Jerry Meals Says It's Safe: The 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates

not only are the 2012 buccos *not* projected to finish in last place, they are projected to be 12 games better than last place.

they've signed their best player to a club-friendly extension. otoh, their last several top picks have yet to do anything decent: pedro alvarez (2nd overall in 2008) is .230/.304/.392 in 169 big league games; tony sanchez (4th overall in 2009) hit .241/.340/.318 in double-a last year before having his face broken in a bar fight; jameson taillon (2nd overall 2010) had 97 strikeouts and a 3.98 era in low a last year; and gerrit cole (1st overall 2011) is already less heralded than his college teammate trevor bauer.

it's going to suck when the Astros change divisions next year!

v. true . . . although at least i'll be spared watching games involving them, i guess

right now they're they only team i can beat on The Show.

but ya, the big news is that amazingly team friendly extension McCutchen signed.
amazing for the Bucs.

the pirates shouldn't be exactly hideous, but a serious regression to the mean by their starters should be expected. mccutcheon totally collapsed in the second half last year. alvarez needs to do *something*

at least the ballpark is awesome.

i was totally sold on Alvarez at the start of 2011. wondering what that *something* is he needs to do tho - he was just so terrible last season.

if i don't make it out west this summer i might try to head down to Pittsburgh and see this park for myself.

he looked lost at the plate last year but he's young. they prob overdrafted him but i don't think he'll end up as ian stewart 2.0

I would like to get to Pittsburgh too

today the pirates picked up their first hit in the seventh inning

one-hit by the twins today

25-year-old pedro alvarez is 5-for-35 with 16 strikeouts and one walk this spring. and three errors in ~30 chances.

when they signed him to a massive bonus it seemed like the smart move.. dude sucks now.

lol he actually fanned two more times after i wrote that

http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/c1556e604717012f2fd100163e41dd5b

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2fp06xvNQ1qb0ctno1_500.jpg

^^^not the pitcher that got the pirates' only hit today

pirates' first seven games: .178/.216/.260 as a team

with 11 runs scored

Subtract McClutchen and...?

And Karstens, obv.

actually casey mcgehee's okay

starting double-play combination was 3-for-40 with one walk

ostensible starting third baseman was 1-for-16 with 10 ks (hope boras can use that in his binder)

seven walks and 58 strikeouts in seven games

i mean

Their 2b isn't too bad and their lf seems ok for a speedster type. I think they're better than they've been playing but they're still not good.

small sample size

bucs no. 2 hitter today, clint barmes, is 3-for-34

http://dealbreaker.com/_old/images/thumbs/drudgesiren.GIF PEDRO ALVAREZ HAS DRAWN A WALK http://dealbreaker.com/_old/images/thumbs/drudgesiren.GIF

LEAD OFF INSIDE THE PARK HOME RUN
BY SOMEONE I'VE NEVER HEARD OF
SKIP SCHUMAKER IS HURT

SCHUMAKER'S OK
HOPEFULLY WITH NO WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM ANYONE IN THE STANDS

Actually, Schumaker is leaving the game.

alex presley!

a.j. burnett!

jerry meals says its safe (to eat a baby)

https://p.twimg.com/ArSNvSACQAIlnXm.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IRugln4Zy8

aj has faced four batters tonight -- they've all scored

this aj burnett guy - pretty good!

lucky for him that vin mazzaro exists

Through three innings

C Beltran RF 3 2 3 7

pedro alvarez has seven singles, four doubles and seven home runs

the rest of the team has eight homers

i am coming to hate clint barmes, and not least because of his stupid two-syllable last name. can't someone give him some deer meat to carry?

CUTCH HAS HOMERED for one of the bucs' three hits

BARAJAS delivers the walk-off blast before 10,323 hardy souls

jesus christ clint barmes: .159/.196/.307 in 27 games

with a career .299 obp in 814 games (and 2.1 war in 10 seasons), one has to question shit in general

‏@Dejan_Kovacevic
#Pirates on pace to produce Major League Baseball's most impatient, contact-free offense since 1968 #Mets. So, there's that. #WeTried

'68 Mets were not awful

wildly diff offensive context tho, which makes that even more amazing

raise the jolly roger over cincinnati

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr251/mookieproof/surge.gif

i had no idea this was in our vocabulary

FIRST PLACE thanks to Aroldis Chapman.

This should be fun while it lasts. Which won't be long, considering their offense.

i like how they're two games up on the cardinals despite a differential 72 runs worse

the pirates have a black hole at first

the cubs have a career minor-leaguer going nuts there while anthony rizzo destroys pcl pitching

hey maybe lahair is a flash in a scummy pan, i don't care -- send the cubs a high-a reliever and let's see how it goes

When I see the Bucs have lost to Baltimore, I wonder why John Candelaria didn't pitch.

kent tekulve is around

getting swept in baltimore

major damage rendered by former pirate quad-a stalwart steve pearce

http://www.drudgesiren.com/siren.gif clint barmes has homered http://www.drudgesiren.com/siren.gif

of course, the pirates did blow a 7-1 lead against this team on friday, so

neil walker is 5-for-5, needs a triple for the cycle <3

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8268757/yinz-losses-pirates-embodiment-new-pittsburgh

i had a similar experience to the dude in the article, except that my dorm was in north carolina and i was surrounded by braves fans. also, i didn't call stan belinda's mom.

