Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke? - '07 Bucs

[JustinM]

[With apologies to the owner of the "Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?" blog (http://whereisvanslyke.blogspot.com/). Hopefully he doesn't mind. Something tells me he'd understand.]

Okay, we know he's in Detroit with Jim Leyland, but the curse of Francisco Cabrera (http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cabrefr01.shtml) still lives in the Steel City. Cabrera, a nobody backup catcher for the Atlanta Braves, is a name that lives on in infamy in Pittsburgh. Any true fan of the Pirates (if you'll allow me this bit of "No True Scotsman") can tell you who Cabrera is and why Barry Bonds's five Gold Gloves mean nothing to us.

Just take as evidence, if you will, the sponsorship on Cabrera's baseball-reference.com page. "The only way a Braves fan gets this sponsorship is to pry it from my cold, dead fingers," held by one Jeff Tripodi, erstwhile owner of letsgobucs.com.

Speaking of Bonds, he's one of only three active players who remain from that fateful 1992 Pirates team. The other two are failed outfielder-turned-knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (who the Buccos flat-out gave up on after a bad sophomore campaign) and journeyman pitcher Miguel Batista, who appeared in 1 game for the NLCS-bound Bucs, pitched two innings and gave up two earned runs.

With the knowledge that it's entirely possible to be well into one's teenage years and have absolutely no recollection of these people in a Pirates uniform, and with this entirely-too-long introduction, this dynasty is a way for me to go about setting things right.

Starting in 2007, using HoustonGM's roster set, and after fourteen straight losing seasons, it's time to see how long it takes your average BBM '08 player to do what Cam Bonifay and David Littlefield couldn't--get the Pirates a winning season, and hopefully more.

[JustinM]

Settings (at HoustonGM's suggestion):
League Revenue: +20
Salary Demands +10
Contracts +20
Injury Frequency +30
Severity +0

Draft Talent -30
Predictability -20
HOF Careers +50

Effect on Negotiating +20
Effect on Performance +0

Promotion to
MLB +50
AAA +60
AA +70
A +80
Renewals +40
Trade Frequency +0
Platooning +0

Coach difficulty, to keep the playing field level.

Starting Roster:
1. CF Chris Duffy
2. SS Jack Wilson
3. LF Jason Bay
4. 1B Adam LaRoche
5. RF Xavier Nady
6. C Ronny Paulino
7. 3B Jose Bautista
8. 2B Jose Castillo

C Ryan Doumit
SS Don Kelly
OF Luis Matos
1B Brad Eldred
OF Nate McLouth
OF Rajai Davis

1 Zach Duke
2 Ian Snell
3 Paul Maholm
4 Tony Armas, Jr.
5 Tom Gorzelanny

CL Salomon Torres
SU Damaso Marte
SH Matt Capps
SH Josh Sharpless
MR Juan Perez
LR Shawn Chacon

If you're about to crucify me for not having Freddy Sanchez in the majors on opening day, please keep in mind that he was on the DL and missed the first six games. Upon his return, he took over the duties at 2B, bumping Castillo to the bench and Davis to AAA. He's batting third in the order most days, and everyone just moves down one spot to compensate.

[CaseyWebNet]

Since I live in Pittsburgh and have attempted (and failed) Pirates dynasties myself, I'm curious for how this plays out. Good luck!

Edit: I see you live in Ellwood City, their high school soccer team was in my section when I was in high school. I also travel past there every other weekend on my way to Slippery Rock University.

[JustinM]

Ah, SRU. I've spent more a few days there myself back when I was in college and had friends who went there. These days I spend more time in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas because everyone with half a brain got out of EC when they could, and what friends I have in the area now live down there. Let's not examine particularly thoroughly what that says about my own sanity. :p

As far as the soccer team, when I was in high school they were downright awful. They made the Pirates look good! :D

[JustinM]

April 2007 News and Notes

Milestones
Apr 7: Kenny Lofton (TEX), 600th Steal
Apr 12: Todd Helton (COL), 1000th RBI
Apr 29: Johnny Damon (NYY), 2000th Hit

Trades
Apr 6:
3B Macier Izturis to MIL
RP Greg Aquino to LAA
Just can't figure out the point of that one...oh well.

Apr 8:
3B Pedro Feliz, LF Benjamin Copeland, SP Matt Morris to MIN
CF Torii Hunter to SFG
That's just HUGE. Jason Tyner's now the man in Minnesota, but San Francisco's platooning Hunter with Dave Roberts in CF. I think we should all line up and take a number to smack Bruce Bochy upside the head for that one. Hard.

Apr 9:
CF Ryan Freel, 2B Mark Bellhorn to FLA
RP Jorge Julio, RP Kevin Gregg, LF Jason Restko (AA) to CIN
A couple "serviceable" relievers and a marginal prospect for a **** infielder and a bona fide leadoff hitter. Cincinnati seems to think they're getting a closer in Julio. I hate to tell him he's not in Baltimore anymore.

Apr 17:
SS Felipe Lopez, CF Alex Escobar, RP Saul Rivera, RP Jon Rauch, 1B Nick Johnson to OAK
C Jason Kendall, 1B Nick Swisher, RP Brad Halsey to WSN
Very, very interesting. Rivera ended up in AAA as a result of the trade. Lopez is now the DH in Oakland, and Piazza's back behind the plate. If I play them, I'll make sure to run on every single pitch. I'm including the pitchers in that. We'll see what happens when half their team gets off the DL, though.

Significant Injuries (i.e. famous players hurt for a month or more)
Apr 8: Nick Markakis (BAL) seven weeks with a severe shoulder separation
Apr 15: Chris Carpenter (STL) five weeks with a shoulder separation
Apr 16: Cliff Floyd (CHC) three months with a torn knee ligament
Apr 19: Livan Hernandez (ARI) two months with a severe shoulder separation
Apr 19: Magglio Ordonez (DET) five months with a broken vertebra (geez, this guy just can't win)
Apr 19: John Lackey (LAA) thirteen months[/i] with a torn rotator cuff (and the Angels are thanking their guardian angels that he doesn't seem to have suffered permanent damage from that one)
Apr 20: Andruw Jones (ATL) five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
Apr 26: Ken Griffey, Jr. (CIN) two months with a torn knee ligament
[b]Apr 26: Ronny Paulino (PIT) four weeks with a broken collar bone

Retirements
1B John Mabry (COL) retired at age 36
C Corky Miller (ATL) retired at age 31 (he was awful anyway)
RP Rudy Seanez (LAD) retired at age 38

[HoustonGM]

I'm reading. :)

In addition to smacking Bruce Bochy upside the head, I'd like to smack Brian Sabean as well. Trading your starting (albeit bad) third basemen and a serviceable starter for a pending free agent center fielder who you don't even plan on using full-time despite his "star" status is just retarded.

[JustinM]

April 2007 ended with the Pirates going 14-10.

Deep breath, and read that again.

14...and 10. The first number, you see, is bigger than the second. I've fallen off my chair in apoplectic shock and have to type this with a long, pointy stick, which is bent at the perfect angle so that I can reach the keyboard with it. They're a game behind the Cincinnati Reds, of all people.

So far, Jason Bay has been a rally killer. Batting .208, even if you do have 4 home runs, is a great way to get my attention, and not in a good way. Duffy's .252 isn't exactly what I'd call leadoff material, either, but what else am I going to do with a guy that has speed of 90+?

Also, it's bad when Paul Maholm is your best starting pitcher.

On the bright side, Sanchez got off to a .437 start to lead the entire league, and LaRoche hit 8 home runs. That's good, right?


2007 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Armas, Tony PIT 5 .083 12 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 0 .083 .083
Bautista, Jose PIT 24 .276 87 24 8 2 1 9 25 0 0 15 13 .448 .343
Bay, Jason PIT 24 .208 96 20 5 0 4 10 21 0 1 15 21 .385 .287
Castillo, Jose PIT 9 .250 28 7 0 0 1 1 4 0 0 3 6 .357 .290
Chacon, Shawn PIT 0 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Doumit, Ryan PIT 12 .278 18 5 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 3 2 .333 .381
Duffy, Chris PIT 24 .252 103 26 7 1 1 10 19 6 2 18 9 .369 .316
Duke, Zach PIT 5 .500 10 5 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 .700 .545
Eldred, Brad PIT 9 .111 9 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 .444 .111
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 3 .167 6 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 .167 .167
Kelly, Don PIT 1 1.000 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1.000 1.000
LaRoche, Adam PIT 24 .262 103 27 8 0 8 1 25 0 0 16 21 .573 .264
Maholm, Paul PIT 5 .214 14 3 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 1 .214 .214
Marte, Damaso PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Matos, Luis PIT 2 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
McLouth, Nate PIT 12 .357 14 5 1 0 0 1 2 3 3 1 1 .429 .400
Nady, Xavier PIT 23 .295 88 26 6 2 4 10 19 0 0 20 11 .545 .370
Paulino, Ronny PIT 21 .338 77 26 7 1 2 12 17 0 0 8 13 .532 .427
Perez, Juan PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 17 .437 71 31 6 1 0 3 4 2 0 8 13 .549 .442
Snell, Ian PIT 5 .000 11 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Wilson, Jack PIT 24 .356 104 37 8 2 4 4 10 0 0 22 15 .587 .385



2007 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Armas, Tony PIT 30.0 5.40 5 5 2 2 0 16 11 14.40
Capps, Matt PIT 16.2 8.64 20 0 0 0 1 7 2 18.90
Chacon, Shawn PIT 16.2 3.78 8 0 2 0 0 11 6 9.18
Duke, Zach PIT 33.1 5.40 5 5 2 2 0 16 11 12.69
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 17.2 6.11 3 3 0 1 0 15 7 13.75
Grabow, John PIT 3.0 0.00 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 3.00
Maholm, Paul PIT 32.1 3.62 5 5 4 1 0 15 10 11.13
Marte, Damaso PIT 6.1 5.68 7 0 0 0 0 6 6 17.05
Perez, Juan PIT 9.0 7.00 11 1 0 0 0 6 6 18.00
Sharpless, Josh PIT 8.2 11.42 13 0 0 1 0 9 11 24.92
Snell, Ian PIT 32.1 3.90 5 5 2 3 0 24 5 9.46
Torres, Salomon PIT 9.0 0.00 10 0 1 0 7 5 2 7.00

And now league leaders...and there are some ORLY? YARLY! moments in here. Format unceremoniously ganked from the 1993 Giants dynasty:

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Johnny Damon (NYY) - .398
Homers: Alex Rodriguez (NYY), Josh Phelps (NYY), Mark Teixeira (TEX) - 10
RBIs: Ty Wigginton (TBD) - 37
Doubles: Johnny Damon (NYY) - 12
Triples: Kenny Lofton (TEX) - 4
Stolen Bases: B. J. Upton (TBD) - 9
Slugging Pct.: John Buck (KCR) - .746
On Base Pct.: J. D. Drew (BOS) - .473
OPS: Gary Sheffield (DET) - 1.199
Wins: Andy Pettitte (NYY) and Rich Harden (OAK) - 4
Earned Run Avg.: Andy Pettitte (NYY) - 2.02
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 40
Opponent BA: Johan Santana (MIN) - .194
Shutouts: nada, zip, zilch
Saves: B. J. Ryan (TOR) - 8

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Freddy Sanchez (PIT) - .437
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 11
RBIs: Chris Duncan (STL) - 25
Doubles: Conor Jackson (ARI) - 14
Triples: Chipper Jones (ATL), Ryan Freel (FLA), Josh Wilson (WSN) - 3
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 9
Slugging Pct.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .791
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (SFG) - .512
OPS: Garret Atkins (COL) - 1.291
Wins: Bronson Arroyo (CIN) - 5
Earned Run Avg.: Derek Lowe (LAD) - 1.74
Strikeouts: Brett Myers (PHI) - 40
Opponent BA: Matt Belisle (CIN) - .147
Shutouts: five tied at 1
Saves: Trevor Hoffman (SDP) - 9

[Goldberg]

You should use Matt Capps more. If you had used him in all 24 games rather than just 20, you would have won a couple more games (or been even).

[JustinM]

While I'd agree that Capps is an underrated pitcher in real life (and honest-to-god closer material IMO), note that he has an 8.64 ERA. Just about every time I've sent him out on the mound to do more than get one batter out, the opponents have been hitting everything. Not as bad as they've been hitting Sharpless, but let's just say I was thanking the fates when I saw Grabow was recovered from his injury.

And check out Torres! If only he could do that in real life! :D

[JustinM]

May 2007 News and Notes

Milestones
May 6: Omar Vizquel (SFG), 2500th Hit

Trades
May 8:
RP Matt Guerrier, LF Benjamin Copeland (AAA), C Matt LeCroy, SP Matt Morris to LAD
SP D. J. Houlton, LF Marlon Anderson, CF Jason Repko to MIN
If this were hockey, I'd say that Minnesota traded Copeland and Morris for a bag of pucks. This being baseball, I hesitate to do that, but in this case, Houlton, Anderson, and Repko (who is injured for about 6 months) are about as useful to the Twins as a bag of hockey pucks, so I'm gonna stick with that.

May 20:
C Kelly Shoppach, RP Juan Lara (AAA), RP Roberto Hernandez (AAA) to MIN
3B Nick Punto (AAA), SP D. J. Houlton (AAA) to CLE
This is the second trade this month where someone Terry Ryan brought in got shoved right back out the door. Now Houlton ended up in the minors, which is probably where he belongs, but the Twins are now carrying three catchers on that 25-man. Huh.

May 31 (a trade that doesn't involve Minnesota):
LF Ben Harrison (AAA), C Chad Tracy (AA) to KCR
LF Ross Gload (AAA), RP Jason Standridge (AAA) to TEX
I can barely get up to "meh" level on this trade, but Harrison and Tracy are pretty decent prospects. Anything just so that Tracy doesn't have to listen to his dad answer a yes-or-no question with a ten minute speech. (You'll get that if you're a Pirates or Dodgers fan.)

Significant Injuries (i.e. famous players hurt for a month or more)
May 1: Alex Rios (TOR) six weeks with a dislocated hip
May 3: J. D. Drew (BOS) four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
May 4: Sammy Sosa (TEX) five weeks with a broken collar bone
May 7: Nate Robertson (DET) four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
May 23: Braden Looper (STL) five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
May 26: Matt Holliday (COL) seven months with a broken wrist
May 27: Derrek Lee (CHC) six months with a torn ankle ligament
May 29: Placido Polanco (DET) five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
May 29: Tom Glavine (NYM) five weeks with a wrist stress fracture

Retirements
C Adam Melhuse (OAK) retired at age 35
LF Todd Hollandsworth (free agent) retired at age 34
CF Tike Redman (free agent) retired at age 30
1B Phil Nevin (free agent) retired at age 36
C Ken Huckaby (LAD) retired at age 36
C Chris Coste (PHI) retired at age 34
C Brandon Harper (WSN) retired at age 31
RP Brian Sikorski (CLE) retired at age 32
CF Bernie Williams (free agent) retired at age 38
1B Julio Franco (NYM) retired at age 48 (****, that's a shame)
RP Ron Villone (NYY) retired at age 37
C Chris Widger (TBD) retired at age 35
RP Joey Eischen (DET) retired at age 36
RP Cliff Politte (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Wayne Franklin (KCR) retired at age 33
RP Jose Mesa (DET) retired at age 41
RP Jim Brower (PIT) retired at age 34 (good...he's off my payroll)
RP David Cortes (SFG) retired at age 33
RP Rick White (HOU) retired at age 38
C Doug Mirabelli (BOS) retired at age 36 (maybe Schilling had him offed)

[JustinM]

May 2007 saw a 13-15 record, but the club is still keeping its head above water for now, with a 27-25 overall record. They're now in third place, six games behind the Astros. Huh.

You'll notice that Bay raised his average from .208 in April to...wait for it...yes, .210 in May. His power numbers didn't even go up. His OPS is .722. I think some pitchers can manage that.

Freddy Sanchez fell back to earth in a big way as well. That .437 mark in April turned into a .316 through May after all the ground balls stopped finding holes.

The biggest problem with the team at this point is that Adam LaRoche can't hit left-handed pitching to save his life (and neither can Bay), and Ronny Paulino sat out basically the whole month with that collar bone. Doumit's .221 didn't exactly plug the hole, although he did hit 3 home runs. Speaking of LaRoche, he's temporarily (maybe) on a platoon with Eldred at first base, who has been hitting much better in a semi-regular role instead of coming off the bench in desperate situations to try and put one on the 6th Street Bridge.


2007 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Sharpless, Josh PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Perez, Juan PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Cota, Humberto PIT 4 .750 4 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 3 2.500 .750
Duke, Zach PIT 11 .368 19 7 2 0 0 3 6 1 0 0 5 .474 .455
Paulino, Ronny PIT 21 .338 77 26 7 1 2 12 17 0 0 8 13 .532 .427
Wilson, Jack PIT 49 .337 208 70 18 4 5 10 21 0 0 35 24 .534 .368
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 45 .316 187 59 15 1 2 6 17 3 1 18 33 .439 .330
Chacon, Shawn PIT 0 .286 7 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .286 .286
McLouth, Nate PIT 24 .280 25 7 2 0 0 2 6 3 4 2 1 .360 .333
Nady, Xavier PIT 51 .278 194 54 11 2 8 17 43 0 0 28 22 .479 .347
Kelly, Don PIT 9 .263 19 5 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 6 1 .421 .333
Duffy, Chris PIT 52 .261 226 59 13 1 3 13 41 11 6 37 19 .367 .300
Eldred, Brad PIT 20 .261 23 6 0 0 2 2 3 1 0 5 2 .522 .346
LaRoche, Adam PIT 51 .235 204 48 11 0 13 8 55 0 1 28 37 .480 .258
Castillo, Jose PIT 11 .233 30 7 0 0 1 1 4 0 0 3 6 .333 .273
Bautista, Jose PIT 52 .232 185 43 12 2 1 21 51 1 0 24 21 .335 .311
Doumit, Ryan PIT 40 .221 122 27 6 0 3 6 29 2 0 11 13 .344 .294
Bay, Jason PIT 52 .210 195 41 10 3 8 26 47 0 1 34 36 .415 .307
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 9 .158 19 3 1 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 .211 .158
Maholm, Paul PIT 10 .148 27 4 0 0 0 1 11 0 0 1 3 .148 .172
Snell, Ian PIT 11 .043 23 1 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 1 0 .043 .043
Armas, Tony PIT 10 .042 24 1 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 2 0 .042 .042
Matos, Luis PIT 4 .000 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .250
Marte, Damaso PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000

Tony Armas tries my patience. His WHIP is killing me, and I have to use Chacon for a couple innings pretty much every time Armas takes the ball. At least Chacon has made the most of his outings thus far, going 2-0 with a 2.75 ERA. Not bad for a scrap-heap replacement player. I'm thinking of promoting him to the rotation in Armas's place to see how he fares in that role, provided I can find a spot where he's sufficiently rested to fit into the slot. His first few starts will probably be rocky, though, until his endurance catches up again.

Oh, and Grabow's the freakin' MAN. Capps is starting to settle down as well. He'd better, with all the work he's getting.


2007 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Grabow, John PIT 16.1 1.10 18 0 2 0 0 14 7 14.88
Torres, Salomon PIT 20.0 2.25 22 0 1 2 15 11 7 11.70
Chacon, Shawn PIT 36.0 2.75 21 0 2 0 0 21 13 10.00
Marte, Damaso PIT 14.1 3.14 15 0 0 0 1 14 10 11.93
Maholm, Paul PIT 66.0 3.41 10 10 8 2 0 33 21 10.36
Snell, Ian PIT 70.1 3.58 12 11 4 5 0 64 12 9.85
Duke, Zach PIT 70.2 4.58 11 11 4 4 0 39 19 12.10
Armas, Tony PIT 60.2 5.04 10 10 3 5 0 37 17 13.50
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 55.0 5.07 9 9 2 4 0 43 21 12.11
Capps, Matt PIT 29.0 6.52 35 0 1 1 1 12 6 14.90
Perez, Juan PIT 9.0 7.00 11 1 0 0 0 6 6 18.00
Sharpless, Josh PIT 16.2 8.64 22 0 0 2 0 18 22 23.22

There are fewer oddball leaders now, as one would expect, but there are still a few guys in here worthy of a :confused: :

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Johnny Damon (NYY) - .366
Homers: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 18
RBIs: Ty Wigginton (TBD) - 57
Doubles: Johnny Damon (NYY) - 21
Triples: Kenny Lofton (TEX) and Delmon Young (TBD) - 5
Stolen Bases: Scott Podsednik (CHW) - 16
Slugging Pct.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .680
On Base Pct.: Jhonny Peralta (CLE) - .431
OPS: Justin Morneau (MIN) - 1.098
Wins: Andy Pettitte (NYY) and Paul Byrd (CLE) - 7
Earned Run Avg.: Andy Pettitte (NYY) - 2.00
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 69
Opponent BA: Eric Bedard (BAL) - .200
Shutouts: six tied at 1
Saves: B. J. Ryan (TOR) and Mariano Rivera (NYY) - 17

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Dave Roberts (SFG) - .390
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 18
RBIs: Ray Durham (SFG) - 48
Doubles: Conor Jackson (ARI) - 19
Triples: Matt Holliday (COL) and Dave Roberts (SFG) - 5
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 21
Slugging Pct.: Lance Berkman (HOU) - .685
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (SFG) - .494
OPS: Lance Berkman (HOU) - 1.162
Wins: Bronson Arroyo (CIN) and Paul Maholm (PIT) - 8
Earned Run Avg.: Derek Lowe (LAD) - 1.78
Strikeouts: Carlos Zambrano (CHC) - 78
Opponent BA: Chris Young (SDP) - .176
Shutouts: ten tied at 1
Saves: Trevor Hoffman (SDP) - 16

[Goldberg]

You used Matt Capps less when you should have used him more. If you had used him more, you would have won more games.

[JustinM]

He's pitched in 35 of the team's first 52 games. That projects out to 109 appearances, which would break the record of 106 set by Mike Marshall in 1974.

In other words, he's getting plenty work. Probably too much, especially for a guy with all of 16 endurance.

[JustinM]

June 2007 News and Notes

Milestones
June 5: Frank Thomas (TOR), 500th Home Run
June 14: Chipper Jones (ATL), 2000th Hit
June 19: Miguel Tejada (BAL), 1000th RBI
June 22: Sammy Sosa (TEX), 600th Home Run
June 26: Manny Ramirez (BOS), 500th Home Run

Trades
June 20:
SP Gil Meche to NYM
RP Efrain Sardinas (AAA) to KCR
Looks like a salary dump to me, although Sardinas has pretty good upside if he ever lives up to it as the Mets' 4th round draft pick this year.

June 30:
SP Jonny Cueto (AA) to KCR
CF David DeJesus to CIN
Another salary dump veteran-for-prospect move by the Royals.

Significant Injuries (i.e. famous players hurt for a month or more)
June 1: Bobby Abreu (NYY) four weeks with a broken finger
June 4: Jose Contreras (CHW) eleven months with a severed elbow ligament
June 4: Eric Chavez (OAK) seven months with a severed knee ligament
June 8: Adam Wainwright (STL) four weeks with a shoulder separation
June 10: Dmitri Young (WSN) five weeks with a broken finger
June 12: Jason Schmidt (LAD) seven weeks with a dislocated hip
June 17: Kyle Davies (ATL) four months with severe elbow tendonitis
June 18: Jered Weaver (LAA) two months with a broken tibia
June 18: J. J. Hardy (MIL) four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
June 20: Matt Morris (LAD) four months with a broken neck vertebra
June 21: Wilson Betemit (LAD) four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
June 26: Luis Gonzalez (LAD) four weeks with a shoulder separation
June 26: Mike Mussina (NYY) four weeks with a broken finger

Retirements
RP Pete Walker (TOR) retired at age 38
RP Roberto Hernandez (MIN) retired at age 42 (that's a shame, too)
LF Curtis Pride (LAA) retired at age 38
2B Damian Jackson (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Ken Ray (KCR) retired at age 32
C Paul Bako (free agent) retired at age 34
C Einar Diaz (PIT) retired at age 34 (guess that's what happens when you release a bad, aging player from the minors)
RP Tanyon Sturtze (ATL) retired at age 36
C Kelly Stinnett (LAD) retired at age 37
RP Ricardo Rincon (free agent) retired at age 37
RP Rheal Cormier (CIN) retired at age 40
CF Steve Finley (COL) retired at age 42
1B Ryan Klesko (free agent) retired at age 36
LF David Newhan (NYM) retired at age 33

Amateur Draft
1. RF Colby Wilt (73/92)
2. SP Colby Scheetz (66/85)
3. 1B Rick Warner (64/87)
4. SS Jacob Borst (57/74)
5. RP Rod Ratcliffe (55/81)
6. 3B George Trinkle (57/73)

I chose 4th this season. First overall was SP Zack Storan to the Devil Rays, for future reference.

[JustinM]

June 2007 saw the Pirates finally return to familiar territory. A 12-15 record for the month gave them a 39-40 record overall. However, all is not lost, as most of the losses were due to a mish-mashed lineup. For most of the month, the team dealt with injuries to several key players including Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Freddy Sanchez, Salomon Torres, Matt Capps, and Tony Armas, although I'm hesitant to call him a key player. If you see some new names in the stat boxes, that's why, for the most part.

LaRoche's numbers against left-handed pitching continued to decline, so I started platooning him with Brad Eldred in May. Eldred doesn't see many starts because of the predominance of right-handed starting pitching, but he's made the most of the ones he's had.

Lastly, Bay still isn't earning his paycheck, and we won't even get into how bad Jose Castillo has been in Sanchez's place. Ugh.


2007 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Sharpless, Josh PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Perez, Juan PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Cota, Humberto PIT 4 .750 4 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 3 2.500 .750
Paulino, Ronny PIT 48 .341 185 63 18 1 3 16 41 0 0 21 25 .497 .394
McLouth, Nate PIT 42 .317 82 26 9 0 1 5 17 6 6 11 7 .463 .356
Wilson, Jack PIT 76 .315 321 101 25 5 5 14 34 0 0 47 30 .470 .346
Chacon, Shawn PIT 2 .308 13 4 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 .385 .308
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 69 .305 285 87 23 1 3 9 24 4 1 28 46 .425 .325
Kelly, Don PIT 14 .304 23 7 1 1 0 3 0 4 0 8 3 .435 .385
Duke, Zach PIT 15 .286 28 8 2 0 0 3 10 1 0 0 7 .357 .355
Nady, Xavier PIT 70 .283 265 75 16 2 9 24 52 1 0 37 30 .460 .356
Eldred, Brad PIT 31 .280 50 14 0 0 3 3 11 1 0 7 5 .460 .327
Duffy, Chris PIT 79 .254 347 88 18 3 6 14 66 20 7 52 31 .375 .281
LaRoche, Adam PIT 75 .253 293 74 17 1 17 13 71 0 1 43 53 .491 .280
Bautista, Jose PIT 79 .238 281 67 20 3 4 30 70 1 0 33 35 .374 .311
Davis, Rajai PIT 9 .235 34 8 3 0 1 0 3 2 1 3 4 .412 .235
Doumit, Ryan PIT 48 .228 136 31 6 1 4 7 31 2 0 12 16 .375 .298
Bay, Jason PIT 65 .213 239 51 11 3 12 36 59 0 1 42 44 .435 .318
Castillo, Jose PIT 19 .157 51 8 1 0 1 1 7 0 0 4 6 .235 .214
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 13 .154 26 4 1 0 0 1 9 0 0 1 0 .192 .185
Maholm, Paul PIT 15 .139 36 5 0 0 0 1 17 0 0 1 4 .139 .158
Snell, Ian PIT 15 .063 32 2 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 2 0 .063 .063
Armas, Tony PIT 12 .037 27 1 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 2 0 .037 .037
Carlin, Michael PIT 3 .000 9 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .182
Matos, Luis PIT 6 .000 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .167
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000
Marte, Damaso PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

I finally lost my patience with Armas and stuck him in the 'pen, replacing him with Shawn Chacon. Chacon's done well in that role, so I'm declaring the decision a good one. Most of my starting pitchers have gotten into the habit of throwing no-hit shutouts through four or five innings and then exploding in the next, destroying the entire team in the process. It hasn't been easy on my bullpen, either.

Speaking of bullpens, I demoted Josh Sharpless to AAA and brought up Jonah Bayliss to replace him. He was lights out for a few appearances and now he's getting beaten up on. I'm not sure what to do there. The correct answer, however, is not "use Matt Capps more".


2007 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Armas, Tony PIT 77.1 5.35 15 12 4 6 0 48 27 13.73
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 6.0 7.50 7 0 0 2 0 4 3 15.00
Capps, Matt PIT 42.2 5.48 52 0 2 2 1 19 9 13.71
Chacon, Shawn PIT 66.2 3.51 29 4 3 1 0 35 26 10.53
Duke, Zach PIT 108.2 3.73 16 16 7 5 0 60 29 11.18
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 88.1 4.28 14 14 2 6 0 63 29 10.49
Grabow, John PIT 25.1 4.97 30 0 2 2 0 20 14 16.70
Kolb, Dan PIT 2.0 0.00 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 13.50
Maholm, Paul PIT 102.1 3.34 16 16 10 4 0 61 37 10.91
Marte, Damaso PIT 21.2 5.40 26 0 1 0 1 23 16 15.78
Perez, Juan PIT 9.0 7.00 11 1 0 0 0 6 6 18.00
Sharpless, Josh PIT 27.1 7.57 32 0 1 2 0 31 27 18.44
Snell, Ian PIT 98.2 4.20 17 16 6 8 0 96 23 10.49
Torres, Salomon PIT 25.1 1.78 28 0 1 2 21 13 11 11.72
Wasdin, John PIT 4.0 2.25 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 9.00
Youman, Shane PIT 0.1 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Jason Bartlett (MIN) - .346 (I had to look this guy up...)
Homers: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 31 (wow! 13 in June)
RBIs: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 73
Doubles: Mark Grudzielanek (KCR) - 25
Triples: Kenny Lofton (TEX) and Delmon Young (TBD) - 6
Stolen Bases: Chone Figgins (LAA) - 28
Slugging Pct.: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - .649
On Base Pct.: Kevin Youkilis (BOS) and Jason Giambi (NYY) - .405
OPS: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 1.041
Wins: Andy Pettitte (NYY), Erik Bedard (BAL), and Paul Byrd (CLE) - 10
Earned Run Avg.: Andy Pettitte (NYY) - 2.42
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 109
Opponent BA: Johan Santana (MIN) - .202
Shutouts: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 2
Saves: Mariano Rivera (NYY) - 24

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .379
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) and Adam Dunn (CIN) - 24
RBIs: Ray Durham (SFG) - 66
Doubles: Conor Jackson (ARI) and Jack Wilson (PIT) - 25
Triples: Todd Helton (COL), Omar Vizquel (SFG), and Randy Winn (SFG) - 6
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 32
Slugging Pct.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .632
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (SFG) - .480
OPS: Lance Berkman (HOU) - 1.096
Wins: Bronson Arroyo (CIN) - 12
Earned Run Avg.: Bronson Arroyo (CIN) - 2.39
Strikeouts: Carlos Zambrano (CHC) - 112
Opponent BA: Chris Young (SDP) - .176
Shutouts: Roy Oswalt (HOU) and Derek Lowe (LAD) - 2
Saves: Trevor Hoffman (SDP) and Billy Wagner (NYM) - 22

[JustinM]

July 2007 News and Notes

Milestones
July 1: Todd Helton (COL), 300th Home Run
July 5: Kenny Lofton (TEX), 1500th Run
July 7: Andruw Jones (ATL), 1000th Run
July 16: Richie Sexson (SEA), 300th Home Run
July 19: Edgar Renteria (ATL), 1000th Run
July 22: Jeremy Bonderman (DET), No Hitter
July 26: Gary Sheffield (DET), 2500th Hit
July 26: Brian Giles (SDP), 1000th Run
July 29: Vladimir Guerrero (LAA), 1000th Run
July 30: Bobby Abreu (NYY), 1000th Run

Trades
JULY 1, 2007
Cardinals receive Van Pope (3B) and Brandon Jones (RF)
Braves receive Chris Carpenter (SP)
GAH! Literally right after I finish losing to Carpenter, he gets traded for a couple of very nice prospects.

JULY 2, 2007
Mariners receive Jose Castillo (2B)
Pirates receive Luis Valbuena (2B)
Speaking of salary dumps for prospects, here's one of my own. That's what happens when you lose all patience with a player and have no one behind him except in rookie ball...or, at least, no one who hasn't been hurt all year.

JULY 7, 2007
Cardinals receive Jose Tabata (CF)
Yankees receive Scott Rolen (3B)
Rolen actually became kind of superfluous when the Cards picked up Pope in the first trade of the month. Tabata looks like he'll be a long-term solution in center for them.

