This year was supposed to be different for Andy LaRoche. After a nightmare 2008 in which he began the season as the Dodgers third baseman of the future and ended it with a .458 OPS in 49 games after being banished to Pittsburgh, he worked with Pirates hitting coach Don Long over the winter to try and reclaim his status as one of the most promising young third baseman in the game.
For a while, it seemed to be working. In spring training, he hit.333/.453/.471 with a pair of homers. Spring training stats are rarely predictive, but for a guy that seemed completely clueless at the plate last fall, it was the exact sort of camp that Pirate fans had hoped for. His swing looked good, his injured thumb seemed to be healed and it was looking like maybe this year would be different.
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.
With the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies getting together for a few games over the weekend, members of the media asked Pirates manager John Russell for his opinion on the game's oldest player, Jamie Moyer. After all, Russell was Moyer's catcher with the Texas Rangers back in 1990, so he knows a little something about him. While praising Jamie's work ethic and preparation, Russell went on to say that he wouldn't be surprised if Moyer, who's now 45, pitched until he was 50.
Obviously the media then ran over to Moyer's locker to ask him what he thought about the idea, and though it's a few years off, Jamie didn't say he wouldn't do it.
"John said that, huh? Well it's something that's five years away," Moyer said. "Right now, I'm going pretty well and I feel pretty good, trying to take things one step at a time. The point with me is being able to stay healthy and pitch effectively. I still deal with the minor aches and pains, and we're talking about five years from now. I'd have my family to talk to about it, and they're first. But you never know, I'm not ruling it out.
For a long time now, most managers in the National League have been content to bat their pitchers in the nine slot of the batting order, making only the rare exception for guys like Micah Owings and Dontrelle Willis. Starting a couple years back, Tony La Russa began batting his pitcher eighth from time to time. This year, the trend grew when Ned Yost has been hitting Jason Kendall in the nine slot most of the time. Tonight a third convert emerged when the Pirates' John Russell moved Jack Wilson to the nine slot and hit Paul Maholm eighth.
I haven't seen an official explanation from Russell as to why he made the shuffle, but it's already been shown that batting the pitcher eighth and putting a real hitter in the nine slot, allowing for more of a chance to put runners on base when the best hitters at the top of the lineup comes up. Since Wilson has an OBP of .346 but only five extra base hits this year (all doubles), I'm going to give Russell the benefit of the doubt and assume that was his reasoning.
As for the actual result, Wilson did go 1-for-3, but he didn't score (maybe because Freddy Sanchez and Jason Michaels batted 1/2 and defeated the purpose). As they are wont to do, the Pirates lost the game, though not through any fault of John Russell's lineup shuffle ... Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-run walkoff homer in the ninth to erase a one run deficit. Will the experiment continue tomorrow? Why do only NL Central teams seem willing to try this? I don't have the answers.
It's been bizarro world at PNC Park this year. The Pirates were supposed to be a terrible offensive team that would be kept vaguely mediocre (read: about 73 wins) by their young rotation. Instead, Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, and Nate McLouth have formed the best hitting outfield in baseball (I'm not kidding), the Pirates are among the NL leaders in runs scored, and their pitching absolutely stinks. Yesterday, Ian Snell got rocked for eight hits and six runs in four innings, dropping his record to 2-5 and raising his ERA to 5.94. Luckily for Snell, manager John Russell knows what's wrong:
"I thought if you take away the five-run inning, he pitched OK," Russell said. "His fastball had a lot of zip on it, his slider was working. I mean, they got five runs in the inning and they never got the ball past the outfield. I thought it was a better game as far as his stuff, I just thought it was unfortunate they found some holes, but other than that I thought he threw the ball very well, he just has to avoid the big inning."
Got that Ian? Make sure you write that down. "Stop giving up five runs in an inning and you'll be just fine." Good thing he's a manager. Did you know the Pirates are actually 26-0 this year when outscoring opponents?!? If they can just do that every night, maybe they'll finish .500!!!
At some point, everyone has to say enough is enough. The Pirates' started the year with Matt Morris in their rotation, mostly in hopes that he could shake off last year's awful second half and replicate 2007's hot start, allowing the Pirates to ship some of him and his $10 million salary out of town. Of course, most people didn't expect that and wondered just how long the Pirates would stick with Morris. The answer? Five starts, 22 and 1/3 innings, six home runs, and 24 earned runs. After being shelled by the Phillies last night, the Pirates had had enough:
"It's been kind of a whirlwind morning,'' manager John Russell said. "Matt Morris has been a true professional. He's had a great career. He wanted to help us win, and it just wasn't happening."
It was obvious to everyone that Morris didn't have anything on the ball. His last two starts were more painful to watch than anything, because it was obvious that he was every bit as frustrated by his struggles as the fed-up Pirate fans. In the end, it was obvious to even the low-budget Pirates that eating the remainder of his salary was best for both Morris and the team. Well, I don't know that putting Phil Dumatrait into the rotation can qualify as "best for the team," but a change definitely had to be made.
