Pittsburgh Pirates - A new beginning...

[moore4807]

We were one hit wonders! It's another loss if you can believe it.

I probably shouldn't be so upset with being 5 games down at this point of the season, but I am disappointed with the lack of consistency. Good game here, then an ok effort, usually coming up short, then a no doubt about it loss... getting on my last good nerve.

[moore4807]

Our Pirates begin a 13 game in 13 days road trip starting today, first on the menu is a grudge match against the Milwaukee Brewers in a weekend matchup. After that is a trip to Atlanta to face the Braves for a 4 game set, followed by next weekends visit to beautiful Miami to face the Marlins.

We have not fared well against either the Brewers or Braves (both based or formerly based in Milwaukee) so far this season, but the opportunity remains for this team to make big strides IF they get their act together and play good baseball for the next two weeks.

[moore4807]

Managers Note After seeing so many glum faces at MLB and AAA. I had a tantrum and put them ALL on my Trade Block. I will post a pix shortly, as soon as I figure out where to find only Pirates on the trading block, the usual rosters/transactions box is too small to get them all in one shot.

[moore4807]

Well it didn't take Toronto long to get tired of Cervelli's act too. He's back up for trade faster than you can say his name! <grin>

I'm trying to fit all my trade block players in one pix, this is the best I can do. Its alphabetical, so AA Altoona is first, then AAA Indianapolis, then Pittsburgh.

[moore4807]

Starting pitching has failed again, this time its Wilmer Font filling in from the bullpen for injured P Matt Shoemaker. Six runs in 4 innings and two home runs accounting for half of that total. I'm caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as SP finds haven't panned out (Bumgarner, Font) and trades for relievers have been marginal at best.

[moore4807]

Our second round pick, OF Keaton Greenwalt, came to terms with the team. A $240,000 signing bonus was enough to seal the deal. Greenwalt will begin his Pirates career with the GCL Pirates.

in MLB news Astro's Justin Verlander just keeps rolling along, while Joe Ross of the Washington Nationals has his season come to a screeching halt due to bone chips in his throwing elbow.

[moore4807]

This time, this time it would be different. Top of the seventh inning, Pirates down 2-1 and Gregory Polanco steps to the plate, bases loaded... Polanco hits a Grand Salami! Grand Slam, a touch em all and the Pirates are suddenly up 5-2! Whoo hoo Right?

Not this Pirates team! We not only hand them back the lead in the bottom frame, we let them add 5 MORE runs in the 8th to fall 7 runs down! I'm pissed, I'm sad, I'm wondering if I'm going crazy... This cant be REAL? can it?

[moore4807]

CF Trayvon Robinson has been diagnosed with a shoulder tendonitis. Trayvon will miss approximately four weeks of time, no decision on his replacement has been made.

Former Pittsburgh pitching ace Charlie Morton had his season end on a sour note. A torn UCL will shelve him for approximately 13 months, there is no word out of Tampa Bay if this means he will be looking to retire after this injury.

Chicago Cubs made a trade and signed one of their own today. The trade was with Arizona for 33 y/o RP Greg Holland in return for two minor league position players.

[moore4807]

Voting totals as of June 9th;

[moore4807]

Voting Results as of June 9th;

[moore4807]

A win is about due for this team! Nice SP effort by Taillon and Brian W Anderson and Pablo Reyes RBI's in the 5th inning were just enough offense to hang on for the win.

[moore4807]

Pirates DSL OF Stiwatt Valerio suffered an arm injury that didn't appear too serious when it happened. Upon further evaluation though a forearm tendon originally thought to be tendonitis, instead has ruptured - effectively ending Stiwatts career.

[moore4807]

We went 2-4 for the week, Atlanta and Milwaukee are our kryptonite again. losing both winnable series and performing poorly on the whole long view.

Accordingly our Pirates have slipped to 22nfd in the power rankings, a few more spots lost and we wont be on the main power ranking page (extends to #26 of 30 teams in pix).

