25-year old lefty swinging outfielder Brandon Moss was supposed to replace Jason Bay in the starting lineup but he hasn’t played well. Moss has played in 121 games for the Pirates this season and he is 86 for 350 (.246 avg, .691 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 7 homers and 36 RBIs. The Jason Bay trade keeps looking worse by the day.

25-year old righty swinging 3B Andy LaRoche has to pick up the pace. He has played in 138 games for the Dodgers this season and he is 118 for 477 (.247 avg, .695 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 9 homers, 52 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. LaRoche was supposed to be the key player the Pirates acquired for Jason Bay and he’s not showing anything. Bay by the way has played in 140 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 133 for 494 (.269 avg, .943 OPS) with 98 runs scored, 36 homers, 113 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now secured their 17th straight season with sub .500 record.  They have now surpassed the Philadelphia Phillies 1933-1948 teams for the most consecutive losing seasons.  It is the longest losing streak of the four major sports in America.  The last time the Pirates had a season with a winning record it was 1992 and the first Bush was still in office.  Boys II Men had the top song on the music charts.  I was velcroing up my Nike’s and heading off to the first grade while Barry Bonds was still under 200 lbs and his hat size (a Pirates hat at that time) was about five sizes smaller.

It’s sad to see such a great sports town have such a pathetic team each year. Even a brand new stadium could not help them.  I was able to catch a game at PNC Park in 2007 and a local Pittsburgh fan sitting by me summed up the Pirates perfectly, “We have got ourselves a major league ball park, major league fans, and a minor league team.”  Hopefully the Pirates can start to see some of the successes the Steelers and Penguins have had over the years, but its not looking good.

The Pirates have outrighted 28-year old lefty swinging outfielder Jeff Salazar to AAA and he deserved it. Salazar played in 21 games for the Pirates this season and he was 1 for 23 (.043 avg, .197 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 RBI and 1 stolen base. This was a move that had to be made as Salazar was looking hopeless with a bat in his hands.

The Pittsburgh Pirates expect Brandon Moss to replace Jason Bay as the starting LF for the Pirates and that is a very tall order. In his first 12 games for the Pirates, Moss is 9 for 44 (.205 avg, .709 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs. Moss still projects to be a good baseball player so the Pirates were smart to get him from the Red Sox. He will likely put up good numbers for the Pirates in the future just don’t expect them to be Jason Bay-like.