Futilitywatch '09 is a our semi-regular update on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their march toward their record 17th consecutive losing season.
In our last installment two weeks ago, we left the Pittsburgh Pirates for dead as they sat at 12-16, in the midst of what turned out to be an eight-game losing streak that dropped their record to 12-19. Since then, the Bucs have reeled off seven wins in 10 games and sit at 19-22. In fact, if their bullpen hadn't blown an eighth-inning lead last night, they'd only be one game under .500 and Bucco Fever would be sweeping Pittsburgh. Or something.
If you click the "Pirates" tag, you may be surprised to see one or more Dugouts on every page, despite the fact that we almost never do Dugouts about the Pirates. What this means is this: even people who infrequently mention the Pirates do so more than the rest of humanity. I'm going to google "Pirates blog" and get a bunch of black and yellow webpages with news about the Mets.
This afternoon's Dugout of March is after the jump. Arrrr, bottle of rum, Johnny Depp, etc.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the ... Pittsburgh Pirates. I mean, what else needs to be said? They haven't been able to rebuild themselves properly in the past decade and a half. The relatively new front office seems to be headed down the right path, but it's early in the process. Fantasy-wise, you won't find much here to like.
It's the middle of the night on a Friday. The week in sports has included an Olympian cast into exile because of drugs, Kobe Bryant scoring 650 points in a single game, and the Super Bowl. Nobody's reading The Dugout. Nobody's reading mlb.fanhouse.com. The only baseball news is "team wants players, might talk about it."
To persevere during these dark times, I have replaced Tonight's Dugout with a new feature we call "MLB.Com Headline Theatre," where we skim the slash-news section, find an awkwardly-worded article title (which is easy, because they are all awkward), and act it out dramatically.
Being a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates has never been easy. My earliest memories of the team generally involve losing in the NLCS three straight years from 1990-1992 and things have been all downhill from there. With the team trudging towards tying the record for most consecutive losing seasons by an American sports franchise, it probably seems to most outsiders that being a Pirate fan can be boring. That's actually far from the case. The last two weeks have been incredibly strange for Pirate fans.
On July 26th, Xavier Nady was pulled out of that night's Pirates/Padres game and traded to the Yankees. He won the AL Player of the Week Award in his first full week in pinstripes. At the trade deadline, Jason Bay was traded to the Boston Red Sox and immediately went to work proving that Theo Epstein wasn't crazy to think he could replace Manny Ramirez in left field.
It's a really bizarre feeling seeing two guys watching play in black and gold suddenly light up the national stage with the two biggest franchises in all of baseball. In some ways, it's a weird form of validation of being a Pirate fan. For years, people have asked me why I keep watching, now there are two guys I can point to and say, "SEE! It's not all bad at PNC Park!" But of course, they're not there any more. It's easy to see that the team is rebuilding and I'm fully behind that because I think that it's finally being done right. That doesn't make it any easier to watch the national media rave over Jason Bay and wonder what it would be like if we could've put a team around him.
Take a deep breath, baseball fans. The dust has settled after another trading deadline, and what a deadline it was. Three future Hall of Famers were moved. So was a reigning Cy Young winner and two former All-Stars. And we haven't talked about Rich Harden yet. Undoubtedly, 2008 was the most entertaining trading season in recent memory for baseball fans.
After years of near-misses, the Red Sox finally send disgruntled slugger Manny Ramirez packing. Ramirez lands with the Dodgers as part of a three-way deal.
Christian Petersen, Getty Images
Former All-Star Jason Bay winds up in Boston as the other major piece of the three-way deal. Pittsburgh receives two prospects apiece from the Dodgers and Red Sox for its part in the trade.
Nick Laham, Getty Images
In the final year of his contract, the Reds send Ken Griffey Jr. to the AL Central-leading White Sox in exchange for two prospects, including sinker-balling pitcher Nick Masset.
David Kohl, AP
In need of a big bat for October, the Angels acquired Mark Teixeira from the Braves in exchange for first baseman Casey Kotchman and a pitching prospect.
Elise Amendola, AP
With fixture Jorge Posada out for the season, the Yankees moved swiftly to get Ivan Rodriguez, sending reliever Kyle Farnsworth to Detroit in return for the Gold Glove catcher.
Gregory Shamus, Getty Images
The Brewers made the first big move of trading season, acquiring reigning AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia from Cleveland for a package of four prospects, including Matt LaPorta.
Jeff Roberson, AP
The Cubs bolstered an already deep starting rotation by acquiring Rich Harden from the A's. Oakland also sent relief pitcher Chad Gaudin to Chicago and received pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton, infielder Eric Patterson and catcher Josh Donaldson in return.
Charles Rex Arbogast, AP
The Phillies got much-needed rotation depth in the form of Joe Blanton from Oakland. The A's received three prospects, including second baseman Adrian Cardenas and pitcher Josh Outman.
Seth Wenig, AP
Florida acquires one of the many left-handed relievers on the market, adding Arthur Rhodes from Seattle for minor league pitcher Gaby Hernandez.
Jim McIsaac, Getty Images
The Yankees also added depth for the stretch run, landing outfielder Xavier Nady and reliever Damaso Marte for a package of four prospects that included right fielder Jose Tabata.
