Could Francisco Liriano be the ace of the Pirates Rotation?

I think he very well could be. Frank the Tank has steamrolled through his first three starts. He has struck out 9, 8, and 9 batters in those starts. He has had great control, barely walking anyone. Did I mention that he has an ERA of under 1? 

It's a small sample size for Franky but looking at his past, he's in for one of those career years. When his control is on, he's lights out. He had a great year in 2010 coming off of surgery and won comeback player of the year. His control was solid. The other year he had control like this, was 2006 when he won 12 games with an ERA under 3 and was a Cy Young candidate along with teammate and actual winner Johan Santana. If he can put up those numbers there is no one in this rotation that can say they're better.

If Liriano can keep this up along with AJ Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez, and some combination of Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, Jeff Karstens, Jeanmar Gomez, Gerrit Cole, and James McDonald, the Pirates will have a top three starting rotation in all of baseball. And that is a winning combination.

Extension for Starling Marte?

Figures that the first post under the new Marte Partay name would be about Starling himself. This is a great question that I have seen around several circles from Pirate bloggers and we all agree. Marte should be extended this offseason.

We all know that Marte is playing extremely well right now and that should not affect an extension. Marte has a small sample size. He has only played for less than a season and will play a little more than a full year at the end of the season. This shouldn't discourage an extension though either. These extensions have both of those positive and negative affects. The positive being an Evan Longoria (7 years $29 million with big option years making it worth over $100 million) and the negative of Jose Tabata (6 years $18 million with big option years). I think Marte could be as good as Longoria but may not be. I think the deal should be modeled after someone who signed yesterday, Anthony Rizzo.

Rizzo has similar experience to Marte and is a similar caliber player. He signed a 7 year $41 million deal with a big option year ($10 million). This would get Marte thorough his age 30 season at least and probably age 31 season with the option. This is perfect for Marte and the Pirates because he'll make more money as his skill improves and this gives the Pirates a cost effective control that buys out all of his arbitration years and one year of free agency.

This is the perfect situation for the Pirates and they could lock up Marte and McCutchen to play together for another 3 years. They showed interest in a power outfield under control when they pursued Justin Upton and this could be the next best thing. I just hope it gets done sooner rather than later.

Jordy Mercer gets Screwed

Jordy Mercer was optioned to Triple A today after Neil Walker was activated. This was a ridiculous decision and can be added to the list of why Clint Hurdle should be fired.

Not only does Jordy have a great hashtag (#LamborghiniMercer) but he has been playing well. He hasn't made any errors and has been hitting the ball at an average rate with 3 homers. The two guys he was sent down for however have not.

First guy is John McDonald. The old Prime Minister of Defense has to have the worst OPS in the majors. It's .276. I honestly do not know how that is possible. John has an average of between .060 and .070. To put that in perspective, Wandy Rodriguez is batting .156 in a similar number of ABs. And that defense, well it's been pretty unreliable for a guy known for good defense. So why is he still here over Mercer and even Josh Harrison or Ivan De Jesus? Neal Huntington says he "still fills a need". What that need is, I'll never know.

The other guy sticking around is Brandon Inge. He's terrible defensively but his bat is ok. He's shown an ability to hit lefties but Mercer blows him out of the water. Inge has 8 hits all year. Mercer has 8 since Friday. Inge brings a ton of versatility so he's better than McDonald and the internal options (for now) so I don't mind that he's still here.

Bottom line is Jordy Mercer should be in the majors getting 2-3 starts a week at SS, 2B, or 3B in the role that Inge is in now. This would allow him to dip into the majors since he'll be the starting SS next year in all likelihood. This is just another of several terrible moves by Hurdle/Huntington and I am really at my breaking point with it. I hope something changes soon.