Given the precedent of Craig Biggio, a move of Kendall to second certainly seems like a reasonable idea. If Warren Morris can jump-start his career and eventually re-take second base, Kendall could always give third base a shot (unless Aramis Ramirez fills the bill). It's a nice option for the Pirates to have--kind of a fallback in the event one of their infield prospects doesn't prove adequate.

Given the precedent of Craig Biggio, a move of Kendall to second certainly seems like a reasonable idea. If Warren Morris can jump-start his career and eventually re-take second base, Kendall could always give third base a shot (unless Aramis Ramirez fills the bill). It's a nice option for the Pirates to have--kind of a fallback in the event one of their infield prospects doesn't prove adequate.

Given the precedent of Craig Biggio, a move of Kendall to second certainly seems like a reasonable idea. If Warren Morris can jump-start his career and eventually re-take second base, Kendall could always give third base a shot (unless Aramis Ramirez fills the bill). It's a nice option for the Pirates to have--kind of a fallback in the event one of their infield prospects doesn't prove adequate.

Given the precedent of Craig Biggio, a move of Kendall to second certainly seems like a reasonable idea. If Warren Morris can jump-start his career and eventually re-take second base, Kendall could always give third base a shot (unless Aramis Ramirez fills the bill). It's a nice option for the Pirates to have--kind of a fallback in the event one of their infield prospects doesn't prove adequate.

This is only tangentially related to Bonifay's comments, but deals with poor offensive performance.

It is quite shocking how many baseball people, faced with a poor offensive performance, will say things like: we've got to hit with runners in scoring position or we've got to do a better job of moving the runners along.

In almost all cases, poor offences have a huge problem with getting people on base - but this is (almost) never talked about.

This is only tangentially related to Bonifay's comments, but deals with poor offensive performance.

It is quite shocking how many baseball people, faced with a poor offensive performance, will say things like: we've got to hit with runners in scoring position or we've got to do a better job of moving the runners along.

In almost all cases, poor offences have a huge problem with getting people on base - but this is (almost) never talked about.

This is only tangentially related to Bonifay's comments, but deals with poor offensive performance.

It is quite shocking how many baseball people, faced with a poor offensive performance, will say things like: we've got to hit with runners in scoring position or we've got to do a better job of moving the runners along.

In almost all cases, poor offences have a huge problem with getting people on base - but this is (almost) never talked about.

Looking on the bright side, at least the Pirates have good-looking uniforms this year! I'm glad to see they've brought back their 1960s color scheme and sleeveless style--very classy. I reminds me of the days of Mazeroski and Stargell. As a fan of the Pirates, I needed to find something positive to say.

Looking on the bright side, at least the Pirates have good-looking uniforms this year! I'm glad to see they've brought back their 1960s color scheme and sleeveless style--very classy. I reminds me of the days of Mazeroski and Stargell. As a fan of the Pirates, I needed to find something positive to say.

Looking on the bright side, at least the Pirates have good-looking uniforms this year! I'm glad to see they've brought back their 1960s color scheme and sleeveless style--very classy. I reminds me of the days of Mazeroski and Stargell. As a fan of the Pirates, I needed to find something positive to say.

Bonifay is not responsible for all the Pirates problems. His job is to bring the best possible talent into the organization given the budgetary constraints he is obviously working under.

Teams with a limited budget can't afford to waste money on the likes of Derek Bell and Pat Meares.

Whatever Bonifay's success or lack of it in trading, he's got to realize the fact that you can play guys who are just as good as Meares and Bell and pay them the major league minimum. It's not an uncommon phenomenon among major league GMs, but Meares and Bell are definitely among the more extreme examples of players who are grossly overpaid.

When a GM doesn't understand that Bell and Meares are easily replaceable players and pays them as if they were indispensible, that is enough to qualify him as incompetent in my mind.

Bonifay is not responsible for all the Pirates problems. His job is to bring the best possible talent into the organization given the budgetary constraints he is obviously working under.

Teams with a limited budget can't afford to waste money on the likes of Derek Bell and Pat Meares.

Whatever Bonifay's success or lack of it in trading, he's got to realize the fact that you can play guys who are just as good as Meares and Bell and pay them the major league minimum. It's not an uncommon phenomenon among major league GMs, but Meares and Bell are definitely among the more extreme examples of players who are grossly overpaid.

When a GM doesn't understand that Bell and Meares are easily replaceable players and pays them as if they were indispensible, that is enough to qualify him as incompetent in my mind.

