It's Bizarro World

Thing of beauty isn't it? This typically happens for, at most, one day a season so I needed to make sure I documented it in some form.

What a way to start the season of, too. One of the more dramatic Bucco games in my recent memory, probably due in large part to the fact that the season is not yet irrelevant.

Just to recap and show how much of an idiot I really am:
-I've spent weeks and months shouting about Nyjer Morgan stinks and doesn't deserve a starting spot and how the Pirates should turn him into a pinch-running specialist/ 4th outfielder and get it over with. He had the best day of anyone with 3 hits and 2 ha-yuge RBI's from the leadoff spot and looked fine out in left field.
-Jack Wilson, who earlier today I said "falls off a cliff this season at the plate and won't even be tradeable for a few spare fungos by season's end" was the late-game hero after a rusty start with that double off of the surprisingly hittable Jason Motte.
-Andy LaRoche was pretty much the worst player on the field after I pegged him more than once as the most likely breakout candidate on the roster.
-I also said Paul Maholm's numbers would regress a bit this season, but he looked very good for a first start and was definitely better than anything the Cards threw out there, especially his counterpart Adam Wainwright who just didn't seem to have it all together.

Of course, one game isn't going to change my opinions obviously and I still stand by everything that I've said. But for one day all those guys pretty much did the exact opposite of what I said they were gonna do. Nothing builds up a blog's credibility quite like that, eh?

Of course, I also said the Bucs were gonna go 71-91 and if the Bucs do the exact opposite of that and go 91-71 I will be more than fine with having those god-awful predictions on record.

For one day we have a first place baseball club calling Pittsburgh its home, so let's all enjoy it.

Will Ohman disses the Pirates and other weird happenings in Bradenton

Look, I'm well aware of the many shortcomings of our local baseball club. I know they are on the verge of setting the all-time record for most consecutive losing seasons in major professional sports history. And I know how miserable that culture of losing can be for the players.

But this just seems weird to me. Will Ohman was so against signing with the Pirates he turned down a guaranteed, major-league contract with your hometown Buccos to sign with the LA Dodgers on a minor-league deal that offers him no guarantee of big-league pay or time in the majors. I know Ohman wanted to play on the West Coast, but that is a BIG difference between the two deals. Suffice it to say, I think this might have had a bit to do with the letters stitched across the front of the uniform. If, say, the World Champion Philly Phillies had come calling with the same offer the Pirates extended to Ohman, I imagine the veteran lefty would have jumped at that chance. Not to mention that Ohman left the Pirates major league deal sitting on the table for 9 whole days, despite the fact that he had no other offers whatsoever at the time. If I'm the Pirates' management, I am sooooooooo pissed right now at Ohman and his agent for embarassing them like this. Unfortunately, no embarassment from not being wanted by a below-average lefty reliever can match the embarassment of the worst run in the recorded history of sports.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on down in Bradenton or what is in the water, but there is some other weird stuff happening too, it seems. Let's take a look at some of these weird happenings:

-The Pirates open up against the Cardinals in exactly 7 days, and someone named Virgil Vasquez, who may or may not have pitched in the California Penal League last season, is still in the mix for a rotation spot. I follow the Pirates as closely as almost anyone, and I have no friggin' idea who in the world Virgil Vasquez is. I'm hoping and praying he is being used just to push Jeff Karstens and will be discarded to AAA never to be heard from again just before the season starts. If he comes north as the fifth starter, though, I'm going to have some serious concerns.

-Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson are both making pushes to stay with the Pirates for the foreseeable future. And Jumpin' Jack even approached the Pirates about an extension and it appeared that they are at least willing to listen. Oh, and on a related note, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Look, I have no problem with Jack and Freddy holding the fort down this season. They lock down important positions on the diamond for a team that is in flux. But neither one, not even the former batting champ Sanchez, is a building block for a team that's most realistic timetable to contend is 2011. Both are 31 years old (Freddy is a whopping 8 days older) and would then be 33 before the 2011 season commences. And neither one is exactly aging very well.

Look at the numbers. Jumpin' Jack has had two good seasons in his 8 with the Bucs (04 and an underrated 07), but has never had much consistency at the plate, too often going hot and cold to be seriously relied upon. And you can't possibly tell me you think he isn't about to fall off a cliff offensively. Unless of course you want to argue he already fell off that cliff last season. Then I might listen. He was never exactly Alex Rodriguez to begin with, but I think a .270/.320/.380 is the best we can hope for this year, and that is only going to go downhill from there. Folks, those are dreadful numbers. Just dreadful.

