There's still 13 days until the Pirates play? Seriously? 13 days we have to keep reading stories about Nyjer Morgan's inability to be a leadoff hitter? 13 days that the words "Zach Duke" and "dominating" can appear in the same headline unironically?

I'm trying to stay out of the Nyjer Morgan debate this spring because I think everyone here knows how I feel and I don't want to hammer away on one point and seem exceedingly negative, but this sequence of quotes in that Post-Gazette story cracks me up.

First, John Russell:

"Getting on base is a big key," Pirates manager John Russell said yesterday, when Morgan and Andrew McCutchen were 1-2 in the order and got on base five times in eight plate appearances, four of those walks. "However he can do it, with a bunt or a walk ... if he gets on base, then good things can happen for us."

Then, Neal Huntington:

"He's expanding the zone too much," Huntington said then. "He hasn't utilized the bunt enough. He does need to take some steps forward. It's awfully hard to lose a job in spring training." But Huntington soon after compared Morgan's situation with that of a bullpen crew he similarly called out: "Because we have options, we need to see some performance."

Finally, Nyjer Morgan himself:

"Oh, yeah," Morgan responded yesterday morning. He knows whereof Huntington speaks. "They expect me to get on base. Work on my bunting. Work the counts. Draw walks. Learn how to be a consistent leadoff hitter. Do that, and I think everything will take care of itself.

"I'm just working on what I have to do. I'm just not getting hits, but it's spring training, know what I mean? I'm definitely not worried about that. Just trying to work on having good at-bats, trying to be patient. It's time to lock it in a little bit and get it going."

Right, so Russell and Huntington both say that Morgan needs to find a way to get on base, and Morgan totally knows that and he knows he's not doing a good job of it, but man, that's not his fault.

First off, my apologies for the lack of posting this weekend. I spilled a drink on my Macbook on Friday and even though it was pretty clear by Saturday morning that it was going to survive, I tried to not boot it up much over the weekend and let it dry as much as possible to avoid doing any further damage to it. Everything appears to be in working order now and even the wet spot behind the LCD is drying up nicely. This is why my mom tells me to eat at the table and not on the floor in front of my TV, I guess.

Anyways, let's do a quick run-down of fifth starter candidates for the Pirates since Tom Gorzelanny being cut makes that the most interesting remaining battle in camp. From within, there's Jeff Karstens and the field, which includes Virgil Vazquez and Jason Davis. DK has indicated several times in his blog that Vazquez and Davis are mostly being named to avoid just handing the job to Karstens. I don't think he'd write that if he wasn't positive about it, so let's assume that Karstens is the only internal solution to filling the spot right now.

If they don't go with Karstens, there are two alternatives. They could sign a free agent from an increasingly diminishig list or they could try to pluck a player off of waivers or trade for a guy that's out of options before a team puts him through waivers. MLB Trade Rumors has both the remaining free agent list and a list of guys that are out of options, so I'm going to cull from there a list of guys I think are interesting.

Free Agents

There's always Pedro Martinez, but I think someone is going eventually shell out for his $5 million asking price and I doubt it'll be the Pirates. Paul Byrd said he isn't going to pitch until mid-season and Chuck James will miss almost all of this year with arm problems, though he might be worth signing for the future if the Bucs think he can get healthy. None of the other options are that attractive: Jon Lieber is almost 40, Mark Mulder's arm is shot, El Duque and Kenny Rogers are ancient, and Ben Sheets isn't worth a Type A pick with his injury.

That leaves Shawn Hill and Odalis Perez. Neither of those guys are young and they're both known quantities. Known quantities that have been recently cut by the Nationals. Neither one is a better option than Karstens, I don't think.

Non-tenders

Cory pointed to Jeff Niemann as an interesting name last week and he's right, Niemann would be great. The problem is that the Rays don't seem to be interested in giving him away. They're actually dead set on keeping David Price in AAA just to make room for Niemann on the big league club to open 2009. That seems kind of crazy, but then this is the team that wouldn't part with more than Niemann to grab Jason Bay at the trade deadline, even when doing so would've kept from going to the Red Sox. The Rays are incredibly slow to part with young talent, and I'd be surprised to see them send Niemann anywhere this spring. If they do, the asking price would be pretty high and might be out of the Pirates' price range since they don't have a lot to offer.

So who else is interesting and potentially squeezed? Anthony Reyes is out of options in Cleveland, but he's look awfully sharp this spring and should make their rotation. Both Philip Humber and Boof Bonser are out of options in Minnesota and either of them might come available because neither one is among the Twins five best starters. One of them might be available and both of them are mildly interesting options that might be worth a look at in addition to Karstens. Beyond them, I don't really see any names on the list jumping out at me.

UPDATE: Bonser is out for the year with arm trouble, which I kind of knew in the back of my head, but slipped my mind this morning. The Twins are still likely to try and slip Humber through waivers in a couple of weeks because of his poor performances in this majors to this point and because their rotation is mostly set with Baker, Liriano, Slowey, and Blackburn.

In the end, I think the Pirates are probably willing to roll with Karstens and see where he can take them until they feel Dan McCutchen or Jimmy Barthmaier (or Tom Gorzelanny, but I'm not optimistic about him right now) can pitch in Pittsburgh. Unless they can find an alternative cheap solution, that seems like the best way to go to me.

Sad news today, as long-time Pirates and Penguins organist Vince Lascheid has at the age of 85. Everyone that's been to a Pirate game has spent some sitting in the stands, trying to decipher just what Lascheid's had in mind with the jingles he used to choose for opposing players. I still remember being at Three Rivers in the late 1990s with Chris Gomez at the plate for the Padres, hearing the Addams' Family theme song and finally making the connection in my brain after a few minutes. I just don't think many parks still have guys like Lascheid on the organ (if they have organs at all), and even if the Pirates' keep playing his recordings at the game, one of the most underrated and unique aspects of PNC Park is gone.

RIP, Vince. You'll be missed.

Very, very interesting piece by John Perrotto about Tom Gorzelanny. Here's an excerpt:

In Gorzelanny’s case, how he does in Indianapolis will determine if he has any future left with the Pirates. ...

[...]

However, Gorzelanny also developed an attitude as his win total increased in 2007. He became surly at times with the media and more shut off from his teammates.

He became downright miserable last season when he stumbled to 6-9 record and a demonic 6.66 ERA in 21 starts.

First off, +1 for azibuck, who wrote on Wednesday:

He lost velocity last year, and I've got a pet theory that he's a red-ass.

It's pretty clear from the piece that the front office isn't pleased with Gorzelanny right now. You know what happens to players Huntington isn't pleased with, right? Traded for backup catchers.

Someday, I'll compile a WHYGAVS Constitution and put it in the top menu, but until then you're going to have to settle for a loose amalgamation of rules that appear at my whim. We've been talking about this newest rule in the comments for a couple of days, but I think that this is important enough to bring to the front page.

I am sick of hearing about Matt Wieters. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I'm a baseball fan, so Wieters excites me. He's an awesome prospect that's got a chance to help turn a doormate franchise around. But as a Pirate fan, I don't want to hear about how he's not a Pirate anymore. That's over. That happened because a different general manager did what he always did, and now that general manager is gone. There's nothing that's ever going to happen that will make Wieters a Pirate and complaining about it just does no good. At this point, it's the same as wishing Larry Dohety didn't screw up and include Moises Alou as the player to be named in the Zane Smith trade. It's like wishing they took Gary Sheffield with the first pick in the '86 draft instead of Jeff King.

Think about this: what if the Pirates drafted Wieters and he didn't sign because Boras didn't want his client playing for a Littlefield-run organization? Then the public bad guy from the draft is Boras and not Littlefield. Maybe Littlefield never gets fired. Maybe he does get fired, but Bob Nutting is so burned from the experience that he tells Huntington he can do what he wants in the draft except draft another Boras client. What's done is done. Maybe none of those things happen. Maybe he does sign. But we don't know any of that, and speculating about it almost two years later is futile and frustrating.

It's over. We're moving on. There are plenty of other things to talk about now that we have a real front office in place. No more "What if we had Wieters." Please.

Tom Gorzelanny and Jose Tabata have been optioned to the minors, DK is reporting. Tabata is expected, Gorzelanny, well, not so much. He hasn't pitched well, but given his talent I always thought he'd get a chance during the season to show that he could bounce back from his ugly year last year. I guess that's not the case.

This leaves Ian Snell, Paul Maholm, Zach Duke, and Ross Ohlendorf as likely locks for the rotation with a fourth spot still open. I'm not sure who's filling that spot though: Phil Dumatrait's going on the disabled list, Jeff Karstens hasn't really been used like a starter this spring and he's had some arm trouble, and Jimmy Barthmaier and Dan McCutchen are already in the minor league camp. That leaves, by my count, Virgil Vazquez and any free agent that's not in camp. The Pirates have shown interest in Pedro Martinez and the Astros strongly denied the reports that he'd signed with them.

Is there something going on behind the scenes that we don't know about? Or will Karstens and Vazquez fight it out for this last spot? I'm not sure I know the answer, but I am surprised by this news. It's not that I think it's a bad thing, either. There's clearly something wrong with Gorzo, whether it's health-related or otherwise, and sending him to AAA to figure it out isn't a terrible idea. I just didn't think the front office would have the balls to make this move right out of camp.

Today's pics from Bradenton come from Eric Lytle, who got some really nice shots of some Pirate prospects over the weekend. Below we've got three of Pedro Alvarez in action, one of Andrew McCutchen and Tony Beasley, and one of the Pirate Parrot wreaking havoc on the Astros (which is probably the best thing the Parrot could be doing, in my opinion). Big thanks to Eric, and of course, keep sending these pics in if you have them.

