my own special topic

[Tank Decker]

Jason Bay a Met. What an asshole (rich guy).

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4779416

I kinda see this ending in FAIL for both player and team. A classic example of spending money for the sake of spending money.

[homesystem]

The Mets seem to be good at that.

[homesystem]

Say what you will about the Buccos.. at least they're not paying $6 million for Adam LaRoche.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h79C1gR945VZpBGDSJLUAePQc9_A

[homesystem]

Given this signing and a few other recent bullpen acquisitions.. I ain't sheddin' no tears over the loss of Capps.  It'll also give some veteran leadership to Gas Can-rahan and Evan (not Ponce) Meek that Capps wouldn't have provided.  (It also starts to dispel the 'salary dump' thing.. since they're willing to pay veteran relievers.)

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100121&content_id=7946886&vkey=news_pit&fext=.jsp&c_id=pit

[Bull]

He's old... what's his fast ball like now 86 mph?

[pnickers]

I hope he starts acting like Kenny Powers, that would be fucking awesome! 

[newefezziwig]

I hope he starts acting like Kenny Steve Powers, that would be fucking awesome! 

And taking a trip down Mammary Lane?

[homesystem]

I wonder if the Pirates will ever have a Steve Powers tribute night.. that's one bobble-head I don't wanna touch.

[homesystem]

"The Pirates designated right-hander Anthony Claggett to make room for Dotel on the 40-man roster."

Looks like the subject of Matt's one and only phone call to Rocco was a casualty of this deal.

[Tank Decker]

"The Pirates designated right-hander Anthony Claggett to make room for Dotel on the 40-man roster."

Looks like the subject of Matt's one and only phone call to Rocco was a casualty of this deal.

"Hey Rocco, I'ma callin' to talk abaht that Doe-tell. 'Em Nuttings think we're gonna fall for their smoke and mihrrs?"

[homesystem]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10025/1030840-63.stm

Hey Rocco.. why do 'em Nuttings always gotta yank our effin' chains.. ain't we suffered enough?

[pnickers]

Look, he really is just blowing smoke up our asses.  I don't believe in his dissatisfaction with not winning a championship.  That just isn't in the cards for this team and its constant, "continue moving down that path" attitude.  Clearly they've chosen that the "path" he speaks of is not giving a shit. 

I think this response was expected from me, but I'll stand by it. 

[homesystem]

Maybe, maybe not.. only time can tell.  I just wanted to make a 'hey rocco' post.

[homesystem]

"It's possible that because the earliest stages of this sort of rebuild involves slashing payroll, Nutting's more than happy to stand behind his management team and that he'll never fund the second, more expensive part of the process that involves keeping young talent and bringing in free agents to fill gaps. But if all he were interested in was the bottom line, he'd be much better served to have a management team like the one he fired eight months into his official ownership. The money the Pirates have spent on the draft, international signings, and additional expenditures like the new Dominican Academy would be much better served signing veteran stopgaps to appease casual fans. The path the Pirates are on gambles that losing fans in the short-term will create a product that will bring them back over time. I don't think it's a risk they would be taking unless everyone from Nutting down to the assistant to Neal Huntington's assistants were committed to it."

-from the WHYGAVS blog, but this is the way I see it too.. if Bob just cared about money and never planned to make any progress with the team, he's thrown a lot of money away over the past two years... and why would he allow Huntington to piss people off by doing things like trading the McLaath and Morgan if he just wanted to sell tickets with promotions and maintain the status quo?

[Tank Decker]

"It's possible that because the earliest stages of this sort of rebuild involves slashing payroll, Nutting's more than happy to stand behind his management team and that he'll never fund the second, more expensive part of the process that involves keeping young talent and bringing in free agents to fill gaps. But if all he were interested in was the bottom line, he'd be much better served to have a management team like the one he fired eight months into his official ownership. The money the Pirates have spent on the draft, international signings, and additional expenditures like the new Dominican Academy would be much better served signing veteran stopgaps to appease casual fans. The path the Pirates are on gambles that losing fans in the short-term will create a product that will bring them back over time. I don't think it's a risk they would be taking unless everyone from Nutting down to the assistant to Neal Huntington's assistants were committed to it."

-from the WHYGAVS blog, but this is the way I see it too.. if Bob just cared about money and never planned to make any progress with the team, he's thrown a lot of money away over the past two years... and why would he allow Huntington to piss people off by doing things like trading the McLaath and Morgan if he just wanted to sell tickets with promotions and maintain the status quo?

because he's eeeevil....mwuhahahahahaha!!!!!!!

[pnickers]

Hey, I'd love to be proven wrong about 'em Nuttings.  I really would.  I'm just not onvinced that they will follow through with the second phase of the re-re-re-re-re-re-rebuild. 

[Tank Decker]

Hey, I'd love to be proven wrong about 'em Nuttings.  I really would.  I'm just not onvinced that they will follow through with the second phase of the re-re-re-re-re-re-rebuild. 

I understand the apprehension, but they'd be wasting an awful lot of the resources that have been used to lay the groundwork for the current organization. And keep in mind that this is 'em Nuttings first rebuild.

[homesystem]

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/01/cubs-close-to-signing-xavier-nady.html

Too bad the Yankees didn't get much out of him.. hopefully he has more luck with the Cubs.
In the end, though, I'll take Jose Tabata and Ross Ohlendorf.

[pnickers]

Hey, I'd love to be proven wrong about 'em Nuttings.  I really would.  I'm just not onvinced that they will follow through with the second phase of the re-re-re-re-re-re-rebuild. 

I understand the apprehension, but they'd be wasting an awful lot of the resources that have been used to lay the groundwork for the current organization. And keep in mind that this is 'em Nuttings first rebuild.

So, I guess the question becomes, how long are you willing to wait?  I obviously still care (amazingly), but listening to these abstract long term goals with absolutely no target date or time frame for improvement is just a broken record.  I don't expect them to give me a specific date, but I do think that if they want to keep discouraged fans such as myself even remotely interested and emotionally invested in this team they could be more specific than "down that path". 

[homesystem]

One thing I can say concretely is that a potential mid-season call-up to the starting rotation is Brad Lincoln, not Van Benschoten or Herrera.  That's a shot of novocaine in itself.  And if you couple that with Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata coming up, it's almost like a vicodin prescription.
How long will that prescription last, though?  Who knows.. hopefully we won't be out on the street looking for a hookup in a week or two.
(End of my baseball-dental procedure-pain med metaphor.)

[pnickers]

So, would that make signing a washed up veteran similar to scoring some North Side crack rock? 

[Tank Decker]

So, would that make signing a washed up veteran similar to scoring some North Side crack rock? 

Yes! But they have not done that this year (or last to be honest). They have signed veterans, and some could be classified as washed up, but none of them are expected to be anything more than backups.

[Tank Decker]

Hey Rocco! This is more a'that smoke 'n mihrrs that I'm talkin' abaht!

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10027/1031262-63.stm

[pnickers]

'At aint no smoke n' mihrs.  'At's long overdue. 

[Tank Decker]

Hey Rocco! I'll tell you whut why 'em Nuttings won't ever put up a statue of Bonds n'at. The extra bronze they'll need for his stehroid face'll cost too much for 'em cheap carpetbaggers!

[homesystem]

Hey Rocco! I'll tell you whut why 'em Nuttings won't ever put up a statue of Bonds n'at. The extra bronze they'll need for his stehroid face'll cost too much for 'em cheap carpetbaggers!

This one earned a boo! point.  And let's hope the Mazeroski statue doesn't look like the Mr. Rogers statue.

[newefezziwig]

Hey Rocco! I'll tell you whut why 'em Nuttings won't ever put up a statue of Bonds n'at. The extra bronze they'll need for his stehroid face'll cost too much for 'em cheap carpetbaggers!

This one earned a boo! point.  And let's hope the Mazeroski statue doesn't look like the Mr. Rogers statue.

Well if it does, then that's more work for Custom Piles™

[pnickers]

Based on the recent flooding, I wonder if the Mr. Rogers statue actually looks like swamp thing halfway submerged in the river. 

[homesystem]

That would be pretty cool.. I wonder if anyone got a picture.

[Tank Decker]

"The Pirates designated right-hander Anthony Claggett to make room for Dotel on the 40-man roster."

Looks like the subject of Matt's one and only phone call to Rocco was a casualty of this deal.

whew, things are back to normal now

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/pbc/archive/2010/01/27/jackson-claggett-clear-waivers.aspx