Pirates have earned more trust

By Joe Starkey 
http://triblive.com/sports/
Published: Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013, 10:06 p.m.

Charlie Morton has been inked to a new three-year deal.

When the Pirates signed Russell Martin and rounded up a bunch of obscure and/or injured pitchers last winter, people complained.

The Pirates were right on most of those players.

When the Pirates sat out the July 31 trade deadline, people complained.

The Pirates were smart. They stayed the course and wound up with Marlon Byrd and Justin Morneau — and even if the latter underachieved, his dramatic arrival represented yet another example of the Pirates' commitment to winning.

But here we go again: The Pirates spent baseball's hot-stove season in a damp, cold basement, and the reactions are predictable:

• They're cheap.

• Nutting doesn't want to win.

• They sucked us back in only to become the Pirates again.

I understand. When you've been burned for five or 10 or 20 years — depending on how far back your relationship with the franchise dates — it's hard to trust again.

But do you really believe the Pirates will open the season with Gaby Sanchez as their every-day first baseman? Sanchez can't hit right-handers. I'm fairly certain GM Neal Huntington is aware of this development, even if he insists publicly that he would be fine with Sanchez full-time.

Seriously, you cannot be worked up over the Pirates passing on the likes of Mike Morse in free agency. Are you ticked off about losing Wei-Chung Wang in the Rule 5 draft, too?

Did you really want the Pirates to throw $20 million-plus at James Loney to fill the lefty first-base opening?

Loney's a nice player — he would have been a decent fit for his defense and on-base percentage — but look at his stat line against right-handers over the past three years compared to, oh, I don't know, Garrett Jones:

Loney: 1,141 AB, 26 home runs, .764 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).

Jones: 1,138 AB, 54 home runs, .810 OPS.

So, yeah, I'm not sure the balance of power in the National League Central rested with Loney, even if he outperformed Jones last season.

Maybe Huntington and Clint Hurdle really do believe in Andrew Lambo and want to give him a shot in a platoon at first base. Assuming Lambo could field the position somewhat competently — Jones wasn't exactly Keith Hernandez over there — what would be so wrong with that?

Young first basemen have worked out for the St. Louis Cardinals in the form of Allen Craig and Matt Adams. Lambo's Triple-A stats from last season — 18 home runs, .933 OPS — rate favorably with the numbers Craig and Adams put up in their final minor league seasons.

As for the “cheap” charge, here's the reality: A major league team's ability to spend these days is directly related to its local television deal, and the Pirates don't measure up.

Many teams, in markets you would expect plus the likes of Seattle and Houston, have local TV deals measured in the billions. The Pirates' deal isn't near that, although it's not like Bob Nutting's checkbook is glued shut, either.

The Pirates just committed a combined $26 million to Charlie Morton and Edinson Volquez. Their payroll, though modest, will increase again, as it should given the influx of national TV money. They do have the National League's best player secured to a team-friendly deal through 2018.

There are no games scheduled in December. Huntington has time to address needs. I would like to see him find a bat and re-sign A.J. Burnett. But I'm also aware that if Lambo gets a chance and fails, other Byrd-like creatures will become available next summer, and the Pirates have shown they would be willing suitors.

Even if Burnett's out, I kind of like a rotation that starts with Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano and Morton with Jameson Taillon due in June. I kind of like a batting order that starts with Starling Marte, Neil Walker, Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez.

Relax.

The Pirates might actually know what they're doing.

Joe Starkey co-hosts a show 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays on 93.7 FM. Reach him at jraystarkey@gmail.com.

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Pirates wasting their window

By Mark Madden
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
December 6, 2013



The naivete of Pirates fans is mind-boggling. You made all that noise when Johnny Cueto dropped the ball. But you’re quiet as church mice during an offseason fraught with inactivity (except for a few cuts and the procurement of a backup catcher).

Here’s a peek into the near future:

-- A.J. Burnett  will tire of waiting to be offered the going rate for a pitcher his level and sign with Baltimore or Washington, teams located near his Virginia home. A promise made wilts before big money, and after being spurned in St. Louis.

