Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?

So normally I try not to waste space here talking about FanHouse stuff because I figure that the people that want to read the site will read it and everything I do there pops up in the RSS over in the corner there, so if you only want to read what I write, you'll do it that way. The thing is, today a bunch of us over there did something that I think is so cool and awesome that I would be a negligent baseball blogger if I didn't post a link. Working with the vision of PostmanE , I bring you "Choose Your Own Rodventure: The Saga of Alex Rodriguez." If you couldn't guess, it's a take-off on all the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. I've read the whole thing, and it's awesome. I hope you've got some time this afternoon, because you're going to need it.

Shawn Chacon is filing for free agency . Apparently he'd like to come back to Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, I would like the Pirates to be good. I don't think either of us will get what we want, but if he does, I almost certainly will not. Fun aside for everyone that misses Josh Fogg: aside from win/loss record (which is terribly arbitrary), Chacon's career numbers are pretty similar to Fogg's. And he's younger! Tony Armas is gone . Our nightmare is over. Someone named Luis Munoz just got put on the 40-man . According to WTM's profile , he used to go by an alias. That's pretty cool, if you ask me. Ugh, all of that reading at the dot-com gave me a headache. I wish the PG weren't in "we're not budging until Neal's budging" mode. There's a good interview with Charlie, author of the Bucs Dugout , here . Via BBTF , ex-Pirates' GM Ted Simmons (the man who preceded Cam Bonifay but retired due to heart trouble after a year, thanks a million, ...

I am going to get through these things come hell or highwater. I swear. 2006: 2.34 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 94 K, 27 BB in 100 innings at AAA Indy, 3.79 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 40 K, 31 BB in 61 and 2/3 innings in Pittsburgh 2006 rate stats: 8.46 K/9, 2.43 BB/9, 0.36 HR/9 in AAA, 5.83 K/9, 4.52 BB/9, 0.44 HR/9 in Pittsburgh 2007: 3.88 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 135 K, 68 BB, 18 HR in 201 and 2/3 innings 2007 rate stats: 6.02 K/9, 3.03 BB/9, 0.80 HR/9 It's pretty obvious that we can't use Gorzelanny's numbers from AAA last year for analytical purposes because he was just waaay too good for AAA in 2006. That being said, I think it's pretty clear that his numbers were pretty good with the Pirates in 2007. His basic line (ERA and WHIP) were pretty good from his short 2006 stint with the Pirates, but his periphals (walks and strikeouts especially) weren't great. That kind of thing is what's pretty much doomed Zach Duke to this point in his career, but Gorzelanny overcame it nicely this year. H...

Well, apparently a lot of us wasted a lot of internet space with all of the "Jack Wilson to the Tigers" talk because the Tigers went out and got a much better shortstop in Edgar Renteria . I don't know how much truth there really could've been to the whole "Jurrgens for Wilson" rumors because that was basically what the Braves got for Renteria. That leaves the Neal with another choice to make. Wilson's not a terrible shortstop and he's certainly better than any other option we have in the organization, which means that trading him will leave a pretty big hole in the infield. Off-hand I can't think of any team that desperately needs a shortstop this winter (Toronto, maybe?), so this might be the end of the rumors. Probably not, though, if the roster turnover that I think is coming is actually coming.

After last night's A-Rod fiasco, the Yankees have offered their manager's job to Joe Girardi . I imagine that the dictatorial, strong headed Girardi working with the dictatorial, strong headed Steinbrenners while managing a clubhouse full of overpaid prima donnas, some of whom he played with, will go very poorly, but I could be wrong. Meanwhile, Neal Huntington is almost ready to talk about thinking about talking to people he's thinking about interviewing.

Is tonight the end of the magical road for the Rockies? I would guess, "yes." Sorry for the lack of posting again today. We'll get back to the season review and probably manager talk tomorrow, especially if the World Series ends tonight.

The Colorado Rockies' World Series life is most certainly on the line tonight and the Rockies are turning to the one, the only, JOSH FOGG. Sweet merciful crap, they're in trouble.

More about Huntington waiting for the Series to be over to start interviews. I understand wanting to talk to Farrell, but I don't understand why he hasn't talked to anyone yet. He hasn't filled any of the positions he's vacated yet and I don't even know if he's interviewed anyone to this point. This is becoming worrisome in very short fashion, if you ask me (and I know you didn't). What Huntington has been doing is picking up Phil Dumatrait. He got lit up pretty good in his first big-league stint with the Reds' last year, though he'll only be 26 in 2008 and he's got an almost decent minor league record , so he might be better than the typical cannon fodder we're used to seeing. I know, that was a sparkling recommendation, wasn't it?

In the PG today, John Henry says nice things about purported managerial candidate John Farrell. As far as I can tell, all signs point to Farrell. Still, keep in mind that for months before we hired Coonelly, names like Duquette were all over the place, then Coonelly came out of nowhere. And after DL was fired everyone talked about LaCava, Zduriencik, Antonetti, and the like, and Huntington came out of nowhere. Now, everyone is focused on Farrell. I won't be terribly surprised if the job ends up going to someone else, that's all I'm saying.

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. The whole "school" thing is keeping me pretty busy and with the Pirates just kind of sitting on their hands right now, there's just not a whole lot to talk about. There is the World Series, which is trudging on even in the wake of last night's massacre. Tonight is a huge game for the Rockies, I think. I know a lot of people are talking about the Coors Field advantage, but I honestly just don't see it because I think the way the Red Sox play would fit right into Coors. Obviously the Series isn't over if the Rockies lose tonight, but I would not want to find myself down 2-0 to this Red Sox team.

So it's finally here. Rox and Sox. The World Series. I won't lie, I remain unconvinced by the Rockies run and I'm going to be surprised if they make a series out of this. 87% of you disagree with me on this one . Tonight's game one is a bit different than usual. I'm generally of the opinion that Game 1 is the biggest game in the series, to set the tone and whatnot. In fact, every team that's won Game 1 this year has gone on to win their series, if I'm not mistaken. But tonight with Beckett on the mound, the Rockies certainly can't be disappointed if they lose. After all, no one beats the mighty Josh Beckett in the playoffs. But if they win, man, that sends a message to all the people like me out there. Similarly, the Red Sox almost have to feel like they have to win this game with Beckett on the mound. It's very bizarre to call Game 1 a must-win game for the better team in the series, but I kind of think it is. I guess we'll just have to wait and...

Just a quick post to let you know I'm still here. Dear Neal, Please do something so I have something to talk about. All this talk about being ready to act bores me. Let's get on with it. Love, Pat The Pirate prospects in the AFL are in Phoenix this year and you can find their stats here . McCutchen seems to be hitting pretty well and Chavez is pitching pretty well. Everyone else is kind of "eh" or worse. And once again the Bucs' prospects are sharing a team with my high school teammate, Nolan Reimold, who's in the Orioles system. But that probably only interests me. More before the game tonight, I promise.

Despite winning 21 of 22 games, there are lots of people that don't give the Rockies much of a chance in the World Series for various reasons (long layoff, Red Sox are too good, inferior league, flash in the pan, etc.). Are the naysayers crazy? Do the Rockies have a chance? I'm only leaving this poll up until the series starts (I swear!), so vote quick and defend your vote in the comments.

2006 : 14-11, 4.74 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 169 K, 74 BB, 186 IP 2006 rate stats: 8.18 K/9, 3.58 BB/9, 1.40 HR/9 2007 : 9-12, 3.76 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 177 K, 68 BB, 208 IP 2007 rate stats: 7.66 K/9, 2.94 BB/9, 0.95 HR/9 I'm not going to bother with the projections for pitchers because they're hit or miss at best and with young pitchers, I'm mostly interested in how they improved (or failed to improve) from last year to this year. I feel like Snell got a lot better in 2007. He seemed to pitch more and throw less, if you will. But then again, he got off to a pretty bad start last year, which I think skewed his stats skyward a bit. Let's look at some time-based splits (if you haven't realized it yet, I've been using Baseball-Reference for everything I do here, the site just keeps getting better and better, it's seriously invaluable) and see how he measures up. May 31- Sep. 26, 2006 : 4.25 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 8.43 K/9, 3.44 BB/9, 1.35 HR/9 Those numbers there are actually pret...

You don't need me to tell you how big this game is tonight. Dice-K and Jake Westbrook take the mound for the right to go to the World Series. I will once again be liveblogging at least the first three innings and maybe more at FanHouse tonight (with Postman E taking over in relief so that I can keep an eye on the rare Steelers game that's on TV here as well, which is nigh impossible while liveblogging), so check that out if you've got the chance.

We finally get a "big" playoff game tonight with Schilling and Carmona taking the mound in Game 6 of the ALCS. I'll be liveblogging this one over at FanHouse, so if you've got a chance feel free to bounce over there during the game and check it out. Innings 1-3 Innings 4-6 Innings 7-9

If anyone doubted that Neal Huntington was looking at some one involved in the ALCS to fill the vacant manager's spot, today's story in the PG should pretty much take care of that. "We're through the 'gathering' [information] process," the Pirate general manager said yesterday. "We're into the 'action' process." Thing is, the American League Championship Series didn't end Thursday evening. And won't end until tonight at the earliest. That impacts Huntington being able to take action. "It sure does," he said. "Our hands are a little tied." Everyone assumes that this probably means John Farrell is going to get an interview and it may mean Joel Skinner is getting a look. I found this passage interesting: A team can ask for permission to interview a job candidate with another team and be granted a window of two to seven days to do that. Huntington, however, has an ethical aversion to interviewing a perso...

