August 3rd, 2012 Andrew McCutchen barks in the dugout after being hit by Aroldis Chapman in the ninth inning. Chapman’s offering was clocked at 101 mph. The Bucs lost 3-0.
August 10th, 2012 James McDonald sits quietly in the dugout after blowing a 7-0 lead to the Padres. San Diego went on to win, 10-9.
August 15th, 2012 Neil Walker rolls around in pain after injuring his hand on a double play attempt. The Pirates dropped their third consecutive game, 9-3.
August 16th, 2012
A young boy’s ears are covered from the harsh words of Matt Kemp, who was ejected in the second inning of a Thursday matinee. The Buccos won, 10-6, and A.J. Burnetttold Hanley Ramirez what to do.
August 19th, 2012
Keli Alvarez celebrates her husband’s solo home run that gave the Bucs a 19-inning win in St. Louis.
August 28th, 2012 Josh Harrison barrels Yadier Molina in a huge collision at home plate. J-Hay was out on the play, but the Pirates went on to crush the Cards, 9-0.
Hanrahan remains an asset for the Pirates, though this year’s return to a big-time strikeout rate came with the unwanted side effects of a high walk rate and a lot of flyballs. On the surface, the Bucs have a guy who’s converted 76 of 84 save opportunities the last two years with a 2.24 ERA and two All-Star game appearances. Hanrahan will be entering his walk year. With draft pick compensation for relievers mostly a thing of the past, GM Neal Huntington has to decide whether to trade Hanrahan or extend him in the neighborhood of $10MM per free agent year.
Elsewhere in the bullpen there’s Resop, who added groundballs this year at the expense of strikeouts. The 29-year-old is hittable yet serviceable, and he’s not terribly expensive.
The Pirates have three arbitration eligible starting pitchers. McDonald’s ERA sat at 2.37 after a July 7th win; through 110 innings it seemed as if he’d turned a corner. He was brutal over his next 13 outings, with a 7.52 ERA in 61 frames. It was an odd season, but McDonald is expected to begin next year back in the Pirates’ rotation. Now is not the time to consider trading or extending him.
Morton had hip surgery a year ago, but was able to make his season debut in mid-April. He lasted only nine starts before succumbing to Tommy John surgery. He has to be considered a non-tender candidate, as otherwise the Pirates would have to pay him a projected $2.6MM in 2012 to pitch at most three months. Huntington must decide the value of the chance to control Morton for the 2014 season. The GM was noncommittal on the subject of Karstens, who had an injury-shortened 2012 as well. Since Karstens finished the season healthy, he might be on firmer ground than Morton.
Jones needs a platoon partner, but he did hit .289/.332/.556 with 25 home runs in 434 plate appearances against right-handed pitching. I think he’s safe, though this could be the last raise the Pirates are willing to give him. Walker had another nice year, and the Pirates have flirted with extending the Pittsburgh native before. In March, I suggested five years and $27MM for the Super Two second baseman.
The Pirates acquired Sanchez from the Marlins at the July trade deadline. The 29-year-old was better for the Bucs, but still fell well short of the production of a typical starting first baseman. There’s a decent chance he’s non-tendered.
If only Hanrahan, Jones, Karstens, McDonald, Walker, and Resop are retained, the Pirates would be looking at an estimated $22.3MM for six arbitration eligible players.
Matt Swartz’s arbitration projections are available exclusively at MLB Trade Rumors. To read more about his projection model, check out this series of posts.”
May 2nd, 2012 A.J. Burnett walks off the mound after allowing 12 runs in just 2.2 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Bucs got rocked, 12-3, at Busch Stadium.
May 8th, 2012 Rod Barajas flashes the Zoltan after hitting a walk-off homer to lift the Pirates over the Nationals, 5-4.
May 19th, 2012 Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison celebrate one of Cutch’s two bombs in Detroit. The Pirates beat the Tigers in a Saturday matinée by the score of 4-3.
May 21st, 2012 Neil Walker slides home safely as the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to give the Pirates a 5-4 victory.
May 26th, 2012 Matt Hague‘s walk-off hit-by-pitch lifts the Bucs over the Cubs, 3-2, in front of a Saturday night sellout crowd.
May 28th, 2012 Gorkys Hernandez, Andrew McCutchen, and Jose Tabata celebrate after beating the Reds on Memorial Day. It was the Pirates fourth consecutive win and put them at the .500 mark.
August, which wasn’t very kind to the Pirates, has come and gone. The final month of the season has begun. September is off to a disappointing start, however, as the Bucs dropped some tough games in Milwaukee. If they want to reach the postseason, they need to start playing better ball. With only 29 games remaining, it’s time to put up or shut up.
They entered the All-Star break with a record of 47-38, and looked forward to an easier schedule in the second half. The Pirates haven’t been able to beat weaker teams, and hold just a 22-26 record since the break. With the great success in the first half of the season, it’s been really frustrating to watch the past few weeks. It seems as if nothing has gone right. Andrew McCutchen was clocked by an Aroldis Chapman fastball a month ago; his batting average has dropped nearly 30 points since August 1. Neil Walker went down with injury (twice). An embarrassing 1-5 record vs. San Diego in August, including a sweep at Petco Park, and now the sweep at the House of Horrors, Miller Park.
The Bucs now sit 11 games out of first place and 1.5 games out of a wild card spot. Here’s a look at their schedule the rest of the way:
– 3 games vs. Houston
– 3 games vs. Chicago
– 3 games @ Cincinnati
– 4 games @ Chicago
– 3 games vs. Milwaukee
– 3 games @ Houston
– 4 games @ New York
– 3 games vs. Cincinnati
– 3 games vs. Atlanta
With Houston (41-93) and Chicago (51-82) coming to town, now’s a good time to turn it around. The Pirates seriously need to win at least five of these six games. They cannot afford to lose against these teams, especially at home. But as we’ve seen the last few weeks, nothing is guaranteed.
It’s a tough question to ask, but will the Bucs even win 82 games at this point? They have to go 12-17 to do so. Considering they’ve won 10 of their previous 29 contests, they need to step it up a bit. As everyone has said, a .500 season is obviously not the goal. However, they may limp to 82 with how they’ve performed as of late.
If the Pirates can play to their maximum potential, there’s still hope. The six games vs. Reds and three vs. Braves could drastically affect both the division and wild card. Meaningful September has been a long time coming. This is it; the time is now. “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
The Pirates will be off on Thursday for the first time since August 2nd. The 20 games in 20 days stretch included an important series in Cincinnati, an 11 game homestand, and a discouraging roadtrip. Here’s a rundown of what went on over the past three weeks:
– A crazy weekend ensued in Cincy with a bit of beanball between the Reds and Bucs. However, the Redlegs were the only ones doing the drilling. Andrew McCutchen was nailed high and tight with an Aroldis Chapman heater that was clocked at 101 mph during the Reds’ 3-0 victory. There was much debate over whether or not the Pirates would retaliate, but they never received a chance. Both clubs were warned after Josh Harrison was plunked by Mike Leake, and Clint Hurdle was ejected when he came out to argue. Cincinnati went on to win that game, 5-4. The teams were apparently warned before Sunday’s game, so A.J. Burnett didn’t have a chance to hit any Cincy hitters. Instead, he allowed just three hits over 8.2 innings and the Bucs won 6-2. They weren’t at their best in this series; thankfully they avoided a sweep.
– The Pirates split a four game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks, which was a tough start to a disappointing homestand. Despite a 4-0 victory in game one, the bullpen fell apart in the second game of the series. A 4-4 tie turned into a 10-4 defeat when the D-backs scored seven unanswered runs in the final two innings. They held on by a sliver to win on Wednesday, but dropped the fourth game in Wandy Rodriguez‘s poor home debut.
– The San Diego Padres rolled into the ‘Burgh for what turned out to be an embarrassing series. The Buccos cruised to a 7-1 lead on Friday, but watched it fall to pieces as the Friars came back and won, 9-8. A.J. Burnett wasn’t sharp in game two and the Pirates were almost no-hit by Jason Marquis. They pulled off a win on Sunday afternoon, thanks to a grand slam for Clint Barmes. More on the Padres in a bit.
– The next series was a forgettable one vs. Los Angeles. The first three games were downright awful; the Pirates were outscored 25-7. The offense carried the Bucs to a 10-6 victory on Thursday. Don Mattingly, Matt Kemp, and Joe Blanton were all ejected, and A.J. Burnett told Hanley Ramirezwhat to do. The series loss was a bitter finish to a 4-7 homestand.
– Things were looking up after the Bucs took two of three from the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. James McDonald returned to his first half form in Friday’s win, but they lost a very winnable game on Saturday. The series finale was a 19 inning marathon that resulted in a 6-3 victory. Many believed that this could be a positive turning point; the exact opposite of last year’s 19 inning affair. However, this doesn’t appear to be the case…
– … as the Bucs were swept by the Padres at Petco Park. We won’t go into detail as it’s still fresh in everyone’s minds. Quite possibly the most frustrating series of the season.
– Some injuries: Starling Marte went on the 15 day DL with a strained oblique, Neil Walker dislocated a finger, Travis Snider was bothered by his hamstring, Jordy Mercer was hit in the hand with a pitch, etc.
– Some departures: Alex Presley was optioned to Indianapolis, Juan Cruz was designated for assignment, etc.
– Some leaves of absence: Jordy Mercer went on paternity leave and Chad Qualls went on the bereavement list.
One of the biggest storylines is the current slide of Andrew McCutchen. He was hitting .373 heading into this stretch, but is now down to .349. In these 20 games, McCutchen hit .238 with 2 homers, 10 runs batted in, and 21 strikeouts. The team goes as Cutch goes, and he certainly hasn’t been performing. As a result, the Pirates were just 7-13 in this span. He seems to be trying to pull the ball too much; he was successfully using all fields earlier in the year. He’s been striking out more frequently as well. McCutchen was essentially carrying this team earlier in the year, but his struggles in this stretch of games really showed. He’s still an MVP candidate, but he needs to snap out of it if the Bucs want to succeed for the rest of the season.
The Pirates needed this off day in the worst way. As we said, they went 7-13 in these 20 games – not the kind of baseball you want to see from a team that’s fighting for a postseason berth. They’re still a little beat up, and it can’t be easy playing 20 days in a row, especially with a six-hour, 19 inning game in the mix. The bad news is that they’ve officially fallen from a playoff spot. St. Louis has passed the Bucs for the second wild card, and they sit 8.5 games out of first in the Central. They come home for a six-game homestand against the Brewers and Cardinals. Hopefully PNC Park is rocking and the Pirates can rack up some wins.
“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to excellence.”
From Forbes to Federal 
