Results tagged ‘ kevin correia ’
…And They’re Off
On Friday afternoon, the Pirates set sail on their 2011 season albeit on some unusual competition, the State College of Florida Manatees. They also faced off against Rays on Saturday and Sunday, here are my thoughts.
Friday vs SCF Manatees W 21-1
-Don’t really know what you could take from a game against a junior college team but I’ll try my best.
-Steve Pearce had a really good game at the plate. He’s doing a lot of work at third base this spring. It would be a big lift if he could take some of the pressure off Pedro Alvarez at the hot corner this season, especially since Pearce hits well off lefties and El Toro has shown struggles.
-Corey “Wimbo Slice” Wimberly has got some serious speed and potential. He may not make the team for Opening Day but I’m sure we’ll see him at some point in 2011.
-Awesome seeing prospects such as Chase d’Arnaud and Gorkys Hernandez do their thing. Don’t get to see the minor leaguers all that often except this time of year.
-Garrett Atkins had a 3 run HR. He’s one to follow this spring as well, as he’s a part of the competition for a bench spot.
-Though the webcast was low-quality, I still had a blast taking in the game with a lot of the other bloggers and super-fans of the team.
Saturday vs Rays L 9-5
-The competition for the 5th spot in the rotation got underway. Charlie Morton pitched two innings, allowing one hit and no runs. He was aided by two double plays. Brad Lincoln didn’t fare as well. He got out of a jam in the 3rd, getting a strike out and a pick-off of Sean Rodriguez on 2nd base to end the inning. In the 4th he wouldn’t be as lucky, as Evan Longoria hit a home run off of him. Round 1 goes to Morton, but it is a very long spring.
-Daniel McCutchen didn’t have good stuff at all. Allowed a bases loaded double, and threw just 5 of his 13 pitches for strikes. His future with the team was up in the air before the season, and this first outing didn’t help.
-Lyle Overbay is such an upgrade defensively at 1B over Jones and Doumit. What worries me is his offensive ability.
Sunday vs Rays W 10-3
-Andrew McCutchen had a big game, going 3-3 with a HR off James Shields. He also had an RBI double and a stolen base. A lot of people in baseball think this will be Cutch’s breakout season. However, I don’t like Clint Hurdle batting him 3rd in the order. The team would benefit a lot more with him and Tabata as a 1-2 punch causing havoc on the basepaths for the middle of the order.
-Kevin Correa had a tough opening start. He only pitched 1.1 of his 2 scheduled innings after reaching his pitch limit. He allowed 2 ER on 2 hits and 2 walks. He was thought to be a lock for the rotation, but if he can’t find the control the Pirates will have to look at other options.
-From the obscure ex-Pirate files, there were Jonah Bayliss and Chris Bootcheck sightings as both pitched for the Rays. Boy I though our options were bad.
The Pirates are beginning their first full week of Grapefruit League play this week. I hope to have a week and review post Sunday night. Until then happy Spring Training
Bucs to sign Correia, other day 2 happenings
The Pirates are going to add yet another arm into the mix for the rotation for 2011 by signing righty Kevin Correia to a two year, $8 million contract. While not an ace type arm, Correia should be welcomed depth to a depleted rotation.
The Correia File
A veteran entering his 9th season in the bigs, Kevin Correia comes from the San Diego Padres where he didn’t have one of his most shining seasons in 2010. Plagued with inconsistency and injuries he only pitched in 145 innings going 10-10 with a 5.40 ERA. He isn’t what you call a workhorse. In his four full seasons, he’s pitched 101, 110, 198, and 145 innings. His best season came in 2009, his first as a member of the Padres, where he went 12-11 and had an ERA of 3.91. Not much of a strikeout pitcher, he relies on ground balls to get outs, which means his numbers won’t be aided by the Pirates perennially poor defense. One scout told the PG’s Dejan Kovacevic that he would be “a back of the rotation starter on a good team.”
Right now as I see it the rotation for 2011 will consist of Maholm, McDonald, Ohlendorf, Correia, and Scott Olsen and Jeff Karstens competing for the last spot. Not a great line of aces by any means but better than what we saw for much of last year. Brad Lincoln and Charlie Morton have their work cut out for them. They will have to dazzle the management during the spring in order to get a spot in the rotation out of the gate.
John Anderson of the McEffect blog did a great sabermetric based analysis of the two signings which you can check out HERE.
Pirates Aggressively Pursuing Bullpen Arms
Ken Rosenthal tweeted today that the Pirates have been very aggressive in trying to get free agent bullpen help. They were “in on J.J. Putz” and have looked at other players such as Kevin Gregg. What does this mean? Well it could be that the Pirates are trying to have options in place in case they trade more established relievers such as Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan.
Host of Extra Innings, the Pirates post-game show, Rocco DeMaro feels the same as he tweeted, “If Bucs land multiple FA relievers, I have to think the odds of Meek or Hanrahan getting dealt go way up.”
In essence, the Pirates could possibly be trying to sell high on them in order to get help in other positions.
Buccos Looking for Answer at Shortstop
Despite taking up a $2 million offer to keep Ronny Cedeno, the Pirates have been looking around for other options at shortstop. Minnesota’s J.J. Hardy has frequently come up in trade rumors, however the Pirates don’t seem to have a package that impresses the Twins. Kovacevic also reported earlier today that the Pirates inquired on free agent Orlando Cabrera, though not much seems to be happening on that. They have also taken looks at Jason Bartlett and Brendan Ryan.
If the Pirates were looking for a new shortstop, I don’t understand giving $2 million to a player you don’t want starting anymore. However, if nothing becomes of these proposed deals Cedeno will be the only option up the middle.
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