Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?

Before I head out of town for New Year's I just wanted to wish everyone a happy 2008. You can make a resolution to not be a Pirate fan next year, but it probably won't work.

In today's PG, Dejan takes a nice look at Nate McLouth's 2007 season through the eyes of the Bill James Handbook (as an aside, I didn't get the handbook until Christmas this year, but am planning on some posts from it to start off the new year). What really shines through is this: Nate McLouth was pretty freaking good last year. If the Pirates don't give him an extended look somewhere in the outfield in 2008, I'm going to be really, really disappointed. In the same article, it's mentioned that the gold "P" is replacing the Pirate head in a lot of marketing. That move is pretty evident on the team website , which you've probably noticed has been seriously redesigned. I think it's a nice look- I've always been a much bigger fan of logos like the Penguins logo rather than ones that are clearly designed by marketing departments like the Pirates' is. I wonder if another change is in the offing for the red-bandana'd mascot.

I know last year I did a big blog review of everything that happened during the year, but the honest truth is that I think the 2007 review would read kind of like the 2006 one. There were some high points, but they were actually only relatively high when compared to the depths the Pirates typically plunge to during the season (a .500 record in April!!! WOOHOO!!!). When the seasonal highlights contain the firing of most of the people charged with making your team a good team, it's probably an indication that the actual year itself was no good. All in all, 2007 will blend right in with 2006, 2005, and the other years that have made up this abysmal streak. In 2012, you'll be browsing Baseball Reference and you'll say to yourself, "Who was Brian Rogers? Cesar Izturis played for us? Remember when we thought Zach Duke was going to be good?" and those names aren't any different than Don Wengert or Lou Collier or Kris Benson when you really get down to it. When you re...

Does anyone remember a period of time with less Pirate news? I mean, NOTHING has happened since before Christmas. Anyways, I'm working on some stuff that is Pirate-but-not-blog related right now (you'll see what it is soon). Until then I'll just point out a couple changes I've made to the blogroll in the sidebar- Vlad (who you may recognize from the comments here, at Bucs Dugout, or at BBTF) has started his own blog called The Black (and Gold) Spot . Check it out. I'd also be a terrible Duquesne alum if I didn't point you towards The Duke's Court , an actual Duquesne basketball blog. It figures that now that I'm all graduated and moved, the Dukes are worth watching for once. I'm secretly hoping for a second round upset over UNC in the tourney this year, but don't tell anyone in Chapel Hill.

Looks like Jose Castillo won't be teamless for too long as it appears he's signed a one year deal with the Marlins to compete for their starting third base job. According to Cot's , he signed for slightly less than $2 million for the one year, which makes him the Marlins highest paid player . That's craziness. I would make a joke, but the Fish may win more games than we do next year.

I'm just going to leave a Christmas open thread up here, probably until the 26th, as baseball blog traffic is basically at it's lowest over the holidays and really, there's nothing new to talk about as it is. Personally, if the Pirates can just ditch the red uniforms and assemble a team that will win the 2008 World Series, I'll be happy. On a more serious note: Merry Christmas to all of you out there. Try not to think about the Pirates for a couple days. It'll make you happier, I promise.

Buried on today's Hot Stove notebook in the PG is the true good news of the season: With the "We Will" slogan gone and an apparent return to the franchise emphasizing its traditions, could those red softball uniforms show up next on the R.I.P. list? OK, seriously, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ditch the red uniforms. I'd love a winning season, but if we can't get that losing with some semblance of dignity would be fantastic. It's not possible in McDonald's uniforms.

It's the holiday season and everyone has something to celebrate: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, whatever. Well, thanks to apk and Fitzcarraldo, today is officially WHYGAVS Day because it is, of course, Andy Van Slyke's birthday. This post is up a bit late because I spent eight hours in the car today, but WHYGAVS Day isn't over until midnight. Clearly, we will need to iron out some customs this year to have a proper celebration next year (assuming the Pirates haven't driven me insane by then and let's be honest, if it hasn't happened yet, it's not terribly likely). Happy WHYGAVS Day, everyone!!!

If you missed it, Part 1 is here . Robert: Is that ... No ... it can't be! Crossing the bridge, Robert has noticed something at the end that he failed to notice while conversing with Murtaugh. What he knows as PNC Park is shell of a stadium, a long abandoned construction site that looks as if it hasn't been touched in years. Robert: Where's the park? What's going on here? Murtaught: thinks for a second and spits a long string of tobacco juice into the standing snow on the bridge before finally responding . I'm not sure you're ready for that kind of news kid. You want a drink? Robert: Yeah, there should be a couple of bars on Federal street. Then again... Federal Street is full of run-down buildings and shady people. Robert notices that a massive football stadium lurks in the distance. It's not Heinz Field, but it's not Three Rivers either. The light still calls to them. It's a cracked plastic sign that simply reads 222 Bar . Robert and his celestial ...