Getty Images (2)
Truth be told, it will take years before we know who helped themselves or hurt themselves at the 2008 trade deadline. That's just the way it is when boom-or-bust prospects are involved. But here's an educated (and roughly ordered) guess anyway at which teams won and which teams lost now that the July 31 deadline has come and gone.
Winners
Angels: With a double-digit lead in the AL West, the Angels didn't need to do anything to get to October. They went out and got slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira anyway, and it's nothing short of a coup. For all the praise heaped upon Mike Scioscia's throwback run-at-all costs strategy, it hasn't done much for Los Angeles in the postseason. The Halos have scored 17 runs in their last eight postseason games dating back to 2005, and they don't have single regular slugging over .500 this year. They needed a bat to go all the way in October, and that's just what they got in Teixeira.
You know Manny Ramirez has gone to Los Angeles. That's the big news. The national news that everyone will be talking about all night and into tomorrow. But the trade was three-team trade, and a pretty layered one at that. Most people's reaction to the Pittsburgh Pirates' trading Jason Bay is going to be, "Well, I guess the Pirates are rebuilding again. Snicker." The question is, is that really what happened?
In return for their best player the Pirates received Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris, Brandon Moss, and Craig Hansen. LaRoche is one of the Dodgers' best prospects with a great minor league track record and the potential to be an All-Star at second or third base. Morris is coming off of Tommy John surgery, but seems to have bounced back nicely this year and projects as a high end starter for the Pirates in a couple of years. Moss and Hansen are nice players that the Pirates can use to fill holes on the team that they have right now. Not one of these guys was filer or a throw-in. The Pirates got two really good prospects and two useful players in return for Bay.
The problem the Pirates have had is that previous front offices have had no idea how to rebuild. They continually tried to improve the major league team while ignoring the minors, creating a painful void of talent that kept the team perptually stuck in the mud. Today, they hit the jackpot for Bay and combined with a good draft and the trade they made last week, it looks like the Pirates might be headed in the right direction for the first time in years.
Bad news for Boston fans Monday night. The Red Sox will place designated hitter David Ortiz on the disabled list after an MRI revealed the slugger had a torn tendon sheath in his extensor carpi ulnaris -- a muscle in the wrist. Ortiz is certain to miss at least a few weeks, though the Boston Herald has reported that he will miss at least a month and could face season-ending surgery.
Manager Terry Francona did not indicate the injury was quite that serious, though he will confer with Ortiz, GM Theo Epstein and the team's medical staff tomorrow in Boston.
Big Papi struggled in April, but he was his usual slugging self in May putting up a line of .318/.409/.617 (AVG/OBP/SLG) over the last month. No team in baseball is prepared to replace that kind of production, but the Red Sox are deeper than any other organization in the game and are prepared to make do while Ortiz gets healthy. Francona said after the game that reserve first baseman Sean Casey would likely see additional time while Ortiz is sidelined, but the most likely lineup Francona will put out there will probably feature Manny Ramirez at DH and Jacoby Ellsbury, Brandon Moss and maybe even Bobby Kielty or Kevin Youkilis splitting time in left field.
When asked about seeing more time as a designated hitter, Ramirez said "I love it. I love to DH," though he then went on to joke that if he played there too much it might hurt his chances at getting the Gold Glove he so covets. "It's nice to give him a blow and still keep his bat in the game," said Francona of playing Ramirez at DH.
If the Red Sox were merely losing Ortiz for a few weeks, there wouldn't be much to worry about, but Big Papi's injury is just at the top of a long list of concerns for the reigning champs.
Boston will miss Ortiz, but they'll do a very good job of filling the void in the short-term
Brandon Moss, the 24-year-old outfielder who replaced JD Drew in two games against the A's in Japan, has been optioned back to AAA Pawtucket. The Sox are reporting that Drew's strained back -- the reason he was benched in Japan -- is feeling better and that he should be ready to rumble by Tuesday, which leaves the team with four viable outfielders and no real need for a fifth.
He may have been sent back down, but that doesn't mean he didn't make an impression. The Sox obviously see talent in him or it would have been Coco Crisp out there instead of Moss in Drew's stead, so Moss shouldn't be too disappointed. JD Drew is bound to get injured again -- don't deny it, Red Sox Nation, you know it's true -- and one would imagine that Moss would be at the top of the list. I'd expect to see him within a month or two when Drew is sipping margaritas poolside with Pavano at the DL-hotel.
Futilitywatch '09 is a our semi-regular update on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their march toward their record 17th consecutive losing season.
If you click the "
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
It's the middle of the night on a Friday. The week in sports has included an Olympian cast into exile because of drugs, Kobe Bryant scoring 650 points in a single game, and the Super Bowl. Nobody's reading 
Being a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates has never been easy. My earliest memories of the team generally involve losing in the NLCS three straight years from 1990-1992 and things have been all downhill from there. With the team trudging towards tying the record for most consecutive losing seasons by an American sports franchise, it probably seems to most outsiders that being a Pirate fan can be boring. That's actually far from the case. The last two weeks have been incredibly strange for Pirate fans. 
You know
Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in 
Sometimes, hitting a 
