Not really a "prospect", but a veteran who had a very good year in 2009:

Jean Machi is a Venezuelan native who was first signed by the Phillies in 2000. �He came to the US for the 2002 season, and spent two seasons in the Phillies' organization here, then one more season (2004) back in the Venezuelan Summer League. �He was selected by Tampa Bay in the Rule 5 draft, and spent two seasons in their organization, then moved on to Toronto, who signed him as a free agent. �In 2006 with Tampa Bay's AA level team, he earned a 6-1 record, 16 saves, and a 2.55 ERA in 48 relief appearances. �The following season for the Blue Jays' AA affiliate, Machi made another 48 appearances and earned a 2-4 record, just 2 saves, and a 3.53 ERA. �Machi missed the early part of 2008 due to injuries, and he had a tougher time when he got back onto the mound -- a 4.65 ERA and a 2-6 record in 21 appearances. �That lead him to the Pirates and a minor league contract for the 2009 season. �The right-hander was sent to AA Altoona in the middle of the April, and in 28 relief appearances, he earned a 2-3 record with 6 saves and a 2.08 ERA. �He pitched 34.2 innings, and allowed 8 earned runs on 28 hits and 13 walks, with 25 strikeouts. �That was a significant drop in his walk rate -- 3.4 BB/9 innings, compared to 5.2 BB/ 9 innings in 2008. �His ERA was just 0.84 in 10.2 innings in April, up to 3.11 ERA in 8.2 innings in May, and 2.77 ERA in 13 innings in July.

Pirates 13, �Astros 1 �(box)

After several games in which the Pirates struggle to find hits, today they busted out with 15 of them, beating the Houston Astros 13-1 in Grapefruit League play.

CF Andrew McCutchen got things started with a 2-run homer in the 1st inning, and another run came in on an RBI single by 1B Jeff Clement. McCutchen tripled in the 2nd inning, and RF Garrett Jones' homer brought him in, to give the Pirates a 5-0 lead. �In the 3rd inning, it was 3B Andy LaRoche's turn to send one over the fences, following another single by Clement. �When starter Paul Maholm (batting 8th, in the Pirates' new plan) also singled, and 9th slot hitter SS Bobby Crosby also got on base,�2B Aki Iwamura brought both of them in with a 3-run homer. �That gave the Pirates a 10-0 lead after 3 innings. �Clement picked up his third hit of the day and his second RBI with a double in the 4th inning. �Iwamura also had 3 hits for the afternoon, and in the 5th, C Ryan Doumit hit his second double, for an RBI. �The Pirates also added one more run in the 8th.

Besides going 1-for-3 at the plate, Paul Maholm had a good day on the mound. �He earned the win with 5 innings of work, and allowed one run, which came on former Pirate Matt Kata's RBI single in the 4th inning. �Maholm gave up 6 hits and 3 walks, but worked himself out of trouble, aided by a timely double play in the 4th. �The rest of the pitching staff allowed only one baserunner, who got on with a walk in the 9th inning. �Octavio Dotel pitched for the second day in a row. �Dotel, Evan Meek, and Jack Taschner each pitched a 1-2-3 inning of relief. �Javier Lopez allowed that walk in the 9th, but retired the other three batters he faced.

Also in the game: 2B Brian Friday, C Luke Carlin (scored a run), and LF Evan Chambers (walked).

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The Indianapolis Indians were scheduled to play a AAA game against the Las Vegas 51's this afternoon -- no word on the results at this point.

The Pirates have picked up pitcher Hayden Penn off waivers from the Marlins today, and designated outfielder Brandon Moss for assignment.

Penn is a righty starting pitcher, who was originally drafted by the Orioles in the 5th round of the 2002 draft. �He began his pro career in 2003 at two Rookie levels, then quickly moved up the ladder -- A+ and A levels in 2004, and AA and the major league level in 2005. �Penn spent most of 2006 at the AAA level (Ottawa), where he earned a 7-4 record and a 2.26 ERA in 14 starts. �He also made 6 starts for Baltimore in that season, but did not fare well there (0-4 and a 15.11 ERA). �Penn missed a bit of 2006 due to appendicitis, and a lot of 2007 due to injury. �He was back in full force in 2008 at AAA Norfolk, where he made 21 starts (99.2 innings) for a 6-7 record and a 4.79 ERA. �He allowed 110 hits and 53 earned runs, with 35 walks and 65 strikeouts. �The California native was with the Orioles for spring training in 2009, but on April 1st was traded to the Marlins, where he made one start and 15 more appearances in long relief, for a total of 22 innings. �He struggled with his control in those innings, giving up 19 earned runs on 30 hits and 20 walks, with 27 strikeouts. �Penn was designated for assignment and passed through waivers, so was assigned to AAA New Orleans. �In New Orleans, he went back into the starting rotation for all but one appearance, and pitched another 70 innings, allowing 32 earned runs on 70 hits and 26 walks, with 62 strikeouts. �He posted a 2-4 record and a 4.11 ERA. �The soon-to-be 25-year-old reported to Marlins' spring training as a candidate for their starting rotation. �He made 5 appearances in Grapefruit League play, two good and three disappointing. �On March 10th, Penn pitched 3 perfect innings with one strikeout, and on March 16th, he went 3.1 innings and allowed only one home run, and one more strikeout. �But he gave up 2 runs on 3 hits in 2 innings on March 5th, and more recently, gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in 1.2 innings on the 21st and 5 runs on 5 hits on the 26th. �Penn was put on waivers, and is now on the Pirates' 40-man roster. �He was out of options when he was with Baltimore and Florida, so he's still out of options for the Pirates. �If they decided they don't want him at the major league level, then he'll have to go through waivers to be sent to AAA.