Apparently the holiday season isn't slowing down Neal Huntington and his quest for right-handed relief pitching. As the PG notes today, we missed out on Chad Durbin (who I suppose may have been a fifth starter if we dump Morris off on someone) but continue the search with names like Shawn Chacon, Octavio Dotel, and Akinori Otsuka. Here's what I think: I'd be terrified of using Salomon Torres in the bullpen if I were the Brewers, because Huntington dumped off a guy that fills what he views as a need position on the team for two guys that probably don't qualify as prospects. Clearly, he did not think highly of the possibility that Torres will regain his form in 2008.

Remember back when I said I had more to say about Bill Simmons' assertion that the Cabrera play was the worst thing to happen to any sports fans anywhere in the last 25 years? Well, I wasn't kidding. It's the Christmas season again, which means it's time to have some WHYGAVS fun. There's between one and two more parts to this and I promise it'll be finished before Christmas. It's a snowy December night in Pittsburgh. Robert Oliver Wagner stands on the Roberto Clemente Bridge watching the snow fall, contemplating life. The winter meetings have just ended and the Pirates were once again a non-factor. In his despondent malaise, his girlfriend dumped him for caring more about a 'stupid baseball team' than her. Finally, Robert O. Wagner speaks the the magical words... Robert: I wish Barry Bonds had thrown Sid Bream out. My life would be entirely different today. A figure approaches him on the bridge. Mysterious man: Is that so, kid? Robert takes stock o...

Cubs hire Dave Littlefield . HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH breath HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA Actually, with my luck this means that 2008 will end with a the Cubs winning the World Series and DL getting a ring.

... Carlos Garcia?!?

Looks like we can add Johnny Estrada to the list of mediocre to bad catchers that the Pirates appear to be interested in having behind the dish next year instead of Ronny Paulino. Off the top of my head, that makes Estrada, Michael Barrett, and Kelly Shoppach that the Pirates have at least expressed and interest in this winter, with the PG also reporting they may target Miguel Olivo or Damian Miller as well. Clearly, Paulino is pretty low on someone's list in the new front office because no team targets this many crappy/semi-crappy catchers without a reason. On one hand, I know how awful Paulino was last year. On the other, would any of these guys be a real improvement?

A list of the three best things that have happened to the Pirates this off-season: Fired Dave Littlefield, Brian Graham, and Ed Creech. Fired Jim Tracy Ditched "We Will..." Great article by Dejan about the ditching of "We Will" as the promotional campaign. I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like the new management team hates that slogan almost as much as we do. While we're at it, the Bucs also signed TJ Beam yesterday . You can probably guess the profile by now, big guy, hard thrower, serious control issues, etc. etc. Admittedly, this is better than DL's reliever profile which was generally, "Name ends in -less, sucks."

To continue on the "It's too early for judgment" theme that both Charlie (if you haven't checked his "Five Principles" post out yet, I recommend you do) and I have been hitting on repeatedly this winter, I think that the next important thing to talk about is the difference between what we see in the Pirates and what everybody else sees. Being objective as a sports fan is not easy. I like to think I do a pretty decent job of it when writing this blog, but there are still certain subjects that I have irrational opinions on thigs including, but certainly not limited to, Andy Van Slyke and Matt Morris. Still, subjective opinions are what I think have created a lot of the anger that's coming from the fans and is directed at Huntington, who's been on the job a whopping three months. One of the things I keep seeing repeated over and over is how we have to deal Snell and Gorzelanny based on the market for Santana (who will likely bring three top prospects) ...

There was one name that jumped out at me (and I'm sure at you) in the Mitchell Report when it was released this afternoon: Kevin Young. I was honestly never a big fan of Young, he had a few good years, signed a cripplingly ginormous contract, and was never really good again. What I do seem to remember about him is that he just seemed like a really good guy to me. If I'm remembering right, he was genuinely crushed when the Pirates released him in 2003 because he actually liked being a Pirate. You just don't see that happen very often. Anyways, coupled with his all around good guy aura and his general badness at baseball, Young's name surprised me today. Here's the key excerpts from the report on old KY (can you believe we actually called a player that?): Radomski first met Young in New York City during the 2000-01 off-season. Young later called Radomski. While Radomski could not remember who introduced him to Young, he did remember that he was asked to bring two ki...

Today is baseball's D-Day with the Mitchell Report coming out at 2 PM. You've probably heard that names are leaking out already . I'll be doing FanHouse stuff all day and I have a final tomorrow, but feel free to talk all about it in comments here.

It's hard to find links for these things as they just kind of pop-up, but there's already a couple interesting non-tenders. First off, the Tigers didn't give Chad Durbin a contract. This greatly differs from the Shawn Chacon siutation in which Brian Cashman was about to DFA old BP before DL swooped in and took him off his hands. Durbin may not sign here, but apparently Huntington knew better than to trade for a guy that wasn't getting a contract. Which is nice. Meanwhile, Dallas McPherson was also non-tendered . Get on that, Neal. Seriously. I'm not kiding. UPDATE: Add Mark Prior and Morgan Ensberg to the list of mildly interesting non-tenders.

