Battling Bucs : State By State Bucco History Part VII
By Kipper
@pghsportsforum
This is the continuation of my ATP (All Time Pirates) series but I have opted to change the name to make it a little more obvious what is covered in the topic. As a quick recap this is a running series of mine that digs into the Pirates past and takes a look at it from various different angles. This particular exercise is looking at it from the player's place of birth. Each US state, the District of Columbia and each foreign country will be investigated in the attempt to build a team. For more specifics check out the introductory post here.In part VII I will begin looking at the Pirates pitchers by place of birth. First up are the class F locations which in terms of pitchers means locations where 4 or fewer pitchers were born. This covers 27 of the 67 locations to have produced at least one pitcher. The staff assembled will consist of 4 starting pitchers and one relief ace. Beyond those 5 there will be 8 additional pitchers selected to showcase each location's depth. Since these locations obviously don't have enough pitchers to build a 5 man staff on their won I have divided them into three subregions. There is an international team formed of everyone born outside the USA, a far west USA team formed of everyone born in a state that tocuhes the pacific, or is in the northwest or southwest. The last group is the remained of the USA. The lines I draw for this distinction are very arbitrary and were done to try to keep teams fairly even in terms of number of options. For the record the only states I have found to not have produced at least 1 Pirates player (either position player or pitcher) is the state of Nevada.
International
Columbia: Ernesto Frieri
England: Danny Cox, Al Lawson, Tom Brown
Ireland: Pete Daniels, Jocko Fields, Irish McIlveen
Japan: Jeff McCurry, Masumi Kuwata, Hisanori Takahashi
Netherlands: Bert Blyleven, Rick VandenHurk
Panama: Ed Acosta
Russia: Victor Cole
Scotland: Jim McCormick
South Korea: Chan Ho Park
Virgin Islands: Al McBean
Rotation and Relief Ace
#1: Bert Blyleven
#2: Al McBean
#3: Jim McCormick
#4: Danny Cox
RA: Chan Ho Park
Reserves
Pete Daniels, SP
Al Lawson, SP
Victor Cole, SP/RP
Jeff McCurry, RP
Masumi Kuwata, RP
Hisanori Takahashi, RP
Rick VandenHurk, RP
Ernesto Frieri, RP
Notes: The top of the rotation features Blyleven who is a very nice ace for this group of international players. Al McBean spent the majority of his Pirates career as a relief pitcher but did start 75 games which is easily second of all eligible players on this team and he should slot in nicely into the second spot in the rotation. McCormick isn’t a terrible player to have in the third spot in your rotation but the talent is clearly starting to fall off for the international squad. Cox in the 4th spot actually never started a game for the Pirates but he had plenty of starting experience before joining the Pirates and considering the quality of the other options he is the best choice. Releif ace Chan Ho Park only pitched sparingly for the Pirates but he was solid in his time here which is enough to earn him the job.
Amongst the reserves Daniels, Lawson and Cole are the only ones who actually started a game for the Pirates. Daniels started 4 games and Lawson 2 and both were pretty bad at it with ERAs of 7.07 and 9.00 respectively. Cole split his time between starting and relieving and was non-awful and will be asked to start if Danny Cox can’t handle the expanded role. Amongst the relievers McCurry has the most experience pitching over 80 innings but wasn’t good while with the Pirates. Kuwata, Takahashi, VandenHurk and Frieri were all terrible with the Pirates with Takahashi having the best ERA of the bunch at 8.64. Of the pitchers who missed the team Tom Brown and Jocko Fields were actually fielders who were called upon to make sparse appearances and Ed Acosta and Irish McIlveen only got into a handful of games apiece in which they pitched awfully.
Far West USA
Alaska: Dave Williams, Shawn Chacon
Arizona: DJ Carrasco, TJ Beam, Jaff Decker, Tim Wood
Hawaii: Steve Cooke, Brian Fisher, Tyler Yates
Idaho: Vern Law, Jason Schmidt, Ralph Erickson
New Mexico: Aaron Thompson
Oregon: Jim Rooker, Cliff Chambers, Brian Burres, Lyle Bigbee
Utah: Elmer Singleton, Logan Easley, Red Peery
Rotation and Relief Ace
#1: Vern Law
#2: Jim Rooker
#3: Jason Schmidt
#4: Cliff Chambers
RA: DJ Carrasco
Reserves
Steve Cooke, SP
Dave Williams, SP
Brian Fisher, SP
Shawn Chacon, RP
Elmer Singleton, RP
TJ Beam, RP
Tyler Yates, RP
Notes: Vern Law is one of the best pitchers in Pirates history so of course the team is in terrific hands at the top of their rotation. There is depth behind Law as well as Rooker and Schmidt form a solid middle of the rotation. In the 4th spot there was a close completion between Chambers and Cooke and I wavered on my selection right up until the end. It is really too close to call but Chambers gets a slight edge thanks mostly to his ability to pitch deeper into games. For the relief ace the competition wasn’t quite as heated as Carrasco was nothing more than a dependable middle reliever for one season while with the Pirates.
