Gorzelanny-Snell: Tale of two pitchers

Tom Gorzelanny and Ian Snell appear to be headed in slightly different directions this spring.

Gorzelanny came into camp in very good shape, dropping 20 pounds from last season. He started off his spring season Friday with two scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves and reportedly looked very sharp.

"It felt good, I felt strong out there," Gorzelanny told the Associated Press. "I want to prove to everybody that I do belong in this rotation and on this team."

Snell, meanwhile, allowed two unearned runs and walked two in his first outing on Thursday, though he struck out three. He is headed to the World Baseball Classic for a couple of weeks where he will pitch for Puerto Rico.

Snell is coming off the worst season of his career. He was 7-12 with a 5.42 ERA. He is also not that far removed from an elbow injury he had in the middle of last season which caused him to miss time.

Snell talked glowingly about new pitching coach Joe Kerrigan in today's Post-Gazette. Here's the thing, he's done so about the other pitching coaches who have been in Pittsburgh the last two years - Jim Colborn and Jeff Andrews.

There was also a very interesting quote in Chuck Finder's story about the adjustments being made.

"Mechanical. Not mental. I'm always there mentally. Mechanically, I was doing one thing wrong," Snell said in the P-G article. "He (Kerrigan) looked at the film one time. And that was it. Solved."

Snell might have the mechanical thing down, but the mental part remains in question. Anyone who has been around the Pirates more than a week knows that Snell has the tendency to go off. He lets his emotions get to him on the mound and he can also be less than polite in the clubhouse. I know because I've seen it first-hand.

Snell should be the last player to be going off to the WBC for a couple of weeks, basically unsupervised. He needs to get himself in check in a hurry if he wants any chance of keeping his spot in the rotation for the entire season.

Game 2, Ohlendorf's opening statement

If Ross Ohlendorf is one of the two top finalists for the fifth starter's job, he made a strong opening argument Thursday that the job should be his.

Ohlendorf was dominant during his two innings against the Red Sox. He retired all six batters he faced in the third and fourth innings and struck out three.

After being traded along with Karstens, pitcher Daniel McCutchen and outfielder Jose Tabata in the Xavier Nady-Damaso Marte trade, Ohlendorf was roughed up with the Pirates. He was 0-3 with a 6.35 ERA in five starts. He allowed 36 hits in 22 2/3 innings, struck out 13 and walked 12.

Not exactly numbers that scream starting rotation, but a good beginning Thursday definitely helped his case.

In other news:
* The Pirates play Atlanta today at 1:05 p.m. Tom Gorzelanny is scheduled to go two innings, followed by Zach Duke, Jason Davis and Dan McCutchen.

* Third baseman Andy LaRoche, who had a back injury which sidelined him for several days, started and went 1-for-2.

* From the Now We can Go On With Our Lives Department, Doug Mientkiewicz signed a minor-league contract with the Dodgers.

Look, Mientkiewicz is a good guy and a gritty player. But COME ON. The way some people in Pittsburgh wrote about the guy you would have thought it was Mickey Mantle. Some writers get their man-crushes and it was clear some in Pittsburgh had one on Mientkiewicz. But in all honesty, WAAYYYYY too much was written about a guy with two home runs and 30 RBI.

Good luck, Doug.

What I saw on the radio, Spring game 1

Here are some random thoughts from the Pirates first spring game Wednesday.

* Don't read too much into it. Chris Bootcheck pitched a very nice inning and Matt Capps had a rough one though neither gave up a run. The exact opposite could happen the next time out.

* Sanchez starting off with two hits a good sign considering all of the problems he had last season

* The hitters are usually ahead of the pitchers at this stage of the spring and the 8 runs the Pirates had prove that.

* Nyjer Morgan and Steve Pearce both made nice first impressions. They'll need to do continue to play well to solidify spots.

* Second baseman Shelby Ford, who will be at either Class AA or AAA to start the season, gave a glimpse of what he can bring when he hit a home run. He'll be Sanchez's replacement in the near future, maybe next season.

* For those that listened to the game, give new play-by-play man Tim Neverett a chance. Yes, on first impression he sounds like a cross between Whitey Wilson (Scott Paulsen's old character from the DVE days) and Skip Caray, but he has a different style than we're used to.

