Our new home is:   www.sandlotswashbucklers.com

That link, and the new site is now up and running.  Please join us as we follow the Pirates’ minor leaguers on their way to Pittsburgh!

CF Gorkys Hernandez opened the game with a triple, and SS Brian Friday followed with a 2-run home run to give the Indians a 2-0 lead before the Iron Pigs could even catch their breaths.  The Tribe scored again in the 4th inning, when C Tony Sanchez led off with a double, and 1B Matt Hague brought him in with an RBI single.

On the mound, five Indians’ pitchers combined to shut out the Iron Pigs and hold them to 3 hits.  Starter Virgil Vasquez pitched 4 innings and allowed 2 hits, while striking out 4 batters.  Vasquez earned the win, and reliever Jeff Sues earned the save with a scoreless inning, allowing 2 walks.

Meanwhile, back in Bradenton,  the Pirates lost to the Tigers, 6-3.  (Box)

The Pirates scored in the 2nd inning, when 1B Bobby Crosby led off with a walk, then scored on RF Ryan Church’s double.  3B Andy LaRoche lined out, but it was deep enough to let Church move up to third base.  He scored when Tigers’ starter Nate Robertson committed a balk.  In the 7th, with one out, 3B Pedro Alvarez doubled into center field.  LF Jose Tabata singled, and CF John Raynor plated Alvarez with a single off the glove of the Tigers’ shortstop.

Starter Kevin Hart did not help himself in his bid to join the Pirates’ starting rotation.  He pitched to 12 batters over 1.2 innings, walked 6 of them, hit one of them, and gave up a hit.  He was lucky to escape allowing only one run.  Jeff Karstens got a ground out to finish the 2nd inning, then pitched a 1-2-3 third inning.  DJ Carrasco and Brendan Donnelly each gave up 2 runs in one inning of work, and Vinnie Chulk gave up another run in his inning.  Steven Jackson allowed 2 hits but no runs; Evan Meek and Anthony Claggett both retired the side in order in one inning of work.

Also getting into the game:  2B Gift Ngoepe came in to play second base and did fine; he had a foul pop out in his only trip to the plate.  PH/DH Neil Walker had a line-drive single to lead off the 8th inning, but did not score.  C Erik Kratz went 0-for-1 with a walk.  1B Steve Pearce, RF Jon Van Every, and SS Doug Bernier also got into the game.

Until then…. a couple more relief pitchers to look at.

Derek Hankins was the Pirates’ 10th round pick in the 2004 draft.  The righty has moved slowly up through the Pirates’ organization, but spent all of 2008 with AA Altoona.  He made 23 starts and one relief appearance for the Curve that season, piling up 119 innings while earning a 2-11 record and a 4.54 ERA.  He gave up a lot of hits (135), 60 earned runs, and 26 walks, and struck out 89 batters.  Hankins was sent to the Arizona Fall League after the 2008 season, where he made 12 relief appearances for the Scottsdale Scorpions.   He struggled in Arizona –in 13 innings there, Hankins gave up 12 earned runs and 17 hits, though with 10 strikeouts.  The Illinois native returned to Altoona for the 2009 season, but the season got off to a rocky start.  After making a brief relief appearance on Opening Day and giving up a 2-RBI triple, Hankins was placed on the Disabled List with what was listed as a “stomach ailment”.  He did not return to the Altoona active roster until early June.  Upon his return, Hankins made 4 relief appearances, allowing 6 earned runs on 11 hits and 3 walks.  Then he returned to the starting rotation for the end of June and into July (plus one relief inning in July).  In 6 starts, he pitched 30 innings, half for 4 innings and half for 6 innings.  He earned a 4-2 record with a 3.90 ERA in that time, and struck out 22.  Hankins made 3 starts and 4 relief appearances in August/September, throwing 21.2 innings.  He gave up 33 hits, 16 earned runs, 9 walks.  He also struck out 32 batters, which was an improvement.  The 26-year-old finished his shortened season with a 3-4 record and a 4.42 ERA over 71.1 innings, and 66 strikeouts — his highest strikeout rate (8.3 K/9 innings) of his career.  Hankins seemed to do better in a relief role, and he is likely to be back in the Altoona bullpen in 2010.