In which I discuss a Pirate of the past and why I loved or hated them so much. There's no rhyme or reason to who I pick, the only rule is that I have to remember them. I'm not actually trying to find them. I think we can probably classify the Kinger as the very first Pirate uber-bust of the 1990s. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in making that assertion. Jeff King was picked with the very first pick in the 1986 draft. Taken behind him in the top 10 were Matt Williams, and Gary Sheffield. It's not that King was a bad player, it's just that he only had a year or two as a really good one at a time when the Pirates needed him to "the man." If you will. After Bonds and Bonilla left and Van Slyke got hurt, they needed someone to fill the void. King just couldn't do it. He'd fit in quite well with the current Pirates I think: a solid major leaguer that would make a great utility guy, but is a starter because of circumstances. That's not to say K...

This is killing me. The stupid LCS schedule leaves us with no games again while Huntington and the front office seem to be waiting on someone from the ALCS (or the Rockies, or both) to get freed up before they start moving on the whole "rebuilding the franchise" thing. There's going to be no shortage of stuff to talk about this off-season, but none of it is going to get moving for at least two weeks and I'm an impatient person, dammit. The reviews will resume on Monday with the pitching staff and I won't forget about the "Where Have You Gone, ..." flashbacks anymore either. In fact, I'll try and get one up this afternoon if I have time since I missed it on Wednesday.

CC and Josh Beckett face off in Game 5 of the ALCS with the series on the line. As much as I'd like to see the Indians win the series, a win tonight means no baseball for five full days, which is ridiculous. Thank you, Bud Selig, for plotting my desire to watch baseball against my fan's conscience. Fun side story in this one tonight, apparently the Indians "unknowingly" brought in Josh Beckett's ex-girlfriend to sing the National Anthem. Oh, and while we're at it, the Yankees are officially looking for a manager after Joe Torre turned them down . Wow, no one saw that coming. I wonder if the Yanks know that Jim Tracy is available...

Paul Meyer makes it sound like this whole "front office" thing is coming together . I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens when the Red Sox and Indians get eliminated from the playoffs. The 2008 ZiPS for the Bucs are up at BBTF . Umm, Josh Phelps is projected to have the second highest slugging percentage on the team, and he plays the same position as the guy projected to have the highest. More projections of interest: Steve Pearce > Xavier Nady, everyone with a glove and a pulse > Jack Wilson, Nate McLouth >> Nyjer Morgan, and Zach Duke = Ian Snell. Feel free to discuss these in the comments, just remember that these are projections and no one is setting these numbers in stone.

Time to round up the position players on the team that don't deserve a full post for one reason or another. Jose Castillo: The giant cloud of potential that used to make up Jose Castillo completely dispersed this year as he lost his every day job and never once resembled a good hitter. Stick a fork in this guy, I'm not even sure he's useful as a utility player right now. Cesar Izturis: Only ever on the team because Jim Tracy has a giant man-crush on him. Just a terrible, terrible hitter. If we pick up his $5 million option for next year I will demand Huntington's resignation on the spot. Steve Pearce: Awesome year in the minor leagues where he established himself as a legitimate prospect. Didn't fare too poorly in his short stint with the Buccos, though he didn't show much of the power that zoomed him through the minors this year (from Lynchburg to Pittsburgh). He'll probably start the year at Indy next year, though I hope they give him a fair shot at making...

Ahh, the endless parade of non-Pirates... well it just won't end this postseason. Tonight Tim Wakefield takes the mound for the Red Sox against the Indians, which means that everyone gets a one night dispensation from rooting against the Red Sox to root for Wake. Anyways, I wrote a long post about Wakefield's checkered post-season history for FanHouse this evening and when it really comes down to it, Wakefield's had a remarkable run of pitching in huuuuge games in his career. That's exactly what tonight is for the Red Sox, because I don't think they can afford to fall behind 3-1 in this series against this Indians team.