-- Payroll will increase only minimally, mostly via arbitration awards.

-- Gaby Sanchez will be anointed the everyday first baseman. GM Neil Huntington set that up by saying that the right-handed hitting Sanchez can improve his performance against right-handed pitchers. He could. But he probably won’t. Sanchez is batting .242 lifetime vs. RHP, but hit just .204 against righties last year. Sanchez is 30. He is what he is.

-- Jose Tabata will be anointed the everyday right fielder. He’s committed through 2019 – and on the cheap, relatively speaking. He’s a Bob Nutting kind of player.

-- The Pirates will sign some low-rent jabroni and promote a young prospect, touting the pair as the missing links. The Pirates are undeniably excellent at PR.

-- The Pirates will replace Burnett by throwing a lot of crap at the wall and hoping something sticks. It probably won’t.

-- The Pirates will begin 2014 with a worse team than they had in 2013. That’s ludicrous. This is their window. But they’re slamming it shut by way of thrift.

Looking long-term, things seem very disturbing.

Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury signed a crazy deal to jump from Boston to the New York Yankees: $153 million over seven years.

Ellsbury is injury-prone. An All-Star just once in his seven-year big-league career. Ellsbury is a fraction of the player Andrew McCutchen is.

If Ellsbury is worth $22 million per season now, what’s McCutchen going to be worth when his contract expires following the 2018 season?

At least $30 million per. Gulp.

There’s no way the Pirates are ever going to pay any player $30 million per. That’s just not going to happen. Even the most hardcore Nutting shills would agree.

So, even though it’s years away, start warming up to the inevitability of McCutchen being traded. Probably in 2017, when there’s a year left on his deal. It could happen earlier. The clock is definitely ticking.

What’s McCutchen’s reaction going to be when he arrives at spring training and sees a weaker squad than the one that snatched a playoff spot this past season? McCutchen signed his long-term deal based on a continued build.

McCutchen won’t finish his career as a Pirate. That’s how MLB works.

The Pirates, meantime, enjoy the buzz associated with being linked with players they have no intention of acquiring, such as free-agent first baseman Mike Napoli or Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price. It’s almost like Pirates management plants these absurd rumors. Lots of hype, zero risk.

The Pirates should have retained Justin Morneau. Morneau signed a two-year, $13 million deal with Colorado. Morneau’s power was disappointing during his stretch-run stint with the Pirates. But Morneau’s price was affordable, and whoever plays first base for the Pirates will be worse. Perhaps much worse.

One of these days, you’ll figure out what’s going on. Or maybe not.

Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).

It's the thrills that make the MVP

By Gene Collier / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports

November 14, 2013

Endemic to baseball’s new age of advanced metrics is the hard truth that any modern mathlete can deal you a dozen numbers that demonstrate why Andrew McCutchen is the Most Valuable Player in the National League today.

And a dozen more for why Paul Goldschmidt should have been the MVP of the National League.

And a dozen more for why Yadier Molina was most deserving among the top three vote-getters.

And somewhere out there along the algebraic continuum, I’m sure there’s a set of integers that strongly suggest the award should probably have gone to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who, for all that most of baseball knows, probably spent a couple of weeks in the bullpen of the Houston Astros this summer.

But here’s the number that best defines McCutchen, who on Thursday night became only the sixth Pirate to take the honor since its creation in 1931, and no, it’s not WAR, the wins above replacement figure we all respect so much for expressing exactly how far above average a player who is so obviously above average is. Exactly.

Cutch’s figure is not his WAR, it’s his TAR — thrills above replacement, and the number itself is incalculable. From the passionate baserunning to the circus act center field play to the jolt of his hot liners to the gap and beyond, the broad emotional impact of Andrew McCutchen on the Pirates, the city, the fan base, and the whole arc of 2013’s baseball narrative can’t be fully expressed.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/gene-collier/2013/11/15/Gene-Collier-It-s-the-thrills-that-make-the-MVP/stories/201311150121#ixzz2kijdCtoO

McCutchen's all-around game won out

By Mark Simon
http://espn.go.com/mlb/
November 14, 2013



Andrew McCutchen's statistics don’t necessarily overwhelm you when you look at them singularly, but put them all together and the value becomes apparent. 