Moises Robles is a Dominican native, who came to the Pirates from the Mets’ organization in the December 2006 Rule 5 draft.  He had previously pitched only in the Dominican Summer League, but made his US debut with the Pirates in 2007 at State College, where he made 13 starts.  In 2008, Robles was moved to the bullpen, and made 19 relief appearances for A level Hickory, 18 for A+ Lynchburg, and 13 for AA Altoona, though his ERA and his hits allowed rose as he moved up in the organization.  The Pirates sent Robles to the Hawaiian Winter League in the fall of 2008.  He appeared in just 4 games for West Oahu, going 3.2 innings, and allowing 4 hits and 2 runs, without walking or striking out any batters.  Robles began the 2009 season on the Disabled List, but returned to Lynchburg once he was ready to go.  He pitched 10 innings for the Hillcats in May, and earned a 3.60 ERA.  Robles was promoted to Altoona at the end of May.  He stayed with the Curve for two weeks, only pitching 3.2 innings, with a 9.81 ERA.  Back in Lynchburg, Robles pitched 14.1 scoreless innings in July, but allowed 13 runs in 14 innings in August.  Overall, he had a 0-2 record and a 4.43 ERA for the Hillcats, in a total of 42.2 innings, with 21 runs on 48 hits, 7 walks, and 26 strikeouts.  Robles was back to Altoona again for 4.2 innings during the first week of September.  He finished up with a 1-0 record and a 6.48 ERA for the Curve, but again allowed more hits than innings (12 hits in 8.1 innings), with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts.  Robles will be 26 years old in April.  He will probably return to Altoona, but he’ll need to work on giving up fewer hits, and more strikeouts would also be a help.

Looking at two pitching prospects today:

Tony Watson is making a come-back this season after missing most of 2009 to elbow problems.  The southpaw was the Pirates’ 9th round pick in the 2007 draft, and he finished out the 2007 season with 10 starts at State College (6-1 record, 2.52 ERA) and 3 starts at A level Hickory (1-1, 3.86 ERA).  He made an amazing 28 starts for A+ Lynchburg in 2008, for 151.2 innings.  His won-loss record was not great (8-12), but his ERA was not bad at 3.56.  He allowed 149 hits, 60 earned runs, and only 36 walks, while striking out 104 batters.  Watson was promoted to AA Altoona to begin 2009, where he was the Opening Day starter.  He struggled through 5 starts over April and the first week of May.  In the best of the five, he pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits; in the worst, he didn’t make it out of the 1st inning and allowed 4 runs on 4 hits.  Those starts gave him 15.1 innings, 22 hits, and 14 earned runs, with 11 walks and 14 strikeouts, and a 8.22 ERA.  Watson went onto the Disabled List with elbow strain, and missed the rest of the Curve’s season.  He worked hard to rehab, though, and in the fall, the Pirates sent the Iowa native to the Arizona Fall League so that he could get in some more work.  Watson pitched 12.2 innings of relief in 11 appearances for the Scottsdale Scorpions, where he did very well.  He did not get any decisions or saves, but he earned a 2.13 ERA, with 3 runs on 7 hits and 6 walks, plus 12 strikeouts.  Batters only managed a .152 average against him.  Most of his appearances were one inning in length, though he had two 2-inning outings and one where he pitched only 0.2 innings.  Watson should be ready to go for the 2010 season, and he’ll get to try again for the Curve.  No word as to whether the Pirates plan to put the nearly-25-year-old back in the starting rotation or have him in the bullpen.  Relieving in the AFL may just have been convenience, or an attempt to ease him back into some innings.

