Pittsburgh Pirates Rebuilding Since 1992

Mac Mckenzie · 04-15-2012, 04:05 PM

March 15 2012- “Enough is Enough” was the first comment made by new GM Michael “Mac” Mckenzie at his afternoon press conference introducing him as the new General Manager of the Pirates.

19 consecutive losing seasons have made Pittsburgh fans for impatient and skeptical of Rebuilding plans, but Mckenzie declares a new era has begun. “I will review every aspect of the organization and will bring in winners throughout”. While there are no shortcuts fans can rest assured that our focus will be on "building a consistent and sustainable contender”.

Later in the day appearing on the Obnoxious Bob Show, Mac spoke optimistically about the leadership of Manager Clint Hurdle and the state of the farm system. I am confident that Pirates will very soon join the Steelers and Penguins as Champions is this Great Sports City.

The Pirates farm system is ranked 6th best by Baseball American.
Starling Marte is in Triple A and is close to joining Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata to form a young OF that will be under financial control through 2017. Also the Pirates have two of the top pitching prospects in 21yr old Gerrit Cole who will start 2012 in High A and 20yr old Jameson Taillon who starts this year in Low A West Virginia.

Note: My plan is post an update at the end of every month played plus Special Bulletins whenever major events occur.

Mac Mckenzie · 04-15-2012, 05:07 PM

Opening Day 4/5/12
Mgr-Clint Hurdle
Starters- Erik Bedard, Jeff Karstens, James McDonald, Kevin Correia, Brad Lincoln
Bullpen- Joel Hanrahan, Chris Resop, Jason Grilli, Evan Meek, Juan Cruz, Daniel Moskos, Daniel McCutchen
Catching- Rod Barajas, Mike McKenry
Infielders- Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, Clint Barnes, Pedro Alvarez, Casey McGehee, Yamaico Navarro
Outfielders- Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Alex Presley, Nate McLouth, Brandon Boggs
Disabled List- AJ Burnett P (Skull 3-4wks), Charlie Morton P (Hip 2wks)

The Game
Lineup: 1.Presley lf 2.Tabata rf 3.McCutchen cf 4.Barajas c 5-Walker 2b 6.Alvarez 3b 7.G.Jones 1b 8.Barnes ss 9.Bedard p vs Phillies Starter Roy Halladay

Pirates beat the Phillies 8-7, McCutchen hit a 3run homer in the 1st to get the Pirates the early lead and an Alvarez homer in the 5th lengthens the lead. Closer Joel Hanrahan relieved starter Bedard with a 6-2 lead and gave 5 runs, but in the bottom of the 9th facing the Phillies new closer Jonathan Papelbon, pinch hitter Nate McLouth reaches on an error by Phillies RF Hunter Pence. Then Alex Presley singles, a 1 out walk to McCutchen loads the bases. Then with 2 outs a Neil Walker singles drives in 2 and the Pirates WALK OFF as winners!

Mac Mckenzie · 04-16-2012, 08:13 PM

Pirates Record 9-13 .409 4th place 8.5 games back of Milwaukee. Attendance dead last 29,908 per game.

Pitching and Defense have pulled Pittsburgh down .A 5.46 ERA and 26 errors are a NL worst.

Starting DP combo of Walker and Barnes as well as LF Presley have all landed on the DL list on the big club. And top pitching prospect Jameson Taillon will miss 2 months with a sore elbow.

On the bright side- Pedro Alvarez is finally reaching his potential with 5 homers and a .313 average. Andrew McCutchen also has 5 hrs and 21 rbis and Jose Tabata is batting .319 with a .410 obp.

AJ Burnett will make his debut next week and hopefully emerge as the staff leader.

MAJOR LEAGUE HEADLINES
The most disappointing team has to be the Tigers. With the addition of Prince Fielder, Detroit was expected to runaway in the AL Central. However the end of April finds the Tigers in last place 6 games back with a shocking 7-16 record. The biggest reason? How about Justin Verlander starting out at 0-4 6.28!

Meanwhile Fielder’s former team in Milwaukee led by Ryan Braun’s .396 batting average has the Majors best record at 18-5.

Free Agent Roy Oswalt signs a 1yr $5.6m contract with Seattle.

Neftali Feliz has made a very successful adjustment to the rotation in Texas with a 4-0 1.21 record in 5 starts.

Mac Mckenzie · 04-21-2012, 10:25 AM

May Recap
12-15 for the month, Season:21-29 5th place 13.5 gb of Milwaukee/Cincinnati
Attendance is 2nd to last 26,154 per game. Only Houston is drawing less fans.