JULY 9, 2007
Giants receive Cedric Hunter (CF)
Padres receive Barry Zito (SP)
San Francisco's payroll is now under budget. Eight teams are still over budget, so we can expect more of these trades soon.

JULY 20, 2007
Mariners receive Tony Armas (SP)
Pirates receive Sean Green (RP) and $500,000
Armas sucked and was at the end of his contract. Green's making league minimum, hits arbitration in '08, and might actually contribute to the bullpen.

JULY 20, 2007
Royals receive Dan Kolb (RP), Luis Matos (CF) and Humberto Cota (C)
Pirates receive Joakim Soria (SP)
More end of contract players head out the door (okay, Cota was still in arbitration, but I wasn't going to tender him anyway) for a young firebrand of a pitcher in Senor Soria. Hopefully I'll have better luck with this Mexican than we did with Cota and Oliver Perez...

JULY 28, 2007
Cardinals receive Beau Jones (SP) and Brent Lillibridge (SS)
Braves receive Albert Pujols (1B)
Excuse my French, but HOLY ****! I mean, sure, Jones and Lillibridge are both hot prospects, but...wow. I just have no words for this.

JULY 28, 2007
Blue Jays receive Kelvim Escobar (SP)
Angels receive David Purcey (SP), Graham Godfrey (SP) and Kyle Ginley (SP)

JULY 28, 2007
Red Sox receive Mark Teahen (RF)
Royals receive Jon Lester (SP)
The Royals were trying to unload Teahen on me earlier, but I resisted the urge. Despite losing Nady for the season, I'm still not regretting it.

JULY 29, 2007
Mets receive Emil Brown (LF)
Royals receive Morten Washbourne (RP) and Joe MacEachran (3B)

JULY 30, 2007
Cardinals receive Paul Estrada (SP), Troy Patton (SP) and Jimmy Barthmaier (SP)
Astros receive Anthony Reyes (SP)
If anyone can tell me what the eff the Cards are doing, please let me know.

JULY 31, 2007
Cardinals receive Cesar Ramos (SP)
Padres receive Kip Wells (SP)
Finally a St. Louis move that makes sense.

Significant Injuries (i.e. famous players hurt for a month or more)
July 7: Xavier Nady (PIT), seven months with a severed knee ligament
July 19: Rocco Baldelli (TBD), three months with a broken hip
July 22: Chase Utley (PHI), seven weeks with a dislocated hip
July 26: Carlos Delgado (NYM), three months with a ruptured cervical disc

Retirements
RP Julio Manon (BAL) retired at age 33
RP Giovanni Carrara (LAD) retired at age 39
SS Jose Vizcaino (free agent) retired at age 39
1B Mark Sweeney (SFG) retired at age 37
LF Michael Tucker (free agent) retired at age 36
RP Mike Timlin (BOS) retired at age 41
RP Brian Shouse (MIL) retired at age 38
RP Doug Brocail (SDP) retired at age 40
C Mike Difelice (NYM) retired at age 38
RP Scott Sauerbeck (HOU) retired at age 35
2B Keith Ginter (CLE) retired at age 31
RP Matt Herges (COL) retired at age 37

[JustinM]

Yowza. A 10-16 record in July makes the Bucs a putrid 49-56 overall, 4th place, 12.5 games behind the Reds. Tied for 3rd, actually, with the equally-putrid Cubs.

Ronny Paulino and Chris Duffy saw their batting averages drop precipitously this month. As a result, Duffy is now batting near the bottom of the order and Nate McLouth, who has actually raised his average slightly, is now batting leadoff.

Oh, yeah. Paul Maholm and Jack Wilson made the NL All-Star team. The month was so bad that I almost forgot! That, and there are three Pirates in the top ten of doubles in the NL, as if that matters in a vacuum.


2007 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wasdin, John PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1.000 1.000
Sharpless, Josh PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Perez, Juan PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Green, Nick PIT 2 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Edwards, Mike PIT 2 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Grabow, John PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .667
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333
McLouth, Nate PIT 65 .319 166 53 10 1 3 11 27 10 9 22 16 .446 .369
Paulino, Ronny PIT 74 .316 282 89 26 2 4 27 56 0 0 32 37 .465 .375
Wilson, Jack PIT 102 .314 430 135 34 6 5 20 48 0 0 59 41 .456 .346
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 94 .306 386 118 35 1 5 15 35 4 1 37 61 .440 .328
Nady, Xavier PIT 77 .292 291 85 17 2 12 25 56 1 0 44 37 .488 .360
Chacon, Shawn PIT 7 .286 21 6 1 0 0 0 7 0 0 1 1 .333 .286
Kelly, Don PIT 22 .281 32 9 1 1 0 3 2 4 0 9 3 .375 .343
Eldred, Brad PIT 44 .275 80 22 4 0 4 5 19 1 0 11 9 .475 .330
Duke, Zach PIT 21 .268 41 11 4 0 0 3 16 1 0 1 8 .366 .318
LaRoche, Adam PIT 99 .256 367 94 21 1 23 22 91 0 1 56 68 .507 .293
Bautista, Jose PIT 105 .236 377 89 29 3 5 34 99 1 1 45 43 .369 .300
Duffy, Chris PIT 105 .230 456 105 22 3 6 17 94 26 11 61 36 .331 .260
Doumit, Ryan PIT 51 .225 138 31 6 1 4 7 33 2 0 12 16 .370 .299
Davis, Rajai PIT 16 .220 41 9 4 0 1 2 4 3 1 4 4 .390 .256
Bay, Jason PIT 89 .215 321 69 17 4 14 50 81 0 1 57 58 .424 .325
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 18 .171 35 6 1 0 0 1 13 0 0 1 1 .200 .194
Maholm, Paul PIT 20 .152 46 7 0 0 0 1 23 0 0 1 4 .152 .167
Snell, Ian PIT 20 .070 43 3 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 3 0 .070 .070
Carlin, Michael PIT 3 .000 9 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .182
Torres, Salomon PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Green, Sean PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Marte, Damaso PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

On the other side of the coin, Paul Maholm just went 2-2 this month despite the fact that his ERA dropped. That kind of exemplifies perfectly the struggles the offense is having. Also note John Wasdin's numbers in long relief. Not a bad innings-eater if you ask me.


2007 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 15.2 5.17 19 0 0 2 0 16 9 13.79
Capps, Matt PIT 55.2 5.50 69 0 4 3 1 27 10 13.26
Chacon, Shawn PIT 95.1 4.06 34 9 4 3 0 52 42 11.71
Duke, Zach PIT 148.0 4.56 22 22 8 9 0 81 38 12.16
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 115.0 4.62 19 19 2 9 0 82 46 11.97
Grabow, John PIT 36.1 3.72 47 0 2 2 0 31 17 14.12
Green, Sean PIT 21.0 3.00 16 0 0 1 0 7 6 9.86
Maholm, Paul PIT 136.1 3.17 21 21 12 6 0 85 49 10.76
Marte, Damaso PIT 26.2 8.10 33 0 2 1 1 27 25 19.24
Perez, Juan PIT 9.0 7.00 11 1 0 0 0 6 6 18.00
Sharpless, Josh PIT 27.1 7.57 32 0 1 2 0 31 27 18.44
Snell, Ian PIT 127.1 4.38 22 21 8 8 0 116 30 11.03
Soria, Joakim PIT 30.0 7.20 21 0 0 2 0 20 13 17.40
Torres, Salomon PIT 31.2 2.56 35 0 2 4 24 17 18 13.64
Wasdin, John PIT 20.2 2.18 12 0 0 0 0 7 2 9.15
Youman, Shane PIT 0.1 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .348
Homers: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 35
RBIs: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 100
Doubles: Travis Buck (OAK) and B. J. Upton (TBD) - 32
Triples: Kenny Lofton (TEX) - 8
Stolen Bases: Chone Figgins (LAA) - 38
Slugging Pct.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .669
On Base Pct.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .435
OPS: Justin Morneau (MIN) - 1.104
Wins: Curt Schilling (BOS) - 13
Earned Run Avg.: Johan Santana (MIN) - 2.68
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 142
Opponent BA: Johan Santana (MIN) - .191
Shutouts: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 2
Saves: Mariano Rivera (NYY) - 30

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .389
Homers: Adam Dunn (CIN) - 28
RBIs: Bill Hall (MIL) - 82
Doubles: Freddy Sanchez (PIT) - 35
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 9
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 38
Slugging Pct.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .611
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (SFG) - .501
OPS: Barry Bonds (SFG) - 1.098
Wins: Bronson Arroyo (CIN) - 13
Earned Run Avg.: Woody Williams (HOU) - 2.73
Strikeouts: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 147
Opponent BA: Chris Young (SDP) - .191
Shutouts: Roy Oswalt (HOU), Jake Peavy (SDP), and Derek Lowe (LAD) - 2
Saves: Trevor Hoffman (SDP) and Billy Wagner (NYM) - 29

[JustinM]

Just a quick post to let those who've been following know that I'm at August 12 right now, and Garret Atkins has gone on a .528 tear in the past 10 games including 6-for-9 in his last three games against the Pirates. His batting average now stands at that holy grail of batting averages, .400.

[HoustonGM]

Wow.

I want to see him hit .400. In my current game, on August 27th, Travis Hafner is batting .364/.478/.832 with 52 home runs. He's lightyears ahead of the second place players in average, OBP, slugging, homers, and RBI. :p

[JustinM]

August 2007 News and Notes

Milestones
August 6: Scott Rolen (NYY), 1000th RBI
August 7: Kenny Lofton (TEX), Hit For The Cycle
August 14: Gary Sheffield (DET), 1500th Run
August 20: Reggie Sanders (KCR), 1000th RBI
August 30: Ken Griffey, Jr. (CIN), 1500th Run

Trades
none

Significant Injuries (i.e. famous players hurt for a month or more)
August 1: Josh Willingham (FLA), five weeks with a torn hamstring
August 1: Pedro Martinez (NYM), seven months with a severed knee ligament
August 3: Alex Rios (TOR), seven weeks with a dislocated hip
August 3: Dave Ross (CIN), eight months with a torn achilles tendon
August 4: Brett Tomko (LAD), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
August 5: Matt Murton (CHC), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
August 5: J. J. Putz (SEA), two months with a torn knee ligament
August 9: Casey Blake (CLE), three months with a broken elbow
August 9: Francisco Rodriguez (LAA), thirteen months with a torn rotator cuff
August 11: Albert Pujols (ATL), six weeks with a broken foot
August 11: Carl Pavano (NYY), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
August 12: Vladimir Guerrero (LAA), eight months with a severed elbow ligament
August 12: Mike Cameron (SDP), seven weeks with a severe shoulder separation
August 17: Mark Prior (CHC), three months with a broken hip
August 19: Paul Byrd (CLE), three months with severe elbow tendonitis
August 19: Alex Rodriguez (NYY), four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
August 20: Roy Oswalt (HOU), five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
August 21: Jason Schmidt (LAD), eight months with a torn achilles tendon
August 22: Nate Robertson (DET), two months with a broken tibia
August 30: David Ortiz (BOS), six weeks with a broken foot
August 30: Aramis Ramirez (CHC), four weeks with a fractured eye bone
August 30: Oliver Perez (NYM), seven months with a severed knee ligament

Retirements
RP Tim Byrdak (DET) retired at age 33
RP Dan Kolb (KCR) retired at age 32 (Huh. He was fine when I had him.)
C Alberto Castillo (BAL) retired at age 37
RP Mike DeJean (COL) retired at age 36
LF Orlando Palmeiro (HOU) retired at age 38
SP Brian Moehler (HOU) retired at age 35
RP Mike Myers (NYY) retired at age 38
RF Matt Stairs (TOR) retired at age 39

[JustinM]

News: Barry Bonds hit #756 on August 3. At the end of the month, he's at 758. Also, Atkins fell off the pace a bit, as you'll see below.

-----------------

Well, what can I say. 13-16 in August is better than 10-16 in July, but it still sucks. I'm getting stuck with minor niggling injuries again, which has thrown my lineup into disarray. At some point this month, Freddy Sanchez, Chris Duffy, Brad Eldred, and Ronny Paulino have all been sitting with minor aches and pains.

And let's not even get into what's gone on inside the batter's box.


2007 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Sharpless, Josh PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Perez, Juan PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Edwards, Mike PIT 2 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Grabow, John PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .667
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500
Bullington, Bryan PIT 1 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Wasdin, John PIT 1 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333
Paulino, Ronny PIT 103 .320 397 127 33 3 7 38 75 0 0 46 54 .471 .381
McLouth, Nate PIT 90 .320 272 87 20 2 7 21 41 11 10 47 27 .485 .372
Wilson, Jack PIT 131 .313 549 172 39 7 7 29 63 0 0 79 55 .448 .347
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 118 .302 483 146 43 1 5 18 49 5 1 46 74 .427 .324
Nady, Xavier PIT 77 .292 291 85 17 2 12 25 56 1 0 44 37 .488 .360
Green, Nick PIT 12 .269 26 7 0 0 1 2 10 0 0 3 3 .385 .321
Kelly, Don PIT 33 .268 41 11 2 1 0 4 2 4 0 10 6 .366 .326
Chacon, Shawn PIT 8 .261 23 6 1 0 0 0 8 0 0 1 1 .304 .261
LaRoche, Adam PIT 125 .259 451 117 24 1 28 28 107 0 1 64 83 .503 .298
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .250 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250
Eldred, Brad PIT 60 .246 122 30 4 0 6 8 35 1 0 16 13 .426 .301
Bautista, Jose PIT 134 .238 484 115 36 4 7 40 127 2 1 60 58 .372 .300
Duffy, Chris PIT 123 .236 526 124 27 4 6 21 106 29 12 70 41 .337 .267
Duke, Zach PIT 26 .235 51 12 4 0 0 3 19 1 0 2 8 .314 .278
Doumit, Ryan PIT 59 .222 144 32 6 1 4 9 34 2 0 12 16 .361 .302
Bay, Jason PIT 118 .216 421 91 26 4 17 67 105 0 1 68 72 .418 .329
Davis, Rajai PIT 31 .210 100 21 7 1 1 4 16 3 2 10 9 .330 .248
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 5 .200 5 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .200 .200
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 22 .159 44 7 2 0 0 1 15 0 0 1 2 .205 .174
Van Benschoten, John PIT 5 .154 13 2 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 1 .154 .154
Maholm, Paul PIT 26 .121 58 7 0 0 0 1 30 0 0 1 4 .121 .133
Snell, Ian PIT 26 .073 55 4 1 0 0 0 28 0 0 4 1 .091 .073
Carlin, Michael PIT 3 .000 9 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .182
Torres, Salomon PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Green, Sean PIT 0 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Marte, Damaso PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

I also called up John Van Benschoten to take Shawn Chacon's place in the lineup. Basically this was me deciding that I needed to @#^% or get off the pot with regards to my quality minor-league pitching.


2007 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 39.1 2.29 38 0 2 2 1 36 18 10.98
Bullington, Bryan PIT 7.0 7.71 1 1 0 1 0 6 1 15.43
Capps, Matt PIT 67.2 4.79 81 0 4 3 1 33 11 12.37
Chacon, Shawn PIT 101.0 3.92 35 10 4 3 0 58 45 11.50
Duke, Zach PIT 179.2 4.71 27 27 8 11 0 103 52 12.67
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 138.0 4.70 23 23 4 10 0 98 56 12.33
Grabow, John PIT 52.1 3.78 66 0 2 3 0 42 20 13.93
Green, Sean PIT 33.1 4.32 29 0 1 2 0 18 11 11.61
Maholm, Paul PIT 175.1 3.64 27 27 13 9 0 110 60 10.93
Marte, Damaso PIT 26.2 8.10 33 0 2 1 1 27 25 19.24
Perez, Juan PIT 9.0 7.00 11 1 0 0 0 6 6 18.00
Sharpless, Josh PIT 27.1 7.57 32 0 1 2 0 31 27 18.44
Snell, Ian PIT 162.1 4.32 28 27 11 11 0 148 41 11.48
Soria, Joakim PIT 30.0 7.20 21 0 0 2 0 20 13 17.40
Torres, Salomon PIT 36.1 5.20 41 0 3 6 26 19 26 16.60
Van Benschoten, John PIT 34.2 2.86 6 5 2 1 0 24 8 10.90
Wasdin, John PIT 31.1 3.73 18 1 1 1 0 14 3 10.34
Youman, Shane PIT 0.1 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .332
Homers: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 39
RBIs: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 126
Doubles: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 39
Triples: Kenny Lofton (TEX) - 12
Stolen Bases: Chone Figgins (LAA) - 45
Slugging Pct.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .619
On Base Pct.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .424
OPS: Justin Morneau (MIN) - 1.043
Wins: Curt Schilling (BOS) and Felix Hernandez (SEA) - 15
Earned Run Avg.: Rich Harden (OAK) - 2.86
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 177
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .189
Shutouts: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) and Paul Byrd (CLE) - 2
Saves: Todd Jones (DET) - 36

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .388
Homers: Adam Dunn (CIN) - 39
RBIs: David Wright (NYM) - 116
Doubles: Freddy Sanchez (PIT) - 43
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) and Orlando Hudson (ARI) - 9
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 47
Slugging Pct.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .624
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (SFG) - .505
OPS: Garret Atkins (COL) - 1.085
Wins: Bronson Arroyo (CIN) - 15
Earned Run Avg.: Dave Bush (MIL) - 2.56
Strikeouts: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 190
Opponent BA: Jake Peavy (SDP) - .199
Shutouts: Roy Oswalt (HOU), Jake Peavy (SDP), and Derek Lowe (LAD) - 2
Saves: Trevor Hoffman (SDP) - 36

[JustinM]

September/October 2007 News and Notes

Milestones
September 16: Lyle Overbay (TOR), Hit For The Cycle
September 17: Barry Bonds (SFG), 2000th RBI
September 23: Jim Thome (CHW), 500th Home Run
September 25: Brian Giles (SDP), 1000th RBI
September 26: Frank Thomas (TOR), 1500th Run
September 26: Elijah Dukes (TBD), Hit For The Cycle
October 2: Ivan Rodriguez (DET), 2500th Hit
October 2: Troy Glaus (TOR), 300th Home Run

Trades
none

Significant Injuries (i.e. famous players hurt for a month or more)
September 2: Ray Durham (SFG), six months with a broken wrist
September 3: Mariano Rivera (NYY), four months with severe elbow tendonitis
September 7: Hideki Matsui (NYY), three months with a broken tibia
September 9: Jason Varitek (BOS), seven months with a severed knee ligament
September 11: Rich Harden (OAK), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
September 12: Luke Scott (HOU), six months with a torn achilles tendon
September 14: Chris Duffy (PIT), two months with a broken elbow
September 14: Jose Castillo (SEA), seven months with a broken wrist (okay, not famous, but former Pirate and therefore interesting)
September 22: Jake Westbrook (CLE), two months with a ruptured cervical disc
September 23: Jeff Kent (LAD), four months with a broken hip
September 27: Mark DeRosa (CHC), eight months with a broken wrist
September 28: Jeremy Hermida (FLA), four weeks with a shoulder separation
September 29: Joe Crede (CHW), four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
October 1: David Wells (SDP), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
October 2: Andy LaRoche (LAD), four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
October 2: Moises Alou (SFG), three months with a ruptured cervical disc

Retirements
RP Ray King (WSN) retired at age 33
RP Bryan Corey (BOS) retired at age 33

[JustinM]

A little note before I finish the regular season up: On September 12, Paul Maholm took a no-hitter into the 9th before giving up 2 hits and getting yanked in a 4-0 win. Such a shame. :(

Anyway, over the last month and change of the season, the Pirates went an even 14-14, giving them a 76-86 record on the season. That's not quite what I'd hoped, but it's an improvement over the last couple of years, I guess.

Any number of players went down with nagging injuries in the last month, so some people got more at bats than they normally would have. Plus, the September callups got their shots as well, including a number of starts as normal starters fell like flies.


2007 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Sharpless, Josh PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Perez, Juan PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Valbuena, Luis PIT 14 .571 14 8 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 1 1.143 .571
Pearce, Steven PIT 2 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Edwards, Mike PIT 2 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Grabow, John PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .667
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 3 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .333 .333
Paulino, Ronny PIT 116 .315 444 140 36 3 8 42 83 0 0 50 58 .464 .377
McLouth, Nate PIT 114 .309 376 116 27 3 11 25 56 11 12 63 40 .484 .356
Walker, Neil PIT 9 .308 13 4 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 .538 .308
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 146 .307 596 183 51 1 7 26 57 5 1 62 91 .431 .335
Wilt, Colby PIT 5 .300 10 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 .400 .364
Wilson, Jack PIT 151 .299 632 189 41 8 7 37 69 0 0 93 58 .422 .338
Nady, Xavier PIT 77 .292 291 85 17 2 12 25 56 1 0 44 37 .488 .360
Eldred, Brad PIT 71 .280 143 40 6 0 10 10 39 1 0 22 23 .531 .338
Kelly, Don PIT 34 .267 45 12 2 1 0 4 3 4 0 11 6 .356 .320
LaRoche, Adam PIT 153 .265 544 144 33 1 32 36 127 0 1 79 98 .506 .307
Bixler, Brian PIT 10 .258 31 8 1 0 0 3 8 2 1 2 10 .290 .314
Green, Nick PIT 14 .250 28 7 0 0 1 2 10 0 0 3 3 .357 .300
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .250 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250
Wasdin, John PIT 1 .250 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250
Chacon, Shawn PIT 8 .250 24 6 1 0 0 0 8 0 0 1 1 .292 .250
Bullington, Bryan PIT 2 .250 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .250 .250
Doumit, Ryan PIT 72 .242 190 46 8 2 7 15 44 2 0 21 27 .416 .326
Duffy, Chris PIT 129 .240 545 131 31 4 6 22 110 30 12 73 47 .345 .270
Bautista, Jose PIT 158 .233 567 132 40 4 7 53 147 2 1 72 64 .354 .302
Bay, Jason PIT 146 .228 527 120 30 6 19 76 133 0 1 81 88 .416 .330
Davis, Rajai PIT 43 .226 137 31 9 1 2 5 22 4 3 12 14 .350 .274
Duke, Zach PIT 31 .217 60 13 4 0 0 3 22 1 0 2 8 .283 .254
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 9 .167 18 3 1 0 0 1 5 0 0 1 1 .222 .211
Corley, Brad PIT 15 .164 55 9 2 0 1 1 19 0 0 6 6 .255 .190
Van Benschoten, John PIT 11 .160 25 4 1 0 0 0 12 0 0 1 2 .200 .154
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 26 .137 51 7 2 0 0 1 18 0 0 1 2 .176 .151
Maholm, Paul PIT 31 .118 68 8 0 0 0 2 36 0 0 1 4 .118 .141
Snell, Ian PIT 31 .077 65 5 1 0 0 0 32 0 0 5 1 .092 .077
Carlin, Michael PIT 3 .000 9 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .182
Torres, Salomon PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Green, Sean PIT 0 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Marte, Damaso PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 2 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

The same, pretty much, is true of the pitchers, although the injuries weren't quite as much of a problem there. John Van Benschoten made the most of his 11 starts, going 4-3 (so-so) with a 2.99 ERA, the last of which was a brilliant three-hit shutout shared with Salomon Torres, in which Van Benschoten pitched into the ninth inning.


2007 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 46.2 2.51 47 0 2 2 1 41 20 10.99
Bullington, Bryan PIT 13.2 5.27 2 2 0 2 0 11 4 13.83
Capps, Matt PIT 75.1 4.66 89 0 4 3 1 35 15 12.42
Chacon, Shawn PIT 108.0 3.75 39 10 4 3 0 65 46 11.33
Duke, Zach PIT 214.2 4.28 32 32 10 12 0 130 58 12.20
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 156.1 5.18 27 27 5 13 0 114 66 13.01
Grabow, John PIT 58.1 4.01 75 0 3 3 0 48 23 13.73
Green, Sean PIT 36.2 4.66 34 0 1 3 0 18 12 12.27
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 11.1 11.12 3 2 0 2 0 11 5 21.44
Maholm, Paul PIT 207.0 3.78 32 32 16 10 0 133 69 10.91
Marte, Damaso PIT 32.1 7.52 41 0 2 2 1 38 28 18.09
Osoria, Franquelis PIT 2.1 0.00 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
Perez, Juan PIT 11.0 5.73 12 1 0 0 0 8 6 16.36
Sharpless, Josh PIT 28.1 7.31 33 0 1 2 0 32 27 17.79
Snell, Ian PIT 191.0 4.48 33 32 14 12 0 173 53 11.73
Soria, Joakim PIT 36.2 6.87 27 0 0 2 0 26 14 16.20
Torres, Salomon PIT 45.1 4.17 50 0 3 6 34 22 28 14.10
Van Benschoten, John PIT 72.1 2.99 12 11 4 3 0 59 25 10.58
Wasdin, John PIT 44.2 4.03 27 1 2 2 0 20 6 11.28
Youman, Shane PIT 4.1 12.46 7 0 1 0 0 1 1 14.54

[JustinM]

The 2007 World Series was won by none other than the New York Mets in five games over the Twins.

End-of-Year Statstravaganza!!!

Cheesy enough for you? No? How about Statapalooza? It's statariffic!

Okay then...

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .327
Homers: Jermaine Dye (BOS) - 45
RBIs: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 137
Doubles: Carl Crawford (TBD) and Travis Buck (OAK) - 48
Triples: Kenny Lofton (TEX) - 14
Stolen Bases: Chone Figgins (LAA) - 50
Slugging Pct.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .613
On Base Pct.: Justin Morneau (MIN) - .426
OPS: Justin Morneau (MIN) - 1.039
Wins: Curt Schilling (BOS) - 18
Earned Run Avg.: Rich Harden (OAK) - 2.80
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 227
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .189
Shutouts: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 3
Saves: Todd Jones (DET) and Joe Nathan (MIN) - 42

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .386
Homers: Adam Dunn (CIN) - 49
RBIs: David Wright (NYM) and Bill Hall (MIL) - 129
Doubles: Freddy Sanchez (PIT) - 51
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) and Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - 12
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 53
Slugging Pct.: Garret Atkins (COL) - .614
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (SFG) - .496
OPS: Garret Atkins (COL) - 1.069
Wins: Bronson Arroyo (CIN), Tim Hudson (ATL), Jeff Francis (COL), and Jason Jennings (HOU) - 17
Earned Run Avg.: Dave Bush (MIL) - 2.87
Strikeouts: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 216
Opponent BA: Jake Peavy (SDP) - .201
Shutouts: Roy Oswalt (HOU) - 3
Saves: Billy Wagner (NYM) - 45

End-of-Year Awards
NLDS MVP: Jose Reyes (NYM)
NLDS MVP: Edgar Renteria (NYM)
ALDS MVP: Cliff Lee (CLE)
ALDS MVP: Jason Kubel (MIN)
NLCS MVP: Shawn Green (NYM)
ALCS MVP: Jason Kubel (MIN)
World Series MVP: Carlos Beltran (NYM)

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana (MIN)
NL Cy Young: Jason Jennings (HOU)
AL MVP: Manny Ramirez (BOS)
NL MVP: Garret Atkins (COL)
AL RotY: Delmon Young (TBD)
NL RotY: Chris Young (ARI)
AL Gold Gloves: Johan Santana (MIN), Victor Martinez (CLE), Kevin Youkilis (BOS), Tadahito Iguchi (CHW), Brandon Inge (DET), Orlando Cabrera (LAA), Mike Cuddyer (MIN), Grady Sizemore (CLE), Hideki Matsui (NYY)
NL Gold Gloves: Brandon Webb (ARI), Michael Barrett (CHC), Todd Helton (COL), Orlando Hudson (ARI), Miguel Cabrera (FLA), Jimmy Rollins (PHI), Jason Bay (PIT), Carlos Beltran (NYM), Eric Byrnes (ARI)

[JustinM]

2007-2008 Offseason News and Notes

New and Improved Pitches
Ian Snell learned the slider from Josh Sharpless
John Van Benschoten learned the change from Wardell Starling
Sean Green learned the fastball from Joakim Soria
Josh Shortslef learned the slider from Pat Bresnehan

Trades
FEBRUARY 9, 2008
Twins receive Xavier Nady (RF)
Pirates receive Trent Oeltjen (RF)
I had just won an arbitration case with him, but then I saw Matt Diaz on the free agent market and decided I'd rather have him playing in right field instead.

FEBRUARY 10, 2008
Dodgers receive Brad Corley (RF) and $4,000,000
Pirates receive Blake DeWitt (2B)
Depth at second base was nonexistent, and I had a perfectly good RF in rookie ball that had too many guys in front of him. This was the only decent solution I could find.

Significant Injuries (i.e. famous players hurt for a month or more)
March 9: Josh Johnson (FLA), five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
March 19: Mike Pelfrey (NYM), fifteen months with a torn rotator cuff
March 22: Corey Hart (MIL), eight months with a broken back vertebra (as opposed to a hand vertebra or knee vertebra?)
March 24: Adam Eaton (PHI), two months with a ruptured cervical disc

Retirements
C Mike Rivera (MIL) retired at age 33
2B Craig Biggio (free agent) retired at age 41 (ended with 2973 hits...didn't make it)
CF Darin Erstad (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Kris Wilson (free agent) retired at age 31
LF Kerry Robinson (BOS) retired at age 34
LF Jeff Conine (CIN) retired at age 41
RP Eddie Guardado (CIN) retired at age 37
RP Brian Shackelford (CIN) retired at age 31
RP Tom Martin (COL) retired at age 37
RP Joel Peralta (KCR) retired at age 31
RP Elmer Dessens (MIL) retired at age 36
C Chris Heintz (MIN) retired at age 33
LF Josh Rabe (MIN) retired at age 29
3B Fernando Tatis (NYM) retired at age 32
SP Aaron Sele (NYM) retired at age 37
SP Jamie Moyer (PHI) retired at age 44
SP David Wells (SDP) retired at age 44
RP Arthur Rhodes (SEA) retired at age 38
LF So Taguchi (STL) retired at age 38
RP Russ Springer (STL) retired at age 38
RP Ryan Franklin (STL) retired at age 34
RF Sammy Sosa (TEX) retired at age 38 (ended with 608 HR)
C Sal Fasano (TOR) retired at age 36
SP Victor Zambrano (TOR) retired at age 32
C Danny Ardoin (WSN) retired at age 33

Pirate Re-signings and Releases
1B Adam LaRoche: signed for $5.15M/4yrs + PO $5.15M/1yr + NTC to avoid arbitration
3B Mike Edwards: signed for $380k/2yrs
RP John Wasdin: released. He remained unsigned through the offseason.
RP Shawn Chacon: released. He ended up with Minnesota.

New Pirate Signings
LF Matt Diaz: $3.8M/2yrs

Arbitration
3B Jose Bautista demands $2.95M. I offer $2.1M and lose.
2B Freddy Sanchez demands $7.1M. I offer $6.5M and win.
2B Nick Green demands $900k. I send him packing. He ended up on the Yankees during the offseason.
C Ryan Doumit demands $2.35M. I offer $1.7M and lose.
RF Xavier Nady demands $4.25M. I offer $3.5M and win.
SP Zach Duke demands $3.5M. I offer $2.75 and lose.