And the exact same things can be said for Freddy Sanchez. Freddy probably can put up better numbers than Jack, but I just don't see him aging well. If he hits .290/.330/.420 that's probably as good as we could hope for. Like I said, I'm fine with that as a placeholder in a rebuilding effort while guys like Shelby Ford develop. But I am not fine when he's batting .270/.300/.380 in 2012 and unable to move to his right.

And I definitely am NOT fine with ignoring proven metrics like OPS and VORP in favor of fan logic like "he won a batting title a few years back" "he's a good guy to have around" "he makes good plays in the field" and "stats don't measure all he contributes." If either one of those guys gets an extension, especially Wilson, I am going to lose a ton of faith in this management team.

-The Jose Tabata story. I'm not even remotely going to blame the kid for what happened there, as I am only a little bit older and have definitely done some dumb stuff in my life, and I have no pressure on me and live in the same city I've spent my whole life in. Quite a bit different from Jose, so I can see where the issues come from. Tabata's life has been chaotic to this point, and I was struck most by his display in the face of the turmoil. Hell, I expected some kind of immaturity from him at some point, but I thought the character he displayed was tremendous in the face of this adversity. Good for you Jose. I hope you turn out to be the tremendous player you are expected to be, for more than just my own selfish reasons now. Anyway, let's hope he learns from this. But whatever your opinion of all this, there's no denying it certainly was a weird one.

-Nyjer Morgan has probably been one of the 2 or 3 worst hitters on the entire roster this spring, yet he is still being considered for the opening day left fielder job. I thought Huntington and Coonelly were all into sending messages and stuff. If that's the case, Nyjer should be taking outfield instruction with guys like Tabata and getting ready to make the trip to Indy to open the AAA season. That said, I won't be terribly upset if he makes the opening day roster, as he's too old to be playing AAA at age 28, but if he is starting in left over Hinske and Monroe, and especially if he is leading off, my head might just explode. That would be a Littlefieldian move. And I just threw up in my mouth a little bit again.

-Brian Bixler, all of a sudden, actually has a future as a major league player it seems. After that disastrous debut last season at the ripe old age of 25 I had just about written him off as being a noteworthy prospect. Best case scenario I figured Bix would be a mediocre utility backup infielder. Nothing to get excited about. Well, he absolutely tore it up this spring by all accounts, and while spring training results can be quite deceptive at times, everyone seems quite impressed by this. That includes Neal Huntington. I still am wary of Bix as anything more than a utility infielder, but his ceiling as a potential low-end everyday player has been re-established. And when Jumpin' Jack is (hopefully) traded this summer I have no problem with Bix getting a 2+ month tryout to prove himself at shortstop.

Craig Monroe Getting A Shot At Starting?

In case you missed it, Craig Monroe thumped not 1... not 2... but 3 home runs yesterday in one spring training game for the Pirates. Now I tend to keep my impressions from anything that happens in a spring game pretty reserved, but this is a slightly different story.

If there is one thing that this Pirate team is definitely in need of, it is some more power in their lineup. They have several guys capable of hitting between 15 and 25 home runs if they are given 400 at-bats, in fact 8 by my count (McLouth, Doumit, Hinske, both of the brothers LaRoche, Moss, Monroe and probably Pearce). That may sound kind of encouraging, but when you really think about it and break things down, there is very little in the way of sure-fire power among those 8. Think about it:

McLouth's power came out of nowhere last year and could easily disappear again. Doumit has been injury prone. Hinske has had big-time inconsistencies and also may not get a ton of at-bats. Adam LaRoche doesn't wake up until June and is also a very good bet to be dealt this season. Andy LaRoche did his best impersonation of Roger Dorn last season and who the hell knows what we'll get from him. Brandon Moss is walking around like a real Pirate thanks to his peg-leg, and was a bit of an unproven commodity to begin with. Monroe is similar to Hinske in having inconsistencies and a ton of strikeouts. And Pearce can kill the ball in the minors but hasn't done much in the pros yet and I think is destined to be a righty pinch-hitter with some pop.

Not feeling quite as confident now, are we? Which brings me to the much-delayed point of this post. Hitting 3 dingers in a game, even if it is a gusty Florida day in March against subpar pitching, should be enough to throw Monroe to the temporary top-of-the-heap in the battle for left field.