Pirate owner Robert Nutting made it clear in an recent appearance on the Morons in the Morning Show that he is Angry about the teams play and expects this team to playing at .500 level.

Meanwhile on the field the Pirates started the month in the midst of a nine game losing streak. However at mid month they began to right the ship winning 7 in a row including sweeping the Tigers in Motown and the Mets at PNC Park. The big reason for the turnaround was improved pitching. Charlie Morton and James McDonald each had double digit strikeout performances, AJ Burnett picked up 3 wins in May and the bullpen led by Franklin Morales, Jason Grilli, Manny Acosta and Juan Cruz has been solid.

Offensively Pedro Alvarez continues his breakout year batting .301 with 10 homeruns. On the downside Andrew McCutchen has struggled with a .262 average.

Mac McKenzie did make some roster moves in May. Early in the month he claimed Manny Acosta off waivers from the Mets, back in April Mac claimed Franklin Morales from Boston. Then Mac made his first trade sending relief pitcher Chris Resop and 9.82 era to the Giants for Minor League 1B Travis Ishikawa. Ishikawa is 28yrs old with little batting potential but does carry a good glove and could fill a bench role in Pittsburgh down the road. For now he will play in Triple A Indianapolis.

Minor League Report:
In Double A SS Brian Friday and 3B Jody Mercer are having solid seasons and will likely move up to Triple A in short order. Although I don’t see either as potential starters in the big leagues, I think either can emerge as a solid contributor off the bench. Both my Double A catcher Charles Cutler and Single A Tony Sanchez are playing well and will receive promotions to the next level. Down in Bradenton Gerrit Cole has struckout 65 in 64, but his ERA is a scary 6.02!

Major League Headlines
Brandon McCarthy of Oakland No-Hit the Yankees
2 players hit for the cycle in May. Colorado’s Mike Cuddyer did it against the Braves and Arizona’s Cole Gillespe cycled against the Brewers.
In the American League Tampa Bay has a 1game lead on the Yankees and 4 games on the BoSox. In the Central the Indians are the only team playing above .500 and lead the Twins and WhiteSox by 2 games. And out west Texas has the Majors best record at 38-13 and is running away from 2nd place Oakland with a 9 game lead.

The National League Atlanta leads Miami by 3 and Philly and the Nats by 5. The Brewers and Reds are tied atop of the Central division 8 games ahead of the rest of the field and Colorado is 6 ahead of the Diamondbacks.

Perhaps the biggest story so far this season is 41 year old Jim Thome of Philly leading the NL in homeruns with 14 so far. The other big story is Albert Pujols 1st season with the Angels ends at 39games with a torn ACL.

Mac Mckenzie · 04-21-2012, 01:11 PM

Mac McKenzie has his first real opportunity to improve the future of the Pirate Organization with today’s First-Year Player Draft. Drafting 8th players that the Mac was extremely disappointed when the top player on his board 2B Javier Alvarado was taken just ahead of the Pirates 1st pick by Kansas City.

The top 5 picks in the draft were 18 year old LF Antonio Torres drafted by Houston. 22 year old RF Wayne Bryden picked # 2 by Minnesota. Seattle picking 3rd took Robert Burges an 18 year old LF. Robert Ortiz a 17 year old RF went next to the Orioles and the Cubs picked up 21 year old Starting Pitcher that Mac was very high on in Nathan Bell.

The Pirates Draft:
Round 1- SS Keith Cooper-17 HS in California, Intelligent with great range and hands.
Round 2- CL Jesse Little- 21 Marshall U, Hard throwing right hander, can struggle with control
Round 3- RF Juan Gonzales- 21 Texas , Huge power potential, very good speed, intelligent player.
Round 4- 1B Howard Honeycutt- 18 HS in Ohio, Lefty hitter with great contact and power potential.
Round 5- SS Addison Russell- 18 HS in Florida, Solid all around skills. Scouting Director loves him
Round 6- SP Harold Mathison- 21 Fisher College, Right hander with a good Cutter & Curve ball.
Round 7- RP John James- 22 U of Maine, Right hander, Good Character
Round 8- C Paul Lynch- 20 Oregon State- Great Arm behind the plate, work ethic is a concern.
Round 9- SP Carlos Arellano- 22 Mississippi- Lefties best pitch is a change up.
Round 10- 3B Pancho Cervandas- 21 UCLA- LH bat, Has the tools but not the results.

Cooper, Gonzales and Russell are considered extremely hard to sign, while Little and Honeycutt will be challenging but not as hard to sign. It will be critical to the future of this club to sign my top pick as well as 3 of my next 4.