Despite what ESPN had to say this afternoon, both the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Post Gazette are reporting that if a trade goes down between the Pirates and Padres, it probably won't be a big one. From the UT : The Padres and Pirates have done a lot of talking to one another this offseason. And there is mutual interest on some fronts, which I wrote about this morning. But as this afternoon, things don't appear quite as hot as today's ESPN report may have led some to believe. The big point the Padres are making is that they aren't going to trade Double-A third baseman Chase Headley Not to Pittsburgh. Not to anybody, unless something really kooky happens. If the Padres aren't trading Headley, that pretty much compliments the PG report that we're not talking to them about Bay.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune : A deal with the Pirates is a possibility, and talks could evolve into a major swap. The Pirates, if the price is small, are interested in taking on Padres No. 2 catcher Michael Barrett, whose salary of at least $3 million is larger than the Padres usually pay to a backup. Pittsburgh wants to move pitcher Matt Morris, a No. 5 starter whose $12 million salary far exceeds his market value. If Towers must assume a bad contract to make a deal, he is willing to take on a pitcher – such as Chan Ho Park – because Petco Park plays big. The Padres asked about Pirates left fielder Jason Bay and also have interest in Pirates outfielders Xavier Nady and Nate McLouth. The Pirates want Padres Double-A third baseman Chase Headley. If the Pirates can get Headley in a manner that doesn't cost them Bay, I think it would be a solid trade. The Padres do need outfield help pretty badly right now- check out their depth chart . Still, I don't imagine Headley will com...

The Detroit Free-Press confirms that the Pirates and Tigers have talked about Brandon Inge, though there's no indication of how serious things are at this point. The PG today tells us that now that Doogie is considering keeping Marte and Grabow now that he's dealt Torres off for scraps. That's so amazingly short-sighted that I don't even know what to say. The same story says the Pirates are interested in trading for Michael Barrett from San Diego. Despite everything the new front office has said, if we keep Marte and Grabow and pick up Barrett and Inge, it'll be pretty clear to me that the drive for 75 is alive and they're hoping to get lucky and win the NL Central with 83 wins this year. I'm not passing judgment on anyone until the off-season is over, but I don't like the way things are shaping up.

There's lots of talk in the thread of the post below and all over these here internets about Brandon Inge coming to Pittsburgh. Charlie writes up a good post on his blog about the actual possible benefits of adding a guy like Inge to the mix here. I'll use his post as a jumping off point: instead of taking the negative stance that Inge is an awful acquisition, we'll start at "intriguing." And even if we start there, I don't like it very much. Here's the thing: if you view each of Dave Littlefield's trades in a vacuum, he wasn't a bad general manager. As late as like June of last year my uncle (who is a devoted Pirate fan) was telling my dad that I was being way too hard on DL here on WHYGAVS and that he'd made a lot of good moves. The thing was, Littlefield's moves never got us anywhere. Oliver Perez and Roberto Hernandez for Xavier Nady and Mike Gonzalez for Adam LaRoche aren't necessarily bad trades, but they are redundant. Kris Bens...

If you're wondering if we're going to do any dumpster diving, Rotoworld's got a list of likely and possible non-tenders as we come up to the non-tender deadline here. There's not really many interesting names on either list. I would guess Morgan Ensberg's name will come up if he's non-tendered, but I think he's pretty much toast at this point in his career. Craig Monroe was a DL target in the past, but I don't see a whole lot of use for him with the team as configured right now. Any other ideas?

If you want proof that the Salomon Torres trade may not have been a complete waste, word from the PG today says that Torres is considering retirement rather than moving his family or having to move away from his family. This isn't really surprising given Torres' age (36), his numbers from last year, and his repeated statements about how much he likes playing in Pittsburgh. It is, however, a reminder that even in trades that look bad on the surface, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than we know about.

Word out of Milwaukee is that the Bucs have swapped Salomon Torres to Milwaukee for minor league relievers Marino Salas and Kevin Roberts . Color me... uninspired... by this trade. More relievers? Really? I mean, I get grabbing guys like Meek in the Rule 5 or off waivers, but trading for them? I can see Roberts has nice strikeout numbers and everything, but he was also a 23-year old in A ball. Salas is 26 and hasn't cracked the bigs yet, struggling last year in his only journey about AAA. I suppose something's better than nothing, but justifying trades with that kind of reasoning starts down a dangerous road. Then again, Torres really can't be worth much at his age after the season he had last year. At the very least, these two guys could have more value in another trade down the road than Torres might if he struggles at the start of this year.

