Moving Out:The Pittsburgh/Portland Pirates (2004)

[dannymac910]

Like the format. IMO, it's much better than the slew of box scores you posted for your first season!

However, what is the ultimate goal of this franchise? I know that you said the Pirates are moving to Portland, but are you trying to sabotage the team or just move them to better the franchise.?

I'm trying to build the team up so we can make a serious run for the WS in the 2008 season, but I wanna make sure I have enough money to build a nice stadium because I want to turn this team into the Yankees/Red Sox/Mets type of team.

[dannymac910]

Sanchez Out For 4 Months After Spring Training Injury

Well this is a real tough pill to swallow. Freddy Sanchez will be out for at least 110 days with a broken fibula. Freddy's our best hitter and a very good defensive second baseman, but the thing that really hurts us is the fact that we don't really have a replacement for him. The best guy we have is Bobby Hill who will take over until we can find a possible replacement. I'm thinking about going to the trading block but I don't think Freddy's going to be out long enough for me to do that, and there's absolutely no one fit for the spot in free agency except Pokey Reese and he just won't fit. After this I went and put a whole buttload of money into my medical staff and took a bunch out of my farm seeing as I don't have many prospects left.

[JeepGuy63]

Sanchez Out For 4 Months After Spring Training Injury.

Ouch.

[dannymac910]

2006 Season Preview

After a disappointing season last year we are looking to make the playoffs this year. I really felt we had a chance last year but injuries hampered us all year long. This year our younger players improved and were looking to make a big impact this year. Hopefully our power numbers can go up seeing as our team leader last year was a 37 year old with 15 home runs. And now with Webb I feel we can win 10 more just because of his impact.

Line-up


1. Juan Pierre 87/90 CF

Juan has led the league in stolen bases for the past 2 years, once with the Pirates. Although his OBP is a bit low for a lead-off hitter and only had 25 extra base hits all last season. The upside is every time he hits a single it turns into an extra base with his stealing ability. Juan and Freddy Sanchez were the perfect couple with Sanchez's high average which led to his 95 RBI's.

2. Kendry Morales 69/85 1B

After Much debate on weather to start Morales or Eldred I decided to put in Morales. Although Eldred had better ratings, Morales' minor league stats were incredible hitting .350 in the past 2 seasons in AAA and after a spring where he hit .400 I knew that I had to start him. Kendry has a very good eye and can hit so he will fit well in the #2 spot.

3. Jack Wilson 85 SS

Winning his 2nd Gold Glove and 2nd All-Star Game in a row Wilson has to take over the #3 spot that was occupied by Sanchez until his injury. Wilson has batted well the past 2 years with a .292 average in both years. He doesn't have a lot of power so that should give Bay and Branyan a chance to knock in most of the runs.

4. Jason Bay 90/93 LF

After an extremely injury plagued 2005 in which Bay only played 64 games, Jason looks to come back with a big season in the cleanup spot. In those 64 games Bay had an OBP of .425 I feel it's the perfect spot as it will give a chance for Branyan to hit his homers and get a whole bunch of RBI's at the same time.

5. Russell Branyan 80 3B

After a disappointing season in which he hit only 14 homers and was injured most of the season, Branyan looks to return to his 2004 form in which he hit 44 home runs. Branyan's not a very good defensive player, more of a DH but I'll keep him for when we move to the AL west and stick him there.

6. Rob Mackowiak 84 RF

The third player in a row that had a season in which he was all banged up. Rob needs to become the power hitter he was in 2004. Rob is a utility player and if Branyan goes down we can move him to 3B and stick McClouth in RF. Another thing to notice is Mackowiak is a better fielder than Branyan so it will work out if Branyan goes down which is inevitable.

7. Ronny Paulino 81/82 C

Paulino had an impressive start to his rookie season last year but came back to reality and ended the season with a .240 average and a .301 OBP. Paulino is a great defensive catcher with a great arm and great handling. Hopefully Paulino can hit a little bit better than last year.

8. Bobby Hill 76/77 2B

Well Hill's all I really have to replace Sanchez, so here goes nothing. Hill has a pretty good eye and doesn't hit that bad so it can't hurt that bad to have him in the 8 spot. He's a great fielder so he won't be a liability at 2B. Hopefully he can play well so I won't have to dip into the trading block for a solution.

Ready to Come Up


Brad Eldred 77/88 1B

If Morales fails the first half of the season then Eldred will come up and replace him. He batted .290 last year in the 94 games he played so it won't be that hard to stick him in there.

