The Hanging Curve - Baseball Opinion that won’t Bend or Break

With the season winding down, most MLB clubs are fielding a squad fit for AAA ball, while a few of the best teams and some of the more deluded are still hanging on to the hope of making the playoffs.  The Angels clinched their division long ago, and have proceeded to the goal of helping “K-Rod” smash the single-season saves record.

The Red Sox last night clinched a playoff birth, and being three games behind the Rays wiith five to go have only an outside chance of taking the division.  Props for the Rays for hanging on to the division for a good portion of the season and finishing strong.  At any rate, the AL Wildcard race is over.

The AL Central race is still very hot.  The White Sox are in the lead, but the Twins are right behind them.  Unfortunately for the Twins, they are two games behind in the loss column, so they almost need to win out to win the division.

The NL is much less decided at this point.  The Cubs have clinched the “weak” (according to the pundits) Central division, but everything else is still up in the air.  The Phillies are only 1.5 games ahead of the Mets, who are still dealing with the loss of Wagner (last night by chaining Santana to the mound as he K’d the Cubs to the tune of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”).  Out in the West, Manny being Manny has helped the Dodgers pull out to a three game lead on the Diamondbacks, who are doing their best job of emulating the rest of the worst division in baseball.

The NL Wildcard race is fun.  This is where most of the delusion comes in.  The Brewers, with flailing Ryan Braun, are only one game behind the first-place Mets, while the Astros still belive they can make up 4.5 on the Mets and 3.5 on the Brewers.  The Cardinals probably still think they are in the race.  If you listen to their announcers, they’ll tell you this is the best team baseball has ever seen:  they can even overcome mathematical elimination.

It has been nearly a month since the Pirates completed their foray into the 2008 trade market (they were also able to send Bautista to Toronto past the deadline) with the big-splash, three-team deal sending Bay to the Bay City.  Here’s a breakdown of how all the bits and pieces of the various deals have fared, starting with the players that have departed from the Bucs.

• Xavier Nady has continued his career year without pause.  He has already blasted eight long balls in 27 games with the Yankees, boosting his slugging percentage and OPS while his average and OBP have barely budged.  I find this pace unlikely to continue into next season, especially in the average/OBP side of things, he does have pretty good power though.  Even with Matsui back, Nady has remained a constant fixture in left field, Matsui moving into DH to help keep him healthy.
• Dámaso Marte has not fared too well with the Yankees.  In 12 games he has a 8.68 ERA with seven walks in 9.1 IP.  He does, however, have 14 K, and four of his earned runs came to a walk of Byrd grand slam shortly after donning his pinstripes.  I think the Yankees have the wrong idea about Marte: I think he does better as a full-inning setup man (as I’ve said before) than as a lefty specialist.  The Yankees have pitched him less than an inning in half his appearances.
• Jason Bay hit the ground running in Boston.  He has hit .333/.385/.529 with 20 R, 4 HR, 18 RBI and 3 SB in 21 games.  Plus, he has already compiled three outfield assists prowling the MUCH smaller Boston left field.  His first game with the Sox he tripled and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th.

Now, for the booty the Pirates plundered, starting with the Yankees deal:

