Meek Left In To Blow Game After Injury

I have rarely criticized John Russell's managing decisions on this site. Nor have I really even written that much about individual games. The only non-depressing story this year is one of player development and the arrival of a new core of young players.

Yet, Russell made a decision last night that is not defensible.

For those of you who missed the game: The Pirates got a great start out of Ross Ohlendorf, 6.2 scoreless innings, and led Houston 1-0 entering the bottom of the eighth. Set-up man Evan Meek came on to pitch the inning.

Michael Bourn led off and grounded to Garrett Jones, who threw to Meek covering first for the out. Meek apparently hurt himself somehow covering first and as he got ready to pitch to the next batter, Angel Sanchez, was clearly favoring his right leg.

Now, presumably John Russell as well as trainer Brad Henderson are watching the action on the field. Once a player appears hurt in any way it is the manager's job to send the trainer out to take a look at him. This stuff is elementary. Instead J.R. did nothing and Sanchez worked a 3-2 count, then singled to right.

OK, so J.R. thought this was something Meek could shake off - but how do you know that without sending the trainer out? What is the point of paying to fly a trainer to Houston if you don't use him?

The next batter, Hunter Pence, went to a 3-0 count with none of the pitches being really close. Meek's foot was clearly affecting his follow-through and therefore his command on the mound. Catcher Chris Snyder visited the mound at that point, but Pence walked on a 3-1 pitch.

Clearly it was time now to take Meek out of the game. I said it at the time but anyone would have known it. Either Meek is hurt, or he just doesn't have it today. Regardless, you can send the trainer out, remove him from the game and have Joel Hanrahan come on for the final five outs after getting an unlimited time to warm up. You can't screw around in a 1-0 game.

Instead, pitching coach Ray Searage went out to the mound sans trainer. Meek pitched to the next batter, Carlos Lee, who hit a three-run homer to left for the 3-1 lead which effectively iced the game.

It's true that Meek never summoned the trainer, but at the point he looks hurt at all you send him out. If pitchers were allowed to decide themselves whether they stayed in the game, each team would go to their bullpen approximately zero times a year. I suspect this is the reason why throughout basbeall history, to my knowledge a pitcher was never a player-manager.

The next batter, Geoff Blum, lined a single to right. Now the Pirates started warming up another reliever, Wil Ledezma. While Ledezma was getting ready, Chris Johnson and Brett Wallace singled, the latter hit scoring Blum to make it 4-1. Ledezma came in at that point and got out of the inning with no further damage, but the game was already lost.

All this happened while the Pirates had five men available in the bullpen. I really don't see the point of leaving an injured player in a baseball game in most situations. No matter how minor the injury, it has to affect performance somewhat. Almost any healthy player has to be better. Furthermore it is a 162 game season and there are very few injuries that can adequately be diagnosed, using no equipment, immediately after they occur.

Maybe the injury was nothing. I suspect it subsided in fifteen minutes. But even on Meek's follow through on the home run ball it was apparent that his leg was affected to some extent.

Evan Meek looks like he blew the game in the box score, but I blame this one at least half on the manager. Meek should have been removed - at the latest - when it was 1-0 with two men on and one out. Against a weak lineup with his stuff, Hanrahan would have had at least a 50/50 shot at closing it out from there.

Pirates WFC Twitter Is Up

As a modern and progressive blog, at this point I really had no choice but to get an associated Twitter account.

Now, the main drawback to this is that I have nothing to post. Yet, a quick examination of this monstrosity of a medium reveals that 98% of Twitter users are in the same boat. This doesn't stop them from posting so why should it stop me? We're talking about a service which includes, among other things, a Fake Charlie Morton site. And a Fake Andy LaRoche. You should be legitimately scared.

A link to the Twitter site, www.twitter.com/pirateswfc, is now on the right sidebar.

Series Preview: Houston Astros

The Pirates finish their road trip with a three game set in Houston. Obviously, this is a barnburner of a series that features the 15th and 16th best offenses in the National League. At 48-65 the Astros are good enough to be out of the running for the top draft pick, yet bad enough to be playing out the string.

I read on one site that asking a girl to go to the Pirates-Astros game is a good way to tell if she likes you because there's no other way she would go. Hmm, I've been to Pirates-Astros games with a lot of girls so I guess I should have put out.

After iconic Astros Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt were dumped two weeks ago at the non-waiver deadline, Houston has an even less interesting team than before. I know, I know. Rookie Chris Johnson (.361/.388/.548) has been on fire since his recent call-up while Carlos Lee (.248/.295/.401) recently was named worst player in baseball by one blog I read.

Houston Astros - Friday 8:05, Saturday 7:05, Sunday 2:05
Tonight Ross Ohlendorf (1-9, 4.23) faces Brett Myers (8-7, 3.21). Myers was recently signed to an extension and will be the Astros ace through at least 2012. Ohlendorf has only given up 11 runs over his last eight starts and as an added bonus, is the only pitcher in this matchup who never got arrested for publicly assaulting his wife in Boston. My pick is the Pirates.

Saturday, Nelson Figueroa (3-1, 3.38) faces Paul Maholm (7-10, 4.90). Figueroa has exclusively been a reliever so far for Houston, but since it was too hot to go outside, Astros manager Brad Mills was chatting about the Astros with his eHarmony matches and "Angela" informed him that Figueroa has a 1.07 WHIP this season. So he gets his first start here against Maholm, who needs a good finish to end the season with respectable numbers. Maholm always bounces back after a 7+ run start so my pick is the Pirates.

Sunday, Jeff Karstens (2-8, 4.39) faces Bud Norris (4-7, 5.63). Bud Norris is one of those guys who you think should get it together due to his K rate (over a batter an inning) but never can because he's awful. He gave up seven runs on the way to a 12-6 loss last month at PNC Park. My pick is the Pirates.

No Reason To Trust Taillon Rumors

As you probably know, the Pirates used their #2 overall pick this year on pitcher Jameson Taillon. There are no guarantees in baseball but I'd wager money on the future success of a 6'7" high school pitcher whose fastball has been clocked at 99 mph and who once threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter.

How An Internet Rumor Starts
With the August 16 deadline to sign draft picks approaching, Pirates fans are understandably anxious to see Taillon ink a contract. So anxious, apparently, that an unconfirmed Twitter report based on no information has caused multiple sources to report that Taillon has already been signed.

