Jesus, Awards, Condolences and A Rant

First Church, Now Jesus?

The Pittsburgh Pirates are feeling very religious lately.  Shortly after signing Ryan Church, they have now traded for Jesus.  Well, Jesus Brito.  Brito was listed by Baseball America as an AZL top 20 prospect.  Brian Bixler was sent to Cleveland in return for Brito.  This opened a spot on the 40 man roster for the signing of Brendan Donnolly, which was also made official today.

BTW Take:

Brito, 22  (born Dec 25,1987), is an actual prospect at some level.  Some will point that he is old for his level, but he did play DLB prior to arriving in Rookie ball last year.  If he can work his way through the low A ball system he may actually earn a prospect rating.  The fact Neal Huntington could land any value in return for Bixler after his track record in the majors is phenomenal.

To ease the minds of Indians fans, Bixler is better than his numbers show.  I still think he has a chance to be a decent MLB player.  Hell, who am I kidding.  Bixler has a problem making contact with Major League pitching.  When he does make contact, he makes things happen.  Part of that may be due to the defense falling asleep expecting a strikeout.  Bixler making contact is akin to a 60 year old comedian making contact against a MLB pitcher.  Wait, sorry Mr. Maholm and Mr. Crystal.

But how sweet is it Brito was born December 25th?

Maybe the Pirates do have a prayer…sorry, I could not pass that up.

 

ROY Award

Congratulations to Andrew McCutchen for being named the NL Larry Doby Award winner by the Negro League Hall of Fame Legacy Awards.  The award ceremony is scheduled for Jan 30th, 2010 in Kansas City.

Larry Doby Award-presented to the AL and NL "Rookies of the Year"

2009 Recipients: Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers and Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates

 

Condolences:

Condolences to Masumi Kuwata and his family on the tragic loss of his father.  I still wish I could have seen Kuwata in his prime.  And I still wish I could have owned one of his jerseys with the Pirates.  For some reason, I really enjoyed watching him pitch and try to envision how great he was.  I hope he returns to the Pirates in some form.  But, for now, deepest sympathies to him and his family at their loss.

 

Rant

I have a confession to make.  I…I…I lived in Cleveland for 4 years.  This was in the early 90’s and I grew to enjoy Indians baseball.  You could call me a fan of them as well as a lifelong fan of the Pirates.  Yes, I still follow the team but not at the level I follow every move of the Pirates. 

I have been to Jacobs Field almost as many time as I have been to PNC. 

It saddens me to see the Indians fans going through the same pain we Pirates fans have come to know in the Nutting Era.  Horrible ownership and an even worse front office.  At least the Pirates seem to have a direction with Huntington in charge.

Here is a link to the many rants of Indians fans, and this is over acquiring Bixler.  http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2010/01/cleveland_indians_acquire_infi_1.html

Cleveland fans have it worse.  They once had an owner they could entrust much the way the Rooney family has become part of Pittsburgh.  But that rat pulled up shop and moved to Baltimore.  I hate to admit this, but I am glad the Browns beat the Steelers this season, maybe the best rivalry in sports can be reborn.  There are very few teams that are as despised in my book the way the Ravens are despised, it was a good weekend seeing them lose.  Only the Yankees and Cowboys are near the same level of disgust.

Cleveland has one player, one team to enjoy.  And they could lose him soon to free agency.  I am a Pittsburgher, and I bleed Black and Gold, but even Cleveland deserves better than their pro sports teams are delivering.

MLB needs to step in on behalf of the fans and force a minimum of two owners to sell.  One owner in Cleveland and one owner in Pittsburgh.

Random Madness

For those who read this blog regularly, when I post, you know about Random Madness.  For those who just stumbled on the blog, this is where I just randomly comment on an assortment of topics that just don’t fit under one post.

Last Thought On McGwire

He only took steroids for heath?  They didn’t help him set homerun records nor hit homeruns?

Ok, that is one of the most ridiculous statements ever made.  Even if he didn’t gain any power from the steroids, which is bull to begin with, and it only kept him on the field, that cements the fact he isn’t a Hall Of Famer.

Think about it.  If he was hitting a homerun every 15 at bats or so and the roids got him in another 21 games a season.  That works out to roughly 7 homeruns a season over an 11 year span.  In other words, he owes at least 77 homeruns to steroids just based on “health” reasons. 

All the sudden he barely hits 500 homeruns, one of the key marks to make to have a prayer of making an induction speech.  Add in less than a dozen that can be attributed to extra strength, barely 1 a season over the span, and he never reaches 500 for his career.

Considering he wasn’t great with the glove and only average with the bat.  He would have only been a good power hitter and not even considered a Hall candidate.  If anyone who used deserves not to get in to the Hall, McGwire is the poster boy.

 

New York Bay

Talk about a career killing contract.  The deal Jason Bay signed with the Mets will be the downfall of his career.  While Bay is a good player, especially in the right ballpark, he will flounder with the homerun numbers in spacious Citi Field.  If that park can suck the power out of David Wright, how badly will it drain Jason Bay?

 

Pirates Pen

Finally Pirates related…

I have to say, I like the way the bullpen is working out, especially if/when Dotel is signed.  The additions of Bass, Donnelly and Carrasco to Hanrahan and Meek round out a bullpen that will be much improved over last season.  With the loser of the 5th spot in the rotation likely headed to the pen, we finally have an idea what this team will look like coming out of Bradenton.

I know Carrasco and Bass are not on the 40 man roster yet, but they should be when the season starts.  Needless to say, there will be some major changes to the 40 man roster between now and opening day.