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Pirates Win Opener in Extra Innings

The Pittsburgh Pirates won in extra innings on Opening Day, beating the Miami Marlins by a 6-5 score after a Jared Triolo RBI single...

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The goal of Neal Huntington’s trades

Neal Huntington was handed a group of major leaguers that were in their prime years, but were no better than average for the most part. In addition to that, they were approaching free agency, and there were few prospects available to replace them. So Huntington waved his magic wand and made that group of players five years younger, setting up the Pirates for potential success several years sooner than expected.

Vazquez does not expect to make team

Utility infielder Ramon Vazquez told Dejan Kovacevic that he does not expect to head north with the Pirates at the end of spring training.

2010 player projections

There are numerous player projection systems available to the public these days. I figured I would throw my hat into the ring. These are mostly just for fun, but I hope you enjoy.

Alvarez and Vasquez Provide RBI For Pirates

Orioles 3, �Pirates 2 � (box) The Pirates and the Orioles got busy in the first two innings of this evening's game at McKechnie Field, but pitching took over after that. �Pirates' hurlers held the O's to 5 hits, and four of those came in the first inning. The Pirates scored 2 runs in the 2nd inning. �LF Brandon Moss got the rally started with a walk, then 3B Pedro Alvarez smashed a double to the right-center field wall to drive in Moss. �1B Steve Pearce added a line drive into left field. �Alvarez did some nice base-running, with a pause to make sure Pearce's liner was going to drop in. �With runners on the corners, 2B Ramon Vasquez lifted a single over the outstretched glove of the Orioles' third baseman, bringing in Alvarez. �Pearce tried for third but the throw in from left field beat him to the bag. Alvarez made a nice play at third, starting a 5-4-3 double play in the 7th. He was charged with an error too, when he made a charging scoop of a short infield ball, then threw off-balance to first base. �The throw bounced in front and to the second base side of Pearce. �Pearce had to stretch, but his gloved swipe missed the ball. Also getting into the game: �CF Gorkys Hernandez, SS Argenis Diaz, C Erik Kratz, RF Jose Tabata, LF Brandon Jones, 3B Neil Walker, 1B Hector Gimenez, PH/DH Jon Van Every, and 2B Brian Friday. Tabata beat out an infield hit with two outs in the 9th inning, and it wasn't close. �Then he stole second base, but was left there when the inning and the game ended with Brandon Jones' ground out. Starter Zack Duke had a 50-pitch limit, and unfortunately he used up quite a lot of those in the first inning. �After striking out the first two batters, a hit, two walks, and three more hits gave the O's 3 runs. �Duke settled down in the 2nd inning and into the 3rd, but reached his pitch limit with 2 outs in the 3rd inning. �Steven Jackson finished the inning with a strikeout. �Daniel McCutchen breezed through 2 innings, needing only 18 pitches to set down six Orioles. �Brendan Donnelly retired the next three Orioles in the 6th, and Chris Jakubauskas did the same in the 8th, and Vinnie Chulk also did it in the 9th, including 2 strikeouts. �Javier Lopez gave up a single and a walk in the 7th, but that double play got him out of that little jam. Former Pirate/Indy Indian RF Jeff Salazar was playing for the Orioles, as well as former Pirate DH Ty Wigginton.