The Twitter post which started the rumor is this: "Word is that the #Pirates already have a deal in place for Jameson Taillon and are just waiting to announce it."

This was posted by "Houston 5A baseball" - which sounds like and has been reported to be the official Twitter of the league Taillon played in, but is actually an independent site that apparently covers high school baseball in Houston. A bunch of people have re-tweeted it and it also inspired many blog posts, so the information now appears to have been posted by many different sources.

One would think that if a baseball news site had enough information to break a story on the signing of the #2 overall draft pick, that story would be, you know, on the site. Yet at the H5AB Twitter page's associated site h5ab.com this supposed story was not enough to bump the news of "H5AB CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT T-SHIRTS STILL AVAILABLE."

Besides being a guy who writes a Pirate blog under the initials "B.S.", I also have actual journalism experience. Not much, but enough that a business owner once called me and said "I'll sue you and your backwater rag" and Cindy Sheehan publicly called me "the mainstream media." And this experience tells me that H5AB's Twitter is not exactly a "reputable news source."

Futhermore, I see no reason why the Pirates would not announce the signing if a deal were actually in place. Your Pirates currently have their worst winning percentage since 1953 and are universally criticized in this city for not spending enough money on the team. I think the Pirates are about as likely to secretly be making multimillion dollar signings as British Petroleum is to be secretly rescuing small children from a burning building.

Why Taillon Will Sign
Now, none of this is meant to suggest that Taillon will not sign with the Pirates. He will. He has a scholarship offer to Rice University, which is a great option for pretty much anyone except the guy whose alternative is to take around $7.5 million to play baseball professionally. His agents are working on a commission basis and stand to make around $375,000 from the deal, or of course they could take zero. Neil Huntington could either add a future ace to his minor league system or get fired for blowing the 2010 draft.

Clearly, there is too much at stake for this deal not to get done. And once it is done, of course it will look like this rumor was correct. But I won't believe Taillon is signed until he's, wait for it, signed.

Overusing Evan Meek?

Evan Meek entered tonight's game having thrown 63.1 innings in relief, third most in the National League behind Tyler Clippard and Matt Belisle. His overall numbers still look great (1.56 ERA, 0.93 WHIP) but Meek looks to me to be showing some signs of fatigue. After walking 16 batters in the first four months, he's already walked six in five innings so far in August.

To John Russell's credit, despite a depleted relief corps he has called on Meek in only four of 12 games since the trade deadline. Unlike some managers J.R. also is good about not warming up guys who then don't appear in the game. Yet I wonder if Meek's usage needs to be decreased even more going forward.

In his first three years since being converted to a reliever for the 2007 season, Meek appeared in 44, 42, and 47 games out of the bullpen in the last three years throwing 67, 70, and 56 innings. At his current rate of usage he'll appear in 74 games and throw 90 innings in 2010. These are all high leverage innings.

Also, anyone who has watched a game can observe that Meek is clearly a high effort guy on the mound. When watching his 50-pitch outing against the Reds I was reminded of the faces I saw earlier this year when I watched some of the Pittsburgh Marathon at mile 22. Except that during the marathon it was actually raining while our All-Star reliever was just sweating.

I would be fine with this pattern of usage during a pennant race, but we're approaching the level of use that can have negative effects the following year. Basically, 74 game guys usually throw 60-65 innings and 90 inning guys usually appear in only 55-60 games. Pitching is an unnatural motion and everyone will get an arm injury after some number of pitches. No one knows what that number is for any individual pitcher, but the combination of appearing in every other game and often appearing for multiple innings can only increase the chances of arm injuries going forward.

Meek is a valuable asset who is under club control for four more years, and throwing him for another 27 innings has zero chance of resulting in anything other than a last place finish this season. Once September call-ups arrive I would like to see his usage drastically cut back to a point where he throws only 80 innings this year.

Minor League Pennant Races Take Shape

Most of us in major league cities think about the minor leagues only in terms of player development. Rest assured that the players, managers and coaching staff in the minors don't think this way. These guys want to win championships no matter what the level. There's a reason every league holds playoffs and crowns a champion; this is what guys have been playing for all season.

From a player development standpoint, a championship run gets guys appearances in more of a pressure environment and helps players to develop an expectation of winning which will be helpful later in their career. And honestly, who among us hasn't sent down their star major leaguers in MVP Baseball 2005 to the Eastern League to win a coveted AA championship, only to find that ending a season in AA makes them retire?

Minor league seasons end on Labor Day so we can judge by now which teams are in or out of a pennant race. Here's a rundown on the top three teams' chances and their best performers this year.

AAA Indianapolis Indians
The Indians are 59-59, third in the International League's four-team Western Division. They're 7.5 games back of wild card leader Louisville (Reds) and would have to pass three other teams as well. They're also nine games behind Columbus (Indians) in the division and would have to pass both Columbus and Louisville to finish first. With 26 games to go the playoffs are looking highly unlikely.

There's not much to see here on the pitching side, but Indianapolis has had a good hitting club all year. Brandon Moss (.272/.335/.481) leads the I-Tribe in almost every offensive category. Akinori Iwamura (.275/.422/.412) has hit well in Indy, so well that I predict a pinch hitting role in September. Erik Kratz (.297/.397/.547) is the regular catcher again and John Bowker (.500/.538/.792) has been on fire in his seven games.

AA Altoona Curve
The Curve is 66-49 and in first place in the Eastern League's Western Division. They're three games ahead of Bowie (Orioles), but the top two teams in each division make the playoffs so the key number is the 5.5 games by which they lead Harrisburg (Nationals). With 28 games to go nothing is assured, but this is mostly the same group that won the Carolina League last year so they are playoff tough. The EL playoffs start September 8 and consist of two best-of-five series.

The Curve has a strong pitching staff led by Rudy Owens (9-6, 2.74) and Justin Wilson (9-6, 3.35). Jeff Locke (1-1, 3.54) has done well since his call up from Bradenton. On the offensive side, outfielder Matt Hague (.300/.381/.454) has been solid all year and should get to 90 runs and RBI. Catcher Hector Giminez (.311/.396/.548) leads the team with 14 home runs and new outfielder Andrew Lambo (.406/.472/.594) has obviously been great in his first eight games.

A Bradenton Marauders
In their first season the Marauders are 61-51, 22-20 in the second half, and in second place in the Florida State League's South Division. Under the primitive first half/second half system Bradenton can clinch the playoffs by overcoming their one game deficit to Palm Beach (Cardinals). It would be quite impressive if they do so because Bradenton should have had their hopes dashed by their huge number of injuries. The FSL plays a best-of-three semifinal round followed by a best-of-five final series.