Fun link from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Dan O'Neill's column today(passed along by J in the comments): A crazed Pittsburgh Pirates fan has created a blog called "Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke," or www.whereisvanslyke.com. Under that banner, serving as his mantra, is a Van Slyke quote: "Every season has its peaks and valleys. What you have to try to do is eliminate the Grand Canyon." The blogger also explains his reason for starting the site: "I used to talk to my family and friends about the Pirates non-stop. They kind of got sick of that so I started a blog." With that in mind, my son has suggested I start a blog and call it www.cleanyourroom.com. You know, I won't even argue the fact that he calls me crazy. Still, I wish he would've spent more time writing my URL down and less time making lame jokes about his kid's messy room.

The Bucs released Jose Castillo this morning right before the Rule 5 and my friend who's in Nashville and at the draft tells me we just picked up Evan Meek from Tampa Bay, who he describes as a "decent prospect, situational reliever at the big league level." That's all I got for now and I have to get back to work, but feel free to discuss how this portends armageddon in the comments. UPDATE: Meek's minor league numbers . Awesome strikeout numbers, decent hit and walk numbers, horrifying walk rates.

Today in his ESPN Magazine column (which more than a couple people have forwarded my way), Bill Simmons has this to say about losing sports franchises: Consider these two indisputable sports truths: Truth No. 1: The most agonizing baseball moment since Bill Buckner's gaffe was Francisco Cabrera's series-winning single for Atlanta that killed Pittsburgh in the 1992 playoffs. Not only did the Pirates blow a ninth-inning lead, not only did Cabrera, a no-name, deliver the final blow, not only did comically slow Sid Bream somehow beat a Barry Bonds throw home, not only was it the Pirates' third straight October defeat ... but Bonds signed with the Giants a couple of months later, banishing the Pirates to small-market hell. They haven't been heard from since. The franchise was effectively murdered by one play. And here we are, 15 years later, fighting about Chris Gomez. Ugh. I swear to you I have a lot more to say about this, but dammit, it's going to be long and well th...

Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera for Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin . Now THAT is a trade. Holy freaking crap. Sure, this put the Tigers in "Win Now" mode, but it does it EMPHATICALLY. And their lineup is now scarier than just about anything I can think of . The Marlins don't come off too poorly in the deal, either, because Miller and Maybin are both very good prospects. Winter Meetings update from Dejan : Doogie is entertaining offers for Marte, as he should be. Also, the Pirates may have been targeting Franklin Gutierrez in the Bay talks with the Indians. That means it's probably a good thing Bay's staying put for now, because there's nothing about Guiterrez that jumps out at me, either. This happened a couple days ago, but Barney Dreyfuss, owner of the Pirates at the turn of the last century and creator of the World Series, was elected into the Hall of Fame . Somehow, I don't think the owners at the turn of this century will be similarly honored 10...

There is a ton of panicking going on right now among Pirate fans right now with respect to our new GM and his off-season thus far. I am far from sold on Huntington, but there are some things I think everyone needs to keep in mind: Trading anyone just for the sake of making a move is bad idea. When that "anyone" is Jason Bay, it's a worse idea. Having him tank again in May and June and not getting anyone for him is not a whole lot worse than getting Lee and Shoppach for him right now. The reward for keeping him and maximizing his value is way greater than the risk of holding on to him. Just because we think Ronny Paulino and Nate McLouth/Xavier Nady are equal to Brian Schneider and Ryan Church doesn't mean Omar Minaya sees it that way. There's no way of knowing if Huntington was in on any types of talks for Milledge. The trade to the Nats came out of the blue. Elijah Dukes is a certifiable crazy person. Not in a Milton Bradley way, but in a, "He threatened to ...

You've probably already heard about yesterday's roster move, but I'd feel kind of remiss not talking about it at all. The Bucs DFA'd Brad Eldred and Brian Rogers and claimed Josh Wilson and Ty Taubenheim off of waivers from Tampa and Toronto, respectively. Everything I read about Taubenheim makes it sound like he's a pretty interesting pick-up. At the very least, he's got to be more interesting than Brian Rogers. He's got some pretty solid strikeout/walk numbers in the minors , which means, what the hell, why not. Wilson is a different story. He sucks a lot. His major league numbers are really bad and his minor league numbers aren't really a whole lot better. I don't really know why we'd want him, but then again, it's not like there's really much of a point to keeping Brad Eldred around either. If you want more reading, Vlad's got a post up about the two of them on Bucs Dugout and as usual WTM's already got pages up for both Tau...

So, I've been torn on my opinion of Neal Huntington so far. We get awful rumors of terrible things that might happen, then he comes back and denies the rumors and says all the right things. Then the terrible rumors start back up. So I keep coming back to one thought, which I think is rather brilliantly illustrated by this cartoon that my brother Dennis drew for the Carroll News. Don't screw it up, Neal.

ESPN is keeping a blog going of the winter meetings with live updates from all their baseball people. This afternoon, Steve Phillips posted this update about the Pirates/Indians talk: The Pirates and Indians are talking about a potential Jason Bay trade. Pittsburgh would get catcher Kelly Shoppach and left-hander Cliff Lee for the two-time All-Star. I am not kidding when I say that if this trade goes down, there is at least a 75% chance that I'm turning in my Pirate-fan card for good. This is such an unfathomably stupid idea that Dave Littlefield is sitting at home thinking to himself, "I wouldn't make that trade in a million years." It's only Steve Phillips reporting it, and he's a moron of near legendary proportions, but man, I am now terrified.