Big Names who Moved (alphabetical by team abbreviation)
SS Yuniesky Betancourt to ATL
3B Garret Atkins to BOS
RP Jason Isringhausen to BOS
RP Todd Jones to BOS
C Ivan Rodriguez to BOS
SP Livan Hernandez to CHC
SP Mark Prior to CHC (basically a re-signing, but he was a FA briefly)
SP Jeff Weaver to CHC
C Jorge Posada to CHW
LF Terrmel Sledge to CHW
C Rod Barajas to CIN (32 HR last year!)
2B Jeff Kent to CIN
3B Mike Lowell to CIN
SS Omar Vizquel to CIN
SP Randy Wolf to CIN
LF Eric Byrnes to CLE
RF Geoff Jenkins to CLE
LF Kevin Mench to CLE
SP Kenny Rogers to CLE
3B Edwin Encarnacion to COL
LF Cliff Floyd to COL
1B Ty Wigginton to DET
CF Ichiro Suzuki to FLA (yeah, you read that right, CF, not RF)
2B Luis Castillo to HOU
SP Mark Buehrle to HOU (fantastic, I have to face him now)
LF Barry Bonds to KCR (lol...looks like he's finally going to DH somewhere)
CF Ryan Church to LAA
SS David Eckstein to LAA
SP John Patterson to MIL
SP Curt Schilling to MIL (greeeeeeeat...)
2B Ron Belliard to MIN
CF Mike Cameron to MIN
3B Pedro Feliz to MIN
2B Kazuo Matsui to MIN
SP Andy Pettitte to MIN
LF Scott Podsednik to MIN
RP Mariano Rivera to MIN
2B Robinson Cano to NYM
SP Chris Capuano to NYM
RP Francisco Cordero to NYM
LF Matt Holliday to NYM
SP Carlos Zambrano to NYM
CF Andruw Jones to SDP
CF Joey Gathright to SEA
C Yorvit Torrealba to STL
RF Jeff Francoeur to TEX
CF Ryan Freel to TEX
LF Ryan Langerhans to WSN (interesting, since he's there now in real life)

[JustinM]

2007 standings, in case anyone's interested:


AMERICAN LEAGUE (2007)

EAST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Boston 94 68 .580 -- .288 195 56 5.32
New York 92 70 .568 2.0 .269 202 105 4.69
Toronto 86 76 .531 8.0 .272 244 61 4.65
Tampa Bay 83 79 .512 11.0 .279 179 160 5.24
Baltimore 75 87 .463 19.0 .264 161 81 4.71

CENTRAL W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Cleveland 96 66 .593 -- .259 215 61 3.78
Minnesota 94 68 .580 2.0 .273 141 94 3.98
Chicago 84 78 .519 12.0 .273 225 70 4.82
Detroit 80 82 .494 16.0 .264 180 60 4.49
Kansas City 62 100 .383 34.0 .266 121 115 5.06

WEST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Seattle 77 85 .475 -- .268 168 79 4.90
Oakland 76 86 .469 1.0 .261 155 80 4.87
Texas 75 87 .463 2.0 .276 183 75 5.53
Los Angeles 65 97 .401 12.0 .258 112 127 4.69


NATIONAL LEAGUE (2007)

EAST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
New York 104 58 .642 -- .264 201 131 4.21
Atlanta 89 73 .549 15.0 .280 218 77 4.62
Philadelphia 83 79 .512 21.0 .271 212 74 4.66
Florida 72 90 .444 32.0 .246 171 112 4.85
Washington 59 103 .364 45.0 .240 133 58 5.27

CENTRAL W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Houston 88 74 .543 -- .250 198 86 4.17
Cincinnati 85 77 .525 3.0 .248 205 71 4.35
Milwaukee 82 80 .506 6.0 .248 183 90 4.04
Chicago 80 82 .494 8.0 .267 206 76 4.46
Pittsburgh 76 86 .469 12.0 .262 135 64 4.51
St. Louis 68 94 .420 20.0 .248 161 72 4.77

WEST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
San Diego 88 74 .543 -- .238 179 56 3.81
Arizona 86 76 .531 2.0 .274 203 86 4.92
Colorado 81 81 .500 7.0 .284 153 98 5.15
Los Angeles 78 84 .481 10.0 .269 142 119 4.19
San Francisco 72 90 .444 16.0 .256 139 113 5.02


DIVISION PLAYOFFS
Twins defeat Red Sox, 3-2
Indians defeat Mariners, 3-0
Braves defeat Astros, 3-2
Mets defeat Padres, 3-0

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Twins defeat Indians, 4-0
Mets defeat Braves, 4-0

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Mets defeat Twins, 4-1

Time for a bit of a state of the union.

In 2007, the Pirates made $21.2M in profit, so I now have a cash reserve of $24.9M after spending $4M in the trade for Blake DeWitt. I'm probably going to use up most of those reserves this season because my payroll jumped to $52.3M whereas my budget is only $32.6M. This means I'm probably going to have some more difficult decisions to make this season and over the next couple after that.

For the end of the 2008 season, the upcoming arbitration cases are:

2B Freddy Sanchez
3B Jose Bautista
C Ryan Doumit
SP Zach Duke

And those who are eligible for free agency are:

RP Salomon Torres
RP Damaso Marte

Well, this year won't be too difficult. Duke is the only one of those six I absolutely must keep. Sanchez and Doumit are next on the list because of lack of depth at those positions, but they both have capable players behind them that should be able to step in soon.

Hopefully Bautista will be expendable by the end of the season, and I see no real reason to keep Torres and Marte around, since Torres is now 36 and Marte is now 33. In fact, they'll likely both be sent packing before the trade deadline, I hope.

Opening Day Roster:
1. SS Jack Wilson
2. CF Nate McLouth
3. 2B Freddy Sanchez
4. 1B Adam LaRoche
5. LF Jason Bay
6. RF Matt Diaz
7. C Ronny Paulino
8. 3B Jose Bautista

C Ryan Doumit
SS Brian Bixler
CF Chris Duffy
1B Brad Eldred
3B Yurendell DeCaster
OF Rajai Davis

1 Ian Snell
2 Paul Maholm
3 John Van Benschoten
4 Zach Duke
5 Tom Gorzelanny

CL Salomon Torres
SU Matt Capps
SH John Grabow
SH Jonah Bayliss
MR Damaso Marte
LR Bryan Bullington

[HoustonGM]

Wow at Seattle winning the division by being 8 games under .500. :p

[JustinM]

And Boston winning the division with the second-worst ERA in the entire major leagues! :D

[JustinM]

April 2008 News and Notes

Milestones
April 10: Scott Rolen (NYY), 1000th Run
April 20: Ray Durham (SFG), 2000th Hit
April 21: Ken Griffey, Jr. (CIN), 2500th Hit

Trades
APRIL 22, 2008
Nationals receive Bob Wickman (RP), Chris Duncan (LF) and Adam Kennedy (2B)
Cardinals receive Michael Restovich (RF), Garrett Mock (SP) and Jesus Colome (RP)

APRIL 24, 2008
Cardinals receive Ryan Shealy (1B)
Royals receive Aaron Miles (2B) and Yadier Molina (C)
In what world, exactly, does Kansas City take on salary instead of dumping it?

APRIL 25, 2008
Dodgers receive Salomon Torres (CL) and Damaso Marte (RP)
Pirates receive Mark Alexander (SP) and $500,000
Speaking of salary dumps...and a half-decent prospect in return, to boot.

Significant Injuries
April 4: Michael Bourn (PHI), two months with a broken forearm
April 5: Ryan Dempster (CHC), two months with a broken tibia
April 6: Michael Cuddyer (MIN), seven weeks with a dislocated hip
April 7: Bill Hall (MIL), nine months with a broken wrist
April 7: Khalil Greene (SDP), three months with a broken hip
April 9: Chad Tracy (ARI), four weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
April 11: Chris Capuano (NYM), five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
April 17: Erik Bedard (BAL), three months with severe elbow tendonitis
April 17: Joey Martinez (SFG), five weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
April 24: Jeff Samardzija (CHC), four weeks with a broken collarbone
April 27: Jose Contreras (CHW), four weeks with a broken jaw
April 29: Dave Roberts (SFG), seven months with a torn ankle ligament
April 30: Derrek Lee (CHC), two months with a ruptured cervical disc

Retirements
SP Tim Corcoran (TBD) retired at age 29
RP Scott Dohmann (TBD) retired at age 30
2B Mark Grudzielanek (free agent) retired at age 37

[MarinerMan]

Oops wrong thread

[JustinM]

2008 allowed the Pirates another good start, this time a 14-9 April. That's good for a half-game lead on the Cubbies. There's nothing quite like a complete game shutout with 10 K's from Ian Snell on opening day to get things off on the right foot.

It appears that Bay is not going to be in a year-long slump this season, and Nate McLouth is absolutely tearing it up so far. Batting .432 is just stupid, and he's had some pop in the bat to go with it (though one of his three homers was of the inside-the-park variety).


2008 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
McLouth, Nate PIT 23 .432 95 41 13 1 3 11 6 3 3 25 14 .684 .486
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 4 .375 8 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 .375 .375
Duffy, Chris PIT 8 .364 11 4 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 4 .455 .364
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 23 .333 99 33 5 0 1 3 7 0 0 16 15 .414 .356
Bixler, Brian PIT 4 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 .333 .333
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 0 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .333 .333
Diaz, Matt PIT 22 .329 85 28 7 0 2 6 16 0 0 15 8 .482 .376
LaRoche, Adam PIT 22 .324 68 22 4 0 7 7 16 0 0 12 24 .691 .385
Wilson, Jack PIT 23 .308 104 32 9 3 2 3 10 0 0 19 13 .510 .333
Bay, Jason PIT 23 .273 88 24 4 2 7 7 21 0 0 14 21 .602 .320
Bautista, Jose PIT 23 .227 88 20 5 1 4 3 26 0 0 11 13 .443 .277
Paulino, Ronny PIT 21 .216 74 16 2 0 1 2 16 0 0 9 11 .284 .263
Doumit, Ryan PIT 9 .200 20 4 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 1 2 .200 .273
Eldred, Brad PIT 8 .192 26 5 1 0 1 1 11 0 0 4 1 .346 .222
Maholm, Paul PIT 5 .182 11 2 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 2 1 .182 .250
Van Benschoten, John PIT 5 .182 11 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 .182 .182
Snell, Ian PIT 5 .000 11 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 1 .000 .143
Duke, Zach PIT 4 .000 9 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 0 1 .000 .100
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Bullington, Bryan PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

Ian Snell has been absolutely ridiculous in his five starts. His WHIP and ERA look like something a reliever would put up. Speaking of relievers, Joakim Soria has taken Torres's place as closer, and Grabow and Capps have been excellent so far. The only ugly spot in the 'pen is Bayliss, and I may do something about that shortly.

Oh, and Gorzelanny's been just barely on this side of awful so far. Ugh.


2008 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 8.0 7.88 11 0 0 1 0 7 3 15.75
Bullington, Bryan PIT 5.1 3.38 4 0 0 0 1 2 1 6.75
Capps, Matt PIT 7.2 2.35 9 0 0 1 0 2 0 14.09
Duke, Zach PIT 28.2 4.40 4 4 3 1 0 22 4 10.05
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 19.2 5.49 4 4 2 1 0 17 7 14.64
Grabow, John PIT 9.0 1.00 8 0 1 0 0 9 1 6.00
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 11.1 5.56 5 0 0 1 0 10 3 14.29
Maholm, Paul PIT 32.2 4.41 5 5 4 1 0 30 10 10.74
Snell, Ian PIT 34.0 1.59 5 5 2 1 0 30 6 8.21
Soria, Joakim PIT 2.1 0.00 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 7.71
Van Benschoten, John PIT 29.1 4.30 5 5 2 1 0 17 14 13.19
Youman, Shane PIT 0.2 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

And now for your regularly-scheduled annual WTF session:

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Adam Stern (BAL) - .408
Homers: Jeff Francoeur (TEX) - 10
RBIs: Jeff Francoeur (TEX) - 29
Doubles: David Ortiz (BOS) - 11
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 5
Stolen Bases: Ryan Freel (TEX) - 11
Slugging Pct.: David Ortiz (BOS) - .722
On Base Pct.: Carlos Guillen (DET) - .461
OPS: David Ortiz (BOS) - 1.164
Wins: Johan Santana (MIN) - 6
Earned Run Avg.: A. J. Burnett (TOR) - 1.11
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 49 (!!!)
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .122
Shutouts: five tied at 1
Saves: Fernando Cabrera (CLE) and Joel Zumaya (DET) - 10

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Nate McLouth (PIT) - .432
Homers: Derrek Lee (CHC) - 8
RBIs: Miguel Cabrera (FLA) - 28
Doubles: Lastings Milledge (NYM) and Nate McLouth (PIT) - 13
Triples: Brad Hawpe (COL), Mark Loretta (HOU), Fred Lewis (SFG), and Jack Wilson (PIT) - 3
Stolen Bases: Emmanuel Burriss (SFG) - 18 (waaaay ahead)
Slugging Pct.: Miguel Cabrera (FLA) - .753
On Base Pct.: Miguel Cabrera (FLA) - .505
OPS: Miguel Cabrera (FLA) - 1.258
Wins: Derek Lowe (LAD), Freddy Garcia (PHI), Jake Peavy (SDP), and Paul Maholm (PIT) - 4
Earned Run Avg.: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 1.13
Strikeouts: Cole Hamels (PHI) - 42
Opponent BA: Jason Simontacchi (WSN) - .184
Shutouts: eight tied at 1
Saves: Brian Wilson (SFG) - 8

If there are any other stat leaders you'd like me to add in future monthly wrap-ups, just say so and I'll gladly oblige.

[JustinM]

May 2008 News and Notes

Milestones
May 3: Jonny Gomes (TBD), Hit For The Cycle
May 20: Derek Jeter (NYY), 1000th RBI
May 28: Carlos Beltran (NYM), 1000th Run

Trades
MAY 16, 2008
Royals receive Eric Campbell (3B) and Matt Harrison (SP)
Braves receive Shane Costa (RF)
Atlanta stocks up for a playoff run...already. I must say that Costa's doing better than Diaz so far, who's been absolutely disappointing thus far.

Significant Injuries
May 3: Brandon Inge (DET), seven months with a broken wrist
May 4: Jon Rauch (OAK), six months with a severed knee ligament
May 6: Aubrey Huff (BAL), five weeks with a stretched knee ligament
May 6: Kyle Farnsworth (NYY), five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
May 7: Alex Rodriguez (NYY), four weeks with a broken finger
May 17: Joel Zumaya (DET), two months with a broken elbow
May 18: Pedro Martinez (NYM), seven months with a severed knee ligament
May 25: Salomon Torres (LAD), two months with a severe shoulder separation
May 26: Clayton Kershaw (LAD), four weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
May 29: Daniel Cabrera (BAL), four weeks with a shoulder separation
May 31: Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS), six months with a torn ankle ligament
May 31: Carlos Guillen (DET), four months with a broken neck vertebra

Retirements
SP Brett Tomko (free agent) retired at age 35
SS Royce Clayton (free agent) retired at age 37
SP Tim Wakefield (free agent) retired at age 41
RP Todd Williams (BAL) retired at age 37
C Mike Piazza (free agent) retired at age 39 (finished with a .305 career BA and 430 HR)
1B Scott Hatteberg (free agent) retired at age 38
SP Paul Byrd (free agent) retired at age 37
3B Mike Edwards (PIT) retired at age 31
3B Aaron Boone (STL) retired at age 35
LF Rondell White (free agent) retired at age 36
C Kevin Cash (free agent) retired at age 30
C Koyie Hill (CHC) retired at age 29
RP Armando Benitez (free agent) retired at age 35

[JustinM]

Shades of May 2007. The Pirates went 11-18 in May 2008, giving them an overall record of 25-27. Ian Snell and Nate McLouth both came back down to Earth was the biggest reason for the team's decline, but Zach Duke and John Van Benschoten also suffered a minor injuries that caused them to miss a couple starts, and Tom Gorzelanny has been awful and earned himself a trip to Indianapolis for a while.


2008 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Davis, Rajai PIT 7 .500 6 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .667 .500
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 9 .462 26 12 1 0 3 2 4 0 0 5 7 .846 .500
Bixler, Brian PIT 19 .360 25 9 1 1 0 3 5 1 0 2 5 .480 .414
McLouth, Nate PIT 37 .342 155 53 17 1 4 14 11 5 4 30 20 .542 .395
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 10 .303 33 10 2 0 0 1 5 0 1 4 4 .364 .324
Duffy, Chris PIT 23 .297 64 19 3 1 0 6 11 6 1 12 6 .375 .366
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 51 .290 210 61 13 1 3 12 14 0 0 29 32 .405 .342
Diaz, Matt PIT 49 .289 197 57 11 2 3 6 36 0 0 25 16 .411 .312
Wilson, Jack PIT 49 .283 212 60 14 3 2 8 23 0 0 31 20 .406 .307
Bay, Jason PIT 51 .273 194 53 8 3 14 19 49 0 0 34 40 .562 .338
LaRoche, Adam PIT 48 .263 152 40 10 0 10 13 32 0 0 23 31 .526 .329
Valbuena, Luis PIT 2 .250 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 .250 .400
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 8 .250 16 4 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 3 .250 .250
Maholm, Paul PIT 11 .240 25 6 0 0 0 1 12 0 0 3 4 .240 .259
Paulino, Ronny PIT 46 .224 161 36 2 0 3 8 34 0 0 19 21 .292 .284
Doumit, Ryan PIT 16 .220 41 9 1 0 1 5 12 0 0 2 5 .317 .319
Eldred, Brad PIT 20 .193 57 11 4 0 3 8 21 0 0 10 6 .421 .292
Bautista, Jose PIT 48 .190 174 33 9 1 4 10 45 0 0 14 20 .322 .257
Snell, Ian PIT 11 .174 23 4 0 0 0 2 7 0 0 1 2 .174 .231
Van Benschoten, John PIT 8 .133 15 2 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 2 0 .133 .188
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 3 .111 9 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 .111 .111
Duke, Zach PIT 8 .056 18 1 0 0 0 2 12 0 0 0 3 .056 .150
Soria, Joakim PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Youman, Shane PIT 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1.000
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Bullington, Bryan PIT 0 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000


2008 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Alexander, Mark PIT 8.2 1.04 7 0 0 0 0 7 2 7.27
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 21.1 7.17 24 0 1 1 0 18 11 15.19
Bullington, Bryan PIT 10.1 8.71 6 1 1 1 1 8 6 17.42
Capps, Matt PIT 21.1 1.27 23 0 0 1 0 8 4 11.39
Duke, Zach PIT 56.1 4.63 8 8 4 3 0 31 10 11.82
Gorzelanny, Tom PIT 41.2 6.05 8 8 2 5 0 38 14 14.47
Grabow, John PIT 19.1 1.86 22 0 1 1 0 16 2 9.31
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 42.0 4.93 12 4 1 3 0 32 15 13.93
Maholm, Paul PIT 70.1 3.58 11 11 6 2 0 53 20 9.98
Snell, Ian PIT 73.1 3.31 11 11 5 4 0 58 18 9.70
Soria, Joakim PIT 9.2 3.72 10 0 0 2 6 8 3 12.10
Van Benschoten, John PIT 52.0 4.85 9 9 4 3 0 31 27 14.02
Youman, Shane PIT 17.2 2.04 12 0 0 0 1 8 3 9.68

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Garrett Atkins (BOS) - .383
Homers: Mike Cameron (MIN) - 14
RBIs: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 49
Doubles: Jason Bartlett (MIN) - 20
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 6
Stolen Bases: Ryan Freel (TEX) - 18
Slugging Pct.: Carl Crawford (TBD) - .594
On Base Pct.: Garrett Atkins (BOS) - .425
OPS: Travis Hafner (CLE) - 1.006
Wins: Johan Santana (MIN) - 11
Earned Run Avg.: Rich Harden (OAK) - 1.69
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 89
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .141
Shutouts: Jake Westbrook (CLE) - 2
Saves: Fernando Cabrera (CLE) and Bobby Jenks (CHW) - 16

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Lastings Milledge (NYM) - .363
Homers: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 18
RBIs: Miguel Cabrera (FLA) - 51
Doubles: Lastings Milledge (NYM) - 23
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 6
Stolen Bases: Emmanuel Burriss (SFG) - 28 (even farther ahead)
Slugging Pct.: Aramis Ramirez (CHC) - .707
On Base Pct.: Adrian Gonzalez (SDP) - .447
OPS: Miguel Cabrera (FLA) - 1.104
Wins: Roy Oswalt (HOU) - 7
Earned Run Avg.: Anibal Sanchez (FLA) - 1.43
Strikeouts: Matt Cain (SFG) - 77
Opponent BA: Jake Peavy (SDP) - .195
Shutouts: Derek Lowe (LAD) and Ian Snell (PIT) - 2
Saves: Trevor Hoffman (SDP) - 14

[jetsfan1771]

Loving the dynasty. One suggestion however. Do you think you could sort your hitting by at bats and pitching by innings pitched? It makes it easier to look at. Keep up the good work.

[JustinM]

Sure, I can do that from now on.

[JustinM]

June 2008 News and Notes

Milestones
June 11: Garrett Atkins (BOS), 4 Home Runs In 1 Game (against me, no less, and I nearly still won the game because they were all solo shots)

Trades
JUNE 18, 2008
Brewers receive Ian Kennedy (SP)
Yankees receive Dave Bush (SP)
Prospect-for-big-salary deal here. Milwaukee was 24-45 when it made this deal and the Yanks were leading the AL East. It appears that the Brew Crew have given up on 2008.

JUNE 20, 2008
Dodgers receive Tom Gorzelanny (SP)
Pirates receive Andy LaRoche (3B)
Color me frustrated with Gorzelanny AND Bautista. This takes care of both problem children at the same time and nets me both LaRoche brothers. Mwhahaha! Hopefully this will give me some extra offensive pop for the stretch run.

JUNE 20, 2008
Mets receive Jose Bautista (3B)
Pirates receive Bobby Parnell (SP) and $3,000,000
Stockin' up.

JUNE 23, 2008
Marlins receive Brandon Sing (1B)
Orioles receive Gaby Sanchez (1B) and Chris Coghlan (2B)
With Mike Jacobs down for another couple months yet and his replacement floundering and nursing a sore foot, Florida gets its first baseman of the future to help them with their playoff run.

Significant Injuries
June 1: Chad Gaudin (OAK), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
June 8: Tomo Ohka (TOR), fifteen months with a torn rotator cuff (he's finished)
June 10: Kenny Rogers (CLE), three months with severe elbow tendonitis (this is also career-ending)
June 12: Mark Prior (CHC), four months with severe elbow tendonitis (and yet he'll still be okay)
June 12: Rich Harden (OAK), ten months with a torn rotator cuff (and so's he)
June 15: John Maine (NYM), four weeks with a torn quadriceps
June 17: Bobby Abreu (NYY), four weeks with a broken finger
June 20: Jason Hammel (TBD), four weeks with a broken finger
June 25: Dan Haren (OAK), seven weeks with a severe shoulder separation
June 27: Scott Rolen (NYY), seven months with a broken back vertebra
June 29: Roy Halladay (TOR), nine months with a broken wrist

Retirements
RP Nate Field (free agent) retired at age 32
1B Sean Casey (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Clay Condrey (PHI) retired at age 32
SP Jon Lieber (NYY) retired at age 38
LF Michael Ryan (ATL) retired at age 30
SP Kenny Rogers (CLE) retired at age 43 (told ya)
SS Wilson Valdez (LAD) retired at age 30
RP Saul Rivera (OAK) retired at age 30 (too bad...he was pretty decent)
RP LaTroy Hawkins (free agent) retired at age 35
RP John Bale (KCR) retired at age 34
RP Dave Weathers (CIN) retired at age 38
CF Kenny Lofton (free agent) retired at age 41
SP Darren Oliver (free agent) retired at age 37
3B Corey Koskie (free agent) retired at age 35

Pirate Contract Extensions
SP Paul Maholm gets $6.5M/yr through 2011 with a NTC and player option for 2012 worth $7.5M
OF Nate McLouth gets $2.55M/yr through 2009 with a player option for 2010 also worth $2.55M
RP Matt Capps gets $1M/yr through 2014

Amateur Draft
1. SP Dexter Filmer (70/94)
2. SP Martin Klein (60/95)
3. 3B Dale Filmer (57/91)
4. RP Herman Barkman (65/77)
5. 2B Ed Vyse (57/79)
6. LF Heath Tufo (57/71)

I chose 10th this season. First overall was RP Nick Derrick to the Nationals, for future reference.

Speaking of future reference...

Former First-Round Draft Picks
2007: SP Zack Storan (Devil Rays) is now in his second season pitching in Tampa's A affiliate in Vero Beach. He's 8-3 in 16 starts with a 3.39 ERA.

[JustinM]

The Pirates got an even 13-13 record in June, giving them a 38-40 record overall. I feel like I have to platoon half the lineup in order to compete against left-handed pitching. There are a number of players batting under .200 against the southpaws who are perfectly decent against righties. Unfortunately, taking those players out of the lineup also means the lineup is utterly devoid of power, so it's making almost half the games a definite uphill struggle.

You may notice Yurendell De Caster's .354 batting average. That's about the only interesting thing I have to say about the offense this month.


2008 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 75 .285 330 94 20 3 3 12 40 0 0 43 30 .391 .307
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 77 .287 317 91 23 2 5 21 25 0 0 45 50 .420 .338
Bay, Jason PIT 77 .275 298 82 20 5 17 32 76 0 0 53 58 .547 .347
Diaz, Matt PIT 68 .287 272 78 15 2 3 6 52 0 0 33 24 .390 .306
McLouth, Nate PIT 60 .317 259 82 21 1 6 21 26 14 4 46 29 .475 .372
LaRoche, Adam PIT 72 .286 224 64 15 0 15 27 50 0 0 37 45 .554 .367
Paulino, Ronny PIT 64 .236 220 52 4 0 4 13 46 0 0 22 25 .309 .299
LaRoche, Andy PIT 60 .253 178 45 8 0 3 22 21 4 1 21 24 .348 .350
Duffy, Chris PIT 39 .312 125 39 4 2 0 9 22 11 3 19 15 .376 .360
Eldred, Brad PIT 31 .275 91 25 6 0 7 11 27 0 0 17 16 .571 .353
Doumit, Ryan PIT 27 .220 82 18 4 0 1 7 19 0 0 6 12 .305 .304
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 26 .354 82 29 2 0 4 5 16 1 0 13 13 .524 .382
Bixler, Brian PIT 30 .313 48 15 3 1 0 7 12 1 0 7 5 .417 .404
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 11 .294 34 10 2 0 0 1 5 0 1 4 4 .353 .314
Snell, Ian PIT 15 .152 33 5 0 0 0 2 9 0 0 1 2 .152 .194
Maholm, Paul PIT 15 .182 33 6 0 0 0 1 15 0 0 3 4 .182 .200
Duke, Zach PIT 12 .077 26 2 0 0 0 3 14 0 0 0 4 .077 .172
Van Benschoten, John PIT 13 .091 22 2 0 0 0 1 10 0 0 2 0 .091 .130
Davis, Rajai PIT 12 .364 11 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .455 .364
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 4 .091 11 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 .091 .091
Bullington, Bryan PIT 2 .000 7 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Valbuena, Luis PIT 2 .250 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 .250 .400
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .500
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Soria, Joakim PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Youman, Shane PIT 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1.000

The pitching has been a matter of needing to be able to get the game to the bullpen. If I can manage that, the team does well. That's been a fairly big if, though, as you'll see by the starters' ERAs.

At least I'm not as bad-off as Baltimore, though. On June 14, the Orioles started Zach Britton against me. I see his ratings as 55/77 (+/- 1). It's not a bug--that's just how injured their pitchers have been so far.


2008 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 103.2 3.99 16 16 6 5 0 78 27 10.94
Maholm, Paul PIT 101.0 4.28 16 16 7 4 0 79 34 10.96
Duke, Zach PIT 96.2 5.03 14 14 6 7 0 60 21 12.01
Van Benschoten, John PIT 85.0 5.19 15 15 6 6 0 63 42 14.19
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 47.0 5.74 13 5 1 4 0 33 17 14.17
Capps, Matt PIT 35.0 2.06 36 0 1 1 0 17 6 10.80
Youman, Shane PIT 32.2 3.31 24 0 0 0 1 16 4 9.92
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 32.2 5.51 35 0 2 1 1 28 15 13.50
Bullington, Bryan PIT 29.1 7.36 9 4 3 2 1 23 13 15.65
Grabow, John PIT 28.2 1.88 33 0 4 1 0 23 5 10.05
Alexander, Mark PIT 25.0 2.16 16 0 0 0 0 25 2 7.56
Soria, Joakim PIT 17.0 5.29 19 0 0 3 12 12 4 12.71
Davidson, Dave PIT 5.2 4.76 4 0 0 0 0 7 1 7.94

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Garrett Atkins (BOS) - .373
Homers: Troy Glaus (TOR) - 22
RBIs: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 73
Doubles: Garrett Atkins (BOS) - 32
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 8
Stolen Bases: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 26
Slugging Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .613
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .482
OPS: Barry Bonds (KCR) - 1.095
Wins: Johan Santana (MIN) - 12
Earned Run Avg.: Rich Harden (OAK) - 1.69
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 115
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .145
Shutouts: Jake Westbrook (CLE) and Andy Pettitte (MIN) - 2
Saves: Bobby Jenks (CHW) - 26

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Adrian Gonzalez (SDP) - .347
Homers: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 23
RBIs: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 74
Doubles: Lastings Milledge (NYM) - 32
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 8
Stolen Bases: Emmanuel Burriss (SFG) - 42 (he's ridiculous)
Slugging Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .707
On Base Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .438
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.145
Wins: Roy Oswalt (HOU), Anibal Sanchez (FLA), Carlos Zambrano (NYM), and Jake Peavy (SDP) - 9
Earned Run Avg.: Anibal Sanchez (FLA) - 2.53
Strikeouts: Cole Hamels (PHI) - 114
Opponent BA: Jason Schmidt (LAD) - .188
Shutouts: Derek Lowe (LAD) and Ian Snell (PIT) - 2
Saves: Trevor Hoffman (SDP) - 23

[JustinM]

July 2008 News and Notes

Milestones
July 1: Alex Rodriguez (NYY), 500th Home Run
July 5: Richie Sexson (SEA), 1000th RBI
July 15: Barry Bonds (KCR), 3000th Hit
July 15: Alex Rodriguez (NYY), 1500th Run
July 19: Ken Griffey, Jr. (CIN), 600th Home Run
July 20: Bobby Abreu (NYY), 300th Steal
July 20: Todd Helton (COL), 2000th Hit
July 22: Carl Crawford (TBD), 300th Steal
July 23: Miguel Tejada (BAL), 1000th Run
July 29: Albert Pujols (ATL), 300th Home Run

Trades
JULY 3, 2008
Reds receive Elliot Johnson (2B), Ross Soldan (SP) and Matt Walker (SP)
Devil Rays receive Aaron Harang (SP)
Three good prospects for the veteran Harang, who was a much better pitcher this year than his 5.19 ERA and 4-9 record would show.

JULY 9, 2008
Cardinals receive Gidayu Ogusuku (SP) and Will Ohman (RP)
Cubs receive Craig Wilson (1B) and Braden Looper (SP)
Booooooooring...

JULY 11, 2008
Reds receive Carlos Gomez (CF)
Mets receive Bronson Arroyo (SP)
Seems the Reds have given up as well.

JULY 24, 2008
Padres receive Ryan Doumit (C)
Pirates receive Nick Hundley (C)
Frankly, Doumit didn't deserve what he was going to get through arbitration, and I just didn't want to pay him to hit .220 anymore.

JULY 26, 2008
Mariners receive Sidney Ponson (SP) and Dennys Reyes (RP)
Twins receive Adrian Beltre (3B)
That's a lot of pop to get for a washed-up starter and a 31-year-old reliever coming off a broken elbow. Nice trade, MIN, especially considering that their former best option at 3B was Mike Lamb.

JULY 26, 2008
Rockies receive Randy Flores (RP)
Cardinals receive Bradley Deppe (RP)
Flores has been lights out so far this season, with a 1.96 ERA in 37 appearances. St. Louis is building for next year...or maybe the year after.

JULY 27, 2008
Mets receive Chris Duncan (LF)
Nationals receive Kevin Mulvey (SP) and Mark Jennings (C)
After half a season in a Nats uniform, Chris Duncan heads to the Big Apple as the Mets continue to gut their farm system for the stretch run.

JULY 30, 2008
Braves receive Kelvim Escobar (SP)
Blue Jays receive Jeff Lyman (SP)

JULY 30, 2008
Cardinals receive P.J. Finigan (RP) and Antonio Gonzalez (SP)
Tigers receive Adam Wainwright (SP)

JULY 31, 2008
Mets receive A.J. Burnett (SP)
Blue Jays receive Josh Stinson (SP) and Deolis Guerra (SP)
Are the Mets going to have any more decent prospects left after this? Answer: amazingly, yes. And a rotation of Zambrano-Arroyo-Glavine-Burnett-Maine is very difficult to argue with, especially considering that Meche and Lohse were also pitching great before being supplanted in these trades.

JULY 31, 2008
Blue Jays receive Alexander Smit (SP), Tom Cook (SP), Eli Llort (3B) and Brian Quenneville (1B)
Twins receive Vernon Wells (CF)
I was going to say that Minnesota overpaid here, but it seems they can afford it. Either way, I'm not sure why they did that when they already have Mike Cameron, who's now a $5.5M/yr AAA outfielder.

JULY 31, 2008
Marlins receive Ryan Wagner (RP)
Nationals receive Gaby Hernandez (SP) and Travis Friedman (RF)

Pirate Contract Stuff
Released CF James Boone from his minor-league contract
Extended CF Chris Duffy through 2010 for $1.7M/yr
Signed RF Jose Guillen for the rest of 2008 for $1.55M

Significant Injuries
July 3: J. D. Drew (BOS), fifteen months with a torn rotator cuff
July 4: Cameraon Maybin (DET), sixteen months with a torn rotator cuff
July 5: Aramis Ramirez (CHC), nine months with a severed knee ligament
July 8: Curtis Granderson (DET), three months with a broken tibia
July 8: Andrew Miller (DET), four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
July 9: Ervin Santana (LAA), three months with severe elbow tendonitis
July 14: Omar Infante (DET), five months with a torn achilles tendon
July 14: Gary Sheffield (DET), four weeks with a broken collarbone
July 15: Aaron Hill (SEA), five weeks with a broken collarbone
July 16: Nick Markakis (BAL), five months with a broken back vertebra
July 23: Billy Wagner (NYM), four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
July 28: Justin Orenduff (LAD), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
July 30: J. P. Howell (TBD), seven months with a severed knee ligament

Retirements
RP Hector Carrasco (STL) retired at age 38
CF Alex Sanchez (free agent) retired at age 31
C Chad Moeller (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Alan Embree (OAK) retired at age 38
LF Luis Gonzalez (free agent) retired at age 40
RP Brendan Donnelly (BOS) retired at age 37
LF Eli Marrero (free agent) retired at age 34
3B Jeff Cirillo (free agent) retired at age 38
SP Bartolo Colon (free agent) retired at age 35
SP Dustin Hermanson (free agent) retired at age 35
CF Hiram Bocachica (free agent) retired at age 32
C Ben Davis (free agent) retired at age 31

[JustinM]

A 13-14 record in July has given the Pirates a 51-54 record overall. The plus side to this is that the team is back in second place, 9.5 games behind the Astros after Chicago and Milwaukee went into free-fall.

Hey, I'll take what I can get at this point.

Two interesting things this month: Freddy Sanchez was the Pirates' all-star representative this season, and the Dodgers are now paying Tom Gorzelanny $2.4M/yr for the privilege of watching him toss a 7+ ERA. Well, I guess it was 7+ when I originally wrote that in my notes, but it's 5+ now. Still, I'd take cheap guy languishing in AA any day over him. I had other guys who could throw slo-pitch softball games.

Paulino went down with an injury earlier in July, and I called up Neil Walker to replace him. Paulino's not hurt anymore, but he's still riding the pine, because Walker has hit 5 HR in 51 AB. Not a bad ratio, eh? Also, you'll see that I signed Jose Guillen after Matt Diaz got hurt. He stepped in and made an immediate contribution, spraying hits all over the field. I guess spending time in the Dominican Republic has helped his game a bit.


2008 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 102 .274 441 121 28 3 5 16 48 0 0 51 39 .385 .297
Bay, Jason PIT 103 .268 392 105 21 5 22 46 98 0 0 66 77 .515 .347
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 86 .278 352 98 26 2 5 23 31 0 0 49 55 .406 .329
Diaz, Matt PIT 87 .288 347 100 19 3 4 12 65 0 0 43 31 .395 .319
LaRoche, Adam PIT 95 .289 304 88 18 0 23 34 70 0 0 53 66 .576 .363
McLouth, Nate PIT 69 .311 293 91 24 1 6 25 33 15 5 49 29 .461 .370
LaRoche, Andy PIT 84 .234 265 62 12 0 4 28 36 4 1 30 31 .325 .317
Paulino, Ronny PIT 71 .239 243 58 5 0 4 14 51 0 0 24 27 .309 .298
Duffy, Chris PIT 59 .330 200 66 11 3 0 12 36 15 3 33 20 .415 .372
Eldred, Brad PIT 40 .239 117 28 7 0 7 13 38 0 0 19 18 .479 .315
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 41 .311 106 33 5 0 4 6 24 1 0 15 14 .472 .342
Hundley, Nick PIT 28 .260 77 20 8 0 1 9 19 1 1 5 3 .403 .337
Bixler, Brian PIT 40 .377 69 26 7 1 0 7 17 1 0 10 11 .507 .436
Valbuena, Luis PIT 18 .177 62 11 0 0 1 6 8 3 1 5 4 .226 .261
Walker, Neil PIT 14 .294 51 15 2 0 5 3 5 0 1 9 14 .627 .321
Davis, Rajai PIT 24 .340 47 16 4 0 0 5 3 2 2 6 3 .426 .407
Snell, Ian PIT 21 .133 45 6 0 0 0 2 15 0 0 2 2 .133 .167
Maholm, Paul PIT 20 .167 42 7 0 0 0 2 21 0 0 3 4 .167 .200
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 16 .308 39 12 2 0 0 1 5 0 2 4 4 .359 .325
Duke, Zach PIT 17 .086 35 3 0 0 0 3 19 0 0 1 4 .086 .158
Van Benschoten, John PIT 17 .071 28 2 0 0 0 2 12 0 0 2 0 .071 .133
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 6 .188 16 3 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 1 0 .188 .188
Bullington, Bryan PIT 5 .188 16 3 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 .188 .188
Guillen, Jose PIT 3 .364 11 4 1 1 0 0 4 0 0 1 1 .636 .364
Lincoln, Brad PIT 2 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Davidson, Dave PIT 0 .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 .000 .000
Kelly, Don PIT 2 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .500
Soria, Joakim PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Youman, Shane PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .500

Pitching's the same old story. My rotation's ERA is an ugly 4.79, but the bullpen ERA is a major league-best 2.96. No one else in the National League is even close. Well, no one in the American League is really all that close either--just Minnesota at 3.31.


2008 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 141.2 3.68 22 22 10 7 0 115 35 10.74
Maholm, Paul PIT 131.0 4.81 21 21 8 7 0 104 45 11.75
Duke, Zach PIT 126.2 5.26 19 19 7 10 0 80 32 12.65
Van Benschoten, John PIT 110.1 4.81 19 19 7 7 0 84 47 12.89
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 59.1 6.07 15 7 2 5 0 38 21 13.96
Bullington, Bryan PIT 49.2 7.07 12 7 4 3 1 36 19 14.13
Capps, Matt PIT 47.1 3.04 48 0 2 2 0 21 6 10.65
Youman, Shane PIT 46.0 3.33 30 0 0 0 1 26 5 9.20
Alexander, Mark PIT 40.2 3.10 28 0 1 1 0 42 5 9.30
Grabow, John PIT 36.0 2.50 42 0 4 1 1 28 9 10.25
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 33.0 5.45 36 0 2 1 1 28 15 13.64
Soria, Joakim PIT 25.0 3.96 27 0 1 3 18 18 5 10.80
Davidson, Dave PIT 21.0 1.29 13 0 0 0 0 24 5 7.71
Lincoln, Brad PIT 11.0 6.55 2 2 1 1 0 9 1 16.36

And just as they were about to start engraving Rich Harden's name on the Cy Young...

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Derek Jeter (NYY) - .378
Homers: Troy Glaus (TOR) - 27
RBIs: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 98
Doubles: Garrett Atkins (BOS) - 39
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 9
Stolen Bases: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 35
Slugging Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .576
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .469
OPS: Barry Bonds (KCR) - 1.045
Wins: Johan Santana (MIN) - 15
Earned Run Avg.: Francisco Liriano (MIN) - 2.75
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 147
Opponent BA: Felix Hernandez (SEA) - .209
Shutouts: Jake Westbrook (CLE), Johan Santana (MIN), and Andy Pettitte (MIN) - 2
Saves: Bobby Jenks (CHW) - 33

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Matt Murton (CHC) - .340
Homers: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 34
RBIs: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 98
Doubles: Lastings Milledge (NYM) - 39
Triples: Shane Victorino (PHI) - 10
Stolen Bases: Emmanuel Burriss (SFG) - 56 (20 ahead of #2 Reyes)
Slugging Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .727
On Base Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .457
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.184
Wins: Carlos Zambrano (NYM) - 13
Earned Run Avg.: Ben Sheets (MIL) - 2.80
Strikeouts: Cole Hamels (PHI) - 134
Opponent BA: Tim Lincecum (SFG) - .200
Shutouts: Derek Lowe (LAD) and Ian Snell (PIT) - 2
Saves: Jose Valverde (ARI) - 28

[JustinM]

August 2008 News and Notes

Milestones
August 5: Brent Lillibridge (STL), Hit For The Cycle
August 14: Jermaine Dye (CHW), 1000th RBI
August 17: Jermaine Dye (CHW), 300th Home Run
August 26: Derek Jeter (NYY), 2500th Hit
August 27: Frank Thomas (TOR), 2500th Hit
August 30: Carlos Lee (HOU), 1000th RBI

Trades
none

Significant Injuries
August 2: Brandon Webb (ARI), five weeks with a broken finger
August 3: Corey Kasto (WSN), three months with a ruptured cervical disc
August 5: Dellin Betances (NYY), three months with a broken hip
August 6: Elizardo Ramirez (CIN), ten months with a torn rotator cuff
August 7: Chipper Jones (ATL), four months with a torn ankle ligament
August 7: Miguel Tejada (BAL), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
August 11: Jon Garland (CHW), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
August 14: Chris Young (ARI), six months with a broken wrist
August 14: J. J. Putz (SEA), three months with a broken ankle
August 14: Roger Clemens (WSN), four weeks with a broken finger
August 15: Erik Lis (MIN), eight weeks with a broken back vertebra
August 18: Stephen Drew (ARI), five weeks with a broken collarbone
August 18: Luis Castillo (HOU), two months with a broken ankle
August 21: Jose Contreras (CHW), six weeks with a dislocated hip
August 22: John Patterson (MIL), six months with a broken back vertebra
August 23: Willy Taveras (COL), five weeks with a dislocated hip
August 23: Blake Hawksworth (STL), eleven months with a torn rotator cuff
August 24: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
August 25: Ty Wigginton (DET), four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
August 26: Bob Wickman (WSN), four months with a broken hip (he's done)
August 26: Jeremy Hermida (FLA), three months with a broken tibia
August 29: Gary Matthews, Jr. (LAA), five weeks with a broken foot
August 29: Hayden Penn (BAL), seven months with a broken wrist (23 years old and finished)
August 31: Kevin Kouzmanoff (SDP), six months with a torn ankle ligament

Retirements
LF Reggie Sanders (free agent) retired at age 40
1B Todd Walker (free agent) retired at age 35
RP Al Reyes (free agent) retired at age 37
LF Jose Cruz (free agent) retired at age 34
RP Mike Stanton (CIN) retired at age 41
1B Dmitri Young (free agent) retired at age 34
RP John Wasdin (free agent) retired at age 36
SP Josh Fogg (free agent) retired at age 31
SS John McDonald (free agent) retired at age 33
LF Marlon Anderson (free agent) retired at age 34
3B Justin Leone (SFG) retired at age 31
RP Bob Wickman (WSN) retired at age 39
C Brad Ausmus (free agent) retired at age 39

[JustinM]

August saw the Pirates flirt with .500 all month. They finished the month with a 14-13 record, 65-67 overall. That's good for second place still, 10.5 games behind the 'Stros.


2008 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 128 .282 547 154 35 4 7 20 63 0 0 65 60 .399 .303
Bay, Jason PIT 124 .273 469 128 26 6 24 53 119 0 0 79 88 .507 .352
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 112 .267 453 121 32 3 5 31 46 0 0 60 61 .384 .319
McLouth, Nate PIT 94 .323 402 130 30 2 13 32 48 20 7 74 50 .505 .378
Diaz, Matt PIT 100 .296 398 118 27 3 6 15 73 0 0 53 42 .425 .329
LaRoche, Adam PIT 118 .298 389 116 29 1 24 42 87 0 0 66 83 .563 .370
LaRoche, Andy PIT 94 .245 302 74 15 0 9 29 45 4 1 39 40 .384 .320
Paulino, Ronny PIT 86 .249 297 74 7 0 6 19 60 0 0 29 36 .333 .310
Duffy, Chris PIT 80 .326 242 79 13 4 2 13 41 17 3 43 25 .438 .365
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 60 .306 186 57 13 0 7 8 45 1 0 26 25 .489 .342
Eldred, Brad PIT 48 .248 145 36 10 0 8 14 46 0 0 21 24 .483 .313
Walker, Neil PIT 26 .267 101 27 5 0 7 5 15 0 1 19 21 .525 .294
Bixler, Brian PIT 53 .348 89 31 9 1 0 7 23 1 0 13 11 .472 .398
Hundley, Nick PIT 28 .260 77 20 8 0 1 9 19 1 1 5 3 .403 .337
Davis, Rajai PIT 35 .284 67 19 4 0 0 6 6 5 2 8 4 .343 .347
Valbuena, Luis PIT 18 .177 62 11 0 0 1 6 8 3 1 5 4 .226 .261
Guillen, Jose PIT 17 .300 60 18 7 2 0 3 16 0 0 10 6 .483 .338
Maholm, Paul PIT 26 .140 57 8 0 0 0 2 30 0 0 3 5 .140 .167
Snell, Ian PIT 26 .125 56 7 0 0 0 3 20 0 0 3 2 .125 .167
Duke, Zach PIT 23 .160 50 8 0 0 0 3 23 0 0 1 7 .160 .208
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 16 .308 39 12 2 0 0 1 5 0 2 4 4 .359 .325
Van Benschoten, John PIT 22 .083 36 3 0 0 0 3 16 0 0 3 0 .083 .154
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 7 .167 18 3 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 1 0 .167 .167
Bullington, Bryan PIT 5 .188 16 3 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 .188 .188
Davidson, Dave PIT 0 .200 5 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 .200 .200
Lincoln, Brad PIT 3 .200 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 .200 .200
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .200 5 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 .200 .200
Soler, Alay PIT 3 .250 4 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 .250 .250
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Kelly, Don PIT 2 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .500
Soria, Joakim PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Youman, Shane PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .500

My rotation ERA has actually improved a bit to 4.63. Unfortunately, the bullpen's ERA is now 4.65. Ugly.


2008 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 176.1 3.83 27 27 13 9 0 137 47 10.77
Maholm, Paul PIT 173.1 4.15 27 27 13 8 0 138 50 10.75
Duke, Zach PIT 166.1 5.46 25 25 9 11 0 105 44 12.82
Van Benschoten, John PIT 138.1 5.07 24 24 9 9 0 105 58 13.21
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 65.1 6.20 16 8 2 6 0 45 21 13.91
Capps, Matt PIT 63.1 3.55 63 0 3 3 1 32 12 10.94
Alexander, Mark PIT 54.0 4.00 43 0 1 2 0 59 11 11.50
Youman, Shane PIT 54.0 5.00 36 0 0 0 1 33 11 11.83
Bullington, Bryan PIT 49.2 7.07 12 7 4 3 1 36 19 14.13
Grabow, John PIT 45.2 3.74 55 0 4 2 1 37 14 12.42
Davidson, Dave PIT 35.0 1.80 22 0 1 1 1 35 11 8.74
Soria, Joakim PIT 33.2 3.74 36 0 1 3 23 23 7 11.23
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 33.0 5.45 36 0 2 1 1 28 15 13.64
Lincoln, Brad PIT 16.1 8.27 3 3 1 2 0 13 1 15.43
Soler, Alay PIT 14.1 6.28 3 3 0 1 0 14 10 16.33

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Derek Jeter (NYY) - .357
Homers: Troy Glaus (TOR) - 31
RBIs: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 121
Doubles: Garrett Atkins (BOS) - 44
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 11
Stolen Bases: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 44
Slugging Pct.: Rocco Baldelli (TBD) - .558
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .443
OPS: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .970
Wins: Johan Santana (MIN) - 18
Earned Run Avg.: Francisco Liriano (MIN) - 2.56
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 181
Opponent BA: Felix Hernandez (SEA) - .202
Shutouts: Jake Westbrook (CLE), Johan Santana (MIN), and Andy Pettitte (MIN) - 2
Saves: Bobby Jenks (CHW) - 35

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Matt Murton (CHC) - .350
Homers: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 40
RBIs: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 124
Doubles: Lastings Milledge (NYM) - 51
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 11
Stolen Bases: Emmanuel Burriss (SFG) - 74 (25 ahead of #2 Reyes)
Slugging Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .676
On Base Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .448
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.124
Wins: Chris Carpenter (ATL) - 16
Earned Run Avg.: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 2.72
Strikeouts: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 175
Opponent BA: Jason Schmidt (LAD) - .208
Shutouts: Derek Lowe (LAD), Mark Buehrle (HOU), and Ian Snell (PIT) - 2
Saves: Jose Valverde (ARI) and Mike Gonzalez (ATL) - 35

[JustinM]

September/October 2008 News and Notes

Milestones
September 1: Rafael Furcal (LAD), 300th Steal
September 2: Vladimir Guerrero (LAA), 2000th Hit
September 9: Andruw Jones (SDP), 400th Home Run
September 10: Mark Teahen (BOS), Hit For The Cycle
September 16: Bobby Abreu (NYY), 1000th RBI
September 24: Jason Giambi (NYY), 400th Home Run
September 30: Carlos Beltran (NYM), 1000th RBI
October 1: Ichiro Suzuki (FLA), 300th Steal

Trades
none

Significant Injuries
September 3: RP Joe Nathan (MIN), five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
September 4: RP Tom Gordon (PHI), two months with a broken tibia
September 4: SP Vicente Padilla (TEX), two months with a broken ankle
September 8: 2B Kazuo Matsui (MIN), two months with a torn knee ligament
September 9: C Russell Martin (LAD), five months with a torn ankle ligament
September 12: SP John Danks (CHW), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
September 13: SP Jason Hirsh (COL), two months with a broken forearm
September 17: 3B Mike Lowell (CIN), two months with a broken forearm (that's it for him)
September 18: RP Ambiorix Burgos (NYM), five weeks with a broken collarbone
September 20: SP Derek Lowe (LAD), five weeks with a dislocated hip
September 21: 2B Mark DeRosa (CHC), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
September 23: C Jason Kendall (NYY), two months with a torn elbow ligament
September 25: 3B Melvin Mora (BAL), seven months with a torn ankle ligament
September 27: 2B Orlando Hudson (ARI), three months with a broken fibula
September 27: LF Carlos Lee (HOU), three months with a torn knee ligament
September 29: 3B Akinori Iwamura (TBD), four weeks with a broken collarbone
September 30: RF Wily Mo Pena (BOS), four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
September 30: SP Mitchell Boggs (STL), four months with severe elbow tendonitis\
October 1: SP Chuck James (ATL), eight months with a severed knee ligament
October 1: LF Frank Catalanotto (TEX), five months with a torn ankle ligament (he might be done)

Retirements
SP Steve Trachsel (NYY) retired at age 37

[JustinM]

Over the last month-plus of the 2008 season, the Pirates went 13-17, finishing the season at 78-84. That's a paltry two-game improvement over the 2007 season, but at least it's an improvement.

Adam LaRoche just barely missed hitting 30 HR this year, but his batting average went up 46 points and his OPS went up a whopping 132 points. He only got 38 at bats against lefties, but he also only hit .158 against them, which is even worse than last year's .158, so I guess it's safe to assume he'll likely be a platoon candidate for his entire career, at least in a Pirates uniform.


2008 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 152 .278 643 179 38 4 7 24 73 1 0 82 68 .383 .303
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 142 .274 576 158 41 5 5 37 52 0 0 76 76 .389 .322
Bay, Jason PIT 150 .277 560 155 32 6 30 65 134 0 0 95 102 .516 .358
McLouth, Nate PIT 121 .307 514 158 39 2 16 47 72 24 9 88 63 .484 .370
LaRoche, Adam PIT 146 .301 482 145 36 1 29 56 104 0 0 80 101 .560 .375
Diaz, Matt PIT 118 .306 470 144 34 3 8 21 84 0 0 64 51 .443 .345
Paulino, Ronny PIT 114 .271 413 112 15 1 8 22 85 0 0 44 55 .370 .318
LaRoche, Andy PIT 102 .247 332 82 17 0 10 30 47 4 1 43 48 .389 .317
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 83 .260 289 75 17 0 7 11 68 1 0 33 32 .391 .292
Duffy, Chris PIT 101 .316 285 90 17 5 2 16 50 17 4 47 28 .432 .358
Eldred, Brad PIT 55 .262 168 44 11 0 11 18 47 0 0 26 33 .524 .333
Bixler, Brian PIT 64 .294 119 35 10 1 0 9 39 1 0 16 16 .395 .344
Walker, Neil PIT 30 .277 112 31 6 0 8 6 15 0 1 20 22 .545 .306
Guillen, Jose PIT 29 .284 88 25 7 2 0 6 20 0 0 16 8 .409 .347
Hundley, Nick PIT 30 .269 78 21 8 0 1 10 19 1 1 5 4 .410 .352
Davis, Rajai PIT 39 .286 70 20 4 0 0 6 6 5 3 8 5 .343 .354
Maholm, Paul PIT 32 .129 70 9 0 0 0 3 35 0 0 3 5 .129 .162
Snell, Ian PIT 32 .119 67 8 0 0 0 3 25 0 0 3 2 .119 .155
Duke, Zach PIT 29 .206 63 13 0 0 0 3 25 0 0 3 10 .206 .239
Valbuena, Luis PIT 18 .177 62 11 0 0 1 6 8 3 1 5 4 .226 .261
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 26 .345 58 20 4 0 0 5 7 2 2 10 9 .414 .391
Van Benschoten, John PIT 25 .103 39 4 0 0 0 3 18 0 0 3 1 .103 .163
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 8 .389 18 7 0 0 0 3 1 1 1 4 0 .389 .476
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 7 .167 18 3 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 1 0 .167 .167
Bullington, Bryan PIT 5 .188 16 3 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 .188 .188
Lincoln, Brad PIT 8 .167 12 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 2 .167 .214
Starling, Wardell PIT 3 .143 7 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 .143 .143
Davidson, Dave PIT 0 .167 6 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 .167 .167
Capps, Matt PIT 0 .200 5 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 .200 .200
Soler, Alay PIT 4 .200 5 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 .200 .200
Pearce, Steven PIT 3 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Kelly, Don PIT 3 .000 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .333
Wilt, Colby PIT 3 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000
Soria, Joakim PIT 0 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 0 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .500
DeWitt, Blake PIT 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Youman, Shane PIT 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .500

Ian Snell was clearly this year's ace, going 15-10 with a 3.54 ERA, leading the team in strikeouts and fewest walks issued. That last starter slot got traded around freely over the course of the season, bouncing between Herrera, Bullington, Lincoln, Starling, and Soler. None of them did particularly well, but I like Brad Lincoln's stuff a lot. The home run ball was, of course, his downfall: 9 in 46.1 innings. I know that'll improve, though, and he's only 23.


2008 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 216.0 3.54 33 33 15 10 0 174 53 10.13
Maholm, Paul PIT 210.0 4.16 33 33 14 10 0 166 61 10.67
Duke, Zach PIT 203.1 5.40 31 31 10 13 0 125 57 13.19
Van Benschoten, John PIT 155.2 5.15 27 27 9 10 0 121 65 13.18
Capps, Matt PIT 69.0 3.78 68 0 4 3 1 36 13 11.35
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 67.1 6.42 17 8 2 6 0 48 21 14.30
Alexander, Mark PIT 63.2 4.66 53 0 1 5 0 68 14 11.73
Youman, Shane PIT 56.2 5.08 39 0 1 0 1 37 12 12.07
Bullington, Bryan PIT 53.2 6.88 14 7 4 4 1 37 21 13.92
Grabow, John PIT 53.1 4.73 67 0 4 2 1 44 18 13.50
Davidson, Dave PIT 48.2 2.40 34 0 2 2 1 49 18 10.73
Lincoln, Brad PIT 46.1 8.55 8 8 3 4 0 35 11 16.71
Soria, Joakim PIT 41.1 4.35 44 0 2 4 27 30 9 11.76
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 39.2 5.90 43 0 2 1 1 34 20 14.75
Starling, Wardell PIT 29.2 6.98 6 3 2 2 0 20 9 14.26
Soler, Alay PIT 19.1 5.59 4 4 0 1 0 19 15 16.29
Osoria, Franquelis PIT 7.0 6.43 7 0 1 1 0 3 6 19.29
Green, Sean PIT 4.0 2.25 6 0 0 0 0 7 3 15.75
Sharpless, Josh PIT 1.0 27.00 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 27.00

[JustinM]

The 2008 World Series was won by none other than the Minnesota Twins in 4 games over the Mets.

End-of-Year Statstravaganza!!!

Cheesy enough for you? No? How about Statapalooza? It's statariffic!

Okay then...

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Derek Jeter (NYY) - .350
Homers: Justin Morneau (MIN) and Troy Glaus (TOR) - 37
RBIs: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 150
Doubles: Garrett Atkins (BOS) - 52
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 13
Stolen Bases: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 52
Slugging Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .587
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .457
OPS: Barry Bonds (KCR) - 1.044
Wins: Johan Santana (MIN) - 21
Earned Run Avg.: Felix Hernandez (SEA) - 2.44
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (MIN) - 224
Opponent BA: Felix Hernandez (SEA) - .204
Shutouts: Jake Westbrook (CLE), Johan Santana (MIN), Andy Pettitte (MIN), and Dave Bush (NYY) - 2
Saves: Jonathan Papelbon (BOS) - 40

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Matt Murton (CHC) - .348
Homers: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 44
RBIs: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 150
Doubles: Lastings Milledge (NYM) - 59
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 13
Stolen Bases: Emmanuel Burriss (SFG) - 82 (24 ahead of #2 Reyes)
Slugging Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .620
On Base Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .454
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.046
Wins: Chris Carpenter (ATL) and Jake Peavy (SDP) - 19
Earned Run Avg.: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 2.77
Strikeouts: Jake Peavy (SDP) - 209
Opponent BA: Jake Peavy (SDP) - .211
Shutouts: Mark Buehrle (HOU), Derek Lowe (LAD), and Ian Snell (PIT) - 2
Saves: Mike Gonzalez (ATL) - 47

End-of-Year Awards
NLDS MVP: Carlos Beltran (NYM)
NLDS MVP: Barry Zito (SDP)
ALDS MVP: Manny Ramirez (BOS)
ALDS MVP: Andy Pettitte (MIN)
NLCS MVP: David Wright (NYM)
ALCS MVP: Justin Morneau (MIN)
World Series MVP: Justin Morneau (NYM)

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana (MIN)
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy (SDP)
AL MVP: Carl Crawford (TBD)
NL MVP: Albert Pujols (ATL)
AL RotY: RF Wladimir Balentien (SEA) (not bad for hitting .214...)
NL RotY: 2B Tony Abreu (LAD)
AL Gold Gloves: Jake Westbrook (CLE), Dioner Navarro (TBD), Lyle Overbay (TOR), Josh Barfield (CLE), Joe Crede (CHW), Miguel Tejada (BAL), Carl Crawford (TBD), Milton Bradley (OAK), Bobby Abreu (NYY)
NL Gold Gloves: Dontrelle Willis (FLA), J. D. Closser (MIL), Todd Helton (COL), Orlando Hudson (ARI), Ryan Zimmerman (WSN), Adam Everett (HOU), Carlos Beltran (NYM), Shane Victorino (PHI), Ryan Langerhans (WSN)

[JustinM]

Randy Johnson got his 300th win against the Mets on August 9.

Tom Glavine got his sometime in 2007.

I guess this means the bug where pitchers' milestones aren't being recorded is still there...

[JustinM]

2008-2009 Offseason News and Notes

New and Improved Pitches
Alay Soler learned the hard curve from Shane Youman
Josh Sharpless has learned the change from Pat Bresnahan

Trades
none

Significant Injuries
October 8: RP Cla Meredith (SDP), five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
October 8: SS Joaquin Arias (TEX), seven weeks with a dislocated hip
October 9: SS Derek Jeter (NYY), seven months with a broken wrist
March 7: 3B Andy Marte (CLE), three months with a broken tibia
March 7: LF Frank Catalanotto (TEX), three months with a broken ankle (he's done)
March 12: 2B Orlando Hudson (ARI), three months with a broken fibula
March 12: 2B Martin Prado (ATL), two months with a torn elbow ligament
March 12: 2B Brian Roberts (BAL), three months with a broken hip
March 14: RP Joel Zumaya (DET), three months with a ruptured cervical disc
March 14: SP Roger Clemens (WSN), two months with a broken ankle
March 17: CF Chris Denorfia (CIN), six months with a broken wrist
March 22: CF Grady Sizemore (CLE), four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
March 22: C Chris Ianetta (COL), five weeks with a dislocated hip
March 22: 2B Aaron Hill (SEA), three months with a broken ankle

Retirements
1B Kevin Millar (NYY) retired at age 37
LF Pablo Ozuna (free agent) retired at age 34
LF Shannon Stewart (free agent) retired at age 34
SS Alex Cora (free agent) retired at age 33
CF Brady Clark (free agent) retired at age 35
C Josh Paul (free agent) retired at age 33
RF Dustan Mohr (free agent) retired at age 32
1B Doug Mientkiewicz (free agent) retired at age 34
SS Damion Easley (free agent) retired at age 38
RP Bobby Howry (free agent) retired at age 35
RP Scott Eyre (free agent) retired at age 36
RP Mike Koplove (free agent) retired at age 32
SP Matt Morris (free agent) retired at age 34
C Henry Blanco (CHC) retired at age 37
2B Juan Castro (CIN) retired at age 36
RP Matt Miller (CLE) retired at age 36
SP Woody Williams (HOU) retired at age 42
RP Joe Nelson (KCR) retired at age 34
C Mike Redmond (MIN) retired at age 37
SP Orlando Hernandez (NYM) retired at age 43
RP Steve Kline (SFG) retired at age 36
RP Justin Lehr (SEA) retired at age 31
2B Tomas Perez (STL) retired at age 34
1B Greg Norton (TBD) retired at age 36
C Miguel Ojeda (TEX) retired at age 33
C Damian Miller (WSN) retired at age 39

Pirate Re-signings and Releases
RF Jose Guillen: released. He wanted $4.3M for 4 years. I think not.
RP Brian Rogers: released right after spring training.

New Pirate Signings
RF Corey Hart: $1.5M/3yrs + PO $1.45M/1yr

Arbitration
C Ronny Paulino demands $5.15M. I offer $4M and win.
2B Freddy Sanchez demands $7.1M. I offer $6.25M and win.
SP Zach Duke demands $4.65M. I offer $3M and lose.
RP Jonah Bayliss demands $1.45M. I offer $900K and lose.

Big Names who Moved (alphabetical by team abbreviation)
C Josh Bard to ARI
RP Ryan Dempster to ARI
2B Jeff Kent to ARI
CF Mark Kotsay to ATL
SP Edwin Jackson to BAL
SP Esteban Loaiza to BAL
LF Manny Ramirez to BOS (he was a FA briefly)
SP Johan Santana to BOS (wow)
SP Ben Sheets to BOS (double wow)
SS Edgar Renteria to CHC
RP Jose Valverde to CHC
RP Scott Proctor to CIN
2B Jamey Carroll to CHW
SP Braden Looper to CHW
LF Kevin Mench to CHW
C Dioner Navarro to CHW
1B Ty Wigginton to CHW
RF Luke Scott to DET (thus ends the Sheffield experiment, I'm sure)
2B Dan Uggla to HOU
LF Jason Kubel to KCR
RP Mike Gonzalez to LAA
SP John Maine to LAA
RP Ryan Wagner to LAA
LF Chris Duncan to LAD
3B Mike Lowell to LAD (I guess they don't realize he's toast)
SP Pedro Martinez to LAD
RP Chris Ray to LAD
C Ivan Rodriguez to LAD
RP Michael Wuertz to LAD
SP Mark Mulder to MIL (at least he appears to be washed up)
SP Anthony Reyes to MIL (can't he please leave the division for once?!)
SP John Smoltz to MIL (oh god, no)
1B Prince Fielder to NYY
C Miguel Olivo to NYY
1B Frank Thomas to NYY
2B B. J. Upton to NYY
LF Pat Burrell to OAK
RP Kyle Farnsworth to OAK
RP Trevor Hoffman to OAK
SP Jerome Williams to OAK
RP Rafael Betancourt to PHI
RF Jonny Gomes to SEA
SP Mike Mussina to SEA
SS Ronny Cedeno to SFG
SP Aaron Cook to SFG
SP Jon Garland to SFG
3B Wes Helms to SFG
SP Livan Hernandez to SFG
LF Raul Ibanez to SFG
SS Cesar Izturis to SFG
2B Luis Castillo to STL
SP James Shields to TEX
SP Derek Lowe to TOR
CF Chris Burke to WSN
SP Sergio Mitre to WSN
C Yadier Molina to WSN
SP Claudio Vargas to WSN

[JustinM]

2008 standings...