The Maurauders lost most of their bats to injury in midsummer, but should get shortstop Brock Holt (.351/.410/.438) back this month to provide a big lift down the stretch. Third baseman Jeremy Farrell (.289/.357/.500) just turned yesterday and outfielder Starling Marte (.292/.394/.383) returned a week ago. Catcher Eric Fryer (.287/.384/.495) has played well in Tony Sanchez's absence. Even without Sanchez, Bradenton will have easily the best lineup in the pitcher-dominated FSL once Holt returns. With Locke and Bryan Morris promoted to Altoona, Nathan Adcock (8-7, 3.70) leads the starting staff and Noah Krol (27 saves) anchors the bullpen.

We're A Real .com

I invested $9.50 into a domain name so typing pirateswfc.com or www.pirateswfc.com will now take you to this very page. I wish this was 1999 and I could issue an IPO based on having a web site and no product and make lots of money while also harboring a reasonable hope of a second New Radicals album being released one day.

The blogspot address will still work. At some point I might move to a real host which would remove the blogspot title bar, but this thing is becoming a real money pit with $24.50 invested already this year. If that happens though, I will set the blogger address to redirect so both addresses should always work.

Pirates Within Half Game of Orioles

In a Bizarro 1979 World Series-like competition, the Pirates have inched to within a half game of the Orioles for worst record in baseball.

Since hiring veteran manager Buck Showalter the Orioles have gone on a 7-1 tear. The Orioles' 14-8 win over Cleveland yesterday ran their record to 39-74. Your Pittsburgh Pirates are 39-73. The prize, of course, is the #1 draft pick. The presumptive top pick is Anthony Rendon, a third baseman from Rice University. Rendon hit .394/.530/.801 this year, averaging more than one walk, run scored and RBI per game in his sophomore season.

Judging by run differential the Orioles look like the better team going forward. The Orioles have scored 424 runs and allowed 605. The Pirates have scored 391 and allowed 606. In another interesting fact, a real oriole looks just like the Orioles logo.A major detriment for the O's in this race, in addition to their new manager, is that their team is mostly intact. They were only able to move one useful piece at the deadline, lefthanded reliever Will Ohman. This leaves them with more than two reliable relievers, which must be nice. Miguel Tejada was traded as well but he was hitting .269/.308/.362 with poor defense so that one is addition by subtraction. In fact the return of Brian Roberts and Mike Gonalez from injury makes the current Orioles the strongest they have been all season. Apart from using Corey Patterson as their DH, the Orioles fielded a pretty credible lineup last night.

Of course, don't count Baltimore out yet. Their starting rotation consists of Jeremy Guthrie (4.04 ERA), Brian Matusz (5.08), Jake Arrieta (5.29), Kevin Millwood (5.84) and (6.26). This is if no one gets hurt; presumably they would have to use the ghost of Sidney Ponson if one of those guys goes down. I actually think the Pirates rotation is far superior. The Orioles also have 37 games left against teams with winning records. It's going to take drastic measures for the Pirates to lose this race, like starting Andy LaRoche at first base and deploying Wil Ledezma as a high leverage late inning reliever. Oh wait, that happened last night.

Another dark horse is 28th place Seattle, whose 44-70 record includes an 8-3 mark by the departed Cliff Lee. They still have three decent starting pitchers but their lineup is almost comically bad - so bad that Ichiro Suzuki has reached base 183 times out of the leadoff spot and only has 45 runs. But like the Orioles they are winning rather than seizing the opportunity for the draft pick. The M's won three straight and go for four this afternoon against Oakland.

Series Preview: San Diego Padres

The Pirates make their only trip to San Diego for three games this week. Actually they've already made the trip, making the tense of that sentence horribly incorrect. The Padres are 64-46 and in first place but have lost six of ten. With their lead over the Giants trimmed to 1.5 games, San Diego has to be looking at this Pirates series like a suburb named after two Spanish words and that is something San Diego likes.

Since their series at PNC Park San Diego has added a couple of players via trade. Ryan Ludwick (.272/.334/.460) is now batting cleanup behind MVP candidate Adrian Gonzalez (.293/.387/.509). Miguel Tejada (.267/.306/.361) is now their #2 hitter which is a brilliant acquisition, assuming he can play shortstop ahead of Khalil Greene for the 2005 Padres. San Diego has the best team ERA in baseball at 3.30 which is worrisome since the Pirates aren't that good at hitting pitching.

San Diego Padres - Tuesday 10:05, Wednesday 10:05, Thursday 6:35
Tonight the Padres go with lefthander Wade LeBlanc (5-10, 3.61) against the Pirates' Jeff Karstens (2-7, 4.47). These guys are the masters of keeping their teams in games which are ultimately lost, but someone has to win. Andy LaRoche is playing first base, his brother's old position, which should bring a tear to many an eye. My pick is the Pirates.

Wednesday, James McDonald (1-1, 4.61) makes his second Pittsburgh start against Kevin Correia (8-7, 4.81). McDonald looked great against the Rockies and it is nice to have a strikeout pitcher in the rotation. Correia is the Padres' only pitcher with an ERA above 4.00 and still would be the ace of the Pirates staff. My pick is the Pirates.

Thursday, the Pirates' Zach Duke (5-10, 5.32) hopes to turn his season around against Jon Garland (10-8, 3.55). This is also a day game after a night game so that means Ryan Doumit will be behind the plate trying to shut down the #2 ranked running game in the league. Duke has a 6.50 ERA in away games. Garland has a 2.69 ERA at home. I have heard of regression to the mean and my pick is the Pirates.

Reaction to Kerrigan, Varsho Firings

The first shots were fired at Pirates management before Sunday's game as pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and bench coach Gary Varsho were both relieved of their duties.

In a Warren Commissionesque move, everyone involved claimed that this was John Russell's decision acting alone. Forgive me, but if defensive positioning for specific batters is being dictated from above, I find it hard to believe that hiring and firing of key personnel is 100% delegated. It's also worth pointing out that the typical sequence is pitching/hitting coach fired, manager fired, GM fired.

Varsho Should Have Stuck To Pinch Hitting
Whoever made the decision, Varsho's firing is no surprise since he clearly had personality conflicts with members of the team. Journalist extraordinaire John Perrotto quotes a source as saying Varsho was "too outspoken and confrontational." That is some crack journalism indeed. Could the "source" be "anyone who was listening to the radio broadcast when Varsho had to be physically restrained from coming to blows with Lastings Milledge during a game against the Rangers?" Varsho also didn't get along with Ronny Cedeno. Now these aren't core players by any means, but they're more important than Varsho. Bench coach is a rather bullshit job to start with and it seems like you would keep it by NOT physically fighting with players.

Kerrigan Can't Recapture Red Sox Magic
Kerrigan is a bigger story both because of his more important role and because he came here with some pedigree. Although it is popular to say that there isn't much coaching one can still do at the major league level, clearly there are a few pitching coaches who cause major improvements in many pitchers. Dave Duncan in St. Louis and Leo Mazzone in Atlanta come to mind. Joe Kerrigan, too, was once considered in that class. After finishing last in ERA in 1997, in 1998 his Red Sox pitching staff had the second best ERA in the American League; Kerrigan was credited with resurrecting the careers of guys like Bret Saberhagen and Tom Gordon. The Sox ranked first in ERA in 1999 and 2000, again with Kerrigan as their pitching coach. He was promoted to manager, went 17-26 and was out of Boston after a quarter season, but no one thought at that point that he couldn't perform as pitching coach.

His next job was with the Phillies in 2003 and 2004. He apparently did a solid job in 2003 when he got 14 or more wins out of starters Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla and Brett Myers. The Phillies finished a respectable seventh in ERA. All four of those declined in 2004, Philadelphia finished 13th in ERA and Kerrigan was out.

In Pittsburgh the story was even worse. In this, his second season as pitching coach, Kerrigan's staff ranked 15th in the National League with a 5.08 team ERA at the time he was fired. Last year the Pirates ranked 14th with a 4.59. Evan Meek is the only pitcher who really blossomed during Kerrigan's tenure. Many more have regressed including guys like Charlie Morton, Kevin Hart, and to a lesser extent Paul Maholm. I can't recall any stories of Kerrigan teaching guys new pitches or really being credited with much of anything.

It is doubtful that any pitching coach could keep his job after ranking 14th and 15th in team ERA, but Kerrigan is also rumored to have had personality conflicts with some Pirates pitchers. Phillies pitchers openly said they didn't like working with Kerrigan during his tenure there from 2003-04; Pirates pitchers are not very outspoken but the midseason firing suggests possibly the same type of thing was going on here. Also after flaming out in Pittsburgh, one wonders if Kerrigan will get another MLB pitching coach job.

In any event, his replacement Ray Searage by all accounts has an agreeable personality and already has developed a good rapport with the staff as bullpen coach. Searage carries an interim tag but has widely been considered the pitching coach of the future. He served as a minor league pitching coach for the last seven years, experience that could be helpful with the Pirates' young staff.

With Real Crowds, A Real Team

The Pirates continued their run of last night of big games before a big crowd. They're 7-3 this season before crowds of 30,000 or more.

The Pirates are now averaging 20,561 fans a night, 23rd in baseball. It's not a great total by any means, but we're ahead of a few notable teams: The Tampa Bay Rays, owners of the best record in baseball at 67-43. The second place Oakland A's. The Cleveland Indians, who sold out 455 straight games when they had a good team. And the Toronto Blue Jays, who not only have a winning record but lead baseball in home runs. Attendance in Pittsburgh has increased despite a worse record than last year.Performing well before these big crowds should help to keep fans coming back to the park. Here's a full list of what the 30,000+ crowds have seen:

39,024 - April 5 - On Opening Day, Pirates win 12-5 behind three home runs including two from Garrett Jones.

31,061 - April 7 - Pirates bullpen pitches five shutout innings preserving a 3-3 tie into the tenth. Pirates load the bases with one out; Ronny Cedeno hits a line drive to right center scoring Lastings Milledge to beat the Dodgers 4-3.

36,687 - June 5 - Andrew McCutchen homers and goes 4-for-5; Ryan Doumit homers and drives in four; Pirates beat Giants 6-3.

38,008 - June 19 - McCutchen gets on base five times scoring four runs; Milledge gets three hits and drives in four; Pirates beat Indians 6-4.

30,339 - July 2 - Ross Ohlendorf pitches seven shutout innings, striking out eight to beat the Phillies 2-0.

38,052 - July 3 - Pedro Alvarez hits his first career home run but Paul Maholm gets lit up for eight runs as the Pirates get blown out by the Phillies 12-4.

36,665 - July 17 - In a balanced and strong attack, seven players get more than one hit as the Pirates overcome a four-run Astros second inning for a 12-6 blowout win.

36,967 - July 24 - Pirates lead 2-1 through five but Padres get two big innings for a 9-2 win.

30,711 - August 6 - Alvarez's three-run homer is not enough; bullpen allows three late runs for a 6-3 loss to the Rockies.

38,147 - August 7 - Chris Snyder hits a three-run homer helping the Pirates to a 5-2 lead through eight. Todd Helton ties it in the ninth on a three-run homer of his own. The Rockies push two across in the top of the tenth but Pedro Alvarez hits a walk-off three run homer to defeat the Rockies 8-7.

It's time to get on board now. When Pittsburgh wins the 2011 WFC, you want to be able to say you were a true Pirate fan when they were in last place.

A Star Is Made: Alvarez Walks Off

In dramatic fashion, the Pirates won 8-7 tonight on a three-run, 10th inning homer by Pedro Alvarez. It was his tenth home run of the year and could be the highlight of the 2010 season.

The video is available here. Check the players' reaction if you still think professional athletes only care about collecting a paycheck.

From the ovation he received before his first at bat as a Pirate, it was clear that this fan base yearned for a power hitting star. But through his first 16 games Alvarez looked like he wasn't ready for prime time as he was hitting just .167/.220/.222 with no home runs and 25 strikeouts in 54 at bats.

Now only a month later, Alvarez has established himself as a legitimate power threat in the middle of the order. The walk-off homer is the culmination of a 29 game stretch in which Pedro has 10 home runs and 23 RBI along with a .275/.358/.578 batting line.

This walk off home run was Pedro's most satisfying shot since this one for Vanderbilt against archrival Memphis - and in the face of an 'Overrated' chant.



Pedro's next milestone cannot be far off: His first major league intentional walk.

