2015 Pittsburgh Pirates Draft Wrap-Up

Welcome to my 4th annual (if you ignore the fact that I didn't do one of these last year) recap of the Pittsburgh Pirates draft. Please note that if you're looking for detailed analysis of the players' baseball skills, you've come to the wrong place. (I suggest going to Bucs Dugout or Pirates Prospects for that.) This is insight of the Pirates' draft that you won't see anywhere else.

Kevin Newman (1st round draft pick), SS, Arizona
Kevin Kramer (2nd), SS, UCLA

A lot of people made Seinfeld references based on these picks, but that's taking the easy road. Instead, I think the Pirates wanted to go back to the 90s and start a new Kevin club in the tradition of former players Kevin Young, Kevin Polcovich and Kevin Elster (yes, he was briefly a member of the Pirates). Naturally, the President of the Kevin club should be Kevin Arnold.

Logan Sendelbach, RHP, Tiffin University (10th)
Logan Ratledge, SS, NC State (13th)
Logan Hill, RF, Troy (25th)

Forget the Kevin club, there's now a Logan club!

Tanner Anderson, RHP, Harvard (20th) - This is the requisite mention that Anderson must be smart since he attended Harvard.

Nicholas Economos, RHP, Mercer County CC (21st) - Economos is the person to talk to about supply and demand. I'd be interested in hearing a conversation between Economos and Harvard's Tanner Anderson about the pros and cons of Adam Smith. (Does MLB.com or Baseball America have any Adam Smith references? I don't think so!)

Brandon Waddell, LHP, Virginia (5th) - Waddell wobbles but he doesn't fall down.



Bret Helton, RHP, Utah (9th) - Please be related to Colorado Rockies great Todd Helton. Please be related to Todd Helton. (Checks..."Father Barry Helton was an All-American football player at Colorado and spent four years in the NFL, winning two Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers." Well, that's something.)

Scooter Hightower, RHP, Columbia State CC (15th) - Finally, we see what happens when we combine a Muppet and a Police Academy character.

Stephan Meyer, RHP, Bellevue (18th) - After writing the Twilight series of books, Meyer looks to make the jump to major league baseball.

Jonathan Brubaker, RHP, Akron (6th) - May I introduce you to J.T. Tall!

Not a ton online about Jonathan Brubaker, who seems to go by J.T. Tall, already throws fairly hard, probably projectable.

— Bucs Dugout (@BucsDugout) June 9, 2015

Apparently, Bucs Dugout meant for "Tall" to be the start of a new sentence, but I read this (as did others) as J.T. Tall. Let the nickname stick!

Mitchell Tolman, 3B, Oregon (7th) - I guess he can go by M.T. Tol?

Ike Schlabach, LHP, Timber Creek HS, Keller, Texas (19th) - Schlabach could be the greatest Ike in Pirates history since Ike Davis.

Mike Wallace, RHP, Fairfield (30th) - I always thought Wallace could be a two-sport star. He's no Antonio Brown though.

Sean Keselica, LHP, Virginia Tech (33rd) - Sean is welcome to provide a guest post on Sean's Ramblings anytime. Current Pirate Sean Rodriguez is too.

Conor Costello, RHP, Oklahoma St. (38th round)

His "Who's On First" routine with former pitcher Jim Abbott is a classic.



To see my previous draft recaps, please click here.

2013 Pittsburgh Steelers Predictions

While I’ve spent the summer following the Pittsburgh Pirates and plan to continue to do so as the team fights for the National League Central division, with the NFL season only a week away, it’s time to share some thoughts about the Pittsburgh Steelers. First, according to SportBet.com where you can make football game picks all season, the Steelers are +3000 on the moneyline to win the Super Bowl. I have no idea what this means since I’m used to seeing odds like 10-to-1, but the Steelers are tied for 11th with Cincinnati for the best odds to win the Super Bowl. I’ve struggled with whether I think this is appropriate. On one hand, I’m used to seeing the Steelers regularly make the playoffs and compete for the Super Bowl, so this may seem low. However, the team went 8-8 last season and has some serious question marks.

On offense, the Steelers finished near the bottom of the league in rushing in 2012. The team looked to upgrade the running back position by drafting Le’Veon Bell out of Michigan State in the 2nd round. Unfortunately, Bell has a foot injury and will likely miss, minimally, the first few weeks of the season. The offensive line is young and has struggled during the preseason. With Mike Wallace gone, there are some questions about whether Emmanuel Sanders is ready to step up and the depth at the wide receiver position. Additionally, Heath Miller, arguably the most underrated tight end in the NFL, is recovering from a torn ACL with his return unknown.

Defensively, the Steelers have led the NFL in total net yards allowed in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The problem is that the team finished -10 in the takeaway/giveaway ratio last season. I know this sounds elementary, but the Steelers must cause more turnovers (and have less turnovers) if they want to compete for the playoffs. A healthy Troy Polamalu will certainly help. I also think this is a make or break season for defensive ends Ziggy Hood (Ziggy!) and Cameron Heyward, and they’re finally going to live up to their 1st round draft pick selections.

