Well another trading deadline has come and gone and once again the Pirates are a brand new team. I think the Pirates may be a better team in the long run, but this last deal sending Jason Bay to Boston leaves some question in my mind.
The earlier deal that sent Xavier Nady and Desmond Marte to New York for a 19 year old outfielder and three pitchers, one of witch joined the Pirates immediately was a great deal. The Pirates need to get some pitching in their minor league system. This year has shown they have nothing in the upper parts of the farm system. This deal netted them two in the minor league system and one who immediately helped fill in the blanks of an injury plagued starting rotation. Nady was going to leave and Marte would not have been resigned. They would have gotten two draft picks of compensation for Marte, but the Pirates drafting record on pitchers is not so good, and it puts the rebuilding off long term.
This new deal has the potential to be very good. They parted ways with Jason Bay, which was sad. He was signed for another year, so I was kind of hoping to keep him around. But, they got a third baseman in the deal. Jose Bautista, the current 3rd baseman is a joke. He is the giant hole in the Pirate line-up. The Dodgers gave up third baseman Andy LaRoche to Pittsburgh. Andy is the brother of Adam who plays firstbase for the Pirates. Adam is another joke because he does not start hitting at all until the All Star break. He is a big disappointment. Andy has only played a handful of games, but is hitting on .203 with the Dodgers. That is not a good sign. However, he is a highly touted prospect, and men that know more than I do think he will be good. The Dodgers also gave up a starting pitching prospect in Brain Morris. He is being sent to the Pirates Single A team. Another pitcher to add depth to the farm system.
The Red Sox gave up Craig Hansen, a middle reliever, which the Pirates could use, but it is not a desperate need. He is mediocre so far this year, but it should be easier to pitch in the National League. The other player in the deal from Boston is Brandon Moss. He has been on the Red Sox as a back up outfielder and is hitting .299 in limited time. It will be a step down from Jason Bay, and I do not see a long-term future for this guy in Pittsburgh, but it allows McCutchen to stay in Triple A until the roster expands. One could easily see next year’s outfield being McCutchen, McClouth, and Morgan with Pierce playing first base and Adam LaRoche riding the bench. That would be nice. Complete that picture with Neil Walker at third, Freddy Sanchez at second and Jack Wilson at short and Doumit behind the plate and Paulino backing him up and the Pirates have a lot of young talent.
I suppose for the Pirates the main part of this deal is insurance. They added depth to their pitching both starting and relief. They also added Moss and LaRoche who can serve as insurance just in case Morgan never learns to hit consistently and Walker does not pan out at third. The addition of Andy LaRoche at third may delay Walker another year in the minors.
So overall I give the Pirates a B+ on this year of trading. The Nady-Marte trade was perfect. The Pirates lost nothing they were not going to lose anyway and it cleared the way for that Triple A outfield to start making its way to the majors. The depth to the pitching was the most important thing. It also added a long term outfielder who was a few years away, but a big time talent. This Red Sox trade continued adding depth to the pitching, but it also got a few players who appear to be in the same slots as current Pirate prospects. I would rather have seen another pitcher or a first basemen, even a short stop (as I am not sold on Brian Bixler).
To put it a more dramatic way, the Pirate outfield this year had a higher combined batting average and more RBI’s than the starting outfield for the National League in the All Star game. The Triple A outfield for the Pirates was arguably more talented than their major league one. Yes, we dumped two of the starting outfielders, one was going to go anyway. But, we also added two more outfielders. Add to that fact that Chris Duffy is making his way back and now the Pirates still have three outfield spots for 8 outfielders. That alone downgrades this trading year to a B+.
This is my personal blog. The main topic shall be theology, but since theology informs every area of life, one can expect a wide range of topics. I hope that all who visit find something they like. I welcome comment and discussion.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Suffer the Little Children
I am now back from camp, and I am happy to report that the counselors won the annual volleyball game again. I enjoy camp once I am there, but I never look forward to it. Leaving the family is not easy once you pass the age of about 18. Camp is a young person thing, not so much for old guys like me.
