Week 14

Record: 52-36, .591, 0 games back
Position: 1st place (3 games ahead of Chicago)
Runs Scored: 326 (5th in NL)
Runs Allowed: 367 (5th in NL)
Defense: .698 (2nd in NL)
Power Ranking: 109.4 (5th in ML)
Owner Mood: Ecstatic, Fan Interest: 68/100
Last Week (4-2): 3-0 @ HOU, 1-2 vs. CIN

• 7/8: PIT 4, HOU 2 - Lincecum pitched well (5.2 IP 2 ER) until he gave up 2 in the 5th but Inoue came into pitch 2.1 scoreless to earn the win. The key hits were a pair of RBI singles by Davis and Crawford in the 8th.
• 7/9: PIT 3, HOU 2 - Burnett was dominating (7.1 IP 1 ER) through the 7th but got into a little trouble before being relieved by Herrera who shut them down the rest of the way to earn his 8th save.
• Tony Watson was placed on the 15 day DL to make room for Scott Downs on the 25 man roster. We'll see how Downs does. If he makes a good impression we may not see Watson again until September.
• 7/10: PIT 7, HOU 3 - Wilson earned his 1st win of the season giving up 3 earned in 5 IP. The bullpen was dominant and Marte led the way offensively going 2-4 with a triple and 2 RS.
• In short Discussion with Angels GM Jerry Dipoto we have come to terms on a deal that will send 28 year old 1B Chris Davis to Los Angeles with us receiving 30 year old relief pitcher Alexi Ogando. This is a bit of a shake up but we feel that Brett Wallace can handle 1B and he is going to be making less than Davis next year through arbitration. Also, Ogando is able to start as well as pitch out of the pen so not only does he provide us depth for the playoff run this year but his arbitration estimate for next year is very cheap compared to trying to pick up a SP out of free agency this offseason.
• Justin Wilson was optioned to AAA Indianapolis and Carlos Rivero was recalled.
• 7/11: CIN 4, PIT 3 - Rough start for Liriano (3 IP 4 ER) but the bullpen was as sharp as ever and I thought we might come back after a 2 run HR by Alvarez in the 6th but in the end we just couldn't muster enough against the 2 fireballers (Chapman and Broxton).
• 7/12: CIN 4, PIT 7 - Castro posted a quality start (6 IP 3 ER) to earn his 7th win of the year and Herrera got the last 2 outs of the 9th to earn his 9th save of the season. Marte stayed hot going 3-4 with 2 RS.
• 7/13: CIN 7, PIT 3 - Ogando did not fair well in his Pirates debut (5 IP 5 ER) as Votto was unstoppable (3-3 RBI 2 RS) and Cueto was dominant (7 IP 2 ER).

After we swept Houston we headed to Cincinnati on a 5 game win streak but Cincy ended up taking 2 out of 3 from us and pushed us back to only being 3 ahead of the Cubs who we have a big 4 game series with right before the all-star break.
We have a couple of tough decisions to make once Tony Watson and Wandy Rodriguez return from the DL. Ogando figures to be the longman/swingman which will mean that Locke will have to go back to Indianapolis. Downs had 1 good outing followed by a poor outing so we are still uncertain on who will fill the left handed specialist role upon the return of Watson.

We have been in discussions with Francisco Liriano on a contract extension. Our biggest concern heading into next season is that we only have 1 SP under contract (Simon Castro) beyond this year. Right now Liriano wants a 10 year deal with an annual salary of $17 mil. and with his injury history I'm not willing to go more than 2 or 3 years. I know that I'll have to pay handsomely to get him to sign a contract for that length. So I'm thinking we may have to go with a 3 year contract with a 3rd year being a team option. I know I may have to go into the 19-20 mil. range to get him to go for that but he is the first real ace Pittsburgh has seen in some time. If he won't accept those terms we will have to look elsewhere.
If he decides to test the market it really puts us in a bad situation as I hate the thought of trying to sign a free agent starting pitcher. The one positive thought on the rotation for 2015 is that Gerrit Cole has shown some real signs of progress at Indianapolis and he will be given every opportunity to make the big club out of spring training. Our other options are to extend either Tim Lincecum or the 37 year old A.J. Burnett.


Who's Hot: Starling Marte 12-25 1 HR 3 RBI 10 RS, Travis Snider 10-25 1 HR 6 RBI 4 RS, Iwane Inoue 6 IP 0 ER 2 H 0 BB 7 K's
Who's Not: Andrew McCutchen 3-24 8 K's,

Next Week: 2 vs. OAK, 4 vs. CHC

News from around the league:

7/7: The Brewers have acquired 27 year old reliever Dan Jennings and 19 year old minor league 1B Ryan Tellez from the Marlins in exchange for 26 year old minor league 1B Stephen Parker.
7/8: Brett Gardner (NYY) will be out 4-5 months with a torn labrum.
7/8: The Dodgers have acquired 31 year old SS Stephen Drew from the Angels in exchange for 27 year old 3B Alex Castellanos.
7/8: The Yankees have acquired 40 year old reliever Octavio Dotel from the Orioles in exchange for 20 year old minor league 3B Austin Aune.
7/9: The Mets have acquired 28 year old SP Ross Detwiler and $2.08 mil. in cash from the Nationals in exchange for 28 year old LF Lucas Duda and 21 year old minor league CF Bradley Marquez.
7/10: The Twins have acquired 28 year old RP Louis Coleman from the Royals in exchange for minor league 3B Travis Harrison.
7/13: The Yankees have acquired 32 year old RF Norichika Aoki from the Brewers in exchange for 27 year old reliever Jake McGee and 21 year old minor league 3B Maikel Franco.
7/13: The Rangers have acquired 28 year old SP Mark Rodgers from the Brewers in exchange for 26 year old LF Leonys Martin and 19 year old minor league 3B Jason Boland.

AL Player of the Week: Albert Pujols (LAA) 12-26 3 HR 13 RBI 7 RS

NL Player of the Week: Bryce Harper (WAS) 14-28 2 HR 7 RBI 5 RS
Harper has 40 HR and 88 RBI on the year. He's on pace for 74 HR with a week to go before the AS break.