Play Pedro Alvarez In Right Field

Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez is struggling. Actually, that may be an understatement. Alvarez seems to have lost the ability to accurately throw the ball to first base. He leads the majors in errors and has been replaced by Josh Harrison. Meanwhile, Alvarez led the National League in home runs last season and is one of the best power hitters in baseball when he gets on a hot streak. However, he's not going to get on any type of hot streak since he's not actually playing other than an occasional pinch hitting appearance. Alvarez is out of options (meaning that he can't get sent down to the minor leagues), so the Pirates appear to be stuck. Pedro is a major defensive liability, yet, no one on the team can match his power.

With the Pirates (likely) placing reigning NL MVP Andrew McCutchen on the disabled list, the team needs to find a way to get Pedro into the line-up. Since Harrison is now playing third, my solution is to start Pedro in right field. Yes, this may be crazy, but what are the other options?

Let's start with why this won't work. Pedro Alvarez has only played third base during his time with the Pirates, in the minor leagues and at Vanderbilt University. Maybe Alvarez played some outfield in high school, but to my knowledge, he did not. Teaching a player a new position in, oh, two days doesn't seem like a recipe for success. Plus, PNC Park requires athletic outfielders in both left field and center field. Alvarez is likely not athletic enough for either of these positions. With McCutchen going on the DL, Starling Marte can move to center. Do you move rookie Gregory Polanco to a brand new position to accommodate Alvarez?

Now the alternative. The Pirates recently signed Jayson Nix who has already played in Philadelphia and Tampa this season. You can play him and move Harrison to OF along with Marte and Polanco. You can also keep Harrison at 3B and have Travis Snider or Jose Tabata as your regular outfielders. Regardless, a Pirates line-up without McCutchen and Alvarez is not intimidating and not one that you would expect to regularly score more than 3 runs per game. Alvarez has the ability to hit game-changing home runs and his on-base percentage has improved from last season.

If you're looking for a similar situation, the Nationals moved Ryan Zimmerman to the outfield this season, a position he never played previously. That experiment seemed to go well until he got re-injured (which had nothing to do with the move to the outfield).

Vote for Pedro (to play right field)!

Josh Harrison Loves Rundowns

If you see a player get into a rundown at the Little League level or below, there's a decent chance the runner will be safe. Usually, a fielder will throw the ball too late or someone will make a poor throw or miss a catch. At the major league level, a runner is tagged out nearly all of the time. Generally, the runner will simply keep the rundown going long enough for his teammate to advance to the next base. Then there is Josh Harrison of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Check out this clip from Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies:



Harrison also eluded the Mets last month.



(There's a decent chance Harrison should have been called out for going out of the baseline against the Mets, but the umpires ruled him safe.)

Man, I'm sure Harrison's elementary school classmates must have hated trying to get Josh Harrison in freeze tag!

Be Cool Pirates Fans

I attended two Pittsburgh Pirates-Washington Nationals games this week at Nationals Park. Unlike going to Pirates games in DC since the Nats moved from Montreal, it felt different this year based on the team’s success. Wearing Pirates gear to a Nats game was an amazing experience over the past few days. We were there to celebrate the second best team in baseball, a team that looks like a legitimate playoff team. After 20 years of losing seasons, we bonded over Gerrit Cole, Pedro Alvarez, Francisco Liriano, Josh Harrison (yes, Josh Harrison) and the rest of the Pirates. However, some Pirates fans took things a little too far.

During Thursday’s game, a Pirates fan a few rows in front of me in the left field stands was being quite obnoxious in the finals innings. He may have had one beer too many, but that’s not really an excuse. In the 8th inning, the guy yelled to Bryce Harper that that the star Nationals outfielder effing sucks. He did not yell effing. We’ll set aside the fact that Harper does not suck. Every Pirates fan would love Harper in Pittsburgh, especially if the team could trade Travis Snider and Jose Tabata for him. (Please excuse me as I dream of a Marte-McCutchen-Harper outfield. Okay, I’m back) Being that this was an afternoon game with kids around, this didn’t go over well. Although a few Nats fans didn’t take too kindly to the comment and confronted him, I never heard any insults or threats. They simply told him to knock it off. As the inning continued, the guy started insulting the Nats and pointing out how far back the Nats are behind the Pirates in the Wild Card race. Some of his friends talked him down and tried to make peace and things were somewhat civil through the rest of the game (though they guy rubbed it in a little when the Pirates tied the game in the top of the 9th; he wasn’t there for Harper’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th).

One of the Nats fans who confronted the guy is a friend of a friend. She is a Nats season ticket-holder who I just met at the game, and I apologized letting her know that the guy does not represent Pirates fans. She appreciated the gesture and indicated that I’ve been the only nice Pirates fan sitting near her during the series. While I found there to be plenty of nice Pirates fans at the games on Tuesday and Thursday, I’m sure there were a few Pirates fans that were not as nice. Therefore, this message is for all Pirates fans attending away games, sitting near opposing fans at PNC Park or even talking with friends, coworkers or random folks at bars that are fans of other National League teams. Being enthusiastic about the Pirates is expected. It’s been a long 20 years. Share your happiness and feel free discuss Cutch’s greatness. Explain your concerns about Jason Grilli’s injury and the bench. Just keep it clean in front of kids and don’t disparage the opposing team.

Let’s Go Bucs!