Still, I believe church camps are good and do a lot of good in the life of the church. Not only does it bring young people together from many churches creating a network of professing, believing, young people, but also it can serve to guide them and teach them in addition to entertain them. Our Heidelberg Youth Camp is very good at that, especially with the Senior High. Still, I do sometimes wonder if we could do more to engage the Junior High and even Senior High where they are. I always come back from camp learning that we are not doing a good enough job of reaching these kids and enabling them to deal with the trials that they normally face. Is the church speaking about tattoos, cuttings, and the like? Are we speaking to the dangers of on-line relationships, Facebook, and the new media that these kids are consumed by? Are we speaking to escapism of books, the moral assault of TV, and the worldviews of movies?
I come back every year challenged that the church needs to equip parents and get involved with young people on their level so that they can make Christian decisions. When we as a church think and talk about evangelism we need also to think and talk about reaching out to unbelieving children as well as adults. I fear that too often the church desires to raise its own kids in a Christian manner, but never plans to reach out to the lost until they have jobs and are all grown up. This was clearly not the way the early church did it as you read about the church running schools all the time. It was clearly not the way that Jesus did it. Not only do you have the rebuke of the disciples when Jesus utters his famous phrase of let the little children come to me (Matthew 19:13-14), but also you have instances such as Matthew 21:15 where the children are crying out praises to Jesus in the temple. Here it makes the Pharisees angry and they demand he stop them. Children are a battleground and it makes the enemy angry when the little children praise God. I pray that we as a church are able to reach out to the children of unbelievers and reach them with the gospel.
Still, I believe church camps are good and do a lot of good in the life of the church. Not only does it bring young people together from many churches creating a network of professing, believing, young people, but also it can serve to guide them and teach them in addition to entertain them. Our Heidelberg Youth Camp is very good at that, especially with the Senior High. Still, I do sometimes wonder if we could do more to engage the Junior High and even Senior High where they are. I always come back from camp learning that we are not doing a good enough job of reaching these kids and enabling them to deal with the trials that they normally face. Is the church speaking about tattoos, cuttings, and the like? Are we speaking to the dangers of on-line relationships, Facebook, and the new media that these kids are consumed by? Are we speaking to escapism of books, the moral assault of TV, and the worldviews of movies?
I come back every year challenged that the church needs to equip parents and get involved with young people on their level so that they can make Christian decisions. When we as a church think and talk about evangelism we need also to think and talk about reaching out to unbelieving children as well as adults. I fear that too often the church desires to raise its own kids in a Christian manner, but never plans to reach out to the lost until they have jobs and are all grown up. This was clearly not the way the early church did it as you read about the church running schools all the time. It was clearly not the way that Jesus did it. Not only do you have the rebuke of the disciples when Jesus utters his famous phrase of let the little children come to me (Matthew 19:13-14), but also you have instances such as Matthew 21:15 where the children are crying out praises to Jesus in the temple. Here it makes the Pharisees angry and they demand he stop them. Children are a battleground and it makes the enemy angry when the little children praise God. I pray that we as a church are able to reach out to the children of unbelievers and reach them with the gospel.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Creation Museum
I was able to attend and go through the Creation Museum in Kentucky near the Ohio border on this vacation. I was both extremely pleased and very disappointed. Let me explain.
I was not expecting the amazing quality of everything done in the Creation Museum. They make wonderful use of multimedia and it really is a museum for the 21st century. They have an expansive location, a planetarium, a movie room, and several nice places to eat. Even walking through the museum you see many flatscreen TVs and then every now and then you get a well done four minute video in a video hall to break up the walking. It is very nice. As far as production quality it is second to none. No one can really complain about the money put into the museum or think that this is some sort of second class rip off of a real museum. I mean in the movie theater the chair’s squirted water at me! Come on, that is high tech at least.