Michael Dubee is a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher who was drafted by the Phillies in the 18th round of the 2006 draft — the organization where his dad is the major league pitching coach.  He finished the 2006 season and began the 2007 season in the Phillies system, then was traded to the White Sox.  Dubee finished 2007 with the White Sox A level team and pitched the entire 2008 season with their A+ team in Winston-Salem.  For W-S, he made 13 starts and 17 relief appearances, for a 5-7 record and one save, and a 4.37 ERA over 103 innings.  The righty returned to W-S to begin the 2009 season, but after just 2 appearances (3 innings), he was traded to the Pirates and assigned to A+ Lynchburg.  Dubee made 23 relief appearance and over 34.1 innings, he mowed down the Carolina League batters.  He allowed 22 hits and 3 walks for 4 earned runs and a 1.05 ERA, with 2 wins and 6 saves.  He also struck out 52 batters (12.8 K/9 innings).  That earned him a promotion to Altoona in June, where he made 26 relief appearances for the Curve.  He did not allow any earned runs in his first 3 outings (5 innings) at the end of June.  In July,  Dubee made 12 relief appearances and gave up 4 earned runs on 21 hits and 5 walks in 15.2 innings (2.30 ERA).  Things got tougher for him in August, when he gave up 7 runs on 11 hits in 10.2 innings (9 outings), and his ERA popped up to 5.91 for the month.  But, he finished the season well, with three scoreless appearances over the last week of the season (5.2 innings), and only 3 hits (all in the middle of those games) with 6 strikeouts.  He finished his time in Altoona with a solid 2.91 ERA and a 3-0 record over 34 innings.  Dubee will likely return to Altoona to begin 2010, but if he continues to pitch as well as he did in 2009, he could move up to Indianapolis mid-season.

A Pennsylania match-up did not go the Pirates way this afternoon in Bradenton.  The Pirates were again held to just 4 hits in the game, and they could only push one run across the plate.  That run came in the 2nd inning, when C Ryan Doumit doubled, and LF Lastings Milledge slipped a single behind the runner to bring Doumit across the plate.  That was the only run that anyone has scored off Phils starter Roy Halliday so far in Grapefruit League play.  CF Andrew McCutchen singled and 2B Delwyn Young continued his hitting streak (though not his 3-game home run streak) with a single.  Young and DH Aki Iwamura were the only batters to reach on a walk.  The Phillies turned 3 double plays, so that the Pirates had only 2 runners left on base for the entire game.

Zach Duke pitched 3.2 innings in this start, and allowed a run on 2 hits and 3 walks, with 4 strikeouts.  He worked his way out of a small jam in the 1st inning.  In the 4th, he found himself with runners on the corners and one out.  He walked the next batter to load the bases, and a sacrifice fly brought in the runner from third to tie the game.  Evan Meek came in from the bullpen and ended that inning by getting a ground out.  But then Meek got into some trouble of his own in the 5th inning.  He gave up 4 hits, including an RBI double and two RBI singles, and also committed a balk, giving the Phillies a 4-1 lead.  Reliever Jeremy Powell pitched 2 innings and allowed two hits, though one of those was a solo home run in the 7th inning.  Javier Lopez and Jack Taschner each pitched a scoreless inning to finish up the game.

Also getting some playing time:  CF John Raynor, PH/DH Pedro Alvarez, LF Jose Tabata, 1B Steve Pearce, 3B Neil Walker, 2B Doug Bernier, and SS Chase d’Arnaud.

Three pitchers on the 40-man roster were optioned:

Brad Lincoln and Donnie Veal were optioned to AAA Indianapolis.

Bryan Morris was optioned to A+ Bradenton.

Four non-roster invitees were reassigned to minor league camp:

Pitchers Virgil Vasquez, Jeff Sues, and Justin Thomas, plus C Tony Sanchez

Again, no big surprises.  Lincoln and Veal might be back before the end of the season, though.

Optioned to AAA Indianapolis:   SS Argenis Diaz and OF Brandon Jones

Optioned to AA Altoona:  Relievers Ronald Uviedo and Ramon Aguero, and OF Gorkys Hernandez

All five of those players are on the Pirates’ 40-man roster.

SS Brian Friday, who is not on the 40-man roster, but was a non-roster invitee to camp, has been reassigned to minor league camp.  He is expected to begin the season in Indianapolis.

No big surprises, since none of these had a serious chance of making the big league club at this point.