Bonifay is not responsible for all the Pirates problems. His job is to bring the best possible talent into the organization given the budgetary constraints he is obviously working under.

Teams with a limited budget can't afford to waste money on the likes of Derek Bell and Pat Meares.

Whatever Bonifay's success or lack of it in trading, he's got to realize the fact that you can play guys who are just as good as Meares and Bell and pay them the major league minimum. It's not an uncommon phenomenon among major league GMs, but Meares and Bell are definitely among the more extreme examples of players who are grossly overpaid.

When a GM doesn't understand that Bell and Meares are easily replaceable players and pays them as if they were indispensible, that is enough to qualify him as incompetent in my mind.

I would tend to side with Sam in this debate. I was a big Pirates booster a few years back and really thought they would be where the A's are now. Hermansen, Ramirez, Ron Wright and some others looked like the start of a great team. I would say that overall he is probably slightly below average. His real flaw is an unbelievable weakness for utility players. He has signed or traded for so many utility players or players of low utility, many to multi-year deals. Players like Doug Strange, Dale Sveum, Turner Ward, Pat Meares, Wil Cordero, Luis Sojo, Mike Benjamin, Ed Sprague, Joe Oliver, Manny Martinez, Esteban Beltre, Shawon Dunston, Mike Kingery, Nelson Liriano...

From my point of view the Pirates never really committed to playing youth. You have to just suck it up and do it. Bonifay dinks around with these retreads, many of them getting 200+ at bats, while Aramis Ramirez has had seasons of 251, 56 and 254 at bats. He is still only 23, but all this service time has accrued and the Pirates still don't have a reasonable third baseman. Chad Hermansen is the same age and has 60 and 108 at bats.

If I were a GM, I would 1) ask whether my current player at a postion is a championship caliber player, 2) if not, I would ask if I have any players coming up who are. 3) if so, you dump the current player and play the youngster. That may not be the Pirates goal, but it should be.

I would tend to side with Sam in this debate. I was a big Pirates booster a few years back and really thought they would be where the A's are now. Hermansen, Ramirez, Ron Wright and some others looked like the start of a great team. I would say that overall he is probably slightly below average. His real flaw is an unbelievable weakness for utility players. He has signed or traded for so many utility players or players of low utility, many to multi-year deals. Players like Doug Strange, Dale Sveum, Turner Ward, Pat Meares, Wil Cordero, Luis Sojo, Mike Benjamin, Ed Sprague, Joe Oliver, Manny Martinez, Esteban Beltre, Shawon Dunston, Mike Kingery, Nelson Liriano...

From my point of view the Pirates never really committed to playing youth. You have to just suck it up and do it. Bonifay dinks around with these retreads, many of them getting 200+ at bats, while Aramis Ramirez has had seasons of 251, 56 and 254 at bats. He is still only 23, but all this service time has accrued and the Pirates still don't have a reasonable third baseman. Chad Hermansen is the same age and has 60 and 108 at bats.

If I were a GM, I would 1) ask whether my current player at a postion is a championship caliber player, 2) if not, I would ask if I have any players coming up who are. 3) if so, you dump the current player and play the youngster. That may not be the Pirates goal, but it should be.

I would tend to side with Sam in this debate. I was a big Pirates booster a few years back and really thought they would be where the A's are now. Hermansen, Ramirez, Ron Wright and some others looked like the start of a great team. I would say that overall he is probably slightly below average. His real flaw is an unbelievable weakness for utility players. He has signed or traded for so many utility players or players of low utility, many to multi-year deals. Players like Doug Strange, Dale Sveum, Turner Ward, Pat Meares, Wil Cordero, Luis Sojo, Mike Benjamin, Ed Sprague, Joe Oliver, Manny Martinez, Esteban Beltre, Shawon Dunston, Mike Kingery, Nelson Liriano...

From my point of view the Pirates never really committed to playing youth. You have to just suck it up and do it. Bonifay dinks around with these retreads, many of them getting 200+ at bats, while Aramis Ramirez has had seasons of 251, 56 and 254 at bats. He is still only 23, but all this service time has accrued and the Pirates still don't have a reasonable third baseman. Chad Hermansen is the same age and has 60 and 108 at bats.

If I were a GM, I would 1) ask whether my current player at a postion is a championship caliber player, 2) if not, I would ask if I have any players coming up who are. 3) if so, you dump the current player and play the youngster. That may not be the Pirates goal, but it should be.