Pigskin Picks and Bobby Crosby

The Pirates officially signed shortstop Bobby Crosby today.
Crosby was the 2004 AL Rookie of the Year with a 22 homer output despite hitting just .239.
Crosby's power numbers decreased as the average really never improved much,as Crosby has never reached double digit homer numbers since 2004.
The former Athletic and son of former Indian Ed Crosby will challenge Ronny Cedeno for the starting position in what should be a battle between "Mediocre shortstops that Ryan hates" for the job.
Crosby didn't come at a high cost signing for one season at a million dollars with incentives worth another 500K,assuming he can reach them.

A scouting report from our resident Cubs and A's fan,Ryan on the newest Bucco when asked about Crosby's defensive abilities.
" bad defensively,horrible. horrible in ALL ways,his main credential is that he MIGHT be better than Ronny Cedeno.MIGHT".
I feel better already and Ryan adds one more cheery note "Look at where he (Crosby) played the most last season.
54 games at first base and only six at shortstop on a team that was playing Cliff Pennington and Adam Kennedy there and now Pittsburgh is counting on him at SS?"

So,I don't think Bobby Crosby will be coming to Ryan for endorsements anytime soon and it doesn't look likely that the Pirates have upgraded at all with this signing.....


Pigskin Picks is early this week with the Browns hosting Pittsburgh in a few hours.
Hopes are up in Cleveland with a improved outing against San Diego last week and Pittsburgh having lost four straight games despite the various public mouthings of figurehead coach Mike Tomlin and his "Going to raise hell in December" rantings".
All that said,the Browns are going to have to throw the football effectively and often against an ailing yet motivated Steeler defense.
Running the ball isn't going to work,Brady Quinn has to have a big night in what looks like bad conditions in Cleveland.

Seattle visits Houston in what looks to be a high scoring affair.
Look for a good day for Matt Hasselbeck and Matt Schaub through the air,but the Seahawks will need to get some sort of running game from Justin Forsett or Julius Jones to win this one.

The game of the week features the Vikings coming off a loss to Arizona against the Bengals,who have won their last two unimpressively against weak teams.
Minnesota needs to make Adrian Peterson their centerpiece and Brett Favre's passing the complementary piece instead of the other way around.
Cincinnati will need to use Cedric Benson and Larry Johnson and hope to control the game clock..

Our Picks
Steelers 23-10
Texans 32-24
Vikings 17-10

Photo Credit-David Sherman-Getty Images