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PirateFest and Off-season in Review

Sean H. Steimer — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:34:53 +0000

PirateFest was this past weekend, and since I’m a season ticket holder, I got free tickets and made the trip over to the convention center on Saturday afternoon. Due to some other plans I wasn’t able to stay for as long as would have liked to, but I can report that I had a good time, and will likely go back next year. We got there around noon, played a few of the carnival games, won some prizes, stuck around for the player Q&A and then had to go. My girlfriend, who is infinitely lucky, got drawn to play both Deal or No Deal (with Ross Ohlendorf as the banker) and the pierogi eating contest. She ended up with some pretty nice prizes, including this ball signed by the banker.

With PirateFest now in the past, and pitchers and catchers reporting in just 13 days, I think its safe to call this the unofficial end of the off-season. Lets take a quick look back at what has gone on over the last 4 months.

October 4, 2009: The Pirates end their ignominious 17th consecutive losing season with a loss to the Cincinatti Reds, their 99th of the year.
October 17, 2009: The Pirates announce that Perry Hill will not return as their infield instructor in 2010. He would eventually be replaced by former Bucco Carlos Garcia.
November 3, 2009: Second baseman Akinori Iwamuri is acquired from the Tamba Bay Rays in exhcange for relief pitcher Jesse Chavez
December 10, 2009: In the Rule V draft, held annually at the winter meetings, the Pirates select OF John Raynor from the Florida Marlins.
December 12, 2009: Former AL ROY Bobby Crosby signs a deal with The Pirates. Crosby is expected to back-up incumbent Ronny Cedeno, with the chance to win the starting job in Cedeno struggles.
December 13, 2009: In a surprise move, The Pirates opt not to tender closer Matt Capps a contract offer by the midnight deadline, making him a free-agent. Capps would eventually sign a one year deal worth about $3.5 Million with the Washington Nationals.
January 13, 2010: Free agent OF Ryan Church agrees to terms with the Pirates. Church will be the Pirates 4th outfielder, but will likely get plenty of at bats backing up all 3 outfield positions.
January 16-20, 2010: After losing Capps(voluntarily so) earlier in the off-season, GM Neal Huntington made a flurry of moves within a matter of just a few days to revamp his bullpen by signing D.J. Carrasco, Octavio Dotel, and Brendan Donnely.

Links: Church, Donnelly, Dotel & Carrasco

Sean H. Steimer — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:40:37 +0000

It almost sounds like the name of a lawfirm, but the Pirates don’t have new lawyers. Rather, those are the names of 4 players whom the Pirates have come to terms with in the last few days. As of this writing, the deals with Dotel and Donnelly aren’t official yet, and won’t be until 40 man roster moves are made to make room. This is only the case for those 2 since Carrasco’s deal is a minor league deal and there was already a 40 man spot available for Church. But expect all 4 of these players to officially be Pirates within the next 72 hours or so.

Rather than give you my analysis of these 4 signings (hint: I like all four) I’ll address them with a host of links from other outlets.

Ryan Church

ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer

RotoGraphs(FanGraphs fantasy site)

Ryan Church on the signing via the PBC Blog

Octavio Dotel

If Dotel is signed(remember, this one isn’t official yet) how long will he hold the closers job?

Someone at FanGraphs looks for ways that signing Dotel could go wrong

D.J. Carrasco

Pat Lackey over at WHYGAVS talks a bit about Carrasco

From when he was non-tendered by the White Sox, The Chicago Tribune called Carrasco the Sox “most versatile pitcher”

Brendan Donnelly

The Official news, from the Pirates website, about the Donnelly signing

The PBC blog (almost exclusively the best source for this type of stuff) has several notes about the Donnelly signing.

A Few Monday Morning Links

Sean H. Steimer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:00:04 +0000

Matt Klaassan at Fangraphs fills us in on “The Contest” (There is no doubt in my mind that 3 years ago Dave Littlefield would have been featured prominently in this piece)

Dejan Kovacevic bring us news that the Pirates are “in talks” with free agent outfielder Ryan Church

I really enjoyed this WHYGAVS piece on the HOF

Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman has signed with Cincinnati

Tim over at BuccoFans thinks its conceivable that our favorite team could win the 2012 N.L. Centra