AMERICAN LEAGUE (2008)

EAST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Boston 98 64 .605 -- .303 182 58 4.66
New York 97 65 .599 1.0 .264 183 102 4.40
Tampa Bay 93 69 .574 5.0 .280 193 176 4.67
Toronto 71 91 .438 27.0 .270 205 70 5.21
Baltimore 65 97 .401 33.0 .265 173 74 5.26

CENTRAL W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Minnesota 103 59 .636 -- .281 204 66 3.52
Cleveland 91 71 .562 12.0 .273 181 61 4.42
Detroit 80 82 .494 23.0 .248 163 69 4.02
Chicago 69 93 .426 34.0 .258 202 66 5.17
Kansas City 52 110 .321 51.0 .253 127 71 5.81

WEST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Texas 87 76 .534 -- .274 186 103 4.79
Oakland 86 77 .528 1.0 .248 145 72 4.47
Los Angeles 75 87 .463 11.5 .259 169 101 4.76
Seattle 70 92 .432 16.5 .262 155 94 5.38


NATIONAL LEAGUE (2008)

EAST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Atlanta 104 58 .642 -- .273 174 80 4.00
New York 94 68 .580 10.0 .276 185 119 4.45
Philadelphia 88 74 .543 16.0 .268 197 86 4.54
Florida 83 79 .512 21.0 .259 201 99 4.63
Washington 67 95 .414 37.0 .232 142 83 4.58

CENTRAL W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Houston 94 68 .580 -- .274 238 81 4.77
Milwaukee 79 83 .488 15.0 .243 149 102 4.26
Pittsburgh 78 84 .481 16.0 .272 148 55 4.96
Chicago 76 86 .469 18.0 .268 192 98 4.82
Cincinnati 68 94 .420 26.0 .260 190 61 5.34
St. Louis 65 97 .401 29.0 .246 144 60 4.89

WEST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
San Diego 92 70 .568 -- .242 166 45 3.62
Colorado 84 78 .519 8.0 .288 165 94 5.36
Arizona 83 79 .512 9.0 .274 188 51 4.93
Los Angeles 74 88 .457 18.0 .256 136 129 4.85
San Francisco 65 97 .401 27.0 .247 102 166 4.55


DIVISION PLAYOFFS
Twins defeat Yankees, 3-2
Red Sox defeat Rangers, 3-2
Mets defeat Astros, 3-0
Padres defeat Braves, 3-1

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Twins defeat Red Sox, 4-3
Mets defeat Padres, 4-1

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Twins defeat Mets, 4-0

In 2008, the Pirates made just $2.5M. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to make any money at all, but I guess that just shows that the payroll budget is utter nonsense.

For the end of the 2009 season, the upcoming arbitration cases are:

RP Jonah Bayliss
SP Zach Duke
C Ronny Paulino
2B Freddy Sanchez

And those who are eligible for free agency are:

LF Jason Bay
RF Matt Diaz
RP John Grabow
CF Nate McLouth
SP Ian Snell
SS Jack Wilson

Uh oh. Remember when I said something about having hard decisions to make soon? Yeah, here they come. I can let Diaz and Grabow go without blinking an eye. The other four...well...we'll just have to see. I don't expect to tender either Bayliss or Paulino. Sanchez is a maybe, depending on what he does this year. He already had a pay cut forced on him because he wasn't up to snuff last season. Duke is a question mark also. He was very unimpressive last season.

Opening Day Roster:
1. CF Nate McLouth (plays LF vs. lefties)
2. SS Jack Wilson
3. RF Matt Diaz
4. 1B Adam LaRoche
5. LF Jason Bay
6. C Ronny Paulino
7. 2B Freddy Sanchez
8. 3B Andy LaRoche

C Nick Hundley
SS Brian Bixler
CF Chris Duffy (plays vs. lefties)
1B Steven Pearce (plays vs. lefties)
3B Yurendell DeCaster
OF Corey Hart (plays RF vs. lefties)

1 Ian Snell
2 Paul Maholm
3 John Van Benschoten
4 Zach Duke
5 Brad Lincoln

CL Joakim Soria
SU Matt Capps
SH John Grabow
SH Sean Green
MR Dave Davidson
LR Mark Alexander

[JustinM]

April 2009 News and Notes

Milestones
April 16: 1B Albert Pujols (ATL), 1000th RBI
April 16: SS Edgar Renteria (CHC), 2000th Hit
April 29: LF Carlos Lee (HOU), 300th Hit

Trades
APRIL 1, 2009
Giants receive Bobby Kelly (SP), Jeffrey Natale (2B), Brian Sanabria (1B), David Murphy (CF), Craig Breslow (RP) and Tristan Gray (RP)
Red Sox receive Brian Wilson (CL) and Billy Sadler (RP)
Wilson and Sadler for a bunch of spare parts and a couple mid-range prospects. Have the Giants already given up on 2009?

Pirate Contract Stuff
Signed SP Mike Hampton for the rest of 2009 for $1.4M

Significant Injuries
April 8: SP Matt Clement (NYY), four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
April 8: SP Brett Myers (PHI), three months with severe elbow tendonitis
April 19: LF Manny Ramirez (BOS), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
April 21: 1B Kevin Youkilis (BOS), two months with a ruptured cervical disc
April 21: CF Milton Bradley (OAK), four months with a broken fibula
April 23: RP Jonah Bayliss (PIT), seven weeks with a dislocated hip
April 23: SP Rich Hill (CHC), twelve months with a torn rotator cuff
April 23: RP Hong-Chih Kuo (LAD), three months with severe elbow tendonitis

Retirements
RP Jay Witasick (OAK) retired at age 36
RP Brian Sanches (PHI) retired at age 30
RP Greg Jones (LAA) retired at age 32
RP Phil Seibel (LAA) retired at age 30
RP Kevin Cameron (SDP) retired at age 29
3B Chipper Jones (free agent) retired at age 37
C Jason LaRue (free agent) retired at age 35
SP Devern Hansack (BOS) retired at age 31

[JustinM]

What a roller coaster April 2009 was. The Pirates went 12-10 in the first month of the season, putting them a full six games behind the 19-5 Astros who, not surprisingly, have the best record in the majors.

Anyway, there are some batters who apparently don't realize they're playing for their contracts. Freddy Sanchez isn't one of them. Power numbers look like the dead ball era, though. Pathetic across the board.


2009 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 22 .333 90 30 7 1 2 6 6 1 0 14 11 .500 .375
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 22 .389 90 35 5 1 1 6 6 0 0 8 11 .500 .440
Paulino, Ronny PIT 22 .190 84 16 4 0 0 2 12 0 0 4 5 .238 .225
LaRoche, Andy PIT 22 .207 82 17 4 0 4 8 13 0 1 6 12 .402 .293
McLouth, Nate PIT 19 .259 81 21 5 1 3 3 15 1 0 10 14 .457 .282
Diaz, Matt PIT 18 .306 62 19 8 0 2 1 11 0 0 9 11 .532 .328
LaRoche, Adam PIT 19 .371 62 23 3 0 2 3 10 0 0 5 10 .516 .394
Duffy, Chris PIT 18 .216 51 11 1 1 0 7 8 3 1 14 3 .275 .322
Bay, Jason PIT 17 .200 50 10 2 1 0 10 18 0 0 3 4 .280 .355
Pearce, Steven PIT 11 .278 36 10 2 0 0 2 5 0 0 9 8 .333 .293
Hart, Corey PIT 8 .333 30 10 4 0 0 2 11 0 0 8 2 .467 .412
Snell, Ian PIT 5 .100 10 1 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 1 1 .100 .250
Duke, Zach PIT 5 .300 10 3 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 .400 .300
Maholm, Paul PIT 5 .111 9 1 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 1 0 .111 .200
Van Benschoten, John PIT 5 .000 9 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 1 .000 .000
Hundley, Nick PIT 5 .400 5 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 .600 .400
Lincoln, Brad PIT 2 .200 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200 .200
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 3 .000 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .333
Bixler, Brian PIT 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 1.000

Check out John Van Benschoten's ERA. He's announced he's here to stay, hasn't he? Unfortunately, it's only 30 innings.


2009 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Duke, Zach PIT 35.1 4.33 5 5 1 3 0 25 10 12.74
Snell, Ian PIT 34.0 3.97 5 5 2 1 0 19 9 12.18
Van Benschoten, John PIT 30.2 1.47 5 5 2 1 0 23 18 12.62
Maholm, Paul PIT 28.2 4.40 5 5 3 2 0 18 16 16.95
Lincoln, Brad PIT 15.2 7.47 3 2 1 1 0 8 6 17.23
Capps, Matt PIT 13.0 4.85 13 0 0 0 0 8 3 11.77
Grabow, John PIT 9.0 5.00 9 0 2 0 0 6 3 12.00
Alexander, Mark PIT 9.0 11.00 7 0 1 2 0 6 7 20.00
Green, Sean PIT 8.2 4.15 10 0 0 0 0 7 1 10.38
Soria, Joakim PIT 6.1 4.26 7 0 0 0 6 2 0 8.53
Davidson, Dave PIT 5.2 4.76 7 0 0 0 0 7 4 23.82

Read these and take a wild guess who's in front in the NL East...and then realize that you're wrong.

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Michael Young (TEX) - .419
Homers: Josh Fields (CHW) - 12
RBIs: Mark Teixeira (TEX) - 30
Doubles: Josh Barfield (CLE) - 13
Triples: Joaquin Arias (TEX) - 3
Stolen Bases: Chone Figgins (LAA), Mike Cameron (MIN), and B. J. Upton (NYY) - 8
Slugging Pct.: Mark Teixeira (TEX) - .710
On Base Pct.: Scott Rolen (NYY) - .461
OPS: Mark Teixeira (TEX) - 1.165
Wins: six tied with - 4
Earned Run Avg.: Kevin Millwood (TEX) - 1.95
Strikeouts: Aaron Harang (TBD) - 44
Opponent BA: Mike Maroth (DET) - .194
Shutouts: ten tied with - 1
Saves: Huston Street (OAK) and Eric Gagne (TEX) - 8

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - .409
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) and Nick Swisher (WSN) - 9
RBIs: Jeremy Hermida (FLA) - 29
Doubles: Matt Murton (CHC) and Ryan Zimmerman (WSN) - 10
Triples: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) and Lance Niekro (SFG) - 3
Stolen Bases: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) and Michael Bourn (PHI) - 7
Slugging Pct.: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - .699
On Base Pct.: Jeremy Hermida (FLA) - .500
OPS: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - 1.165
Wins: Roy Oswalt (HOU) and Dan Wheeler (HOU) - 5 (heh!)
Earned Run Avg.: John Van Benschoten (PIT) - 1.47
Strikeouts: Roy Oswalt (HOU) - 38
Opponent BA: Clay Hensley (SDP) - .200
Shutouts: Justin Orenduff (LAD), Pedro Martinez (LAD), Freddy Garcia (PHI), and Greg Maddux (SDP) - 1
Saves: Brandon Medders (ARI) - 13

It's not Florida--they actually have a losing record. It's Atlanta.

[HoustonGM]

Re: Van Benschoten

The ERA looks mighty nice, but that 23:18 K:BB ratio looks ugly, so I expect that ERA to fall hard. :p

[skudplayr]

lovin it man..i like to use the Buccos in Mogul..gives a good challenge of trying to rebuild a team that has floundered since the 94 strike.

Also notice that the Mets are still just buying a million pitchers in your chise like they do in mine..kind of annoying how they will have 3 85+ rated starters in the minors.

And the Twins always win the series against the Mets in mine too..

[JustinM]

@HoustonGM: No joke. :) Historically, he's had about a 2:1 ratio, though, so I expect the ratio to get better. Of course, 2:1 isn't all that good, so the ERA should rise accordingly. Also, he's only given up 1 HR in 30 innings, which is obviously well above average, and so I can't expect it to stay that way for long.

@skudplayr: The Mets' rotation is currently Zambrano-Capuano-Arroyo-Burnett-Glavine, with Oliver Perez and Dave Williams in the bullpen and Gil Meche (the eleven million dollar man) and Kyle Lohse rotting in AAA New Orleans.

Glavine's kicking butt so far in 2009, 1-0 in three starts with a 2.49 ERA, but like Van Benschoten, it won't stay there--9 Ks and 8 BBs.

The Mets buying players doesn't shock me, though. That's what teams like the Mets do, after all. The clubs that surprised me this offseason were Milwaukee and San Fransisco, and to a lesser extent Boston. Boston not because they bought players (after all, they're very prone to that), but that they bought two aces and stuck them at 1 and 2 in the rotation. If they don't dominate with a Santana-Sheets-Beckett-Matsuzaka-Bard (okay, there's a bit of a weak link, but he's just 23 and will be huge for them in a couple years) rotation, something's wrong.

Milwaukee buying Smoltz and Reyes is basically the same thing, but Smoltz is 41 now and is therefore a disaster waiting to happen. Despite being 88 overall, it looks like that may have already come to pass--his ERA is 5.72 in his first 5 starts, and he's not posted an ERA over 5 since 1988, and it's never been quite that high. But it's just 5 starts, so we'll see.

San Fransisco got Livan Hernandez (#2), Jon Garland (#3), and Aaron Cook (#4). The difference here is that none of them are stars, but it's still three-fifths of their rotation, and that's unusual enough in and of itself. Their #5 guy intrigues me, though. They're starting a 21-year-old kid from the University of Florida that they drafted 6th overall just last season. He was brought up because of the drafted player ratings bug, but he actually performed decently enough and so he stuck this season. He can't win a game (0-3 so far this year), but that doesn't seem to be his fault so much as he's not getting much run support.

[JustinM]

May 2009 News and Notes

Milestones
May 5: 1B Paul Konerko (NYY), 300th Home Run
May 7: SP Matt Chico (WSN), No Hitter
May 11: SS Jose Reyes (NYM), Hit For The Cycle
May 15: LF Barry Bonds (KCR), 800th Home Run
May 20: RF Shawn Green (NYM), 2000th Hit
May 21: 1B Albert Pujols (ATL), 1000th Run
May 21: CF Alfonso Soriano (CHC), 300th Home Run
May 24: LF Manny Ramirez (BOS), 1500th Run
May 26: C Johnny Estrada (CIN), Hit For The Cycle

Trades
none

Pirate Contract Stuff
Released RP Juan Perez from AA Altoona.
Released SP Todd Redmond from R Hickory. (Er, actually, the Pirates have rookie ball in Bradenton, FL. Hickory is their Low-A club.)
Released 3B George Trinkle from R Hickory.
Released LF Heath Tufo from R Hickory.
Extended RP Jonah Bayliss through 2010 for $1.2M/yr (Hello, $250K pay cut.)
Renegotiated C Ronny Paulino's contract for $3.9M for the rest of 2009 instead of $4M. (I don't expect to be keeping him beyond this season, as Hundley will be/is ready and Neil Walker can play catcher also.)

Significant Injuries
May 2: SS Bobby Crosby (OAK), five weeks with a dislocated hip
May 3: RF Jonny Gomes (SEA), three months with a broken elbow
May 6: SP Mike Maroth (DET), two months with a broken elbow
May 7: SP Jeremy Haynes (LAA), three months with a broken ankle
May 7: CF Vernon Wells (MIN), five months with a broken back vertebra
May 9: SP Fausto Carmona (CLE), nine months with a broken wrist
May 9: SP Tom Gorzelanny (LAD), nine months with a severed knee ligament
May 9: 1B Dan Johnson (OAK), four weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
May 10: CF Elijah Dukes (TBD), eight weeks with a dislocated hip
May 12: SP Kip Wells (SDP), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
May 13: 2B Mark DeRosa (CHC), two months with a torn elbow ligament
May 15: SP Jeremy Bonderman (DET), five weeks with a broken collarbone
May 17: CF Chris Burke (WSN), three months with a broken hip
May 21: RP Adam Loewen (BAL), three months with severe elbow tendonitis
May 21: LF Adam Dunn (CIN), six weeks with a broken foot
May 28: RP Rafael Betancourt (PHI), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture

Retirements
CF Alfredo Amezaga (NYY) retired at age 31
SS Omar Vizquel (free agent) retired at age 42
RP Juan Perez (PIT) retired at age 30
C Jorge Posada (free agent) retired at age 37
RP Colter Bean (NYY) retired at age 32
RP Jeff Bajenaru (free agent) retired at age 31
2B Jose Vidro (free agent) retired at age 34
SP Scott Elarton (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Tim Hamulack (LAD) retired at age 32
RF Jacque Jones (free agent) retired at age 34
3B Abraham Nunez (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Joe Borowski (CLE) retired at age 38
LF Garret Anderson (free agent) retired at age 36

[JustinM]

If April showers bring May flowers, what does a 21-8 record in May 2009 bring? A 33-18 overall record, that's what.


2009 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 50 .315 216 68 16 4 5 12 22 1 0 36 29 .495 .351
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 46 .350 197 69 15 1 4 14 14 1 0 27 26 .497 .404
LaRoche, Andy PIT 47 .256 180 46 13 0 7 15 33 0 1 23 27 .444 .320
Diaz, Matt PIT 47 .311 177 55 16 1 7 11 31 1 1 28 35 .531 .365
McLouth, Nate PIT 41 .280 161 45 9 2 5 6 26 4 0 23 27 .453 .301
Paulino, Ronny PIT 42 .299 157 47 10 1 1 6 19 0 0 15 23 .395 .333
LaRoche, Adam PIT 45 .338 148 50 7 0 13 11 27 1 0 25 35 .649 .379
Bay, Jason PIT 45 .280 143 40 12 2 4 28 40 1 1 23 21 .476 .413
Hart, Corey PIT 28 .250 84 21 4 1 3 2 27 0 0 15 9 .429 .284
Duffy, Chris PIT 30 .280 82 23 4 3 0 9 12 6 2 19 6 .402 .359
Hundley, Nick PIT 17 .295 44 13 2 0 1 3 7 0 1 6 3 .409 .354
Pearce, Steven PIT 12 .250 40 10 2 0 0 2 8 0 0 9 8 .300 .267
Eldred, Brad PIT 13 .229 35 8 0 1 3 2 12 0 0 6 4 .543 .289
Valbuena, Luis PIT 6 .250 24 6 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 5 1 .458 .280
Maholm, Paul PIT 11 .182 22 4 0 0 0 1 9 0 0 2 1 .182 .217
Van Benschoten, John PIT 11 .227 22 5 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 3 3 .273 .217
Duke, Zach PIT 10 .182 22 4 1 0 0 0 8 0 0 3 0 .227 .182
Snell, Ian PIT 10 .053 19 1 0 0 0 3 12 0 0 1 1 .053 .182
Hampton, Mike PIT 4 .500 12 6 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 .500 .462
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 7 .111 9 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 2 .111 .200
Bixler, Brian PIT 4 .143 7 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 1 .571 .143
Lincoln, Brad PIT 2 .167 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .167 .167
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 1.000

Mike Hampton took over the 5th starter spot from Brad Lincoln and has gone 5-0 since then in 5 starts. He hasn't really been pitching that well, though, and so I don't expect that to keep up. All the other starters have an ERA under 4, amazingly enough. The rotation's 3.38 ERA is best in the Majors, and the bullpen's 4.30 ERA looks about the middle of the pack somewhere.


2009 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Duke, Zach PIT 78.0 3.81 11 11 4 3 0 42 19 11.54
Snell, Ian PIT 75.1 3.11 11 11 5 3 0 56 19 10.39
Van Benschoten, John PIT 67.2 2.39 11 11 6 1 0 44 28 11.31
Maholm, Paul PIT 67.1 3.61 11 11 6 3 0 45 29 12.97
Hampton, Mike PIT 36.1 4.46 5 5 5 0 0 14 11 12.63
Lincoln, Brad PIT 27.1 5.60 10 2 1 2 0 16 9 14.49
Capps, Matt PIT 26.1 3.76 26 0 0 1 0 9 3 10.94
Davidson, Dave PIT 18.0 3.50 16 0 0 0 1 19 7 14.00
Soria, Joakim PIT 17.2 3.06 22 0 1 1 15 5 4 9.17
Green, Sean PIT 17.1 4.67 21 0 1 0 0 14 4 11.42
Grabow, John PIT 14.2 4.91 20 0 3 2 0 9 4 13.50
Alexander, Mark PIT 9.0 11.00 7 0 1 2 0 6 7 20.00

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Michael Young (TEX) - .392
Homers: Josh Fields (CHW) - 17
RBIs: Jason Botts (TEX) - 48
Doubles: Josh Barfield (CLE) - 21
Triples: Curtis Thigpen (TOR) - 4
Stolen Bases: B. J. Upton (NYY) - 17
Slugging Pct.: Gerald Laird (TEX) - .616
On Base Pct.: Michael Young (TEX) - .443
OPS: Gerald Laird (TEX) - 1.043
Wins: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) and Wes Littleton (TEX) - 7 (Littleton has a 5.94 ERA, just to show you how utterly dominant Texas's offense is so far, averaging over 7 runs per game.)
Earned Run Avg.: Braden Looper (CHW) - 2.54
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (BOS) - 71
Opponent BA: Braden Looper (CHW) - .206
Shutouts: ten tied with - 1
Saves: Joe Nathan (MIN) - 20

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .372
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 19
RBIs: Ryan Braun (MIL) - 46
Doubles: Ryan Zimmerman (WSN) - 21
Triples: Rafael Furcal (LAD) - 5
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 19
Slugging Pct.: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - .693
On Base Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .502
OPS: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 1.167
Wins: Doug Davis (ARI) and Matt Cain (SFG) - 8
Earned Run Avg.: Jason Schmidt (LAD) - 2.38
Strikeouts: Carlos Zambrano (NYM) - 72
Opponent BA: Jason Schmidt (LAD) - .171
Shutouts: Freddy Garcia (PHI) - 2
Saves: Brandon Medders (ARI) - 24

[HoustonGM]

Is Littleton starting for the Rangers?

[JustinM]

No! I didn't even notice that part. I noticed when I saw Wheeler as NL co-leader in the wins category in April, but that's because I'm more familiar with him.

Wes Littleton has appeared in 25 games through June 8, has a 5.97 ERA, a .312 opposing batting average, and a nifty 8-2 record to go along with it all, all in 37.2 innings pitched.

He is currently in sole possession of the lead in the AL in wins. Could he equal Roy Face's 18-1 record? Well, no, as he already has 2 losses, but you get my point...

[JustinM]

June 2009 News and Notes

Milestones
June 10: 1B Lance Berkman (HOU), 1000th RBI
June 11: SS Stephen Drew (ARI), Hit For The Cycle
June 15: 3B Wes Helms (SFG), 4 Home Runs In 1 Game
June 23: SS Miguel Tejada (BAL), 2000th Hit
June 25: SS Derek Jeter (NYY), 1500th Run

Trades
JUNE 11, 2009
Cardinals receive Kyle Waldrop (SP), Trevor Plouffe (SS) and Paul Ogbourne (SS)
Twins receive John Rodriguez (LF)
"You want a couple of marginal prospects for a mediocre outfielder?" "Sure, why not?!"

JUNE 21, 2009
Cardinals receive Jake Watkins (CF) and Evan Hooke (C)
Braves receive Xavier Nady (RF)
And Nady gets bumped yet again for a couple more mid-range prospects.

JUNE 23, 2009
Rockies receive Joba Chamberlain (SP)
Yankees receive Jeff Francis (SP)
Cool. For some reason, Jeff Francis killed the Pirates.

JUNE 28, 2009
Rockies receive Austin Jackson (CF) and Carlos Acosta (RF)
Yankees receive Brad Hawpe (RF)
Power for potential again. This is a huge upgrade over Kevin Thompson for the Yanks.

JUNE 29, 2009
Nationals receive Mark Tebben (SP), Jose Coronado (SS) and Yancy Fettis (3B)
Mets receive Kory Casto (LF)
The point of this was what, exactly?

Significant Injuries
June 1: 3B Van Pope (STL), four weeks with a fractured eye bone
June 3: CF Mark Kotsay (ATL), two months with a broken forearm
June 3: SP Scott Baker (MIN), three months with a broken hip
June 7: SP Daisuke Matsuzaka (BOS), eight months with a broken back vertebra
June 15: SP Jeff Samardzija (CHC), four months with a broken hip
June 16: 3B Wes Helms (SFG), seven months with a broken wrist
June 19: RP Jonathan Papelbon (BOS), three months with a broken hip
June 21: LF Juan Rivera (LAA), seven months with a broken wrist
June 21: SS Clint Barmes (SEA), two months with a broken elbow
June 22: SP Randy Wolf (CIN), seven months with a severed knee ligament
June 25: RP Blaine Boyer (ATL), four weeks with a shoulder separation
June 25: SP Oswaldo Sosa (MIN), four months with a broken fibula
June 26: C Ramon Hernandez (BAL), four weeks with a broken jaw
June 27: SP Mike Mussina (SEA), two months with a broken ankle
June 29: CF David DeJesus (CIN), eight months with a severed elbow ligament
June 29: RP Tom Mastny (CLE), four months with a broken fibula
June 30: 1B Mike Sweeney (STL), six months with a severed knee ligament

Retirements
C Matt LeCroy (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Salomon Torres (free agent) retired at age 37
SP Randy Johnson (free agent) retired at age 45 (HOF 2014 99%, 302-160, 3.34, 4847 K's)
2B Jeff Kent (ARI) retired at age 41 (HOF 2018 77%, 368 HR, .288 AVG, .859 OPS)
SP Victor Santos (free agent) retired at age 32
RP Les Walrond (CHC) retired at age 32
RP Adam Bernero (free agent) retired at age 32
C Wil Nieves (free agent) retired at age 31
RP Jamie Walker (BAL) retired at age 37
RF Brian Giles (free agent) retired at age 38
CF Jim Edmonds (free agent) retired at age 38
RP Luis Ayala (free agent) retired at age 31
SP Roger Clemens (WSN) retired at age 46 (HOF 2014 99%, 358-201, 3.16, 4856 K's)
C Jason Varitek (free agent) retired at age 37
1B Tony Clark (free agent) retired at age 37
RP Guillermo Mota (free agent) retired at age 35
SP Tom Glavine (NYM) retired at age 43 (HOF 2014 92%, 311-203, 3.51, 2673 K's)

Amateur Draft
1. SP Dusty Marlin (63/94)
2. LF Ken Patch (64/84)
3. CF Vince Aline (65/78)
4. SS Nat Mayhew (54/84)
5. C Joey Smith (61/70)
6. RP Murray Hollander (52/71)

I chose 13th this season. First overall was RP Aaron Jones to the Royals, for future reference.

Speaking of future reference...

Former First-Round Draft Picks
2007: SP Zack Storan (Devil Rays) is now in his third season pitching in Tampa's A affiliate in Vero Beach. He's 10-3 in 19 starts with a 3.65 ERA.
2008: RP Nick Derrick (Nationals) is now in his second season in the majors for Washington. He has appeared in 33 games in 2009, going 4-4 with a 4.74 ERA in 38 innings pitched.

[JustinM]

The Pirates continued to pour it on in June, going 17-10, 50-28 for the season. That gives them a 5.5 game lead on the Astros, who have been busy losing lately. The end of the month was especially good, as the month ended with a 10-game winning streak, which may continue into July.

As you can see from the stats, Matt Diaz and Jason Bay had rough months, although Bay did hit 6 home runs. On the other hand, Adam LaRoche, Nate McLouth, and Chris Duffy all showed marked improvement in June.


2009 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 76 .319 326 104 21 5 8 21 34 2 0 54 51 .488 .359
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 73 .345 316 109 26 2 6 21 22 1 0 51 42 .497 .390
Diaz, Matt PIT 74 .292 291 85 23 1 9 13 46 1 1 46 47 .471 .341
LaRoche, Andy PIT 73 .286 280 80 23 0 10 28 52 0 2 40 44 .475 .355
McLouth, Nate PIT 62 .317 243 77 16 5 7 13 36 5 1 41 37 .510 .350
Bay, Jason PIT 72 .244 242 59 14 2 10 44 70 1 1 38 35 .442 .374
LaRoche, Adam PIT 70 .361 241 87 19 0 20 22 43 1 0 42 67 .689 .410
Paulino, Ronny PIT 61 .302 225 68 14 2 3 8 26 0 0 24 33 .422 .335
Duffy, Chris PIT 40 .304 115 35 4 3 0 11 19 9 3 25 12 .391 .375
Hart, Corey PIT 38 .231 104 24 5 1 3 2 36 0 0 17 10 .385 .259
Hundley, Nick PIT 31 .272 92 25 5 0 1 7 19 0 1 9 13 .359 .330
Eldred, Brad PIT 18 .212 52 11 1 1 3 4 16 0 0 9 4 .442 .281
Pearce, Steven PIT 12 .250 40 10 2 0 0 2 8 0 0 9 8 .300 .267
Duke, Zach PIT 14 .188 32 6 1 0 0 0 11 0 0 5 0 .219 .188
Maholm, Paul PIT 15 .161 31 5 0 0 0 1 12 0 0 3 2 .161 .182
Van Benschoten, John PIT 14 .233 30 7 1 0 0 0 8 0 0 3 4 .267 .226
Snell, Ian PIT 14 .037 27 1 0 0 0 3 16 0 0 1 1 .037 .133
Valbuena, Luis PIT 6 .250 24 6 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 5 1 .458 .280
Hampton, Mike PIT 6 .412 17 7 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 .412 .389
Bixler, Brian PIT 8 .214 14 3 0 0 1 0 5 0 0 2 2 .429 .214
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 10 .083 12 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 2 2 .083 .154
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 3 .000 9 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Lincoln, Brad PIT 2 .125 8 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 .125 .222
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 2 .200 5 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 .200 .333
Bullington, Bryan PIT 1 .500 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 .500 .667
Davidson, Dave PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1.000 1.000
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 1.000
Soria, Joakim PIT 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1.000

There's not much to say about the pitching other than I've decided to try to use Joakim Soria the way Bill James found, statistically, that relief aces should be used. I'm bringing him into the 8th inning of games where the score is tied or the Pirates are ahead by a run, and then letting him pitch two innings. If he hasn't pitched in a few days, he gets work in normal save situations.


2009 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 116.2 3.32 17 17 9 4 0 90 30 10.65
Duke, Zach PIT 108.2 4.89 16 16 6 6 0 55 27 12.51
Maholm, Paul PIT 108.0 3.67 17 17 9 5 0 69 43 12.83
Van Benschoten, John PIT 92.1 3.70 15 15 7 3 0 59 39 11.40
Hampton, Mike PIT 48.1 5.03 7 7 6 0 0 23 18 13.78
Davidson, Dave PIT 37.1 4.10 28 0 2 1 3 39 14 13.98
Lincoln, Brad PIT 37.0 5.35 13 2 1 2 0 25 12 14.84
Capps, Matt PIT 36.1 3.72 36 0 0 1 1 14 4 10.40
Soria, Joakim PIT 32.2 2.48 30 0 2 2 18 20 7 8.54
Green, Sean PIT 24.1 4.81 28 0 2 0 0 15 7 12.21
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 20.2 2.61 3 3 1 0 0 17 6 10.45
Grabow, John PIT 16.1 5.51 24 0 3 2 0 10 5 14.33
Alexander, Mark PIT 9.0 11.00 7 0 1 2 0 6 7 20.00
Bullington, Bryan PIT 7.0 3.86 1 1 1 0 0 3 3 11.57

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Joe Mauer (MIN) - .362
Homers: Luke Scott (DET) and Mark Teixeira (TEX) - 21
RBIs: Mark Teahen (BOS) and Mark Teixeira (TEX) - 68
Doubles: Josh Barfield (CLE) - 28
Triples: Mark Teahen (BOS) - 7
Stolen Bases: B. J. Upton (NYY) and Carl Crawford (TBD) - 22
Slugging Pct.: Mark Teahen (BOS) - .597
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .439
OPS: Barry Bonds (KCR) - 1.034
Wins: Dave Bush (NYY) - 10
Earned Run Avg.: Ross Ohlendorf (NYY) - 3.39
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (BOS) - 110
Opponent BA: Jered Weaver (LAA) - .220
Shutouts: Dave Bush (NYY) and Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 2
Saves: Joe Nathan (MIN) - 28

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .362
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 31
RBIs: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 75
Doubles: Ryan Zimmerman (WSN) - 31
Triples: Rafael Furcal (LAD) and Jose Reyes (NYM) - 6
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 30
Slugging Pct.: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - .708
On Base Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .499
OPS: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 1.159
Wins: Doug Davis (ARI), Micah Owings (ARI), Roy Oswalt (HOU), and Matt Cain (SFG) - 10
Earned Run Avg.: Matt Cain (SFG) - 2.35
Strikeouts: Carlos Zambrano (NYM) - 105
Opponent BA: Matt Cain (SFG) - .185
Shutouts: Freddy Garcia (PHI), Chris Capuano (NYM), and Paul Maholm (PIT) - 2
Saves: Brandon Medders (ARI) - 30

[JustinM]

I'm still working on this dynasty, but I recently got a new job and I'm still adjusting to the schedule.

At any rate...here's a little taste of what I've been doing...


2009 Home Run Showdown

FIRST ROUND (10 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Alex Rodriguez (NYY) 11
Adam LaRoche (PIT) 8
Stephen Drew (ARI) 7
Mark Teixeira (TEX) 6
Albert Pujols (ATL) 5
Alfonso Soriano (CHC) 5
Miguel Cabrera (FLA) 4
Pat Burrell (OAK) 3
Barry Bonds (KCR) 3
Ian Kinsler (TEX) 2

SECOND ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Alex Rodriguez (NYY) 5
Adam LaRoche (PIT) 3
Stephen Drew (ARI) 2
Mark Teixeira (TEX) 2

FINAL ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
ALEX RODRIGUEZ (NYY) 4
Adam LaRoche (PIT) 2

WINNER: Alex Rodriguez

[JustinM]

July 2009 News and Notes

Milestones
July 7: CF Mike Cameron (MIN), 1000th Run
July 7: 1B Lance Berkman (HOU), 300th Home Run
July 17: LF Adam Dunn (CIN), 300th Home Run
July 20: 2B Kelly Johnson (ATL), Hit For The Cycle
July 20: SS Jose Reyes (NYM), 300th Steal
July 27: CF Johnny Damon (NYY), 1000th RBI

Trades
JULY 5, 2009
Rockies receive Kevin Whelan (RP) and Doug Rizo (RP)
Yankees receive Brian Fuentes (CL)

JULY 18, 2009
Giants receive Dennys Reyes (RP)
Mariners receive Randal Hosford (RP)
This is an ugly deal for the Giants, IMO. Hosford will be a good reliever, but he's fragile, so it may work out.

