The Pirates recently signed Ryan Church to a contract. Church, 31, is a serviceable player when healthy. The only problem is that he's as good at remaining healthy as Ryan Doumit.

He's being looked at as the team's fourth outfielder behind McCutchen, Milledge and Jones and quality insurance in case Tabata doesn't make the bigs this year (he nearly hit .400 in winter league, but still hasn't developed much power).

This also means that either Brandon Moss or Delwyn Young will be on the outside looking in, considering the team is pretty crowded in the outfield (where their Rule 5 guy, John Raynor, also is).

Also, a bunch of marginal guys got minor league contracts. Included on the list is Tyler Yates, who pitched with the team the last two years, being mediocre in 08 and pathetic in 09 before going on the DL for most of the season. Most intriguing might be former White Sox/Cub reliever Neil Cotts. Dude was a great middle reliever in 05, but mediocre to bad for the rest of his career. IF he can get back to 05 form (1.11 WHIP, .179 opponent BA), he'd be a great acquisition. If not.....well, in 19 appearances last year his WHIP was 2.09 and OBA was .311, which won't help anyone out.

I told ya! This is our year. LOL.

Why isn't this stickied?

Uh oh.

Maybe he'll hit .260 with 12 HRs

Tabata has been a hit machine at every level.

Even without the power I think he should be in the bigs this year.

wes_mantooth wrote: Why isn't this stickied?

That's a good question. When I think about it, there hasn't been a bigger story in the sports world in a good 3-4 months than this one.

Non wrote: Uh oh.

Maybe he'll hit .260 with 12 HRs

That's probably a very legit expectation for his performance. Which Moss could probably also provide if he improves to any degree. And I'd wager Moss is a good bit cheaper than Church, as well.

One of those moves that just makes you shrug your shoulders with apathy.

Heretic wrote:

wes_mantooth wrote: Why isn't this stickied?

That's a good question. When I think about it, there hasn't been a bigger story in the sports world in a good 3-4 months than this one.

False. That Nets/Bucks game had everyone pumped.....Team Milwaukee prevailed though

Well, that's only because there were more facts presented about that game and the two teams playing in it than anyone had ever seen before. I'd argue that the importance of that game was created by the incredible presentation given to hype it up.

It was very informative. Whoever put in the man hours for that pregame hype is the greatest copy/paster ever.

SWEET BABY JEBUS!!!!!!

And now Pittsburgh has signed D.J. Carrasco, a reliever who was with the White Sox last year where he pitched 93.1 innings with a 3.76 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. Pitched in 49 games with one appearance being a start. Could be a decent long/middle reliever, which is a nice thing to have since many of our starters haven't proven they can go deep into games with any consistency. It's a minor league deal worth just under a million if he sticks in the bigs. I'd expect he will, as his numbers from last year make him stand out like a man among boys compared to most of the guys whom he'll competing with for a spot.

Rumors have it that they could wind up getting O. Dotal, as well, which would give the team a potentially decent bullpen, as opposed to the BLOWpen (all rights reserved, NCF) it was looking to be entering this year.

Didnt realize they still played baseball in Pitts? Which league are they in? Independatnt? Double A?

september63 wrote: Didnt realize they still played baseball in Pitts? Which league are they in? Independatnt? Double A?

Oh my God, that's hilarious!! And so original!! Seriously, you really ought to hit the comedy circuit. I've never heard anything like that before in my life!!

I like the depth they have in position players going into spring training.

Seems like they're overloaded in the outfield, though.

Garrett Jones
Andrew McCutchen
Lastings Milledge
Ryan Church
Jose Tabata
Brandon Moss
Delwyn Young
John Raynor

At first base you could have Garrett Jones or Jeff Clement, but still that's a lot of guys.

I don't think they should keep Tabata in Triple-A just because they have too many guys. He's just going to go down and pound out hits and bat .330, same as they already suspect.

middle infielders

Iwamura
Ronny Cedeno
Bobby Crosby
Ramon Vazquez

makeshift but not terrible

third base - Andy LaRoche
catcher - Ryan Doumit

both these guys need to be healthy and prove they're consistent

Overloaded in the outfield? You must be kidding. A team cant have enough STIFFS to play the 3 outfield positions!!

Most of those players are solid with the exception of Raynor who is an unknown.

Non wrote: Most of those players are solid with the exception of Raynor who is an unknown.

Solid outfielders? Which 3 of them have ever done anything in MLB for a full season? Which 1 of them even?