2006: .235/.335/.420 with 16 HR, 20 2B, and 3 3B 2007 PECOTA: .259/.338/.436 with 16 HR, 27 2B, and 2 3B in 510 PAs 2007: .254/.339/.414 with 15 HR, 36 2B, AND 2 3B in 614 PAs Seeing as Jose will turn 27 at the end of this week, I think we're at the "What you see is what you get" stage of his career. If you're not sure what that is, that's a guy that can play a few positions pretty ably, provide some decent pop, get on base, but isn't a particularly great hitter. He drew 68 walks this year, which topped the team, but his OBP was only .339. That tells me two things: he needs to hit better (he's like a bizarro Pirate with the whole on-base percentage being good but batting average really dragging it down thing), and we suck at drawing walks. Essentially, he'd be a great utility guy but since we suck, he has to start. To further that thought a little more, he seems like a reverse Nate McLouth to me. McLouth seems to play a lot better when he starts every ...

Yes, I saw the John Farrell rumors going around yesterday and I'm sorry I didn't have time to post about them, but I'll take a little time now to discuss it. First thought: Wonder if he's related to our early 90s first round pick Jon Farrell . Second thought: Why the hell do I remember Jon Farrell? On a more serious note, pitching coaches are hardly ever hired as managers. I always kind of wondered why because some pitching coaches would make good managers I think. Maybe Ray Miller ruined it for everybody. Farrell, however, is not your typical pitching coach because he worked as Indians' farm director in the past. As Charlie notes , a guy with that type of past may not be a bad choice to manage a team like the Pirates, even though it's a pretty unconventional one for a big league manager. I don't honestly know all that much about the guy, though as I noted before, I think Huntingon's inactivity on the managerial front indicates that he's got some ...

Are you serious? I can't believe any in history has been this hot at this time of year. Waiting until next Wednesday to kick off the World Series will be absolute torture for them. Quibbling with Selig's schedule aside: holy hell this team is fun to watch. They just keep winning and winning and winning. If I was the Indians or Red Sox, I wouldn't want to play them. I'm probably going to do a bunch of Rockies FanHouse posting this week, so keep an eye out for that. Finally, congrats to Josh Fogg and Todd Helton, among the other Rockies. Fogg has always seemed like one of those genuinely good guys that could take anything in stride, even being waived by the Pittsburgh Pirates. We can trade hundreds of posts wondering how valuable he is as a pitcher, but there's no doubting how valuable he's been to the Rockies down the stretch and there's no doubting he's a good guy. As for Helton, I'm just happy to see him get his shot in the limelight. Having watched...

Sorry for the negligent posting today. The Bucs signed Kevin Thompson from the Yankees system today and DFA'd Matt Kata. You can say "same old, same old" if you want, but at least from his minor league stats, but to me at least, it appears that he's got some discernible on-base skills. You'll note that any type of discernible skill was lacking from the Matt Kata/Don Kelly merry-go-round last year. UPDATE: Thompson was claimed from the A's , though he was in the Yankees system before then. My bad. Meanwhile in the playoff world the Indians are looking to take a 2-1 series lead and they hold a 2-0 lead tonight on geriatric ex-Pirate Kenny Lofton's two run homer while the Rockies are looking for a nine-day vacation with a win against the D'Backs tonight.

Yep, Josh Fogg is the Rockies starter for Game 3 tonight, facing off against Livan Hernandez. Just because he's starting tonight doesn't mean he's good and we should've kept him. He's still the same. I can't believe these two are starting Game 3 of an LCS.

With Dejan on vacation, football and the MLB playoffs in full swing, and the Huntington/Coonelly regime buttoned up tighter than a papal conclave, the PG didn't publish anything about the Pirates all weekend. Instead, let's go over some of the general baseball news from the past couple days that I've been slacking on. Reds hire Dusty Baker . Homer Bailey's elbow just exploded. How anyone could hire a guy that ruined two of the best pitching prospects of the decade and says things like "Walks clog the bases" is baffling to me. I feel bad for Pete Mackanin, who did a great job with the Reds in the second half. Leo Mazzone, fired . Anyone know a team looking for a pitching coach? John Schuerholz steps down as Braves GM and Frank Wren takes over. That inspired this Dugout , which made me laugh out loud.

Anyone else get the same sinking feeling that I have after two games in the NLCS and one game in the ALCS? That both of these series are big mismatches and going to end in sweeps, making for what will have to be one of the most anticlimatic post-seasons in memory? A lot is going to be riding on Fausto Carmona's arm in game 2 of the ALCS tonight. He's got to pitch a good game to keep things interesting in at least one of the series, he's got to be a rock for the Tribe because CC looks gassed, and it would probably be a good idea if he gets David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez out a couple times (they got on base 10 times in 10 chances last night). Anyways, Carmona takes the mound at 8 tonight against Curt Schilling while the hopes of the country for an interesting series and to not have to watch a sanctimonious Curt Schilling victory press conference ride on his shoulders.