Ramon Aguero is a Dominican native, who spent 2 seasons in the Dominican Summer League (under the name Samuel Vasquez) before making his US debut in 2008.  He made 10 starts and 5 relief appearances for State College that season, earning a 1-10 record and a 6.75 ERA.  He gave up a lot of hits — 64 in 49.1 innings, with 37 earned runs, along with 22 walks and 35 strikeouts.  Despite the struggles, Aguero was moved up to West Virginia to open the 2009 season.  He worked mostly out of the bullpen, though he did make 3 starts.  Those starts went pretty well.  In the first (April 17th), Aguero pitched 4 innings without allowing a hit, a walk, or a run, while striking out 4 batters (one batter reached on a fielding error but was erased with a double play).  His next start came a month later, when he allowed a solo home run plus 3 other hits and one walk in 4.1 innings, with one strikeout.  On June 6th, Aguero pitched 3.2 innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, with 7 strikeouts, giving him a 2.25 ERA in those three starts.  He had three tough relief appearances, in which he allowed 5 runs, 6 runs, and 4 earned runs over 5.2 innings.  The rest of his 17 relief outings went reasonably well.  He left West Virginia with a 4.71 ERA and a 1-2 record, having pitched 49.2 innings and allowed 58 hits and 26 earned runs.  He walked 16 and struck out 40 for the Power.  Aguero was promoted to Lynchburg at the calendar turned to July.  He made 11 relief appearances for the Hillcats, earning one win and 3 holds, and pitching up to 3 innings in each appearance.  There were two outings in which he allowed 2 earned runs and two in which he allowed one earned run.  That leaves 7 appearances (14.2 innings) in which Aguero did not allow a run.  In his last 4 appearances, for 9 innings, he did not give up a run and allowed only 4 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 9.  That earned Aguero a promotion to AA Altoona in mid-August.  He pitched in a closer role for the Curve, and was outstanding in his first 5 appearances — scoreless for 8 innings.  He gave up one run on August 30th, suffering the loss, then had another scoreless inning on Sept 3rd, and finished the season with his second loss on Sept 6th, when he allowed 3 runs on 4 hits in 2 innings.  That gave him a 2.84 ERA in 12.2 innings, with 6 walks and 13 strikeouts.  Aguero was “demoted” to Lynchburg at the end of the regular season, but it was only so that he could help the Hillcats in their playoff run.  He appeared in 4 post-season games, earning 2 holds and a save, and allowing just one earned run on 5 hits in 8.1 innings.  Aguero got into some winter league games in his native Dominican Republic also.  He appeared in 15 games for Los Aguilas Cibaenas, for a total of 15 innings.  He gave up 10 hits and 5 runs, and 7 walks, while striking out 16 batters.  The Pirates added the 25-year-old to the 40-man roster after the season, to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.  That meant Aguero has been in the big league camp for spring training.  He has appeared in 3 games.  He pitched a shut-out inning in each of the first two, then gave up 2 earned runs on 2 hits in 0.1 inning on March 11th.  Expect to see Aguero return to Altoona for the beginning of 2010, though if he continues to pitch as well in relief as he did last August, he could be in Indianapolis by the second half of the season.  (Addendum: Aguero was optioned to Altoona in the first round of cuts today.)

