The WHYGAVS 2006 Review: January- March

Not much ever happens between Christmas and New Years', so I'm going to spend this week looking back on 2006, specifically things that happened to the Pirates and what I said about them. I figured I'll find some places where I look stupid, some places where I look smart, and lots of places where I was a smart ass. There's going to be a ton of links and I'm certainly not asking you to click all of them; just check out the ones that interest you. Perhaps you'll find this exercise boring, self-centered, and worthless. In that case I'll ask you not to read it and defend myself by saying, "What else am I supposed to write about this week." Besides, I think this could be fun (or hideously painful).

January
We kicked off the year worrying about the Pirates signing an aging right fielder.

We then quickly signed Jeromy Burnitz, a different aging right fielder and one we had thought (hoped?) signed with someone else. Contrary to Bob Smizik's recent opinion, I wasn't very pleased with this move and neither were you guys.

I wrote a tongue in cheek ode to Dave Littlefield's time as Pirates GM. Looking back on it now, some of the stuff I wrote makes me look pretty smart now (this one and this one) while some of it makes me look pretty dumb (specifically this one).

The first indications that the Pirates were going to screw Ryan Doumit "Craig Wilson-style" began to emerge.

I started my 2006 predictions. I was way too optimistic with most of them, especially in the category of "slugging percentage."

I went to Piratefest. Optimism abounded from giddy Steeler fans who failed to recognize Zach Duke walking in their midst. Kevin McClatchy was very professional and actually kind of impressive in person, though listening to Dave Littlefield and Jim Tracy put a damper on things. Also: Dave Littlefield treats me like a six year old kid.

February
The Steelers won the Super Bowl. I was enthused.

I rightly speculated that the Astros and Cardinals would be a notch down and the NL Central wouldn't be as good in the past (we're talking regular season only here). I wrongly speculated Roger Clemens would not return to the Astros.

Pitchers and catchers reported. I tried to be hopeful.

I made two predictions one about Barry Bonds and one about the World Baseball Classic. I was one for two.

All of the talk about Jim Tracy and the new way he was running the team made me hopeful.

My habit of devoting many more lines in this blog than innings Kip Wells pitched for us in 2006 began with the revelation of the blood clot in his arm. I went on to preview the 2006 rotation minus Kip and I think I did a pretty good job.

In a bit of accidental foreshadowing, I predicted the Pirates awful start with some help from Dante Alighieri.

The Pirates gave Jack Wilson and unnecessary extenstion. I was confused then, and I still am.

March
Spring Training started.

We will... do what, exactly? A Pittsburgh institution is born. Or something like that.

I managed to correctly predict (read: guess) Japan as the first winner of the WBC would be. Though I did again re-iterate my stupid claim that it would be a massive failure and never happen again.

The Pirates quietly mentioned that Neil Walker's wrist injury was worse than previously reported. Shocking, I know.

We got early signs from the WBC that things would not be different for Oliver Perez this year.

Early in March it was evident that "Snell doesn't do the bullpen" as his early spring starts wrapped up a rotation spot for him. Yes, I only included this to make a "Snell doesn't do that" joke.

I previewed the starting rotation and bullpen. I wisely stayed away from using numbers this time around. For the most part, I think they were pretty accurate (you can judge for yourself).

I placed a blog-wide ban on mentioning Bob Smizik columns, a ban which I frequently ignore (see above).

I admitted I was wrong about the WBC.

John Van Benschoten got hurt. Shocking.

Paul Maholm and Craig Wilson have hot wives.

Oliver Perez began to give people hope that he might be turning things around.

I made some MLB predictions. Save the AL Central, I didn't do too badly. Unless you read the part about the playoffs. Oops.

I previewed the season with as much optimism as I could muster.

Tomorrow: April through June.