Has Any Team Ever Had Two Guys Named Travis On Their Team At the Same Time?

The questions that confronted the Pirates when Spring Training began are still raging among Buccos fans.

Who will play first base?

Lacking a dominant do-it-all first sacker, the Pirates are planning on a lefty/righty platoon at first this year, and that's fine.  RH hitter Gaby Sanchez, who raked against LHP last year would be one half of the platoon, and Andrew Lambo, he of the 32 minor league home runs in 2013, would be given every chance to be the LH half of the platoon.  He definitely earned the opportunity, and it would be his job to lose.  Trouble is, he appears to be losing it.  He has gone 4-for-42 (.095) at the plate, while non-roster invitee Travis Ishikawa has been lighting it up.  He is hitting .350 (7-for-20) with 3 HR and 6 RBI.

We have gone on and on all Spring by saying that Spring Training stats don't mean anything, but sometimes, they have to mean something, and this appears to be one of those times, when two guys are fighting for the same job.

Let's face it, in the much traveled Ishikawa, the Pirates won't exactly be trotting Lou Gehrig out there to play first, but perhaps both Lambo and the Pirates would be best served if he started the season in Indianapolis and got untracked at the plate for a month or so.

Who is going to play right field?

Everyone's answer, including Neal Huntington's, to that is "Gregory Polanco, starting in late June or early July".  Well, it may work out that way, and I hope it does, but until then, it looks like it's going to be the familiar platoon of Jose Tabata and Travis Snider (hence, the question posed as the title of this post).  Snider is doing pretty well so far: .333, 1 HR, 7 RBI, .851 OPS. Tabata, not so much: .121, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .273 OPS.  That's not just bad, that's downright awful.  Then, there is Jaff, pronounced "Jeff", Decker who is at .250/0/2/.669.  Looks like Snider will get the bulk of the AB to start the season, and I for one am looking forward to what a healthy Travis Snider will do.  Neal keeps telling us it was injuries that hindered Snider's performance last year.  We'll see.

In the meantime, let's hope and pray that Polanco lights it up in Indy for 200 or so at bats and arrives in mid-season ready to tear up big league pitching.

Who will replace A. J. Burnett in the starting rotation?

Like it or not, folks, it's going to be Edinson Volquez, who has already assumed the mantle of Chief Whipping Boy among the horde of Pirates followers.  One thing to remember - he will be the fifth guy in the rotation. Let's face it, the fifth starter on probably 27 or 28 of the 30 MLB teams is usually not all that great.  If he can be anywhere from a game under to a game over .500 in W-L, and an ERA around 4.00, and pitch into the sixth and seventh innings of his starts, I'll take it.  That is what is expected from fifth starters.

And of course, waiting in the wings in Indy, is former #1 draft pick Jameson Taillon (see comments about Polanco above).

Anyway, we will start finding out how it's going to play out one week from tomorrow when the 2014 season opens.  Raise the Jolly Roger!

A Mixed Sunday Morning Bag

Selected Short Subjects for a Sunday morning....

To Absent Friends - David Brenner

Add me to the list of those offering condolences over the death yesterday of comedian David Brenner.

The last time I remember seeing Brenner was when he played himself on an episode of "Modern Family" a few seasons back.  Prior to that, I can't remember when I had seen him last, but he certainly was a ubiquitous presence on TV back in his prime.

I was surprised when I saw that he was 78 years old.  That shocked me, but then I remember that I would watch him on TV when I was in college and THAT was forty or so years ago, so if he was in his thirties then, well, time does have a way of passing by, doesn't it?

RIP David Brenner.

"Boardwalk Empire" Binge Watching

Marilyn and I are spending the weekend binge-watching Season Three of the great HBO series "Boardwalk Empire".  We are halfway through it as I type this.  Yes, I know that Season Four has already come and gone on HBO, so we are way behind the curve here.  It really is a terrific series - great writing, great acting, great production values.  Incredibly violent, but compelling nonetheless.

Season Three of Boardwalk takes place in 1923, which is the exact year in which the recently completed Season Four of "Downton Abbey" took place.  The juxtaposition of what was occurring at the exact same time on both sides of the Atlantic - the fading days of British aristocracy, and the battles of the Atlantic City, New York, and Chicago underworld during Prohibition in America - fascinates me.  It will never happen, but wouldn't it be great to see these two worlds collide in some great crossover show?  Personally, I'd love to see Nucky Thompson give Thomas Barrow just exactly what he deserves!  And I think that there would be a place for Mr. Bates in Nucky's Boardwalk Empire.

In an episode we watched last night, Eli Thompson approached his brother and said, "Nucky, I'd like a word, please."    Maybe the two shows are more closely related than we think.

The Volquez Situation

One of the matters that has Pirates fans knickers in a knot this Spring Training is the performance of $5 million free agent pitcher Edinson Volquez.  He had an outing in a game yesterday wherein he gave up five runs in three innings and that actually brought his spring training ERA down  to 11.00.  And this is the guy who will take A.J. Burnett's spot in the rotation?

Well, it is worrisome, to be sure.  Fans can hope that Ray Searage can work the same magic on Volquez that he did on Francisco Liriano last season, but no signs of that yet.  Like it or not, I think that the season is going to start with Volquez in the rotation, but for how long if his ineffectiveness continues?  In 2013, the Pirates wasted little time in canning Jonathan Sanchez from the rotation and the team when it became obvious that he wasn't going to work, but the team hadn't invested Five Large in Sanchez as they have with Volquez.  Will the team be willing to eat that much money?  

Someone on Pirate Chat suggested that perhaps the team will figure out a way to put Volquez on the DL and give Searage a little more time to tinker with him, much the way it happened with Liriano last year.

I sure don't have the answer, but I am sure that the Pirates Brain Trust is asking the same questions.