Some Baseball News

Well, we can all calm down after that big Steelers win yesterday, and it has been three whole days since the end of the World Series, so why not kick off the Hot Stove Season right now.

In some not so surprising news, the Pirates made it official today that they will not be picking up the club options for four players for 2012: pitcher Paul Maholm, catchers Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder, and shortstop Ronny Cedeno. The Maholm and Doumit moves are not surprising since they represent $25.25 million in salary obligations on the part of the team. The Snyder move is somewhat surprising because, while Snyder would have cost them $6.75 million in salary next year, they have to have somebody who can catch and at least have a reasonable chance at hitting the ball. The Cedeno move is a real surprise since his salary next year would have been a relative pittance, $3 million, and despite his mental lapses that tend to drive you absolutely crazy, it has been obvious that the Pirates have been unable to find - or pay - anyone who can do any better (see Wood, Brandon).

If you are keeping score at home, the Pirates have now pared off $35 million in salary obligations for 2012 and are in desperate need of a catcher, a shortstop, and at least one starting pitcher, and this is in addition to everything else a 90 loss team needs. What exactly will they do with that $35 million? Not nearly enough to sign Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins to play shortstop or CJ Wilson to pitch. Maybe they will sink that money into securing Andrew McCutchen or Neil Walker to long term deals. Or maybe it will go into "player development" and be used to help the long term plans of the team as the current team struggles to avoid 90 losses again next season.

As I read somewhere today, it's going to be an interesting off season watching GM Neal trying to plug these holes. Right now, I am having a very sinking feeling that the team we watch in 2012 could be a lot worse than what we saw in 2011.

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Elsewhere in baseball, more surprising news arrived with the announcement of Tony LaRussa's retirement. Those who know me know that I am no big fan of LaRussa's. I thought him to be smug and self-important and someone who relished the "genius" tag that the George Wills and Buzz Bissingers of the world bestowed upon him. I also thought that he was allowed to skate on that DUI charge of a few years back. To my knowledge, he never received a reprimand from either MLB or the Cardinals on that.

Be all that as it may, you cannot take away from his accomplishments. Only Connie Mack and John McGraw won more games as a manager, and he had to have had something to do with that two month run that the Cardinals just pulled off. So his eventual plaque in the Baseball of Fame will be well deserved.

And he is certainly going out on a high note!

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One other baseball note. Last week on Pardon the Interruption, Tony and Mike interviewed the newly appointed Cubs major domo Theo Epstein, late of the Boston Red Sox. When asked what it would take to turn the Cubs around, Theo spouted the usual baseball b.s. about player development, setting up a flow of talent that would turn the team into a contender year in and year out, and not just for a one shot deal and on and on and on. It was the same line that we have been hearing for Coonelly and Huntington since their arrival in 2007. I mean, word for word. I guess the big difference is that Theo had the unlimited checkbook of John Henry in Boston to make it work, and I suspect those same resources will be available to him in the Windy City.

Stop the Presses!!!!

Well, to the surprise of practically no one, it has become clear that the Pirates, without actually coming out and saying the words (and if you are familiar with Neal Huntington's way of talking to the public, does that surprise you?), will not be exercising the $9.75 million team option on pitcher Paul Maholm for 2012. This means that Maholm, the longest tenured pitcher on the team, will no longer be pitching for the home team next season.

(By now I am sure you realize that the "Stop the Presses" banner over the Pirates NOT spending $9.75 million was written with tongue planted firmly in cheek.)

Of course, a very good baseball case could be made for not picking up the option, but the overriding sentiment will be that this is yet another case of the Pirates deciding to go cheap and not pay a player once he gets too expensive for them. And, of course, for a variety of circumstances, Maholm will leave and the team will get nothing in return.

Paul Maholm will never be confused with Steve Carlton, to be sure, but he was a good guy who took the ball every five days, pitched a lot of innings, and did it in front of a generally lousy baseball team. Here's hoping that he lands with a team where he will be what everyone says he should be - a productive fourth or fifth starter - and have a successful rest of his career.

Now, the interesting thing will be to see what exactly the Pirates will do with that $9.75 million that they won't be spending on Maholm (as well as the multi-millions that they won't be spending on Ryan Doumit when that shoe drops). If they end up spending nine million bucks on a guy like Jorge De La Rosa, as they were purportedly ready to do last year, then they haven't really improved themselves over what Maholm would have given them. Or, will they take the Maholm and Doumit money and apply it to a long term deal for Andrew McCutchen? Or, will they use it to sign another washed up stiff like Lyle Overbay? Or, will the money just be quietly designated for "player development", which has been the handy catch-all for Pirates profits over the last few years.