Going back to the odds, being 11th best team will likely get you either into the playoffs or in playoff contention. That’s where I see the Steelers this year at 9-7 or 10-6. Actually, I’ll split the difference and go with 9-6-1 and look forward to everyone freaking out during the tie game. While I don’t think the defense will be #1 in the league for a third consecutive year, I think they’re going to cause more turnovers. Additionally, the running game can’t be as bad as last year, right? So my prediction is that the Steelers will finish the season with a 9-6-1 record and barely earn the second AFC Wild Card.

How do you think the Steelers will finish this season?

Steelers-Chefs Recap

The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs Monday night 16-13 in an ugly overtime game. Instead of showing highlights or writing about Ben Roethlisberger's injury, check out Chef Gordon Ramsay getting crushed in a charity soccer game. With the exception of Mike Wallace's touchdown catch, this was just as entertaining as anything that happened in last night's game.



I'm very impressed that every sentence of this post (including this one) ends with the word game.

Steelers-Browns Recap with TV Notes

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on winning the AFC North division and earning a first round playoff bye by defeating the Cleveland Browns 41-9. It’s rare for an NFL game to be decided less than one minute into the game, but that essentially happened on Sunday. Troy Polamalu intercepted Colt McCoy on the Browns second offensive play, and the Steelers quickly responded on a 56-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Mike Wallace. As usual, I have some thoughts about the game and the commercials.

- How did the Browns not realize that the Steelers were going to throw a deep pass to Wallace immediately after the interception? Did they not watch film on the Steelers this season? Everyone at the bar knew Roethlisberger was going deep to Wallace.

- Former Steelers running back Willie Parker was also known as “Fast” Willie Parker. Mike Wallace is faster than Parker ever was, but we don’t seem to call him “Fast” Mike Wallace. This should change. On Twitter yesterday, Cotter suggested Maverick because he "obviously has a need for speed and he flies."

- Cleveland coach Eric Mangini (remember when he was Man-genius?) deserves to be fired simply for his decision to kick a field goal down 14-0 early in the second quarter. The Browns had the ball on Pittsburgh’s 2 yard-line and this move showed that he quit.

- I was also curious about Cleveland’s offensive strategy to start the game. RB Peyton Hillis has been fantastic for the Browns; however, the team decided to run a spread offense during the first few series with Hillis on the sidelines.

- Miller Lite shows a series of commercials where guys either wearing dragon clothes or a “European Man Thong” asks for a light beer. I rarely go to bars anymore, but since when do people order a light beer? Don’t people order a specific brand or the special? I’ve also never seen a bartender ask “More Taste or Less Taste?” followed by the patron saying that he doesn’t care.



- Until watching the game yesterday, I didn't realize that Maurkice Pouncey is the first Steelers rookie to make the Pro Bowl since Kendrell Bell. In a related note, who wants to buy my Kendrell Bell jersey? Did you know that he was the last Steelers rookie to make the Pro Bowl? That's got to make the jersey worth at least $50.

- CBS apparently introduces a brand new Early Show cast today. While I don’t know anyone that watches Early Show and I’m not sure that the new folks will impact ratings, I will give CBS credit for hiring Marysol Castro formerly of Good Morning America Weekend. After Tony Perkins returned to DC, ABC made a poor decision in selecting Sam Champion as the main GMA weather guy over Castro.



- Possibly overlooked in the Steelers dominating performance on Sunday was the fact that the offensive line did not allow a sack when Roethlisberger was the QB and that they had only 3 penalties for 25 yards, none in the first half.

- Dear Lexus: If you have a promotion called December to Remember Sales Event, and it is now January, you should either stop running these commercials or change the name.

- There’s a new Nicolas Cage movie coming out on Friday called Season of the Witch. It doesn’t look very good. When was the last good Nicolas Cage movie with him as the #1 star? Adaptation in 2002? Do we have to go back to Face/Off, Con Air, The Rock or Leaving Las Vegas from the mid to late-1990s?

- I really liked the play call to have Randle El throw the ball in the red zone which turned into a TD pass to Hines Ward. I guarantee that the Steelers will use a similar formation in a playoff game, faking the ball to Randle El causing several defenders to go to ARE and leaving someone else open.

- Who is the band in the Hyundai Holiday commercials? We’re about to start a search for a new car, and I may avoid Hyundai simply because I am sick of these commercials.

So now the Steelers have a week off before facing the Colts, Chiefs or Ravens on Saturday, January 15th. I hope the Steelers enjoy the well-deserved rest.

Steelers-Buccaneers Recap

At trivia night last week, our team did the unthinkable. In what is believed to be unprecedented, we scored a perfect game by answering every question correctly and for the maximum amount of points. On Sunday, the Steelers went to Tampa and delivered about as close to a perfect football games as you’ll see. Even when the Steelers perform well, I know that Steelers fans like to complain about some aspect of the game. It’s in our nature. Therefore, when I made that perfect game statement, I’m sure that some folks will counter that Charlie Batch threw two interceptions, Ike Taylor dropped an interception, the defense gave up 13 points and 303 yards and that the Buccaneers had a 33:06 to 26:54 time of position advantage. If you really feel like nitpicking, go right ahead. However, I’ll focus on what really happened.

- Charlie Batch for President! Seriously, he’s 35 years old, so he’s eligible by our constitution to become President of the United States of America. I’m sure that he’s quite happy (and better paid) serving as a Steelers QB, and he looked great yesterday. Three touchdown passes, a surprisingly strong arm for those that haven’t seen him in a while, and an impressive 24-yard run made for a wonderful Sunday. My dreams apologize to Charlie Batch.

- Rashard Mendenhall ran for 143 and the team as a whole averaged 6.3 yards per carry over 32 carries.

- No sacks allowed! The offensive line easily played their best game of the season by giving Batch plenty of time and opening up holes for the running backs.

- Mike Wallace is still fast and proved this by catching two 40+ yard TD receptions. This is the first time a Steelers WR caught two 40+ yard TD receptions in the same game since Louis Lipps, one of my all-time favorites.

- Only two penalties for 20 yards. I’ll take that every week.

- Solid special teams. The kick-off coverage has been a refreshing change since last year.

- Antwaan Randle El made an important catch to convert a third down.

Other notes:

- Did you know that Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin and Bucs Coach Raheem Morris coached together and are friends? I really wish we heard more about this. For example, I would like to know where their families vacationed together. Did they go to the beach? Vegas? Branson?

- Remember the Joey Porter-Jerramy Stevens media battle leading up to Super Bowl 40? Have you heard from Stevens since? Exactly. He had one catch for 22 yards for the Bucs yesterday and really hasn’t done much as a receiver the past few years.

- This was my first time watching the Steelers at Fast Eddie’s this season. What an upgrade from last year! The main section is bigger, and non-smoking, and there’s a new all-you-can-eat buffet that looked good. I also ended up sharing a table with two guys from North Hills and another from Weirton, West Virginia (and Pitt graduate) and had a great time. The Steeler bar experience is definitely the way to go to enjoy you Pittsburgh football.

Finally, your non-Brett Keisel interception/TD, Mike Wallace touchdowns, or Mendenhall spin move play of the game:



More about the game on ESPN and the Post-Gazette.

Good Weekend (Steelers-Browns Recap)

Let's start with the big picture. The Steelers defeated Cleveland 27-14 while both the Bengals and the Ravens lost. As a result, the Steelers are tied with Cincinnati for the division lead at 4-2 and one game ahead of Baltimore. In addition, the Penguins and the Pitt, Ithaca College and Woodland Hills High School football teams were all victorious, plus two, and possibly three of my fantasy football teams won. (The fourth one lost badly thanks to Mark Sanchez filling in for Peyton Manning on his bye week. That didn't work out very well.)

Back to the Steelers, the passing game looks great. Ben Roethlisberger had 417 yards passing; Hines had a monster game with 159 yards and a TD; and Santonio Holmes (104 yards) and Heath Miller (80 yards and a TD) also put together excellent games. Even though Roethlisberger was sacked three times, I thought the line protected him well.

Here are my thoughts on the game:

- On Hines' TD catch, Rashard Mendenhall did a nice job picking up Cleveland's blitz.

- After attending the Steelers-Browns game at Heinz Field in 2007, I wrote, "In my opinion, Joshua Cribbs has now replaced Eric Metcalf as the scariest Steelers' opponent." Why do the Steelers still kick the ball to Cribbs?

- What happened to Browns' QB Derek Anderson? I remember attending that Steelers-Browns and although Anderson didn't put up big passing numbers, he did throw 3 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He even made the Pro Bowl that season (2007)!

- Did Ziggy Hood play on Sunday?

- I think it's telling that Mewelde Moore was the RB when the Steelers were running out the clock. Mendenhall and (not as) Fast (with turf toe) Willie Parker both fumbled earlier in the second half, so maybe Tomlin trusts Mewelde more than the others in that situation.

- Speaking of Moore, why was he returning punts instead of Stefan Logan?

- Browns' head coach Eric Mangini and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan are not fitness role models.





- Mike Wallace continues to be fast.

- It is so much fun watching Santonio Holmes run in the open field after making a catch.

- Should we be concerned that the Steelers wins are against mostly terrible teams? Here are the records of the teams the Steelers defeated:

Browns - 1-5
Titans - 0-6
Lions - 1-5
Chargers - 2-2

Personally, I say no. Tennessee has completely fallen apart, but we (and they) didn't know they would be that bad after the first week. As for the other teams, the Steelers may be playing down to its competition particularly in the fourth quarter. I think next week's game against Minnesota could tell us a lot about the Steelers.