Luis Rivas home runs, total: 33
Luis Rivas home runs hit in Missouri: 8 (all on the road)

Kelvin Jimenez: Time to retire, kid.

I had one set of seasons on Baseball Mogul where Luis Rivas turned into one of the greatest players of all time, hitting 700+HRs as a middle infielder. He'd consistently hit something like .350/.480/.600.

Needless to say, I think that "prediction" was a little off.

Only the Pirates could generate a situation in which a shortstop's homerun streak is a catastrophe.

The catastrophe: Rivas keeps earning more plate appearances with every homerun.

How will this affect his Hall of Fame chances?

I'm not sure which player's continued employment on a major league roster is more surprising, Rivas or Fernando Tatis.

Tatis always had potential and history to back him up, I have no clue what Rivas has done to deserve playing time.

On the other hand, the last season in which Rivas had as many as 100 PAs was two years more recent than Tatis. Either way, it's fairly unaccountable that either is in the majors right now.

Tatis always had potential and history to back him up, I have no clue what Rivas has done to deserve playing time.

A) Play well in spring training, justifying his presence as 25th man on the roster for at least the first couple weeks of the season.
B) Have Jack Wilson get injured, justifying his continued presence as 25th man on the roster.
C) Have Brian Bixler not exactly light up the league Tulowitzki-style
D) When Jack Wilson returns, have the team apparently forget about Josh Wilson's existence, or figure out that he is just Jack Wilson in a wig, or both.

I'm not sure which player's continued employment on a major league roster is more surprising, Rivas or Fernando Tatis.

I think the Reds have two that top that - Mike Lincoln AND Kent Mercker.

Glendon Rusch and Shawn Estes have been a treat to watch again.

Chan Ho Park is back. Hideo Nomo came back briefly.

And Gabe Kapler coming back is kinda amazing.

And Barry Bonds somehow is still sitting at home.

The only way you can tell for sure that a guy is finally through is when he plays for the Pirates. That's usually the last step before obscurity. Or the first step of obscurity, I suppose.

It's uncanny how many of the Pirates' veteran acquisitions never played again in the majors. Derek Bell, Pat Meares, Chris Stynes, Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz, Matt Morris. Probably others I'm forgetting. Considering that they don't acquire that many veteran players, that's an astounding % of the total acquisitions.

"I think the Reds have two that top that - Mike Lincoln AND Kent Mercker."

I'm really glad that Lincoln was able to come back, even if he's not actually playing all that well. He's had to do a hell of a lot of work to get his arm back into shape, and he's not exactly a guy who made a pile before he got hurt.

"It's uncanny how many of the Pirates' veteran acquisitions never played again in the majors. Derek Bell, Pat Meares, Chris Stynes, Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz, Matt Morris. Probably others I'm forgetting."

Benito Santiago, Ramon Martinez, Mike Benjamin, Brian Boehringer, and Jeff Reboulet, too.

I think that some of it is just false pattern recognition, though. I mean, there are almost as many veteran ex-Bucs who looked totally done here, but still staggered through part of another season with somebody else: Mike Williams, Randall Simon, Jeff D'Amico, Jose K, etc. And then there are a few vets who looked totally done in Pittsburgh, but rebounded in other cities (with Daryle Ward being a prime example).

Luis Rivas = Jose Reyes's newer and higher upside? (Now that CGuzman is hitting like CGuzman's upside)