Outbluffed by AJ Burnett: The 2014 Pittsburgh Pirates

Burnett told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review last year during spring training that he would either return to the Pirates in 2013 or retire and had no desire for any other team. He reiterated those feelings late in the regular season, saying "I can't imagine playing for anyone but the black and gold."

Everything changed when the Pirates decided not to start Burnett in the decisive Game 5 against the Cardinals in the National League Division Series after he had been rocked for seven runs in two innings in Game 1. Rookie Gerrit Cole got the start instead and the Pirates lost.

Burnett was enraged by the decision and threatened to not fly with the team to St. Louis despite being told he would likely start Game 1 or 2 if the Pirates advanced to the National League Championship Series to face the Dodgers.

A source close to Burnett said being bypassed for the Game 5 start motivated the 37-year-old to play one more year. He felt he still had something to prove and also did not want to end his career on such a bad note.

Burnett was said to be insulted with a $8.5-million offer that represented a 47 percent pay cut from his 2013 salary of $16.5 million. The Pirates' rationale was that the Yankees paid $8.5 million of that $16.5 million, part of the terms of trade that sent Burnett to Pittsburgh at the start of spring training in 2012.

Even when the Pirates increased their offer to $11 million, it wasn't enough to entice Burnett to come back.

aj may not be all that, but he was apparently a guru to the young pitchers of a team that has done essentially nothing this offseason, unless you count a flyer on edinson fucking volquez.

apologies to nl mvp andrew mccutchen for the lack of thread title recognition; old habits die hard.

Need baseball to start. Also need to decide whether to go for MLBtv this year.

jeez, i didn't know ANY of that stuff about Burnett/game 5/enragement.

The AJ Burnett as guru stuff is way overblown. He was never looked at as a leader at any point in his career, I don't see why he'd suddenly transform into one in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates' pitching staff is due for regression this year, but it won't be because Burnett isn't there.

Burnett is a prick - this should not be news to anyone!

. . . on the wall of Clint Hurdle's office is a poster with a painting of Roddy Piper from "They Live" on it, and the words "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass . . . and I'm all out of bubblegum." It's all stylized to look like a Big League Chew package. I searched for it desperately online a bit ago, but I couldn’t find it. I assume it’s a custom job. Whatever it is, it is the single best thing I’ve seen in a manager’s office, bar none.

"McCutchen."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkD9wNzixB0

he naps through interviews too?

<3 u neil walker

pirates have 26 games against division opponents in april #conspiracy

tj for taillon

the waiting never really works, does it

apparently the first tj doesn't work either

JJ Cooper @jjcoop36
Watched every pitch Gregory Polanco has seen this year for a Fantasy piece at Baseball America. Bat control/pitch recognition stands out

JJ Cooper @jjcoop36
Stat that jumps out, Gregory Polanco has swung and missed 6 times in 170 pitches this year. One was to protect a base-stealer.

fucking brewers

@Sawchik_Trib
Martin: "If (Maldonado) wants to have a fight for charity in the offseason. My contract comes up. … I’d be completely willing to do that."

http://i.imgur.com/gFpsAHG.gif

http://blog.triblive.com/bucco-blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/04/ilikeike.jpg

Of course *sigh*

The Elias Sports Bureau noted that Davis became the third player in major league history to hit two grand slams against a team in a season with the home runs coming for two different teams (in this case the New York Mets and Pirates).

The other two are Ray Boone (grandfather of ESPN's Aaron Boone, who pointed out that his grandfather's nickname was Ike) and Mike Piazza.

... who'd name would be Ike, if not for the "M"

ikem

so exhausting losing to the same 3 1/2 teams again and again every 3 1/2 days

losing to other teams isn't that great either tbh

at least there's

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmpzzNiCIAAmatT.png

PNC Park is surprisingly empty.

walk-off replay challenge

That was a strange play -- if Posey just stands there, Marte slides into the tag and is out, there's almost no way to avoid it. But then Posey would be blocking the plate and the runner could have been called safe because of that. But because of the new plate blocking rules, Posey has to get out of the way while trying to make the tag, which is probably why he couldn't make a better tag.

you can still block the plate with the ball, or am I crazy?

ok, the rule is fucking stupid

i think the plate-blocking rule had much less to do with it than the replay rule (unless you want posey to be able to stand up the third-base line from the plate). if marte slides feet-first he goes right into the tag, but a head-first slide allowed him to reach around the tag.

before instant replay, the ball being there first gets the benefit of the doubt (which i'm pretty much okay with). but being able to inspect tags at one's leisure shows that they miss a fair bit. and this happens at other bases that have no new blocking rules.

also tim hudson was awesome last night, but maybe next time he'll hustle a little more to back up third base

Now I'm confused about the rule, so you're allowed to stand on the plate without the ball as long as the ball arrives before the runner (which is what Posey did)? If so then how is it really different from the old rule? I thought you had to receive the ball and then move to block the plate.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/pirates-giants-starling-marte-instant-replay-buster-posey-050714

