The Pirates are over .500 at 18-17. Here are some links for Monday night, as we wonder how long they can maintain a winning record…
- Pirates starters have been pitching well and manager Clint Hurdle tells MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch that pitching can be contagious, just like hitting. GM Neal Huntington has acquired two of his starters in the last year: James McDonald (trade) and Kevin Correia (free agency).
- As Jonathan Mayo explains at MLB.com, potential changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement could make drafted players more eager to sign. One scouting director expects to see a few more signings than usual in 2011.
- Red Sox reliever Scott Atchison was added to Boston's Triple-A roster after being optioned to the minors, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com (on Twitter). The Red Sox designated Atchison for assignment Friday in what was "a purely procedural move," according to Speier.
- Houston attorney Kenny Friedman told Stephen Goff of the Houston Examiner that he maintains interest in buying the Astros. Though Jim Crane now has an exclusive negotiating window during which he can buy the team, Friedman, the father of Rays executive Andrew Friedman, is working on his bid.
Morton is the key. He has top of the rotation stuff. Mcdonald and Ohlendorf could also be a big part of the future. Correia and Maholm are inning eaters that give you a chance every 5th day… What a fun season so far. Screw .500 lets really shock the world!!!
I think Maholm is gone here in a couple months, and i could see Ohlendorf pitching better out of the Pen…Correia, Morton, and McDonald are very solid…add Lincoln, Owens, Locke, Morris, Wilson to that mix and we have something special… Don’t be surprised to see the pirates give up some of these pitching prospects for a veteran starter that has control for a couple years.
I don’t think we would be able to put together a lucrative enough package without depleting the system, but I’d love to see the Bucs make a run at Danks if he becomes available.
Well I hope Lincoln or Owens push him out. However Owens has been bad so far.
I like what the Pirates have been doing this year, also Cleveland and KC. Its honestly an exciting season so far. Best of luck to PIT
The Atchison DFA move was made because the Red Sox had to obtain “option waivers” on Atchison to send him to the minors. What that means is that the Red Sox still had an option available on Atchison, but he had enough service time to prevent them from optioning him to the minors without passing him through waivers first. It’s not a common occurrence, but it’s happened about 3 or 4 times in the past 2 seasons. He did not, however, have enough service time to refuse the optional assignment (he needs at least 5 full years of major league service for that.)
Maybe freidman can get little freidman and then they can do the same thing they did with the devil rays , oh wait they cant become an expansion team and sux for a decade and half , while compiling 1st 2nd or 3rd overall picks and then have people consider you a genius, because those top picks turned out to be pretty good , sorry astros
Somebody sounds a little bitter. Did one of the Friendmans pee in your cereal this morning or something?
dam yellow milk
Andrew Friedman helped turn this franchise around when he arrived in Tampa Bay. Yes, he had the benefit of high draft picks when he go to TB, but the Rays have had to draft from the bottom 10 slots for the last three years due to Friedman’s success. The guy also gets the most out of every trade he makes. The Rays will miss him if he goes to work with his father in Houston.
you sound like a really knowledgeable guy! so i guess i should ask you: how many the players on the rays active roster are high first round draft picks?
and while we’re at it, since we wanna make clear just how lucky friedman’s been: how many players on the 2008 rays were high first round draft picks?
well im not gonna say what you sound like but id imagine you got your lips on friedmans rear , upton , longoria , and kazmir , price , are their anymore , im not sure if either
the answer is upton, longoria, and price. that’s it. kazmir doesn’t even play for the rays anymore and was not drafted by the them in the first place. price only pitched 5 innings in 2008 – the year they broke through. so they had 2 high first round draft picks on the roster their first successful year. cake walk, right? please. that’s not even mentioning the unprecedented savvy they showed when they locked one of those players (longoria) up in one of the team-friendliest contracts ever
i asked you the question because if you knew the answer you wouldn’t have said what you said. of all the many people who attribute the rays success merely to high first round picks from bottom-dwelling for a decade, zero of them actually know much about the composition of the rays club. here’s the makeup of the rays active roster:
PLAYER (ROUND DRAFTED)
upton (1st)
longoria (1st)
price (1st)
brignac (2nd)
davis (3rd)
hellickson (4th)
joyce (12th)
jaso (12th)
sonnanstine (13th)
shields (16th)
non-draft acquisitions
:
farnsworth
cruz
delaney
peralta
ramos
russel
fuld
zobrist
gomes
shoppach
d.johnson
e.johnson
rodriguez
kotchman
damon
there’s also jeff niemann, currently injured, who was a high first-rounder. he hasn’t contributed at a high level yet, but should be counted. the rays currently have a top 5 — if not top 3 — farm system. more high first-round luck? let’s see:
jennings (10th)
mcgee (5th)
moore (8th)
barnese (3rd)
archer (trade)
sale (1st – 17th pick)
colome (undrafted)
lee (trade)
o’conner (1st – 31st pick)
torres (undrafted)
lobstein (2nd)
couple first rounders in there, but niether one of them is a high first-round pick that resulted from a losing season
again, it’s very obvious to anyone paying attention that the rays success is not merely a consequence of lucky high first-round picks. in one of the weakest markets in baseball, they’ve managed to compete in baseball’s toughest vision for 3 consecutive seasons while maintaining a top farm system. the only other team that can say that is the yankees, whose resources and margin for error is orders of magnitude larger than tampa’s
well first you didnt ask me a question , you tried your sarcasm to belittle me. i also forgot the bust that is delmon young , who wasnt on the team , however did land them garza , who pitched pretty well and netted them some good draft picks , do your self a favor and dont take your self so seriously , nobody needs your approval for anything. its only an opinion and this is only a website where people have them , so when they start to hire GMs from this site ill make sure i give you a one finger recommendation
ah, the “dude i don’t even care! it’s just my opinion! facts are weird!” retreat. one of my favorites. and indeed i am definitely known for my seriousness on this site. you’ve got me pegged
for future reference though, you’ll know when i’m really taking things too seriously when, instead of just sticking to the subject being discussed, i start saying stuff about feeling belittled and disapproved of because someone disagreed with a statement i made
yeah, you do after all sound like a real knowledgeable guy !
Next Year KC is going to win their division or got a good shot to. They are fun this year but I don’t think the can keep this up all year, not enough pitching to do it. And a team from the AL East is going to win the Wild Card. But next year watch out because their coming.
“They” sorry
You don’t have to apologize for a typo.
Did that one time and got ripped by the crazy grammar people. So I just do it now so o don’t have to hear it from them.
“I” sorry
And you should have corrected it to “They’re” or “They are”.
You are welcome. :p
Atchinson is the type of guy you have to root for. Many a year in the minors and a border line MLB performer who contributed a solid effort last season. Francona has mentioned the value of the guy several times and once all the procedural stuff is done he get some innings at Pawtucket and will also eventually get some in Boston. Guy is a nice pitcher to have around in the 9-12 slot on your staff. He may not sparkle but he’ll give you some nice innings.
Sure is and can pitch 2-3 innings as well 1-2 times a week for a team as well. he needs to be on that staff a lot more than 1 inning people like Okajima that has no better stuff than he does and still can’t get people out any better.
Would sure be nice if Francona would get over that 1 flaw of his and dump people he is familiar with and go with new faces from time to time, especially in the BP.