With so many question marks in that starting lineup, I'd be more than fine with seeing Monroe and/or Hinske get a long look in left, even if their defense is below average and they may strike out a lot and give us subpar batting averages. That also seems to be the sentiment of some in camp according to this brief one-liner in the PBC Blog: "There are a lot of people here pulling for him, including some who want him to start."

If that isn't cryptic, I don't know what in the world is. Who are these "some"? I don't know, but I tend to side with them.

Now, I'm not saying to hand the guy the job. After all, there were some rather unflattering stories about Monroe not hustling and not playing hard early in camp, and I think giving him anything is probably a bad idea. But then again, that certainly wouldn't be worse than giving the job to Nyjer Morgan.

Look at Monroe's career stats, though. They are mildly similar to Hinske's, actually.

But my point is this: If the alternative is Nyjer Morgan, who can barely get the ball out of the infield most of the time and is getting serious consideration based on decent performances in very small sample sizes, then sign me up for a Monroe/Hinske platoon every day of the week. And if one of them starts to outperform the other, then do the obvious thing and start giving that guy more playing time.

It's not like Morgan is any sort of a prospect and that you are holding him back by skimping him on the plate appearances. All these guys, no matter how great they play, are really just holding the fort down for Andrew McCutchen's inevitable 2009 arrival. So instead of seeing what you have in Morgan and watching his likely failure, why not treat the fans with some more power and give us the best lineup you can put out there?

The Weekend Recap

It has been a wild run the past couple days in Pittsburgh, lots and lots of little yet exciting things worth talking about

-As I mentioned, I attended my final game in the Oakland Zoo Saturday afternoon against the UConn Huskies. I already talked at length about that game, but it bears repeating: This was one of the best games I've ever been to. The only others I can think of that were even in the same stratosphere were last year's WVU thriller and the 2006 game against Notre Dame when Chris Quinn exploded all over a porous Pitt D for 37 points before the Panthers won it in double OT. Those two games were thrilling because they went down to the wire and had incredibly exciting endings (multiple endings in the ND game's case). This one was thrilling more because of the raucous crowd (the loudest I have ever heard it for an entire game) and the incredibly high level of play.

-I've said it before and I'll say it again: This is as good of a squad as Pitt can ever really hope to have. Sure, the incoming recruit talent level keeps going up, but this squad is perfectly constructed for a big run this month. A spectacular point guard, a dangerous scorer from the wing and a bullish inside man capable of taking over a game at any time lead the charge. They are supported by a defense-first, rebounding grinder who can guard anyone, a slashing 2 guard who is an absolute lockdown defender, two athletic bench guys who can step up at any time and take over starter's minutes and a sharshooting backup guard who can drill it from long range. If this team doesn't break that Sweet 16 barrier (and for the record I think that they easily will) then what Pitt squad will?

-The Big East tournament gets fired up this week, and I really couldn't be any more excited about it. I'll even go so far as to watch the opening round games on the Internet on Tuesday. Should be a grand old time.

-I know I wrote a column and updated it yesterday and everything with this information, but how in the hell does Levance Fields only make it to the third team on the All Big East squads? That is an absolute joke and shows how stupid the Big East coaches really are. Even worse, TWO point guards made it ahead of him. A.J. Price and Jonny Flynn both got outplayed up and down the court by Fields when their teams met. They couldn't carry Levance's jockstrap. That is just downright stupidity and I feel like Calhoun and Boeheim are somehow the root of this conspiracy, though that might just be because of my blinding hatred of both. What a joke.

-While we are on the subject, how dumb is it that the teams are chosen with no regard whatsoever for the positions on the floor? That's insanity. The All Big East first team has a center, 2 power forwards, 2 small forwards and a shooting guard. You know what would happen if that team sat down one of those guys (there are 6 on the first team) and played Pitt or UConn or Louisville in some sort of video game simulation? The All Big East team would get crushed because THEY HAVE NO POINT GUARD!!!! They would have to move McNeal to the point, play Terrance Williams at the 2 and would probably sit down Luke Harangoy (no I didn't misspell his name, I spelled it that way because there is no D in that guy). The second and third team are structured the same way with 2 point guards a shooting guard a small forward and a power forward who really isn't a power forward. Why not structure the All Conference squads at least sort of like a real time with a point guard, a shooting guard, a small forward, and 2 power forwards/ centers. Why did I structure it as two power forward/ centers? Because there really is only like 4 centers in the whole league, the other teams just start power forwards at the center position. So considering that, here's what I think the teams should look like:

First Team
1 Levance Fields
2 Jerel McNeal
3 Terrance Williams
4 DeJuan Blair
5 Hasheem Thabeet

Second Team
1 Jonny Flynn
2 Wesley Matthews
3 Sam Young
4 Dante Cunningham
5 Luke Harangody

Third Team
1 A.J. Price
2 Earl Clark
3 Da'Sean Butler
4 Jeff Adrien
5 Greg Monroe

Now don't you feel much better about these teams than the other, mismatched squads? I know I do.