Corey Hamman was acquired by the Pirates in the Rule 5 draft at the end of the 2007 season.  He had been drafted by the Tigers in the 12th round of the 2002 draft, and had progressed up through their organization, spending most of 2006 and 2007 at the AAA level with Toledo.  Hamman split the 2008 season between AA Altoona, where he earned a 5-6 record and a 3.18 ERA, and AAA Indianapolis, where he went 4-3 with a 5.03 ERA.  Hamman returned to the Indians to begin the 2009 season.  He struggled in his first two appearances, allowing a run on 2 hits without an out recorded in the first, and 8 runs on 6 hits in 1.1 innings in the second.  He went onto the Disabled List on April 12th and remained there for 10 days.  The New Jersey native made 3 more relief appearances over the rest of April, and ended the month with a 35.10 ERA, with 14 hits, 13 runs, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts in 3.1 innings.  Things got better in May, when Hamman appeared in 10 games, with only one that was really tough — on May 10th, when he allowed earned runs on 2 hits.  After one more appearance in early June, Hamman had a 1-0 record and a 10.26 ERA after 16.2 innings of work, 27 hits, 19 earned runs, with 6 walks and 18 strikeouts.  He was reassigned to Altoona on June 5th, and made 29 relief appearances for the Curve over the next two months.  Hamman had a little better time in Altoona, posting a 3.68 ERA in 29.1 innings, with 28 hits, 12 earned runs, 8 walks, and 21 strikeouts.  After a tough first outing, he settled in and generally performed well in 29 total appearances, most an inning or less in length.  Hamman returned to Indianapolis in mid-August to finish the season.  He made 10 more appearances for the Indians, going 13.2 innings and allowing 8 earned runs on 11 hits, with 9 walks and 14 strikeouts.  That dropped his overall ERA with Indianapolis to 8.01.  Hamman tried to make up for a disappointing US season with some winter ball for Los Navegantes del Magallanes.  He was a different pitcher in Venezuela, where he posted a 1.42 ERA in 11 outings and did not allow a hit in 6.1 innings of work.  He allowed only one earned run on 3 walks, and he struck out 2 batters.  Spring training is going to be key for Hamman in 2010.  He needs to convince the Pirates that the Corey who pitched in Venezuela is the Real Corey, and then continue that trend when the season starts — either in Altoona or Indianapolis.

Charlie Morton allowed only one hit and one walk over 4 shutout innings to begin today’s Grapefruit League game in Bradenton.  He was to be limited to 4 innings or 60 pitches, and breezed through his day’s work, including 1-2-3 innings in the 3rd and 4th.

The Pirates had some bad luck on the bases in the early part of the game.  In the 3rd, SS Ronny Cedeno walked and stole second base, but when he slid into second, the middle infielder covering the bag stepped on Cedeno’s right hand, causing a laceration, but at least no broken bones.  He did not need stitches, and will only be out for a couple of days.  The Pirates got onto the scoreboard with a solo homer by 2B Aki Iwamura in the 4th inning off Yankees’ starter CC Sabathia.  The Pirates added 5 runs in the 5th.  LF Lastings Milledge began the inning with a walk, and after 3B Andy LaRoche’s single,  SS Bobby Crosby, who had replaced Cedeno, doubled off the right field wall to bring in Milledge and LaRoche.  CF Andrew McCutchen followed with another RBI double, RF Garrett Jones collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly, and C Ryan Doumit’s RBI single gave the Pirates a 6 run lead.

The 7th inning was fun, as the Pirates teed off against Yankees reliever Dustin Moseley.  Crosby led off with a solo blast down the left field line, and after an out, 2B Delwyn Young and RF Steve Pearce smashed back-to-back homers, Young’s to right field and Pearce’s to left.  Crosby added another solo shot, also over the left field wall, in the 8th inning, and the Pirates had a 10-1 lead.

Vinnie Chulk followed Morton on the mound, and he made only one mistake, which was a wind-aided solo homer by 1B Nick Johnson in the 6th. Brandon Donnelly (aka “Houdini) loaded the bases with one out in the 7th, then got C Francisco Cervelli to bounce into a double play to get out of the jam.  Jeff Karstens pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning for the Bucs, and things were looking good going into the 9th inning.  Jean Machi, who usually has things under control, started the inning by giving up a single.  The next batter tapped a bouncer back to the mound, which should have been an easy double play.  But Machi’s toss to second went wide and sailed into center field, with both runners save.  A single and a double later, the Yankees had 2 more runs.  Then Machi threw a pitch into the dirt, and the ball bounced under C Hector Gimenez and off behind the plate.  Gimenez’s vision was partially blocked by the umpire, and he knew the ball was back there somewhere, but couldn’t locate it.  By the time he spotted it and got over there, two runners, one from third and one from second, had both scored.  After a walk, Machi was done for the day.  Ronald Uviedo came on in relief, and all but ignored that runner on first base as he recorded three quick outs to end the game.

CF Jose Tabata and 3B Pedro Alvarez each had a single in the game.  1B Brian Myrow and C Hector Gimenez also got into the game.