It was to those who voted on the National League MVP award, which McCutchen won on Thursday night. 

McCutchen became the first Pirates player to win the NL MVP since Barry Bonds in 1992, which also happened to be the last time the Pirates made the playoffs before this season. 

What makes McCutchen so good? 

He can hit 

McCutchen had a .317 batting average, .404 on-base percentage and .508 slugging percentage, each of which ranked in the top seven in the NL. His 64 extra-base hits ranked sixth in the National League. 

McCutchen hit well at home and on the road, and against both lefties and righties. He hit well at the beginning of games (.324 batting average with seven first-inning home runs) and at the end (a .302 batting average in the seventh inning or later). He had a number of big hits, posting a .317/.418/.508 slashline in what Baseball-Reference deemed as high-leverage situations (those that impacted winning the most). 

He was especially good against left-handed pitching, mauling southpaws for a .388 batting average and 17 extra-base hits in 103 at-bats. 

Andrew McCutchen in 2013
By Pitch Type

	BA/OPS	League Avg BA/OPS
Fastballs, Cutters, Sinkers	.364/1.034	.275/.788
Breaking Balls	.262/.750	.218/.600
Changeups	.271/.723	.244/.673

But what was most notable for McCutchen was that there was no easy way to get him out. 

He crushed fastballs, cutters and sinkers, ranking in the top 10 in baseball in batting and slugging against those pitches, his numbers comparable to the likes of Joe Mauer, Mike Troutand Miguel Cabrera. 

He also performed considerably better than the average major-league hitter against breaking pitches, and was slightly above average at hitting changeups. 

McCutchen didn’t just hit the ball, he hit the ball hard. Inside Edge, which does video review of every at-bat of every game for major-league teams and media, rates every batted ball as hard, medium or soft. 

McCutchen’s at-bats resulted in a hard-hit ball 26 percent of the time. That rated highest in the National League and fourth-best in the majors. 

He can run 

McCutchen had 27 stolen bases, good for sixth-most in the National League, and that included six steals of third without getting caught. He’s stolen at least 20 bases in each of his five major-league seasons. 

McCutchen also was adept at taking the extra base. He scored from first on a double eight times in 12 chances and scored from second on a single 20 times in 24 chances (he held at third on the other four chances in each situation). Both of his success rates rated above the major-league average. 

He can field 

A couple of years ago, the Pirates made an adjustment to how McCutchen plays defense, positioning him deeper. The payoff came in 2013 when McCutchen was credited with a career-best seven Defensive Runs Saved, the fourth-highest total among National League centerfielders. 

McCutchen fared well not just at getting to batted balls but at deterring baserunners from advancement. McCutchen had the third-highest rating in the component of Runs Saved that rates throwing arm value (which matched where he ranked in outfield assists). 

Elias Sports Bureau Did you know? 

McCutchen won the award despite not ranking in the top five in any of the Triple Crown categories. Over the last 45 seasons, only five non-pitchers have won an MVP despite not finishing in the top five in any of those stats. The other four are Kirk Gibson (1988 Dodgers),Barry Larkin (1995 Reds), Ivan Rodriguez (1999 Rangers) and Jimmy Rollins (2007 Phillies).


http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/78271/mccutchens-all-around-game-won-out

Only Cutch makes MVP look easy

By Dejan Kovacevic 
http://triblive.com/sports/
Published: Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, 11:06 p.m.

A baseball star isn't born so much as he's brought to light, then bred. And he doesn't blossom so much as he finds fresh ways to bounce back from the sport's unforgiving rate of failure.

Which is to say, it isn't anywhere near as easy as Andrew McCutchen always has made it look.

Not the uncanny combination of patience and violence at the plate.

Not the all-hyperdrive diving, sliding, leaping glovework.