Pirates vs. Pirates

The 2010 Pirates rank 16th in the 16 team National League in run scoring and 15th in run prevention. Thus, it is hurting the Pirate players' performance that they don't get to play the Pirates. Catch 22. Take Albert Pujols and put him on the Pirates, and over his career he would have faced Cardinals pitching in 148 games when he actually faced Pirates pitching. And some of those pitching staffs were worse than this year's.

In this Alternate Pirates Reality, the Pirates exclusively face the Pirates for a full season. Imagine the hated Visiting Pirates team bringing in the lefty Wil Ledezma to pitch to McCutchen! Or the hated Visiting Pirates sending up Andy LaRoche to pinch hit against Joel Hanrahan in the bottom of the ninth! Or the hated Visiting Pirates starting Zach Duke in a baseball game! The possibilities are endless. By the magic of text based baseball simulation, it can happen. Here are the results using the current 25 man roster:

Starting Lineup
CF Andrew McCutchen - .287/.364/.400, 107 R, 9 HR, 68 RBI, 33 SB
LF Jose Tabata - .316/.360/.430, 110 R, 14 HR, 84 RBI, 28 SB
2B Neil Walker - .363/.409/.525, 107 R, 14 HR, 102 RBI, 5 SB
1B Garrett Jones - .296/.354/.544, 107 R, 39 HR, 120 RBI, 6 SB
3B Pedro Alvarez - .246/.324/.444, 71 R, 26 HR, 87 RBI
RF Lastings Milledge - .285/.344/.372, 68 R, 4 HR, 57 RBI, 6 SB
C Chris Snyder - .243/.354/.394, 73 R, 19 HR, 73 RBI
SS Ronny Cedeno - .292/.340/.414, 74 R, 9 HR, 86 RBI, 4 SB

This is a really potent lineup. Neil Walker wins the batting title and is a legitimate MVP candidate, stroking line drive hit after line drive hit off the Pirates' staff. Garrett Jones puts up a big time power season, the likes of which haven't been seen since Brian Giles. Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen are each on base enough to score well over 100 runs in front of the Big Two. Strangely, McCutchen actually hits worse against poorer pitching.

Pedro Alvarez shows some pop but overall, struggles in his rookie year and strikes out 196 times. Milledge and Snyder are no better, no worse. The real revelation in the bottom half of the order is Ronny Cedeno who drives in an unbelievable 86 runs while hitting close to .300.

Bench
Delwyn Young - .267/.343/.467, 9 HR, 32 RBI
Andy LaRoche - .212/.301/.246, 1 HR, 17 RBI
Jeff Clement - .190/.227/.321, 3 HR, 11 RBI
Erik Kratz - .128/.227/.128, 0 HR, 3 RBI
Argenis Diaz - .412/.412/.412, 0 HR, 1 RBI

With the strong performance of the starters, our bench is lightly used with only 438 total at bats. Delwyn Young hits pretty well and Argenis Diaz makes good contact, while LaRoche, Clement and Kratz are pretty useless.

Starting Pitchers
Ross Ohlendorf - 17-4, 3.60, 190 IP, 159 H, 75 BB, 160 K
Paul Maholm - 11-11, 4.75, 206 IP, 263 H, 80 BB, 102 K
James McDonald - 8-8, 4.33, 135 IP, 157 H, 52 BB, 156 K
Jeff Karstens - 6-11, 4.77, 162 IP, 184 H, 36 BB, 128 K
Zach Duke - 7-13, 5.83, 173 IP, 240 H, 43 BB, 150 K
Daniel McCutchen - 3-6, 6.63, 90 IP, 103 H, 34 BB, 72 K

Not much changes for most of the rotation, as hittable is hittable. Maholm and Duke do worse against their Pirate teammates than against the league. Ross Ohlendorf is the story here, becoming Bizarro Ohlendorf who simply cannot lose. In a swingman role getting 17 starts and 34 relief appearances, James McDonald gets hit pretty hard but also strikes out 10.4 per nine innings.

Relievers
Joel Hanrahan - 5-5, 1.45, 112 IP, 63 H, 22 BB, 174 K, 15 Saves
Evan Meek - 8-1, 1.01, 125 IP, 71 H, 50 BB, 131 K, 6 Saves
Sean Gallagher - 5-6, 4.65, 81 IP, 79 H, 62 BB, 81 K, 5 Saves
Justin Thomas - 5-6, 5.68, 89 IP, 122 H, 11 BB, 37 K, 8 Saves
Wil Ledezma - 4-5, 6.31, 46 IP, 76 H, 7 BB, 47 K, 3 Saves
Chris Resop - 2-5, 6.41, 59 IP, 78 H, 49 BB, 66 K, 1 Save

The Big Two, Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan, appear in 75 and 74 games and are completely unhittable. John Russell relies on them heavily using the duo for 237 innings, in which they strike out an unreal 305 combined batters. Sean Gallagher is the only other reliever who is even passable, overcoming poor control for an ERA only slightly below league average.

Of course, the Pirates go only 81-81 vs. the Pirates and the pitching is largely hittable. But the dynamic offense really is a welcome change. Imagine four batters each scoring 100 runs. And Meek's season in particular is one of the best ever for a reliever. What a team, and all it took was some poor competition to let that shine through.

Series Preview: Colorado Rockies

After losing 6-2 to the Pirates last Wednesday, the Rockies were 51-50 and in fourth place prompting many in baseball to say they should trade their stars at the deadline. But in the balanced National League, a week can make a big difference in a pennant race. Colorado has won five of six now and at 56-51 began the day 5.5 back of wild card leader San Francisco, 6.5 behind division leader San Diego and only needing to pass one of those teams for a playoff spot.

The Rockies are hoping this is one of their patented late season surges like the ones that took them to the 2007 and 2009 playoffs. With their bats hot and a healthy pitching staff for the first time all year, Colorado is no doubt looking at this four game series with the Pirates like a chance to wear a cowboy hat downtown in a major city, and that is something Colorado likes. To your right is a picture of the Rocky Mountains that I stole from Paul Maholm's Twitter.

We miss Ubaldo Jimenez this series but will not miss the Colorado offense, now second in the NL in scoring. The attack is led by shortstop Troy Tulowitzski (.308/.375/.508) and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez (.319/.349/.559). Gonzalez is absolutely red hot with six home runs in seven games, two of which came when the teams played last week in Denver. CarGo is being looked at as a breakout star by the national media but he actually put up close to the same numbers last year before his season was cut short by injury.