JULY 24, 2009
Devil Rays receive Adolfo Ibarra (RF)
Phillies receive Aaron Harang (SP)
Before this deal, the Devil Rays' starting rotation was pretty potent. Not so now...

JULY 29, 2009
White Sox receive David Winfree (3B)
Twins receive Josh Willingham (LF)

JULY 29, 2009
Athletics receive Ichiro Suzuki (CF)
Marlins receive Javier Herrera (CF) and Landon Powell (C)

JULY 30, 2009
Giants receive Miguel Cabrera (3B)
Marlins receive Frankie Maravilla (RP), Bobby Kelly (SP), Noah Lowry (SP), Matthew Ostler (SS), Jeffrey Natale (2B), Eddy Martinez-Estevez (LF) and Derek Lollock (CL)
And we now get to witness San Francisco mortgaging their future to try to make up a 17.5 game deficit in the NL West. Sure, Wes Helms got hurt, but they already have Cesar Izturis, who can play third just fine, thank you.

JULY 31, 2009
Cardinals receive Scooter Davis (RP) and Mitch O'Keefe (RP)
Indians receive Josh Kinney (RP)

Significant Injuries
July 2: SS Yuniesky Betancourt (ATL), seven weeks with a dislocated hip
July 4: RP Chad Bradford (BAL), five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
July 14: CF Andruw Jones (SDP), two months with a broken tibia
July 16: CF Chris Young (ARI), five months with a torn ankle ligament
July 16: SP Dellin Betances (NYY), four weeks with a broken jaw
July 18: CF Grady Sizemore (CLE), eight months with a broken back vertebra
July 21: LF Scott Podsednik (MIN), four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
July 23: SP Ted Lilly (CHC), five weeks with a broken finger
July 30: LF Jay Gibbons (BAL), five weeks with a broken foot
July 30: 2B Rickie Weeks (MIL), four weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff

Retirements
LF Cliff Floyd (free agent) retired at age 36
RP Mike Gallo (COL) retired at age 32
RF Richard Hidalgo (free agent) retired at age 34
RF Preston Wilson (free agent) retired at age 34
3B Craig Counsell (BAL) retired at age 38
LF Jason Michaels (free agent) retired at age 33
RP Grant Balfour (CIN) retired at age 31
RF Jason Lane (free agent) retired at age 32
SP Jesse Foppert (free agent) retired at age 29
C Dane Sardinha (DET) retired at age 30
1B Rich Aurilia (free agent) retired at age 37
C Greg Zaun (free agent) retired at age 38
2B Ray Durham (free agent) retired at age 37
3B Tony Graffanino (free agent) retired at age 37
RF Ken Griffey, Jr. (free agent) retired at age 39 (HOF 2015 83%, 605 HR, 2580 hits, .290 career BA)

[JustinM]

July was still a positive month, but a bit more moderate at 14-12, giving them an overall mark of 64-40 heading into August. The 10-game winning streak that ended June, by the way, finished at 13 games before Barry Zito and the Padres snapped it.

Freddy Sanchez kind of fell apart this month, and Adam LaRoche sat up above .370 for most of July before coming back down to .350. Incidentally, those two were also the Pirates' representatives at the All-Star Game.


2009 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 102 .309 437 135 27 7 12 33 46 3 0 76 65 .485 .359
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 98 .293 427 125 32 2 7 31 43 1 1 67 52 .426 .344
LaRoche, Andy PIT 99 .287 380 109 30 0 13 40 68 0 2 53 63 .468 .355
Diaz, Matt PIT 88 .277 347 96 24 1 10 17 55 1 2 51 55 .438 .332
LaRoche, Adam PIT 96 .350 340 119 30 1 26 35 63 1 0 63 97 .674 .408
McLouth, Nate PIT 84 .310 332 103 21 6 9 22 51 7 1 58 44 .491 .350
Bay, Jason PIT 98 .258 330 85 22 4 16 61 86 1 1 53 53 .494 .390
Paulino, Ronny PIT 86 .297 303 90 20 2 4 14 35 0 0 30 41 .416 .338
Duffy, Chris PIT 53 .285 151 43 8 3 0 12 23 11 3 32 14 .377 .353
Hundley, Nick PIT 39 .273 121 33 6 1 1 8 25 0 1 12 16 .364 .321
Hart, Corey PIT 44 .226 115 26 6 1 3 2 38 0 0 17 11 .374 .252
Eldred, Brad PIT 21 .186 59 11 1 1 3 4 20 0 0 9 4 .390 .250
Duke, Zach PIT 18 .200 45 9 1 0 0 0 15 0 0 5 1 .222 .200
Maholm, Paul PIT 20 .167 42 7 0 0 0 1 16 0 0 3 3 .167 .178
Pearce, Steven PIT 12 .250 40 10 2 0 0 2 8 0 0 9 8 .300 .267
Snell, Ian PIT 20 .075 40 3 0 0 0 3 23 0 0 2 1 .075 .140
Van Benschoten, John PIT 18 .189 37 7 1 0 0 0 10 0 0 3 4 .216 .184
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 8 .303 33 10 3 0 0 2 8 1 1 2 3 .394 .343
Valbuena, Luis PIT 6 .250 24 6 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 5 1 .458 .280
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 8 .130 23 3 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 2 .130 .130
Hampton, Mike PIT 13 .333 21 7 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 3 .333 .318
Bixler, Brian PIT 11 .278 18 5 0 0 1 2 5 0 0 4 4 .444 .350
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 13 .133 15 2 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 3 2 .200 .188
Lincoln, Brad PIT 2 .125 8 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 .125 .222
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 2 .200 5 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 .200 .333
Soria, Joakim PIT 5 .667 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .667 .750
Bullington, Bryan PIT 1 .500 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 .500 .667
Davis, Rajai PIT 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Capps, Matt PIT 9 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Davidson, Dave PIT 7 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1.000 1.000
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 1.000

Yoslan Herrera has been getting some starts. The experiment is going much better than I expected it to, actually. Also, before the last game of the month, I demoted John Grabow and Sean Green and brought up Franquelis Osoria and Jonah Bayliss.


2009 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 156.0 3.52 23 23 12 6 0 122 35 10.33
Duke, Zach PIT 139.1 4.33 20 20 7 7 0 72 34 12.14
Maholm, Paul PIT 138.0 4.04 22 22 9 7 0 97 50 12.78
Van Benschoten, John PIT 118.1 3.80 19 19 8 5 0 79 48 11.10
Hampton, Mike PIT 69.2 4.78 14 9 8 0 0 33 26 13.31
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 59.2 2.11 8 8 4 0 0 40 14 9.96
Davidson, Dave PIT 51.1 3.86 38 0 3 2 3 50 18 13.50
Capps, Matt PIT 48.2 3.33 48 0 1 1 1 21 7 10.36
Soria, Joakim PIT 44.2 2.42 38 0 4 4 20 28 9 9.47
Lincoln, Brad PIT 41.0 4.83 15 2 1 2 0 26 14 14.49
Green, Sean PIT 29.2 6.67 34 0 2 1 0 15 12 14.87
Grabow, John PIT 17.1 6.23 28 0 3 3 0 10 5 15.58
Alexander, Mark PIT 9.0 11.00 7 0 1 2 0 6 7 20.00
Bullington, Bryan PIT 7.0 3.86 1 1 1 0 0 3 3 11.57
Osoria, Franquelis PIT 1.0 0.00 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 18.00
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 1.0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 9.00

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Joe Mauer (MIN) - .349
Homers: Luke Scott (DET) and Alex Rodriguez (NYY) - 28
RBIs: Alex Rodriguez (NYY) - 95
Doubles: Josh Barfield (CLE) - 35
Triples: Mark Teahen (BOS) and Carl Crawford (TBD) - 8
Stolen Bases: B. J. Upton (NYY) and Carl Crawford (TBD) - 30
Slugging Pct.: Hank Blalock (TEX) and Barry Bonds (KCR) - .587
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .439
OPS: Barry Bonds (KCR) - 1.026
Wins: Johan Santana (BOS) and Kevin Millwood (TEX) - 13
Earned Run Avg.: Rich Harden (OAK) - 3.23
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (BOS) - 147
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .217
Shutouts: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 3
Saves: Joe Nathan (MIN) - 31

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Adam LaRoche (PIT) - .350
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 36
RBIs: Adam LaRoche (PIT) - 97
Doubles: Ryan Zimmerman (WSN) - 37
Triples: Rafael Furcal (LAD) and Jose Reyes (NYM) - 8
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 38
Slugging Pct.: Adam LaRoche (PIT) - .674
On Base Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .472
OPS: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 1.117
Wins: Jon Garland (SFG) and Ian Snell (PIT) - 12
Earned Run Avg.: Freddy Garcia (PHI) - 2.75
Strikeouts: Matt Cain (SFG) - 138
Opponent BA: Jason Schmidt (LAD) - .194
Shutouts: Freddy Garcia (PHI) - 3
Saves: Brandon Medders (ARI) - 37

[JustinM]

August 2009 News and Notes

Milestones
August 3: 3B Troy Glaus (TOR), 1000th RBI
August 11: 3B Alex Gordon (KCR), 4 Home Runs In 1 Game
August 20: 2B Luis Castillo (STL), 1000th Run
August 23: SS Ben Zobrist (TBD), Hit For The Cycle
August 25: LF Manny Ramirez (BOS), 2500th Hit

Trades
none

Pirate Contract Stuff
Extended 1B Brad Eldred through 2010 for $1.5M/yr (I want to trade him in the offseason, and this will let me do that to make room for Steven Pearce.)
Extended RF Matt Diaz through 2010 for $5.5M/yr (See Brad Eldred's note. He hasn't been able to duplicate his 2007 numbers since I acquired him. Besides, there's Trent Oeltjen waiting in the wings.)
Extended SP Zach Duke through 2010 for $4.1M/yr (Again, see Eldred. This was also a pay cut, because he's just not pitching that well.)
Extended SP Ian Snell through 2013 for $9.6M/yr
Extended LF Jason Bay through 2010 for $9.05M/yr (See Eldred. But I'm not sure who can take his place just yet.)
Extended C Ronny Paulino through 2010 for $5.4M/yr (Not sure if I'm getting rid of him yet or not. I do have Hundley and Walker who can play catcher.)
Extended CF Nate McLouth through 2012 for $5.55M/yr and a NTC (Oops. I kind of screwed that one up. Oh well. I'll likely be trading him, too, to make room for McCutcheon.)

Significant Injuries
August 4: SP Kyle Davies (ATL), three months with a broken elbow
August 4: C Joe Mauer (MIN), four weeks with a broken collarbone
August 6: SS Jhonny Peralta (CLE), two months with a ruptured cervical disc
August 7: SP Jason Hammel (TBD), six months with a severed knee ligament
August 8: SP Zack Greinke (KCR), four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
August 10: SP Jake Westbrook (CLE), five weeks with a torn hamstring
August 10: 1B Nick Swisher (WSN), seven months with a broken neck vertebra
August 12: SP Ervin Santana (LAA), four months with severe elbow tendonitis
August 13: CF Gregor Blanco (ATL), five weeks with a wrist stress fracture
August 13: 3B Andy LaRoche (PIT), five months with a broken neck vertebra
August 13: SP Jake Peavy (SDP), six months with a broken back vertebra
August 14: SS Joaquin Arias (TEX), four months with a broken hip
August 18: SP Chris Sampson (HOU), six months with a broken wrist
August 19: SP Greg Maddux (SDP), five weeks with a dislocated hip
August 23: SP Noah Lowry (FLA), four months with a broken fibula
August 23: SP Boof Bonser (MIN), four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
August 26: C Dioner Navarro (CHW), six months with a broken wrist
August 29: 2B Tadahito Iguchi (CHC), five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
August 29: SP Bob Orfanos (CHC), seven months with a broken back vertebra
August 30: CF Mike Cameron (MIN), seven months with a broken wrist

Retirements
SS Neifi Perez (free agent) retired at age 36
1B Jason Giambi (free agent) retired at age 38
RP Brian Burres (free agent) retired at age 28
RP Tyler Yates (ATL) retired at age 32
1B Travis Lee (CHC) retired at age 34
1B Jim Thome (free agent) retired at age 38 (HOF 2019 75%, 506 HR, 2064 K's)
RF Jose Guillen (free agent) retired at age 33

[JustinM]

And finally, it's the end of August. A 17-13 record for the month got the team an 81-53 record overall, which is good for first place in the NL Central, 5.5 games in front of the Chicago Baby Bears.

It turns out that Adam LaRoche's fall from .370 to .350 was only the beginning of a slide that would last all month. He's now at .309 after going 21-for-113 (.186) for the month of August. At least 5 of those hits were home runs. Matt Diaz kind of took his place, going 51-for-125 (.408) over the same span. Corey Hart has also filled in well for the injured Andy LaRoche, going 29-for-66 (.439) for the month to go along with 6 home runs.


2009 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 132 .302 562 170 31 8 13 43 57 4 0 86 83 .456 .355
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 128 .282 556 157 39 3 9 39 60 1 1 83 65 .412 .332
Diaz, Matt PIT 118 .311 472 147 40 5 11 20 72 1 2 71 77 .487 .360
LaRoche, Adam PIT 126 .309 453 140 35 2 31 48 94 1 0 79 112 .600 .374
Bay, Jason PIT 128 .265 442 117 28 5 23 83 110 1 1 77 70 .507 .396
LaRoche, Andy PIT 112 .289 433 125 33 0 15 46 75 0 2 62 71 .469 .357
McLouth, Nate PIT 109 .313 425 133 28 6 11 29 70 11 2 71 60 .485 .355
Paulino, Ronny PIT 110 .301 389 117 21 3 10 18 46 0 0 48 62 .447 .338
Duffy, Chris PIT 66 .271 199 54 10 3 0 16 32 13 6 40 17 .352 .338
Hart, Corey PIT 63 .304 181 55 13 3 9 7 49 1 0 34 24 .558 .344
Hundley, Nick PIT 58 .298 168 50 9 1 4 13 36 0 1 23 26 .435 .349
Eldred, Brad PIT 26 .186 70 13 2 1 4 5 23 0 0 11 7 .414 .247
Duke, Zach PIT 24 .214 56 12 1 0 0 0 21 0 0 6 4 .232 .214
Maholm, Paul PIT 27 .132 53 7 0 0 0 3 20 0 0 4 3 .132 .172
Van Benschoten, John PIT 24 .154 52 8 1 0 0 0 14 0 0 3 4 .173 .151
Snell, Ian PIT 26 .098 51 5 0 0 0 3 25 0 0 3 2 .098 .148
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 21 .378 45 17 3 0 1 3 8 1 4 4 7 .511 .417
Pearce, Steven PIT 12 .250 40 10 2 0 0 2 8 0 0 9 8 .300 .267
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 13 .125 32 4 0 0 0 1 13 0 0 0 3 .125 .152
Hampton, Mike PIT 22 .269 26 7 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 1 4 .269 .259
Valbuena, Luis PIT 6 .250 24 6 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 5 1 .458 .280
Bixler, Brian PIT 16 .318 22 7 1 0 1 3 6 0 0 5 5 .500 .400
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 17 .176 17 3 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 4 2 .235 .222
Lincoln, Brad PIT 2 .125 8 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 .125 .222
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 2 .200 5 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 .200 .333
Soria, Joakim PIT 17 .500 4 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .600
Capps, Matt PIT 21 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Bullington, Bryan PIT 1 .500 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 .500 .667
Davis, Rajai PIT 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Alexander, Mark PIT 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 1.000
Davidson, Dave PIT 18 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1.000 1.000

Yoslan Herrera and Jonah Bayliss stuck in the majors through the month. Franquelis Osoria wasn't so lucky. I didn't give him that much of a chance, but Mike Felix, the man I brought up as Osoria's replacement, has yet to give up an earned run.


2009 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 191.1 3.72 29 29 16 7 0 155 42 10.68
Maholm, Paul PIT 180.2 4.28 29 29 9 11 0 130 75 13.10
Duke, Zach PIT 179.2 4.41 26 26 9 9 0 97 43 12.17
Van Benschoten, John PIT 153.2 4.10 25 25 11 6 0 104 58 11.89
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 90.1 2.59 13 13 7 1 0 62 26 11.16
Hampton, Mike PIT 87.0 5.17 23 9 8 1 1 38 36 13.97
Davidson, Dave PIT 64.0 3.94 49 0 4 2 3 62 20 13.08
Capps, Matt PIT 61.2 3.06 60 0 1 1 3 25 9 9.49
Soria, Joakim PIT 57.2 2.65 50 0 6 5 27 41 15 9.68
Lincoln, Brad PIT 41.0 4.83 15 2 1 2 0 26 14 14.49
Green, Sean PIT 29.2 6.67 34 0 2 1 0 15 12 14.87
Grabow, John PIT 17.1 6.23 28 0 3 3 0 10 5 15.58
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 13.0 2.08 13 0 0 2 0 9 9 12.46
Alexander, Mark PIT 9.0 11.00 7 0 1 2 0 6 7 20.00
Osoria, Franquelis PIT 8.0 9.00 9 0 2 0 1 5 3 23.63
Bullington, Bryan PIT 7.0 3.86 1 1 1 0 0 3 3 11.57
Felix, Mike PIT 4.2 0.00 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 13.50
Youman, Shane PIT 1.0 18.00 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 27.00

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Carl Crawford (TBD) - .343
Homers: Luke Scott (DET) - 39
RBIs: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 115
Doubles: Josh Barfield (CLE) - 48
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 10
Stolen Bases: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 40
Slugging Pct.: Luke Scott (DET) - .594
On Base Pct.: Barry Bonds (KCR) - .420
OPS: Dan Johnson (OAK) - .982
Wins: Johan Santana (BOS), Dave Bush (NYY), and Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 16
Earned Run Avg.: Rich Harden (OAK) - 3.18
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (BOS) - 185
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .215
Shutouts: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 3
Saves: Joe Nathan (MIN) - 35

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Conor Jackson (ARI) - .333
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 45
RBIs: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 127
Doubles: Conor Jackson (ARI) - 45
Triples: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - 9
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 48
Slugging Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .624
On Base Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .464
OPS: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 1.088
Wins: Ian Snell (PIT) - 16
Earned Run Avg.: Matt Cain (SFG) - 2.89
Strikeouts: Carlos Zambrano (NYM) - 180
Opponent BA: Jason Schmidt (LAD) - .186
Shutouts: Freddy Garcia (PHI) - 3
Saves: Brandon Medders (ARI) - 44

[JustinM]

Just a note that I'm working my way through September now.

I decided to check on the situation regarding pitchers reaching 300 wins. Since Tom Glavine got his in 2007 and Randy Johnson got his in 2008, nobody else has gotten there. Active players with at least 200 wins are:

Greg Maddux - 43 yo - 370 wins (if he decides to hang on, he has an outside shot at 400, but his 67 health rating might get the better of him even before his skills deteriorate beyond repair)
Mike Mussina - 40 yo - 265 wins (he's shot, and hasn't pitched since June)
Curt Schilling - 42 yo - 241 wins (he's shot, too, and hasn't pitched in the majors since june)
Andy Pettitte - 37 yo - 230 wins (he'll have to go until he's 41 or 42 to make it, but he's still going strong)
John Smoltz - 42 yo - 225 wins (not a prayer, but he'd be kind of close if it weren't for those 3 years as closer)
Pedro Martinez - 37 yo - 221 wins (he's at the end of his rope, just barely hanging on)

I'd be willing to bet that nobody's going to get there in the next 10 seasons. The only players in the next group of 100 wins who have even the remotest chance of making it to 300 are Johan Santana (135 wins, 30yo), Mark Buehrle (133 wins, 30yo), C.C. Sabathia (124 wins, 29yo), Jon Garland (120 wins, 29yo), and Carlos Zambrano (108 wins, 28yo).

Considering the hurdles all those players must overcome in order to reach 300, though, I would bet that none of them make it, either.

[JustinM]

September/October 2009 News and Notes

Milestones
September 6: 2B Kazuo Matsui (SFG), Hit For The Cycle
September 12: SS Derek Jeter (NYY), 300th Steal
September 14: CF Carlos Beltran (NYM), 300th Home Run
September 24: SP Blake Wood (KCR), No Hitter (rookie!)
September 27: CF Ichiro Suzuki (OAK), 1000th Run

Trades
none

Significant Injuries
September 7: SP Jerome Williams (OAK), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
September 8: SS Juan Uribe (CHW), four weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
September 9: 3B Ryan Braun (MIL), three months with a broken tibia
September 9: CF Ryan Freel (TEX), three months with a ruptured cervical disc
September 13: 3B Akinori Iwamura (TBD), five weeks with a dislocated hip
September 15: 1B Dan Johnson (OAK), six months with a torn ankle ligament
September 18: SP Dontrelle Willis (FLA), four weeks with a shoulder separation
September 25: C Joe Mauer (MIN), five weeks with a dislocated hip
September 27: 1B Ryan Garko (CLE), two months with a torn elbow ligament
October 1: LF Carl Crawford (TBD), four weeks with a broken collar bone

Retirements
1B Daryle Ward (NYM) retired at age 34
2B Mark Bellhorn (free agent) retired at age 35
LF Frank Catalanotto (free agent) retired at age 35
SP Ryan O'Malley (free agent) retired at age 29
SP Jason Simontacchi (WSN) retired at age 35

[JustinM]

Over the last portion of the season, the Pirates went 14-14 to give them an overall record of 95-67, good for the NL Central title by 3 games over the Cubs.

All the regular starters this year got at least 10 home runs. LaRoche ended with 33, and Bay just barely missed 30 of his own.


2009 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 160 .312 676 211 38 9 15 51 66 4 0 107 100 .462 .365
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 156 .278 669 186 46 4 10 45 71 2 1 96 81 .404 .324
Diaz, Matt PIT 146 .324 581 188 50 7 14 31 85 1 2 94 94 .506 .376
Bay, Jason PIT 156 .262 545 143 38 6 28 98 136 1 1 97 89 .508 .387
LaRoche, Adam PIT 152 .311 544 169 40 3 33 60 107 1 0 97 131 .577 .378
McLouth, Nate PIT 130 .309 508 157 36 6 13 36 83 11 3 87 69 .480 .355
Paulino, Ronny PIT 130 .300 457 137 29 4 10 31 62 0 0 64 73 .446 .349
LaRoche, Andy PIT 112 .289 433 125 33 0 15 46 75 0 2 62 71 .469 .357
Hart, Corey PIT 91 .301 282 85 17 3 12 17 73 1 0 46 47 .511 .356
Duffy, Chris PIT 77 .271 236 64 12 4 0 18 36 14 6 45 21 .356 .332
Hundley, Nick PIT 68 .287 202 58 11 1 4 17 41 0 1 26 26 .411 .347
Eldred, Brad PIT 32 .205 88 18 3 1 5 7 28 0 0 13 12 .432 .268
Duke, Zach PIT 30 .239 71 17 3 0 0 0 25 0 0 8 6 .282 .239
Van Benschoten, John PIT 30 .143 63 9 1 0 0 0 17 0 0 4 5 .159 .141
Snell, Ian PIT 31 .081 62 5 0 0 0 3 32 0 0 3 3 .081 .121
Maholm, Paul PIT 32 .145 62 9 0 0 0 4 25 0 0 4 3 .145 .191
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 34 .316 57 18 3 0 1 4 10 1 4 4 8 .421 .361
Pearce, Steven PIT 16 .227 44 10 2 0 0 2 9 0 0 9 8 .273 .245
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 18 .114 44 5 1 0 0 1 16 0 0 1 5 .136 .133
Valbuena, Luis PIT 10 .214 28 6 3 1 0 1 4 0 0 5 1 .393 .241
Hampton, Mike PIT 27 .250 28 7 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 1 4 .250 .241
Bixler, Brian PIT 18 .280 25 7 1 0 1 3 7 0 0 5 5 .440 .357
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 18 .167 18 3 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 4 2 .222 .211
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 7 .200 10 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 .200 .273
Lincoln, Brad PIT 4 .200 10 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 .200 .273
Soria, Joakim PIT 26 .400 5 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .400 .500
Walker, Neil PIT 4 .500 4 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.250 .600
DeWitt, Blake PIT 5 .000 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .250
Capps, Matt PIT 32 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Bullington, Bryan PIT 5 .333 3 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 .333 .500
Scheetz, Colby PIT 2 .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000
Wilt, Colby PIT 2 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Alexander, Mark PIT 2 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .500
Davis, Rajai PIT 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Kelly, Don PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Davidson, Dave PIT 25 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1.000 1.000

And the pitchers...


2009 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 223.1 3.59 34 34 19 8 0 185 54 10.68
Duke, Zach PIT 222.2 4.04 32 32 12 12 0 121 53 11.60
Maholm, Paul PIT 210.2 4.31 34 34 11 12 0 156 87 12.90
Van Benschoten, John PIT 190.0 3.79 31 31 14 7 0 137 74 11.61
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 122.1 3.09 18 18 8 3 0 83 36 11.04
Hampton, Mike PIT 98.2 5.20 28 9 8 2 1 43 39 13.96
Capps, Matt PIT 72.2 2.85 71 0 1 1 3 35 10 9.41
Davidson, Dave PIT 68.2 4.46 56 0 4 2 3 65 21 13.37
Soria, Joakim PIT 66.1 3.39 59 0 6 7 31 50 18 10.18
Lincoln, Brad PIT 46.0 4.50 17 2 2 2 0 28 15 13.50
Green, Sean PIT 29.2 6.67 34 0 2 1 0 15 12 14.87
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 20.0 4.50 21 0 0 4 0 12 10 12.15
Grabow, John PIT 18.0 6.00 30 0 3 3 0 11 5 15.00
Bullington, Bryan PIT 12.0 2.25 5 1 1 0 0 7 4 9.00
Felix, Mike PIT 10.1 6.10 15 0 0 0 0 7 3 16.55
Alexander, Mark PIT 10.1 9.58 9 0 1 2 0 6 7 17.42
Scheetz, Colby PIT 9.2 1.86 2 1 1 1 0 6 2 10.24
Osoria, Franquelis PIT 8.0 9.00 9 0 2 0 1 5 3 23.63
Starling, Wardell PIT 2.0 9.00 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 36.00
Youman, Shane PIT 1.0 18.00 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 27.00

Stats and all that will come after the playoffs...

[JustinM]

NLDS vs. New York Mets
Game 1: Snell (19-8) vs. Zambrano (14-7)
WP: Carlos Zambrano (1-0)
LP: Mike Felix (0-1)
SV: Billy Wagner (1)
HR: Jason Bay (1)
Despite Jason Bay's home run, the Pirates fell behind the Mets, one game to zero, in a 4-2 loss.

Game 2: Herrera (8-3) vs. Capuano (15-3)
WP: Chris Capuano (1-0)
LP: Yoslan Herrera (0-1)
SV: --
HR: Carlos Beltran (1), Brett Harper (1)
This game was out of reach early, as the Mets had enough runs to win in the first inning. The game finished in an 8-1 loss for the Buccos.

Game 3: Lincoln (2-2) vs. Burnett (13-9)
WP: Brad Lincoln (1-0)
LP: Oliver Perez (0-1)
SV: Joakim Soria (1)
HR: Carlos Beltran (2)
The Pirates came from behind in this one--twice--with Matt Diaz's two doubles, to win 6-5, cutting the Mets' lead to two games to one.

Game 4: Maholm (11-12) vs. Arroyo (16-7)
WP: Matt Capps
LP: Billy Wagner
SV: --
HR: --
This was a low-scoring affair (2-1) and another come-from-behind victory for the Pirates to even the series at two games apiece.

Game 5: Snell (19-8) vs. Capuano (15-3)
WP: Chris Capuano (2-0)
LP: Ian Snell (0-1)
SV: Billy Wagner (2)
HR: Carlos Beltran (2), Brett Harper (2)
A 4-1 loss ends the Pirates' postseason. Interesting note: Brett Harper had no home runs in the regular season and hit under .200.

[JustinM]

Playoff 2009 News and Notes

Milestones
none

Trades
none

Significant Injuries
October 4: SS Derek Jeter (NYY), two weeks with a sprained finger
October 8: SP Matt Garza (MIN), three months with severe elbow tendonitis
October 10: SP Freddy Garcia (PHI), six months with a broken wrist (he's done)
October 19: SS Stephen Drew (ARI), two weeks with a strained knee

Retirements
none

[JustinM]

The New York Mets ended up beating the Minnesota Twins, four games to one.

End-of-Year Statstravaganza!!!

Cheesy enough for you? No? How about Statapalooza? It's statariffic!

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Gerald Laird (TEX) - .326
Homers: Luke Scott (DET) - 46
RBIs: Prince Fielder (TBD) - 130
Doubles: Josh Barfield (CLE) - 55
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 10
Stolen Bases: B.J. Upton (NYY) - 49
Slugging Pct.: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - .592
On Base Pct.: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - .416
OPS: Manny Ramirez (BOS) - 1.008
Wins: Johan Santana (BOS) and Matt Garza (MIN)- 19
Earned Run Avg.: Rich Harden (OAK) - 3.34
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (BOS) - 215
Opponent BA: Rich Harden (OAK) - .214
Shutouts: Chien-Ming Wang (NYY) - 3
Saves: Joe Nathan (MIN) - 44

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Conor Jackson (ARI) - .340
Homers: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 51
RBIs: Alfonso Soriano (CHC) - 152
Doubles: Conor Jackson (ARI) - 53
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 11
Stolen Bases: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 56
Slugging Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .629
On Base Pct.: Albert Pujols (ATL) - .468
OPS: Albert Pujols (ATL) - 1.097
Wins: Ian Snell (PIT) - 19
Earned Run Avg.: Carlos Zambrano (NYM) - 2.81
Strikeouts: Carlos Zambrano (NYM) - 216
Opponent BA: Jason Schmidt (LAD) - .194
Shutouts: Freddy Garcia (PHI) - 4
Saves: Brandon Medders (ARI) - 47

End-of-Year Awards
NLDS MVP: Bronson Arroyo (NYM)
NLDS MVP: Greg Smith (ARI)
ALDS MVP: Casey Blake (CLE)
ALDS MVP: Justin Morneau (MIN)
NLCS MVP: David Wright (NYM)
ALCS MVP: Justin Morneau (MIN)
World Series MVP: Bronson Arroyo (NYM)

AL Cy Young: Matt Garza (MIN)
NL Cy Young: Chris Capuano (NYM)
AL MVP: Mark Teixeira (TEX)
NL MVP: Alfonso Soriano (CHC)
AL RotY: 1B Jeff Larish (DET) (.261-20-71, .261/.339/.438)
NL RotY: 1B Chris Errecart (MIL) (.231-16-57, .231/.285/.411...not impressed)
AL Gold Gloves: Javier Vazquez (CHW), Gerald Laird (TEX), Lyle Overbay (TOR), Josh Barfield (CLE), Alex Rodriguez (NYY), Juan Uribe (CHW), Alex Rios (TOR), Curtis Granderson (DET), Adam Lind (TOR)
NL Gold Gloves: Jason Jennings (HOU), Carlos Ruiz (PHI), Ryan Shealy (STL), Freddy Sanchez (PIT), Ryan Zimmerman (WSN), Adam Everett (HOU), Carlos Beltran (NYM), Shane Victorino (PHI), Jason Bay (PIT)

[JustinM]

2009-2010 Offseason News and Notes

New and Improved Pitches
SP Brad Lincoln has learned the hard slider from Joakim Soria
SP Wardell Starling has learned the slider from Joe Smith
RP Mark Alexander improved pitch: hard slider

Trades
JANUARY 25, 2010
Tigers receive Brad Eldred (1B)
Pirates receive Jair Jurrjens (SP) and $500,000
The first of a group of trades I plan to make in the offseason.

JANUARY 25, 2010
Indians receive Matt Diaz (RF)
Pirates receive Eduard Vasquez (CF) and $1,500,000

JANUARY 25, 2010
Mets receive Nate McLouth (CF)
Pirates receive Joe Smith (RP) and $3,000,000

JANUARY 25, 2010
Tigers receive Jason Bay (LF)
Pirates receive Curtis Granderson (CF)
I'm going to try to play Curtis in LF.

JANUARY 25, 2010
Cardinals receive Josh Sharpless (RP), Sean Green (RP), Franquelis Osoria (RP), Bryan Bullington (SP), Alay Soler (SP) and Shane Youman (SP)
Pirates receive Cesar Ramos (SP)
Ridding myself of dead weight in the minor leagues.