The Pirates also played a “B” game this morning, to make up for the fact that some of their pitchers missed some work due to rain this week.  They played the Orioles, and they quit after 9.5 innings and a 1-1 tie.  Brad Lincoln pitched 3 innings, and gave up a run on 2 hits, with one walk and 4 strikeouts.  Bryan Morris, Brian Burres, and Donnie Veal each pitched 2 scoreless innings.  The B Pirates managed only one hit, a single by Brian Friday. (It was a Brian kind of game.)  Pirates’ president Frank Coonelly reported on the mlb.tv broadcast that all of the pitchers were throwing well in that B game.  Veal’s confidence level is way up, particularly after he did so well in the Arizona Fall League.  Morris looks like “a different pitcher” this year, with a vastly improved attitude.  He has been working hard with Pirates’ minor league pitching coordinator Jim Benedict, and is expected to begin the season with the A+ Bradenton Marauders.

Jared Hughes was the Pirates’ 4th round pick in the 2006 draft.  He’s a tall lanky right hander — 6′ 7″ and 220 pounds.  Hughes had been used exclusively as a starter as he worked his way up through the organization, reaching AA Altoona at the end of the 2008 season.  In 6 starts, he earned a 2-2 record and a 4.94 ERA over 31 innings, with 35 hits, 17 earned runs, 16 walks, and 18 strikeouts.  The California native returned to Altoona to begin the 2009 season.  In 7 starts over April and part of May, he threw 28.1 innings and posted a 1.91 ERA and a 1-4 record.  He allowed 26 hits, 6 earned runs, 10 walks and 19 strikeouts.  Hughes pitched 6 hitless and scoreless innings in his first start on April 1oth and 5 scoreless innings on May 11th.  But shoulder problems shut him down for the rest of May, as well as June and July.  He made 3 rehab starts with the GCL Pirates, going a total of 6 innings and allowing one run on 3 hits and a walk with 5 strikeouts.  Hughes returned to the Curve in August, but did not make any more starts.  Instead, he made 10 relief appearances over the remainder of the season, for a total of 18 innings.  He did earn 3 saves, plus 2 losses, for an ERA of 7.00.  He allowed 6 walks and 17 strikeouts as a reliever.  Now that he’s had the winter to rest that shoulder, the 24-year-old should be ready to get back into the starting rotation in Altoona for 2010.

Canadian Dustin Molleken was the Pirates’ 15th round pick in the 2003 draft.  He spent his first few professional seasons battling injuries of one kind or another, including Tommy John surgery in 2004.  But the right-hander is persistent, and in 2008, he finally had a healthy season, which he split between A level Hickory (16 starts) and A+ Lynchburg (16 relief appearances).  He threw 80 innings as a starter,  more innings than in his previous two seasons combined, which may have been why he was moved to the bullpen in Lynchburg.  His walk rate increased from 2.3 BB/9 Innings in Hickory to 4.4 BB/9I in Lynchburg, but his strikeout rate also increased:  6.2 K/9 I in Hickory and 8.3 K/9 I in Lynchburg.  Molleken returned to Lynchburg to begin 2009.  He made 17 relief appearances and one start for the Hillcats, earning one save and one loss, and a 3.48 ERA.  The loss came with the one start, which must have made everyone involved realize that it was just not a good idea:  He got the first batter he faced out, then proceeded to give up a triple, have a batter reach on a fielding error, then give up four singles and a double.  He was charged with 4 earned runs over 0.1 innings.  The relief appearances went generally much better, and Molleken posted a 2.63 ERA over 41 innings, with 8 walks and 42 strikeouts.  On June 22nd, Molleken was promoted to Altoona, where he made 18 relief appearances over the rest of the season.  He had four rough outings, allowing 4 earned runs in two games and 3 earned runs in two other games, but that leaves 14 outings that were at least not bad and often pretty good.  He pitched a total of 37 innings for the Curve and allowed 37 hits, 19 earned runs, 16 walks, and 26 strikeouts, for a 1-1 record and a 4.62 ERA.  Overall, it was a reasonably solid season, and as importantly, the second in a row in which Molleken was healthy.  Another healthy year could give him the chance to take a big step forward.  He should return to the Altoona bullpen for the beginning of 2010.