Pittsburgh Pirates 2012: the relentless pursuit of 70 wins

[Erik]

New studies of catcher defense have rated Barajas favorably.

Ask Phillies fans or Brett Myers if they agree.

http://www.crossingbroad.com/2011/06/rod-barajas-is-such-an-enigmatic-douche.html

[joncarlos]

2 years, $10.5mil for Clint Barmes. http://twitter.com/#!/SI_JonHeyman/s...71673369931776

I don't mind the deal, as the Pirates can use his glove and their internal options are a vast wasteland. Of course, exercising Ronny Cedeno's option for $3mil might have been better, but at least they have someone for 2013 now too.

Barmes is a dead pull hitter moving from the Crawford Boxes in Houston to a deep left field in PNC, so that will probably erase a lot of his power. Hopefully he can still bop a few... having Barmes and Barajas at the bottom of the lineup isn't quite so horrendous if they both hit 15+ HRs and play great defense.

[Mithrandir]

2 years, $10.5mil for Clint Barmes. http://twitter.com/#!/SI_JonHeyman/s...71673369931776

I don't mind the deal, as the Pirates can use his glove and their internal options are a vast wasteland. Of course, exercising Ronny Cedeno's option for $3mil might have been better, but at least they have someone for 2013 now too.

Barmes is a dead pull hitter moving from the Crawford Boxes in Houston to a deep left field in PNC, so that will probably erase a lot of his power. Hopefully he can still bop a few... having Barmes and Barajas at the bottom of the lineup isn't quite so horrendous if they both hit 15+ HRs and play great defense.

They may hit 15 home runs combined in 2012. That's just the way it happens it Pittsburgh.

[Fresno Bob]

Barmes is a dead pull hitter moving from the Crawford Boxes in Houston to a deep left field in PNC, so that will probably erase a lot of his power. Hopefully he can still bop a few... having Barmes and Barajas at the bottom of the lineup isn't quite so horrendous if they both hit 15+ HRs and play great defense.

I'll avatar bet anyone right now that neither hits 16 HR, hit both or neither to win, if just 1, then we push.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I'll avatar bet anyone right now that neither hits 16 HR, hit both or neither to win, if just 1, then we push.

Hm, Barajas has gotten there in 4 of 7 years where's been the starting catcher. 15 HR is probably a reasonable expectation for him, so it's very close on his account.

Clint Barmes, on the other hand, seems fairly unlikely to get to 16 HR, unless he really plays A LOT. He needs to get about 650 AB to make that a reasonable bet. I doubt that happens.

[joncarlos]

It seems like the Pirates are pretty high on Nick Evans, a lefty-mashing 1B they signed to a minor league deal. If he sticks, they'd have an interesting pair of platoons on the corners, keeping both Alvarez and Jones away from lefties:

1B GI Jones/Evans
3B Alvarez/McGehee

[mgwiz22]

It seems like the Pirates are pretty high on Nick Evans, a lefty-mashing 1B they signed to a minor league deal. If he sticks, they'd have an interesting pair of platoons on the corners, keeping both Alvarez and Jones away from lefties:

1B GI Jones/Evans
3B Alvarez/McGehee

The platoon seems like Alvarez and a lot of mediocrity. They need more than this at the corners to be competitive.

[joncarlos]

The platoon seems like Alvarez and a lot of mediocrity. They need more than this at the corners to be competitive.

GI Jones hit .262/.346/.462 against righties. Evans might actually do a little better than that against lefties. It isn't great, but that ain't bad.

[Ryno84MVP]

RotoWorld: Pedro Alvarez fanned all three times he was up Saturday against the Rays. Triple-A is looking like more and more of a possibility for Alvarez. He does have two homers, but it comes with a .174 average, 10 strikeouts and just one walk through 23 at-bats. He needs to step it up over the next week. Mar 17 - 3:51 PM

It sounds like it's time to start moving Casey McGehee up on the draft board.

[Erik]

The biggest prospect/young player hound in my main league gave up on Alvarez. If even he is not a believer anymore...

[Ryno84MVP]

The biggest prospect/young player hound in my main league gave up on Alvarez. If even he is not a believer anymore...

Working his way back to AAA, now 4-for-30 with 13 strikeouts this spring

[Judge Jude]

Erik Bedard named Opening Day starter today.

[revo]

Pedro Alvarez: 2 for 30 (both hits are HRs) with 15 Ks. With McGahee on the bench, how long until Alvarez is demoted?

[Judge Jude]

Our Alvarez owner watched him on TV strike out last week and walk back to the dugout.
He said his teammates didn't even offer encouragment; it was more like a "dead man walking" thing, where it was pointless to pretend otherwise.....

[BuckyBuckner]

So far the Pirates have been involved in low scoring games. Only once so far has a team (either the Pirates or opponent) scored more than 5 runs. Their 6-1 loss on Friday was the most runs they've given up all season. They've scored 5 runs four times and gave up 5 runs three times.