One major positive, he actually talked about the game rather than Bob and Mary O'Donnell from Baldwin coming down to Bradenton and saying "Hi' for the 28th straight year.

Let the games begin

In a matter of hours, Chris Boothceck will take to the mound for your Buccos to begin the exhibition season (can you feel the excitement kids, Chris Boothceck!)

Anyway, with the spring training games beginning this afternoon at 1 p.m. (WPGB-FM 104.7), it's time to take a look at some potential spring training battles as the games wear on this spring. There isn't a ton of turnover from the end of last season (sadly), so many of the names will be the same. Still, there are a couple of position battles ready to play out between now and opening day April 6 in St. Louis.

Let's start first with the locks. Here are the guys virtually guaranteed to be on the 25-man roster to begin the season barring trades or injuries:

Catcher - Ryan Doumit
Infield - Adam LaRoche (1st base), Freddy Sanchez (2nd base), Jack Wilson (shortstop), Andy LaRoche (third base), Ramon Vasquez (utility).
Outfield - Nate Mclouth, Brandon Moss, Nyjer Morgan, Eric Hinske.
Starting pitchers - Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, Zach Duke, Tom Gorzelanny.
Relief pitchers - Matt Capps, Tyler Yates, John Grabow, Sean Burnett.

That's 18 of 25 spots. Here's a look at who will have a chance to fill the remaining seven position on the opening day roster.
Catcher - Either Robinzon Diaz or Jason Jamarillo. I think Jamarillo has the inside track here. He played for manager John Russell in 2007 in Class AAA and is a bit more experienced. This race is pretty even, however.

Utility - I'm not totally convinced the Pirates will add another infielder just for the sake of adding one. Since Vasquez can play three infield positions and Hinske can play two corner infield and outfield positions, the Pirates have some flexibility for this role. It could be infielders Brian Bixler or Luis Cruz, or an extra outfielder like Steve Pearce, Craig Monroe or even Andrew McCutchen if one of those three do not win the job for the fifth outfielder's spot. The early bet here Cruz, provided he gets healthy after sustaining a hip injury Tuesday.

Outfield - If Monroe impresses, I have a feeling it's his job to lose. Pearce will need to show A LOT to make the rosterand I think the club is convinced that McCutchen will need a bit more time at Class AAA before he arrives in Pittsburgh later this season.

Starting pitcher - Though there are six guys up for this spot, my money is on either Ross Ohlendorf or Jeff Karstens. The loser of that battle will head to the bullpen and look for the rest (Jason Davis, Jimmy Barthmaier, Phil Dumatrait, Daniel McCutchen) to wind up in Class AAA.

Relief pitchers - Either Ohlendorf or Karstens will take up one spot. I have a hunch Rule Five pick Donnie Veal will win the second. That leaves Romulo Sanchez, Ronald Uviedo, Juan Mateo, Craig Hansen, Evan Meek and Jesse Chavez likely battling for the final position.

Enjoy the games and if you have any different opinions, pass them along and lets discuss. It should be an interesting spring.

Baseball America's top prospects list

Baseball America, THE authority on prospects and the minor leagues, has put out its annual top 100 prospects list.

There are three Pirates on the list - Pedro Alvarez (No. 12), Andrew McCutchen (33) and Jose Tabata (75).

For the complete list, follow this link:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2009/267698.html

Bad baseball cards

Sunday was photo day for the Pirates, which included pictures for wire services and baseball card companies.

Who knows yet how this year's cards (which go for about $9 a pack now I think?) will look, but hopefully they will look better than these ones. Here are a couple of the worst cards in history.

If you have your own least favorites, or any good baseball card stories, pass them along and share them with us.

Pirates give Russell another year

The Pirates have exercised the contract of manager John Russell for the 2010 season.

“JR met or exceeded expectations in his first year as the Pirates manager. His club worked hard to play the game properly and battled from the first out until the last,” said general manager Neal Huntington.

“His leadership, knowledge, attention to detail, ability to see the big picture and passion for things being done the right way made him the ideal choice as our manager a year ago and made the decision to pick up his option for 2010 an easy decision. I look forward to working closely with him for years to come as we build a consistent championship caliber organization in Pittsburgh.”

This will be Russell's second year as manager. The Pirates were 67-95 last season.