Not the bending of the time-space continuum rounding second for third.

Not raising a franchise from the dead, almost singlehandedly at times.

Certainly not being the best in his class.

And yet there was McCutchen — by now, he's just Cutch to us all — on this very special Thursday night for himself, for the Pittsburgh Baseball Club, for its revived fan base, seated casually on a folding chair in the home locker room at PNC Park, unflinching and unmoved by a flank of cameras, as he awaited the official announcement of the National League's Most Valuable Player award.

“I wasn't sure what to think,” he'd recall later. “Might have been nervous.”

Yeah, I wasn't buying that, either.

When the call came on MLB Network at 6:48 p.m., he was, indeed, MVP. And he sprinted off with 28 of the 30 first-place votes from baseball writers, leaving barely a parting gift for Yadier Molina or Paul Goldschmidt.

He did it easily, as ever.

Just like that easygoing little shuffle-dance he did upon the actual word. It was wonderful. Quintessential Cutch.

“If I had a little room and some music, I'd have gotten up and done a real dance,” he said. “That's how I feel.”

No, this extraordinary young man, as simultaneously focused and fun-loving as any I've covered, didn't exhale or wipe his brow. He danced.

It isn't supposed to look so easy. But it's always been that way for Cutch.

In 2005, Ed Creech, the Pirates' scouting director under Dave Littlefield, had been getting compelling reviews from the scouts he'd been dispatching to Fort Meade High School in central Florida. They loved Cutch's speed, the muscle-twitch in his wrists, the backspin off his bat ... but it didn't mean much.

“It's a risk drafting a high school kid at No. 11 overall,” Creech said Thursday from Venezuela, where he was on assignment for the Giants, his current employer. “But it was that much tougher to gauge with Andrew because of the competition he was facing.”

Which wasn't much at all. Brian Graham, the Pirates' farm director at the time and now with the Orioles, once watched Cutch play an opponent that was starting mostly eighth-graders.

So Graham had an idea: The Pirates would whisk Cutch to their complex in Bradenton for some private tests. Rajai Davis, a speedy outfield prospect who went on to major league duty, was invited to provide a man-on-man challenge.

It should have scared a 17-year-old right out of his spikes.

“Scared?” Cutch recalled Thursday with a grin. “Aw, no way. To me, it was lose-lose. Rajai was supposed to be better. I just relaxed and had fun with it.”

That's what the brass saw, too.

“That day, watching Cutch hit and run right alongside Rajai, that was it for me,” Graham recalled Thursday from his Cranberry home. “All the tools were there. We all saw that. But the makeup, the drive to go compete with someone like Rajai … that sold me.”

Creech had already made up his mind. He'd signed Marquis Grissom while with the Montreal Expos and was convinced McCutchen was that caliber, maybe better. Still, the Pirates debated drafting Jay Bruce, now an All-Star with the Reds. Creech had been flying back and forth from Florida to Texas to see both. But McCutchen, partly because of that tryout, wound up “our guy across the board,” Creech said.

Cutch made it easy for Creech.

In late 2006, Graham took a risk of his own and urged Littlefield to jump McCutchen two levels in the minors to Double-A Altoona for the final month.

“Dave told me I had to be sure, that Cutch couldn't go up there and stall,” Graham said. “And my answer was, ‘It won't happen. He has a mental toughness that won't allow him to fail.' ”

He batted .308 that month.

Cutch made it easy for Graham.

You know the rest. He's a three-time All-Star, the face of the franchise, and now, he joins Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Barry Bonds, Dave Parker and Dick Groat in the Pirates' MVP pantheon.

More than that, though — and it's easy to envision this influenced voters — Cutch has become a winner in a place few thought that was still possible.

A winner so proud of that singular achievement that, with the 27th out of that 82nd victory, he placed his indelible stamp on the moment by looking up to the heavens and raising both arms.

Easy, right?

Should have seen him turn drop-dead serious when I brought that up.