-Things are ho-humming along down in Bradenton. One of the stories I read in the paper the other day talked about the Pirates ideally looking to put Nyjer Morgan in the leadoff spot in the lineup. The lineup would likely look a little something like this:
LF Morgan
2B Sanchez
CF McLouth
C Doumit
1B LaRoche
RF Moss
3B LaRoche
SS Wilson
P Maholm

Ugh. I don't even want Morgan to start, let alone get to the plate more often than anyone else on the roster. I was going to go ahead and write something about this, and if they do end up putting Morgan in the leadoff spot, I probably will anyway, but Bucs Dugout beat me to it and said everything and more that I wanted to say. I'm not going to repeat him (at least not yet) so check his stuff out if you want to see what I mean.

-Pitt football released their schedule for the 2009 season, and it seems like a solid slate. There are not 1 not 2 but 3 Friday games, but thankfully they are all away. Personally, I loathe the Friday games and think they diminish what the Big East has tried to accomplish the past few years, but whatever. 1 of the Friday games is the day after Thanksgiving against WVU and I have no problem with that, as that is kind of a cool day for a game. There are 7 home games on the schedule in all, and for once, half the home slate isn't in August and September. They get the token creampuff Youngstown State on September 5 to open the season and then get Navy on September 19. They then get a few weeks away from Heinz Field and play UConn October 10, South October 24, Syracuse November 7, Notre Dame (!) November 14 and Cincinnati December 5. The non-conference schedule also includes road trips to Buffalo (uhm what?) and North Carolina State (solid).

-The Steelers lost Bryant McFadden yesterday to the Arizona Cardinals. Can't say I am surprised, as B-Mc is a solid corner in a market that loves to overpay for corners. However, I was surprised by the contract. McFadden got just a 2 year 10 million dollar contract. I really am surprised that is the best he could do on the open market. I was beginning to get a bit optimistic that maybe he might return, as many teams have already spent a bundle this offseason and somehow McFadden had been passed over and that the Steelers might get him back at a reasonable price. While I don't think 5 million a year is reasonable, I find myself wondering what the Steelers' best offer for McFadden was. I mean what would he have rather signed for: 2 years 10 million with 5 guaranteed or say, 4 years 16 million with 8 mil guaranteed? I don't know what he would have chosen, but the total package in the second option certainly has its upside.

-Speaking of Steelers off-season stuff, here's an interview to check out over at Whatcha Talkin Bout with massive Steelers tackle Max Starks. Definitely worth a listen. There are actually quite a few audio clips over there worth checking out.

-There was an incredibly exciting game of puck yesterday afternoon between the Pens and one of their biggest archrivals, the Washington Capitals. It was a tremendous game, and it was especially vindicating to watch Sidney Crosby steal the show and be the star of the day after the issues last game between Sid and Ovechkin. AO was his usual overly aggressive and pompous self on the ice, and at times I think that hurts the Caps more than it helps. It was also good to see the Pens storm into Washington and get the W and for Sid to be the one to rub it in their faces after the Caps fans tried their best to taunt him. I just love it when fairweather fans like those Caps losers try to act like they are all hardcore. Please. I've been to games in D.C. and seen countless others on TV and this is probably one of the very rare times I've ever seen the Caps fan outnumber Pens fans. And it goes well beyond the ice rink. Remember the absolute no-show by the Skins fans when the Steelers turned their gigantic stadium into Heinz Field south last November? That was tremendous, and spoke volumes about the "support" Washington fans give their teams.

-I've turned into a scoreboard-watching, standing-checking addict the past week or so, and expect that to continue. Coming into this week, here's how things look right now with just 15 games to go for the Pens this season. Here's how things are shaping up right now.
Obviously the Pens have played 1 more game than any of the 3 teams ahead of them, but they also have played the same amount of games as the team 1 point behind them and they are 3 points ahead of Buffalo who has played 1 less game. So they are unquestionably sitting in 8th place right now. That's pretty solid considering where things were a few weeks back.