McCutchen is a potential all-star. Let's say he hits .285 15-20 HRs 30-40 SBs

Jones hit 21 HRs and 21 doubles in half a season. True he must prove it over a full season but a power left hander has a good chance at PNC.

If Jones hits 30 HRs to go along with McCutchen that's two.

Can they find another productive outfielder from that remaining group?

Milledge has a lot of potential and is still young. He can be an all-around performer.

Tabata is going to be a great hitter batting average wise whether he has power or not.

Church and Moss can be solid platoon players.

They still have Gorkys Hernandez who doesn't figure in this year but has long-term potential.

I know the Pirates have been terrible. That's not any kind of news but I'm not going to be critical of every aspect of the team.

I like the options they've given themselves in the outfield.

The last five seasons they've won 65, 67, 68, 67 and 62 games.

I'm not going to go crazy but I say they'll win 70-75 games this year.

They usually have massive changes after the all-star break because of trades and then the losses pile up.

That shouldn't be the case this year.

I hope so. The baseball world is a better place when the Pitts Pirates are good!! I would enjoy that.

september63 wrote:

Non wrote: Most of those players are solid with the exception of Raynor who is an unknown.

Solid outfielders? Which 3 of them have ever done anything in MLB for a full season? Which 1 of them even?

To be honest, that is something that I do find worrisome. OF could be a big strength for us, but I can see a lot of things go wrong potentially, since the worst-case scenario tends to be the norm for us on a yearly basis.

1. McCutchen could have a sophomore slump after a very strong debut.
2. Jones was considered a AAAA player before becoming an overnight sensation for us last year. The law of averages in MLB states it's more likely that he's a one-year wonder who will fall to earth than a consistent big-league slugger.
3. Milledge has a lot of talent and could easily be a .300/25/90 guy. But he's shown a 10-cent brain for much of his career. With a young team, having a discipline/head case problem on hand can be very detrimental, so he HAS to maintain his composure over the course of the year.
4. Church is made of porcelain.
5. Moss was very disappointing last year. From hitting .270 as a back-up with the Red Sox to hitting .240 as a platoon player and then back-up for us.
6. Tabata hasn't played in the bigs yet AND has shown headcase/immaturity issues when he's faced adversity in the Yankee organization. And had that weird-ass story about his GF/wife who was like twice his age abducting a baby/child. WTF?!!? In other words, if he comes up and struggles off the bat, will he have a "crazy" moment.
7. Raynor is a Rule 5 guy who was a good prospect who really struggled at AAA last year. While I think he can potentially be a decent player, I don't think he's ready for the bigs now. If the team decides to keep him around, he'll have to remain on the 25-man roster and we'll likely have the position player equal to last year's Donnie Veal.


As an aside, I feel bad for a player like Veal. You're at the age where your status is quickly moving from prospect to organizational filler, but you're a Rule 5 player who HAS to remain in the bigs if the team who selected him wants to keep you around. You're not ready for the bigs yet due to control problems. But instead of working on those problems in game situations in the minors, you're a never-used player who won't pitch in a game unless there's a 10-run differential. You get DL'd a couple of times for phantom injuries so you can take a full rehab assignment and get a few outings in, but then get called back up to ride the pine. Until the final couple of weeks, when you and the other minor leaguers who GOT A FULL SEASON OF ACTION get to take the mound after call-ups.

Evan Meek was lucky. He got waived by the Pirates, but Tampa didn't take him back, so the Pirates were able to keep his rights and he got a full season of minor league work and blossomed into a very strong middle relief/set up man before going on the 60-day DL last year.

as far as the outfield situation goes, whoever plays well they'll just trade him and keep the others so they dont have to pay anybody

Pirates have just signed Brendan Donnally to a one-year, $1.5 million contract.

Donnally's a short-term fix for the bullpen. He's 39 and had injury problems in recent years. But after an abysmal 2008, where he was atrocious for the Indians, he bounced back in a big way last year in AAA and with the Marlins, where he had 30 outings and recorded a 1.78 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP and nearly a 3-1 strikeout/walk ratio.

No problems with this trade. If Donnally stays healthy and is remotely the same guy he was last year, we have a very effective middle reliever to add to a bullpen that seems to be getting stronger with every move the team makes.

The signings of Church and Donnally should put us as a front runner. The question is, a front runner for what?

Well.....we have a halfway kinda okayish shot at finishing ahead of Houston!