“To me, this is about my team and the fans here in Pittsburgh,” he said. “My individual numbers, if you look at them, were actually down from last year. This was about something we all did together. It's a collective award. We're all MVPs.”

Dejan Kovacevic is a sports columnist for Trib Total Media. Reach him at dkovacevic@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Dejan_Kovacevic.

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Parker still proud of 1978 NL MVP award

By John Perrotto

http://www.timesonline.com/sports/

November 14, 2013

Thirty-five years have passed since Dave Parker won the most prestigious award of his standout baseball career.

Yet time has not diminished the pride he feels about winning the National League Most Valuable Player in 1978 while playing right field for the Pirates.

“It means a lot,” Parker said from his home in Loveland, Ohio. “Not too many people can say they were the best player in their league in a certain year and the writers — the guys who cover the games day in and day out — are the guys picking it. It’s something I’m extremely proud of.”

Andrew McCutchen has a chance to become the sixth Pirates’ player to win the NL MVP. He’s one of three finalists for the award along with Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina. The winner will be announced tonight.

McCutchen would join a club that includes Paul Waner (1927), Dick Groat (1960), Roberto Clemente (1966), Willie Stargell (1979) and Barry Bonds (1990, 1992).

Parker watched many Pirates’ games on television this year and was impressed with McCutchen. But Parker also thinks the 27-year-old is not a finished product.

“He’s good but he can get better,” Parker said.

Parker would like to see McCutchen get out of the batter’s box quicker and also show a better two-strike approach as a hitter.

“With his speed, he should always be thinking one base ahead,” Parker said. “He would hit more doubles if he thought ‘two’ coming out of the box. He needs to cut down his swing with two strikes and worry more about putting the ball in play. That would help him cut down his strikeouts and drive in some more runs.

“But he’s really good. He’s fun to watch and he has a lot more good years ahead of him.”

Parker is optimistic he still has many good years ahead after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in February. Parkinson’s is a progressive disorder that gradually takes affects function of the nervous system.

The 62-year-old is trying to hold off the effects of the disease with diet and exercise rather than medication as he rides an exercise bicycle every day and frequently plays golf. Medication can sometimes exacerbate the conditions.

“I’m feeling good, I really am,” Parker said. “I get tired a little more easily but I feel like I’m managing it well. I’m trying to stay active and do what the doctors tell me.”

Meanwhile, after being passed over during the 15 years he was on the writers’ Hall of Fame ballot, Parker is getting a second chance for induction in Cooperstown.

He is up for consideration by the Hall’s veterans committee on the expansion era ballot. The voting results will be released Dec. 9, the day baseball’s winter meetings open in Orlando, Fla.

“I think I deserve to be in,” Parker said. “I was the best player in the game at one time. Hopefully, this second chance will work out. It would mean a lot to me.”

Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen heavy favorite for MVP

By Bill Brink/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports

November 13, 2013

The announcement tonight of the National League Most Valuable Player Award, for which Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen is a favorite, will conclude months of hype and speculation. McCutchen is worthy of all of it.

Whenever millions of people invest themselves in something, hype eventually builds, often with its own runaway momentum. Ask Jeremy Lin or any of the finalists on “American Idol.” For McCutchen, the hype was unavoidable: As the best player on a team destined for the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, his MVP candidacy almost built itself, much the way a quarterback on the best team in college football finds himself in consideration for the Heisman Trophy. The media started writing and saying it, and the fans started chanting it, and now here we are.

In McCutchen’s case, the combination of his broad skill set, consistency and top-notch performance stamp his candidacy as legitimate.

“I’m very grateful that I’m in the running for it,” McCutchen said. “We have two other guys in [St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier] Molina and [Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul] Goldschmidt, those guys definitely had great seasons as well. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted for the award before the playoffs began, and McCutchen, Goldschmidt and Molina were named finalists last week. The presentation begins at 6 p.m. on MLB Network.

McCutchen finished third a year ago in voting, behind San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun.

