an impressive 1.96 era in 64 1/3 innings pitched this year.
***Overall Grade B+
This year's bridge or set-up guys for the Buccos were lefties Tony Watson and Justin Wilson as well as righty ground ball specialist Jared Hughes. It was a new thing in 2014 for these guys becuase Mark Melancon (the current closer) had that role last year while former Pirate and current Angel Jason Grilli was in charge of the 9th inning.
Tony Watson had an incredible career year in 2014. He was selected to represent the Pirates in the All-Star Game which is extremly rare for a middle reliever. Watson racked up 77 1/3 innings pitched while holding a 1.63 era. He also only surrendered 64 hits in those innings while striking out 81 batters. A very, very soild 8th inning guy.
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| Pirates pitcher Tony Watson photo courtsey: mlb.com |
Justin Wilson came back down to earth this year after a great 2013 season. Although he will not get a chance to retain form with the Pirates, as he was traded to the Yankees this offseason. The Yankess are going to be very pleased with the young flamethrowing lefty. I think he will definitley succeed in the AL East. Wilson ended the year with a 4.20 era. His problem was with the strike zone. He walked 30 batters in 60 innings pitched, which is not good.
Lastly is Jared Hughes. I have always liked Hughes, he is a ground ball pitcher like myself. He pitches with a lot of passion and it was great to see him really come into his own and succeed this year. Hughes had an impressive 1.96 era in 64 1/3 innings pitched this year.
***Overall Grade B
Position Report Card: Starting Pitcher
Starting Pitching is very, very important for any club if they hope to be successful over the course of a 162 game season. For this post, I am going to focus on three of the Pirates starting pitchers this year, but factor all of the starters throughout the course of the year for the final grade.
Gerrit Cole, Edison Volquez, and Charlie Morton will be the three pitchers that I will breakdown for this post. This is a good variety because this year Cole was dominant, Volquez surprised us all, and Morton was inconsistent.
Gerrit Cole is a solidified ace, and the undoubted #1 of the Pirates pitching staff. He has electric stuff with a 95+ mph fastball, a good slider, and a nast change-up. This year, Cole went 11-5 with a 3.65 era, averaging 1 strikeout/inning with 138 in 138 innings pitched. Cole suffered from the injury bug a bit this year, otherwise he would have had more innings pitched.
Edison Volquez was the surprise of the Pirates staff this year. Arguably the Bucs most consistent arm, Volquez went 13-7 with a team leading 3.04 era in a team leading 192.2 innings pitched. In my opinion Volquez should have won comeback player of the year this season, but the voters must have thought otherwise.
Lastly is Charlie Morton. I 've said for the past few years the Morton has the best pitches on the team, and I still firmly believe that. He just suffers from wildness and bad fielding with all the ground balls he gets at times. Morton went 6-12 this season despite having a respectable 3.72 era. This just shows the lack of run support Morton recieves. Morton also suffered from the injury bug this year, spending some time on the disabled list with a hip injury. He was still able to compile 157.1 innings pitched though.
Overall, I give the Pirates starting pitching an ***A. Thier pitching coach Ray Searage is a mastermind and he continues to get the most out of lackluster names. The Pirates had quite a number of injuries this year and they were able to mange that as well. I t will be interesitng to see if they can once angain do it next year.
Gerrit Cole, Edison Volquez, and Charlie Morton will be the three pitchers that I will breakdown for this post. This is a good variety because this year Cole was dominant, Volquez surprised us all, and Morton was inconsistent.
Gerrit Cole is a solidified ace, and the undoubted #1 of the Pirates pitching staff. He has electric stuff with a 95+ mph fastball, a good slider, and a nast change-up. This year, Cole went 11-5 with a 3.65 era, averaging 1 strikeout/inning with 138 in 138 innings pitched. Cole suffered from the injury bug a bit this year, otherwise he would have had more innings pitched.
Edison Volquez was the surprise of the Pirates staff this year. Arguably the Bucs most consistent arm, Volquez went 13-7 with a team leading 3.04 era in a team leading 192.2 innings pitched. In my opinion Volquez should have won comeback player of the year this season, but the voters must have thought otherwise.
Lastly is Charlie Morton. I 've said for the past few years the Morton has the best pitches on the team, and I still firmly believe that. He just suffers from wildness and bad fielding with all the ground balls he gets at times. Morton went 6-12 this season despite having a respectable 3.72 era. This just shows the lack of run support Morton recieves. Morton also suffered from the injury bug this year, spending some time on the disabled list with a hip injury. He was still able to compile 157.1 innings pitched though.
Overall, I give the Pirates starting pitching an ***A. Thier pitching coach Ray Searage is a mastermind and he continues to get the most out of lackluster names. The Pirates had quite a number of injuries this year and they were able to mange that as well. I t will be interesitng to see if they can once angain do it next year.
