imgreat95
12-09-2005, 04:50 AM
I am happy to know that we actually received our invitation in the mail to attend the annual winter meetings. In years past, I think we missed it. Thank you to the US Postal service for not losing it this time.
What did the moves we made do?? I have no idea, really. Are we a better team today than we were a week ago? With a couple more moves, I think that we could be. I do not see us staying with what we have in the bullpen right now. Would we really go into the season with Gonzo, Marte, and Grabow all from the left side? I am thinking probably not. I believe that we probably got Marte in order to be able to dangle Grabow. I do not, however, believe that grabow will fetch us much of anything at all by mimself. Initially I had thought maybe a package deal involving Grabow and Wells, or maybe possibly even Grabow and Craig WIlson but I am still not sure on the idea of trading Kip. I am not ready to get rid of Kip just yet. His stuff can be nasty if he could just get his head out of his ass.
Anyhow, as I see it, here is what we have right now:
Duffy CF
Wilson SS
Bay LF
Casey 1B
Wilson/Gerut RF
Castillo 2B
Doumit C
Sanchez 3B
I am not totally sure that that is how I would do it. I am happy with #1-5 where they are, but Doumit and Castillo could easily be flip flopped. Many people might not like the idea of Bay batting 3rd. Some may want him to bat in the cleanup spot. I like the idea of insuring that your best hitter bats in the first inning every game. I like the potential to get out to an early lead, even if it is just a 1-0 lead. For that reason, I like him in the 3 spot. Not to mention the fact that I definitely want Casey to bat after him. If you move Bay to 4th, then who is your #3? We dont have Tike Redman here any more, so we dont have that option.
As for the bench, I think it would maybe look something like this right now:
DeCaster
Wilson/Gerut
Cota
Furmaniak
McClouth
Would like to add a 6th bench guy and only go with 11 pitchers, but traditionally that is not something the Pirates do, therefore I am going to stick with this. Again, this is just an as of now. Not totally what I expect the roster to look like a month from now. That is, in reality, I think a pretty weak bench and as of now looks to be the weakest part of our roster.
As for the starting rotation, I think we start out like this:
Perez
Duke
Wells
Maholm
Santos
I hate Victor Santos as the #5, but I do believe that as of now, he would be the guy. At least until Burnett and/or Van Benschoten are ready to go.
Bullpen could vastly change in the next month or so.
Bayliss
Gonzalez
Marte
Grabow
Fogg
Volgelsong
Torres
The bullpen scares me. Not that I dont think one of them could step up, but I am uncomfortable without having anyone as of now who has experience closing games. I have not seen enough from Gonzo to be comfortable with him just yet. He has the makeup to do it, of course, but how many guys have we seen over the years who we thought would be good closers, only to have them disappoint. That being said, I think that we could see a return to the closer by committee approach that worked well for us in the early 90s. At least until someone steps up.
As of now, I think that is how I see the 25 man roster looking. I do, once again, expect for Grabow and most likely Craig to be moved before the start of the spring training.
What did the moves we made do?? I have no idea, really. Are we a better team today than we were a week ago? With a couple more moves, I think that we could be. I do not see us staying with what we have in the bullpen right now. Would we really go into the season with Gonzo, Marte, and Grabow all from the left side? I am thinking probably not. I believe that we probably got Marte in order to be able to dangle Grabow. I do not, however, believe that grabow will fetch us much of anything at all by mimself. Initially I had thought maybe a package deal involving Grabow and Wells, or maybe possibly even Grabow and Craig WIlson but I am still not sure on the idea of trading Kip. I am not ready to get rid of Kip just yet. His stuff can be nasty if he could just get his head out of his ass.
Anyhow, as I see it, here is what we have right now:
Duffy CF
Wilson SS
Bay LF
Casey 1B
Wilson/Gerut RF
Castillo 2B
Doumit C
Sanchez 3B
I am not totally sure that that is how I would do it. I am happy with #1-5 where they are, but Doumit and Castillo could easily be flip flopped. Many people might not like the idea of Bay batting 3rd. Some may want him to bat in the cleanup spot. I like the idea of insuring that your best hitter bats in the first inning every game. I like the potential to get out to an early lead, even if it is just a 1-0 lead. For that reason, I like him in the 3 spot. Not to mention the fact that I definitely want Casey to bat after him. If you move Bay to 4th, then who is your #3? We dont have Tike Redman here any more, so we dont have that option.
As for the bench, I think it would maybe look something like this right now:
DeCaster
Wilson/Gerut
Cota
Furmaniak
McClouth
Would like to add a 6th bench guy and only go with 11 pitchers, but traditionally that is not something the Pirates do, therefore I am going to stick with this. Again, this is just an as of now. Not totally what I expect the roster to look like a month from now. That is, in reality, I think a pretty weak bench and as of now looks to be the weakest part of our roster.
As for the starting rotation, I think we start out like this:
Perez
Duke
Wells
Maholm
Santos
I hate Victor Santos as the #5, but I do believe that as of now, he would be the guy. At least until Burnett and/or Van Benschoten are ready to go.
Bullpen could vastly change in the next month or so.
Bayliss
Gonzalez
Marte
Grabow
Fogg
Volgelsong
Torres
The bullpen scares me. Not that I dont think one of them could step up, but I am uncomfortable without having anyone as of now who has experience closing games. I have not seen enough from Gonzo to be comfortable with him just yet. He has the makeup to do it, of course, but how many guys have we seen over the years who we thought would be good closers, only to have them disappoint. That being said, I think that we could see a return to the closer by committee approach that worked well for us in the early 90s. At least until someone steps up.
As of now, I think that is how I see the 25 man roster looking. I do, once again, expect for Grabow and most likely Craig to be moved before the start of the spring training.