The Polar Opposites of Pirates Pitching and Hitting in a Small Sample Size

The Pirates offense has been that bad so far this season that it has overshadowed some very good pitching. The season is still very young and much will change, even over the next week, and not much can be garnered from this small sample size. However, what the early season statistics do show is the polar opposites of the club’s pitching and hitting so far in 2013.

Notes After Opening Day

The 2013 season did not begin in an ideal fashion for the Pittsburgh Pirates, dropping the opener to the Cubs while offering little at the plate. Nonetheless, one defeat doesn’t mean that the Pirates are going to struggle, much like a win today wouldn’t have meant that the Bucs were going to be contenders. The Pirates have a shot at bouncing back on Wednesday night, with Wandy Rodriguez getting the start against Edwin Jackson. Drawing conclusions on how the season is likely to pan out would be nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction at this point; however there are some noteworthy items after today's game:

Pittsburgh's 25-Man Roster Set For Opening Day

The Pirates have finalised their 25-man roster ahead of today’s opener against the Chicago Cubs.

Pirates Pitchers Depth Chart: Next Man Up

Updated 2/13/2013

Please note and make use of the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen as there is additional info on the right side of this chart.

Depth Chart Key
Positional Players Depth Chart

Position	Player	Acquired	ST	OPT	40/R5	Throws	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
S1	A.J. Burnett1	TR12	>6.000	0	Yes	R	36/$16.5
	Gerrit Cole	DR11	0.000	3	2014	R	22	23	24	25	26	27
	Luis Heredia	Int FA10	0.000	3	2014	R	A	A+	AA	21	22	23
S2	Wandy Rodriguez2	TR12	>6.000	0	Yes	L	34/$13	35/$13
	Jameson Taillon	DR10	0.000	3	2014	R	AA	22	23	24	25	26
	Tyler Glasnow	DR11	0.000	3	2015	R	A-SS	A	A+	AA	23	24
S3	James McDonald	TR10	3.080	0	Yes	R	28/$3.025	29	30
	Charlie Morton3	TR09	4.010	0	Yes	R	29/$2	30
	Nick Kingham	DR10	0.000	3	2014	R	A+	AA	23	24	25	26
S4	Francisco Liriano4	FA13	>6.000	?	Yes	L	29/$1	30/$5-$8
	Kyle McPherson	DR07	0.036	1	Yes	R	25	26	27	28	29	30
	Clay Holmes	DR11	0.000	1	2015	R	A	A+	AA	AAA	24	25
S5	Jeff Karstens	FA13	5.132	?	Yes	R	30/$2.5
	Jeff Locke	TR09	0.058	1	Yes	L	25	26	27	28	29	30
	Justin Wilson	DR08	0.035	2	Yes	L	25	26	27	28	29	30
Closer	Jason Grilli	FA11	>6.000	0	Yes	R	36/$2.25	37/$4
	Mark Melancon	TR13	2.098	0	Yes	R	28	29	30	31
	Player projected to start the year in AAA and get called up mid-season; not eligible for arbitration
	Player is in a pre-arbitration year; contract is Major League minimum unless otherwise noted
	Player is arbitration eligible; salary, if noted, = arbitration results
	Player is under contract
	Either the Pirates or the player may exercise an option; details provided below the chart

¹ The Pirates pay $8,000,000 of Burnett’s 2013 contract.

² The Pirates pay $8,500,000 of Rodriguez’s 2013 contract. Rodriguez’s option became a player option when he was traded by Houston; the Pirates will pay $7,500,000 if the option is exercised.

³ Morton is unlikely to be available before June, 2013.

⁴ Liriano is guaranteed only $1 million in 2013; however, if he does not miss any games due to his broken right (non-throwing) arm, he can earn up to $4.75 million. The Pirates have a team option for 2014; that option will be for $5, 6, or 8 million depending upon missed games due to Liriano’s broken right arm.