04-15-2012, 04:05 PM	#1
Mac Mckenzie Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 174	Pittsburgh Pirates Rebuilding Since 1992 March 15 2012- “Enough is Enough” was the first comment made by new GM Michael “Mac” Mckenzie at his afternoon press conference introducing him as the new General Manager of the Pirates. 19 consecutive losing seasons have made Pittsburgh fans for impatient and skeptical of Rebuilding plans, but Mckenzie declares a new era has begun. “I will review every aspect of the organization and will bring in winners throughout”. While there are no shortcuts fans can rest assured that our focus will be on "building a consistent and sustainable contender”. Later in the day appearing on the Obnoxious Bob Show, Mac spoke optimistically about the leadership of Manager Clint Hurdle and the state of the farm system. I am confident that Pirates will very soon join the Steelers and Penguins as Champions is this Great Sports City. The Pirates farm system is ranked 6th best by Baseball American. Starling Marte is in Triple A and is close to joining Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata to form a young OF that will be under financial control through 2017. Also the Pirates have two of the top pitching prospects in 21yr old Gerrit Cole who will start 2012 in High A and 20yr old Jameson Taillon who starts this year in Low A West Virginia. Note: My plan is post an update at the end of every month played plus Special Bulletins whenever major events occur.

04-15-2012, 05:07 PM	#2
Mac Mckenzie Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 174	Opening Day 2012 Opening Day 4/5/12 Mgr-Clint Hurdle Starters- Erik Bedard, Jeff Karstens, James McDonald, Kevin Correia, Brad Lincoln Bullpen- Joel Hanrahan, Chris Resop, Jason Grilli, Evan Meek, Juan Cruz, Daniel Moskos, Daniel McCutchen Catching- Rod Barajas, Mike McKenry Infielders- Garrett Jones, Neil Walker, Clint Barnes, Pedro Alvarez, Casey McGehee, Yamaico Navarro Outfielders- Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, Alex Presley, Nate McLouth, Brandon Boggs Disabled List- AJ Burnett P (Skull 3-4wks), Charlie Morton P (Hip 2wks) The Game Lineup: 1.Presley lf 2.Tabata rf 3.McCutchen cf 4.Barajas c 5-Walker 2b 6.Alvarez 3b 7.G.Jones 1b 8.Barnes ss 9.Bedard p vs Phillies Starter Roy Halladay Pirates beat the Phillies 8-7, McCutchen hit a 3run homer in the 1st to get the Pirates the early lead and an Alvarez homer in the 5th lengthens the lead. Closer Joel Hanrahan relieved starter Bedard with a 6-2 lead and gave 5 runs, but in the bottom of the 9th facing the Phillies new closer Jonathan Papelbon, pinch hitter Nate McLouth reaches on an error by Phillies RF Hunter Pence. Then Alex Presley singles, a 1 out walk to McCutchen loads the bases. Then with 2 outs a Neil Walker singles drives in 2 and the Pirates WALK OFF as winners!

04-16-2012, 08:13 PM	#3
Mac Mckenzie Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 174	April 2012 Recap Pirates Record 9-13 .409 4th place 8.5 games back of Milwaukee. Attendance dead last 29,908 per game. Pitching and Defense have pulled Pittsburgh down .A 5.46 ERA and 26 errors are a NL worst. Starting DP combo of Walker and Barnes as well as LF Presley have all landed on the DL list on the big club. And top pitching prospect Jameson Taillon will miss 2 months with a sore elbow. On the bright side- Pedro Alvarez is finally reaching his potential with 5 homers and a .313 average. Andrew McCutchen also has 5 hrs and 21 rbis and Jose Tabata is batting .319 with a .410 obp. AJ Burnett will make his debut next week and hopefully emerge as the staff leader. MAJOR LEAGUE HEADLINES The most disappointing team has to be the Tigers. With the addition of Prince Fielder, Detroit was expected to runaway in the AL Central. However the end of April finds the Tigers in last place 6 games back with a shocking 7-16 record. The biggest reason? How about Justin Verlander starting out at 0-4 6.28! Meanwhile Fielder’s former team in Milwaukee led by Ryan Braun’s .396 batting average has the Majors best record at 18-5. Free Agent Roy Oswalt signs a 1yr $5.6m contract with Seattle. Neftali Feliz has made a very successful adjustment to the rotation in Texas with a 4-0 1.21 record in 5 starts.