• Jeff Karstens’ first two games with the Pirates were brilliant.  He pitched six scoreless innings his first outing, following up with a game in which he lasted 7.2 perfect innings, and ended up giving up two hits in a CG shutout.  Since then, he has sparkled a bit less, but still his overall Pittsburgh stat-line is 3.48 ERA, 12/9 K/BB and a 2-3 record in 31.0 IP.  His problem so far has been 5 HRs in the last three starts.  I like Karstens because he has some pretty decent stuff, with absolutely no fear as a pitcher.  He pounds the strikezone like a redneck does his wife, which will in the end make him prone to up and down outings.  He has been, by far, the most efficient Pirate pitcher in recent memory (although Maholm has been pretty good about this).
• Ross Ohlendorf has pitched six games for the Pirates AAA Indianopolis, going 3-3 with a 3.24 ERA and an exquisite 35/8 K/BB ratio in 41.2 IP.  He hasn’t shown much at the major league level yet, but Ohlendorf projects as third to fifth starter.  With the recent revelation that only Maholm is a lock for the 2009 rotation (I heard this on last night’s broadcast), he should at best be in the rotation and at worst help light a fire under some guys to get THEM into the rotation.  Both Snell and Gorzellany obviously have some offseason work to do…Snell needs to do some film study and mental work, Gorzo probably just needs to get back to being healthy after getting ravaged by Jim Tracy last year; but you can never be too sharp mentally.
• Daniel McCutchen–hearing a McCutchen was being involved in this trade made my heart skip two or three beats.  By far the best prospect in the Pirates system for the last couple years has been Andrew McCutchen and for a second I thought the new management shipped off our best hope for success in the next few years, but instead it was a McCutchen we would be receiving.  He has pitched at AAA Indy for 6 games as well, going 2-2 with a 4.62 ERA.  This ERA may be a little unfairly inflated because he has a 1.14 WHIP and a pretty good 27/7 K/BB, so perhaps he has just had a little bad luck, or perhaps it’s the 8 HR he has already given up.  Again, this guy hopefully either enters the rotation or pushes some guys into a good healthy competition and at worst he becomes pitching depth in an organization that (before Huntington did so much work this year) was absolutely devoid of anything that could be claimed as a pitching prospect besides recovering Brad Lincoln and possible burnout Daniel Moskos (he was a stretch when drafted, but still has been puzzlingly bad compared to the solid first-round talent most teams pegged him as).
• Jose Tabata is the most exciting thing to come out of these trades, at least prospect-wise.  He was listed behind Joba Chamerlain and Ian Kennedy as the Yankees’ third-best prospect.  He turned 20 two weeks ago and had to wait for a couple weeks or so after the trade to get started with AA Altoona because of a wrist injury.  Some have compared him to a young Manny Ramirez, but comparisons aside, he rehabbed in the Rookie League GCL Pirates for four games with an eye-popping (as it should be) .455/.538/1.091 (yes that’s AVG/OBP/SLG, not OPS) with 4 R, 2 HR and 7 RBI.  In AA Altoona he hasn’t slowed down much with .369/.423/.569 and 13 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, and 6/6 in SB attempts.  Considering that having barely turned 20, his power has likely not developed very much (escpecially since he is coming off a wrist injury), a .569 slugging average for such a young player in AA is very impressive.  I will definitely keep you posted on how he is doing.

And now on to the Bay deal:

• Craig Hansen.  Ugh.  He has not performed well with the Pirates thus far.  There is no doubting the kid’s electric stuff.  He has a mid-90’s fastball and a tight, late-breaking slider that is just devastating.  When it’s in the strikezone.  For that matter, he has to get his fastball in the strikezone just so he has a CHANCE to throw his slider.  As was being rumored, he has been optioned to AAA Indy to work out some kinks in favor of 25-year-old reliever Jesse Chavez.  His outing last night in a bizarre (but at that point tight) game was a microcosm of his struggles.  He came into a tight game (Russel feels he has nothing to lose throwing the young guy into the fire at this point in another likely losing season), could not get the ball over the plate and ended up walking in two runs in a row to give up the lead and blow the save opportunity.  The other two runs he “earned” were inherited by the next pitcher.  His line is 0-2, 8.10 ERA, 3/12 K/BB (shudder) in 10 IP.  He has earned a save.  Last year and early this year have been encouraging that this kid can turn it around.  Hopefully the Pirates minor league coaching staff does more good than harm with him (not guaranteed by any means) and he’ll be the closer-in-waiting setup man for a few years to come.
• Bryan Morris was the only prospect the Pirates received in this deal who wasn’t major league ready or close to it.  He missed 2007 with Tommy John surgery and pitched well so far this year with a 3.20 ERA and 72 K in 81.2 IP before the trade.  With the Class-A Hickory team, he has gone 0-2 with a 5.04 ERA and 11/12 K/BB in 14.1 IP.  HIs record is meaningless as the ‘Dads are 20-43 this year, but the walks are a little worrisome.  He managed to keep them to a not terrible 3.42/9 IP with the Dodger’s affiliate, but last year in rookie ball his walk rate was not good.  Something to keep an eye on for sure.  He has two good pitches and a changeup is in progress; he could go up or down from here.
• Andy LaRoche was a very interesting piece to this trade.  His minor league numbers have been pretty impressive (.294/.380/.517 with 95 HRs over six years) but the Dodgers never really gave him a chance and instead opting to trade for Casey Blake to man third while plugging in Nomar Garciaparra at SS (shudder).  So far he has been pretty bad for the Pirates, only batting .125 while currently mired in an 0-for-20-something slump, but he does have a couple of dingers and 6 walks in 64 ABs.  I would wager that walk rate beats anyone who is currently on the Pirates excluding McLouth.  While showing great HR power even in the minors, some argue that his power ceiling is already met, evidenced by his lack of doubles in the minor leagues.  Time will tell:  he will be given a far better chance to succeed than he got with the Dodgers; Neil Walker is not ready offensively or defensively (but still quite young at 22) and Scott Boras, agent of first round pick Pedro Alvarez, has decided to play more games with the Pirates, after they defeated him in signing negotiations.
• Brandon Moss has been the sole performer out of this deal so far.  Only batting .247 at the moment, he has an impressive 4 HR, 5 2B and 10 BB in his 81 ABs so far.  He’s patroled both corner spots well, more often playing the huge LF area vacated by Bay and turned in 2 double plays with 3 outfield assists already.  As opposed to LaRoche, Moss hit a decent number of homies in the minors with a prodigous amount of doubles, so that bodes well for his developing power.  Expect the 2009 Pirates outfield to be McLouth, McCutchen, Moss/Pearce–either in Platoon or whoever wins the job.  Expect him to be a fixture for a few years to come, perhaps being a centerpiece on the next competitive Pirates team.