However, I was disappointed in the experience overall. I did not think that the Creation Museum knew the audience it wished to attract. The movie I watched in the movie room (Men in White I believe it was called) was geared toward middle school kids who attend public school. It was primarily meant to help them refute evolution and find meaning in the universe. It was chock full of facts, but since it is a movie it was hardly documented. The evangelistic appeal was minimal, and the science fit into an entertaining film for the age group. Next, I went to the planetarium. Here was a high quality display of astronomy. I learned a lot and it was heavy on the science. In fact, I would go as far to say that this was geared mainly for adults. My kids liked the stars, but the science was way over their heads. It was designed to impress upon you the grandeur of the universe and it does well. Then after lunch, I went through the museum part itself. Now they do not have as many exhibits of actual artifacts as a normal museum because it is new and that is expensive. They have few dinosaur bones and eggs, but most of the museum is multimedia and robotic displays. That is good. However, the “museum” is actually a walk through biblical history and the culture designed to get you to sign a sinner’s prayer card at the end of the tour. It contains a movie that depicts Christ visibly for those of you concerned about the second commandment. A few of the rooms were nice and contained displays about actual ‘creation science’ but most of it is walking through a modern day slum so we can see the result of our sin or walking through a room where robotic Noah talks to his sons who build the ark as robotic sinners mock him. Sure that room has one or two nice things to read about the ark, but really, it is pointless. The design of the actual ‘museum’ is purely an attempt to get you to convert to Christianity.
Thus, the three major parts of the museum do not fit together. The actual museum is so ‘repent and believe’ oriented that the people who are looking for actual science that is found in the planetarium will be disappointed and it is religious enough to guarantee that no public schools will be taking field trips to this museum making the movie room pointless.
It also left out a lot of things that I think it should have focused on. There is a second movie room about Dragons and dragon lore around the world as a proof of dinosaurs alive after the flood. This 10 minute movie deserved more time and a room in the museum proper.
One more good thing to say is that the gift shop is good. It contains not only many books about science from a creationist perspective, but it contains other good books as well. I did see at least a few apologetic books, mostly Josh McDowell kind of stuff, but Greg Bashen’s presuppositional book is in there. They have a lot of stuff by and about Bishop Ussher including a biography that went well beyond his creation work.
All in all, I was disappointed by the museum. I felt it could have set itself up as a real alternative kind of museum, but instead it comes off as a ‘repent and believe’ is the only ‘science’ Christians have. A tad upsetting.
I was not expecting the amazing quality of everything done in the Creation Museum. They make wonderful use of multimedia and it really is a museum for the 21st century. They have an expansive location, a planetarium, a movie room, and several nice places to eat. Even walking through the museum you see many flatscreen TVs and then every now and then you get a well done four minute video in a video hall to break up the walking. It is very nice. As far as production quality it is second to none. No one can really complain about the money put into the museum or think that this is some sort of second class rip off of a real museum. I mean in the movie theater the chair’s squirted water at me! Come on, that is high tech at least.
However, I was disappointed in the experience overall. I did not think that the Creation Museum knew the audience it wished to attract. The movie I watched in the movie room (Men in White I believe it was called) was geared toward middle school kids who attend public school. It was primarily meant to help them refute evolution and find meaning in the universe. It was chock full of facts, but since it is a movie it was hardly documented. The evangelistic appeal was minimal, and the science fit into an entertaining film for the age group. Next, I went to the planetarium. Here was a high quality display of astronomy. I learned a lot and it was heavy on the science. In fact, I would go as far to say that this was geared mainly for adults. My kids liked the stars, but the science was way over their heads. It was designed to impress upon you the grandeur of the universe and it does well. Then after lunch, I went through the museum part itself. Now they do not have as many exhibits of actual artifacts as a normal museum because it is new and that is expensive. They have few dinosaur bones and eggs, but most of the museum is multimedia and robotic displays. That is good. However, the “museum” is actually a walk through biblical history and the culture designed to get you to sign a sinner’s prayer card at the end of the tour. It contains a movie that depicts Christ visibly for those of you concerned about the second commandment. A few of the rooms were nice and contained displays about actual ‘creation science’ but most of it is walking through a modern day slum so we can see the result of our sin or walking through a room where robotic Noah talks to his sons who build the ark as robotic sinners mock him. Sure that room has one or two nice things to read about the ark, but really, it is pointless. The design of the actual ‘museum’ is purely an attempt to get you to convert to Christianity.
Thus, the three major parts of the museum do not fit together. The actual museum is so ‘repent and believe’ oriented that the people who are looking for actual science that is found in the planetarium will be disappointed and it is religious enough to guarantee that no public schools will be taking field trips to this museum making the movie room pointless.
