A little Pirate talk

Not much going on down in Bradenton yet,other than Neil Walker beginning to learn second base and outfield in an attempt to extract value from Walker as a "super sub" player.
This is the best career move for Walker,even if it means that he isn't a success with the Pirates.
Many players have carved out long and lucrative careers doing exactly what Walker is attempting and with Walker's age and athleticism,he has an excellent chance of being quite good at it.

Looks like the main battle in the Pirates rotation is for the fifth spot between Daniel McCutchen attempting to move up from Indianapolis and Kevin Hart,who was downright awful in his Pirate tenure after being brought over in the trade that sent John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny to the Cubs.
Of the two,Hart has the better stuff,McCutchen the better control.
All things considered,I would prefer McCutchen,as I have seen Hart and he didn't impress me in the smallest of manner.

The other battles in camp look to be Ronny Cedeno vs Bobby Crosby for the shortstop job in the unofficial "Ryan Heimberger Invitational and the battle for the final one or two outfield spots between Rule V pick John Raynor,waiver pickup Brandon Jones and returning champion Brandon Moss along with 1b/of Steve Pearce.
Andrew McCutchen,Lastings Milledge and Ryan Church are in along with Garrett Jones,although Jones could play first if Jeff Clement isn't up to snuff.
If Jones plays first and Clement doesn't make the climb to the bigs,two of the above could make the team,while if Jones is a outfielder for the year only one spot would be available.

Bob Smizik of the Post Gazette says to extend Neil Huntington and John Russell's contracts or fire them.
This smacks of a typical slow day in news and someone needed a column up.
Huntington has not nearly had enough time to deserve an extension or a plane ticket,although I would not be against Russell going at the end of the season,if it is needed.

Outside of that,things are pretty slow,but I will (hopefully) see the Pirates take the Yankees on tomorrow afternoon on the YES network.
That means real baseball writing,folks!

Back tomorrow with the Devils vs Sharks!