Chris Duffy: .249/.313/.357 with 11 2B, 3 3B, and 2 HR in 270 PAs Nate McLouth: .258/.351/.459 with 21 2B, 3 3B, and 13 HR in 382 PAs Nyjer Morgan: .299/.359/.430 with 3 2B, 4 3B, and 1 HR in 118 PAs One of the most baffling "position controversies" in recent memory. Here we've got three guys that all play the same position, approximately. One (Chris Duffy) is mostly worthless. Still, the organization gave him chance after chance to play centerfield, despite a ton of evidence that he wasn't up to it. Another of the three (Nyjer Morgan) was mostly a 28-year old AAAA guy that was giftwrapped the job because he fit the bill of what the team thought a centerfielder should play like (fast, flashy glove, way way way subpar hitting skills). The third and youngest of the group (Nate McLouth) actually has some pop in his bat and really excelled in his one chance to start, but was pushed aside when a team that couldn't score runs decided it wanted more defense in center f...

Below are links to what are quite possibly my two favorite FanHouse posts: Gritty! Scrappy! Hard-Nosed! Your Guide to NLCS Hyperbole Dirty! Scrappy! Hustle! Grit! Your Guide to ALCS Hyperbole Sorry to shamelessly plug myself, but I think you guys will enjoy those. To make up for my self promotion, here's a link from the comments (thanks, J update: I'm an idiot and forgot the link before, but it's there now ) about Andy Van Slyke managing the Pirates, or someone else. Andy Van Slyke loves his job as the Detroit first base coach. He said in a Wednesday telephone interview that he is “having more fun than I ever thought I could have as a coach.” But he also has interest in managing. Van Slyke, who made three All-Star teams during his eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, said he would be interested in talking with the Pirates about their managerial vacancy. “I would love to manage for the Pirates, but only if they were committed to winning, like they were when I played f...

What's the point in quoting stats here? Doumit was having the best season of his short career (.274/.341/.472 with 9 homers and 19 doubles) when the injury bug bit him again, keeping him out of action from August 13th to the end of the season, save one game in which he managed to injure himself. After hamstring problems last year, it was wrist and ankle problems that got to him this year. Doumit has yet to hit even 300 plate appearances in Pittsburgh in a season, which is a bit discouraging. 2007 was positive for him in that he finally hit over an extended period of time with the big club, letting him set career highs in almost every significant offensive category. He was also a bit of a revelation in right field. That's not to suggest that he was a Gold Glover out there, just that he wasn't totally awful. In fact, he probably had the best arm of anyone to play right field for us all year. Doumit's bat would play best behind the plate (even with his good year this year,...

Sorry, didn't have time to write a review up last night, maybe I'll get to it later today. The Yankees are coming to Pittsburgh next year, with or without A-Rod and Joe Torre. If you hate yourself, check out the top 50 LCS moments of all time . Don't say I didn't warn you, though. Someone linked this USS Mariner post in the comments yesterday. Neal Huntington is coming from an impressive line of GMs. It's been almost a week and Huntington hasn't even started the interview process for our new manager. Chalk that one up in Joel Skinner's column (or at least someone from the Indians).

In which I discuss a Pirate of the past and why I loved or hated them so much. I'm not actually trying to find them. If this blog was run by my brother Dennis instead of me, it would be Where have you gone, Orlando Merced? instead of the WHYGAVS that exists today (does WHYGOM work?). I really like writing these things because I have certain perceptions of these guys that played in my youth and while writing them I always look them up at BBREF and see if what I remember actually matches reality. Most of the time it doesn't because, but that's OK. When I started thinking about Merced last night, here's what I remembered: a first baseman/outfielder from Puerto Rico that was incredibly honored to be a Pirate because he idolized Roberto Clemente. I remember that he was switch hitter but that he was the worst right-handed hitter in history so he rarely played against lefties, defeating the purpose of switch hitting. Eventually he just hit lefty all the time. I seem to recall...

2006 stats: .310/.360.394 2007 PECOTA: .289/.344/.440 2007 stats: .263/.314/.389 In a word, disastrous. To be fair, from July 1st onwards, he looked a lot more like what we expected (.293/.348/.427) at the plate. We all knew that .310 average was a bit of a sham based on his minor league numbers, but man, I didn't think he'd look as bad as he did for most of 2007 after the way he killed the ball in spring training. I also thought he'd hit for a bit more pop, but he didn't at all. Just a bad year for Ronny Ballgame in all phases. Speaking of all phases of the game, he's painful to watch behind the plate. I know I've told this story before, but dammit if watching Ronny play doesn't remind me of this particular memory every single time he misses a throw. When I was 13 years old I was on the local all-star team and we were practicing for the district tournament. I had been a catcher my whole life up to that point because I wanted to be in the heart of the ac...

