Some radical thoughts
Recent events have caused two thoughts to crop up in my head. They're recurring thoughts, I've posted a little bit about them in the past, more or less in a passing manner. They get their own post now. These are probably things that you'll think I'm crazy for thinking, let alone posting for public consumption, but here goes anyways.
Crazy thought #1
I know I've mentioned this in the comments before but I'm not sure this has gone into an actual post. Ryan Vogelsong should be our closer. Why, you ask as you choke on whatever it is you're eating or drinking right now. Let's start with Mesa. He can't close any more. It just cannot be allowed to happen. Every time he takes the mound, we take a step back as a team. So who else is left? Grabow certainly isn't overpowering, and we know what happens with underpowering closers (coughmikewilliamscough). Gonzalez? The only lefty closer that's succeeded long term recently is Billy Wagner. I don't think Gonzo is ready for the role yet, and he's best as a lights out left set-up man. Meadows? See Grabow. Rick White? That would be unacceptable. That leaves Vogelsong. We know he throws hard, and for one inning I bet he could crank things up to 96 or 97. He was bad as a starter, but we know he's got good stuff, judging by his lights out spring of 2004. I won't even talk about this year or last year since he's been demoted to the pen. He's been so neglected in his relegation to mop-up duty, I don't think Roger Clemens would have an ERA under 4.00 in the situations Vogelsong's been in. Besides, what do we have to lose the rest of this year? He can't be worse than Mesa and at least we'll find out if he's worth bringing back next spring.
Crazy Thought #2
This one isn't quite as radical, but it's been bubbling in my head since a Stats Geek column of a few weeks ago, followed by Castillo's injury. I even suggested this as a solution if Castillo's motion was going to be limited by his knee injury. Now I'm suggesting it no matter what. Flip Freddy Sanchez and Jose Castillo. My friend from Boston (who was familiar with Freddy from his PawSox days) said to me when he came back to school and turned some Pirates games on, "I don't understand why you guys have Freddy at third. He was our second baseman of the future in Boston, he's got a great glove for there. Castillo's got a rocket for an arm, he'd be awesome at third base." I'll be the first to admit I love watching Wilson and Castillo turn DPs, they're a thing of beauty. Turning double plays, however, isn't all there is to second base. All you had to do was watch Freddy Sanchez last night and you could see things Castillo simply can't do. Sanchez has much more range than Castillo. At third, Castillo wouldn't need as much range (having a line on one side and a certain Jack Wilson on the other) and he certainly has the arm to play there. As for turning double plays, Jack and Freddy played together in high school, I'm sure they could whip up a quick rapport up the middle again (it looks like they already have). That brings us to the bat. Castillo is arguably a better hitter than any of our in-organization solutions to the power gap at third. He could be a 20+ homer a year guy if he's healthy all year. That's much better than what Sanchez would do at third. Freddy's numbers, however, are suited just fine to a second baseman.
I'll close this up by saying that I do realize that neither situation will ever happen with the Pirates. And I'm not saying either of these moves is foolproof (especially the Vogelsong one). All I'm saying is that the Pirates inability to look outside the box has cost them in the past, is costing them currently, and will continue to cost them down the road.
Crazy thought #1
I know I've mentioned this in the comments before but I'm not sure this has gone into an actual post. Ryan Vogelsong should be our closer. Why, you ask as you choke on whatever it is you're eating or drinking right now. Let's start with Mesa. He can't close any more. It just cannot be allowed to happen. Every time he takes the mound, we take a step back as a team. So who else is left? Grabow certainly isn't overpowering, and we know what happens with underpowering closers (coughmikewilliamscough). Gonzalez? The only lefty closer that's succeeded long term recently is Billy Wagner. I don't think Gonzo is ready for the role yet, and he's best as a lights out left set-up man. Meadows? See Grabow. Rick White? That would be unacceptable. That leaves Vogelsong. We know he throws hard, and for one inning I bet he could crank things up to 96 or 97. He was bad as a starter, but we know he's got good stuff, judging by his lights out spring of 2004. I won't even talk about this year or last year since he's been demoted to the pen. He's been so neglected in his relegation to mop-up duty, I don't think Roger Clemens would have an ERA under 4.00 in the situations Vogelsong's been in. Besides, what do we have to lose the rest of this year? He can't be worse than Mesa and at least we'll find out if he's worth bringing back next spring.
Crazy Thought #2
This one isn't quite as radical, but it's been bubbling in my head since a Stats Geek column of a few weeks ago, followed by Castillo's injury. I even suggested this as a solution if Castillo's motion was going to be limited by his knee injury. Now I'm suggesting it no matter what. Flip Freddy Sanchez and Jose Castillo. My friend from Boston (who was familiar with Freddy from his PawSox days) said to me when he came back to school and turned some Pirates games on, "I don't understand why you guys have Freddy at third. He was our second baseman of the future in Boston, he's got a great glove for there. Castillo's got a rocket for an arm, he'd be awesome at third base." I'll be the first to admit I love watching Wilson and Castillo turn DPs, they're a thing of beauty. Turning double plays, however, isn't all there is to second base. All you had to do was watch Freddy Sanchez last night and you could see things Castillo simply can't do. Sanchez has much more range than Castillo. At third, Castillo wouldn't need as much range (having a line on one side and a certain Jack Wilson on the other) and he certainly has the arm to play there. As for turning double plays, Jack and Freddy played together in high school, I'm sure they could whip up a quick rapport up the middle again (it looks like they already have). That brings us to the bat. Castillo is arguably a better hitter than any of our in-organization solutions to the power gap at third. He could be a 20+ homer a year guy if he's healthy all year. That's much better than what Sanchez would do at third. Freddy's numbers, however, are suited just fine to a second baseman.
I'll close this up by saying that I do realize that neither situation will ever happen with the Pirates. And I'm not saying either of these moves is foolproof (especially the Vogelsong one). All I'm saying is that the Pirates inability to look outside the box has cost them in the past, is costing them currently, and will continue to cost them down the road.