Pirates Finally Set To Sign Francisco Liriano

The Pirates have reached an agreement with Francisco Liriano, restructuring the original two-year, $12.75M contract, according to Ken Rosenthal. The lefty broke his right arm after agreeing terms with the Bucs at the end of December and if Liriano misses time due to the injury then his 2013 salary will be reduced (Jon Heyman describes it as language protecting the club). The club will need to make a move to make room on the 40-man roster once the deal is finalized after Liriano's physical.

Looking at Jeff Karstens' Development

Jeff Karstens has developed into a dependable middle of the rotation pitcher whenever he’s been healthy and should provide a lot of value on a $2.5M contract. While that durability issue that led to him being non-tendered could well be a problem this year and he's seen as more of a back end of the rotation option, I believe that Karstens now becomes a solid number three behind A.J. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez in the Pirates rotation.

Jeff Karstens To Return To The Pirates

The Pirates have re-signed pitcher Jeff Karstens to a one-year deal believed to be valued in the region of $2.5M, pending a physical. While Karstens will enter the mix for the final two spots in the rotation,  he is most likely to be guaranteed a spot if no other starting pitcher is acquired prior to the beginning of the season.

Revisiting The Charlie Morton Decision

One of the Pirates’ more contentious moves this winter has been giving Charlie Morton a one year, $2M contract extension despite the fact that he will miss half the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June. It was a questionable choice at the time, however recent moves by the club is making the decision look a little worse now. 

Pirates And Francisco Liriano Agree To Two-Year Deal

The Pirates have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent left-handed starting pitcher Francisco Liriano, which will guarantee him $12.75M according to Jon Heyman, plus some incentives. The move is subject to a physical, so the deal will not be completed until after Christmas.

Minor League Daily Update - 4/6/2012

Here is the Minor League Daily Update from yesterday (4/5/2012)

Yesterday saw the season opener for three of the Pirates full-season minor league affiliates.  Altoona and Bradenton won, while West Virginia dropped their first game.  Indianapolis did not play.

Indianapolis did not play on 4/5.

Altoona won their home opener by the a score of 7-4 over the Erie Seawolves.  Reliever Matt McSwain notched the win.  Starting pitcher Mike Colla lasted 4 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 3 earned runs while walking 2 and striking out 3.  Offensively Robbie Grossman started off hot with 2 hits in his first two at-bats, including a 2 run homerun.  He finished 2-5 with 2 RBIs and a strikeout.  Jarek Cunningham also went 2-5 and tallied an RBI in his AA debut.  Tony Sanchez had a nice start to what will hopefully be a bounce back campaign.  The catcher went 1-3 with a triple, a walk, and a strikeout.  Pitcher Duke Welker through 2 innings, giving up a hit and an unearned run while striking out three and walking none.

Bradenton won in extra innings thanks to a walk off hit by pitch as they topped the St. Lucie Mets 3-2.  Colton Cain went 3.2 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs but only one was earned.  Cain also struck out 4 batters but walked 4 as well.  Offensively Gift Ngoepe batted leadoff and went 3-5, all singles, and scored 2 runs. Alex Dickerson went 0-4 with a strikeout and a walk.  Mel Rojas Jr. went 1-4 with a double and a strikeout.  Wes Freeman played DH and went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts.  The bullpen did a good job - Eliecer Navarro, Casey Sadler, and Jhonathan Ramos - giving up 0 runs in 7.1 innings of relief.  They allowed only 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7.

West Virginia dropped an offensive shootout 11-9 to the Hagerstown Suns.  Nick Kingham got the start, but only lasted 1.2 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 5 earned runs, although he did strike out three.  Kingham had a rough second inning he couldn't escape after giving up only an opening inning walk while striking out two in the first frame.  Offensively the pre-game star had to be Josh Bell as he made his professional debut.  However, Alen Hanson put forth his best attempt to steal the show.  Hanson day was a good start towards proving himself as a legitimate upper-echelon prospect as he went 3-4 with a double and homerun.  Hanson scored three times and drove in two runs.  He also laid down a sacrifice bunt and had an error while playing shortstop.  Willy Garcia and Gregory Polanco also each had three hits, with Garcia driving in two and striking out once.  Polance scored twice, drove in a run, and one of his hits was a triple.  Jose Osuna went 1-4 with a RBI, run, and strikeout.  Josh Bell had a mixed bag for his professional debut.  He did manage to smack an RBI double, but also struck out three times to finish 1-5.