As a fun reminder of how little we know at this time of year, Neal Huntington completely denies reports of cutting Nady and selling low on Bay . If that wasn't enough, there's also this interview with him at BP (sent by reader Mark) that includes quotes I swear were lifted from my subconscious like this one: DL : It happened prior to you joining the organization, but can you comment on last season’s acquisition of Matt Morris, primarily your philosophy regarding similar moves? NH : Our philosophy is that every move we make will be logical, rational, and well-researched. They will also be for the long-term benefit of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The quick fixes that have been taken in the past--that you see happen around the league with some teams--are not something we’ll be interested in here. And: We’re in a unique situation. We have lost 90-plus games each of the past three years, but we have an interesting core of guys with two years left on their contracts. We have a good yo...

I'll start this post off by saying that I have a sudden, unshakable feeling of doom about this off-season. Don't get me wrong; I'm all for a fire sale that results in a 120 loss season if we can get quality minor leaguers for the guys we sell off. I've said before that I would take 110 losses in 2008 if it meant that we could have a good team in 2010 rather than 67 wins in 2008 and 67 wins in 2010. But the more I read about Huntington and his plans for the off-season and the direction things seem to be headed, the more nervous I'm getting. Let's start with the article that will be appearing in this morning's Post-Gazette . Apparently Huntington is hell-bent on trading Xavier Nady, which is fine, and if he can't do that, he's considering non-tendering him. That's effing crazy. Nady won't cost more than $4 million next year and with Jason Bay's slump, Nady was probably the most productive Pirate at the plate last year. I understand wanting ...

I'm pretty sure this is how this went down: Jim Bowden: So, uh, Omar. You looking to trade Lastings Milledge? You know toolsy outfielders with big upside turn me on more than a prospective threesome with Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johnanson. Omar Minaya: Well, we do need a catcher and maybe an outfielder to take Lastings' place ... Bowden: You mean like Brian Schneider and Ryan Church? Minaya: Done and done. Bowden: Holy f$%#&%$* s#!t are you kidding me? I was just... places his hand over the receiver, yells to Assistant GM Mike Rizzo Hey Mike, you were wrong! I'm not the dumbest GM in baseball, Omar's going to send us Milledge for Schneider and Church! takes hand off of receiver. You know what Omar? Minaya: Dude, I could totally hear you talking to Mike Rizzo. Is that what you really think of me? Bowden: If I say yes, is the trade off? Minaya: Maybe. Bowden: Well then, no. I think you're a genius. Ryan Church is solidly average and that will be a big deal, espe...

The Cardinals signed Cesar Izturis to a one year deal today . I would say that relegates a Jack Wilson trade from "unlikely" to "really, really unlikely." Meanwhile, the Astros signed Kaz Matsui and only the Cubs and Brewers appear remotely interested in winning the division.

Interesting news from the PG this morning: the Pirates are shaping Matt Morris around, possibly to the Cardinals, and the same Cardinals are possibly interested in Jack Wilson. And maybe it's a bit late in the day, but man, what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't weigh in with my two cents here? Here's the deal- Neal Huntington should do whatever he can to get rid of as much of Matt Morris's contract as he possibly can. If the Cardinals are interested in Jack Wilson (and really, they should be because he's better than Eckstein and most of the other free agent/easily obtainable options left on the market) than Doogie should do everything he can to tack Morris on to that deal. That shouldn't be terribly hard because the Cardinals are looking for veteran pitching. Since there was some kind of legitimate interest in Wilson back in July, that package might actually elicit a decent offer. Anthony Reyes was mentioned in the article and I think he'd be an intrig...

Humberto Cota and Yurendell DeCaster are officially the Nationals' problem now , while Shane Youman is now the Phillies problem . How much dreck can come from one system? Buried in a Johan Santana Hot Stove story at CBS is a mentioned of Neal Huntington discussing trading Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady to San Diego for Chase Headley. Don't know how much there is to it, but it's an interesting rumor. Also, Delmon Young for Matt Garza ? Wow. Just wow.

In case you missed it, Jeff Passan at Yahoo wrote up the Pirates in Yahoo's Hot Stove Daily earlier this week. Here's a fun excerpt: I t's not so much that the Pirates are in a bad situation. Their new ballpark is beautiful, their fans still devoted, their history rich. It's just that the systemic losing has worn thinner than the enamel on the loyalists' teeth, ground down by the frustration of bad management and worse ownership. An overhaul of the front office ought to help in the first respect; the second is a horse pill without water to ease it down. The Pirates might increase their payroll, but not to the level needed to compete when the big league club is so downtrodden. New general manager Neal Huntington has already recused the Pirates from bidding on any of the high-profile free agents, so instead the focus turns to how Pittsburgh can improve itself with spare parts and trades. I love being reminded how hopeless my fandom is!!! It seems pretty fair to say ...