Starting Rotation


1. Brandon Webb 92

Our big ace pitcher that we got in the middle of the year is going to get his first full season as a Pirate. Webb had a great ERA of about 3.50 and 161 strikeouts. Hopefully he can be a 20 game winner and lead the team to it's first postseason in a while. He's our first big game pitcher we've had so it should be fun to watch him work this year.

2. Oliver Perez 90/93

Our big strikeout pitcher. Perez was our ace for half of last year but proved he couldn't take on other big game pitchers as it seemed he couldn't win any games last year. He was the MLB leader in strikeouts in 2004 and 2nd to Mark Prior in 2005.

3. Joaquin Benoit 82

Benoit pitched great last year since being converted from the bullpen to a starter and is one of our few RHP. Winning 13 games with an ERA of 3.97. Fans have given Benoit the nickname "Wolverine" for his aggressive style of pitching. Benoit's fastball is still being clocked at 94 MPH and is one of his best weapons.

4. Paul Maholm 87/89

Maholm pitched well in his rookie season with an ERA around 4 and is looking to improve greatly this season. Maholm says his main goal is to win 15 games this season and move up in the rotation. Maholm has a nice repertoire of 4 pitches and know how to use them to strikeout batters. Maholm is one of the 3 lefties in the rotation.

5. Zack Duke 85

Duke had a very solid season in 2005 and went 11-10 with a 4.28 ERA. His only problem is being a lefty. If he underachieves be the trade deadline he will most likely be traded to put Snell into the rotation.

Ready to Come Up


Ian Snell 82/85

Our only prospect pitcher ready to come up to the show may replace Duke to give the righties an advantage. Snell had a lackluster season last year but has improved for the new season and his main goal is to make the rotation.

[dannymac910]

April 2006 Review

Season Record 14-8
April Record 14-8

Injuries

Jason Bay went out for a week, but it was no big deal so hopefully he can stay healthy.

Russell Branyan went out for 12 days with a pulled groin. Branyan has gotten off to a good start with 4 homers. Maybe he can have another 40 HR season.

Our 2005 6th round pick Nick Popp will be out for a month. Nick has developed more than I thought he would and he might earn the long reliever spot in the future.

Team Notes

• Juan Pierre is hitting .454 yes I said .454!! He also has 22 stolen bases and is in a contract year. Maybe a nice fat extension is coming Juan's way? We'll anyway we really need him to keep this up, but of course we can't expect him to hit .400 all year we do need him to have a .400 OBP.
  
• Paul Maholm has gotten off to a hot start going 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA. Maholm had a great year last year so I'm hoping he can rise up and become a team leader.
  
• Webb has had an average April with a 2-2 record and an ERA in the 4's. Webb's been striking out guys so I think he can snap out of it and return to his Cy Young form.
  
• Kendry Morales has had a slow start to his career with a .233 average but his OBP is still in the .300's so I believe he can snap out of it.

Prospect Watch

[dannymac910]

Kendry Morales Out For a Month

May 3rd, 2006-Kendry Morales will be out for 33 days with a fractured eye bone. He was hit in the eye by a Jack Wilson throw to first, and Wilson is known to have a cannon at short. The rookie Morales has never been a good fielder at first and he proved it today when he completely missed a routine throw to first. Brad Eldred will replace him. Morales hasn't really had that great of a start in the league so this will be good for Eldred to have a chance to maybe earn a spot in the line-up.

[dannymac910]

Jason Bay Out for the Rest of May

May 11th, 2006-Well we have another injury, a spiked achilles tendon, the same injury he had in august of 2005. Bay's been having a good year so hopefully he can bounce back quickly and return to the cleanup spot.

[dannymac910]

May 2006 Review

Season Record 25-26
May Record 11-18

Wow, what a rough month. Injury after injury and we end up finishing under .500, it was just rough. We just kept dropping game after game and Brandon Webb isn't being Brandon Webb. We'll just have to hope everyone comes back strong from their injuries and we can get over .500 again.

Injuries

Jason Bay (3)

J.J. Davis (6)

Jamin Urraca (11)

Kendry Marales (4)

Freddy Sanchez (49)

Oliver Perez (3)

Joaquin Benoit (14)

I think that's all.