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| Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage (left) with Pirates picher Edison Volquez (right) photo courtsey of the Bradeton Herald |
Monday, November 10, 2014
Position Report Card: Right Field
Right field was another position that the Pittsburgh Pirates were a let down in 2014. You are never going to have a great deal of success when a position's playing time is split between 2 or even 3 people, yet that is what the Pirates did in this situation.
Travis Snider, Gregory Polanco, and even a little bit of Josh Harrison sprinkled in was what the Buccos right field was made up of this past season.
Snider began the season in extremly underwhelming fashion. There was even speculation that he would be designated for assignment when they were thinking about calling up Polanco, but that was not the case. Maybe that was what lit a fire under Snider, but whatever it was he actully ended up putting up some fairly respectable numbers across the board. Snider hit 13 homes runs, had 38 runs batted in, and hit at an avergae of .264 in 140 games played. He also excelled as a pinch-hitter.
Polanco was supposed to be a savior for the Pirates. A highly talented rookie this year with still an enermous amount of potential, but it just didn't all click for him this year. We all saw flashes of his talent, but overall he was just a little too inconsistent at the plate going on long stretches without recording a hit. Polanco ended the year with a line of 7 home runs, 33 runs batted in, and a very low .235 batting average.
Combining those numbers, the 2 primary right fielders for the Bucs hit 20 homes runs and batted 71 runs, while not hitting for any kind of average. Not horrible numbers, but definitley not great by any stretch of the word. This is defintiley and area that needs improvement for continued success for the Pirates in 2015.
Overall Grade: C+
Travis Snider, Gregory Polanco, and even a little bit of Josh Harrison sprinkled in was what the Buccos right field was made up of this past season.
Snider began the season in extremly underwhelming fashion. There was even speculation that he would be designated for assignment when they were thinking about calling up Polanco, but that was not the case. Maybe that was what lit a fire under Snider, but whatever it was he actully ended up putting up some fairly respectable numbers across the board. Snider hit 13 homes runs, had 38 runs batted in, and hit at an avergae of .264 in 140 games played. He also excelled as a pinch-hitter.
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| Travis Snider pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates phot courtsey of Snider's twitter account |
Polanco was supposed to be a savior for the Pirates. A highly talented rookie this year with still an enermous amount of potential, but it just didn't all click for him this year. We all saw flashes of his talent, but overall he was just a little too inconsistent at the plate going on long stretches without recording a hit. Polanco ended the year with a line of 7 home runs, 33 runs batted in, and a very low .235 batting average.
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| Gregory Polanco photo courtsey of pittsburghpirates.com |
Combining those numbers, the 2 primary right fielders for the Bucs hit 20 homes runs and batted 71 runs, while not hitting for any kind of average. Not horrible numbers, but definitley not great by any stretch of the word. This is defintiley and area that needs improvement for continued success for the Pirates in 2015.
Overall Grade: C+
Position Report Card: Center Field
Well this one should be easy. As any and all Pittsburgh Pirates fans know, they have one of the best not only center fielders in the game, but players in general in Andrew McCutchen.
McCutchen won the 2013 National League Most Valuable Player Award, and after finsishing 3rd in the race this past year, that gives him 3 straight top 3 finishes dating back to 2012. McCutchen's impressive numbers this year were as follows: 25 home runs, 83 runs batted in, .314 batting average, and an incredible .410 on-base percentage in a total of 146 games played.
It can be argued that Andrew McCutchen is the heart, soul, and reason that the Pittsburgh Pirates are now a respectable franchise around Major League Baseball. If not for McCutchen, I think that the Pirates would not only have not made the playoffs, but they would still be continuting to their North American Professional Sports record of 20+ consecutive losing seasons.
Along with being an incredible offensive player, McCutchen is way above average patrolling center field for the Pirates, with a gold glove award already added to his resume.
Overall Grade: A+
McCutchen won the 2013 National League Most Valuable Player Award, and after finsishing 3rd in the race this past year, that gives him 3 straight top 3 finishes dating back to 2012. McCutchen's impressive numbers this year were as follows: 25 home runs, 83 runs batted in, .314 batting average, and an incredible .410 on-base percentage in a total of 146 games played.
It can be argued that Andrew McCutchen is the heart, soul, and reason that the Pittsburgh Pirates are now a respectable franchise around Major League Baseball. If not for McCutchen, I think that the Pirates would not only have not made the playoffs, but they would still be continuting to their North American Professional Sports record of 20+ consecutive losing seasons.
Along with being an incredible offensive player, McCutchen is way above average patrolling center field for the Pirates, with a gold glove award already added to his resume.
Overall Grade: A
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| Photo courtsey of stellcitybuzz.com |
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