Tomorrow's preview after the jump.

What if everything goes right?

The Pirates are punting on 2012.  Or they’re going to contend in a weakened NL Central that no longer features Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols.  Rod Barajas and Clint Barmes are going to age poorly and the North Side Notch is going to rob them of whatever power they might have had left. Or they are good defenders who will anchor two of 2011’s most unstable positions. AJ Burnett is too old and can’t be an effective starter anymore. Or he’s a 200 inning workhorse with a 93 MPH fastball who will benefit from a move to a weaker division. Pedro Alvarez will hit 5 home runs and strike out 30% of the time. Or he will hit 25 home runs and will strike out…well…29% of the time. With Spring Training upon us again, everybody has seemingly come up with their own opinions about what kind of season we are in for. What are realistic expectations, though? I guess the only way to answer that is to look at both ends of the spectrum. Since I’m a positive guy, I’ll start by looking at what we can expect in 2012 if everything goes right.

Snakebitten

After what seemed like a year's worth of speculation, the Pirates recently completed a trade that brought A.J. Burnett to Pittsburgh. Despite coming off a couple of disappointing seasons in New York, Burnett still possesses outstanding stuff and some of the advanced stats suggested that he had really just been the victim of some bad luck. Pirates fans were hoping that a change of scenery would help Burnett return to form and he would be a workhorse for the Bucs. Earlier today, Burnett managed to bunt a ball into his own face. What the #%$@?!?!?  Although the original reports said that Burnett was fine, we are now learning that he will fly back to Pittsburgh to be examined further. Obviously, I'm hoping that this is nothing more than a bump in the road and that Burnett will be fine. I guess the silver lining is that he didn't hurt his arm or shoulder so as long as he didn't shatter his orbital bone a la James Harrison, it shouldn't really affect his ability to pitch a bunch of innings for the black and gold this year. It also helps that it happened a month before the games start to count. Still, it made me think about just how snakebitten this franchise has really been.

Reaction: Pirates trade two prospects for A.J. Burnett

This article fits under my Reaction heading of my blog.  Read more of my Reactions here.

The Pirates finally made a splash.  Actually, it might be better characterized as a small swell.  A splash was last year when we acquired Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick.  The Pirates haven't yet created a tropical storm, but the times they are a-changin'.  No longer is Pittsburgh just a triple-A club for other baseball teams around the league.  This time, the Pirates gave up the prospects and took on money in order to help facilitate a salary dump for another team.  This time, in a very strange turn of events, that team was the New York Yankees.

From the Yankees, the Pirates received talented but oft-maligned starting pitcher A.J. Burnett.  In exchange, the Pirates sent prospects Diego Moreno and Exicardo Cayones to the Yankees. In addition, the Yankees will provide the Pirates 20 million dollars to cover over half of the 33 million Burnett is owed over the next two years (some sources indicate that it's 18.1 million instead of 20 - stay tuned). Details on all three players after the jump and my opinion.

How Foreign the Game of Baseball is Sometimes

Even to so-called "experts."  I will admit right now that I'm about to pick on a writer by cherry-picking (pickity, pick, pick) on one thing he wrote, but onward I plunge.

In this article ESPNNewYork.com writer Wallance Matthews writes about the pending AJ Burnett trade between the Yankees and Pirates.  I'll go ahead of give Mr. Matthews the benefit of the doubt here and assume he's informed and intelligent when it comes to baseball, but even so, he manages to offer up this gem a little past halfway into the article.