John Russell continues to round out his staff and this time it's with another name from the Phillies organization: new hitting coach Don Long . He's been the Phillies minor league hitting instructor since 1999, which means he's worked with a lot of the guys who made up one of the best offenses in baseball this year in Philadelphia. Of course, Gerald Perry was thought of as one of the best hitting coaches in baseball before he came to work for Lloyd McClendon's staff. After all the talk of remodeling the team after the Indians, Long is the third member of the coaching staff (after Russell and Varsho) to have spent significant time in the Phillies organization. That might be meaningless coincidence, but I kind of doubt it.

When you're a Pirate fan, you take what you can get. For example, the following might be one of the most positive quotes I can ever remember reading during any off-season: Reliever John Grabow and several other Pirates who ended the 2007 season with injuries all appear to be mending in plenty of time to be ready for spring training. And none of them, so far, has gone under the scalpel. An off-season where no Pirates are having surgery?!? How will the surgeons of the world survive?!? Think of their children!!!

The return of Dejan from his winter vacation coincides with two pieces in the PG today that actually have something to do with Neal Huntington's off-season plans. Imagine that. First up, we learn that the Pirates have inquired about Matt Clement . I've never been a big Clement fan, but it's probably true that he'd be a cheap option to fill the back end of the rotation since he's coming off of shoulder surgery. A sure thing? No. Cheap and possibly worth something in a trade if he comes around? Yes. Then again, the back end of our rotation is already plugged with a massively expensive option. Maybe Neal has something in mind for Matt Morris. I sure hope so. Next up is Dejan's first Hot Stove report . It's about Jason Bay and Jack Wilson and whether or not they're going to be dealt this off-season. The money quote: "No, none of our players is being actively shopped," he said. In the same breath, though ... "If a club calls and inquires abo...

You guys have no idea how happy I am to have kicked off a violent reaction to something I wrote that doesn't involve Nyjer Morgan, even if all of you are violently opposed to what I wrote. Of course, I think a lot of the reason you're violently opposed to what I wrote is that I did a terrible job of explaining what was really on my mind. Accordingly, let's look a little further into Zach Duke and see if I can make myself a little clearer. First off, I would suggest going back and reading my review of Duke's 2007 . I used it to try and figure out how to explain Duke's struggles and whether injury or general ineptitude were more to blame. Obviously that's something that we'll probably never know for sure, though if you read my post you can tell I'm leaning towards injury not being Duke's biggest problem last year. The one thing that I didn't believe then and don't believe now and won't believe even when I'm sitting at Milliways for the...

From today's PG : How Andrews works with one pitcher, however, will draw a lot of attention over the next several months. Specifically, can Andrews "untweak" Zach Duke and turn him back into the wunderkind left-hander he was as a rookie in 2005? "He can pitch," said Andrews, announced by the Pirates as their pitching coach yesterday. "I think he's going to come out of it." "It" is the funk Duke fell into in 2006-07 beginning with former pitching coach Jim Colborn's decision to tweak his delivery in spring training 2006. The quotes around the word "untweak" suggest that it was Andrews' word and not Meyer's. So, the way he's going to fix Duke is by MAKING MORE CHANGES. The name of the article is "Andrews' No.1 priority-- Duke." The problem is that Duke is, at the absolute best (and I think this is up for debate) the third most talented starter on the team. Andrews' #1 priority should be figuri...

Jason Kendall is continuing his tour of the NL Central by signing with the Brewers for a year or two. And now you can pencil the Cubs in for an NL Central repeat. Blue Jays' pitcher Joe Kennedy died this morning of a possible brain aneurysm. Awful, awful news for the day after Thanksgiving (or any day, for that matter). RIP, Joe. So, let's get this straight. Last year, the Angels signed the terribly overrated Gary Matthews Jr. to a 5 year/$50 million contract. Apparently, they weren't happy with that bit of ridiculous overspending, so they went out and inked Torii Hunter to a 5 year/$90 million deal this week . Mark my words, they will regret that deal. Hunter is overrated at the plate (he's slugged over .500 twice in his career and NEVER had an OBP of .340) and already declining in the field at the age of 31. Still, the Angels are paying him like a super-star. Bad idea. Worse idea? 4 years and $19 million for Scott Linebrink . Umm, Doogie? TRADE RELIEVERS NOW!!! The ...

Happy Thanksgiving, guys. Today, I am thankful that Dave Littlefield is fired. Seriously, how amazing is that?

As anticipated, Gary Varsho and Tony Beasley were hired to be the Pirates' new bench coach and third base coach. Jim Leyland is cursing himself for letting a Pirate from the early 90s evade his staff. We also hired a bullpen coach. I used to think I knew what a bullpen coach did, until Lloyd McClendon was hired to do it for a year in Detroit. Now I'm clueless Today we added one more coach to the mix by promoting Jeff Andrews from the pitching coach slot at Indy to the same job on John Russell's staff. I don't know how I feel about promoting from within, but I guess that's not fair to Andrews because he can only work with the talent that the former front office gave him. More interestingly, we did some shuffling of the 40-man before setting it for the winter. We dropped Josh Sharpless and Shane Youman off the 40-man, which isn't terribly surprising or interesting. We also dropped Josh Phelps, which seems stupid to me as he's not actually a bad hitter, but ...

According to Paul Meyer, the Bucs are going to name some of their new coaches today . I think it's a bit strange that Doogie is announcing the hirings and not Russell, but what do I know, I'm just a blogger. Meyer names three names and the one that jumps out at me is Gary Varsho , who was a backup outfielder/pinch hitter on the 1990 and 1991 teams. He's coming from the Indians system, though he's also worked with the Phillies in the past. That's only interesting to me because I'm trying to ascertain who's hiring who here. Anyways, there's no official announcement yet, but I've gotta hit the road back to Western PA for Thanksgiving, so if they do announce it, go wild in the comments until I can post.

This afternoon the Angels traded Orlando Cabrera to the White Sox for John Garland . If you're curious, Wilson and Cabrera are actually pretty comparable players. Wilson is usually a worse hitter, but his two best years and better than anything Cabrera's done recently. Cabrera is a few years older, more expensive, and, using David Pinto's PMR , not as good with the glove as Jack. Of course Cabrera has a couple Gold Gloves to his name and he's got a World Series ring, which puts his "intangibles" through the roof when trying to figure out his value in a trade, but I suppose if Huntington is trying to trade Jack, he should be looking for at least John Garland type value (which, actually, isn't terribly much).

So I missed this over the weekend, but the Pirates unsurprisingly declined Cesar Izturis's option for the 2008 season. Even if we had a deal with Jack Wilson set in stone, Cesar Izturis wouldn't be worth more than $5 million, so it's hard to quabble with this move. I know people are wondering if we'll try and bring him back cheaply if we do trade Wilson, but that's kind of unlikely in a world that David Eckstein is potentially worth $9 million. Oh, and plus he's terrible. I can't believe we actually traded someone for him. Damn you, Jim Tracy. Meanwhile, the Pirates are expected to name John Russell's coaching staff this week . I know you're as excited as I am to see what kind of people will actually work for a guy that finished 30 games below .500 in AAA last year. Too harsh?

So, there's this whole Arizona Fall League going on that I've been kind of ignoring, mostly because the only player there I'm mildly interested in is Andrew McCutchen. Let's see how the Bucs are doing on the Phoenix Dirt Dogs (who've made it to the finals): Andrew McCutchen: .286/.381/.378 You know what's a bad sign? A slugging percentage lower than an OBP in the Arizona Fall League. After showing some surprising pop in 2006, he's shown none of that in 2007. He's still very young so it's hard to hit a panic button on him as a prospect yet, especially because he's doing a good job of getting on base in Arizona, but let's just say it's not surprising when Pirate prospects don't live up to the hype. Nyjer Morgan: .258/.355/.355, Super Speed Rating: 1,098,762 Somehow, Nyjer Morgan has become the most polarizing player in the Pirates system. That's sad. I wish we had someone better to argue over. Just remember that the AFL is always a...

Barry Bonds was indicted today on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. There goes the Wild Things contract, his Major League career, 3,000 hits, and probably his records. That or Bud Selig is spineless.

See, the reason someone needs to fix Pirates.com is right here . That's a nice article about how hard Doogie is working now that he's the GM and how excited he is to turn the team around and really I'd be pretty heartened by it if I wasn't such a cynical jackass. But I am and at least three other articles on the main page feature Nyjer Morgan's name in the title, which casts doubt on everything else on the site, in my eyes. Oh well.

In news that shouldn't surprise anyone, it looks like A-Rod is going to re-sign with the Yankees . In news that should shock the hell out of you, it looks like he may have ditched Scott Boras and is taking a considerable cut from what his market value probably is (the rumored deal is 10 years, $275 million and crazy as it is, I'm certain he could get $300 million on an open market) to do so.

So I'm patrolling the Pirate internet looking for some Pirate news to talk about because it's painfully scarce right now and the fact that I've barely been writing makes me feel really bad because there are still lots of people reading and commenting (incidentally, we're only 98 comments away from the 10,000th comment in WHYGAVS history, I'll be monitoring the situation). So I click on over to the team page and what do I read? First, I get the following headline: Morgan speeding through Bucs system Now there is a statement which is technically true and intentionally misleading. Remember that a lot of you were surprised when I mentioned that Nyjer Morgan was 26-years old. Now, I can't speak for everyone, but I tend to assume that anyone that spends their day reading Pirate blogs and leaving comments in October (which was when I did the post about Morgan and McLouth and Duffy and talked about their performances relative to age, etc.) is a pretty freaking hardcore...