Colorado Rockies - Thursday 7:05, Friday 7:05, Saturday 7:05, Sunday 1:35
James McDonald (0-1, 8.22) makes his Pirates debut tonight in one of the more intriguing starts of the year. James spent almost all of 2009 with the Dodgers as a solid middle reliever, helping them to another NLCS appearance, and was rewarded with a demotion to the minors in 2010 and then a trade after two bad games. He is only 25 and still has a 4.11 career major league ERA which is better than any of the Pirates' other starters. The Rockies will counter with Jeff Francis (4-3, 4.44) who is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA over his last three starts despite missing the Pirates series. McDonald has good stuff and a high strikeout rate and with the benefit of a pitchers' park should stop the Rockies' bats. My pick is the Pirates.

Friday, Jason Hammel (7-6, 4.37) faces the Pirates' Zach Duke (5-10, 5.36). Duke has gone 8-18 with a 5.28 ERA since his All-Star appearance which is really helping the team by decreasing his salary value in arbitration. Also Duke is a big game pitcher and there's no bigger game than the only bobblehead night of the year. My pick is the Pirates.

Saturday, Jorge De La Rosa (4-3, 5.01) faces Ross Ohlendorf (1-9, 4.41). De La Rosa's windup has a huge hitch in it and overall is so annoying to watch that last week the Pirates were forced to have men on base all the time against him to avoid seeing it. I think that trend will continue, thus my pick is the Pirates.

Sunday, Paul Maholm (7-9, 4.59) faces Jhoulys Chacin (5-8, 4.04). The 22-year-old Chacin has a hittable fastball but mixes it with some of the best breaking stuff in the league, giving him 89 strikeouts in 82 innings, so of course the Rockies moved him to the bullpen. But then manager Jim Tracy never received the new issue of People so he was reading about the Rockies online and realized Chacin is his second best pitcher, so he's making this start. Nevertheless, my pick is the Pirates.

Park, Resop Added; Jackson DFAd

The Pirates moved to shore up their bullpen after today's loss by claiming righthanded relievers Chan Ho Park and Chris Resop on waivers. Let's meet the new pitchers:

Chan Ho Park, 37, is 2-1 with a 5.60 ERA this year. In 29 games for the Yankees he pitched 35 innings and gave up 40 hits, 12 walks and struck out 29. He throws a 91 mph fastball, 85 mph slider, 77 mph curveball and 84 mph changeup. He's owed about $400,000 for the rest of the season.

I sat next to the visitors' bullpen in section 138 for the Phillies series last year and I can report that Chan Ho is an unbelievable hit with the ladies, with a steady stream of them filtering down to hit on him throughout the game.

Chris Resop, 27, gave up five runs in two innings in his only game for the Braves this year. Yet his AAA numbers look pretty interesting. In 15 starts he went 6-3 with a 2.09 ERA. Throwing 82 innings, he gave up only 53 hits and walked 32 while striking out 91. He throws a 93 mph fastball, 78 mph curveball and 83 mph changeup.

Steven Jackson leaves town 0-1 with an 11.57 ERA. He let 19 baserunners on in 7 innings this year. Jackson did a credible job in 40 games last season, but was clearly not helping the Pirates at this point. He'll likely pass through waivers, as he did earlier this season, and be reassigned to Indianapolis.

Reaction
Once a great strength of this club, the Pirate bullpen became a complete disaster after the trades of D.J. Carrasco, Javier Lopez and Octavio Dotel. I am happy with the return for each pitcher, but the moves left the Pirates with only two relief pitchers who are even remotely reliable. The other five guys - Justin Thomas, Steven Jackson, Wil Ledezma, Sean Gallagher and Daniel McCutchen - have ERAs ranging from 4.98 (Gallagher) to 18.00 (Ledezma).

Considering the situation, both acquisitions are good moves. Chan Ho Park is near the end of his career but he is a major league pitcher who won't be a complete embarassment out there, which is more than can be said for the guy he replaces. It looks like he'll slide right into the seventh innings. And Resop is worth a shot by virtue of his AAA numbers this season.

August Home Giveaways Preview

I watched one of the half hour sports shows Sunday night. Now I don't know what possessed me but I was thinking maybe the Pirates would be mentioned on the show since, you know, they're the only team in the city that's playing. I kid you not, the show was a half hour discussion of the crowd's reaction to Ben Roethlisberger practicing at the Steelers' first practice of training camp, as well as an analysis of how this would compare to the crowd's reaction at his first game of the season. Football training camp is always the most devastating time for the sports media, but just wow. Anyway, if you're going to see poor relief pitching, you should probably get something free and here is what you can get.

Thursday, August 5
vs. Colorado - 7:05 p.m.
T-Shirt Thursday VIII
Here it is, a hot chick shirt. This shirt would look great in size Small on a hot chick. For those of you not in tune with the way the hot chick mind works, let me enlighten you. The goal is to wear something no one would look good in, which really underscores the hot chick's hotness when she still looks good.

Get there early, hot chicks, if you want your size. The Pirates don't realize that a hot chick shirt is never manufactured in size Extra Large.

Friday, August 6
vs. Colorado - 7:05 p.m.
Andrew McCutchen Bobblehead
Ah, the motherlode. In an alarming preseason admission of expecting to only have one good player, the Pirates made their center fielder the only bobblehead of 2010. You could say it looks a lot like Andrew McCutchen, but you would be wrong.

By the way, I really hope this alarming drop in bobblehead giveaways is just a one year blip. Say what you want about George W. Bush but he presided over some bobblehead-rich baseball seasons.

Saturday, August 7
vs. Colorado - 7:05 p.m.
George Thorogood Skyblast
For those of you who were not among my initial audience of 3 readers, George Thorogood inspired me to start this blog. He also wrote this immortal line: "You know when I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself.

Inspiration like that is why George Thorogood is a rock star and you are only a physical therapist/personal trainer/model.

Sunday, August 8
vs. Colorado - 1:35 p.m.
Kids Replica Batting Helmet
I don't want to get your hopes up for nothing, but judging from appearance alone it looks like you could turn this thing upside down and eat a giant bowl of ice cream from it.

Thursday, August 18
vs. Florida - 7:05 p.m.
T-Shirt Thursday IX
This crappy shirt is presented by West Penn Allegheny Health System. It's good to know that this health system cannot afford to keep the emergency room open or, you know, provide hospital services at their namesake hospital in Bloomfield, but they are still in good shape to sponsor this shirt.