McCutchen, 27, made his third consecutive All-Star team in his fifth season in the majors. He played in 157 games and hit .317 with a .404 on-base percentage and a .508 slugging percentage. McCutchen hit 21 homers and stole 27 bases and earned his second consecutive Silver Slugger award.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2013/11/14/Pirates-center-fielder-Andrew-McCutchen-heavy-favorite-for-MVP/stories/201311140182#ixzz2kclgXZ00

Pirates' Hurdle brings home National League Manager of the Year

By Rob Biertempfel 

http://triblive.com/sports/

November 13, 2013

Center fielder Andrew McCutchen is the best player in a generation to wear a Pirates uniform and is the front-runner to be named National League MVP. But there still are days when even the face of the franchise needs advice.

When that happens, McCutchen goes straight to the manager's office.

“I definitely look to Clint Hurdle,” McCutchen said. “I like to pick his brain and hear things he has to say. He has so much knowledge, if you just poke him, he'll explode with it all. You want to eat up every word he says because he has so much you can learn from.”

Hurdle's mentoring ability helped the Pirates rack up 94 wins this season and sent them into the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. And it's a big reason Hurdle on Tuesday was named National League Manager of the Year.

“I never thought I'd win the Manager of the Year award,” Hurdle said. “Probably some of you in this room thought so as well. I've been able to meet some challenges ... and it is so rewarding for me to see what's happened, to be a small part of a group that's able to bring joy at so many levels.”

Hurdle got 140 points — collecting 25 of a possible 30 first-place votes — in balloting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The runners-up were Don Mattingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers (68 points, two first-place votes) and Fredi Gonzalez of the Atlanta Braves (43 points, three first-place votes.)

The only other Pirates skipper to win the award is Jim Leyland, who did so in 1990 and '92.

When he was hired in November 2010, Hurdle took over a team that lost 105 games. Three years later, the Pirates were in the playoffs.

The BBWAA award is recognized by MLB as the game's “official” manager of the year honor. Hurdle also recently was named the NL's top skipper by The Sporting News. The Pittsburgh Rotary Club will fete Hurdle as its manager of the year Saturday at the seventh annual Chuck Tanner Banquet at the Rivers Club, Downtown.

“Clint's been a remarkable presence in the clubhouse and in the community,” owner Bob Nutting said. “He's embraced Pittsburgh. He's been a remarkable leader to these young players. Frankly, he's made all of us step up our games. He brings an inspirational leadership, attitude and presence every day.”

Under Hurdle's watch, the Pirates did not win the NL Central this season. But they did conquer history.

This year, the Pirates snapped their streak of 20 losing seasons, the longest by a North American pro team. They made the playoffs for the first time since 1992. And they turned PNC Park, which sat mostly empty on too many game nights in the past, into a humming funhouse.

“There's a vibe in this ballpark when it's full,” Hurdle said. “This is unique. This is intimate. It's not elegant intimate; it's blue-collar intimate. I mean, this is Pittsburgh. These people are grinding right there with us. It's one of the reasons I signed up here, to re-bond a city with its baseball team.”

Winning will do that. Hurdle has a 245-241 record in Pittsburgh. It's the most victories by a Pirates manager in his first three full seasons with the club since Chuck Tanner won 282 games from 1977-79.

There were plenty of challenges. In 2012, the Pirates seemed poised to make a playoff run but collapsed over the final two months of the season.

This year, Hurdle had to deal with injuries to closer Jason Grilli and most of the starting rotation as well as an inconsistent offense. Hurdle had to be careful not to burn out rookie pitcher Gerrit Cole and endured clashes with veteran A.J. Burnett. He painstakingly propped up Pedro Alvarez's confidence and squeezed production out of platoon shortstops Clint Barmes and Jordy Mercer.

As he's done throughout his career as a coach and manager, Hurdle adapted his style to the players on his roster.

Rob Biertempfel is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at rbiertempfel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BiertempfelTrib.

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The 2013 Pirates season remembered ... moment by moment

By Bill Brink and Jenn Menendez / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

November 9, 2013

Post-Gazette baseball writers Bill Brink and Jenn Menendez recount the 25 most memorable moments of the most memorable Pittsburgh Pirates season along the three rivers in a generation.