Ah, the rites of spring. Opening Day, the Masters, the NCAA Tournament, the NHL and NBA Playoffs, and of course, the coaching staff of the Pittsburgh Pirates desperately trying to keep their season from derailing before May 1st. This incarnation of the Bucs is already in serious trouble. Right now, the Pirates are sitting at 7-11, and they're on a 5-game losing skid that's seen them outscored by an aggregate of 48-12 (no kidding). Accordingly, new manager John Russell and his coaching staff met over the weekend to discuss ways to stop the skid:
"We've got a lot of work to do -- we really do," Russell said. "There are some things we need to clean up. Some situations we need to clean up.
"There are things we want to make sure we stay on top of and things we want to make sure the players are aware of. I feel it's very important that the staff gets together."
As always with the Pirates, it's much easier said than done. They currently lead the league with 24 errors and as someone that regularly punishes himself by watching Pirate games, I'm not kidding when I say it could probably be easily twice that if not for friendly scorers. They really don't do anything well: they certainly can't hit, their pitching has been awful, they're by far the worst team in the field, and they get thrown out on the bases in the stupidest ways you can imagine. I assume that Russell's staff has been meeting quite a lot lately.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are going to right a wrong in the sports world this season. After the New England Patriots same so close to an undefeated season only to lose it all in the final moments, the Pirates are going to conquer the world of baseball and go 162-0 with the team they have and the power of dreams!
And if they lose? Well, all the kids on the hipster t-shirt circuit get a "161-1" yellow and black novelty tee.
On today's Spring Dugz (are we seriously calling it that), we take step one on the year-long journey toward destiny with the Pittsburgh Pirates. And hey, we managed to get this one done without throwing in the mascot!
The Pirates lost 94 games last year. Believe it or not, that was a slight improvement over the 95 they lost the past two years. This year, they actually went out and did something about it; they fired GM Dave Littlefield, most of his front office staff, and manager Jim Tracy. Then, faced with a choice to make about their next manager, they picked ex-third base coach John Russell, a man who lead a AAA team to a 55-88 record last year.
Honestly, I don't even think Russell's a bad choice for the job, given the other finalists, but it's pretty clear that most other Pirate fans don't agree with me (check out this chat that Bob Smizik of the Post-Gazette had with fans after the announcement of the hiring today). Say what you will about the hire, but at least it's clear that the Pirates aren't doing things just for PR purposes anymore.
Actually, that kind of encourages me as a Pirate fan. The old front office of the team was known for making moves that looked good to casual fans, but made little or no baseball sense. Maybe Russell will be a good manager and maybe he won't, but at least Neal Huntington and company picked him because they thought he was the best guy for the job and not because they thought the fans would think that.
Team president Frank Coonelly confirmed today the Pirates plan to name a new manager at a news conference Monday, though he did not indicate if it would be at PNC Park or Orlando, Fla., site of the general managers' meetings.
"We have identified the individual who we believe will be the next manager," he said without divulging any names. "But there are no contract negotiations."
Presuming those negotiations go well, the only question left is who the identity of that "individual." John Perrotto of the Beaver Valley Times seems to think it's going to be Phillies' AAA manager John Russell, who worked in Pittsburgh as Lloyd McClendon's bench coach from 2003-2005. Perrotto isn't really the most reliable source in the world, but he's the only person out there even willing to put a name with the search, so I suppose that makes Russell the most likely candidate.
Russell's not exactly the most inspiring name and he's probably not the one Pirate fans wanted to hear, but I'm more interested to see who new GM Neal Huntington picks to fill out his front office (he's still looking for a scouting director, director of player development, and an assistant GM). The Pirates don't have the talent to compete in 2008, so the manager is kind of inconsequential. Cleaning up Dave Littlefield's mess is going to take a while.
This year was supposed to be different for Andy LaRoche. After a nightmare 2008 in which he began the season as the Dodgers third baseman of the future and ended it with a .458 OPS in 49 games after being banished to Pittsburgh, he worked with Pirates hitting coach Don Long over the winter to try and reclaim his status as one of the most promising young third baseman in the game. 
If you click the "
With the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies getting together for a few games over the weekend, members of the media asked Pirates manager 
For a long time now, most managers in the National League have been content to bat their pitchers in the nine slot of the batting order, making only the rare exception for guys like 
It's been bizarro world at PNC Park this year. The Pirates were supposed to be a terrible offensive team that would be kept vaguely mediocre (read: about 73 wins) by their young rotation. Instead, 
At some point, everyone has to say enough is enough. The Pirates' started the year with 
Ah, the rites of spring. Opening Day, the Masters, the NCAA Tournament, the NHL and NBA Playoffs, and of course, the coaching staff of the Pittsburgh Pirates desperately trying to keep their season from derailing before May 1st. This incarnation of the Bucs is already in serious trouble. Right now, the Pirates are sitting at 7-11, and they're on a 5-game losing skid that's seen them outscored by an aggregate of 48-12 (no kidding). Accordingly, new manager 
The Pittsburgh Pirates are going to right a wrong in the sports world this season. After the New England Patriots same so close to an undefeated season only to lose it all in the final moments, the Pirates are going to conquer the world of baseball and go 162-0 with the team they have and the power of dreams!
The Pirates lost 94 games last year. Believe it or not, that was a slight improvement over the 95 they lost the past two years. This year, they actually went out and did something about it; they fired GM 