 

There's been a lot of buzz about the performances of Jose Tabata, Andrew McCutchen, and Pedro Alvarez in camp this spring. That's certainly deserved; the Pirates haven't had three prospects as exciting as McCutchen, Alvarez, and Tabata at the same time in a long while. Given Tabata's age and the fact that Alvarez hasn't even played a minor league game yet, there's plenty to be excited about. Still, the question I get more than any other is "When will the Pirates be good again?" Barring a miracle, it's not going to be 2009. But have we seen enough this spring to think that it might be 2010?

The short answer is "no" with the caveat that a lot can happen in a year, especially with minor leaguers. The Pirates' system is still not terribly deep and besides the big three that we've been seeing this spring, there's not a lot of talent at the upper level of the minors. Most of the other interesting draft picks in 2008 were interesting because they were high schoolers that the Pirates managed to convince to sign instead of go to college. Guys like Grossman, Miller, and Freeman are miles away from Pittsburgh right now. This lack of depth creates an immediate problem. The Pirates are going to lose three starting infielders after 2009 and they really have no immdiately obvious replacements. Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, and Adam LaRoche aren't All-Stars, but they're solid Major Leaguers that could be replaced by replacement level production next year and that's no good for 2010's outlook. This is, I think, the most conservative guess for next year's Opening Day lineup.

1. Andrew McCutchen, CF
2. Nate McLouth, LF
3. Ryan Doumit, C
   
4. Brandon Moss, RF
5. Andy LaRoche, 3B
   
6. Steve Pearce, 1B
7. Shelby Ford, 2B
8. Brian Bixler, SS

I know, Tabata and Alvarez aren't there. For Alvarez, look at the way the Orioles are handling Wieters or the way the Rays handled Longoria. Wieters played in high-A ball last year and got promoted to AA, where he stayed despite dominating. This year, he's ready for the big leagues but the Orioles aren't ready to contend and he'll start the year in AAA to keep his arbitration clock down, which is something the Rays did with Longoria even though they were ready to contend. Tabata, I mean, he's only going to be 21. I do expect progress from him this year, but that doesn't mean he's going to be a ready-made right-fielder on Opening Day 2010. I saw him against David Price last night. There's going to be a learning curve. That doesn't mean I'm not excited about him as a prospect, because I am, just that there's no reason to rush him along.

And then, we haven't even talked about pitching. The rotation has its holes this year and with Lincoln and Morris not starting above AA, I don't expect much immediate help from the minors. When you consider that really, TINSTAAPP, well, I don't see a lot of signs that the pitching will be great in 2010.

Of course, a lot can happen in a year. We've got the fourth pick in the draft. We could, say, pick Dustin Ackley (currently at UNC and hitting over .400 for the third straight season) and have him immediately sign and fly through the system, trade Nate McLouth for pitching, sign a free agent shortstop and a starter in the depressed market over the winter, get vaguely useful returns for Adam LaRoche, Wilson, and Sanchez (not likely given their contracts and value, but hey) and have Alvarez, Tabata, and McCutchen all make huge splashes at young ages and immediately turn into very productive big leaguers. Throw that together with Andy LaRoche having a breakout year in 2009 while Ian Snell, Paul Maholm, and Ross Ohlendorf becoming above average starters, sprinkle some fairy dust and voila! Contention in 2010!

Have you caught your breath yet? Because that's a lot of things that have to go right between now and St. Patty's Day of next year to make the Pirates a legitimate threat to anything next year. Please don't misunderstand my point, either. Like I said yesterday, I do think the three guys the Pirates have had in camp this year have a bright future and I do think that Huntington and Coonelly finally have the ship moving in the right direction. I'm just not sure that 2010 is a realistic date for a contending team or even a winning season because of the depth problems in the organization right now that exist as remnants of the Littlefield era.

The Bucs pared down their roster a bit more today, with Pedro Alvarez being sent to Lynchburg as the headliner. There's a cautionary message from Neal Huntington about Pedro staying in shape, but Lynchburg was always the highest level that was said to be an option for him, so I think it's safe to say that he did enough between mini-camp and spring training to atone for his supposedly lazy off-season. On a plus note, Lynchburg plays at Winston-Salem from May 12-14. I don't see Alvarez getting promoted before then, so you can bet I'll be there at least one of those nights.

None of the other demotions are terribly surprising. Steve Lerud is going to AA with Jeff Sues and Ronald Uviedo while Jimmy Barthmaier, Dan McCutchen, Shelby Ford, and Juan Mateo are all presumably ticketed for AA.

I also think it's interesting that Jose Tabata wasn't re-assigned today. There's no chance he starts the year out in Pittsburgh and it's not even a slam dunk that we see him in a big league uniform at all in 2009, but he's had a nice spring with 8 hits (including 3 doubles) in 18 at-bats to go with five walks and five strikeouts. I know the club wants to see him in center and says they might start him out at AA to get him reps there, but he's headed to a corner eventually and at this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see him start the year out in Indy alongside McCutchen.