Well, that’s how the Pirate booty has fared so far.  I’ll keep you informed.

Obviously Boston needs a replacement for Drew who has discovered a new ailment to potentially send him to the DL 3 times a year in the future…WHY?

Two words:  Coco Crisp.

To be fair, Tacoby is having a terrible year, but everyone loves him so he’s going to start.

Coco is having a pretty decent year and a better second half AND he’s a way better fielder than Mark Kotsay..hell he’s a better hitter.

Fuck Mark Kotsay

**Please notice blatent tag whoring…you know how many times J.D. Drew Disabled List gets Googled?  Literally hundreds.**

The Pirates, coming right down to the wire, have traded Jason Bay.  Most of the rumors around this deal involved the Marlins, but Pittsburgh abandoned that idea this afternoon (the Marlins sounded like they were demanding Manny, minus most of his salary, for Rick VandenHurk and a first baseman’s mitt) in favor of a swap with the Dodgers.  The Red Sox will get Bay, who is nearly as good as Manny but without all the drama.  Watch his numbers (RBI, runs, HR) balloon with great hitters around him and the Monster instead of a 390-foot fence in left field.  The Dodgers will get Ramirez and probably a boatload of cash.  The Pirates get a great take (from their perspective), both unloading some payroll on a player whom would probably be gone after his contract was up anyway, and in picking up some young prospects.  They receive Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris, Brandon Moss, and Craig Hansen.

Andy LaRoche was great in the minors but for some reason (even with all their injuries) the Dodgers just wouldn’t let him play.  Definite upgrade (and younger to boot) at third from Bautista, who should now take his real role as an excellent super-sub.  Morris will go to the class A Hickory Crawdads to show off his stuff.  I’ve heard good fastball, excellent slider, and boy do the Pirates need some pitching depth.  Brandon Moss should be a pretty decent fill in for LF until McCutchen is ready to come up for the CF job (September or 2009 season) and he’s young.  Not bad even if he ends up being your bench guy.  Finally, Craig Hansen is ready to join the Pirates now terrible bullpen, and at 24 he’s probably not getting any worse right now.

To me, it seems like Dodgers pretty much got the hose.  Yes, they did get Manny, but they didn’t really need an outfielder.  Ethier and Kemp are young and very good.  They will continue to play Andruw Jones in center even though they probably shouldn’t, and they have Juan Pierre (who should be on the bench at most).  Likely they will bench one of the young guys and leave the great Pierre in the lineup.  And Manny is only getting older, and Dodgers park is way bigger than Fenway.  Weird.

I am sad to see Bay leave Pittsburgh because, at least publicly, he said that he wanted to stay with the Pirates, but he will likely have far more success in Boston than with Pittsburgh.  Anyways, good luck to all involved.

Update: Bay, Manny, Moss and LaRoche have all hit their first home runs with their new clubs.  Manny has been crushing the ball, hitting .615 with 2 HR, 4 R, 5 RBI.  Bay is also hitting well, .364 with 3 BB, a HR, 3B, 6 R and 3 RBI; plus he has an outfield assist throwing a runner out at second and made a game-saving diving catch in left.  Moss has been hitting pretty decent for Pittsburgh, only .250 but with 4 BB already and a HR.  LaRoche has been less than perfect, only batting .182, but he has managed 2 R and 2 RBI with that, and his homerun last night makes me think he is finding his groove.