Significant Injuries
March 7: SS Jhonny Peralta (CLE), two months with a broken tibia
March 7: SS Hanley Ramirez (FLA), four weeks with a broken finger
March 19: RP Fernando Cabrera (CLE), four months with severe elbow tendonitis

Retirements
2B Nick Green (NYY) retired at age 31
SS Orlando Cabrera (free agent) retired at age 35
RP Matt Guerrier (NYY) retired at age 31
SP Matt Clement (NYY) retired at age 35
RP Scott Schoeneweis (free agent) retired at age 36
SP Miguel Batista (SEA) retired at age 38
SP Jose Contreras (CHW) retired at age 37
RP Kiko Calero (free agent) retired at age 34
RP Willie Eyre (free agent) retired at age 31
SP Runelvys Hernandez (free agent) retired at age 31
RP Todd Jones (BOS) retired at age 41
SP Kyle Snyder (BOS) retired at age 32
LF Kevin Reese (CHW) retired at age 31
LF David Dellucci (CLE) retired at age 36
RP Aaron Fultz (CLE) retired at age 36
RP Juan Padilla (COL) retired at age 32
2B Mark Loretta (HOU) retired at age 38
RP Trever Miller (HOU) retired at age 36
1B Olmedo Saenz (LAD) retired at age 39
SP Curt Schilling (MIL) retired at age 42 (HOF 2014 84%, 241 wins, 3.56 ERA, 6-time All Star, never won a Cy Young)
LF Moises Alou (NYM) retired at age 43
LF Jay Payton (NYY) retired at age 36
RP Antonio Alfonseca (PHI) retired at age 37
RP Scott Cassidy (SDP) retired at age 34
RP Tyler Walker (SFG) retired at age 33
SP Mike Mussina (SEA) retired at age 40 (HOF 2014 85%, 265 wins, 3.68 ERA, 6 Gold Gloves, never won a Cy Young)
RP Ron Mahay (TEX) retired at age 38
SP Kris Benson (NYY) retired at age 35
RP Steve Schmoll (NYY) retired at age 30

Pirate Re-signings and Releases
SS Jack Wilson: released. He wanted $10.4M for 5 years with a NTC. He's 31. Do the math.
2B Freddy Sanchez: released. He wanted $6.85M for 5 years with a NTC. He's 31. More math. Actually, I tried to keep him for less time and less money, but it wasn't going well, so he's gone.
SP Mike Hampton: released. He wanted $3.6M for 2 years, but he's just not that good, and he's 37.
RP John Grabow: released. He hardly pitched last year because he was just this side of awful. No movement on his pitches at all.

New Pirate Signings
none

Arbitration
none

Big Names who Moved (alphabetical by team abbreviation)
SP Greg Maddux to ARI
C Humberto Cota to BAL: $1.8M for 2 years
C Ryan Doumit to BAL: $4.1M for 2 years
RP John Grabow to BAL: $1.8M for 3 years
1B Justin Huber to BAL
2B Tadahito Iguchi to BAL
2B Placido Polanco to BAL
CF Willy Taveras to BAL
SP Scott Baker to BOS
RP Jesse Crain to BOS
SP Jason Marquis to BOS
SP Sergio Mitre to BOS
C A.J. Pierzynski to BOS
RP Akinori Otsuka to CHC
RP Mariano Rivera to CHC
2B Luis Rodriguez to CHW
LF Angel Pagan to CLE
LF Jack Cust to COL
LF Jason Botts to FLA
1B Nick Johnson to KCR
SP Clay Hensley to LAD
1B Mike Jacobs to MIL
SS Jack Wilson to OAK: $11.4M for 4 years
LF Barry Bonds to SFG: $5.8M for 2 years...back in the field again
2B Freddy Sanchez to SFG: $3.25M for 2 years...quite a pay cut. His loss.
SP Jerome Williams to TOR
LF Pat Burrell to WSN
2B Brian Roberts to WSN

[JustinM]

2009 standings...


AMERICAN LEAGUE (2009)

EAST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
New York 108 54 .667 -- .278 234 111 4.53
Boston 84 78 .519 24.0 .292 174 76 5.11
Tampa Bay 78 84 .481 30.0 .274 205 103 5.04
Toronto 74 88 .457 34.0 .267 183 80 5.07
Baltimore 69 93 .426 39.0 .265 167 61 5.41

CENTRAL W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Cleveland 93 69 .574 -- .275 196 74 4.58
Minnesota 90 72 .556 3.0 .274 149 94 4.40
Detroit 85 77 .525 8.0 .259 247 48 4.22
Kansas City 71 91 .438 22.0 .255 159 67 5.47
Chicago 54 108 .333 39.0 .264 210 57 5.69

WEST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Texas 95 67 .586 -- .287 247 86 4.85
Oakland 86 76 .531 9.0 .265 162 62 4.30
Los Angeles 73 89 .451 22.0 .259 163 101 4.85
Seattle 69 93 .426 26.0 .255 165 90 5.16


NATIONAL LEAGUE (2009)

EAST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
New York 102 60 .630 -- .271 181 133 3.67
Philadelphia 93 69 .574 9.0 .260 187 98 4.15
Atlanta 78 84 .481 24.0 .279 170 84 5.28
Washington 66 96 .407 36.0 .245 134 98 5.42
Florida 59 103 .364 43.0 .246 154 119 5.29

CENTRAL W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Pittsburgh 95 67 .586 -- .286 161 36 4.07
Chicago 92 70 .568 3.0 .272 229 102 5.00
Houston 85 77 .525 10.0 .253 203 73 4.42
Milwaukee 82 80 .506 13.0 .254 165 109 4.25
Cincinnati 70 92 .432 25.0 .267 169 97 5.28
St. Louis 64 98 .395 31.0 .248 123 104 5.22

WEST W L PCT GB AVG HR SB ERA
Arizona 98 64 .605 -- .275 216 48 4.44
Los Angeles 90 72 .556 8.0 .268 167 106 4.21
San Diego 89 73 .549 9.0 .246 194 35 3.98
San Francisco 79 83 .488 19.0 .258 142 122 4.26
Colorado 59 103 .364 39.0 .275 170 75 5.82


DIVISION PLAYOFFS
Twins defeat Yankees, 3-1
Indians defeat Rangers, 3-0
Diamondbacks defeat Phillies, 3-2
Mets defeat Pirates, 3-2

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Twins defeat Indians, 4-1
Mets defeat Diamondbacks, 4-2

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Mets defeat Twins, 4-1

In 2009, the Pirates made $9.8M, about half of which came because of the playoff games.

For the end of the 2010 season, there are no arbitration cases, but the following players are eligible for free agency:

1B Adam LaRoche
C Ronny Paulino
CF Chris Duffy
SP Zach Duke
RP Jonah Bayliss

Clearly I need to figure out a way to keep LaRoche around, and Paulino and Duke continue to be question marks, but the other two are expendable. Of course, I said that about Bayliss (and Paulino, actually) before last season, too.

Opening Day Roster:
1. RF Trent Oeltjen
2. CF Andrew McCutchen
3. 3B Andy LaRoche
4. LF Curtis Granderson
5. 1B Adam LaRoche
6. C Ronny Paulino
7. SS Luis Valbuena
8. 2B Blake DeWitt

SS Brian Bixler
3B Yurendell DeCaster
C Nick Hundley (plays vs. LHP)
1B Steven Pearce
OF Corey Hart (plays RF vs. LHP)
CF Chris Duffy (plays CF vs. LHP)

1 Ian Snell
2 Yoslan Herrera
3 Brad Lincoln
4 Paul Maholm
5 Zach Duke

CL Joakim Soria
SU Matt Capps
SR Mike Felix
SR Joe Smith
MR Dave Davidson
LR John Van Benschoten

The payroll for this team is a good $20M less than where we ended last season. This should be interesting.

[JustinM]

April 2010 News and Notes

Milestones
April 7: CF Johnny Damon (NYY), 1500th Run
April 18: 1B Lance Berkman (HOU), 1000th Run
April 18: CF Ichiro Suzuki (OAK), 2000th Hit
April 18: 3B Troy Glaus (TOR), 1000th Run
April 26: SS Jimmy Rollins (PHI), 1000th Run

Trades
APRIL 14, 2010
Marlins receive Dan Crabbe (RP) and Mike Lamb (3B)
Yankees receive Eric Reed (CF) and Jason Botts (LF)
A mediocre prospect and mediocre third baseman for a throwaway centerfielder and a leftfielder who has had just one good-but-not-great year. Sure, this makes perfect sense.

APRIL 21, 2010
Astros receive Jeff Karstens (SP), Mark Melancon (RP) and Craig Wilson (1B)
Yankees receive Chad Qualls (RP) and Hunter Pence (CF)

Pirate Contract Stuff
nothing to report

Significant Injuries
April 6: 1B Joey Votto (CIN), four weeks with a shoulder separation
April 10: SP Yovani Gallardo (MIL), three months with a broken elbow
April 11: RF Geoff Jenkins (BOS), five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
April 15: SS Emmanuel Burriss (SFG), six months with a torn achilles tendon
April 17: 1B Adam LaRoche (PIT), four weeks with a shoulder separation
April 17: 1B Ty Wigginton (CHW), five weeks with a stretched knee ligament
April 18: RP Damaso Marte (LAD), six months with a broken back vertebra
April 20: 3B Evan Longoria (TBD), four weeks with a shoulder separation
April 21: 1B Chris Shelton (BAL), five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
April 21: RF Ryan Sweeney (CHW), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
April 22: 3B Billy Rowell (BAL), six weeks with a dislocated hip
April 22: SS Ray Olmedo (TOR), three months with a broken fibula
April 26: LF Kevin Mench (CHW), five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
April 29: SP Francisco Liriano (MIN), nine months with a broken wrist
April 29: SP Ross Ohlendorf (NYY), four months with severe elbow tendonitis

Retirements
SP Joe Mays (LAD) retires at age 34
RP Jesus Colome (STL) retires at age 32

[JustinM]

Despite losing Adam LaRoche for the bulk of the month, the Pirates started 2010 off decently, going 14-10. That puts them in second place in the NL Central, 5.5 games behind the Astros. LaRoche's absence from the offense was mitigated largely by the emergence of several rookies in the Pirates' lineup, namely Andrew McCutchen, Blake DeWitt, and Luis Valbuena. Steven Pearce has also done fairly well in LaRoche's stead.


2010 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 24 .352 105 37 9 2 2 9 21 3 2 24 15 .533 .410
DeWitt, Blake PIT 22 .322 90 29 7 0 2 3 8 0 0 15 16 .467 .344
Valbuena, Luis PIT 23 .348 89 31 6 0 2 9 11 1 1 13 18 .483 .406
LaRoche, Andy PIT 22 .247 81 20 3 0 2 10 15 0 0 9 10 .358 .323
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 19 .218 78 17 1 1 1 3 11 3 0 11 6 .295 .247
Granderson, Curtis PIT 20 .211 76 16 2 1 5 9 20 2 0 15 17 .461 .310
Paulino, Ronny PIT 17 .263 57 15 5 0 2 5 11 0 0 7 12 .456 .323
Hundley, Nick PIT 14 .375 48 18 5 0 2 6 5 0 0 9 10 .604 .444
Pearce, Steven PIT 12 .277 47 13 4 1 1 5 13 0 0 9 12 .468 .340
LaRoche, Adam PIT 12 .308 39 12 1 1 2 9 7 0 0 7 8 .538 .429
Hart, Corey PIT 13 .300 30 9 1 0 1 1 5 0 0 6 1 .433 .323
Duffy, Chris PIT 7 .444 18 8 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 3 .667 .500
Bixler, Brian PIT 6 .389 18 7 3 1 0 0 4 0 0 2 2 .667 .389
Snell, Ian PIT 6 .154 13 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 2 2 .231 .133
Maholm, Paul PIT 5 .091 11 1 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 2 .091 .091
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 5 .111 9 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 .222 .273
Lincoln, Brad PIT 5 .125 8 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 .125 .222
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 2 .143 7 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 1 .143 .250
Duke, Zach PIT 3 .286 7 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 .286 .286
Carlin, Michael PIT 2 .167 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 .167 .167
Smith, Joe PIT 9 .667 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 .667
Felix, Mike PIT 9 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Van Benschoten, John PIT 7 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500

The starting rotation's top three have been good so far this year. Brad Lincoln, in particular, has been surprising. Also, three of the relievers have an ERA under 3.00 so far this season, including Joe Smith's 11 unscathed innings--no earned runs, and only one unearned.


2010 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 38.1 2.58 6 6 3 2 0 35 14 10.10
Lincoln, Brad PIT 36.2 2.45 5 5 4 1 0 22 6 8.59
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 31.0 3.77 5 5 2 2 0 26 12 13.65
Maholm, Paul PIT 29.2 5.16 5 5 1 2 0 16 9 15.47
Duke, Zach PIT 19.1 5.59 3 3 1 0 0 12 6 15.36
Smith, Joe PIT 11.0 0.00 9 0 0 0 0 12 3 6.55
Van Benschoten, John PIT 11.0 4.09 7 0 1 0 0 5 4 13.91
Felix, Mike PIT 10.0 5.40 9 0 0 1 0 6 5 18.00
Davidson, Dave PIT 9.0 4.00 9 0 2 0 0 9 2 11.00
Capps, Matt PIT 8.2 2.08 7 0 0 1 0 7 0 9.35
Soria, Joakim PIT 6.0 3.00 7 0 0 1 6 5 0 7.50

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Ben Zobrist (SEA) - .397
Homers: Josh Fields (CHW) - 11
RBIs: Lyle Overbay (TOR) - 29
Doubles: Cameron Maybin (DET) and Travis Buck (OAK) - 12
Triples: Joaquin Arias (TEX) - 4
Stolen Bases: Willy Taveras (BAL) - 10
Slugging Pct.: Lyle Overbay (TOR) - .700
On Base Pct.: Ben Zobrist (SEA) - .515
OPS: Lyle Overbay (TOR) - 1.143
Wins: Adam Wainwright (DET) and Felix Hernandez (SEA) - 4
Earned Run Avg.: Adam Wainwright (DET) - 1.89
Strikeouts: Felix Hernandez (SEA) - 39
Opponent BA: Adam Wainwright (DET) - .171
Shutouts: five tied at 1
Saves: Brian Fuentes (NYY) - 8

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Carlos Quentin (ARI) - .400
Homers: Chad Tracy (ARI), Adam Dunn (CIN), and Chase Utley (PHI) - 8
RBIs: Nick Swisher (WSN) - 26
Doubles: five tied at 9 (including Andrew McCutchen [PIT])
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 5
Stolen Bases: Alejandro De Aza (FLA) - 8
Slugging Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .659
On Base Pct.: Yunel Escobar (ATL) - .462
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.090
Wins: Sean Gallagher (CHC), Jason Hirsh (HOU), Chris Sampson (HOU), and Brad Lincoln (PIT) - 4
Earned Run Avg.: Sean Gallagher (CHC) - 0.93
Strikeouts: Scott Olsen (FLA) - 36
Opponent BA: Mike Pelfrey (NYM) - .149
Shutouts: five tied at 1
Saves: Brad Lidge (HOU) and Osiris Matos (SFG) - 12

[Walter Johnson]

So far, Jason Bay has been a rally killer. Batting .208, even if you do have 4 home runs, is a great way to get my attention, and not in a good way. Duffy's .252 isn't exactly what I'd call leadoff material, either, but what else am I going to do with a guy that has speed of 90+?

Bat him in the #8 slot (unless your P has a high BA, in which case you slide him to #9) ...

[JustinM]

I don't believe that you can bat a nonpitcher 9th in BM unless you make a double switch.

Either way, Bay's gone and Duffy is now relegated to a bit part on the team, so you've given me an answer to a question I'm no longer asking. That's cool, though. At least you're reading! :D

[Walter Johnson]

Over the last portion of the season, the Pirates went 14-14 to give them an overall record of 95-67, good for the NL Central title by 3 games over the Cubs.

All the regular starters this year got at least 10 home runs. LaRoche ended with 33, and Bay just barely missed 30 of his own.


2009 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
Wilson, Jack PIT 160 .312 676 211 38 9 15 51 66 4 0 107 100 .462 .365
Sanchez, Freddy PIT 156 .278 669 186 46 4 10 45 71 2 1 96 81 .404 .324
Diaz, Matt PIT 146 .324 581 188 50 7 14 31 85 1 2 94 94 .506 .376
Bay, Jason PIT 156 .262 545 143 38 6 28 98 136 1 1 97 89 .508 .387
LaRoche, Adam PIT 152 .311 544 169 40 3 33 60 107 1 0 97 131 .577 .378
McLouth, Nate PIT 130 .309 508 157 36 6 13 36 83 11 3 87 69 .480 .355
Paulino, Ronny PIT 130 .300 457 137 29 4 10 31 62 0 0 64 73 .446 .349
LaRoche, Andy PIT 112 .289 433 125 33 0 15 46 75 0 2 62 71 .469 .357
Hart, Corey PIT 91 .301 282 85 17 3 12 17 73 1 0 46 47 .511 .356
Duffy, Chris PIT 77 .271 236 64 12 4 0 18 36 14 6 45 21 .356 .332
Hundley, Nick PIT 68 .287 202 58 11 1 4 17 41 0 1 26 26 .411 .347
Eldred, Brad PIT 32 .205 88 18 3 1 5 7 28 0 0 13 12 .432 .268
Duke, Zach PIT 30 .239 71 17 3 0 0 0 25 0 0 8 6 .282 .239
Van Benschoten, John PIT 30 .143 63 9 1 0 0 0 17 0 0 4 5 .159 .141
Snell, Ian PIT 31 .081 62 5 0 0 0 3 32 0 0 3 3 .081 .121
Maholm, Paul PIT 32 .145 62 9 0 0 0 4 25 0 0 4 3 .145 .191
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 34 .316 57 18 3 0 1 4 10 1 4 4 8 .421 .361
Pearce, Steven PIT 16 .227 44 10 2 0 0 2 9 0 0 9 8 .273 .245
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 18 .114 44 5 1 0 0 1 16 0 0 1 5 .136 .133
Valbuena, Luis PIT 10 .214 28 6 3 1 0 1 4 0 0 5 1 .393 .241
Hampton, Mike PIT 27 .250 28 7 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 1 4 .250 .241
Bixler, Brian PIT 18 .280 25 7 1 0 1 3 7 0 0 5 5 .440 .357
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 18 .167 18 3 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 4 2 .222 .211
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 7 .200 10 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 .200 .273
Lincoln, Brad PIT 4 .200 10 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 .200 .273
Soria, Joakim PIT 26 .400 5 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .400 .500
Walker, Neil PIT 4 .500 4 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.250 .600
DeWitt, Blake PIT 5 .000 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .250
Capps, Matt PIT 32 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Bullington, Bryan PIT 5 .333 3 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 .333 .500
Scheetz, Colby PIT 2 .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000
Wilt, Colby PIT 2 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Alexander, Mark PIT 2 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .500 .500
Davis, Rajai PIT 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Kelly, Don PIT 1 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000
Davidson, Dave PIT 25 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1.000 1.000

And the pitchers...


2009 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Snell, Ian PIT 223.1 3.59 34 34 19 8 0 185 54 10.68
Duke, Zach PIT 222.2 4.04 32 32 12 12 0 121 53 11.60
Maholm, Paul PIT 210.2 4.31 34 34 11 12 0 156 87 12.90
Van Benschoten, John PIT 190.0 3.79 31 31 14 7 0 137 74 11.61
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 122.1 3.09 18 18 8 3 0 83 36 11.04
Hampton, Mike PIT 98.2 5.20 28 9 8 2 1 43 39 13.96
Capps, Matt PIT 72.2 2.85 71 0 1 1 3 35 10 9.41
Davidson, Dave PIT 68.2 4.46 56 0 4 2 3 65 21 13.37
Soria, Joakim PIT 66.1 3.39 59 0 6 7 31 50 18 10.18
Lincoln, Brad PIT 46.0 4.50 17 2 2 2 0 28 15 13.50
Green, Sean PIT 29.2 6.67 34 0 2 1 0 15 12 14.87
Bayliss, Jonah PIT 20.0 4.50 21 0 0 4 0 12 10 12.15
Grabow, John PIT 18.0 6.00 30 0 3 3 0 11 5 15.00
Bullington, Bryan PIT 12.0 2.25 5 1 1 0 0 7 4 9.00
Felix, Mike PIT 10.1 6.10 15 0 0 0 0 7 3 16.55
Alexander, Mark PIT 10.1 9.58 9 0 1 2 0 6 7 17.42
Scheetz, Colby PIT 9.2 1.86 2 1 1 1 0 6 2 10.24
Osoria, Franquelis PIT 8.0 9.00 9 0 2 0 1 5 3 23.63
Starling, Wardell PIT 2.0 9.00 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 36.00
Youman, Shane PIT 1.0 18.00 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 27.00

Stats and all that will come after the playoffs...

I am interested. How did you post a screen where you can scroll down? I want to post some stats but don't want to take up something like 14 column inches!

[Walter Johnson]

I don't believe that you can bat a nonpitcher 9th in BM unless you make a double switch.

Either way, Bay's gone and Duffy is now relegated to a bit part on the team, so you've given me an answer to a question I'm no longer asking. That's cool, though. At least you're reading! :D

You can't even convert them to position players (& vice-versa!) ...:p

[JustinM]

I am interested. How did you post a screen where you can scroll down? I want to post some stats but don't want to take up something like 14 column inches!

I use the output stats tool to output a text file of my stats, and then just copy the content of that file in between
and tags. Because it then displays in a fixed-width font with tabs and everything, I don't need to do any further editing. The scroll bars show up automatically.

I might have an actual update later tonight. We'll see how far I get.

[PepeCamello]

I really like this dynasty so far (I've read through the 2008 season). Keep up the good work!

[JustinM]

It slows down a bit after that because I'm not unemployed anymore. :D

[Walter Johnson]

I use the output stats tool to output a text file of my stats, and then just copy the content of that file in between
and tags. Because it then displays in a fixed-width font with tabs and everything, I don't need to do any further editing. The scroll bars show up automatically.

I might have an actual update later tonight. We'll see how far I get.

Thanks for that. I'm going to give it a try over the next day or so and see what eventuates ...

[PSXtreme]

Keep it coming, I've read all the way thru. Nice job in making the post-season in only 3 years. Being a life-long Pirates Fan and the new proud owner of BM2008, I had to start off in 1901 just to see how it works.

[JustinM]

With my purchase of BM2009, I figured the least I could do is try to finish what I started. Opening day 2008 rosters aren't out yet, and I didn't actually mean to drop this like a rock when I started working full time. So, I'm refreshing myself with my 2010 Bucs as much as anyone who reads this thread will be.

I'm really close to the end of May, so once I finish those two games and remember how exactly I formatted those old posts of mine, expect an update. :)

[HoustonGM]

No need to remember, just go look. :p

[JustinM]

Huh. John Smoltz is still pitching in 2010, and he's still pretty good. Jason Kendall still sucks, but he still manages to get contracts in excess of $3M per year. The Cubs just signed him to a one-year, $3.15M deal. I guess durability must be worth something in this game.

Update tomorrow. I'm falling asleep in my chair. :D

[HoustonGM]

You said, "and remember how exactly I formatted those old posts of mine", and I said that you can just look back at your old posts - there's no need to REMEMBER how you formatted them. :)

[JustinM]

Oh, I know. The "huh" was my astonishment that Smoltz's arm hasn't fallen off yet. :)

Writing update now.

[JustinM]

May 2010 News and Notes

Milestones
May 11: 3B Alex Rodriguez (NYY), 2500th Hit
May 17: SS Miguel Tejada (BAL), 300th Home Run
May 21: CF Alfonso Soriano (CHC), 1000th Run
May 28: 3B Scott Rolen (NYY), 300th Home Run
May 28: RF Jermaine Dye (CHW), 1000th Run

Trades
MAY 4, 2010
Cubs receive John Lackey (SP), Will Tennyson (SS) and Jose Arredondo (SP)
Angels receive Neal Cotts (CL), Jeff Weaver (SP), Akinori Otsuka (RP), Aramis Ramirez (3B), Sean Modzinski (SS), Ron English (RP), Mark Reed (C) and Jae Seo (SP)
The Cubbies got a decent pitcher, a marginal infield prospect, and a **** pitcher in exchange for a few washed up pitchers, a couple pointless prospects and Aramis Ramirez, who for some reason has only been playing half time for the past few seasons in Chicago. Scott Moore is his replacement, but he's not much of a replacement if you ask me.

MAY 11, 2010
Dodgers receive Freddy Garcia (SP), Fabio Castro (SP) and Joe Bisenius (RP)
Phillies receive Chad Billingsley (SP), Takashi Saito (CL), Larry Bigbie (LF), Chris Ray (RP) and Greg Miller (SP)
The key player going to the Dodgers in this trade isn't Garcia; he's finished after sustaining a horrible broken wrist in 2009. The key player is Fabio Castro. Going the other way? Probably Chris Ray, though I'm not sure.

MAY 13, 2010
Indians receive Brett Sinkbeil (SP) and Carlos Martinez (RP)
Marlins receive Wyatt Toregas (C) and Josh Kinney (RP)

Pirate Contract Stuff
nothing to report

Significant Injuries
May 4: RF Lastings Milledge (NYM), four months with a broken hip
May 7: RF Mike Cuddyer (MIN), three months with a broken hip
May 11: SP Matt Garza (MIN), four months with severe elbow tendonitis
May 13: RF Josh Hamilton (CIN), four weeks with a wrist stress fracture
May 13: 3B Andy LaRoche (PIT), three months with a broken hip
May 13: SP Jake Peavy (SDP), three months with a broken elbow
May 21: 2B Omar Infante (DET), four weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
May 23: 2B Howie Kendrick (LAA), four weeks with a stretched knee ligament
May 25: SS Brian Bixler (PIT), nine months with a broken wrist
May 26: CF Grady Sizemore (CLE), nine months with a severed knee ligament
May 26: SP Chien-Ming Wang (NYY), six months with a broken neck vertebra
May 26: SP Kevin Millwood (TEX), four months with severe elbow tendonitis
May 27: RF Shane Costa (KCR), eight weeks with a dislocated hip
May 27: SP Andy Pettitte (MIN), six months with a broken wrist (he's a goner)
May 27: RP Jeremy Accardo (TOR), eight months with a severed knee ligament
May 28: SP Kyle Kendrick (PHI), four weeks with a broken finger
May 28: SP Andrew Sisco (CHW), four weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
May 28: 2B Rickie Weeks (MIL), three months with a torn knee ligament
May 29: 2B Callix Crabbe (MIL), three months with a broken elbow
May 29: SP Ian Snell (PIT), four months with severe elbow tendonitis

Retirements
RP Travis Hughes (BOS) retires at age 31
RP Tom Gordon (PHI) retires at age 42
RP Brian Meadows (free agent) retires at age 34
SP Tomo Ohka (free agent) retires at age 34
SP Mark Redman (NYY) retires at age 36
RP Takashi Saito (PHI) retires at age 40

[JustinM]

Well, what goes around, comes around. After feeling sorry for years about other people's stars going down for the count and watching Adam LaRoche fall in April, we got hit with the injury bug pretty bad in May. Adam's brother Andy went first, gone for half the season. Then it was Brian Bixler's turn (not a huge deal, but we still have to compensate somehow), out for the rest of the season. Then, to add, well, injury to injury, ace starter Ian Snell's elbow swelled up like a cantaloupe, and he'll be done until October. Oh, and Corey Hart, one of my best players in April, missed a week and a half with a twisted knee.

Now that I've stopped whining, the team went 14-14 in May for a 28-24 total record, two games behind the Astros, who picked a great month to go 11-17.


2010 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 52 .318 220 70 16 5 3 21 42 3 5 40 25 .477 .382
Valbuena, Luis PIT 49 .321 190 61 13 0 4 17 27 1 2 26 34 .453 .373
DeWitt, Blake PIT 46 .284 183 52 11 0 6 9 21 0 0 30 30 .443 .318
Granderson, Curtis PIT 46 .273 176 48 8 2 10 10 46 2 2 31 36 .511 .318
Hart, Corey PIT 37 .357 126 45 10 3 3 11 23 0 0 25 16 .556 .406
Hundley, Nick PIT 34 .306 124 38 11 0 4 18 18 0 0 18 16 .492 .392
LaRoche, Andy PIT 32 .261 119 31 4 0 5 13 27 0 0 15 17 .420 .324
Pearce, Steven PIT 31 .259 112 29 11 1 3 11 25 0 0 19 20 .455 .323
Paulino, Ronny PIT 30 .250 92 23 7 0 3 5 17 0 0 10 16 .424 .300
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 28 .198 91 18 1 1 1 5 14 3 0 12 6 .264 .240
LaRoche, Adam PIT 24 .295 88 26 3 2 5 14 20 0 0 18 20 .545 .388
Walker, Neil PIT 15 .271 59 16 3 1 1 4 11 0 0 6 8 .407 .317
Duffy, Chris PIT 25 .353 51 18 5 1 0 2 6 0 1 7 9 .490 .375
Bixler, Brian PIT 17 .265 49 13 4 2 0 3 11 0 0 6 4 .429 .302
Snell, Ian PIT 11 .080 25 2 1 0 0 0 12 0 0 2 2 .120 .074
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 11 .143 21 3 1 0 0 2 5 0 0 1 2 .190 .217
Lincoln, Brad PIT 11 .158 19 3 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 1 2 .158 .200
Duke, Zach PIT 8 .167 18 3 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 1 3 .167 .211
Maholm, Paul PIT 11 .118 17 2 0 0 0 2 9 0 0 0 2 .118 .211
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 5 .133 15 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 1 .133 .188
Kelly, Don PIT 2 .125 8 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 .125 .125
Carlin, Michael PIT 4 .250 8 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 .375 .250
Smith, Joe PIT 22 .667 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 .667
Van Benschoten, John PIT 16 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Felix, Mike PIT 17 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Soria, Joakim PIT 16 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Davidson, Dave PIT 20 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

With Snell out basically for good, Van Benschoten will be moved to the rotation. His ERA has dropped while Brad Lincoln's ballooned back up to where I figured it would be. Joe Smith is still doing really well with 2 earned runs (3 total) in 25.1 innings.


2010 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Lincoln, Brad PIT 75.1 4.06 11 11 6 3 0 44 19 11.11
Snell, Ian PIT 70.1 2.82 11 11 5 3 0 60 20 10.49
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 68.2 4.46 11 11 5 4 0 55 22 13.11
Maholm, Paul PIT 62.0 5.81 11 11 3 6 0 38 23 16.98
Duke, Zach PIT 49.1 5.29 8 8 3 2 0 31 16 14.59
Van Benschoten, John PIT 27.1 3.62 16 0 1 0 0 18 11 12.84
Smith, Joe PIT 25.1 0.71 22 0 0 0 1 25 8 8.88
Capps, Matt PIT 22.2 4.37 20 0 0 2 0 10 0 10.32
Felix, Mike PIT 21.0 5.14 17 0 0 2 0 17 6 16.29
Davidson, Dave PIT 20.2 2.18 20 0 4 0 1 23 5 10.45
Soria, Joakim PIT 16.0 3.94 16 0 1 2 12 11 3 9.00

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - .413
Homers: Andy Marte (CLE) and Wladimir Balentien (SEA) - 16
RBIs: Prince Fielder (NYY) - 49
Doubles: Delmon Young (TBD) - 20
Triples: Joaquin Arias (TEX) - 5
Stolen Bases: Willy Taveras (BAL) - 21
Slugging Pct.: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - .675
On Base Pct.: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - .472
OPS: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - 1.147
Wins: four tied at 7
Earned Run Avg.: Adam Loewen (BAL) - 2.55
Strikeouts: Johan Santana (BOS) - 63
Opponent BA: Jeremy Haynes (LAA) - .205
Shutouts: nine tied at 1
Saves: Joel Zumaya (DET) and Scot Shields (LAA) - 14

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - .372
Homers: Adam Dunn (CIN) and Ryan Howard (PHI) - 14
RBIs: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 47
Doubles: four tied at 16 (including Andrew McCutchen [PIT])
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 6
Stolen Bases: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - 17
Slugging Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .710
On Base Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .462
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.172
Wins: Matt Cain (SFG) - 7
Earned Run Avg.: Matt Cain (SFG) - 2.31
Strikeouts: Shane Lindsay (COL) - 81
Opponent BA: Justin Orenduff (LAD) - .197
Shutouts: Ian Kennedy (MIL) - 2
Saves: Osiris Matos (SFG) - 21

[JustinM]

June 2010 News and Notes

Milestones
June 2: SS Rafael Furcal (LAD), 1000th Run
June 3: 1B Derrek Lee (CHC), 300th Home Run
June 14: C Gerald Laird (TEX), 22-Game Hitting Streak
June 17: SS Jason Smith (TOR), Hit For The Cycle
June 21: 3B Hank Blalock (TEX), 25-Game Hitting Streak
June 27: LF Carl Crawford (TBD), 21-Game Hitting Streak
June 30: CF Alfonso Soriano (CHC), 300th Steal

Trades
JUNE 4, 2010
Nationals receive Young-Il Jung (SP)
Angels receive Nick Swisher (1B)
Jung is a really solid prospect not eligible for arbitration until 2013, while Nick Swisher in 2010 is still the Nick Swisher he was in 2005 and 2006, making $6.7M per year. You do the math. The Nats are now playing a 24-year-old Jose Coronado at short, as they watch their offensive output fall through the floor.