04-21-2012, 10:25 AM	#4
Mac Mckenzie Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 174	May 2012 Recap May Recap 12-15 for the month, Season:21-29 5th place 13.5 gb of Milwaukee/Cincinnati Attendance is 2nd to last 26,154 per game. Only Houston is drawing less fans. Pirate owner Robert Nutting made it clear in an recent appearance on the Morons in the Morning Show that he is Angry about the teams play and expects this team to playing at .500 level. Meanwhile on the field the Pirates started the month in the midst of a nine game losing streak. However at mid month they began to right the ship winning 7 in a row including sweeping the Tigers in Motown and the Mets at PNC Park. The big reason for the turnaround was improved pitching. Charlie Morton and James McDonald each had double digit strikeout performances, AJ Burnett picked up 3 wins in May and the bullpen led by Franklin Morales, Jason Grilli, Manny Acosta and Juan Cruz has been solid. Offensively Pedro Alvarez continues his breakout year batting .301 with 10 homeruns. On the downside Andrew McCutchen has struggled with a .262 average. Mac McKenzie did make some roster moves in May. Early in the month he claimed Manny Acosta off waivers from the Mets, back in April Mac claimed Franklin Morales from Boston. Then Mac made his first trade sending relief pitcher Chris Resop and 9.82 era to the Giants for Minor League 1B Travis Ishikawa. Ishikawa is 28yrs old with little batting potential but does carry a good glove and could fill a bench role in Pittsburgh down the road. For now he will play in Triple A Indianapolis. Minor League Report: In Double A SS Brian Friday and 3B Jody Mercer are having solid seasons and will likely move up to Triple A in short order. Although I don’t see either as potential starters in the big leagues, I think either can emerge as a solid contributor off the bench. Both my Double A catcher Charles Cutler and Single A Tony Sanchez are playing well and will receive promotions to the next level. Down in Bradenton Gerrit Cole has struckout 65 in 64, but his ERA is a scary 6.02! Major League Headlines Brandon McCarthy of Oakland No-Hit the Yankees 2 players hit for the cycle in May. Colorado’s Mike Cuddyer did it against the Braves and Arizona’s Cole Gillespe cycled against the Brewers. In the American League Tampa Bay has a 1game lead on the Yankees and 4 games on the BoSox. In the Central the Indians are the only team playing above .500 and lead the Twins and WhiteSox by 2 games. And out west Texas has the Majors best record at 38-13 and is running away from 2nd place Oakland with a 9 game lead. The National League Atlanta leads Miami by 3 and Philly and the Nats by 5. The Brewers and Reds are tied atop of the Central division 8 games ahead of the rest of the field and Colorado is 6 ahead of the Diamondbacks. Perhaps the biggest story so far this season is 41 year old Jim Thome of Philly leading the NL in homeruns with 14 so far. The other big story is Albert Pujols 1st season with the Angels ends at 39games with a torn ACL.

04-21-2012, 01:11 PM	#5
Mac Mckenzie Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 174	2012 First-Year Player Draft Mac McKenzie has his first real opportunity to improve the future of the Pirate Organization with today’s First-Year Player Draft. Drafting 8th players that the Mac was extremely disappointed when the top player on his board 2B Javier Alvarado was taken just ahead of the Pirates 1st pick by Kansas City. The top 5 picks in the draft were 18 year old LF Antonio Torres drafted by Houston. 22 year old RF Wayne Bryden picked # 2 by Minnesota. Seattle picking 3rd took Robert Burges an 18 year old LF. Robert Ortiz a 17 year old RF went next to the Orioles and the Cubs picked up 21 year old Starting Pitcher that Mac was very high on in Nathan Bell. The Pirates Draft: Round 1- SS Keith Cooper-17 HS in California, Intelligent with great range and hands. Round 2- CL Jesse Little- 21 Marshall U, Hard throwing right hander, can struggle with control Round 3- RF Juan Gonzales- 21 Texas , Huge power potential, very good speed, intelligent player. Round 4- 1B Howard Honeycutt- 18 HS in Ohio, Lefty hitter with great contact and power potential. Round 5- SS Addison Russell- 18 HS in Florida, Solid all around skills. Scouting Director loves him Round 6- SP Harold Mathison- 21 Fisher College, Right hander with a good Cutter & Curve ball. Round 7- RP John James- 22 U of Maine, Right hander, Good Character Round 8- C Paul Lynch- 20 Oregon State- Great Arm behind the plate, work ethic is a concern. Round 9- SP Carlos Arellano- 22 Mississippi- Lefties best pitch is a change up. Round 10- 3B Pancho Cervandas- 21 UCLA- LH bat, Has the tools but not the results. Cooper, Gonzales and Russell are considered extremely hard to sign, while Little and Honeycutt will be challenging but not as hard to sign. It will be critical to the future of this club to sign my top pick as well as 3 of my next 4.