2006: .344/.378/.473 with 6 HR, 53 2B, and 2 3B 2007 PECOTA: .298/.344/.425 with 9 HR, 38 2B, and 4 3B 2007: .304/.343/.442 with 11 HR, 42 2B, and 4 3B Wow. After Freddy Sanchez destroyed every single projection system known to man in 2006, PECOTA almost nailed his 2007 on the head, missing on just a few doubles and homers that account for small gap in slugging percentage. What does that mean for the future going on from here? Well, probably that the Freddy we saw this year is going to be a lot closer to what we can expect out of Freddy Sanchez than what we saw in 2006. Or, that he's going to be about the player we all hoped Jack Wilson would be. The first thing we need to decide is what to make of his various injuries this year. He started the year with some nagging injuries and he finished the year with a shoulder problem, but from May 27th through September 6th he hit.332/.379/.521 with all 11 of his homers and 33 of his doubles in 89 games, which seems impressive. And I'...

Tonight we get Game 4 of the only non-sweep series, the Indians and Yankees. As Eric Wedge left a struggling Jake Westbrook on the mound last night I couldn't help but feel like the series was slipping away from the Indians. I know they've got a 2-1 lead still, but they're going with Paul Byrd tonight, meaning the CC/Fausto two-headed monster is only getting one more start in the series. I can't explain it, but I don't like their odds. I hope I'm wrong.

2006: .272/.317/.367 with 8 HR, 27 2B, and 1 3B 2007 PECOTA: .273/.320/.392 with 8 HR, 29 2B, and 5 3B 2007: .296/.350/.440 with 12 HR, 29 2B, and 2 3B What a weird year for Jack. As he has the past couple years, he got off to a pretty good start (.288/.323/.400 on May 8th) and swooned from there out (.233/.299/.314 from May 10th through August 28th). In his swoon, he did the one thing that Jack Wilson never seems to do, which is take plays off. During our ugly sweep at Yankee Stadium in July he looked downright disinterested and that got him benched for close to a week. In fact, there was a decent stretch in June and July where it seemed like Jose Castillo was going to take the starter's job away from Wilson, which was every bit insane then as it sounds now. Things culminated in late July when the Pirates acquired Tracy favorite Cesar Izturis and tried their hardest to deal Jack to Detroit. The deal fell through on deadline day, and somehow that lit a fire under Jack's ass ...

In what has to be TBS's nightmare, the D'Backs and Rockies both completed their sweeps last night and the Red Sox and Indians could do the same today. That would mean like four days with no playoff baseball. I can't shake the feeling that the NL Clubs are much, much, much worse than the AL clubs, but I suppose it's technically hard to compare them since they aren't playing against each other. Today Curt Schilling's insufferable mouth takes the mound for the Red Sox against Jered Weaver at 3 and Jake Westbrook faces off against Roger Clemens at 6. Both the Yankees and Angels are trying to stave off elimination at home, but I don't think it looks good for either of them today, especially since Clemens isn't good for much more than 5 innings these days.

Cubs and Phillies looking to avoid sweeps tonight. To be honest, I don't like either of their chances. The Cubs are already down 2-0 and Aramis Ramirez stared at two strikes with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. Meanwhile, the Phillies playoff life rests on Jamie Moyer's million year old back.

If you haven't read it, read it now ( EDIT: I had the wrong article linked before but it's fixed now). Pretty much everything that we joked or guessed about looks like it was true: that Tracy loved his old Dodger veterans, that the players didn't care about much of anything, that Tracy only took credit for the things that went right while ignoring things that went wrong, and on and on. One thing that I always have to keep in mind while writing this blog is that there are things that go on behind the scenes that I will never know about, and that makes it incredibly difficult to point fingers or place blame. Unfortunately, Tracy was about as transparent as Saran-Wrap.

The Yankees will try to keep their heads above the water against the Indians at 5ish while the Angels will try to stay alive against the Red Sox at 8:30 or so. I have to admit, watching the Indians beat the snot out of the Yankees last night made me feel all warm and tingly inside. Something about watching them lose just makes me happy. As for me, I won't be watching either game, because I got tickets to see the Pens and 'Canes play in Raleigh tonight. You know you're jealous.

The Pirates have scheduled a press conference for 3:30 PM today to announce the firing of Jim Tracy. UPDATE (2:54 PM): And Creech! And Graham! Oh, happy day!

