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Cheers!Rajai Davis just got his first Major League hit. Congratulations. Here's to a monster Adrian Brown/Tike Redmon/Chris Duffy type September.Wait no, that's bad. posted by Rory at 9:17 PM | |
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Rory Angry, Rory Smash ThingsSmizik wrote this... (I don't know what it is. I wouldn't call it an article since it isn't a good representation of modern journalism) thing Monday listing a bunch of opinions he has about the various sports around town.It wasn't exactly riddled with fact or you know, informative. So I emailed him to call him out on it. I mentioned that the .391 the Pirates are hitting on the first pitch he quoted is meaningless out of the context of the rest of the league and it didn't matter as long as their OBP was 12th. He didn't bother to respond to that. He said in his article that "harsh criticisms of Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield for the trades he made last week are way off the mark." I said that the criticism I heard about the trades (mainly here, here, and here) seem pretty well merited to me. Now, I won't repeat verbatim what Bob responded to me with since I didn't ask for his permission to republish the email, and I hear this upsets some people. But he basically told me that most people know what criticism he's talking about and that because I live in Seattle I'm probably not aware. ... I'm mad. I'm not aware because I don't live in town. I probably read more about the Pirates then 95% of the people in Pittsburgh and I'm not aware? Maybe I'm not aware because I have to read the drivel from reporters like you who don't actually say what they're commenting on. And when someone actually emailed you about it you were so inclined to defend yourself that not only did you not explain what you were writing about, but you didn't even comment on the points that someone was trying to make. I'm unaware. This makes me want to go FJM style on his crappy columns. I never insulted you Mr. Smizik, in fact I went out of your way to bring points to your attention that you may or may not have considered. You went out of your way to tell me I'm ignorant. Thanks. I also provided evidence disputing his assertation that David Ross would have been a better talent to retain then Cota or Doumit - which he claimed he didn't do? - however, with his walk off homerun yesterday I genuinely loose some of my argument there. posted by Rory at 6:02 PM | |
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Elsewhere in BaseballOliver Perez gave up seven runs on six hits and four walks over 2 2/3 innings in his first start for the Norfolk Tides yesterday. He has now officially been pounded worse than anything to come out of Pittsburgh since Christina Aguilera. Zing!posted by Rory at 10:54 PM | |
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My Stomach Still HurtsI wanted to wait for the reports to be confirmed and the physicals to be concluded and to wake up to insure it was not a dream. They're all final. The Bucs got hosed. I'm not as hopelessly distraught as I was yesterday about this time, but I'm still ill. Here's my take in "Holy Flirking Schnitt" order.Sean Casey for Brian Rogers I've had plenty of time to criticize the GM for not making trades when a players value is highest, so I won't hash that here. Sean Casey is old, injury prone, overpaid, and a free agent in two months. I would think that the best you could do for any person with even two of those four qualities is a middling AA reliever. I don't mind this. If there is one thing the Pirates have done well over the last decade it's put together decent bullpens. If the guy manages to play halfway decent at the major league level he's the type of person you can flip for a Brian Giles or a Ryan Shealy (reportedly). You get a hundred of these guys I won't care, and the moment they go half a season with an ERA around 4.00 you exchange them for a position prospect in AA or AAA Kip Wells for Jesse Chavez I had held out some hope that Kip Wells would turn it around in Pittsburgh. I didn't expect it, I didn't admit to it. Whether he did or didn't, I thought there was no way he was coming back next year and that the Pirates would be good to offer him arbitration and use whatever draft picks they get when he walks to pick some decent players. I don't know exactly how that process works, and I know I just said I'd take a hundred AA reliever types, but Kip Wells is probably the least valuable he will ever be and your going to tell me that this guy is better then whatever we can draft near the end of the first round. No. Craig Wilson for Shawn Chacon Again, I won't criticize for the team completely effing with Wilson, that's all be going on for a while. I'd like to know why it is they hate him, and its clear based on this last weekend that they really do despise Wilson. I imagine Craig's the kind of guy who actually comes into the office to say when he thinks things kind of suck instead of just pouting about it to the press or letting it fester in him, and the Pirates think that's a bad attitude instead of realizing that 80% of the team feels that way and is just dishonest. If you said that a team traded its backup right-fielder/first baseman for a crappy #5 right handed starter, I'd say that makes sense. But when you find out that he was considerably better then the backup right-fielder/first baseman they just traded for and their return is a pitcher considerably worse then the right handed starter they just shipped out that's when you get the gut starts to wrench. At least I'll enjoy watching the Yankees now. Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez for Xavier Nady Typically trades occur where you ship a known commodity and assume the risk associated with a lesser known commodity. We know what we get in Xavier Nady, the Mets don't know what they get in Oliver Perez, although Pirates fans are familiar with what that could be. Obviously, this trade is make or break entirely on what Oliver Perez does in the next three years. The problem with this, is that as the non-contending team it's typically the role of the Pirates to take the risk side of the equation. It's just a dumb move for a team that's building for the future to try and make. Someone said that NY would have to pass Perez through waivers again to put him in AAA, I wonder if the Pirates could just claim him back. It's weird that the trading deadline is about the same time training camp starts. I can't tell which has traditionally signified the end of the season for me. I think Freddy Sanchez will keep me interested in baseball for the rest of the year, but you'll excuse me if I don't write about the Pirates for a longer then normal period of time. posted by Rory at 5:36 PM | |
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This is a blog about the Pittsburgh Pirates. My vision: to write about the games at the games. Want to email me? Make it out to rory at bleache... you know the rest. |