Prospect Watching: Matt Hague and Kyle Morgan

Looking at a couple of the Pirates' prospects, now that minor league camp is in full swing: Matt Hague is a native of Washington State. �He was drafted by the Pirates in the 9th round in 2008, after playing outfield, third base, and first base in college. �After signing in 2008, Hague reported to State College, where he appeared in just 7 games. �He went 9-for-27 with 3 doubles there. � When Chase d'Arnaud and Jordy Mercer arrived, both of whom could play short and third, the �Pirates moved Hague up to A level Hickory, to give everyone enough playing time. �At Hickory, Hague played mostly third base, plus 8 games at first base. �Hague's bat got off to a tremendous start for the Crawdads -- a 7 game hitting streak including 3 home runs. �He added a 13-game hitting streak at the end of July and into August. �Hague finished the season with a .321 average over 57 games, with 14 doubles, 6 homers, and 29 RBI. �Hague was advanced to Lynchburg to begin 2009, but Pedro Alvarez was also there to play third base, so Hague was shifted over to first base. �In fact, Hague appeared in just one game at third for the Hillcats, even after Alvarez departed for Altoona. �He did well at first, making only 6 errors over the season. �At the plate, Hague did not show a lot of power, but had a solid average: �.293 for the season, with 30 doubles, 8 homers, and 50 RBI. �The right-handed hitter had a 4-for-5 night in the second game of the season, but settled into a slow month of April, batting .250 with 9 RBI. �He turned it up in May though, including a 7-game hitting streak, for a .313 average for the month, plus 2 homers and 13 RBI. �He pushed that up to .340 in June, though only 7 RBI. �He went hitless in only 3 of his 16 games that month. �His RBI increased to 10 in July, offsetting a drop in hitting to .269, despite an 8-game hitting streak. �Hague recovered with a strong finish to the season, hitting .304 over August/September with 11 RBI. �Hague had reasonable plate discipline, with 40 walks and 67 strikeouts over the year. �The 24-year-old should open 2010 in Altoona, where he will probably see most of his playing time at first base. �Now isn't a great time to be a third baseman in the upper levels of the Pirates' system anyway. �The Pirates would like to see more power from Hague this season. Kyle Morgan has also been moved around the field in his brief career. �The 23-year-old was an outfielder in college before being drafted by the Pirates in the 36th round of the 2008 draft. �He got off to a slow start in the GCL and then in State College in the 2008 season, but found his bat by August, when a 10-game hitting streak boosted his monthly average to .327. �He played exclusively in the outfield for all of the 2008 season. �Morgan did some time at first base during spring training of 2009, and when he �returned to State College when the short season began in June, Morgan played 7 games at first and 3 in the outfield. �He was with the Spikes for only 20 games total (and did some DH'ing), hitting only .224 (15-for-67) but with 4 doubles, a triple, 3 homers, and 17 RBI. �Morgan was moved up to West Virginia in the second half of July, and started hitting. �He hit .297 with another 3 homers and 11 RBI in his first 9 games to finish the month of July. �Then he hit .301 in August, and .382 over the last 10 days of the season. �He had 10 doubles, 6 homers, and 21 RBI over August/September and finished the season with a .296 average for his time with the Power. �Morgan hit southpaws much better than right-handers: �.324 against left-handed pitchers and .288 against righties. �His plate discipline was reasonable too, with 20 walks and 38 strikeouts. �Morgan played exclusively at first base when on the field at West Virginia (and also did some DH-ing) with 3 errors. �He's still working on learning the first base position and getting comfortable there. �The California native is likely to begin 2010 at A+ Bradenton, where he will continue at first base. �He'll probably share both first base and DH duties with Calvin Anderson again. Other notes: Former Pirate farmhand pitcher�Pat Bresnehan has signed a minor league contract with the Mariners. �Bresnehan was the Pirates' 5th round draft pick in 2006, but was released by the organization at the end of spring training last year. The Pirates have released pitcher Chris Aure. The lefty from North Pole, Alaska was the Pirates' 15th round pick in the 2008 draft. �He pitched in 11 GCL games in the 2008 season, with a 3-2 record, 2 saves, and a 3.90 ERA in 27.2 innings. �He pitched only 5.1 innings in 2009, for a 1.69 ERA. Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that three of the Pirates' prospects are battling injuries that will keep them off the mound for several more months: Lefty�Colton Cain, last year's 9th round draft pick, had back surgery. Lefty�Zach Fuesser, last year's 34th round pick, broke his finger. Righty Brett Lorin, brought over from the Mariners last year, had hip surgery.

Three pitching prospects to miss start of season

Pirates pitching prospects Colton Cain, Zach Fuesser and Brett Lorin will miss the first half of the season with injuries. None are arm...

Prospect Watching: Ronald Uviedo and Harrison Bishop

A pair of relief pitchers for your inspection today: Ronald Uviedo is a Venezuelan native who came to the Pirates in the Venezuelan Summer League after the Mariners released him from their VSL team. �He had a successful 2006 season with the Pirates' VSL team, then came to the US in 2007 and pitched at three different levels. �He made 33 relief appearances for A level Hickory in 2008, earning a 3-1 record and a 3.01 ERA, with 76 strikeouts in 71.2 innings. �Uviedo also pitched in 7 games for Lynchburg that season, with a 2.25 ERA over 16 innings. �After that season, Uviedo was placed on the Pirates' 40-man roster because they feared they would lose him in the Rule 5 Draft. �Uviedo continued his 2008 season in winter ball in his native Venezuela, and continued to strikeout out batters. �He returned to Lynchburg in 2009, where he was put into the starting line-up, presumably to get him more innings. �His first three starts were outstanding, allowing only 2 earned runs over 15 innings. �He had a tougher start on April 27th, when he allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits -- but also struck out 7 batters over 5 innings. �Uviedo had a couple of difficult starts in May, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings in one, and 4 runs on 6 hits over 5 innings in another. �That boosted his ERA from 2.70 in April to 4.50 in May. �He had another 7-strikeout start on May 19th, and struck out 26 in the entire month of May (17 in April). �He continued with 15 strikeouts over 3 starts in June, and allowed only 2 earned runs in that time, for a 1.13 ERA and 3 wins. �Unfortunately at that point, Uviedo went onto the Disabled List with shoulder tendonitis. �After some rest and 3 starts for the GCL Pirates (3 earned runs on 8 hits in 8 innings and 10 strikeouts), Uviedo returned to Lynchburg, where he made 5 more starts and 5 relief appearances, probably to limit his innings. �He pitched another 33.2 innings for the Hillcats, with a 0-2 record, 3 saves, and a 3.74 ERA (his ERA had been 3.18 overall when he went onto the DL in June). �That gave him a 3.36 ERA and a 5-5 record for the season, with a total of 101.2 innings. �He gave up 38 earned runs on 98 hits and 28 walks, with 79 strikeouts. �Uviedo had a generally good post-season run, appearing in 5 playoff games for the Hillcats. �His one bad game came in the semi-final series, when he took over in the bottom of the 12th with the score tied at 0-0, and gave up a walk and a walk-off homer for the loss. �He won a game in the final series, as he was the pitcher of record when the Hillcats' Jose De Los Santos hit his walk-off homer. �Uviedo also contributed 3 saves, with 3 shutout innings of work. �After the US season ended, Uviedo again returned to play winter ball in his native Venezuela, pitching for Los Leones del Caracas. �He made 21 relief appearances for Caracas, and earned a 3-0 record and a 2.63 ERA. �In 24 total innings, he allowed 7 runs on 17 hits, walked only 6 batters, and struck out 24. �As a member of the 40-man roster, Uviedo has been with the major league team for spring training. �He has appeared in three official Grapefruit League games plus the exhibition game against the Manatees, pitching 2.2 innings and allowing 3 hits but no runs. �The Pirates have indicated that they prefer Uviedo as a reliever, and he seems to be in agreement with that plan. �The 23-year old should begin the season with Altoona, working out of their bullpen. Harrison Bishop came to the Pirates as their 17th round pick in the 2007 draft. �He'd had Tommy John surgery while still in college, but seemed to be fully recovered when he signed right away with the Pirates. �He was solid in the rest of the 2007 season for State College, with 19 relief appearances and a 3.03 ERA. �At A level Hickory in 2008, Bishop was again solid, with a 3.23 ERA and a 5-2 record plus a save in 29 relief appearances. �He'd missed part of that season (in July and August) due to injury, but he did pitch in the Hawaiian Winter League that year, where he got in some extra innings. �Bishop reported to A+ Lynchburg for 2009, where he pitched a career-high 80.2 innings in 35 games, all in relief. �His ERA popped up to 5.02 for the season, and it was elevated for most of the season. �Overall, he gave up more hits (8.3 hits/9 innings) than in previous seasons (6.5 H/9I in Hickory and 7.3 H/9I in State College), though his walk rate had dropped to 2.7 BB/9 innings (3.2 BB/9I in Hickory and 3.9 BB/9I in State College). �He spread it all out over most of the season, beginning with an ERA of 5.79 in April, down to 4.67 in May, and up to 9.00 in June. �July was his best month, when he had a run of 4 scoreless outings of at least 2 innings each, then had two 3-inning outings in which he allowed one run each. �But he was back up to an ERA of 5.25 for August/September. �Bishop walked 8 batters over 14 innings in April and 5 in 17.1 innings in May, but no more than 3 batters per month for the rest of the season. �His strikeout rate dropped from previous seasons -- 8.1 K/9 innings in 2009, down from 9.7 K/9I in 2008 and 10.0 K/9I in 2007. �Bishop also made two�appearances in the Hillcats' playoff run. �In the opening game, he allowed 3 runs in his only inning of work, but in the final series, he pitched a scoreless inning to earn a Hold. �Though it was a disappointing season compared to previous ones, it was still not awful. �Bishop might start 2010 at the A+ level, or with a strong spring, he could open at Altoona.

Garrett Jones Powers the Pirates

Pirates �12, �Yankees 7 � �(box) The Pirates found their bats again today, with two 4-run innings, to beat the Yankees in Tampa. �RF Garrett Jones led the charge with a double and a 3-run home run. �SS Ronny Cedeno, RF John Raynor, and DH Bobby Crosby all had two hits each, including two doubles for Crosby and one for Cedeno. �The Pirates opened the game with a single by CF Andrew McCutchen, Cedeno's double, and an RBI single by LF Lastings Milledge. Jones' homer followed for a 4-run 1st inning. �A single and a stolen base by SS Argenis Diaz, a walk to LF Brandon Jones, and singles by Raynor and 3B Pedro Alvarez brought in two runs in the 9th. �1B Steve Pearce added another with a sacrifice fly, and C Hector Gimenez plated the fourth run of the inning with another RBI single. �CF Jose Tabata, PH Neil Walker, and 2B Doug Bernier also got into the game, and Bernier contributed an RBI. Donnie Veal earned the win for the Pirates, pitching 2 scoreless innings (7th and 8th). �Charlie Morton had the start, and he gave up 3 runs on 4 hits -- though all the runs came on two homers. �Brian Burres started the 4th inning, but allowed 4 runs on 3 walks followed by a double and a single, to give the Yankees a 7-6 lead. �Ronald Uviedo relieved Burres and got Alex Rodriguez to ground out to first to end the inning. �DJ Carrasco pitched 2 scoreless innings and struck out 4 batters; Anthony Claggett pitched a scoreless 9th to finish the game.

What caused the second-half collapse in 2009?

The Pirates performed at a historically poor level after the trade deadline in 2009. Fans have criticized the front office for making few changes to that roster heading into the upcoming season. But GM Neal Huntington targeted the true weaknesses, and upgraded virtually all of them.

Dotel throws off mound

Pirates closer Octavio Dotel made the first step in returning from an oblique injury by throwing 31 pitches in a bullpen session on Tuesday.

Prospect Watching: Jordy Mercer and Chase d’Arnaud

Today, we're looking at two shortstops who were drafted back-to-back in 2008: Jordy Mercer was the Pirates' 3rd pick in the 2008 draft. �After getting his feet wet in 6 games at State College, Mercer finished up the rest of the 2008 season at A level Hickory, where he could get in more time at shortstop without having to job-share with Chase d'Arnaud. �Mercer was felt at the time to be the better and more experienced shortstop, so he was the one to be moved up. �Mercer hit .250 at both places, with 5 homers (one at State College) and 20 RBI (2 for the Spikes), and finished the season with a 10-game hitting streak. �The Oklahoma native was assigned to Lynchburg in 2009, and played the entire season at the A+ level. �The early months were not easy, as Mercer hit .236 over April and May, with 14 doubles, 3 homers, and 18 RBI. �Things got better in June, when his average popped up to .274, with 9 more doubles, another homer, and 16 more RBI. �He slipped again in July, down to a .226 average, but still some power: 7 doubles, 2 triples, a homer, and 12 RBI. �Then in August, Mercer got hot, hitting .303 with 3 more homers and 19 RBI. �He wrapped up his season with a hot week at the plate, going 6-for-18 in his last 5 games. �That finish boosted his average for the season to .255, and he ended with a league-leading 36 doubles, 4 triples, 10 homers, and 83 RBI (5th in the Carolina League). �Mercer's strikeout total was a little high (93), but his walks were ok (41). � In the early part of the season, Mercer was the primary shortstop for the Hillcats. �After Chase d'Arnaud was promoted from West Virginia, the two shared the shortstop position, with Mercer moving over to third when he was not at short. �Mercer has solid defensive skills with good range. �He made 19 errors at short and 2 more at third, neither of which is out of line for a young shortstop. Chase d'Arnaud was drafted immediately after Mercer, in the 4th round. �He had played more third base than shortstop in college (Pepperdine University), so he was the one who stayed at State College for the rest of the 2008 season. �He had a solid professional start there, hitting .286 with 10 doubles, 5 triples, a homer, and 21 RBI. �He also stole 14 bases. �D'Arnaud moved up to West Virginia to begin 2009. �He had a hot start, hitting. 355 with 2 homers, 12 RBI, and 4 stolen bases in April, and that included a 7-game hitting streak in the second half of the month. �He cooled in the beginning of May, but hit .339 over the second half of the month, with 12 RBI and 5 stolen bases. �Even though he slipped a bit in June (.262 in the first three weeks), �by that point d'Arnaud had hit .291 with 14 doubles, 3 triples, 3 homers, and 31 RBI for the Power, plus 17 stolen bases. �It was enough to earn d'Arnaud both a spot on the South Atlantic League's mid-season All-Star Team, and a promotion to Lynchburg. �D'Arnaud got off to a strong start at the plate for the Hillcats. �He had back-to-back 3-hit games to begin July, and went 11-for-19 in the first week of July. �By mid-July, d'Arnaud was hitting .364 for the month, when he went down for two weeks with a wrist injury. �He continued hitting well, though not quite at that astronomic level when he returned, including a 9-game hitting streak and another pair of back-to-back 3-hit games. �He finished the season with a .295 average for the Hillcats, 19 doubles, 4 triples, 4 homers, and 26 RBI, and 14 stolen bases. �D'Arnaud played exclusively at shortstop in his time at West Virginia (7 errors, not bad). �Up at Lynchburg, D'Arnaud split shortstop duties with Mercer, and split second base duties with Josh Harrison. �He made only 3 errors at short, and 11 errors at second, the position he was less familiar with. Neither Mercer nor d'Arnaud hit particularly well in the Hillcats' semi-final playoff series against Wilmington: �.217 for Mercer and .150 for d'Arnaud. �Both picked up the pace in the final series against Salem. �D'Arnaud had 2 hits and 3 RBI in Game 1, while Mercer singled and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. �D'Arnaud collected 2 more RBI and a double in each of the next two games. �Mercer had a career-best 4 hits in the final game of the series with 2 RBI, and ended his playoff stint with a .314 average. D'Arnaud capped off his strong 2009 year with an assignment to the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League. �He got into 20 games for the Scorpions, and hit in the same range as he did during the regular season: �.296, with 5 doubles, a triple, and 6 RBI, plus 13 stolen bases. �He had two 3-hit games (though not back-to-back this time) in November, and hit .372 in the last half of his time in Arizona. �D'Arnaud also got into today's split-squad game in the Pirates' major league camp, coming in as a mid-inning defensive replacement at third base. �He made a nice play on a high chopper at third base on the first batter who came up to the plate. � Mercer also appeared in the other split-squad game today. �He walked and grounded out in two plate appearances. What will 2010 bring for these two 23-year-old shortstops? �They appear to both be headed for AA Altoona, where they will have to share time at shortstop, with Mercer also taking some time at third, and d'Arnaud also playing both second and third bases. �With Josh Harrison also likely to be in Altoona, it may turn out that d'Arnaud gets more of the time at short, and Mercer gets more of the time at third. �The Pirates also signed Kevin Melillo to a minor league contract at the beginning of February. �Mellilo can play all over the infield, but has more recently spent most of his time at third and first bases. �Mercer might share third base duties with him. �Mercer seems to have more power, and maybe a better range at short. �D'Arnaud has more speed, and hit for a higher average. �The Pirates will be happy to have to figure out what to do with two solid middle infield prospects.

ST x 2: Friday Homers; Pearce Has Only Hit

The Pirates played two Spring Training games on Monday, for two losses, but several of the minor leaguers saw some action. Yankees 6, Pirates 0 � (box) At McKechnie Field, the visiting Yankees held the Pirates to just one hit. �Clearly, they had used up too much of their hit quota yesterday when they posted 15 hits. �Today's lone hit came off the bat of 1B Steve Pearce. �In the 5th inning, he slipped a single through the right side of the infield for a single. �Only three other Pirates reached base: �SS Doug Bernier and 3B Neil Walker each worked a walk, and CF Gorkys Hernandez reached on an error. �The Pirates had only 4 strikeouts, so they were putting wood on the ball, but each time, the ball went right to one of the Yankees. �RF Jon Van Every, C Luke Carlin, and 3B Chase d'Arnaud (up from minor league camp) also got into the game. �D'Arnaud did not have a plate appearance, but he made a very nice play at third, which is not even where he's been playing for the last year. �He had just come into the game in the top of the 9th and had barely gotten his feet settled on the infield dirt, when the first Yankee batter of the inning hit a hard chopper right to him. �D'Arnaud fielded it cleanly and threw a bullet to first for the out. Paul Maholm suffered the loss in a tough start. �He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. �He made a slick move to first in the 2nd inning to pick Derek Jeter off first base. �Maholm was going to be allowed 45 pitches, but he was removed after two innings, despite being a bit short of that count. �Jeremy Powell followed Maholm and also went 2 innings. �Powell was the victim of an error by 2B Aki Iwamura, and was charged with an unearned run when he gave up a double. �Virgil Vasquez had another shaky outing, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in the 7th inning. �Danny Moskos pitched the 9th for the Pirates, and he allowed a run on 3 hits. �Steven Jackson, Javier Lopez, and Justin Thomas each contributed a scoreless inning. Rays 4, �Pirates 3 � (box) In Port Charlotte, the Pirates were able to do more hitting, but still fell short in 10 innings. �The Rays scored first, with one run on a walk, a single, and a sacrifice fly in the 1st inning off starter Brad Lincoln. The Pirates tied the score in the 4th, when CF Jose Tabata slapped a 2-out triple into right field, and DH Pedro Alvarez brought him in with an RBI single. �Alvarez led off the 7th inning with a triple, and SS Brian Friday gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead with a 2-run smash over the left center field wall. The Rays caught up one inning later, though. �With Evan Meek on the mound, former Pirate JJ Furmaniak singled up the middle, and a double and another single brought in 2 runs for a 3-3 tie. �The Pirates threatened in the top of the 10th. �With one out, SS Jordy Mercer walked and 3B Josh Harrison doubled into right field. �Mercer tried to score from first, but was gunned down at the plate with Furmaniak supplying the relay throw. �In the bottom of the inning, reliever Jeff Sues gave up a lead-off double, then got two outs, but a single brought the runner in from second for the walk-off win. Like Paul Maholm, Lincoln was going to be limited to 45 pitches, and he also lasted 2 innings. �Brian Bass and Jeff Karstens each pitched 2 scoreless innings and each gave up one hit. �Jack Taschner and Jean Machi each threw one scoreless inning. �LF Miles Durham, RF John Raynor, C Erik Kratz, and C Tony Sanchez also played in the game.
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