Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Almost gametime

Xavier Nady returned to Pittsburgh for more tests. Obviously this is going on far longer than anyone wants it to. I'm hoping that nothing is serious here and Nady won't miss much time. He'll have to be a big part of this team from the get go if the Pirates plan to have a lot of success this season.

Also in the notebook are some other little things. It's nice to see Bryan Bullington back on the mound. He's got a lot to overcome, but at least he's trying.


I don't see this kid giving up anytime soon. It'd be nice to get at least a little something out of him based on everything we've heard about his controversial selection as the No. 1 pick. It did only take him 10 pitches to finish his one inning of work.

John Van Benschoten and Sean Burnett also saw time on the mound. I was never really impressed with Burnett and his stuff and surgery may have pushed him down further. I know it's only one outing in an intrasquad game, but Burnett served up a long ball to Eldred and only lasted 2/3 of an inning after giving up four consecutive hits. He threw 28 pitches. Like I said, it's only one intrasquad outing, but still, he wasn't too impressive in AAA last year, either.

Nate McLouth homered and tripled off of Shane Youman.


I can't wait to see what he does this Spring. He now has other people fighting him for bench spots, so I think he'll hold his own. At least, I hope he does. I like what McLouth can offer, even more so than Chris Duffy. I've always been a McLouth supporter over Duffy.

Neil Walker started two double plays in his first game at third base. That's not too bad, considering that isn't the easies double play to start.

Tony Armas Jr. and Shawn Chacon start their battle for the fifth spot in the rotation. This is good, the more competition the better, especially out of these two.

Adam LaRoche enjoys the spotlight of being in Pittsburgh. That's good, now just produce when this season starts and we won't have a problem, or you won't enjoy it too much.

The infield keeps switching on Jack Wilson, but he keeps adjusting.

No comments: