Incase you missed Hot Stove from Wednesday night, or perhaps you don’t get the channel, here is what the analysts from MLB Network had to say about the Pirates 2011 season (P.S. It’s not pretty).

 

Matt Yallof: “The Pirates. Every single year. It seems to get worse. 57 wins last year. That seems difficult to do.”

Bill Ripken: “You wonder what direction they’re heading in. Our friend Clint Hurdle is taking over this club. I think he’s going to bring an attitude and a positive mentality to this club. But for me, I look at the pitching staff. In all these years that they’ve finished down to the bottom of baseball, I’m wanting to know where that number one is. We mentioned [Steven] Strasburg when we talk about the Nationals. Now, he blew out his elbow and he got hurt. But when you draft, you draft a number one. You draft some cheddar. When I look at the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation, I’m kind of wondering, ‘where’s the heat’? I’m not saying heats everything because you can pitch to spots and you can locate. When everybody on your staff is throwing 91, 92, then you drop down below 90, throwing 86, 88. There’s not that one guy that actually wows me. [Charlie] Morton throws the hardest. When you’re looking at 93 topping out, I’m wanting to know, ‘where the heat is?’ If you didn’t draft it, and you go out and you pick out other guys that are kind of throwing the same, ‘where’s the heat?’ I want somebody in that rotation that’s going to make somebody swing and miss at a fastball and maybe get yourself out of a jam instead of giving up big innings.”

Pirates projected rotation (according to MLB Network)

James McDonald (4-6, 4.02 ERA in 2010)

Paul Maholm (9-15, 5.10 ERA in 2010)

Kevin Correia (10-10 5.40 ERA in 2010)

Scott Olsen (4-8, 5.56 ERA in 2010)

Ross Ohlendorf (1-11, 4.07 ERA in 2010)

Mitch Williams: “There has to be a guy on every staff that at some point in the game, can reach back and throw the ball 95, 96. If you’ve got two outs and the bases loaded, two strikes on a hitter, you have got to have that guy that can blow that hitter up. Pittsburgh does not have that guy. They have guys that throw hitting speed.”

Matt Yallof: “You know what, they’ve had their chances to draft guys of note and guys that do what you’re taking about but they’ve missed. They’ve had high draft picks over and over. That hurts. Look at the guys they’ve passed on. They’ve missed those type of guys.”

Pitchers drafted in first round by Pirates since 2002:

2006:

Drafted – Right hand pitcher Brad Lincoln

Missed on – Left hand pitcher Clayton Kershaw, right hand pitcher Tim Lincecum, Right hand pitcher Matt Scherzer

2003:

Drafted – Left hand pitcher Paul Maholm

Missed on – Left hand pitcher John Danks, Right hand pitcher Chad Billingsley

2002:

Drafted – right hand pitcher Brian Bullington

Missed on – Right hand pitcher Zach Greinke, left hand pitcher Cole Hamels

(*As a note: Kevin McClatchy and Dave Littlefield were the General Managers during this time. Since Neal Huntington took over as GM in September of 2007, the drafting and minor league system has done a complete 180. Huntington really hasn’t gotten enough credit for what he has done so far and how much better the organization is heading.)

Harold Reynolds: “That’s the easy stuff they’ve missed on. Those are the number one picks. It’s the guys in the fifth round, six round, that your scouting is suggesting and going after. They’ve done a nice job with some players that have come up as of late (Williams: “position players”). But they’ve really missed it on the pitching.”

Ripken: “That term that comes into baseball now: Sign ability. Some of that might be their hands are tied a little bit but boy when you see that list and some of those players they’ve passed up on, wow! They’d look a lot different.”

Reynolds: “If you look back at the ‘we are family pirates’ they were international. They were: Puerto Rico, Dominican, they may not have had the funds back then but they went in those countries and developed players. I still think they had the market cornered. That’s when everybody wanted to be a pirate.”

Williams: “They won the World Series with the ugliest hats in the history of baseball.”

Yallof: “Last winning season: 1992. It’s really hard to believe.”

Notable Transactions (by MLB Network)

Additions:

First baseman – Lyle Overbay

Outfielder – Matt Diaz

Right hand pitcher – Kevin Correia

Left hand pitcher – Scott Olsen

Subtractions:

Left hand pitcher – Zach Duke

Right hand pitcher – Chan Ho Park

Outfielder – Lastings Milledge