Rich Harden traded to the Cubs..:as someone who has owned Harden parts of the last three years…let me be the first to show you the Rich Harden Injury Timeline®™

Now you know.

St Louis in their infinite wisdom seriously started Mark Mulder even after he displayed he wasn’t even ready for the minor leagues.  He was really really bad last year, injured for most of it, and obviously not even close to whom he once was.  So he rehabs this year through various injuries, goes to the minor leagues GETS RAKED and then injures his back.  Then he is for some god damn reason promoted to the majors to do 2 relief appearances.  He blows the game of one and gives up 2 hits in his other inning.  They decide that this is enough for him to start again (because the hits against him weren’t hit hard enough apparently).  I’m sure all Cardinals fans breathed a sigh of relief when he came down with an injury after 16 pitches.  Hilarious management.

Oh god my shoulder, back, arm, and rotator cuff.  Wait I start WHEN???

Now that the All-Star rosters have been announced, we move our divisional roundup into the American League East, perhaps baseball’s strongest division.  I must admit, I have been terribly wrong about a few teams in this division so far.

At the top we have the Tampa Bay Rays.  Yes, by some stroke of luck, finger of God or, perhaps, upwelling of talent, the Rays are in first place on July 7th.  Many of the “Rays fans” out there probably don’t even realize that they changed their name this year.  What hasn’t changed is Tampa’s group of budding superstars.  Still possessing the same pieces they’ve always had, the Rays will perhaps become the Rockies of ‘08.  No one doubted the half power, half blazing speed of Crawford or the superstar abilities of BJ Upton, or the abilities of Scott Kazmir, or the incredible K/BB ratio (4.57 this year, 5.11 last year) of James Shields.  What has brought the Rays to first place is the rounding out of a great rotation, perhaps by players playing above their ability (Matt Garza comes to mind), the elevated play of Navarro and new contributions of Longoria, and the hole-plugging play of the Gross/Hinske two-headed monster.  Maybe this is the year for Rays, just recall how the Rockies are doing now and live it up while you can “Rays fans” everywhere.

Boston.  Ever since 2004 they’ve the unquestionable kings of baseball.  This year is no different, they have the returning power of Manny and Papi, the Greek God of Walks Euclis, the best rotation (minus Schilling) in baseball, an incredible closer, and few great young players in Pedroia and Ellsbury lighting up the scoreboards each night.  I have absolute faith that the Red Sox have the talent, depth, and “winning heritage” to take the division from the Rays and anyone else down the stretch.  That’s really all there is to it.

The Yankees sit in third place right now with a decent record, but I would be worried if I were a Yankee’s fan.  Their already shitty rotation got a lot shittier when Wang and Pavano went down to injury, but possibly a little better when Hughes went down.  The Yanks’ idea of a bandage, however, is Sydney Ponson.  Ouch.  I would also be worried about when Joba’s walk rate will catch up with him.  The rotation isn’t the only place where injuries have hit, “Godzilla” Matsui will be down for some time with knee problems, and now Damon has the bug too.  Don’t blame all their problems on injury though, Posada is not having a career year again (suprise) and Robinson Cano is showing that he can consistently decrease his production through his prime years.  Props, however, for busting his balls in the last two months to heroically bring his average out of the Mendoza cellar to a not-as-terrible .252.  Perhaps he could walk a little more than approximately once every 5000 at-bats now too.  Prediction:  Yankees miss the playoffs, finish third.

The Orioles.  My god has this been a shocker so far.  Now, I’m not really that suprised to see the Rays in first place because that team at least has TALENT.  To see the Orioles in anywhere but last place is, to me, a shocker.  Let’s put the team in perspective:  the “Ace” is Daniel Cabrera and the cleanup spot has been manned by Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar and (breathe) Ramon Hernandez.  Jesus.  Now, the team does have Roberts, who is a pretty good all-around ball player, and Markakis, who is young and a very good hitter.  The only other team in baseball with this little actual talent is San Francisco, who actually surpasses Baltimore by a decent margin in that department.  Prediction:  O’s finish a terrible last.