Through two days of the playoffs: Jose Mesa: 1/3 of an inning pitched, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 ER. Bringing Mesa into a game in which he was down 2 runs and attempting to not fall behind 2-0 in the series may be the stupidest thing Charlie Manuel has every done. Think about that statement. Josh Fogg: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K. His solid relief of Franklin Morales on a scant two days rest after starting Monday's one game playoff earned him his first career playoff victory. Aramis Ramirez: 0-for-9 with four strikeouts. Ouch. He, Soriano, and Lee are the ones mostly responsible for the Cubs' deficit as they have four hits among them in four games. Daryle Ward: 1-for-1 with a walk and 2 RBI. Amazingly, giving the Cubbies hope in every game he gets his. His walk in the ninth inning of game 1 pulled them to within a homer of tying the game and his two-run double last night pulled the Cubs to within four runs of the D'Backs in the sixth inning. Kenny Lofton: 3-for-4, 1 run scored, 4 RBIs in the Indians...

After being promised all week that a Tracy decision would come down on Friday, Neal Huntington is now all, "Did I say Friday? Because I meant Monday. Damn, I get those days confused sometimes." I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes right now (and I'm not sure that anyone does), but this all seems very fishy to me. On the other hand, every day that Tracy isn't fire gives Bones another excuse to give us some brilliant Tracy-isms at HW (currently the top three posts there are all fantastic), so, I mean, I can wait this out if they can.

Kyle Kendrick and Franklin Morales... worst game 2 pitching match-up ever or worstest game 2 pitching match-up ever? Seriously though, I'm looking forward to the Yankees and Indians for reasons I can't even quantify. And I've found myself selfish rooting for the Cubs so that I still have something to write about at FanHouse. Though Lou Piniella losing faith in his ace in Game 1 works nicely, too.

2006: .285/.354/.561 with 32 HR, 38 2B, 1 3B in 557 PAs 2007 PECOTA: .283/.353/.526 with 27 HR, 34 2B, 1 3B in 537 PAs 2007 actual: .272/.345/.458 with 21 HR, 42 2B, 0 3B in 632 PAs Charlie said a lot of what I said about LaRoche , but to be honest I put a bunch of these mostly done reviews in the queue over the weekend and felt like Charlie was reading my mind when I read his post on Monday. I really want to re-iterate it because I think it's very important, so if you feel like you're deja vu-ing on this post, I apologize. LaRoche got off to a terrible start this year and there's no doubting that. But like so many Pirate-related things in our lives, that allowed us to lower our expectations for him to the point that we forgot just how good the guy was last year and how good we expected him to be this year. To illustrate, I'm going to use the fun BBREF gamelog tool to break down exactly what I mean. From April 1st through May 31st this year, LaRoche hit .214/.319/.3...

Playoffs start today with a TBS triple-header, Phillies and Rockies at 3, Angels and Red Sox at 6:30, and Cubs and D'Backs at 10:00. To say I'm excited is an understatement. If you're looking for a comprehensive list of ex-Pirates in the playoffs, Bugs and Cranks has it . Anyways, there's a new playoff poll over on the right, so pick your World Series winner now, tell us why in the comments, and crow about it in three weeks when you're right. The results of the Neal Huntington poll can be found here . I would call the results "guardedly optimistic" because that sounds a lot better than "confused as hell as to who the guy is."

2006: .280/.337/.45, 17 HR, 28 2B, 1 3B 2007 PECOTA: .286/.340/471 with 18 HR, 31 2B, 2 3B 2007 actual: .278/.330/.47 with 20 HR, 23 2B, 1 3B Before this season, Nady was thought of as a semi-injury prone guy that was basically Craig Wilson without the on-base percentage and maybe a little less power. In April, Weapon X spent a brief stint as "Scruffy Looking Savior of Pittsburgh Baseball that Makes All the Ladies Swoon." He then returned to the semi-injury prone guy that is basically Craig Wilson without the on-base percentage and a little less power. On the bright side, he did marginally figure out how to hit righties this year (.274/.322/.479 vs. his career line of .253/.302/.427). Unfortunately, he didn't mash lefties nearly as well (.295/.365/.463 vs. a career line of .320/.390/.477) and things pretty much balanced themselves out, as you can see from the stat line above. If you read the Stats Geek yesterday , Nady is exactly who he's talking about when he ment...

A decision on Tracy won't be made until Friday , probably. Because as you guys noted on the DL firing, we find it's always better to fire people on a Friday . You know those fun "expert predictions" grids that all the major sports sites use at this time of year? I have fulfilled one of my life's goals by being included in one of them , at AOL of course. Next on the list? Making love while windsurfing . Yes, that was a How I Met Your Mother reference. Deal with it. Though now that I think about it, playoff predictions would be more fun if slap bets were involved. You know what this time of year means... time to start telling people John Lackey is my second cousin twice removed again.