Friday, August 19
vs. Florida - 7:05 p.m.
Pirates Poster
If there's any giveaway that is hard to judge without a picture, this is it. The Pirates' site doesn't have a photo. But seriously, unless you're living in a college dorm room you should not be decorating your walls with posters.

Saturday, August 20
vs. New York - 7:05 p.m.
Pittsburgh Crawfords Cap
For a franchise that was only around from 1930-39, the Pittsburgh Crawfords made a lot of history. The 1936 team might have had the greatest collection of talent ever, featuring Hall of Famers Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, and Cool Papa Bell. All are easily Top 100 players in baseball history. Owner Bill Greenlee built the $100,000 Greenlee Field - the first black owned stadium in baseball history. This meant players could use the dressing rooms, unlike their crosstown counterpart Homestead Grays who played at segregated Forbes Field. The Crawfords won league titles in 1935 and 1936. Unfortunately when you wear this cap everyone will think you're wearing a Cincinnati Reds cap.

Sunday, August 21
vs. New York - 1:35 p.m.
Kids Chest Protector Backpack
My associate Brandon recently got a teaching job in Georgia. The country. His previous school was apparently pretty rough, because I asked what made him want to teach overseas and he responded: "Kids in Europe respect the teacher more. Also guns in schools are very rare." So, clearly you will want your spawn to have this protective tote.

John Russell's Managerial Tendencies

The Pirates face an interesting decision this offseason in whether to retain John Russell as manager. He was extended through 2011 prior to the season but the Pirates could eat his contract at a cost of less than $1 million. J.R. has supposedly been on the hot seat at various times this year, but he's taken way too much blame for the Pirates' record. Coach John Wooden wouldn't have had a great result with the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets either. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what Russell's strategic tendencies are as manager.

Bunts, Steals and Walks
He started managing with the Twins' rookie league team in 1995 and has been managing ever since apart from a three year stint as the Pirates' third base coach. Let's look at how often his teams employed three strategies, starting with his first year managing at the AAA level in 2001.

Here are his teams' league ranks in stolen bases attempted, sacrifice bunts, and intentional walks given.It looks like Russell has mostly eschewed all three of these strategies. Apart from his 2006 Scranton club which included Michael Bourn, his teams never attempted an above average number of steals for their league. This is perhaps no more apparent than with this year's team. Six of the eight players in the lineup have the ability to steal bases but they've made few attempts. Recently, even Andrew McCutchen is only running when a steal is absolutely necessary.

He employed the bunt frequently with a couple of poor hitting teams in 2006-07 but otherwise has rarely asked his position players to bunt, even this year when the Pirates rank last in the league in runs. Defensively, J.R. employed the intentional walk often in his first Pirates season but that was an anomaly; the Pirates now issue the fewest free passes in baseball.

Lineup Composition
J.R. hasn't had that much to work with but has done a pretty solid job of getting his high-on base guys near the top of the lineup.

Since J.R. has managed the Pirates, here are the team on base percentages along with the OBP from each of the first three lineup spots.Mostly success here. The key failure has been the 2010 leadoff spot, but that is mostly a performance problem rather than a philosophical one since Akinori Iwamura would have been expected to get on base out of the leadoff spot. Maybe J.R. stuck with Iwamura too long, but Aki was good enough to lead off for the 2008 AL champions so I can't really blame him.

The other thing that stands out is Russell's tendency to vary his lineups. The only guys who have batted consistently in the same spot were Xavier Nady, fifth in 2008; McCutchen, leadoff in 2009; and Garrett Jones, cleanup this year; none of those represent full seasons.

Defensive Positioning
There are no stats for this but under Russell the Pirates have played their infield in nearly all the time when it is reasonable to do so. Consistent with his disuse of the intentional walk, J.R. doesn't want to give the opposing team anything free.

More controversially, the Pirates have often employed an outfield shift where the left fielder played almost in left center field while the center fielder shifted towards right. This reflects a "two center fielders" philosophy where the Pirates have preferred speedy guys in both positions - Nate McLouth, Nyjer Morgan, Andrew McCutchen, Lastings Milledge and now Jose Tabata - and shifted them so none of the ground they covered overlapped. This worked pretty well in 2009 and was somewhat of a disaster in 2010. According to the Post-Gazette's coverage this positioning was not Russell's doing but a directive from the front office.

Pitcher Usage
Russell is typically conventional with his starters, but seems to have more of a tendency to try to wring another inning from certain guys as we saw last night with Paul Maholm. But like in the rest of Major League Baseball today, when a guy gets in trouble around pitch 100 the hook is coming.

J.R. has always employed a single closer and has shown a tendency to stick with his guy through struggles, most notably with Matt Capps last year but also with Octavio Dotel in early 2010. This is the reason I expect Joel Hanrahan to be the sole closer going forward in 2010 despite claims to the contrary. In the rest of the bullpen, Russell likes to have four back end guys, including one or two primary setup men and a lefthanded specialist, along with two long men. Like most managers J.R. will deploy his primary lefthander quite frequently, in nearly half the games. In almost all cases he does not let pinch hitting situations affect his pitcher usage; he's willing to let a pitcher bat if he wants that guy to start the next inning and he also won't make a special effort to get a guy through an inning just because his spot is coming up in the batting order.

Demeanor
Russell is about as calm of a guy as you will see, which is what I think a young team works best with. At press conferences he speaks so quietly it is hard to even hear what he is saying. Fans have clamored at times for a more fiery guy or more umpire arguments, which is perhaps the reason Russell has gotten thrown out of three games this year, all at home. His personality won't light a fire under certain guys but is well fitted to persevering through the ups and downs of a baseball season. We'll see if he gets a chance to manage the Pirates again in 2011

Keep Moss at AAA

Surprisingly, many in the Pirates fan base are calling for the recall of Brandon Moss.

Moss's season numbers at Indianapolis, .269/.334/.491, are rather pedestrian.But he's hit .351/.388/.757 in 18 games since the All-Star break including eight home runs and 30 RBI.

It is tempting to think Moss is turning a corner and finally realizing his potential at the age of 26. But there is simply nothing in Moss's record to suggest that he should be getting at bats over Lastings Milledge at this point.