-We'll finish things up with a bit of a personal anecdote: I'm on spring break this week, and because I have no money and need to interview for some jobs, I'm not in Florida or Mexico or anything. Instead I'm in a weird flex situation between Oakland and my parents' house. It is definitely a pretty strange existence. Oakland is downright deserted, and to tell you the truth I really enjoy it this way. I was at the bar Saturday night and it was maybe 50% of what it typically is and I figure I might be the only person in the house when I head to Hemingway's or Peter's tonight.

So instead of getting hammered every night and running around South Beach with a bunch of similarly aged people on Spring Break, I am laying low in Oakland until I have to head to Philly Wednesday for an interview. I have nothing else to do, so I've started doing some reading. I am now working on Slaughterhouse-Five. I've wanted to read this for some time and am enjoying it so far, though it is definitely a bit strange. Anyone out there have any thoughts on it? Let me know if you do.

Who's The Opening Day Left Fielder?

For the next few weeks, we'll probably be going a little heavy on Pirates stuff. Obviously, I'm not going to do anything crazy like ignoring the Pens (I'll have scatching posts about them if they keep up the terrible play from last night), Pitt hoops (I certainly won't ignore one of the top teams in all of college hoops), and the Steelers offseason. But I feel like I've written so much about them at this point that I'm repeating myself half the time. So instead of that I'll be turning my attention to dissecting and making predictions about the 09 Pirates.

Here is my first go at it, trying to gauge who will and who should win the opening day left fielder job:

Taking a look at the Pirates roster right now, its not hard to gauge who 8 of the 9 starters will be when the Pirates open the season April 6 in St. Louis so long as there aren't any injuries. Paul Maholm is a near-lock to be the ace, Adam LaRoche, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Nate McLouth and Brandon Moss are locks to start at their respective positions and Andy LaRoche, though technically in competition, would have to go 0-for-Spring Training to lose the 3B job I think. So that leaves us with just left field.

Externally the Pirates are saying that right now they are fine with Nyjer Morgan starting in left field on Opening Day and that they have faith in him to get the job done. I don't believe that for a second.

I also think that this is the season we finally see the legendary Andrew McCutchen wearing a Pirate uniform beyond March. I'm not yet sure whether he can be the opening day guy (we'll examine that more in a bit) but I do think he'll be in left field (I think he'll start in left for at least this season before transitioning to center in the future) by season's end.

The Candidates: Nyjer Morgan, Eric Hinske, Andrew McCutchen, Craig Monroe, Jeff Salazar and Steve Pearce

So let's break these guys down one-by-one:Nyjer Morgan: I've never been much of a Morgan fan for any number of reasons, but to be fair to the guy, he has outperformed expectations for years and has been better in his limited everyday duty than I ever thought possible. In his 267 at-bats over two seasons the numbers have been pretty solid. Morgan has batted .296 with a .351 OBP. He's never going to be much for slugging, but he did manage a surprising 13 doubles last season thanks at least in part to his incredible speed. In the mostly punchless Pirates lineup, more powerful alternatives have to be at least considered. However he will be 29 in July and we've seen the most his skills can possibly offer us. He also is average as a fielder. Sure he may have made some crazy highlight reel catches over the past two seasons but too often he takes bad angles or delayed angles on fly balls and has to use his speed to make up for it. His arm is nothing special, either. That speed does allow him to be at least a solid fit in the spacious left field at PNC as he can cover more ground than alternates like Hinske or Monroe. His speed also doesn't pay as many dividends on the base paths as it should, as he has had some issues sliding into base and is just 16/24 on steals, a percentage that is below an effective level at the major league level.

Eric Hinske: Hinske was the top signing this offseason for the Pirates (Yes I rank him definitively above Ramon Vazquez) but was tagged mainly as a backup when signed. Hinske would be a power upgrade in the Pirates lineup. He is coming off a 20 home run season for the Rays in just 381 at-bats. Coming from the left side, he could easily crank 25+ in PNC Park's friendly confines. But there is also a reason why he has bounced around the last couple seasons. He has had some issues with low batting averages, high strikeout rates and mediocre OBPs and has big-time consistency issues. He also is less than special as a left fielder. In PNC Park that is a major strike against him. That's not to say he'd be a huge liability out there, but prior to 2008 he'd spent much more in the infield than the outfield, and he was mediocre as an outfielder for Tampa.