By know most of you have probably heard that the Washington Wild Things have offered Barry Bonds a contract as a PR stunt . As someone that spent a lot of time in WashPA last spring, I find this to be particularly hilarious. Imagining Barry at various spots around town- the Mexican restaurant, the VIP club/bar/dingy basement, on W&J's campus by the hilariously phallic statue of Washington and Jefferson (imagine the view of this from the side ... yeah) with Mayor Luke, staying with a "host family" somewhere in town- wow, it would all be too good to be true. I wish there was some way to make this all happen outside of my head.

The Pirates announced today (or yesterday, or somewhere in there) the hiring of Larry Corrigan as another special assistant to Huntington. I like this hire much more than the Tanner hire, to be honest. He's been in Minnesota's system for a very long time and most recently worked as a special assistant to Terry Ryan. Since the Twins are one of the teams I hope the Pirates are modeling themselves after, it's hard not to like this news. He was the Twins scouting director for two years in the early 90s and worked with Russell when he was the minor league field coordinator (whatever that is) in the mid-90s. According to the same article, he's already at work helping John Russell fill out his coaching staff.

Chuck Tanner was hired as a special assistant to the GM. I'm sorry, but this seems like the same type of PR crap the old front office loved so much. It's nice to see him back with the club and all, but he's almost 80 years old and I can't imagine he's going to be much help to Huntington. Neal Huntington apparently is shopping Jason Bay . So apparently we'll find out what kind of GM he's going to be pretty quickly ( via Bucs Dugout and Honest Wagner ). Base coaches will wear helmets in light of the Mike Coolbaugh tragedy this summer. Thor would like to come back . Unfortunately for him, we have about 8 guys that play his position(s) and they've sucked a lot less recently than he has.

There's a fairly good chance that I'm going to be out of blogging range until Sunday afternoon. That means I can leave you with two things to do. The first is jump in on my favorite thread of all time, here . You'll know what to do when you get there. Next up is something you'll be familiar with if you've been around a while. It's time for me to crack open the WHYGAVS Jukebox. That's where I write out a list of Pirates, fire up iTunes, hit shuffle, and apply the songs as they come up on the list. Then it's up to you guys to figure out how they apply. The thread in the post doubles as an open thread to plot world domination as well or discuss free agency or semi-obscure movies, or whatever until I can get posting again. Today, let's welcome the new members of the front office with some choice selections: Frank Coonelly: One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces - Ben Folds (the live version, not the Five version, if you're curious). This is perfect. Co...

Ugh. It's November 8th and that means it's time to wrap this meandering season review up. Beyond the four big starters, I don't care much about the pen and everyone so these are going to be mostly quick hits. Matt Capps- In theory, Matt Capps should suck. He's a guy with a straight 94-mph fastball that is only exceptional because of his ability to put it over the place, and that's his out pitch. In actuality, Matt Capps was one of the few Pirates that didn't underperform in 2007. 1.01 WHIP and 64 K's to only 16 walks in 64 innings? That's just silly. I was happy to see him not get abused by Tracy again this year because really, he's our one bullpen stud. Not that you need a bullpen stud when you suck, but hey, they're nice to have. Salomon Torres- This is what happens when you sign a 34-year old reliever to a big extension (the Pirates did this for Torres in '06). Now we're saddled with him for at least one more year. I'd trade him no...

I said that I thought that the guys Doogie hired to fill out his front office would be more important than Russell. Today he hired a scouting director, a director of player development, and a director of baseball operations . These are the men that will shape the future of the Pirates. So who are they? Kyle Stark, director of player development: He's coming from an assistant farm director position in Cleveland. He's 29, I think he's got a law degree, and three years ago he was a pitching coach for St. Bonaventure. So he's really young, which means he's either incredibly motivated or just incredibly unqualified for his job. I will choose to believe the first one until I have reason to think otherwise. Greg Smith, director of scouting: Coming from Detroit. This one line from the PG terrifies me: Smith, 41, worked the past three seasons as a special assignment scout for the Detroit Tigers. For the eight years before that, he was Detroit's scouting director ... Ahh...

In the comments on the post below, Emma points out this link , which is a couple days old but worth sharing: The Pirates upper management has widely ignored OBP (on base percentage) in the past. How important will OBP be in player evaluation under your leadership? -- Eric S., Pennsboro, W.Va We are going to utilize several objective measures of player performance to evaluate and develop players. We'll rely on the more traditional objective evaluations: OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage) , WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched), Runs Created, ERC (Component ERA), GB/FB (ground ball to fly ball ratio), K/9 (strikeouts per nine innings), K/BB (strikeouts to walks ratio), BB%, etc., but we'll also look to rely on some of the more recent variations: VORP (value over replacement player), Relative Performance, EqAve (equivalent average), EqOBP (equivalent on base percentage), EqSLG (equivalent slugging percentage), BIP% (balls put into play percentage), wOBA (weighte...