Far from this being a breakout year, Moss has actually owned Triple A pitching since his age 23 season with nothing to show for it in the majors. Here are his career slash lines:

2007 (Age 23)
AAA: .282/.363/.471 in 133 games
MLB: .280/.379/.440 in 15 games

2008 (Age 24)
AAA: .282/.346/.528 in 43 games
MLB: .246/.304/.436 in 79 games

2009 (Age 25)
MLB: .236/.304/.364 in 133 games

2010 (Age 26)
AAA: .269/.334/.491 in 102 games

Except for his poor start this year, Moss has consistently owned International League pitching. Yet the results in the majors were the opposite. He performed very well in 25 at bats in 2007. The following year his numbers were unimpressive yet he at least didn't embarrass himself in a part time role. Then last year, he couldn't drive the ball or get on base. The more playing time he got, the worse he hit, which is why he has hit .241/.307/.393 in his career.

Moreover, rather than being some kind of improvement, Moss's 2010 is actually the worst he has ever hit at AAA.

At .272/.334/.382 Milledge is not hitting well this season. However, those numbers aren't so bad that this won't look like a good season for him given a good finish. He is historically a slow starter as he did this year, and is hitting .297/.350/.453 since June 1. Throughout his career, August has been Milledge's best month at .310/.374/455, a trend he continued with a single and a triple yesterday afternoon. He also is 18 months younger than Brandon Moss. If you're still hung up on Moss's AAA performance, Milledge hit better at Indianapolis last year than Moss ever did in that league.

I'm not saying Milledge is great or even that he should start in 2011. At this point in his career he has the talent of a fourth outfielder or platoon player. However, I see no reason to bench him in favor of a guy who has the talent of a starting outfielder at AAA and who has already failed given 716 major league plate appearances.

Series Preview: Cincinnati Reds

Chris Snyder and some guys I've never heard of even though I blogged about them two days ago will make their Pirates debut this week against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Reds are the most interesting rival in the Central Division. They have a very deep team including five bench players giving above average production as well as six reliable relievers in their bullpen. Joey Votto (.325/.424/.607) has blossomed into a bona fide superstar and is leading the MVP race. Every time a starting pitcher gets hurt which is a lot of times, they call up a new guy from Louisville who turns out to be awesome. It must be nice.

Despite all this success, the Reds are in a dogfight for the playoffs. At 58-47 they are half a game behind the Cardinals for the Central and also trail the Giants by two games for the wild card. Their season will probably go down to the final weekend so needless to say Cincinnati is looking at this Pirates series like a ubiquitous chain of disgusting chili restaurants and that is something Cincinnati likes.

Cincinnati Reds
Monday 7:05, Tuesday 7:05, Wednesday 12:35
Monday the Reds go with 23-year-old lefthander Travis Wood (1-1, 2.87) against Ross Ohlendorf (1-8, 4.35). Wood was called up from the minors and immediately threw eight perfect innings against the Phillies. He has a low 90s fastball with lots of movement and an assortment of four secondary pitches, which he has used to strike out eight batters per nine. You might be thinking that this sounds like a guy the Pirates will score zero runs against. Yet, my pick is the Pirates.

Tuesday the Reds will have Mike Leake (7-2, 3.57) against Paul Maholm (6-9, 4.52). Maholm always rebounds after an eight run start, which I guess is a skill that it would be better if I didn't know whether or not he possessed; he should also be helped by completely owning @sevenwithcheese in a recent Twitter argument. Meanwhile, I keep waiting for Leake to fall off a cliff because it is unfair that a guy can pitch his first professional inning in the major leagues and never look back. He's allowed ten home runs over his last eight starts which would be good if we had any home run hitters. My pick is the Pirates.

Wednesday, the Reds' Johnny Cueto (10-2, 3.32) opposes Jeff Karstens (2-6, 4.42). At 24, Cueto will be the oldest starting pitcher we face this series. You might remember him from such Pirate games as his one-hit shutout of the Bucs at PNC Park in May. Not to be negative, but we're facing a lefthander who relies on pitch movement, a pitch to contact/pinpoint control righty, and a hard throwing fastball/slider righty and each of those seem to be specific pitcher types that the Pirates struggle with. Such is life as the 29th highest scoring offense in baseball. Thank you, Seattle. As an interesting subplot, after this game Jose Tabata will be 42 games away from breaking DiMaggio's hit streak record. My pick is the Pirates.

Finally, there is no free stuff until Thursday so the August home giveaways preview will be up before then.

The Closer Choice

With Octavio Dotel in Los Angeles and Kent Tekulve unavailable, the choice of closer for the rest of 2010 comes down to two men - Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan. John Russell hasn't named a closer yet so let's take a look at the choices:

Meek is 4-3 with a 1.23 ERA in 48 games. In 58 innings he's allowed 35 hits, 16 walks and struck out 49.

Hanrahan is 2-1 with a 3.35 ERA in 47 games. In 46 innings he's allowed 32 hits, 14 walks and struck out 63.

Meek employs a full four pitch arsenal including a 95 mph fastball, 93 mph cutter, 83 mph slider and 81 mph curveball. Hanrahan is a two pitch guy and both are good, a 96 mph fastball and an 86 mph slider.

There's really not a bad choice here. Both guys have been unhittable for long stretches. They clearly have great stuff; this is visible even from the upper deck.

My choice to close would be Hanrahan. He has classic closer stuff and is flat out unhittable when he's on. He's struck out an unreal 34% of batters this season. His two-pitch stuff plays well in a one-inning role; he's thrown more than one frame only twice this year.

For the setup man, I want a guy who can go two innings. Who out of Steven Jackson, Wil Ledezma, and Sean Gallagher do you want to see protecting a one run lead in the seventh? Meek has pitched more than an inning 13 times already and with his four-pitch arsenal is suited to that role.

I would advocate that Hanrahan closes even conceding that Meek is the better pitcher. When asked if Meek should have his own scoreboard video, 17 out of 18 WFC Blog voters said "Hell yes." He'll probably only get that if he's closing. But a top setup man will pitch in more games, throw more innings, and usually throw in more high-leverage situations than a closer. Whereas the closer faces whoever is due up in the ninth inning, a relief ace/setup man like Meek can be deployed whenever the opposing team's big bats are due up or a rally needs to be stopped.

I have seen some speculation that the two will split the role. This would be by far my least favorite choice. Both guys are great setup men but there are always certain setup men who can't handle a closing role. The Pirates will have somewhere around 12 to 15 save opportunities the rest of the year. That's enough to pick one guy and really evaluate whether he can close in 2011; it's also enough to give two guys an incredibly small sample size of save opportunities and learn nothing.