JUNE 28, 2010
Reds receive Josh Stinson (SP), Carlo Quintanalr (RP) and Mat Franzwa (RP)
Blue Jays receive Josh Hamilton (RF)
Cincy just gave up on the season, I guess. I suppose that's reasonable, being 11 games out at the end of June. Toronto's in the thick of the AL East and the AL Wild Card races, so Hamilton should help if he can stay healthy the rest of the season.

Pirate Contract Stuff
Extended RP Joakim Soria through 2012 for $3.0M/yr (He's been the most stable member of the bullpen for me in the last two seasons, so I see no reason not to lock him up through his arbitration years.)

Significant Injuries
June 2: 2B Brandon Phillips (CIN), four weeks with a broken collarbone
June 2: 3B Adrian Beltre (FLA), four weeks with a separated shoulder
June 3: SP Brandon Claussen (CIN), five weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
June 6: 3B Wilson Betemit (LAD), two months with a broken forearm
June 8: CF Jon Jay (STL), six weeks with a dislocated hip
June 15: 2B Miguel Cairo (COL), six months with a severed knee ligament
June 17: RP Jon Rauch (OAK), five months with a broken neck vertebra
June 18: 2B Josh Barfield (CLE), four weeks with a broken finger
June 18: RP Trevor Hoffman (OAK), five weeks with an inflamed rotator cuff
June 19: C Victor Martinez (CLE), seven months with a broken wrist
June 20: CF Rocco Baldelli (TBD), five weeks with a dislocated hip
June 24: 3B Joe Crede (CHW), five weeks with ruptured knee ligaments
June 24: 3B Andy Marte (CLE), five weeks with a torn quadriceps
June 26: RF Carlos Quentin (ARI), two months with a broken forearm
June 27: LF Eddy Martinez-Estevez (FLA), seven months with a torn achilles tendon
June 29: 2B Mark Reynolds (ARI), four weeks with a broken finger

Retirements
1B Josh Phelps (free agent) retires at age 32
SS Chris Gomez (free agent) retires at age 39

Amateur Draft
1. RF Nate Hooker (62/89)
2. 3B Ryan Campbell (63/80)
3. LF Gordie Williams (54/84)
4. RP Toby Griesck (50/81)
5. SP Dave Comrie (48/79)
6. SP Vince Alvis (48/71)

I chose 25th this season. First overall was RP Russ McCarthy to the White Sox, for future reference.

Speaking of future reference...

Former First-Round Draft Picks
2007: SP Zack Storan (Devil Rays) is now in his first season pitching in Tampa's AA affiliate, the Montgomery Biscuits. He's 6-2 in 14 starts with a 3.31 ERA. His utter lack of control and movement will likely keep him from reaching the majors, as his power rating won't be enough to push him into the realm of competence. Of course, he's doing reasonably well at AA, so who knows.
2008: RP Nick Derrick (Nationals) is now in his third season in the majors for Washington. He has appeared in 16 games so far in 2010, going 1-1 with a 6.16 ERA in 19 innings pitched. His last 8 games were actually in the minors, but they brought him back up again on draft day after some injuries in their pen.
2009: RP Aaron Jones (Royals), like Derrick, jumped directly to the major leagues. This kid, however, might actually stick. Even at just 18 years old, he's blowing pitches past major-league batters, striking out 21 batters against 3 walks in 16.1 innings this season, and 30 strikeouts against 9 walks in 2009 in 31.1 innings. It's not what I'd have done, but who am I to judge?

[JustinM]

The team went 16-11 in June to finish the month with a 44-35 record, but it's certainly not because of the offensive output coming from my third base and second base positions. Walker and DeWitt--especially Walker--have been slowly killing the offense every time out. Worse is that I don't have a credible replacement for either one of them. I could put Corey Hart at third base and that would be okay, but then I'd have a huge platoon disadvantage in the outfield when Curtis Granderson has to try to figure out how to hit lefties. His OPS against RHPs is .853 with 11 HR in 226 AB; his OPS against LHPs is .575 with 1 HR in 48 AB.


2010 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 79 .327 330 108 26 6 4 28 67 3 5 64 54 .479 .385
Valbuena, Luis PIT 76 .289 294 85 23 0 5 27 43 1 2 42 47 .418 .346
DeWitt, Blake PIT 72 .259 282 73 15 0 9 24 39 0 0 46 43 .408 .317
Granderson, Curtis PIT 71 .277 274 76 11 3 12 22 64 2 2 47 44 .471 .333
Hundley, Nick PIT 59 .321 224 72 21 1 5 27 35 0 0 37 29 .491 .390
Hart, Corey PIT 58 .305 210 64 13 3 6 22 43 1 0 39 25 .481 .372
LaRoche, Adam PIT 48 .273 165 45 8 2 6 25 28 0 0 25 28 .455 .364
Pearce, Steven PIT 47 .292 154 45 16 1 4 13 31 0 0 25 30 .487 .343
Paulino, Ronny PIT 46 .269 130 35 10 0 5 7 22 0 0 17 25 .462 .314
Duffy, Chris PIT 46 .310 129 40 7 2 1 9 20 0 2 19 24 .419 .359
LaRoche, Andy PIT 32 .261 119 31 4 0 5 13 27 0 0 15 17 .420 .324
Walker, Neil PIT 30 .248 117 29 4 1 3 8 21 0 0 13 21 .376 .291
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 32 .206 97 20 1 1 1 5 16 3 0 13 6 .268 .245
Bixler, Brian PIT 17 .265 49 13 4 2 0 3 11 0 0 6 4 .429 .302
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 16 .206 34 7 1 0 0 2 11 0 0 1 3 .235 .250
Lincoln, Brad PIT 15 .103 29 3 0 0 0 1 13 0 0 2 2 .103 .133
Maholm, Paul PIT 15 .154 26 4 0 0 0 2 12 0 0 0 4 .154 .214
Snell, Ian PIT 11 .080 25 2 1 0 0 0 12 0 0 2 2 .120 .074
Duke, Zach PIT 12 .125 24 3 0 0 0 1 9 0 0 1 4 .125 .160
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 9 .087 23 2 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 1 1 .087 .125
Kelly, Don PIT 4 .100 10 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 .100 .100
Van Benschoten, John PIT 20 .300 10 3 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 .400 .364
Carlin, Michael PIT 4 .250 8 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 .375 .250
Davis, Rajai PIT 2 .250 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .250 .250
Smith, Joe PIT 36 .667 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 .667
Soria, Joakim PIT 26 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Felix, Mike PIT 23 .500 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Scheetz, Colby PIT 6 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Alexander, Mark PIT 7 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Davidson, Dave PIT 33 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

Having a rotation like mine is now, where the best ERA in the bunch is 4.31, the best I can hope for in most cases is 6 solid innings before I yank the starter and leave it to the bullpen to keep things in check. Luckily, more often than not, that's worked out just fine. Note the bullpen ERAs from the main 5 pitchers there: Capps, Soria, Davidson, Felix, and Smith. Those guys, and not so much the starters, are responsible for keeping the team in the games we win.


2010 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Lincoln, Brad PIT 110.2 4.31 16 16 9 5 0 62 29 11.63
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 106.1 4.91 17 17 6 6 0 90 34 13.03
Maholm, Paul PIT 92.2 5.24 16 16 6 7 0 61 30 15.25
Duke, Zach PIT 79.2 5.31 13 13 5 3 0 50 26 14.46
Snell, Ian PIT 70.1 2.82 11 11 5 3 0 60 20 10.49
Van Benschoten, John PIT 58.1 5.09 22 5 3 2 0 46 26 14.04
Smith, Joe PIT 37.1 2.41 36 0 1 1 2 30 12 11.81
Davidson, Dave PIT 34.1 3.93 33 0 6 1 1 38 14 13.89
Capps, Matt PIT 30.2 3.82 29 0 0 2 0 16 2 12.33
Felix, Mike PIT 28.1 3.81 23 0 0 2 0 22 10 14.93
Soria, Joakim PIT 25.2 3.51 26 1 2 2 19 21 7 10.17
Scheetz, Colby PIT 16.1 4.96 6 0 1 0 0 6 4 13.78
Alexander, Mark PIT 11.0 5.73 7 0 0 1 0 14 2 11.45

The number of Pirates on the leaderboards for various stats is growing, but fewer are showing up on my list here as more statistical ties are broken. Most surprising, perhaps, is Yoslan Herrera's 90 strikeouts being good enough to show up in 10th place on that particular list. For a very mediocre pitcher with a pretty questionable Power rating, he's been fanning people very regularly so far, enough even that I noticed while playing the games that it seems a little more often than I'd expect from him.

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - .389
Homers: Troy Glaus (TOR) and Wladimir Balentien (SEA) - 23
RBIs: Jeff Francoeur (TEX) - 72
Doubles: Cameron Maybin (DET) - 26
Triples: Joaquin Arias (TEX) - 7
Stolen Bases: Willy Taveras (BAL) - 26
Slugging Pct.: Alex Gordon (KCR) - .630
On Base Pct.: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - .440
OPS: Alex Gordon (KCR) - 1.043
Wins: Jeremy Bonderman (DET) and Derek Lowe (TOR) - 10
Earned Run Avg.: Jeremy Haynes (LAA) - 3.06
Strikeouts: Adam Wainwright (DET) - 94
Opponent BA: Adam Wainwright (DET) - .210
Shutouts: thirteen tied at 1
Saves: Joel Zumaya (DET) and Scot Shields (LAA) - 21

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Yunel Escobar (ATL) - .354
Homers: Adam Dunn (CIN) - 26
RBIs: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 66
Doubles: Robinson Cano (NYM) - 30
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 7
Stolen Bases: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - 24
Slugging Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .692
On Base Pct.: Ryan Howard (PHI) - .457
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.149
Wins: Justin Germano (PHI) - 10
Earned Run Avg.: Justin Germano (PHI) - 2.58
Strikeouts: Jeff Samardzija (CHC) - 117
Opponent BA: Justin Orenduff (LAD) - .197
Shutouts: Ian Kennedy (MIL) and Kelvim Escobar (ATL) - 2
Saves: Osiris Matos (SFG) - 27

[SrMeowMeow]

Nice dynasty, congrats on the playoff appearance. I like your format as well, and I'll be reading.

[JustinM]

Thanks. I can't take all the credit for the format, but I can't remember whose dynasty I stole certain things from now. It's been about a year, after all. :)

[JustinM]

2010 Home Run Showdown

FIRST ROUND (10 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Troy Glaus (TOR) 7
Ryan Howard (PHI) 7
Jeff Francoeur (TEX) 5
Lance Berkman (HOU) 5
Travis Hafner (CLE) 4
Wladimir Balentien (SEA) 4
Alex Gordon (KCR) 4
Chase Utley (PHI) 3
Stephen Drew (ARI) 2
Adam Dunn (CIN) 1

SECOND ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Lance Berkman (HOU) 4
Jeff Francoeur (TEX) 3
Ryan Howard (PHI) 2
Troy Glaus (TOR) 1

FINAL ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
Lance Berkman (HOU) 2
Jeff Francoeur (TEX) 2

EXTRA INNINGS (3 outs)

PLAYER HOMERS
LANCE BERKMAN 2
Jeff Francoeur 1

WINNER: Lance Berkman

And I can't believe it, but I never listed any of the All-Star teams as far as I can see. Here they are now...

2007:

AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Joe Mauer (MIN) 673,255 votes
1B : Justin Morneau (MIN) 846,635
2B : Josh Barfield (CLE) 666,476
3B : Alex Rodriguez (NYY) 987,481
SS : Miguel Tejada (BAL) 791,122
OF : Manny Ramirez (BOS) 1,537,427
OF : Carl Crawford (TBD) 854,391
OF : Grady Sizemore (CLE) 861,682
Bench : Michael Young (TEX)
Bench : Jermaine Dye (CHW)
Bench : Carlos Guillen (DET)
Bench : Mark Grudzielanek (KCR)
Bench : Orlando Cabrera (LAA)
Bench : Richie Sexson (SEA)
Bench : Frank Thomas (TOR)
Pitcher : Rich Harden (OAK)
Pitcher : Andy Pettitte (NYY)
Pitcher : Johan Santana (MIN)
Pitcher : Jake Westbrook (CLE)
Pitcher : Ramon Ortiz (MIN)
Pitcher : Erik Bedard (BAL)
Pitcher : C.C. Sabathia (CLE)
Pitcher : B.J. Ryan (TOR)
Pitcher : Mariano Rivera (NYY)
Pitcher : Kyle Farnsworth (NYY)
Pitcher : Dennys Reyes (MIN)

NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Brian McCann (ATL) 538,419 votes
1B : Albert Pujols (STL) 741,699
2B : Chase Utley (PHI) 856,829
3B : Garrett Atkins (COL) 1,577,849
SS : Jose Reyes (NYM) 754,520
OF : Carlos Beltran (NYM) 987,092
OF : Alfonso Soriano (CHC) 799,958
OF : Barry Bonds (SFG) 753,087
Bench : Jack Wilson (PIT)
Bench : Stephen Drew (ARI)
Bench : Hanley Ramirez (FLA)
Bench : Jeff Kent (LAD)
Bench : Ron Belliard (WSN)
Bench : Rod Barajas (PHI)
Pitcher : Bronson Arroyo (CIN)
Pitcher : Woody Williams (HOU)
Pitcher : Dave Bush (MIL)
Pitcher : Jake Peavy (SDP)
Pitcher : Paul Maholm (PIT)
Pitcher : Chris Young (SDP)
Pitcher : Roy Oswalt (HOU)
Pitcher : Francisco Cordero (MIL)
Pitcher : Jorge Julio (CIN)
Pitcher : Billy Wagner (NYM)
Pitcher : Chan Ho Park (NYM)

2008:

AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Ivan Rodriguez (BOS) 813,387 votes
1B : Justin Morneau (MIN) 839,733
2B : Dustin Pedroia (BOS) 830,425
3B : Garrett Atkins (BOS) 922,938
SS : Derek Jeter (NYY) 883,167
OF : Carl Crawford (TBD) 1,155,520
OF : Rocco Baldelli (TBD) 733,881
OF : Mark Teahen (BOS) 720,660
Bench : Miguel Tejada (BAL)
Bench : Juan Uribe (CHW)
Bench : Josh Barfield (CLE)
Bench : Carlos Guillen (DET)
Bench : Barry Bonds (KCR)
Bench : Sean Rodriguez (LAA)
Bench : Ian Kinsler (TEX)
Bench : Troy Glaus (TOR)
Pitcher : Rich Harden (OAK)
Pitcher : Felix Hernandez (SEA)
Pitcher : Johan Santana (MIN)
Pitcher : Francisco Liriano (MIN)
Pitcher : Jeremy Bonderman (DET)
Pitcher : Jake Westbrook (CLE)
Pitcher : Kevin Millwood (TEX)
Pitcher : Scott Proctor (NYY)
Pitcher : Jeremy Accardo (TOR)
Pitcher : Mike MacDougal (CHW)
Pitcher : Fernando Rodney (DET)

NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Michael Barrett (CHC) 601,602 votes
1B : Lance Berkman (HOU) 1,003,191
2B : Chase Utley (PHI) 985,765
3B : Miguel Cabrera (FLA) 1,163,202
SS : Stephen Drew (ARI) 632,499
OF : Carlos Lee (HOU) 1,135,147
OF : Carlos Beltran (NYM) 829,333
OF : Matt Murton (CHC) 790,560
Bench : Albert Pujols (ATL)
Bench : Omar Vizquel (CIN)
Bench : Todd Helton (COL)
Bench : Rafael Furcal (LAD)
Bench : Prince Fielder (MIL)
Bench : Freddy Sanchez (PIT)
Bench : Torii Hunter (SFG)
Bench : Brent Lillibridge (STL)
Bench : Adam Kennedy (WSN)
Pitcher : Jake Peavy (SDP)
Pitcher : Jason Schmidt (LAD)
Pitcher : Greg Maddux (SDP)
Pitcher : Anibal Sanchez (FLA)
Pitcher : Ben Sheets (MIL)
Pitcher : Chris Carpenter (ATL)
Pitcher : John Smoltz (ATL)
Pitcher : Tom Gordon (PHI)
Pitcher : Billy Wagner (NYM)
Pitcher : Trevor Hoffman (SDP)
Pitcher : Rafael Soriano (ATL)

2009:

AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Gerald Laird (TEX) 1,019,969 votes
1B : Mark Teixeira (TEX) 1,314,576
2B : Ian Kinsler (TEX) 1,162,449
3B : Alex Rodriguez (NYY) 1,469,320
SS : Michael Young (TEX) 721,040
OF : Barry Bonds (KCR) 1,153,298
OF : Mark Teahen (BOS) 829,297
OF : Carl Crawford (TBD) 786,737
Bench : Garrett Atkins (BOS)
Bench : Miguel Tejada (BAL)
Bench : Juan Uribe (CHW)
Bench : Josh Barfield (CLE)
Bench : Carlos Guillen (DET)
Bench : Sean Rodriguez (LAA)
Bench : Joe Mauer (MIN)
Bench : Pat Burrell (OAK)
Bench : Clint Barmes (SEA)
Bench : Ray Olmedo (TOR)
Pitcher : Johan Santana (BOS)
Pitcher : Kevin Millwood (TEX)
Pitcher : Joe Nathan (MIN)
Pitcher : C.C. Sabathia (CLE)
Pitcher : Dave Bush (NYY)
Pitcher : Mitch Talbot (TBD)
Pitcher : Chad Gaudin (OAK)
Pitcher : Brian Fuentes (NYY)
Pitcher : Trevor Hoffman (OAK)
Pitcher : Eric Gagne (TEX)
Pitcher : Mariano Rivera (MIN)

NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Brian McCann (ATL) 736,133 votes
1B : Adam LaRoche (PIT) 1,302,275
2B : Freddy Sanchez (PIT) 695,259
3B : Ryan Zimmerman (WSN) 949,459
SS : Stephen Drew (ARI) 758,279
OF : Alfonso Soriano (CHC) 1,735,518
OF : Carlos Beltran (NYM) 911,435
OF : Hunter Pence (HOU) 550,490
Bench : Albert Pujols (ATL)
Bench : Alex Gonzalez (CIN)
Bench : Edwin Encarnacion (COL)
Bench : Miguel Cabrera (FLA)
Bench : Rafael Furcal (LAD)
Bench : Ryan Braun (MIL)
Bench : Jimmy Rollins (PHI)
Bench : Luis Castillo (STL)
Pitcher : Greg Maddux (SDP)
Pitcher : Matt Cain (SFG)
Pitcher : Roy Oswalt (HOU)
Pitcher : Jason Schmidt (LAD)
Pitcher : Micah Owings (ARI)
Pitcher : Barry Zito (SDP)
Pitcher : Jon Garland (SFG)
Pitcher : Kerry Wood (CHC)
Pitcher : Francisco Cordero (NYM)
Pitcher : Dan Wheeler (HOU)
Pitcher : Tom Gordon (PHI)

[JustinM]

Bah, wouldn't fit all in one post...

And 2010:

AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Dioner Navarro (CHW) 1,820,418 votes
1B : Travis Hafner (CLE) 1,049,589
2B : Dustin Pedroia (BOS) 1,378,497
3B : Alex Gordon (KCR) 2,067,327
SS : Miguel Tejada (BAL) 1,194,483
OF : Jeff Francoeur (TEX) 1,024,919
OF : Manny Ramirez (BOS) 1,004,292
OF : Rocco Baldelli (TBD) 808,515
Bench : Troy Glaus (TOR)
Bench : Nick Swisher (LAA)
Bench : Prince Fielder (NYY)
Bench : Ichiro Suzuki (OAK)
Bench : Wladimir Balentien (SEA)
Bench : Joe Mauer (MIN)
Bench : Hank Blalock (TEX)
Bench : Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
Bench : Reid Brignac (TBD)
Bench : Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
Bench : Garrett Atkins (BOS)
Pitcher : Adam Wainwright (DET)
Pitcher : Joe Nathan (MIN)
Pitcher : Jeremy Haynes (LAA)
Pitcher : Felix Hernandez (SEA)
Pitcher : Alan Kaufman (TEX)
Pitcher : Nick Adenhart (LAA)
Pitcher : Kyle McCulloch (CHW)
Pitcher : B.J. Ryan (TOR)
Pitcher : Scott Williamson (BAL)
Pitcher : Joel Zumaya (DET)
Pitcher : Edward Mujica (CLE)

NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL STAR TEAM

C : Carlos Ruiz (PHI) 1,236,152 votes
1B : Ryan Howard (PHI) 1,595,417
2B : Chase Utley (PHI) 2,026,591
3B : Ian Stewart (COL) 1,138,330
SS : Stephen Drew (ARI) 1,407,543
OF : Albert Pujols (ATL) 1,344,928
OF : Adam Dunn (CIN) 1,248,604
OF : Carlos Beltran (NYM) 981,485
Bench : Lance Berkman (HOU)
Bench : Alfonso Soriano (CHC)
Bench : Hanley Ramirez (FLA)
Bench : Andrew McCutchen (PIT)
Bench : Paul McAnulty (SDP)
Bench : Brent Lillibridge (STL)
Bench : Ryan Zimmerman (WSN)
Bench : Todd Helton (COL)
Bench : Miguel Cabrera (SFG)
Bench : Yunel Escobar (ATL)
Pitcher : Justin Orenduff (LAD)
Pitcher : Anthony Reyes (MIL)
Pitcher : Matt Cain (SFG)
Pitcher : Justin Germano (PHI)
Pitcher : Sean Gallagher (CHC)
Pitcher : Aaron Harang (PHI)
Pitcher : Brad Lincoln (PIT)
Pitcher : Derek Lollock (FLA)
Pitcher : Brad Lidge (HOU)
Pitcher : Scott Linebrink (SDP)
Pitcher : Jose Valverde (CHC)
Pitcher : Rafael Betancourt (PHI)

Needless to say, if anyone wants information on any specific player, draft lists, a full list of retirees, whatever, I'll be glad to oblige. Just post your request and I'll get to it when I notice it.

[JustinM]

Okay, crash bug or no crash bug, I've got the home run showdown and 2010 All Stars back. Who'd-a-thunk the home run derby would end with Berkman facing off against Francoeur? Not me!

[JustinM]

July 2010 News and Notes

Milestones
July 6: LF Pat Burrell (WSN), 1000th RBI
July 8: 3B Adrian Beltre (FLA), 1000th RBI
July 20: RP B.J. Ryan (TOR), 200th Save
July 25: CF Andruw Jones (SDP), 2000th Hit

Trades
JULY 18, 2010
Padres receive Hank Conger (C)
Angels receive Adrian Gonzalez (1B)
San Diego gave up on the season, I guess, but that makes sense. They're 18 games out of first place with 69 games to go. That's a hole no team has ever dug itself out of.

JULY 21, 2010
Padres receive Jamie Annesley (SS), Ramon Villanueva (LF), Eli Shane (1B) and John Watkins (RF)
Astros receive Khalil Greene (SS)
The dismantling continues. I don't think this trade was even very good for San Diego.

JULY 23, 2010
Astros receive Chris Young (CF)
Diamondbacks receive Paul Owens (RP)
Well, it's not the Khalil Greene or Adrian Gonzalez deal, but Arizona's given up on their season just the same. My scout thinks Owens is a future closer, so this may turn out interesting at least.

JULY 27, 2010
Nationals receive Ethan Dowdle (RP) and Eric Rosenberg (RP)
Phillies receive Pat Burrell (LF)
Dare I say, this isn't a terrible trade. Burrell's back in Philly, and he's still a good player, but he's expensive and starting to decline--his ability to hit for contact, never really great in the first place, is falling off. In exchange, Washington gets a couple prospects I probably wouldn't have traded for, but might be something someday. Oh, and over $9M off their payroll.

JULY 31, 2010
Padres receive Alejandro Gilbe (LF), Kevin Hogan (SP) and Tom Cook (SP)
Blue Jays receive Cla Meredith (RP)
The Blue Jays now have a great setup guy to go along with closer B.J. Ryan. Hopefully they're planning on meaning business, as they're half a game back in the AL East, but they didn't exactly mortgage the future to get him.

Pirate Contract Stuff
nothing to report

Significant Injuries
July 2: 1B Nick Johnson (KCR), three months with a broken hip
July 4: LF Jayson Werth (PHI), two months with a torn elbow ligament
July 7: 1B Conor Jackson (ARI), four weeks with a separated shoulder
July 7: SP Justin Orenduff (LAD), eight months with a severed knee ligament
July 9: 2B Adam Kennedy (WSN), seven months with a severed knee ligament
July 10: C Ivan Rodriguez (LAD), five weeks with a stretched knee ligament
July 18: RP Kyle Ginley (LAA), seven weeks with a broken forearm
July 22: RP Brad Halsey (WSN), fifteen months with a torn rotator cuff
July 22: SP Sean Gallagher (CHC), five weeks with a dislocated hip
July 26: RP J.D. Martin (CLE), eleven months with a torn rotator cuff
July 27: SP Carlos Zambrano (NYM), two months with a broken tibia
July 28: SS Jose Coronado (WSN), six weeks with a dislocated hip
July 29: SP Greg Maddux (ARI), four weeks with a broken collarbone
July 29: SP Noah Lowry (FLA), four weeks with a separated shoulder
July 29: SP Yovani Gallardo (MIL), seven weeks with a dislocated hip
July 29: RP Billy Wagner (NYM), four months with severe elbow tendonitis
July 29: RF Delmon Young (TBD), thirteen months with a torn rotator cuff
July 31: C Curtis Thigpen (TOR), two months with a fractured skull

Retirements
RF Geoff Jenkins retires at age 35
RP Jorge Sosa retires at age 33
SP Mark Hendrickson retires at age 36
RP Javier Lopez retires at age 33
1B Mike Sweeney retires at age 37

[JustinM]

Well, we went 16-10 in July, putting us at 60-45 on the season, but we're still one game behind the Astros in the NL Central. As much as my offense is anemic, I have to give credit to my rookie middle infielders. Blake DeWitt and Luis Valbuena are comporting themselves quite well for being 24-year-old greenhorns.


2010 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP
McCutchen, Andrew PIT 103 .314 427 134 30 7 7 35 84 4 5 78 66 .466 .369
Valbuena, Luis PIT 102 .308 393 121 32 1 6 38 53 1 2 56 68 .440 .367
DeWitt, Blake PIT 96 .278 374 104 21 1 12 34 54 0 0 63 60 .436 .340
Granderson, Curtis PIT 92 .272 356 97 19 6 12 29 84 2 2 58 51 .461 .329
Hart, Corey PIT 84 .292 315 92 17 4 11 33 53 1 0 66 36 .476 .366
LaRoche, Adam PIT 72 .252 266 67 13 2 11 30 50 0 0 39 42 .440 .326
Hundley, Nick PIT 74 .311 264 82 23 1 6 32 44 0 0 44 33 .473 .382
Walker, Neil PIT 55 .243 210 51 6 1 6 11 40 0 0 20 35 .367 .277
Paulino, Ronny PIT 67 .293 205 60 16 1 6 13 35 0 0 30 37 .468 .339
Pearce, Steven PIT 67 .294 187 55 19 1 4 16 36 0 0 27 33 .471 .346
Duffy, Chris PIT 62 .290 169 49 8 3 2 10 24 1 2 22 32 .408 .335
LaRoche, Andy PIT 32 .261 119 31 4 0 5 13 27 0 0 15 17 .420 .324
Oeltjen, Trent PIT 35 .202 99 20 1 1 1 5 16 3 0 13 6 .263 .240
Bixler, Brian PIT 17 .265 49 13 4 2 0 3 11 0 0 6 4 .429 .302
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 21 .227 44 10 1 0 0 4 13 0 0 4 4 .250 .292
Lincoln, Brad PIT 21 .071 42 3 0 0 0 2 21 0 0 2 2 .071 .114
Duke, Zach PIT 17 .118 34 4 0 0 0 1 14 0 0 1 4 .118 .143
DeCaster, Yurendell PIT 13 .121 33 4 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 3 1 .121 .171
Maholm, Paul PIT 20 .121 33 4 0 0 0 3 17 0 0 0 4 .121 .194
Snell, Ian PIT 11 .080 25 2 1 0 0 0 12 0 0 2 2 .120 .074
Kelly, Don PIT 8 .188 16 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 1 .188 .278
Van Benschoten, John PIT 25 .273 11 3 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 2 0 .364 .333
Carlin, Michael PIT 4 .250 8 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 .375 .250
Jurrjens, Jair PIT 3 .000 6 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 .000 .000
Scheetz, Colby PIT 10 .000 5 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Davis, Rajai PIT 2 .250 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .250 .250
Smith, Joe PIT 50 .500 4 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .750 .500
Soria, Joakim PIT 35 .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Felix, Mike PIT 33 .333 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333 .333
Alexander, Mark PIT 7 .000 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Davidson, Dave PIT 43 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000

My rotation continues to be a question mark, but I recently moved John Van Benschoten back to the mop-up role in the bullpen, demoting Colby Scheetz to make room for Jair Jurrjens, who I hope continues to pitch as decently as he has been. Brad Lincoln's been doing well lately also.


2010 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9
Lincoln, Brad PIT 150.2 4.18 22 22 14 5 0 86 36 11.47
Herrera, Yoslan PIT 139.2 4.58 22 22 9 6 0 113 41 12.11
Maholm, Paul PIT 117.1 5.60 21 21 7 9 0 81 43 15.72
Duke, Zach PIT 112.2 4.55 18 18 6 6 0 69 37 14.14
Van Benschoten, John PIT 74.0 5.96 27 7 3 4 0 59 35 14.47
Snell, Ian PIT 70.1 2.82 11 11 5 3 0 60 20 10.49
Smith, Joe PIT 50.0 2.16 50 0 3 2 2 37 18 11.34
Davidson, Dave PIT 45.1 3.18 43 0 6 2 1 48 17 12.11
Capps, Matt PIT 42.2 3.16 42 0 1 2 2 24 2 10.55
Felix, Mike PIT 39.1 4.35 33 0 0 2 0 27 15 14.87
Soria, Joakim PIT 36.2 2.95 35 1 2 2 25 28 8 8.59
Scheetz, Colby PIT 28.2 4.40 10 0 2 0 0 13 8 13.81
Jurrjens, Jair PIT 18.2 3.86 3 3 2 1 0 11 3 12.54
Alexander, Mark PIT 11.0 5.73 7 0 0 1 0 14 2 11.45

AMERICAN
Batting Avg.: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - .362
Homers: Troy Glaus (TOR) - 30
RBIs: Alex Gordon (KCR) - 86
Doubles: Kevin Youkilis (BOS) - 30
Triples: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 9
Stolen Bases: Willy Taveras (BAL) - 36
Slugging Pct.: Alex Gordon (KCR) - .591
On Base Pct.: Dioner Navarro (CHW) - .419
OPS: Alex Gordon (KCR) - .978
Wins: Jeremy Bonderman (DET) - 14
Earned Run Avg.: Jeremy Haynes (LAA) - 2.69
Strikeouts: Ben Sheets (BOS) - 123
Opponent BA: Jeremy Haynes (LAA) - .202
Shutouts: fourteen tied at 1
Saves: Joel Zumaya (DET) - 31

NATIONAL
Batting Avg.: Yunel Escobar (ATL) - .352
Homers: Adam Dunn (CIN) - 30
RBIs: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 83
Doubles: Robinson Cano (NYM) - 41
Triples: Jose Reyes (NYM) - 11
Stolen Bases: Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - 27
Slugging Pct.: Chase Utley (PHI) - .638
On Base Pct.: Lance Berkman (HOU) - .451
OPS: Ryan Howard (PHI) - 1.068
Wins: Justin Germano (PHI) and Brad Lincoln (PIT) - 14
Earned Run Avg.: Sean Gallagher (CHC) - 2.69
Strikeouts: Jeff Samardzija (CHC) - 155
Opponent BA: Justin Orenduff (LAD) - .194
Shutouts: Ian Kennedy (MIL) and Kelvim Escobar (ATL) - 2
Saves: Brad Lidge (HOU) - 35

Pirates in the top 10 in various statistics, since I think they deserve recognition even if they're not a leader...

Doubles: Luis Valbuena (32, 5th), Andrew McCutchen (30, 7th)
Triples: Andrew McCutchen (7, tied for 2nd), Curtis Granderson (6, tied for 4th)
Strikeouts: Yoslan Herrera (113, 10th)
Save: Joakim Soria (25, tied for 8th)