4-7 homestand against the d-backs, padres and dodgers ugh

6.5 behind the reds, .5 up on the cards for the wild card

in st. louis this weekend; the pitching matchups do not seem favorable, although few are unless aj is pitching for the bucs or ross ohlendorf is pitching for the opponent

that is one of the bigger wins the pirates have had in a generation

Do they have an off day tomorrow?

nope. reckon daniel mccutchen, among others, might be flying from syracuse to san diego tonight

it's all falling apart

;_;

not even hisanori takahashi can save us now

http://triblive.com/sports/dejankovacevic/2474560-74/pirates-players-everyone-shoot-nutting-charities-coaches-pennant-pigeons-race

fucking brewers

8-7 against the cards this year
6-6 against the reds
4-8 against the brewers, and it's been going on for years

pirates now need to go 12-17 the rest of the way (after today) to break .500, which suddenly seems daunting

1.5 games behind the Cards for the wildcard spot. ahem.

11-18 since august 1

20 years since a winning season

fuck u for being reasonable/optimistic

No, I was mocking my optimism. I've never experienced a winning season as a Pirates fan. We deserve it, damnit! The wildcard, well, I'm not betting my paycheck on it.

haha how old are you?

31 - but only started following baseball in my teens.

Actually, it would have been earlier than that. My family was stationed on a military base which was joint RAF / US Navy SEALS at the time (87-90), so started watching US sports, but I don't know if I showed any special interest in the Pirates at the time.

So maybe I was a fan pre-'92. Been too long, either way.

7 errors thru 7 inn'gs nbd

FIELDING
E: B Holt 2 (2, ground ball 2); S Marte 2 (2, bobble, throw); R Barajas (4, throw); G Sanchez (3, throw); J Harrison (5, ground ball)

impressive

a+ trolling

At one point a fan in an exasperated PNC Park crowd started yelling "Error! Error!" at the official scorer on a cleanly hit single by Chicago's Tony Campana in the eighth.

i'm like okay b. holt is playing his seventh big league game, g. sanchez shouldn't be playing the field at all . . . but s. marte is an outfielder. it takes a little extra to make two errors in the outfield

pnc park fan otm

This is starting to get annoying.

swept at home by the cubs, now need to go 10-12 for a winning record

;_;

fer fuck's sake, clint

72-71

Still just three games out of a playoff spot though!

lost five of six to the cubs in the last 10 days

blew 6-1 and 9-5 leads today

1-8 in their last nine, -7 run differential overall, 1/2 game behind the brewers

james mcdonald pulled from the rotation

this (blistering) column largely otm

.500

(sobs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ITv4OBV9c

good lord these fucking ppl

Even as these Pirates keep muddling through Epic Collapse II, their minor league prospects spent the past weekend in Florida inexplicably, indefensibly performing military drills under the direction of former Navy SEALS. No bats, no balls, no gloves.

The fact that they made groups of grown men crab walk around is pretty funny, but really, wtf. Glad I decided not to stay up to watch the game last night.

front-office guy quoted in BP: "If they would have gotten some help at the trade deadline—and I'm not talking Gaby Sanchez and Travis Snider, but a legitimate big-league hitter—they would be going to the playoffs. How do you not win for 20 years then balk at the chance to win?"

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8409943/ex-pittsburgh-pirates-owner-kevin-mcclatchy-comes-gay

what a setback for the movement

for owning or gaying?

for pirating.

there's a cheap joke in here but i'm assuming the Mensa candidates on the Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report comments sections have already found it.

summing it all up:

http://i.imgur.com/CRU2P.jpg

How many games do we need to win of the remaining games (7?) to reach .500? I can't do maths, makes my brain hurt.

5-2 puts them at 81-81, good luck

super sick catch, t snide

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25129115&partnerId=aw-7392092916300736057-996

Pirates should ship management

Give the Pirates credit. They are making progress. In October 2009, team president Frank Coonelly did new contracts with general manager Neal Huntington and manager John Russell and lied about it for eight months before finally coming clean. A year ago, on the same day the Steelers opened the NFL season in Baltimore, Coonelly gave a three-year contract extension to Huntington, the curious timing designed to lessen the negative feedback after one of the worst second-half collapses by the team in franchise history. At least this time, when Coonelly announced his top baseball people will be back next season despite one of the worst late-season collapses in the history of the sport, he did so in the light of day Wednesday.

They must be so proud at 115 Federal Street.

So what do we make of the news, that Huntington, assistant general managers Kyle Stark and Greg Smith and manager Clint Hurdle will keep their jobs? Is it that Pirates owner Bob Nutting still believes he has "the single-best management team in all of baseball, maybe in all of sports," as he said so famously and idiotically late in 2008? Or is it that it's a lot easier and whole lot less expensive to keep his underachieving people rather than pay them off and hire new ones?

Can we agree it's choice two?

https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2662887627/86fc2c69ef6a0d78374d97e27447da0d.jpeg

.500 impossible now.

18-38 in august and september

and a lot of those games were against the astros and cubs

sad

http://triblive.com/sports/dejankovacevic/2819385-74/pirates-polanco-baseball-players-team-hell-month-prospects-week-ankle

smdhⁿ

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/andrew-mccutchen-tweets-powerful-picture-humble-beginnings-211822650--mlb.html

HOKA HEY -- It's a good day to die!!! The 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates