Baseball Thread 5 - #5 George Brett Has a Story to Tell

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/09182/980960-150.stm

More fun reaction, including a very entertaining quote from Nyjer Morgan. I guess I'd be pissed, too, if I escaped a terrible franchise only to go to the team with the worst record in baseball.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09182/980911-63.stm

And this one includes a detail that leaves me speechless. The Pirates actuall included $400,000 in the deal that sent Eric Hinske to the Yankees to cover about half of his remaining salary for 2009. That's right. The Pirates actually had to pay the Yankees to take the deal. It's as if Bill Gates was asking one of us to give him a $50 bribe to let us buy one of his computers and we weren't bright enough to tell him to go fuck himself.

 

Haven't seen this posted yet ... Xavier Nady had to leave the game during his rehab game for Scranton last week and may have to have a second round of Tommy John surgery.

Made two throws from right, had "extreme discomfort¹" and had to leave the game.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090626&content_id=5543824&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Will Carroll of <i>Baseball Prospectus</i> says it's the first time a big-league position player has needed a second TJ procedure.
http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2009/06/yankees_outfielder_xavier_nady.html

Which explains the Hinske trade.
¹Which I interpret as "sharp pain that hurt like a sonuvabitch."

 

When the Bucs traded away Nate McLouth a month ago, they were five or six games out. When the Bucs traded Morgan and Hinske yesterday, they were five or six games out.

Here's a question -- would the Bucs be five or six games out of first place without these trades? Andy LaRoche and Brandon Moss are batting fifth and sixth, they came over in trades last season. McCutchen's chance at the bigs came after McLouth's trade to the Braves. Ross Ohlendorf (seven wins), Jeff Karstens and Charlie Morton all came over in trades and have worked in the rotation and bullpen.

Sure, the Pirates could have kept Bay, Nady, McLouth, Marte, Hisnke and Morgan this season. And maybe they finish 30.5 games out of first place again. Jack Wilson should understand by now -- win some games and maybe the Pirates won't be looking for answers all the time.

That's smart on the Pirates' part. If the Yankees assume Hinske's full salary, the Pirates don't get better prospects in return. If they cover part of the salary, then the Bucs could ask for prospects X and Y. That's how baseball works nowadays. If they traded Hinske simply to dump salary, they wouldn't pick up any of the $400,000 of that salary. But they made that trade to add depth to their farm system because they want some longterm success.

 

Hinske will also play third when A-Rod is rested.

 

Clearly, the Pirates are intimidated by the first-place Brewers and realize the Milwaukee juggernaut -- current starting rotation: Gallardo, Looper, Suppan, McClung, Burns -- cannot be caught.

Reminds me of being a Brewers fan through most of the 90s and early 00s. Daily doses of depression.

 

So Bubbs, do you really trust anyone in that rotation other than Gallardo?

 

Forgive this probably stupid question, but is it a rule that AL teams have to DH for the pitcher? Because on days where Greinke and Bannister are throwing, I'd take them over anybody KC has at shortstop (other than maybe Willie Bloomquist)

Nope. Not kidding.

 

You realize the Bucs are still going to catch the Brewers this season, right?

 

Hell no. (I hope you noted the sarcasm in the above post.)

The Brewers have had a two-to-three game lead several times this season only to fall back to the pack. It's going to be an ebb-and-flow in the Central all year. If I were a Pirates fan, I'd be pissed right now because anyone has a puncher's chance in this division right now, even Pittsburgh.

 

Sorry, double. DH for pitcher only.

 

Cole Hames has a cool line: 4-4, 4.44 ERA.

Someone page Jayson Stark and ask him to find out if any pitcher at any time has ever had a line where all five of those numbers were the same.