Reggie Sanders is the man

[GiveHyzduashot]

Steve Novotney broke the story. No financial terms disclosed and it's not known if he was placed on the 40 man roster or not.

The deal may not be announced until this weekend or even Monday at the latest.

Mackowiak's disappointed ... more on that when Novotney gives today's update later this afternoon.

Like I've said before, I preferred Lofton, but I like Sanders too. One thing Sanders gives us Lofton doesn't is some nice balance in the middle of the lineup ... Giles, Aram, Simon, Sanders. Not too bad if you ask me.

I really, really believe we'll make a darn good run at .500. I can't wait for the season to start. :D

[PissedPrincess]

I like Sanders. He always seems to hit well in the clutch.

It's so hard, I can see Fenway out of my work window, and I wanna be there so bad. Hope the freakin snow melts in time for Opening Day.:(

[Greymire]

How do you post theses so fast. I get home from work earl;y and see it..rush to the board..and bam...lol. It is on ESPN now as well. It will be good for us I believe. While I am sure Macowiak is dissappointed, he will still get tons of at bats if he plays as well or improves on last year.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0320/1355181.html

What I find interesting is that it says we are still in negotiations with Lofton as well. Would we sign both? Also, who goes fromthe 40 man roster now? Are Craig Wilson's days a a Bucco limited?

[GiveHyzduashot]

Haha ... I was actually going to post about the $1 million and Lofton still in contact with us.

With Rob, the bottom line is if he still works his tail off and improves, he'll play a lot. He'll back up Aram ... he'll play right field ... he'll play some center ... he'll be the supersub, which is the role I like him in.

I'd love for the Pirates to sign Lofton too. Doesn't this lineup look real good??

1. Lofton CF
2. Kendall C
3. Giles LF
4. Ramirez 3B
5. Simon 1B
6. Sanders RF
7. Wilson SS
8. Reese 2B

Or have Wilson hit second, Kendall seventh and Reese eighth.

Either one yields a well balanced lineup. Good mix of speed (Lofton, Reese), power (Giles, Ramirez, Simon) and situational hitting like what Jack Flash does.

My guess is Hyzdu is the next player off the 40 man roster. He'll be released before Wilson.

[Greymire]

Hyzdu is probably a good bet given his age and the fact that he cooled off and never recovered last year. Lofton would be nice, but why then did we sign Stairs? I think Stairs is actually the better of the three at this point in his career despit a bad year last year. Would Stairs play some first base? Would he be a platoon guy with one of the others? I would be real suprised if we signed Lofton too, though the dilema would be an interesting one. I have always liked Stairs though. Stairs hits left so I suppose he could share time with Sanders, but I do not think he has the speed for LEft so that would involve moving Giles around which he hates.

[00_Agent]

You know, I joked a week or so ago that we should sign both, but never thought it would happen. But I really did think that it would be a good idea, and if it does happen would give us a pretty good lineup, whoever you put in there, and would give us a great bench, with guys like Wilson, Simon/Young, Stairs/Sanders, Mackowiak, et al.

Even without Lofton I would say we have better than even odds of finishing near or at .500. With him, I would be willing to bet we win around 85 games pretty comfortably at this point.

00

[Greymire]

I think it might work the other way. With that many people fighting for playing time you could end up with a bunch of unhappy campers wanting to play. I have never been a big fan of platoons. Some do work, but I think they became very overated when Jim Leyland was around.

[3-2 Changeup]

I like the signing of Sanders a lot. He's been a class act, no trouble to his teams, fairly productive. I can't imagine them signing Lofton too. Hyzdu is already a marked man, and signing Lofton would mean that someone like Craig Wilson or Stairs is out. Or if KY has a sub par spring, maybe he goes? Doubtful.

[Greymire]

It would definitly be Craig in my opinion. Alvarez should start at AAA but if he does well, and anyone falters, he could come up. We wouldnt sign Stairs then cut him loose. That would be a huge financial blunder. Craig could easily be gone already. it will be a tough one.

[GiveHyzduashot]

I don't think Wilson will be gone. Who backs up Kendall? Cota, I don't think, will be ready by April.

[GiveHyzduashot]

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20030220smizik0220p1.asp

[Greymire]

Check out this link:

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/pit/news/pit_news.jsp?ymd=20030220&content_id=202607&vkey=spt2003news&fext=.jsp

Could the opening day lineup be:

Kenny Lofton cf
Jason Kendall c
Brian Giles lf
Aramis Ramirez 3b
Randall Simon 1b
Reggie Sanders rf
Pokey Reese 2b
Jack Wilson ss

Though unless Kendall improves with men on base flopping Jack Wilson ..Moving Jason to the 7 hole and Pokey 8 would make more sense to me.