In which I discuss a Pirate of the past and why I loved or hated them so much. I'm not actually trying to find them. What a curious career. The big lefty essentially had one big year as a Pirate, but it was a big year. In 1991 he went 20-8 and finished 3rd in Cy Young voting with a 3.08 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. The reason he never really duplicated that year was because he only struck out 129 batters in 207 and 2/3 innings, or less than 6 per 9 innings. He was pretty consistent the whole year, but after August 1st the Pirates cranked up the offense in his presence and he went 8-1. Of course you all remember what happened next. He crapped all over himself in the playoffs. He only made it two innings in his game 3 start, then only two-thirds of an inning in game 7. We lost both games and accordingly, the series. Smiley, likely unable to ever show his face in Pittsburgh ever again, was shipped off to the Twins that off-season for Denny Neagle and one of the first failed uber-prospects of th...

2006: .286/.396/.532, 35 HR, 29 2B, 3 3B 2007 PECOTA: .283/.383/.544, 34 HR, 34 2B, 5 3B 2007 actual: .247/.327/.418, 21 HR, 25 2B, 2 3B Jason Bay, Jason Bay... what do we make of this mess of a season? His numbers this year were terrible, and they're even worse if you consider that on June 1st he was hitting .314/.387/.536. So what happened? How does a guy go from a 30+ homer .900+ OPS stud to Jose Bautista at the prime age of 28? I suppose there are a couple of explanations. Explanation #1- Jason Bay is toast If you recall, there was a BP article that attempted to sell this point over the summer. The Reader's Digest version is that Bay had a spike in walks last year, which can often portend a slowing in bat speed (the theory is that he's taking more pitches he can't get to and thus walking a bit more), which bore itself out in his major power drain this year. It's not a bad argument, but I'm not sure I completely buy it. First off, he did hit in May. He tor...

Holy cow, what a game tonight. The Rockies are going to the playoffs after coming back from a 2 run deficit in the 13th inning, and if you're not rooting for them I'm not sure you have a pulse. For as long as ex-Pirates are in the playoffs, I'm going to update you on their performances. We had a slew of them tonight: Josh Fogg: He did what Josh Fogg does. He wasn't spectacular (or even good, really), but he stemmed the damage to one bad inning and he kept the Rockies in the game against the probable NL CY Young winner. Kudos to Fogg, who's one of the good guys in baseball. Line: 4 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks. Brian Giles: 1-for-5 with a ribbie, but he did walk twice and score twice. That's not what people will remember about Giles from this game, though. He sold out to catch Holliday's flyball to the wall in the 13th (a la his amazing catch in PNC a few years back) and missed it, leading to a game tying triple. He then lollipopped a throw to the plate two ba...

In case you were unawares, the Rockies and Padres are playing off for the NL Wild Card tonight. The game is starting at around 7:30 and it's going to be on TBS and it won't be listed on your channel guides or anything like that, but trust me on this one. ESPN doesn't have the rights to the playoffs this year so the game is on TBS. And why should you care? Because JOSH FREAKING FOGG is starting for the Rockies against Jake Peavy in a do or die game. I work with a kid from Denver and asked him if Fogg was the best they could and he just shrugged and said, "Who else are we supposed to pitch?" Point taken, but this will certainly be worth watching.

Tracy seems to be on his way out the door . Just posted about this at FanHouse , but my guess is Joel Skinner will be the one that gets Tracy's job. We can speculate more about then whenever Tracy is officially canned, though. Did the Cardinals screw Kip Wells out of a $500,000 bonus with their pitcher shuffling yesterday? Sure seems like it. Peace out, Shawn Chacon . I don't think you'll be terribly missed. I'll admit that you weren't nearly as terrible as I thought you would be, though. Jack Wilson managed to get to the ballpark yesterday despite his concussion and wave to players after the season finale; something not a lot of other players did. Clearly he thinks he's on his way out of town. I'm not so sure, myself. I will say that as much as I complain about him and think he's overrated, obnoxious, and preachy, he is a class act. Deeper into that article, Josh Phelps and Jason Bay do some real digging at the Pirates. You knew this already, but Fred...

You know, it's funny. Before the season started, I thought the Pirates would win about 73 games. Throughout the course of the season, I became so disgusted with the play of just about everyone on the team that I hardly even put the games on MLB.tv after I moved down to NC. Still, they managed to win 69 games, which was two more than last year or the year before. Were my expectations for the players too high in 2007? I suppose they actually were. I mean, I would venture to say that most of the readers here didn't expect the Pirates to win many more games than they did this year, but I would also assume that most of you would say that Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche, Ronny Paulino, Jason Bay, Zach Duke, Jason Bay, and most of the bullpen underachieved this year. Maybe they just stand out in my mind because they were so disappointing this year. I don't really know. If 2007 did anything, it completely shattered Dave Littlefield's notion of "2008 and 2009 are our years." T...