Andrew McCutchen, Joel Hanrahan and the Great All-Star Snub of 2011

Random thoughts from Bucco Central.

Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan is headed to the All-Star game, a well deserved honor. Center-fielder Andrew McCutchen should be going with him, but the All-Star game is an honor conferred largely based on reputation and McCutchen is still building his. [Although a quick stroll through the stats would reveal these facts:  McCutchen is 3rd among all National League center-fielders in OPS (.892), 3rd in Slugging (498), 2nd in RBI (after today's win over the Astros he has 46), and 3rd in stolen bases (15.) It doesn't take a nuclear physicist to figure it out.] However, there's a bright side for Pittsburghers, which is, in the two games since his All-Star snub, he's gone 4-for-9 at the plate, with a two-bagger and three RBI's. Let's hope he stays motivated by The Great All-Star Snub of 2011. (tm)

Back to the Hammer. Earlier this year, I heard some radio jocks suggesting that the Pirates might package Hanrahan to get a big-bopper for right field or an upgrade at short-stop. Here's why that's phooey. Hanrahan shortens the game by a full-half inning. Teams pretty much know they'd better score within their first 24 outs, because the last three outs, in the 9th inning, are locked up.

Not that he's perfect. He gave up one run in DC the other night, but still got the save. I love the way he goes after hitters. It doesn't matter who it is; whether its the 7th, 8th and 9th guys in the Washington Nationals line-up, or the great David Ortiz, Hanrahan doesn't dance around the strike zone, nibbling here, nibbling there. He just goes up there with a rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder and dares batters to hit him. His success speaks for itself, to say nothing of the psychological lift I think that he gives the team.

Not to mention, the Buccos aren't exactly blowing teams out. The hitting just has not come around as much as we (and skipper Clint Hurdle) would like it to. As Bill Cowher used to say, it is what it is. And given that it is what it is -- 22nd in the league in runs scored and 5th in MLB in strike outs (with a whopping 644 to date) -- having a hold card like Hanrahan, a closer who can almost guarantee you three outs is a huge advantage. To think that you can trade the best closer we've seen in these parts since the great Kent Tekulve, well, that's just asinine. Unless you're getting something like Jose Bautista in return. (I had to. Sorry, Mr. Huntingdon.)

While we're here, I didn't believe in the Pirates when the season started. Why, really, would I? Why would anybody?

But Neal Huntingdon said he was building from the ground up, re-stocking the woeful farm system. I'd heard that old saw before so many times, I was sick of it. I didn't believe he would do it because, nobody had before. The Pirates were terrible when they had their best players on the field. If one of them got hurt, they were even worse. I don't know exactly what that is, but whatever is worse than terrible, that's what the farm system was. They weren't the 'not ready for prime time players,' they were the 'never ready for prime time players.'

This year, the injuries just keep mounting, and the young guys keep performing. The list goes on and on, but the two who stand out most are, of course, Alex Presley and Chase d'Arnaud. They've both performed so well that they may have earned permanent spots with the big club. When Jose Tabata comes back from his injury (get well soon, Jose), I think we may be seeing Presley in right field on a steady basis. (I would like that outfield a whole lot, if anybody wants my opinion.) When Pedro Alvarez comes back to play 3rd base on a day to day basis, d'Arnaud should remain at shortstop. When Ronny Cedeno's healthy, I think he may be spending a lot of time on the bench, watching d'Arnaud in the field.The kids have performed so much better than anybody could have expected and, frankly, the contributions of the Indianapolis kids deserve their own post. Maybe over the All-Star break.

In the meantime, there is reason to enjoy this moment -- Pirates fans, please do enjoy your existential moment, the feeling of being 44-41 on July 4th. Drink deep, let yourself become intoxicated with the winning. Life moves pretty fast and you never know what might happen. But, with guys like Chase and Presley coming along, there's reason to hope that the Pirates can continue these winning ways. Heck, maybe they can even get better. In the words of that legendary philosopher Kent Tekulve, the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades.




[Photos:  McCutchen -- NESN; Presley -- bleacherreport.com; Tekulve -- ESPN.com]

Up and Down, and In and Out, with the Pittsburgh Pirates

Last night, in front of a sparse New York crowd (just about 25,000, of which 24,000 must have been in the upper decks, because it was mostly empty behind home plate and along the baselines), your Pittsburgh Pirates won their 17th road victory over the Mucking Fets -- as many road wins on June 1st, 2011 as they had throughout the entirety of the 2010 season. Per this morning's Post-Gazette story, the players are downplaying it, but I think that 2010 road trips must have felt like extended funeral corteges. Scratch that, I actually have been to funerals that were more fun than watching the Pirates on the road last year.


Not only have they equaled the number of road wins from last year, they actually have a winning record on the road (17-14, good for a winning percentage of .548.) They've got to find a way to replicate that kind of performance at home, but, you know, inconsistency is a hallmark of a young team. I think William Jennings Bryan said that first, but he was a hopeful guy and after watching 54 games of Pirates baseball this year, I am strangely hopeful, too.

After 54 games last year, the Pirates were 22-32 and while they have just four more wins this year (because I'm not stupid, I do understand that 26-28 is a losing record), they are a little package of possibility. In years past, it felt like they were putting band-aids on amputations, when they weren't self-mutilating shamelessly. This year feels like they're actually building towards something, and they have a legit core of talent -- if they keep them together, ... and if they nurture them, ... and if they add just a few more parts, ... and if the hitting comes around, ... and with a little seasoning ... you can see what they might become. There are flashes of greatness, even now.

Oh wait. I have to go sit down and fan myself, not because the air-conditioning is broken, but because I used the phrase "flashes of greatness" in the same sentence with "Pittsburgh Pirates."

It's way too early for that. I realize a lot of things have to tumble into place. And of course, a young team has to learn how to win, to a large degree.

Take the McCutchen brothers for instance.

Mid-level reliever Daniel McCutchen much better than expected out of the gate, allowing just one earned run in his first eight appearances, but in his last two appearances, he got lit up like Tara Reid, speaking of wasted youth.

Twin brother Andrew McCutchen was went 0 for seven, striking out five times in the first two games versus the Mets, then last night, he was three-for-five, with a run scored, plus he made a magnificent catch in the outfield. It's not just 'Cutch, of course -- the Pirates' bats have been the biggest source of inconsistency and disappointment. I have to warn you, the numbers are ugly:

** 13th in the NL in runs scored (208).

** 14th in the NL in team batting average (.236).

** 15th in the NL in OPS (.667).

** Dead last in the NL in total hits (420). Ouch.

** Dead last in the NL in total bases (632). Major ouch.

** They have the 2nd most strike outs in the NL with 433. That one, for some reason, just pains me more than the others. Like the kind of pain that you call 9-1-1 for.

"9-1-1. What's your emergency?"

"I'm having severe chest pains. It's hard to breathe."

"Ma'am, I have to ask this, are you watching the Pirates game?"

"What!? I have a really deep, sharp pain in my chest!"

"Yes, ma'am. I know. But I see that Lyle Overbay just whiffed for the 35th time and I have to ask if you were watching the Buccos game. We've had an on-slaught of calls due to the Pirates propensity to strike out."

"Oh, well, I guess I'll just go get a beer and finish watching the game. Sorry to bother you."

"No problem, but you might want to take aspirin before every game. Have a good night."

And yet, with all the strike outs and wildly variable hitting, the Pirates are only minus one in run differential and are becoming a tough team to beat, because of the pitching. Check out these wonderful numbers:

** Kevin Correia -- tops in MLB with wins with eight.

** Charlie Morton -- fourth best ERA in the NL at 2.51

** Joel Hanrahan -- sixth in the NL in saves with 14.

** Fifth in overall Team ERA at 3.45.

** 28 Legit Quality Starts from Correia, Maholm, Morton, McDonald and Karstens (by my count -- but your mileage may vary slightly.)

The quality of the pitching is a testament to Ray Searage, of whom we should all be penning folk songs and heroic odes. They are so much better than anybody expected and, I would guess, even Searage himself is probably surprised at how well they are performing.

Of course, the Pirates had a bad winning percentage through April and May last year (.403), then managed to go completely in the tank -- 6-20 in June, 9-16 in July, and 8-21 in August. A winning percentage of .287 has to be some kind of record, doesn't it? Just as my way of saying -- beware the dog days, kids.


[Photo credits: mysanantonio.com].

Pittsburgh Was Once a Baseball Town -- Can It Be One Again?

On Saturday night, I went to the Pirates game, a 6-2 win over the Detroit Tigers. Also, notably, it was a sell out, with the last 7,000 or so seats sold in walk-up traffic. Heck, I can't remember the last time I was at a sold out Pirates game. [Oh, wait, I can. It was opening day a couple of years ago, but before that, honestly, it had to be 1992 -- a late September game against the Mucking Fets at Three Rivers. I can actually picture my seats in the old concrete toilet on the third base side.]

The extraordinary drought since that 1992 season makes it easy to forget Pittsburgh's storied baseball history, perhaps the richest history you might find in a market this size, particularly when you factor in the amazing Negro League teams fielded by the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Home to Honus Wagner. Site of the first World Series ever. Pie Traynor. Josh Gibson. And, of course, the great one, Roberto Clemente. It's a veritable murder's row of baseball luminaries.


But as much as baseball thrives on its past, it doesn't actually live in antiquity. After a while, the youngins' tire of hearing stories of the great 'We Are Family' team of my youth. They want heroes of their own, memories of their own. Of heroes and memories that build loyalty, we have lived in shameful want. Because of inept ownership, unwilling to spend money and seemingly unable to spend it wisely when they did open the purse strings, fans turned away out of frustration and boredom in equal parts. We justifiedly turned to other pursuits, other distractions; the Pirates were something to do if it was a give-away night, a fireworks night, or a particularly nice evening and it wasn't too inconvenient, and there wasn't a really good rerun of 'House' on.

As to the team itself? We all knew what to expect from the team -- more fire-sales of talent, inert and ineffectual skippers, more trades for a useless 'player to be named later,' more free-agency idiocy, and more signings of washed up locker room cancers. (Personally, I like my serving of locker room cancer served on a boat named Operation Shutdown.) Even on the rare occasion when things looked remotely optimistic, you could count on ownership to do something stupid.

No wonder this is a football town and a hockey town. The Steelers certainly did their part in worming their way into our hearts. Four Super Bowls in quick order will do that to a fanbase, and they managed to tread water, even during the leanest years in the 1980's. Then along came Mario and this became a rabid hockey town, too. The timing could not have been worse for, at the moment Mario was just starting his second date with Lord Stanley, the Pirates were falling into prosaic monotony.

What both of those teams give the fans consistently is hope. And hope, not bobbleheads or beach-towels, not fireworks or Steve Miller Band appearances, sells tickets.

Putting your faith in the post-1992 Pirates is not for the faint of heart, a bit like watching a slasher flick while nursing a case of food poisoning -- every moment is fraught with trepidation, watched through your fingers as you cover your eyes, and just when you think the worst of the nausea has passed, another wave of bilious queasiness crests.

Enter the 2011 Pirates. Right now, May of 2011, I sense a sea change in the mood around Pittsburgh these days. Sure, sure, the battling Buccos are two games under .500, but fans are starting to show just a bit of interest. You can almost smell it -- the faintest traces of hope. Perhaps applied obliquely, or just around the edges, but we are cautiously hopeful. Something just feels different.

The numbers only show part of the story -- their record is just two games better than they were at the same time last year; the team batting average is slightly improved (up to 24th from 29th); and slugging percentage is also moderately improved (up to 24th from 27th). The pitching, however, is much improved with the team ERA up to 15th (at 3.64) from dead last (at 5.00) in 2010. They have 25 quality starts in 46 games. If they continue at that pace, they would finish with upward of 95 quality starts over the season. Last year, they finished with just 71 quality starts all year. Wow.

You can't see it in the numbers, even though quality starts have been like hen's teeth around here, but it's something more than that. Watch a handful of games and something feels different and like pornography, I know it when I see it, sabremetrics be damned. I think a large part of it is the mindset of Clint Hurdle -- a refreshing combination of competence and charisma. His hitting, pitching and position coaches actually seem to, er, coach. So that's a start right there. He's instilled an aggressive mindset in his players. Last year, not one of the Pirates pitchers threw inside with any confidence. This year, they are taking ownership of the inside part of the plate. He has his guys running the basepaths like crazy, testing other teams constantly. Honestly, I saw a game last year, when the Buccos had a guy on 2nd base and he didn't score on a double. How is that even possible? What was he doing on 2nd base? Texting?

For the sake of argument, let's say that Hurdle is getting everything that you can get from the talent he has, that what we're seeing is the upper limit for this collection of players. And let's say he is consistent enough that the rest of the season plays out like it has so far -- that the Pirates neither improve appreciably, but neither do they decline. With a winning percentage of .478, that would amount to 77 wins for the season and I think the fans can live with that. Actually, I think the fans would be thrilled with that. Heck, if they go into the final series of the season with say, 75 wins, I think the town will rename Fort Duquesne for Hurdle (I like the sound of 'Fort Hurdle'), erect statues of Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen, and possibly elect Joel Hanrahan to the Mayor's office (actually, he might be an improvement.)

Not that 75 or 77 wins are the long term goals. But compared to what we saw of the Jim Tracy and John Russell eras, that is an epic improvement. More to the point, mightn't this be the season you could possibly point to and say, "that was the turning point." Dare we even hope for that?

In fairness, it must be pointed out that it is usually right around this time when management makes a tragically bone-headed move, but if Saturday night was any indication, I think the fans are ready -- ready to give these guys a chance. Hurdle's doing his job. McCutchen is doing his job. Kevin Correia is doing much more than any of us anticipated. So now? Now is the time that management has to find a way not to screw up a good thing -- the hope of Pirates fans is more fragile than an orchid, more delicate than a Ming vase.

Tread lightly, he who lives in hopes of increased attendance.


[McCutchen photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Hanrahan photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Tribune Review.]