A couple of highlights are SP Jameson Taillon won both his starts this week (15.1 IP, 8H, 0HR's, 3R, 5BB, 12K's, 1.76ERA) And IF/OF Erik Gonzalez hit a two run homer in his only PH at bat for the week.

[moore4807]

We face Atlanta again away for a four game series, and some changes have to be made for the week. When CF Trayvon Robinson went down for four weeks with shoulder tendonitis, we brought up two RP to fill out the roster.

RP Blake Weiman is now out for two weeks with an oblique strain after getting hurt in the last game vs. the Brewers. So that makes another pitching spot open, do I carry 13 pitchers for the full 7 game week? After careful consideration, we are going to bring Nick Burdi back up to help the bullpen out. His Pirates season was a disaster in the beginning, but he has started to tune his game up in AAA.

This leaves us a little short handed at position players, but OF/IF Pablo Reyes seems to have the coaches and managers belief he can handle the position, although he will hit 6-7 position and SS Kevin Newman will assume leadoff duties.

There are two weekly minor league awards handed out to Pirate farmhands this past week. CF Travis Swaggerty and 28 y/o (???) CF Jordan Smith in the FSL (again is Asst. GM Neal Huntington having some memory loss? I've told him repeatedly I do NOT want overage players clogging up my lower levels where the youngsters need to improve!!)

[moore4807]

In a somewhat of a surprise move our second supplemental draft pick, SS Chris Cornelius signed for a bonus of only $470,000. After looking at his obvious batting skill and his needy defensive skills (SS Cornelius has lost ability for two straight months at SS and is down to a 28) I'm going to force Cornelius to play 1B and see where that takes us for the year.

[moore4807]

A streak of two is a winning start. This time SP Chris Archer stood up to be counted (7.2 IP, 8H, 2R, 2BB, 4K) for the win. 2B Kevin Kramer went 4-4 with 1HR, 1R, 3RBI to pace the Pirates attack. Nick Burdi came on to provide 1.1 IP and olny gave up 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K in his relief of Archer.

[moore4807]

SP Matt Shoemaker came off IL on Tuesday, and since he has not had a long layoff - GM Moore decided to put him back on the 25 man roster. RP Francisco Liriano was the odd man out and put on irrevocable waivers for the purpose of returning him to AAA. RP Kyle Crick also came off IL and was sent on a rehab assignment to AAA. SP Joe Musgrove was re assessed for his forearm tendonitis, and found he is not responding as fast as they would have hoped, he is expected to be out 1-2 more weeks.

+A Bradenton Marauders claimed another severe injury report, C Arden Pabst suffered a severe injury, but no details have been forwarded to the Pirates yet.

[moore4807]

This loss doesn't bother me. Why you might ask? This team battled til the last out. I'm proud of that, one good hit here or a pitching break there, and we could still be playing ball or winning the game... But the fact is our little winning streak ends at two. Get back out there tomorrow and kill this losing streak!

[moore4807]

Our 1st Round Draft pick signs on the dotted line! Matthew Thompson begins his Pirates career with a healthy $1.8M signing bonus and a spot in GCL Pirates organization. Head Scout Joe DelliCarri is sure that Thompson will be a #1 starter in a few years, only time will tell.

In MLB injury news Dodgers RP Joe Kelly is out for another 6-8 weeks after aggravating his elbow inflammation injury.

[moore4807]

This one hurts, a gutsy team performance, but a win that our bullpen let slip away. SP Matt Shoemaker did all that could be expected of him (5 IP, 6H, 1 R, 2BB, 2K's) and left with a 3-1 lead. Then the once really good bullpen coughed up the lead TWICE before Dario Agrazal served up a tasty tater to #8 hitter Johan Camargo in extra frames. Camargo had a nice day at the plate going 3-5 but still he's Atlanta's #8 hitter!

Kevin Newman had to be removed from the game after getting HBP... No word from the Trainer on the severity of the injury so far.