Blogger Beat: Bucs Dugout
…as the Mets kick off an abbreviated two-game series with the Pirates tonight, i did a quick Q & A with Charlie Wilmoth, who blogs about the Pirates for Bucs Dugout…
D.J. Short:
I’ll start off with something positive: Nate McLouth, who homered twice Sunday. Did you see this potential in him during the second half of last season?
Charlie Wilmoth:
Well, I obviously didn’t think he’d be THIS good. But I, and a number of other fans and bloggers, have been ranting on-and-off for years about McLouth’s playing time. He’s always had a skill set that’s unusual for a Pirate prospect (plate discipline, some power, genuine baserunning ability that goes beyond simply being fast), and he’s had to compete against players like Chris Duffy and Nyjer Morgan, who can’t hit. Morgan’s only virtue as a baseball player is that he’s exciting, mostly because he goes a little too crazy on
the bases and dives around a lot in the outfield after balls that would’ve been much easier to catch if he would’ve run in a straight line to get to them. One would think that serious talent evaluators would’ve been able to see right through that kind of excitement, but Dave Littlefield and his crack front office couldn’t. And so it’s taken years for McLouth to win a starting job.
D.J. Short:
With Moises Alou‘s rehab predictably delayed, many Mets fans have been asking about Xavier Nady again. Do you think he will be traded at some point this season?
Charlie Wilmoth:
Yes. He’s useful but not good enough to build around, and the Pirates have a crowded outfield.
D.J. Short:
Were you surprised to see the Pirates cut their losses on Matt Morris? In a weird way, does his release signify progress for the organization?
Charlie Wilmoth:
I wasn’t surprised, no. He was so bad on so many levels, it simply had to happen. In my view, it doesn’t necessarily mean the Pirates are making progress. For example, early in the tenure of the Pirates’ previous GM, Dave Littlefield, the Bucs dumped Derek “Operation Shutdown” Bell. It was easy for Littlefield to identify and admit his predecessor’s mistakes, but that didn’t prevent him from making plenty of his own. Time will tell whether history is repeating itself here with new GM Neal Huntington.
D.J. Short:
What happened to Tom Gorzelanny? Just a bad month, or cause for greater concern?
Charlie Wilmoth:
Cause for greater concern. Former manager Jim Tracy rode him hard down the stretch last year in a desperate attempt to save his job, and Gorzelanny got scratched from his first Spring Training start because of shoulder stiffness. So far this year, Gorzelanny’s
velocity has been off, and his numbers have been horrific. If a good starting pitcher racks up 22 walks in 22.1 innings, as Gorzelanny has so far this year, it’s probably not a fluke. Something’s wrong.
D.J. Short:
You’ve been running an excellent “Worst General Manager” poll on your site recently. Which results have surprised you the most?
Charlie Wilmoth:
Thanks. The most surprising development was that Reds GM Wayne Krivsky got fired just before he was supposed to square off against top seed Brian Sabean. I’m sure Sabean would have annihilated him, so I guess the Reds’ ownership spared him that indignity. I’m also shocked that Omar Minaya didn’t make it past the first round. Oh well, Mets fans – wait ’til next year!
…thanks, Charlie…by the way, if you are a fan of independent music or college radio, check out his work for Dusted Magazine, as well…