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington had little reaction to reports circulating of a seven-year, $25 million offer to Gregory Polanco that was rejected by the club's top prospect.

smh

pirates trolling polanco/everyone by optioning phil irwin yesterday and not announcing a callup until today, when they summoned . . . brent morel, who has a .591 ops in triple-a

• pirates will be on sunday night baseball this weekend for the first time since july 28, 1996

• they've had 1421 home games since then

• they're playing the cardinals, who have had zero home games since their last sunday night appearance

Way to go, Ike.

pleased that they took four of six from good teams, but smdh at the way they lost the other two

aw the pirates have an early lead in milwaukee, how cute

8-6 after two in pittsburgh

wandy might be headed for another 'dl stint'

can gregory polanco pitch y/n

wandy and his $8m salary dfa'd

pirates' starting pitchers have five wins

gerrit cole has four of them

now i need a pound of fatback drums

five errors today

polanco me

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bpy4UobCIAAVRvK.jpg

six homers, six doubles for cutch in 9+ june games

six straight multi-hit games

ffs

god knows i love middle-aged long-time minor-league relievers who inspire weird slogans like 'grilled cheese time' but

five (combined) walks in the ninth

EL_COFFEE

god knows i love middle-aged long-time minor-league relievers who inspire weird slogans like 'grilled cheese time' but

*completes follow-through with bill-of-cap adjustment*

polanco 5-for-7, 36 pitches seen <3 <3 <3

rip

not the vanimal too

:(

since the all-star break:

ike davis .255/.358/.491
pedro alvarez .212/.241/.269

so naturally the latter is playing at 1B tonight for the first time as a pro

Gerrit Cole returns tonight

oppo toro style

Polanco demoted to AAA

Gerrit Cole, american hero

Harrison Stargell même combat

w'happen

Harrison extended his hot streak with a HR and Cole is hitless through 5.

So Cole was relieved with a man on third and no outs, Matt Adams scores on a Jon Jay sacrifice of Watson's pitch and the run was given to Cole?

yes

as is the other run that cole put on base

i like ike

ike is testing my love with his fielding

sorry i doubted u

loved how it hit the speaker

greg brown + steve blass is a pretty terrible broadcast team, but karl has scared me off the cardinals' dudes

welp

Guess.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/the-surprising-best-hitting-team-of-2014/

i believe it. somehow it doesn't seem to be translating to wins the way one might hope

i was hoping the pirates could be one win away from the Cards by the end of the weekend but ... the rockies.

that and being stymied by felix doubront

triple play tho

that outfit is one of the best in the league.

on Pirate health, and Russell Martin's Arc Reactor.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/pittsburgh-pirates-healthy-season-playoff-chances-future-impact/

http://famousiconswearingpghpiratehats.tumblr.com

a little late, but let us pause to recognize that the pirates have guaranteed their second winning season since 1993

if only they'd won a single fucking game against the cards 10 days ago they'd even have a shot at the division. good thing clint barmes totally owns madbum

http://m.mlb.com/pit/video/topic/0/v29981085/pitsf-barmes-drills-a-threerun-homer-for-the-lead

Still a long shot at the division... that's really the only suspense left in the NL.

McCutchen with two HBPs tonight, Garza ejected

it seems possible that he didn't mean to do the second one, but

he'd previously only hit two batters all year

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/pittsburgh-pirates-mike-fitzgerald-mit-sabermetric-road-show

#buctober

congrats you buckaroos

boctober

let's just get through bleptember first guys

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--mRAEcguN--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/cejy5z1c42xg5jetbjyh.jpg

http://deadspin.com/the-pirates-locker-room-celebration-looks-like-so-much-1638494944

ps john steigerwald sucks

5 years ago would not have imagined a world in which the o's, nats, and pirates were contenders. i guess the competitive balance stuff does work after all

getting multiple extremely high draft picks is a big help

which makes the o's success even more impressive, because they didn't quite have that

tbh i kinda agree with him, just that it seems silly to have a huge champagne celebration after every single advancement

Sending my congratulations from Milwaukee; I'm rooting for you guys

yeah i think going nuts for winning a wild card game or a division series is kind of lame, and a pennant doesn't mean so much anymore, but making the playoffs postseason after 150+ games is a good moment imo

it's kind of like when i come home and my cat is all purr-y and rubbing up against me and i'm like dude chill, you're gonna get trod upon, i'm *trying* to get to the food. but it's nice to know that he appreciates it

okay it's not really that much like that, but still

let's send mookie to the LCS

(if the fates allow)

ok seriously a champagne celebration after clinching the wc AND the division, two times!! before the postseason begins!! is ridiculous

re the dodgers

well shit

and now we're looking at vance worley or edinson volquez in the wc game

(who have actually pitched very well lately, but still)

http://i.imgur.com/udtLSCx.jpg

<3