In order to make room for Penn on the 40-man roster, the Pirates removed Brandon Moss and designated him for assignment. �Now he'll have to clear waivers before he can be assigned to AAA, or else the Pirates can release or trade him. �Moss came to the Pirates in 2008 in the trade involving Jason Bay, the Red Sox, and the Dodgers. �He struggled at the end of the 2008 season, and then again in 2009. �He did better at the plate in May, but then found himself on the bench again when Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones, and Lastings Milledge joined the team. �With those three firmly entrenched in the Pirates' lineup, and Jose Tabata on the way, Moss was going to have some tough competition. �Then, the Pirates signed Ryan Church, took John Raynor in the Rule 5 draft, and talked about keeping Steve Pearce around too.... getting to be pretty crowded in that outfield, even if some of the spillover could handle first base. �Now it looks like Jeff Clement is going to handle most of the first base duties, and the outfield gets even more crowded. �Moss appeared in 19 Grapefruit League games, but had just 3 hits in 37 at-bats, and that certainly didn't help his cause. �While the Pirates might say that they still like Moss and hope he can get through waivers and get to wait around at AAA, he might be better off if another club has a spot for him.

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With just a week left until the major league season begins, we have a few more prospects to look at. �Two outfielders today:

Jose Tabata (photo) came to the Pirates from the Yankees in the 2008 trade that included Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, and Daniel McCutchen. �The Venezuelan native was with the AA Trenton Thunder at the time of the trade, and he was not having his best season. �He was hitting .248, the lowest he'd hit since coming to the US, with 3 homers and 36 RBI. �He had had wrist surgery in late 2007, and was probably still working his way back from that. �The change of scenery Tabata found when coming to the Pirates seemed to agree with him. �He was assigned to AA Altoona, and in 22 games with the Curve, Tabata hit 100 points higher than he'd hit in Trenton, with another 3 homers and 13 RBI. �There had been some questions about his attitude while with Trenton, but no such incidents were repeated once Tabata came to the Pirates. �Furthermore, Tabata was able to shake off the distraction that cropped up during spring training in 2009, when his wife was involved in the kidnapping of a baby. �Tabata reported back to Altoona to begin 2009 and got off to a moderate start, hitting .250 in 17 games, with 3 doubles and 6 RBI. �At that point, he injured his hamstring and went onto the Disabled List for nearly two months. �When he returned in June, Tabata hit .255 in his next 16 games, with one homer and 7 RBI. �Then he exploded in July, when he appeared in 28 games, and had at least one hit in all but 4 of them, including 3 hits on July 3rd and 4 hits on July 21st. �He hit .354 over the month, with 10 doubles, another homer, and 12 RBI. �That gave him an overall .303 average for his time in Altoona, with 15 doubles and 25 RBI. �He also stole 7 bases, though was caught stealing 25 times. �He worked 20 walks and struck out 25 times. �Tabata was promoted to Indianapolis for the beginning of August. �In 32 games with the Indians over the last 5 weeks of the season, the 21-year-old hit a solid .276, with 7 doubles, 3 homers, and 10 RBI. �Tabata played center field for the Indians, and both center and right fields in Altoona. �He made only 2 errors all season, and his arm is considered strong and reasonably accurate.

Rays 8, �Pirates 2 �(box)

The Pirates struggled again today in Grapefruit League action, losing to Tampa Bay by a score of 8-2. �Rays' starter Matt Garza held the Pirates to just 4 hits in his 7 innings of work. �One of those hits was a home run into the bullpen by 1B Jeff Clement. CF Andrew McCutchen and LF Brandon Moss also singled off Garza, while RF Garrett Jones smacked a triple in the 6th inning.

Ross Ohlendorf made the start for the Pirates, and he had a tough afternoon. �In the 1st inning, he got the first out, then gave up a walk, a triple, and a 2-run homer, to give the Rays a 3-0 lead. �Four more runs were added in the 3rd inning, which began with a double and a 2-run homer. �After a walk and a single put runners on the corners, the Rays tried to bring in a run with a sacrifice bunt, but Ohlendorf pounced on the ball and fired to C Ryan Doumit, who tagged out the runner coming from third. �That didn't stop the Rays' momentum, though. �Two more RBI singles added 2 more runs for a 7-1 lead. �A double, a ground out to advance the runner, and a sacrifice fly brought in the Ray's eighth run in the 4th inning. �All 8 runs were Ohlendorf's responsibility; he gave up 10 hits and walked 3 (one intentional), and did not strikeout out anyone. �Four relievers, Octavio Dotel, Brendan Donnelly, Vinnie Chulk, and Jean Machi, each pitched one scoreless inning. �All but Machi allowed a hit, and all struck out one except for Chulk who struck out two.

The Pirates' rallied for one more run in the 9th inning, with two outs already recorded. �Moss bounced to third but was safe on a throwing error. �SS Ramon Vasquez singled, and C Jason Jaramillo slipped a grounder past the third baseman, off the third baseman's glove, which allowed Moss to score.

Also in the game for the Pirates: �CF Starling Marte, RF Jason Cooper, 3B Jordy Mercer, and 2B Brian Friday.

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The Pirates were scheduled to play a split-squad game against the Phillies this afternoon, but that game was cancelled due to rain. �The Indianapolis Indians did not have a game scheduled today.

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OK, maybe these two are not exactly prospects, and we should be saying "Indians Watching", since these two hurlers will be starting 2010 with the Indianapolis Indians.

Chris Jakubauskas is a 31-year-old righty who came to the Pirates' organization when he was claimed off waivers from the Mariners back in November. �The California native was a first baseman in college and went undrafted. �After several years in independent ball as a pitcher, Jakubauskas was picked up by the Mariners, and quickly advanced in their organization mostly in a relief role. �He made just one appearance at the AAA level in 2009, and spent the rest of the season in Seattle. �Between 8 spot-starts and 27 relief appearances, Jakubauskas posted a 6-7 record and a 5.32 ERA. �He pitched 93 innings for the Mariners and allowed 91 hits, 55 earned runs, and 27 walks, with 47 strikeouts. �He clearly gets a lot of contact on his pitches, and gets a lot of fly balls. �Unfortunately in 2009, 15 of those fly balls made it over the fences for homers. �Left-handed batters did better against him than right-handed batters. �Jakubauskas is on the Pirates' 40-man roster, since he was taken off waivers. �He made 6 Grapefruit League appearances in spring training with the Pirates. �In a total of 6 innings, he allowed 6 runs on 9 hits. �Those runs came in two games -- 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 1.2 innings on March 7th, then 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk in 0.1 inning on March 13th. �On March 23rd, Jakubauskas was optioned to AAA Indianapolis (this is his last option year left). �He will probably work in long relief for the Indians, and pick up some spot starts along the way. �He needs to work on allowing fewer hits and fewer gopher balls.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 4, �Indianapolis Indians 3

The Indians' last-chance rally fell short this afternoon in Tampa, as the Indians lost to the Yankees for the second day in a row. �It was the Indians' 5th straight spring training loss. �Tribe starter Chris Jakubauskas pitched 2 innings and allowed one run on two hits and a walk, while striking out 3 batters. �Kyle Bloom also took the mound for the Indians, and he suffered the loss as he allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk in his two innings.

CF Jose Tabata got the Indians going with an �RBI double in the 6th inning. �SS Brian Friday added a solo home run in the 8th. �The Indians entered the top of the 9th behind 4-2. �With two outs, 1B Brian Myrow, CF Jon Van Every, and LF Neil Walker hit consecutive singles, as Walker picked up the RBI. � But the Indians left Van Every and Walker stranded as a strikeout ended the inning and the game.

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Blue Jays 11, �Pirates 2 �(box)

Three strikes against the Pirates today:

1. �Pirates' batters were able to get only 5 hits. �Two of those were by CF Andrew McCutchen, and 2B Aki Iwamura, RF Garrett Jones, and starter Daniel McCutchen each had one.

2. Pirates' pitchers gave up 14 hits. �Daniel McCutchen went 4 innings and gave up 5 of those hits for 5 runs, though only 2 runs were earned. �Brandon Donnelly lasted only 0.2 innings and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits. �Anthony Claggett gave up 2 unearned runs and 3 hits, and Jeff Karstens was responsible for one run on 2 hits. �Evan Meek pitched a scoreless inning (but gave up a hit) and Steven Jackson retired the only batter he faced.

3. �Pirates' fielders made 4 errors, which explains all those unearned runs. �SS Ronny Cedeno made fielding errors on back-to-back plays in the 2nd inning, Garrett Jones made a fielding error in the outfield, and 3B Jeremy Farrell, up from minor league camp, made a throwing error.

Also in the game today: �CF John Raynor, 2B Doug Bernier, RF Steve Pearce, C Erik Kratz, LF Austin McClune, 1B Calvin Anderson.

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Looking at two shortstops today, both of whom should be starting the season at AAA Indianapolis:

Brian Friday was the Pirates' 3rd round pick in the 2007 draft. �The Houston native reported to State College in mid-July, and got in 40 games with the Spikes, hitting .295 with 2 homers and 13 RBI. �He spent most of 2008 with A+ Lynchburg, but his season was disrupted by a prolonged bout of back problems. �Despite missing about 2 months, Friday hit .287 with 20 doubles, 2 home runs, and 29 RBI. �He showed better plate discipline and fewer strikeouts than the previous season. �Friday was assigned to AA Altoona in 2009, and he got off to a blistering start, going 11-for-22 in his first 6 games. �An ear infection landed Friday on the DL after the first week of the season, and kept him out of the lineup until mid-May. �When he returned, Friday went on another tear, with a 7-game hitting streak, including four games in a row where he had 2 hits per game. �He slowed down at the end of the month, though, and hit .264 for the month of May. �He had another strong week in mid-June, but overall it was a slow month, as Friday hit only .206, plus 9 RBI. �July was a better month, and the righty's average popped up to .256, while his RBI total popped up to 15. �He also dropped his strikeout rate, from 14 and 15 in May and June, down to 9 in July. �Friday finished out the season on a high note. �He had a hit in all but two of his first 20 games in August, including a 10-game hitting streak (11-for-33). �He had 9 doubles, and 14 RBI, and hit .284 for August/Sept. �On the down side, he also struck out 28 times in August/Sept. �He finished with a .265 average, 22 doubles, 3 triples, 7 homers, and 46 RBI. �On the field, Friday played exclusively at shortstop. �He made 25 errors with the Curve, about on a par for what he did in Lynchburg the previous season.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 4, �Indianapolis Indians 1

The Indians and the Yankees took a 1-1 tie into the top of the 8th in this afternoon's game in Bradenton, Florida. �But that was when the Yankees got to reliever Jean Machi, who gave up two singles, including one for an RBI, to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. �Back-to-back singles and a 2-RBI double added two more runs in the 9th. �The Indians scored in the 1st inning, on a double by 1B Brian Myrow and an RBI single by 3B Pedro Alvarez. Machi suffered the loss, with 3 innings of work, including one walk and one strikeout. �Octavio Dotel started the game for the Indians and pitched "one inning", with 3 strikeouts, though in order to get in a little more work, he actually got to face 5 batters and make 5 outs. �He threw 21 pitches.

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Astros 6, �Pirates 4 � (box)

Starter Zach Duke pitched 6.2 scoreless innings and allowed only 2 hits and a walk, with 2 strikeouts, to get the Pirates off to a good start in their afternoon Grapefruit League game in Kissimmee, Florida. �Duke had been scheduled to throw either 6 innings or 80 pitches, and after going back out to begin the 7th inning, he finished at right around 80 pitches. �He also contributed 2 of the Pirates' 8 hits, both doubles, one into each outfield corner, though he did not come around to score either time. �The Pirates got onto the scoreboard first, with one run in the 4th inning off the Astros' Roy Oswalt. �LF Lastings Milledge doubled to lead off the inning, then advanced to third base on a ground out, and scored on an RBI single by Jeff Clement. Clement scored in the top of the 7th, when he doubled, went to third base on SS Bobby Crosby's single, and then scrambled home when 3B Ramon Vasquez bounced into a double play.

Duke took it into the 7th inning, but when he gave up a 2-out single (only the second hit he'd allowed), he was relieved by Javier Lopez. Lopez finished that inning, but gave up a bunt single and a sacrifice bunt plus a fielding error by 3B Josh Harrison, who was up from minor league camp. �A triple off Jack Taschner, and the Astros had a 4-2 lead.

Led by the minor leaguers, the Pirates came back to tie it up in the top of the 9th. �LF Brandon Moss walked, and CF Robbie Grossman singled. �A wild pitch brought Moss across the plate, then SS Benji Gonzalez singled to score Grossman. �Tie score, 4-4. �Unfortunately, the Astros rallied in the bottom of the frame. �With reliever Jeremy Powell on the mound, a double and a walk-off 2-run homer gave Houston the win, with Powell charged for the loss.

Also in the game: �2B Shelby Ford, 1B Steve Pearce, PH Erik Kratz, and C Luke Carlin.

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