First Half Thoughts and a "Name to Remember"

The Pirates are now one game short of the actual half-way mark of the season, and with their 41st win last night, they are assured of finishing the first 81 games of the season with a +.500 mark. Raise your hand if you predicted that back on Opening Day. I sure didn't.

Some thoughts, questions, and comments on the first half of the '11 campaign.

• Obvioulsy, the pitching on this team has been beyond anyone's expectations. Kevin Correia has already given the team something it lacked all of last season - a pitcher with double digit wins.


• The bullpen has also been lights out, and there are not enough superlatives to describe Joel Hanarahan.


• Looking at the performances of the eight man, everyday line-up and you ask yourself "how is this team over .500 at this point?" The performance and output at catcher, first base, third base, and right field has can be described as anywhere from "underachieving" to "downright lousy."


• Notice I left short stop off of the list above? Ronny Cedeno is no all-star, to be sure, but as of this morning he is hitting .252 and has been playing solid, if unspectacular, defense. Who saw that coming?


• When you consider the offensive holes in this line-up, plus the injuries (seven catchers used so far!), let's give Clint Hurdle huge props for the smoke and mirrors act that has this team where it is today.


• You hear talk that the Pirates should approach the trade deadline as "buyers" to get "a bat" to help them out "down the stretch." Paul Maholm's name has often been mentioned as the guy to trade. I have some problems with that:


• First off, do you REALLY think the Pirates can be a championship contender to the point that you trade a guy who has, won-loss record aside, pitched so well for you?


• Second, unless you would get a player or players, quality players, who can help the Pirates, now, in 2011, trading Maholm will be viewed as another penny-pinching salary dump and would be yet another PR disaster for the team.


• Third, the "bat" that so many are clamoring to obtain could very well be Pedro Alvarez, currently rehabbing in Bradenton. Yes, we know that Alvarez was lousy in the first month and a half of the season, but he is still the guy that the Pirates MUST have be the power hitter that he showed he could be last season.


• Fourth, Ryan Doumit is another "bat" that will return before the month of July is done. True, Doumit is no Johnny Bench, but he is damn sight better than Mike McKenry.

The Pirates Coonelly/Huntington Brain Trust has said for years that ".500 is not the goal; winning championships is the goal" and now that the team has played half a season of .500 ball, I have to agree with them. Yes, getting the losing seasons streak monkey off their back is important, certainly to the fans, but I sit this morning a lot more excited that they are only two games out of first place in the NL Central. Do I really think that they can make the playoffs? For some of the reasons listed above, no I do not, but I have to say that I see progress for the first time since I can remember. I expect that they will flirt with the .500 mark for the balance of the season, and maybe, given the injuries to the Cardinals, they might be in the hunt for the Division, stranger things have happened. First, though, they have to start beating the Hated Brewers in Miller Park. When THAT happens, then I will say that anything is possible.

Let me veer into different Bucco area to close out. I am going to go "Joe L. Brown Show" on you and give you a "Name to Remember." Two summers ago, I attended a State College Spikes game, and saw pitcher name Phillip Irwin pitch for the Spikes. Irwin had just been drafted in the 21st round by the Pirates a few weeks before, and this could well have been his first ever professional game. I remember that the Spikes won that game, and while I don't have his numbers from that game, I can recall that Irwin looked very good in that game. Since that time, this has been Irwin's career path.

• He finished that '09 Spikes season with a 1-2 record, a 2.12 ERA with 32K and 6BB in 29.2 IP. He made the New York-Penn League All-Star team.


• In 2010, he pitched a full season in West Virginia and went 6-3, 3.35, 111K, 20BB in 113 IP.


• He started 2011 in Bradenton and went 5-0, 2.03, 40K, 12BB in 53.1 IP.


• He was promoted to Altoona where after two starts he is 1-1, 2.45, 8K, 1BB in 11 IP

Pretty impressive numbers, yet in all the talk about all of the "young arms" in the Pirates system, you never hear Irwin's name mentioned. Well, if and when this guy comes to the Bucs and becomes a star, remember that you heard it here first.