Pedro Alvarez, right, helped break open Game 2 with his third-inning blast. (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

1. ’CUE-TO! CUE-TO!’ 

October 1

“Cue-to. Cue-to. Cue-to” came the chants from the crowd, in unison, as Cincinnati Reds ace Johnny Cueto imploded in the second inning of the wild-card game in Pittsburgh. The Pirates were up 1-0. The count was 2-1 on catcher Russell Martin. He stepped out of the batters box as the chants grew louder. Cueto then literally dropped the ball amid the noise, and it fell, limply, to the ground. He bent over to pick it up, Martin stepped back in the box and on the next pitch crushed a solo homer to left center to make it 2-0 Pirates. The crowd erupted. A moment was etched in Pirates lore.

2. Alvarez vs. Siegrist 
October 3

Pedro Alvarez came to the plate with the scored tied, 3-3, in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 3 in the National League Division Series. Justin Morneau had reached on a fielder’s choice and Marlon Byrd walked, putting men on first and second. St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny brought in rookie left-hander Kevin Siegrist, who had allowed eight hits in 68 at-bats against lefties in the regular season. Alvarez has a career .200 average against lefties, including 179 strikeouts in 471 plate appearances, yet manager Clint Hurdle let him hit. Alvarez chopped an RBI single to right field. The hit scored pinch-runner Josh Harrison to break the tie, and the Pirates won to take a 2-1 series lead.

3. No. 82 September 9

This moment was 21 years in the making — 21 long, heartbreaking, painful years in the making. But finally, the Pirates got win No. 82 in Arlington against the Texas Rangers to mark a winning season at long last. Pedro Alvarez drove in the winning run with a two-out double in the seventh, scoring Marlon Byrd from second base for the 1-0 win. The clubhouse hardly marked the moment and kept their sights on the division title. But back in Pittsburgh there was jubilation. The Pirates were losers no more.

4. Byrd’s HR in the wild-card game  October 1

Marlon Byrd spent 12 years in the major leagues without a trip to the postseason. That included a winter in the Mexican Leagues as a last ditch effort to pump life back into his career. When he finally got there, it took him one at-bat to make an impact. Byrd came to the plate in the second inning of the wild-card game and crushed a hanging changeup over the left field wall off Johnny Cueto to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

5. Morneau’s throw  September 23

Starling Marte had already bailed out Mark Melancon. Now Justin Morneau would need to help Marlon Byrd. Marte had broken the 1-1 tie against the Chicago Cubs with a ninth-inning home run, one inning after Melancon allowed the Cubs to tie it up. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Nate Schierholtz on first, Ryan Sweeney singled to right. Byrd bobbled the ball, but Andrew McCutchen fielded it and returned it to the middle of the infield. Morneau, drifting over from first base, relayed it home to Russell Martin to keep Schierholtz from scoring and end the game. “I saw him send him at third so I kind of peeked up,” Morneau said after the game. Minutes later, the Pirates’ win combined with the Washington Nationals’ loss secured a playoff berth for the first time since 1992.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/2013/11/10/2013-Pittsburgh-Pirates-season-remembered-moment-by-moment/stories/201311090164#ixzz2kFIb4IQd

On A.J., Byrd, dangerous curves

By Dejan Kovacevic 

http://triblive.com/sports/

October 11, 2013

Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review

Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez connects on a solo home run to break up the no-hit bid during the eighth inning against the Cardinals on Monday, Oct. 7, 2013, in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at PNC Park.

One final flip through the scorebook, as well as penciling in some of what might lie ahead ...

Best thing about the 2013 Pirates: That's easy. Everything. Pretty much all they touched turned to gold until they couldn't touch Michael Wacha and Adam Wainwright.

Worst thing: Ask me again at, oh, 7:37 p.m. St. Louis time.

MVP: Andrew McCutchen.

Other candidates: Maybe Paul Goldschmidt, maybe Freddie Freeman, but maybes don't cut it.