Andrew McCutchen: Cutch has long been considered the top prospect in the Pirates farm system, and even with the addition of Pedro Alvarez this past fall, Cutch is definitely the most proven commodity in the organization's minor leagues. He is a definite 4-tool prospect and many scouts think that the power will come around in time for him and making him a top-notch, 5-tool MLB star. The ceiling for this kid is superb and there is no question that at some point, most likely this season, he will be manning PNC Park's outfield. But there are many who think McCutchen has been a bit rushed by the Pirates to this point (though by Dunce Littlefield not by Huntington and company) and that he needs more time in AAA. His numbers last year in Indy were good, but not yet great. It probably wouldn't hurt to get him at least another couple months to gain confidence in Indy before he is given the big call. It's not as if this team is poised to win right now. Waiting til June or even later to bring Andrew up isn't going to hurt anyone and is probably the smart move. Plus waiting until that point would enable the Bucs to push the dates for McCutchen's arbitration back a whole extra season, similar to what Tampa Bay did a year ago with Evan Longoria.
Craig Monroe: Similar to Hinske, Monroe has a better power stroke than most of the players on the Pirates current roster. He has a very good shot to at least make the Opening Day Roster, but its more likely to be as a reserve. The big concern with Monroe have been steps backward. He strikes out an absolute ton, as well. The Batting Average, and as a result the OBP, have both been pretty crappy the past two seasons as well. I think Monroe could be a solid reserve and give the Pirates right-handed power off the bench, but as a starter I don't see any way he is a better option than any of the aforementioned players, even the still untested McCutchen.

Jeff Salazar: At age 28, Salazar's resume as a major leaguer includes just 275 at-bats and 4 home runs. Not what you'd want to see from a supposed power hitter. Last season with Arizona he struck out an alarming 41 times in 128 at-bats and batted just .211, though his OBP checked in at a solid .331 considering how low the average was. He also hasn't has a slugging of just .375 in his Major league career. Again not what you want from a guy who is supposed to pack an at least solid power punch. As a left off the bench, he probably has very little shot of making the roster considering his similarities to Hinske. As a starter, that shot is probably zero.

Steve Pearce: In 2007, Pearce took the minor league world by storm thanks to a 31 home run season across 3 different levels and was so good he even made it to the majors for 68 at-bats at the end of the season. 2008 brought a somewhat predictable crash back to earth. He was disappointing in AAA with just 12 home runs in 386 at-bats. He did find something of a power stroke at the major league level finally, with 4 home runs in 104 at-bats. Not a great ratio, but at least it was something. Pearce will be 26 on the date of the Home Opener, so he isn't as young as your typical prospect, but the power potential he has displayed makes him at least worth a look. What is also a negative against Pearce is that he is, at best, a mediocre outfielder. And that's probably being kind considering he has spent most of his career being hidden at first base. Pearce figures to be matched up with Craig Monroe for the role of a reserve power righty on the bench. Despite the disappointing 08 I don't think its wise to totally discard Pearce yet, but I think it is time to start viewing him more as a power bat off the bench instead of a potential starter. Putting him down in AAA likely won't do much for him, so unless Monroe is clearly the better player in Spring, I think Pearce should be heavily considered for an Opening Day Bench role.

The Best Solution: Eric Hinske is the best fit for this Pirates lineup right now. He has the power that would make him pretty unique on this roster and would look pretty good batting sixth behind Adam LaRoche, Ryan Doumit and Brandon Moss. That's not to say Hinske would get all the starts. Certainly Nyjer Morgan can prove effective at times and will get some playing time, and against tough lefties either Craig Monroe or Steve Pearce (whoever makes the roster) should be in the lineup. But Hinske is the best all-around choice. The assets that Morgan brings to the table (namely speed and ability to cover the outfield better) is outweighed by the large need the Pirates have for power. Of course both of these guys will only be holdovers until Andrew McCutchen proves himself ready in AAA. The bet here is that comes by June 15.

What Probably Will Happen: I think management's confidence in Nyjer Morgan is a little foolish, but I also think their emphasis on defense will end up with Nyjer Morgan playing left field on April 6, not Hinske. Again, no matter how much they like Morgan they have to be ready to shove anyone aside if McCutchen is tearing through AAA like they expect him to.