Football roster moves and a pitiful effort

The Pirates dropped two games to the Dodgers 8-2 and 6-2,but the effort was the bad part.
As in not much of any.

Guys not running out balls,bone headed plays,bad pitching and a manager who must mix NyQuil and valium before each game make the end of the season one miserable experience for this fan.

Shawn's Thoughts

1) Ross Ohlendorf's velocity was way down in Monday's loss (now 0-2) and hit the showers after three innings.
Ohlendorf needs to be watched carefully in his next start and if the same thing happens,end the season.
These games are meaningless,why continue to pitch a guy that looks to be out of gas?

2) I can give Brandon Moss a mulligan for his not running on a ball out that he thought was foul,since he seems to be the hustling type.
However,the resulting twin killing that resulted in ruining a bases loaded no outs situation certainly ended any chances of getting back into the loss....

3) It has been a speedy fall for Jeff Karstens since Arizona hasn't it?
11 hits and five runs over five innings and the loss (2-6) last night.
Karstens has not given up less than 3 runs in any start since the near perfecto in Phoenix and only once did he allow just three.
Karstens is acceptable as a 5th starter on this team,but long term,his best role could be middle relief.


4) The Pirates will add three prospects to the 40 man roster over the winter as Neil Walker,Jose Tabata and Evan Meek will have to be added or be eligible for the Rule 5 draft.
Meek pitched very well after being sent down and may eventually make his early Pirate numbers a blip on the radar.
Eric Krebs is eligible for the draft and look for the Pirates to closely follow Eric's numbers in Hawaii Winter Ball.

5) Andrew McCutchen is not eligible for the draft and that is why that he was not promoted as part of the September call ups.
Once you are called up,you must be protected from that point on.

Bonus Rounds) Charlie at Bucs Dugout takes on the sunshine boys at the Pirates official site with their all is well take on Nyjer Morgan and Neil Walker.
I could not agree more on Morgan,but I still have hopes for Walker,although I think he MUST spend more time at Indianapolis next season.
I may be back later on this Nyjer Morgan thing-head shaking.

John Russell must be on muscle relaxers or something.
I have never seen a guy seem to be so tranquil when things look so bad.
The guy rarely leaves the dugout,allows the type of play and hustle that we have seen the last two nights and looks almost non-plussed.

Bullpen Notes

Both the Browns and Seahawks made some roster moves to deal with the injury bug.

The Browns lost defensive end Robaire Smith for the season after tearing an Achilles Tendon in the loss to Pittsburgh.
Sean Smith will move into the starting lineup and the Browns signed former Patriot
Santonio Thomas to replace Robaire Smith on the roster.


From the pigs can really fly dept-The Seahawks brought back former Hawk number one pick Koren Robinson back to fill in the wide receiver spots that have been vacated by injuries.
This could work as Robinson knows the system and could turn his career around,if he truly has left his problems in the past.
This shows the desperation in Seattle when the Seahawks go looking for Koren Robinson!

Seattle also worked a trade with Denver for another pass catcher in Keary Colbert in exchange for a fifth round pick.
Colbert was playing rarely for the Broncos after signing there in the off-season after spending three seasons with the Panthers.

Over on Field Gulls,the campaign has started to bring Mike Doss to Seattle.
I am totally in favor of this,as I am a long time fan of the former Buckeye and anything that gets Brian Russell out of the starting lineup makes it even better!!!
Doss would be a free pickup and I hope they consider adding him to the roster!
This is the type of hitter that Seattle hasn't seen since losing Ken Hamlin as shown here.


Ten finalists were announced for consideration from the Veterans Committee for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Two of the ten have already been in our Forgotten Superstars series and two others are on the list for part of the series.
Dick Allen and Al Oliver are in the final round after being in our series and Tony Oliva (Watch for him during hiatus) along with Luis Tiant are soon to part of it it.
I would think that the early favorite for entry of the group is former Cub and Ryan favorite
Ron Santo.
The announcement will be made on December 8th at the Winter Meetings.

From the voting and the people that I have talked to and written,it seems like everyone seems to like the new format,so we will try it this way for a while.

Time for a few thanks on the signing front.
Jason Christensen helped me out with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats,a few of the Bowie Baysox and a few Binghamton Mets.
Most notably Matt Wieters on his Carolina League prospect,Toronto prospects J.P.Arencibia and Brett Cecil (In college uniforms!),former big leaguer Dave LaRoche and former Pirate (for about three innings) Brian Rogers.
And thanks to new reader Pol Heiney for helping me with some Frederick Keys on the seasons last day.
Pol was able to get the elusive Rich Hebner to sign two Pirate cards along with Brandon Snyder,Pedro Beato,Brandon Tripp and Bill Rowell.
Thanks to both of you!!!

Photo Credits
Ramirez-AP Photo
Robinson and Oliver-Upper Deck
Allen-Unknown