That leaves us with the last place Blue Jays.  These guys have disappointed me so far:  at the beginning of the season, I was thinking they could make a run for the wild card.  Their rotation (Halladay, Burnett, McGowan, Marcum) rivals the Red Sox, and they have faced an injury to Marcum as well.  Their lineup has been less potent than I would have thought, what with Rios, Wells, Hill, Thomas (no longer), and to a lesser extent Rolen and Overbay.  I suspect this has been the main downfall for them this season; that and playing in the AL East.  Prediction:  change their name to the “Toronto Jays” in attempt to capture the magic of Tampa Bay.  Finish tied for third with Yankees.

This is a pretty sorry looking division.  Not only is Arizona in the lead with one game over .500, but there are not only one but two ultimate bottom feeders who are really giving the Mariners a run for their money for worst record ever.

Before the season started, I heard this division touted by a few pundits as one of the better divisions in baseball, the defending NL champion Rockies returning nearly unchanged, the young Diamondbacks with perhaps the best rotation in baseball rounded out with an amazing young core of players, bolstered further by a full season from phenom Justin Upton, and even the Padres who many thought would actually compete.

The D’Backs started off torrid, but why are they lolligagging around at 41-40?  Webb and Haren are coming through as promised, but Randy Johnson can only be described as “washed up” while the rest of their staff has not been good, Doug Davis’ triumphant return notwithstanding.  As far as their young hitting core, Upton start off just like the Diamondbacks but has hit only one home run and batted in one run in the month of June.  Mark Reynolds is slightly off pace but has a very real chance of becoming the first batter to strikeout 200 times in a season.  Stephen Drew has been unremarkable while Chris Young really is not a good hitter.  Still, it isn’t a bad place to be; atop a weak division with a pretty strong team when it really comes down to it.  And young to boot.

The Dodgers have been entirely unremarkeable this season.  While they have a few good young players (Loney, Kemp, Martin, LaRoche) they also suffer from their terrible management bringing in aging, useless veterans.  In their outfield they have two of the most terrible yet highly touted players of our generation in Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones.  If you can’t see from their stats why they aren’t worth dick I’ll make it the topic of another article.  Also hampering them is their rotation, composed entirely of journeymen.

Next up, we have the San Francisco Giants.  The Giants so far this season have far outmatched any expectations I could have placed on this team.  On paper they easily have the worst team that has been composed in the last five years.  Omar Vizquel has, I can only assume,  been thawed from a cryogenic state in order to re-man the shortstop position.  Jose Castillo, Ray Durham, Randy Winn, some guy named Bowker, and Bengie Molina batting cleanup?  The only two players on this team who should be starting are Aaron Rowand and Tim Lincecum.

Further down the standings we run into the Rockies.  We all expected the Rockies to make a somewhat triumphant return, at least to do OK.  What happened here?  Pitching.  Besides Cook, the Rockies pitching has been, well, very typical of a Rockies team.  Not to mention they’ve dealt with some injuries, the likes of Holliday, the Norse God of Hitting and Troy “They Gave Me a Giant Sack Full of Money to Suck” Tullowitzki as well as Kip Wells, who is working on at least his second blood clot problem (yikes).

Finally we come upon the San Diego Padres.  While Giles, Gonzalez, Peavy and Kouzmanoff have been making do, the rest of the team appears to be sapping their will to live.  Hasn’t anyone in the Padres organization come to the conclusion that Kahlil Greene is not a big leaguer?  Jody Gerut and Scott Hairston manning 2/3 of the outfield isn’t very helpful either.  Maybe it would be a little different if Peavy had some help in the rotation, but Chris Young and Mark Prior, apparently going for a record-long seven year DL stint, are in no position to help.

So, that’s my view on the pathetic NL West.  I’ll be breaking down the rest of the divisions in the coming days, seeing as it is the real mid-season.

Sidney Ponson signed for the Yanks!  Oh sweet!  Sidney “The Hulk” Ponson.

“Hopefully what happened in Texas stays in Texas,” Cashman said. “We’re short a little bit on inventory. This was an obvious move. We had Sidney here in 2006, so I have a little bit of a feel for him. I talked to him after the cleared waivers [Wednesday] morning. … Hopefully he can help us. He threw well for them.”

Oh man, I love it.  If only it had been true for Bush.

In personal news I’ve been working a new job, something requiring me to work day shift like some sort of fucking Starbucks-going yuppie.  In addition, I’ve also been forced to quit smoking due to health concerns..this has proved to be an unforgiving combination; and I’ve spent the majority of the last two weeks pissed off and nicotine free.

Something else that pisses me off?  Gardenhire gets a fine for slow play - even though the Twins have the quickest played games time of all AL teams.

Oh, and my entire fantasy team is on the disabled list.

I can hear the wheelchairs creaking in my head.

The Pittsburgh Pirates today beat Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ team of young guns in a victory fueled by the unlikely contributions of Luis Rivas (2-3, 2 RBI) and Doug Mientkiewicz (1-2, 2 BB, 2 R). Zach Duke pitched well, adding another game to the “good” column in an inconsistent but decent season thus far.

The win brings the Pirates record to 31-33, and they remain at an interesting juncture in the season. The last five series the Pirates have split four with the D’backs, won 2-1 vs. the Astros, split four with the Cardinals, lost 1-2 vs. the Reds, and beat the Cubs 2-1. The Reds are one of those “improved teams” that is starting to pick it up, so maybe I can handle that loss. Houston is a divisional foe, but should be beaten. The Cards and Cubs are divisional foes that are playing extremely well, so wins there are great. Arizona has been tapering off from being one of the best teams in baseball, but still a good team to split with.

So they’ve been playing pretty well as of late, with little help from one of their perceived strengths at the beginning of the season: their starting pitchers. Ian Snell: 2-6 with 5.65 ERA. Tom Gorzelanny: 4-5, 6.83. Paul Maholm: 4-5, 4.48. Zack Duke: 4-4, 4.10 (including today). These four are supposed to be the budding core of Pirate’s team, the supposed “untouchables” in trade talks. Now, Duke and Maholm have been OK, possibly settling into their real roles: they probably are both going to be middle or late rotation starters for their careers. Snell and Gorzelanny (I think to a lesser extent) both have what it takes to be aces. I’ve probably seen Snell pitch more than any of these guys so far this season, and his troubles have been the most puzzling. He has yet to have a scoreless outing, with only four quality starts. His K numbers started out pretty slow and have only recently picked up. Most strange is his control. Historically, he hasn’t had these problems but his walk rate this year has risen by almost 2 BB/9 IP over last year (4.5 vs. 2.9).

Gorzelanny’s struggles are not nearly so puzzling to me. He pitched way too much late last season with his young arm as Jim Tracy ruthlessly pimped him for his 15th win (he didn’t get it). I believe he is injured.

The only real bright spot of the rotation so far this year has come from Matt Morris’ historic sucking. As I reported earlier, Phil Dumatrait was moved into the rotation at the beginning of May and has been a pleasant surprise. As a starter he has gone 3-2 with a 3.22 ERA. The only trouble spot has been his walk rate, which has been a little high (any start where he has walked 3 or more batters has been a no decision or loss), but he’s kept batters off base in general (1.28 WHIP), so therein lies his success.

The Pirates success thus far has not lain in their strength, but in their hitting lineup. Led by McLouth, Bay and Nady, as well as Ryan Doumit (who has been injured for the last 3 weeks), the Pirates are putting runs up on the board. Nady is very likely playing above his skills, but I don’t think McLouth’s stats are too far off from where they should be, and Bay is simply showing us that his knees did indeed take the year off last year. As for Doumit, as long as he stays off the DL (a broken thumb that he actually recovered from in about half the time expected put him on there this season) he has proven that he can hit for power and average as well as play adequate enough defense to remain the starter. The outfield depth looks good, with youngsters Pearce and McCutchen waiting in the wings for possible trades of Nady, Bay and even LaRoche (if he has any trade value left).

With the recent draft, the Pirates picked Pedro Alvarez in the first round, a Boras client who will likely command somewhere between an assload and a fuckload of money, the team has taken a 180° flip from the previous regime’s draft strategy (draft an unskilled player who will sign for peanuts), as well as some other bigger dollar picks. With the new drafting and developmental rhetoric the new regime has laid down (and now started acting on), the team’s distant future looks good, but what about the present? The team’s record is 31-33, they are only 2.5 games out of third place in the division, and the team is playing fairly strong baseball, back at full health, and has hope for the starters to turn the corner. However, the NL Central is not as weak as many predicted. The Cubs and Cardinals are looking great at the top of the division, and even with the Cubs’ best record in baseball, the division is only ten games top to bottom. My guess is the team will entertain trade offers but play a holding pattern and wait until just before the deadline to either ream a desperate contender or try to add a piece to go for the playoffs. My best guess is the team has to be within five games of the division lead (or at least a wild-card berth) to be buyer’s. Mostly though, management appears to be readying the Pirates’ fan for the letdown of a lovable franchise figure (Bay) very likely becoming trade bait.