Pittsburgh Studdabubbas Season 21 Review

Hunter’s 21st season will long be remembered in Pittsburgh as the season that David Trinidad ruined everything.

The Studdabubbas were holding their own early in the season with a 34-25 record. The pitching was, of course, lousy but the hitting was hot. The Studdabubbas decided to add a little more pop to their lineup by making a play for 34-year-old David Trinidad. The Bubbas gave up SS Frank Turner and LF Tony Grove, who weren’t really in the long range plans, so it seemed like a smart move. Trinidad is a 6 time All Star, has hit over 500 homeruns, and has a .924 career OPS. Granted, he was getting older but he had to be an improvement, right?

Not right. Trinidad had his worst season ever. He hit .223 and just 10 homers in his 99 games with Pittsburgh. But, if that wasn’t bad enough, the entire club fell apart. From that point on, the Studdabubbas went 47-56, finished with a .500 record and 4 games short of a wildcard spot.

OK. Trinidad probably isn’t the real reason things went south. Pittsburgh also had several injuries to their already poor pitching staff and some of the hitters who performed well last season didn’t this season. Darron Stoddard dropped 50 points from last season’s batting average. Charlie Carson’s slugging percentage dropped 40 points. Jimmie Henriquez’s average dipped from .356 to .231. Hopefully, these guys can bounce back next season.

One player who continues to perform is Matt Buchanan. The 24-year-old first baseman hit .318, 50 homers and had a 1.053 OPS. He was one vote short of tying for the NL MVP award. Things may have been different had Studdabubbas management remembered to turn in their votes. Oops.

Season 22 should be a true disaster. Pittsburgh has been stockpiling some young pitching but they aren’t quite ready for the bigs. But a lot of the pitchers they have now are getting old and will probably be moving on. Free agency is probably out of the question because Pittsburgh is notoriously stingy and good pitchers don’t exactly come cheap in this world. Here’s hoping the young pitching will be ripe before the hitting begins to rot.

Pittsburgh Studdabubbas S20 Wrap-Up

After 5 losing seasons, the Studdabubbas surprised even themselves by winning 98 games and the NL North for the first time since Season 14. The Bubbas won the first round bye but were quickly booted from the playoffs by Baltimore 3-1. While this success was rather shocking to everyone in the league, the reason was obvious—The Studdabubbas got lucky in free agency. Their Season 20 pickups in chronological order:

3B Charlie Carson - 29 y.o. – 5 years at $7.4M

Carson was playing second fiddle in Los Angeles ever since Eduardo Alarcon signed that monster 5-year deal and the Baja Racers declined his option for Season 20. This signing was a bit of a surprise since the Bubbas already had Buzz Abernathy at 3rd but it made sense. Carson was a huge upgrade and hit 31 homers batting 4th and gave Matt Buchanan some protection. After the Carson signing, Buzz Abernathy was shipped off to Los Angeles to get his $6M salary off of the books (this freed-up more money for the Bubbas to sign a couple pitchers).

SS Deivi Posada - 28 y.o. – 4 years at $5.2M

Getting a solid SS allowed veteran Frank Turner and youngster Pablo Andino to platoon at 2nd (hitting primarily against lefties, Turner hit .306). Posada’s defense and .354 on base percentage made this another nice upgrade for the Bubbas.

CF Darron Stoddard - 31 y.o. – 3 years at $7M

Last season’s CF, Charlie Bird, was not working out as an everyday player so the Studdabubbas went after 4-time all-star Darron Stoddard. Stoddard led-off most of the season. He had an OBP of .352, stole 24 bases, hit 24 home runs and batted-in 76 runs. He made his 5th All-Star Game in season 20 and is still fairly young.

SP Pedro Manto - 33 y.o. – 2 years at $4M

Everyone knows how cruddy Studdabubbas’ pitching is so getting a washed-up starter like Manto was quite an achievement in Pittsburgh. Manto pitched well with a 15-9 record and a 1.33 WHIP. Well enough to be chosen for his first All-Star Game since season 11, when he was with San Francisco. This was the first time a Studdabubba pitcher was chosen for the all-star team since Kevin Pickering in Season 13.

SP Carlos Johnson - 34 y.o. – 1 year at $3.7M

Speaking of washed-up starting pitchers, Pittsburgh picked-up this bum off of the scrap heap. But dang it if this bum didn’t have some game. Johnson’s record was only 10-11 but he pitched 200 innings and had a WHIP of 1.31.

Another big acquisition in Season 20 was the Studdabubba’s first round pick (6th overall), set-up man John Fisher who had a good season in Hi-A last year. The Studdabubbas also dished out $14.5M to sign international starting pitcher, Charles Bong. At AA, Bong went 5-1 in 10 starts with an ERA of 2.45. So it appears pitching help is on the way. Let’s just hope it gets here before the hitting starts to die off.

The Studdabubbas spent pretty much every penny they had available last season in free agency. But beyond just spending it, they got some good, younger players to sign reasonable contracts. And, despite the signings, Pittsburgh only has about $40M wrapped up in salary going into Season 21. They still have some guys they need to sign but they are still in good shape.

