Slow day

No Stats Geek this week for the second Tuesday in a row, which is disappointing. The biggest news we have today is the continuation of Jody Gerut's quest to become the most infamous Bucco since Derek Bell, as now the Players Union has filed a grievance against the Bucs on behalf of him. This really is a strange situation, towards the end of camp he was completely healthy, then he claimed he was hurt and the Pirates disagreed, now they both agree he's hurt (patella tendonitis) but the Pirates refuse to agree that he needs surgery. I don't know how this is going to play out, but I'd have to assume that at this point it will end with Jody Gerut wearing colors other than black and gold the next time he's in the majors.

Also, Tony LaRussa says he can't understand why the bad blood between the two teams would continue into this year. He blames Jose Castillo for getting hurt last year (and he's probably right), and he effusively praises Jim Tracy, presumably because LaRussa seemed to have the irrational dislike for McClendon that only a Pirates fan could have. In the same notebook, Tracy says that Snell will stay in the rotation. He makes this lovely circular quote on whether rotation changes were imminent:

"Not in the immediacy of the situation. I don't want to have these guys feel like we're jumping the gun. At the same time, I want to make perfectly clear we're reaching the point where we expect results."

Translated: "We're not going to yank guys out of the rotation right now. Unless they keep sucking." I think Snell is on a pretty tight leash right now.