Manager of the Year: Clint Hurdle.

Executive of the Year: Neal Huntington.

Colombian Scouting Supervisor/Bogota Bank President of the Year: Orlando Covo. Hey, when you're good, you're good. The guy really does both.

Breakthrough game I: In Anaheim, Grilli whiffs the great Mike Trout to sweep the Angels, part of a nine-game winning streak that clammed up any Epic Collapse III talk.

Breakthrough game II: Don't let it go unappreciated the Pirates won a playoff round this fall. Yeah, the wild card's one game, but it was every bit the winner-take-all setting as St. Louis. And the Pirates not only clubbed the Reds but also got Dusty Baker canned.

I believe in: Jordy Mercer at short.

I don't believe in: A Jason Grilli sequel. Sorry.

Unsung on the field: Tony Watson.

Unsung off the field: Bob Nutting. Not sorry.

Pregame moment: Kevin McClatchy got his due. Man couldn't run a sports franchise, but he cared when few others did.

In-game moment: Johnny Cueto drops the ball. I don't care what caused it.

Postgame moment: Cutch points to the heavens for 82. He gets it.

Grade A teaching: Ray Searage isn't a secret around baseball anymore. Might be time for Huntington to break from his policy of retaining coaches on year-to-year contracts.

Grade F teaching: Name one hitter who improved under Jay Bell.

Top inside signing priority: Keep Marlon Byrd. I don't want to hear about Gregory Polanco until he's blowing the door off the hinges. Byrd's got a big bat and, at age 36, shouldn't require a mega-deal to retain.

Top outside signing priority: First base. Always first base.

A.J. yea: Burnett's more of a pain to management than most realize, but he's also the fire behind this team. Let him walk, and you'd better be sure that'll come from someone else.

A.J. nay: If he refused to pitch in relief for Game 5 — and he ducked questions the past three days, so we don't know — then see ya.

Three long winters: Mark Melancon, Neil Walker, Starling Marte.

Three short winters: Pedro Alvarez, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton.

Hello: Jameson Taillon. He'll be 2014's Cole. Bright kid with top-of-the-rotation talent.

Goodbye: Garrett Jones. Perpetually the question, never the answer.

Best single play: Cutch to Russell Martin, with Justin Morneau doing his best Derek Jeter in between.

Best repeated play: Just everything Martin.

Lock up: Alvarez and Walker should be — and will be, from what I hear — approached aggressively with long-term extension offers.

Release: I loved the Morneau move, but I loved his nine August home runs for the Twins even more. They were his last.

Business proposition I: Surpass 20,000 in full-season ticket equivalents for the first time. That'll guarantee steady sellouts and a competitive payroll.

Business proposition II: Draft position won't be so nice anymore. Shift amateur monies to Latin America — yes, Cuba, too — and sign the next Aroldis Chapman or Yasiel Puig.

Monkey lost: Brewers.

Monkey gained: Tie, Padres and curveballs.

Old-school stat: Everyone complained about it, and it's true the Pirates were terrible with runners in scoring position at .229, ranking 27th in the majors. They also were .227 with bases loaded. Compare that to the Cardinals' .370, and that's your division title.

New-wave stat: The Pirates' pitchers had the best ground-ball-to-fly-ball ratio in the majors at 1.95, and next-highest wasn't close, with the Rockies at 1.58.

Is that a bigger reason than much-hyped shifts that the Pirates converted 28.5 percent of all batted balls in play into outs, fifth most in the majors?

Moving quote: Cutch, two nights ago: “People in Pittsburgh will remember this season forever.”

Absurd quote: Hurdle, asked to pick a win total in March: “My focus is the playoffs. If you're going to grab numbers, you take 95 because 95 has a really good chance of getting you in.”

The man's clearly a fool. They won 97.

Countdown: 171 days till the Cubs show.

Count up: The Streak is at one.

Dejan Kovacevic is a sports columnist for Trib Total Media. Reach him at dkovacevic@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Dejan_Kovacevic.

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