Part of the reason Pittsburgh had such a good season was that some of the NL powerhouses started to fade but Season 20 was easily the best free agency period in Studdabubba history.

Pittsburgh Studdabubbas S19 Wrap-Up

The Studdabubbas made huge strides in Season 20. They won 67 games (12 more than last year) and they are no longer the worst team in the league—they are 6th worst. Yippee!

Those 12 wins can probably all be traced back to the swell rookie season that 1B Matt Buchanan put together. He hit 44 homers and for a .316 average. His .992 OPS was second-best in Studdabubba histroy (Willie Drew had 1.067 in season 11). Buchanan was voted the NL rookie of the year by the owners. Surprisingly, this isn’t new territory for the Studdabubbas.

Pittsburgh Studdabubbas Rookie of the Year winners:

1B - Matt Buchanan (S19)
1B - Nate Girardi(S11)
LF - Willie Drew (S6)
SS - Juan Aguilar (S5)

What probably isn’t surprising to you is that none of these ROYs are pitchers. Pittsburgh is still the black hole of pitching. You hear these pitcher’s names on draft day and never again. Take a moment to bask in your Studdabubba’s history of pitchers chosen in the first round of the draft.

Who the crap are these people?

S1 - Danny Owen - 0 ML years
S2 - Sean Ratliff- 0 ML seasons in Pitt – pitched poorly for LA and Chicago
S2 - Hector Gonzalez - 0 ML seasons in Pitt – stunk in other cities
S3 - Kenneth Carson - 4 ML seasons in Pitt – 4.92 career ERA
S3 - David Cradle - 1 ML Season in Pitt which was at the end of his lousy career (5.30 ERA)
S6 - Quentin Lary - 0 ML seasons in Pitt – The Bubs make a good pick (28th) but wisely trade him away before they can screw him up – 3.05 ERA, 1.17 WHIP in SF and Col.
S11- Stephen Moore - 2 ML seasons in Pitt – sadly, still with team – nobody will claim him – 4.26 ERA
S14 - Greg Baptist - 3 ML seasons in Pitt – 5.07 ERA, 15-45 career record
S15 - Ronny Boyd - 23 y.o.- average AAA starter.
S17 - Butch Griffith - 25 y.o.- good AAA starter
S19 - William Casey - 19 y.o. – First overall pick last year…Dude had better be good!

For the first time in recent memory, the Studdabubbas actually tried to address the pitching issue last season. They acquired 25 y.o. Daryl Isringhausen from LA who went 12-8 for the Studdabubba’s big team, which is an accomplishment in this town. They also acquired 21 y.o. Alejandro Gomez from Atlanta and, in true Pittsburgh fashion, he suffered and elbow injury which put him on the DL for a year and set him back pretty far on all of his best assets. Some things never change.

It’s probable that we will get to see Butch Griffith and, set-up guy, Seop Pan get called up in Season 20. But after that, the cupboard is pretty bare. And that goes for the young position players, too. Besides Buchanan, the young ML hitters aren’t world beaters. Don’t be fooled! Even though it’s been going on for 5 seasons already, the Bubbas are still in rebuild mode.

Studdabubbas Visit the Fountain of Youth

After last season’s debacle, at least we can say that your favorite Pittsburgh baseball team (yes, still ahead of the Pirates) aren’t standing pat. The Studdabubbas will welcome 6 rookies to their Big League roster—3 of whom will start right out of the gate. Plus, the Studdabubbas have been making some deals to get some much needed arms into their system. You may not recognize your team in Season 19, but making wholesale changes to the worst team in the league sure seems to make sense.

Rookie Matt Buchanan is the guy who chased Nate Girardi to Atlanta in free agency. Pittsburgh fans are calling him the next Willie Drew. Management is expecting more.

Second baseman Duffy Strong was traded to Atlanta for a promising starting pitcher named Alejandro Gomez who was assigned to Pittsburgh’s AA team. This opened the door for rookie Tim Dresden who will start on opening day.

At short, 31 year-old Frank Turner, who played for Kansas City for the last 6 years, was claimed off the Waiver Wire after Wilton Martin was let go and Wascar Blanco messed-up his back.

In right field, rookie Hong-Gu Suh will get the call because last year’s starter, Fernando Hernandez, was asking for too much money. Currently, Fernando is on Detroit’s AAA team.

The Studdabubba’s had been toying with the idea of trading Aaron Bennett for years and finally pulled the trigger. Bennett and a couple pitching prospects returned SP Daryl Isringhausen from Los Angeles. Last season’s back-up catcher, Arthur Anderson, will likely be the starter but the Bubbas have some depth here. It looks like they might try rookie Jimmie Henriquez as a backup but not because he is a good catcher.

Those are the changes in the field as Buzz Abernathy (3B), Charlie Bird (CF) and Tony Grove (LF) remain the starters from last year. Another rookie, Pablo Andino, has also been called up to the Bigs as a utility guy.

The pitching seems to have improved a little this season but that’s not saying a whole let. Brand new starter Darly Isringhousen will also be joined in the rotation by J.J. Scott who, along with releiver Jesus Diaz was acquired from salary-conscious Scranton for two prospects.

Francisco Delgado was the lone free agency signing for the Studdabubbas this season (way to spend that money, ownership) but he, and rookie Cole Rossy, should help solidify the horrific bullpens of Pittsburgh past.

It may seem even longer, but it’s been a long 5 seasons since the Pittsburgh Studdabubbas made the playoffs. In seasons 9-14 they won the NL North 5 out of 6 times. Hopefully, the young nucleus of this club are a step in the right direction to being a relevant, competitive team in Hunter again.

Pittsburgh Studdabubbas S18 Wrap-up

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The Studdabubbas thought S18 was the year that they, at least, would get the ship facing in the right directions. Last season, they came on strong at the end of the season. So, this year, they spent some money in free-agency for the first time in years and thought they had some young players who were ready to break-out. In response, Pittsburgh had their worst record in their 18-season history, 55-107.

The pitching was a disaster again. The free agent signing of Del Hernandez was expected to strengthen and nurture the young pitching staff but Del quickly fell into the same funk that has plagued all Pittsburgh pitchers throughout time. The best starter on the team was not Hernandez (7-10, 4.12 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) but arguably the 23-year-old Rule 5 pick Vin Franco. He had a 3.90 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP and lost 6 out of 6 games (That’s right, the Studdabubba’s best starter won 0 games). He probably could have lost even more games if he wasn’t injured for the first three quarters of the season.

The other free agents (Buzz Abernathy, Alberto Cordero, Fernando Hernandez) were stop-gap players and they hardly accomplished that. Buzz Abernathy hit .280 and hit 21 HRs and, sadly, was the Studdabubba’s best slugger (.454).

After a horrible start where he was benched for a few games, Nate Girardi somehow got his average up to .291 but only got 77 RBIs batting 3rd and 4th—easily his worst production of his career. Nate is in the last year of his contract and will likely look for a new team.

If we needed to choose a S18 MVP, it would have to be 35-year-old set-up man, Darryl Ogea. He had a WHIP of 1.12 and went 7-3 on a team that only won 55 games. Ogea probably isn’t quite ready to retire and Pittsburgh would be stupid to let any competent pitcher go but will Ogea want to stay?

There may be some hope in Pittsburgh, though. The ‘Bubba’s AAA team is in the World Series and has 3 or 4 position players who will likely get called-up at the beginning of next season:

Matt Buchanan Pittsburgh Studdabubbas Age: 21 B/T: S/R Born: Wildomar, CA Position(s): 1B/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

1B – Matt Buchanan - He was a first round pick in S16 and will be 22-years-old next season. Matt has been demolishing Minor League pitching hitting 33, 46, and 47 home runs in the last 3 seasons. He is the main reason Nate Girardi may not be a Studdabubba next season.

Tim Dresden Pittsburgh Studdabubbas Age: 22 B/T: L/R Born: West Chicago, IL Position(s): 2B/IF/COF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

2B – Tim Dresden - Dresden will battle Duffy Strong for the 2b starting spot but, since he can play many positions, he will likely be called-up even if he doesn’t beat-out Strong. Dresdon was a S15 compensatory pick.

Pablo Andino Pittsburgh Studdabubbas Age: 24 B/T: R/R Born: Collegedale, TN Position(s): SS/IF/OF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

SS – Pablo Andino - Coming to the Studdabubbas in S16 as a compensatory pick, Pablo isn’t exactly ripping up the minors but, with the Studdabubbas weakness at SS, Andino will probably be asked to replace Wilton Martin as backup SS or even start if the ‘Bubbas don’t resign Wascar Blanco.

Hong-Gu Suh Pittsburgh Studdabubbas Age: 21 B/T: R/R Born: Naha, JP Position(s): RF/LF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

RF – Hong-Gu Suh - An International signing in S15, Suh probably still needs another year in the minors but may get the call if there is an injury or more benchings.

Needless to say, there aren’t any blue-chip pitchers who are likely to make a mark in the Majors any time soon. Ronny Boyd is probably closest but he’s probably a S20 hopeful. Cole Rossy may also get a shot but that’s mostly due to the lousy shape the the ML bullpen is currently in.

S16 Post Draft Reaction

Quote from Pittsburgh Press

“The fans in Pittsburgh are furious that the Studdabubbas had 4 first round picks (2 sammies) and didn’t take a much needed pitcher. Two of those first round picks are slugging first basemen (doesn’t Mr. Bob know there is only one first base?) and one was a catcher which the ‘Bubbas are up to their babushkas in. The other round one pick was a defensive SS which was kind of a need. The only pitcher drafted who even has a chance to see the MLs is a 2nd rounder who wants $7M—and ain’t getting it. But maybe it’s better that the Studdabubbas don’t draft a top notch SP…they’ll just trade him away anyway. The only good thing fans can take from this draft is knowing their baseball team will have several more top 5 picks in the years to come.”

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