On the bench Cooke has already been covered and will serve as the 5th starter should one be needed. Also in reserve Williams and Fisher provide some more solid SP depth and could easily serve as back end options should the need arise. Chacon and Singleton also have a bit of starting experience but were primarily used as relief pitchers for the Pirates but both struggled with control. Beam and Yates never started a single game with the Pirates and while Beam has artificially decent numbers with the Pirates neither really performed well. Of the players left off the team Jaff Decker was of course a position player asked to pitch and Lyle Bigbee pitched well but in a sample of only 8 innings. Of the rest Burres was primarily a starter who got hit around hard and the others were relievers who pitched sparingly and for the most part got shelled in their limited innings of work.
Rest of the USA
Delaware: Ian Snell
Minnesota: Carmen Hill, Joe Bush, Paul Giel
Montana: Jeff Ballard
Nebraska: Jason Christiansen, Mike Zagurski, Marty Lang
New Hampshire: Jeff Locke, Bob Smith, Leon Chagnon, Walt Woods
North Dakota: Frank Brosseau
South Dakota: Lou Koupal, Terry Forster
Vermont: Ed Doheny
Rotation and Relief Ace
#1: Carmen Hill
#2: Ed Doheny
#3: Ian Snell
#4: Jeff Locke
RA: Jason Christiansen
Reserves
Joe Bush, SP
Leon Chagnon, SP/RP
Terry Forster, SP/RP
Lou Koupal, SP/RP
Paul Giel, RP
Bob Smith, RP
Jeff Ballard, RP
Frank Brosseau, RP
Notes: Compared to the other 2 Hill is a weak ace but that doesn’t mean he is a bad pitcher. Hill pitched for the Pirates back in 1910s and 1920s and was consistently an above average arm. In the second spot Ed Doheny is a throwback to the beginning of the 20th century, when pitching complete games were the norm. He was good compared to his peers but it’s hard to know how well he’ll translate to the more modern game. Snell and Locke represent the more modern era and are both pitchers probably nearly everyone reading this are familiar with. Both could you leave you scratching your heads due to their inconsistency but as back of the rotation options they both will do for this squad. As a relief ace Jason Christiansen is the best any of these 3 teams have to offer and he should do an excellent job anchoring the pitching staff.
Amongst the reserves Joe Bush is the only other regular starter and while he was good with the Pirates he just doesn’t have the playing time to compete with the top 4. The team also has three swingmen in the bullpen in Chagnon, Forster and Koupal who started roughly a sixth of their appearances with the Pirates and they should make for solid innings filler as needed. None of them were good but they weren’t disasters either. Amongst the relief pitchers Bob Smith is a very solid second arm behind Christiansen but the talent drops off after him. There were only three pitchers who didn’t make the team and they all pitched 6 innings or less with an ERA of 15 or greater.
Power Rankings
3. International
It’s tough to deny Blyleven gives this squad a very good top arm in the rotation but the rest of the staff around him doesn’t hold up their own weight. A middle rotation of a guy who probably should be a bullpen arm and another player who is a below average pitcher is not a great combination. Add in a 4th starter and relief ace who barely pitched for the Pirates and very little depth beyond those 5 and you have the weakest group in the class.
2. Rest of the USA
The top of the rotation is a bit weak relative to the other two but Hill is good enough to give them a chance and the rest of the rotation, though it doesn’t have any superstars has solid enough arms to keep them in the game. Christiansen is the best relief pitcher on any of three squads and gives this squad a boost in that area, but what separates them from the international squad is that they have better depth to call upon.
1. Far West USA
Having Vern Law atop their rotation gives this team a huge boost over the other two and when you combine that with a staff that runs legitimately 5 deep in average or better starting options and has a decent relief ace to go along with it there is just no competition in this class. On the down side the depth is lacking especially in the relief corp but that isn’t enough to prevent them from claiming the top spot in the class.