Team Notes

• Juan Pierre is still hitting .400 and leading the league in average.
• Brandon Webb has been struggling with a 4-5 record and an ERA around 5.
• Brad Eldred hasn't played any better then Morales, so I'll put him back in when he's healthy.
• Zack Duke's having a great year in the 5 spot with 5 wins and a 3.41 ERA.
• Paul Maholm started this month off hot again but came back down to Earth.
• Matt Capps has been called down to AAA after giving up 4 losses and 2 blown saves.
  
  Prospect Watch
  

[dannymac910]

2006 Amateur Draft Review

Wow what a draft! there were some really good prospects in there and a couple of 100 peaks Yup and everyone we got in the draft had a peak over 80. I would say this is a very very successful draft.

[dannymac910]

June 2006 Review

Another lackluster month as we got of to a REALLY bad start and ended up turning it around winning 7 straight in a row. Coming up soon is the trading deadline and I know I said I might think about trading Zack Duke but the way he's been playing that isn't going to happen. Some SERIOUS considerations for the trading block are, Russell Branyan as he just can't keep healthy and isn't hitting homers like he should, and Jorge Sosa who's just been a huge bust since giving him that 2 million dollar deal in the off season.

Injuries

Freddy Sanchez (19)

Paul Maholm (7)

Team Notes

• Juan Pierre's batting average has finaly dropped below .400 and now sits at .382
• Zack Duke has been great with a sub 4 ERA all while notching 8 wins.
• Yurendell DeCaster will get some time starting at first base seeing as h's been ripping up AAA and his ratings have jumped into the 80's
• Jason Bay got a new contract through 2010 at a little over 2 mil. a year.

[dannymac910]

2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh

*Pirates All-Star-Juan Pierre

Home Run Derby

2006 Home Run Showdown

FIRST ROUND (10 Outs)

PLAYER                          HOMERS
Albert Pujols (STL)                 10
Andruw Jones (ATL)                   9
Wily Mo Pena (CIN)                   9
Eric Chavez (OAK)                    9
Alex Rodriguez (NYY)                 8
Manny Ramirez (BOS)                  8
Lance Berkman (HOU)                  8
Justin Morneau (MIN)                 6
Shea Hillenbrand (ARI)               6
Jonny Gomes (TBD)                    1

SECOND ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER                          HOMERS
Andruw Jones (ATL)                   4
Albert Pujols (STL)                  3
Wily Mo Pena (CIN)                   2
Eric Chavez (OAK)                    2

FINAL ROUND (5 Outs)

PLAYER                          HOMERS
Andruw Jones (ATL)                   2
Albert Pujols (STL)                  2

EXTRA INNINGS (3 outs)

PLAYER                          HOMERS
ANDRUW JONES                         2
Albert Pujols                        1

     WINNER: Andruw Jones

All-Star Game

American League All Stars at National League All Stars
July 12, 2006

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
      All Stars (AL) 1 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0    8 10  0
      All Stars (NL) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    0  7  1

AMERICAN LEAGUE      ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
A. Kennedy (2B)       5  3  0  2  0  0  0  0    .277
A. Rodriguez (SS)     5  1  0  1  0  0  2  0    .281
V. Wells (CF)         4  2  0  1  0  2  0  0    .341
M. Ramirez (LF)       3  0  1  0  0  1  0  0    .340
J. Morneau (1B)       4  0  0  1  0  1  1  0    .284
E. Chavez (3B)        4  2  0  2  2  4  1  0    .301
J. Gomes (RF)         4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .267
J. Lopez (C)          4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .282
P. Martinez (P)       0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 T. Hafner (P)        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .316
 M. Batista (P)       0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 G. Gross (P)         1  1  0  1  0  0  0  0    .354
 C. Young (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 M. Ordonez (P)       1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .307
 B. Colon (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 M. Tejada (P)        1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .279
 H. Street (P)        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
TOTALS               37 10  1  8  2  8  7  0

   2B:  A. Kennedy, V. Wells
   HR:  E. Chavez 2
   GIDP:  J. Gomes

                   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
     P. Martinez  2.0  1  2  0  0  0  0  42   3.45
      M. Batista  2.0  2  0  0  0  0  0  27   2.44
        C. Young  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  1  16   2.99
        B. Colon  3.0  1  0  0  0  0  2  54   3.43
       H. Street  1.0  3  0  0  0  0  0  25   0.98
          TOTALS  9.0  7  2  0  0  0  3 164

NATIONAL LEAGUE      ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Rollins (SS)       3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .316
J. Kendall (C)        4  2  0  0  0  0  1  0    .328
A. Jones (CF)         4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .270
A. Pujols (LF)        4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .365
S. Rolen (3B)         2  0  1  0  0  0  0  0    .321
 G. Jenkins (P)       1  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .298
J. Thome (1B)         4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .346
C. Beltran (RF)       2  0  1  0  0  0  0  0    .307
J. Vidro (2B)         3  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .353
G. Maddux (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .150
 L. Berkman (P)       1  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .285
 G. Majewski (P)      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 B. Myers (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .143
 R. Clemens (P)       0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .129
 T. Helton (P)        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .327
 J. Cruz (P)          0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 A. Beltre (P)        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .287
 O. Dotel (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
TOTALS               30  7  2  0  0  0  3  0

   HBP:  J. Rollins
   GIDP:  J. Thome, S. Rolen, A. Pujols

                   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       G. Maddux  3.0  3  0  0  1  1  3  43   2.44
     G. Majewski  1.0  1  0  1  1  1  1  15   1.28
        B. Myers  1.0  6  1  1  6  6  0  47   2.93
      R. Clemens  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  0  13   5.27
         J. Cruz  2.0  0  0  0  0  0  2  33   4.07
        O. Dotel  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  1  10   2.13
          TOTALS  9.0 10  1  2  8  8  7 161

     WP: B. Colon
     LP: G. Maddux

     Temperature: 73F
     Wind: Calm
     Attendance: 43,000
     Time: 3:31

[dannymac910]

Zack Duke's Magical Season is Over

July 31st, 2006- "Well, it was a good season while it lasted." Said Duke in a press conference after announcing that he had a broken tibia and would be out for the rest of the season. Duke's season started with trade rumor because the team had too many lefties, but halfway through the year it was established the Duke was the best pitcher on the team notching 10 wins with a 3.88 ERA. Ian Snell will replace Duke in the rotation for the rest of the season.

[dannymac910]

July 2006 Review

This month was better than most but it was hampered by injury after injury, but Freddy Sanchez has returned and has been playing well. This was a very difficult month. I came close to reloading my last save because of all the injuries, and I did put a large amount of money into my medical staff but it hasn't done jack yet. If we can only stay healthy we can make it to the playoffs. We're 4 games under .500 and 10 games back of the lead. I really feel we can get hot and pull of a Colorado Rockies type season.

Injuries

Joaquin Benoit (7)

Oliver Perez (12)

Zack Duke (111)

Trading Deadline

We got rid of Russell Branyan and Reggie Willits and sent them to Oakland for a solid reliever in Ron Flores as our bullpen has just been giving up way too many games.

We also traded Rajai Davis, Jorge Sosa, and Yurendell DeCaster for another reliever Eddy Rodriguez. DeCaster came out of nowhere and was having a great year but I feel more comfortable with Morales at first.

The Yankees made an odd trade as they gave up Mariano Rivera and a slew of prospects for Danys Baez

.

Team Notes

• Brandon Webb is still very shaky as our ace with an ERA in the high 4's and a record of 7-7
• Juan Pierre is still the league leader in AVG .377 and SB 58
• Paul Maholm is still rolling along with an ERA of 3.25
• Freddy Sanchez is hitting .310 since returning from the DL

League News

Johnny Gomes looks like he might have a shot at breaking the single seasn HR record as he has 42 at August 1st.

[dannymac910]

Albert Pujols a Pirate in the Off Season?

August 1st, 2006- Rumors have been swirling over Albert Pujols as it is the final year in his contract and Pittsburgh Pirates GM Danny McLaughlin has been talking to him about joining there division rivals in the off season. If Pujols does go to Pittsburgh it will give them a HUGE advantage in the NL central and turn the tables on the first place Cardinals. Pujols will likely play the outfield but might get some time at 3rd and 1st.

[dannymac910]

August 2006 Review

Another month, another losing record, another injury. Yup that sums it all up and really don't know what to do at this point but we're definitely out of contention so I'm just gonna ride it out.

Injuries

Jack Wilson (17)

Ian Snell (14)

Zack Duke (80)

Team Notes

• Juan Pierre's batting aveage has fallen to .352 and is now 2nd in the league
• Brandon Webb has been getting hot and is one of the league leaders in strikeouts
• I have converted Ryan Doumit to right field to see how his arm is out there
• Albert Pujols signed a 5-year extension with the Cardinals. Looks like we won't have him.
• Shane Youman has pitched very well replacing Ian Snell in the rotation.

Prospect Watch