Heading north
The Pirates will soon be heading north. Here's the team I hope they will be taking:
C - Santiago, Cota
IF - J.Wilson, Castillo, Wigginton, C.Wilson, R.Mackowiak, F.Sanchez, Hill, Ward
OF - Bay, Redman, Lawton, Grieve
SP - Perez, Wells, Fogg, Redman, Williams
RP - Mesa, Gonzalez, Grabow, Meadows, Torres, Vogelsong
That's not gonna happen. LittleMc (or is it McLenfield?) seems dead set on bringing 12 pitchers. Since you don't really need a 5 starter for the first month, that leaves 7 pitchers working out of the pen. That seems a little excessive, especially with rubber-armed Torres available 5 nights a week.
As it is, Mike Johnston will definitely also make the team. (***Update: Johnston has developed a blister. He's out, Lopez is likely in.) That means Grieve is out. The only wildcard seems to be Zach Duke, who seemingly could win the 5th starter job with a brilliant start tonight. But, as I stated earlier, it makes no sense to bring Duke north right out of camp because he'd wouldn't get any work unless he was used in relief. I think it would be wiser to send him to AAA, and if he experiences immediate success, bring him to Pittsburgh in May or June.
Quote of the night
Courtesy Sean Hannity:
"People on the left have this misconception that weapons are dangerous."
Search results
I use a counter provided by sitemeter.com to keep track of the number of visitors to this site. One of its interesting features is that it lets you know how folks find your site, including the key words used on search engines to get here. Here are a few of the recent unusual searches that have resulted in a visit to Batting Third:
cost of bread from 1960-2005
Fred McGriff 2005
billy wagner autographed picture
rusty staub homosexual
Just thought it might be interesting to you. It was to me.
Setting expectations
Paul Meyer had a feature on Ty Wigginton yesterday in the PG. In it, Lloyd McClendon is quoted as saying:
"I really expect him to hit .280, hit 25 home runs and drive in 80 to 85 runs."
Now, those numbers certainly are POSSIBLE, but they would represent a big improvement and likely establish a new level of performance that we just haven't seen from Wigginton. This being the case, I don't think we can EXPECT those numbers.
Now, I don't know if Lloyd really expects that type of performance from Wigginton or if he is just trying to promote his player. But Paul Meyer certainly seems to buy into this projection. He goes so far as to put forth the following:
If Wigginton does that -- and he offered hope he can in September when he batted .282 with four home runs and 17 RBIs -- Pirates fans can overlook his 2004 stats.
and
The numbers were there for Wigginton before the trade. In 86 games with the Mets, he batted .285 with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs.
Both excerpts from Meyer's article are fine examples of
selective thinking. It's ridiculous to pick and choose small sample sizes from a larger population and assert that the smaller sample size represents the player's true level of performance. It would have been just as valid for Meyer to point to Wigginton's numbers after the trade and assert that .220/.306/.341 is his true level of performance.
Meyer isn't alone though. You see folks doing this all the time in sports. For example, if Team A goes 16-12 during the month of June, fans will expect the team to repeat that performance in July, even if they went 12-16 in May.
It's especially evident this time of year. How many times have you read that a certain player is expected to make the team based on a hot start in spring training? Guess what...that hot start is probably based on about 30 at bats. Meanwhile, everyone forgets that the player hit .240 in 300 at bats last season.
In the end, Wigginton will probably do pretty much what he did last season overall. The prediction here is: .275, 15 HR, 70 RBI.
A windy Pirate blog
There is a fledgling Pirate blog, out of Chicago of all places, that is worth checking out. It's called
The Parrot Speaks. Go check it out.
Todd Ritchie retires
It's been reported that Todd Ritchie has left camp and is set to announce his retirement. He really hasn't pitched in 2 years and his struggles this spring meant he was going to have to scratch and claw his way to AAA anyway.
Rather than remembering him as just one more failed rotator cuff rehab data point, I'll remember him as the first guy to throw a meaningful pitch at PNC Park.
Thanks Todd.
Will vs. Jose
I highly recommend tuning in to the CNBC show "Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" tonight. (Yes...I just recommended CNBC.)
Will Carroll and the most powerful man in professional sports, Jose Canseco, will be on the show discussing steroids in baseball.
While I am getting tired of all steroid talk, all the time, this is a show I can't pass up. Carroll is the author of a soon to be released book titled, "The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems." Having read Carroll before, I expect this book to cut through all the crap on the steroid controversy and deliver objective, fact-based, and informed opinion on the matter. If you prefer rumor, innuendo, and grand-standing, then maybe you should just go ahead and buy Canseco's book.
In any event, this represents a rare opportunity for someone who knows what they are talking about to press Canseco on some of the statements he's made.
**UPDATE: Here in Pirate-land (where Leyland's Bucs Play Hardball), the show comes on at 10 pm.
Lost Pirates
You'll notice I've added a new "feature" to the site called Lost Pirate of the Week. Every week I'll put a link to the baseballreference.com page of a Pirate that you probably haven't thought about in a long time but who once played a significant role for the team.
The first Lost Pirate is Jim Morrison, 3b and role player for the mid-80's Bucs. One thing that stood out from his record is that he finished 10th in the NL in home runs in 1986 with 23. How times have changed!
Ward or Grieve?
Not much going on yet in Pirate land. Ollie seems to be getting back on track. Wells had a nice outing. Bay isn't seriously hurt. Now you are caught up.
Does anyone realize the ridiculous importance people put on spring training statistics? Ben Grieve went 4 for 9, and suddenly everybody is a-twitter. It's hard to believe that so many futures are determined by such an absurdly small sample size against minor league pitching.
Anyway, the only interesting battle in camp is coming down to the "left-handed role player who can't field a position" role. The candidates are Grieve and Daryle Ward. Both are former uber-prospects who have had their moments in the sun in the show, but have fallen on hard times for whatever reason. Littlefield is said to be intrigued by the flashes Ward showed last season with the Bucs. But I'm rooting for Grieve.
The hidden vigorish of this "battle" is that it shouldn't even be taking place. Both guys should make the team. There's no reason the Pirates have to carry 12 pitchers, especially in April/May. With so many off days, your 5th starter can be skipped, essentially giving you another arm in the pen.
I guess Littlefield feels that 12 pitchers give Lloyd McClendon the opportunity to do what he does best...trot out to the mound 25 times a game.
