the FIRST place Pittsburgh Pirates.

[abpk2903]

Let me clarify Louie. They should trade some of these younger arm's for a position player that has more than say 1 or 2 years on their contract. Hunter Pence of last year would have been a huge addition. Find the Hunter Pence of this year (hopefully this time he's not in our division) and get him. They need to play .500 this year that is all I am saying, at this point I don't care how.

[Lefteyelouie]

I agree with you on that. Pence would have been nice. If they could find something like that try to make a move. But, I think they can play 500 ball with what they have. The Bucs have been doing a great job in the draft the past 3 or 4 years and I'd love to see them build and keep some depth in the minors, so they can stay competitive once they become good. Because lets face it. They are small market and will lose their bigtime players after their first contract is up in most cases.

[abpk2903]

The small market thing gets really old with me. You can not just look at city size when deciding the size of the Pirates market. Look past that and you will see half of the state of Pennsylvania, all of WV, a large portion of Ohio and even parts of New York and VA are "Pittsburgh Country." When you consider the market that Pittsburgh has to work with outside of the city they are actually quite a large market. Look at the football and hockey teams in the same market, they have no problems competing, selling their seats, and merchandising. Pittsburgh is NOT a small market. A small market in baseball is Oakland, Milwaukee, or Kansas City. They are smaller cities that have larger markets as close neighbors to eat up of rural population fan base.

[S Cube]

How many times does Josh Harrison have to prove that he can't bunt before they quit asking him to bunt? That's three failed bunt attempts in the past week.

[voncap]

Did Hurdle actually have the bunt on in that situation? I can't possibly believe Hurdle pinch hits for the clean up hitter and then calls for a bunt.

If so, it speaks volumes for just how anemic the Buccos offense is.

[Eaglealum]

y cant they leave Nick Leyva and McHenry in Philly and bring Wiggington home with them? Leyva is a butt! And McHenry is too nice a guy to play that position. yea he was 3/3 last nite, but to steal a quote from "Tin Cup", You have defining moments. And the fort let his moment define him last nite. If you are at third, have no speed, and tag on a shallow fly ball to left hit to the other teams best arm(Mabry plays alot of right field), you are either stupid, or have brass cahones. Judging by the slide, and lack of contact, I'll vote for the former. At that point McHenry has to be prepared to become Ronnie Lott and seperate Ruiz from the ball. That's why he'll never play more than once a week. At the very least, if Ruiz holds the ball...ya shake up their best hitter and the next two games probably rival the Buc/Phillie games of the 70's and 80's...as it stands, we went out with a whimper just like the last 21 years.

[Eaglealum]

Although if McHenry can keep hitting at .600, I can live with his lack of testicular fortitude.

[Lefteyelouie]

HAHA.

As bad as Barajas started they have actually got pretty good offensive numbers from the catchers recently.