It also left out a lot of things that I think it should have focused on. There is a second movie room about Dragons and dragon lore around the world as a proof of dinosaurs alive after the flood. This 10 minute movie deserved more time and a room in the museum proper.
One more good thing to say is that the gift shop is good. It contains not only many books about science from a creationist perspective, but it contains other good books as well. I did see at least a few apologetic books, mostly Josh McDowell kind of stuff, but Greg Bashen’s presuppositional book is in there. They have a lot of stuff by and about Bishop Ussher including a biography that went well beyond his creation work.
All in all, I was disappointed by the museum. I felt it could have set itself up as a real alternative kind of museum, but instead it comes off as a ‘repent and believe’ is the only ‘science’ Christians have. A tad upsetting.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Pirate Update
I am on vacation, so I will just do a quick Pirate update. Let me start by saying that it is time to officially give up on the Pirates post-season chances. Yes, even though they are less than 10 games out of the Wild Card spot, the chance has passed by the Pirates. However, this is a good year for the Pirates over all. One that I think they have taken a step forward and I am excited to see the rest of the season.
First, the Pirates are only six games below .500. That is much better than normal, and the Pirates are coming off a really bad stretch where they had lots of injuries especially to starting pitching. Ian Snell comes back today and Dumatrait came back yesterday. I do believe the Pirates can make .500. That would be a win for the Pirate fans.
Second, the new management looks like it can be trusted. They are doing their best to put a good team on the diamond. They have demoted several high name players to the minors like the starter of the home opener and last year's starting catcher. If they do not produce, they will be sent down. Good message. The big test is the trading deadline. One should expect the Pirates to be sellers again. I fully expect to see John Grabow, a quality left handed reliever to be traded. I also expect the team leader in average and a league leader in RBI's Xavier Nady to be traded. As long as the return is good I am okay with both of those trades. The big question surrounds Jack Wilson. His injury early this year showed how valuable he really is to the Pirates. He needs to stay, but he might be traded. That would be a bad sign without excellent returns. Desmond Marte is another lefty out of the pen that might go, but when he signs with another team in the off season the Pirates will get two first round compensation picks for him, so I doubt he will get traded.
Third, and most important, the Pirates have a good farm system. Their Triple A team has an all star outfield right now. I drove through Indianapolis a few times and got to listen to a few games. Andrew McCutchen is ready for the bigs right now. This is why trading Xavier Nady is okay. McCutchen is the real deal. Although, when Nady gets traded I bet the Pirates will bring up Steven Pearce. Pearce plays right field for the Triple A team, but is a natural first baseman. Bringing him up would allow him to play at both places and let the Pirates sit LaRoche a little more often.
I think the Pirates have a great team that just needs a little more time to gel. Zack Duke and Paul Malhom have held down the pitching this year and that is great news. Dumatrait looks good and Snell will return to form. When that happens, the Pirates will make a run. It looks like it will be next year, but that is close enough to taste right now.
First, the Pirates are only six games below .500. That is much better than normal, and the Pirates are coming off a really bad stretch where they had lots of injuries especially to starting pitching. Ian Snell comes back today and Dumatrait came back yesterday. I do believe the Pirates can make .500. That would be a win for the Pirate fans.
Second, the new management looks like it can be trusted. They are doing their best to put a good team on the diamond. They have demoted several high name players to the minors like the starter of the home opener and last year's starting catcher. If they do not produce, they will be sent down. Good message. The big test is the trading deadline. One should expect the Pirates to be sellers again. I fully expect to see John Grabow, a quality left handed reliever to be traded. I also expect the team leader in average and a league leader in RBI's Xavier Nady to be traded. As long as the return is good I am okay with both of those trades. The big question surrounds Jack Wilson. His injury early this year showed how valuable he really is to the Pirates. He needs to stay, but he might be traded. That would be a bad sign without excellent returns. Desmond Marte is another lefty out of the pen that might go, but when he signs with another team in the off season the Pirates will get two first round compensation picks for him, so I doubt he will get traded.
Third, and most important, the Pirates have a good farm system. Their Triple A team has an all star outfield right now. I drove through Indianapolis a few times and got to listen to a few games. Andrew McCutchen is ready for the bigs right now. This is why trading Xavier Nady is okay. McCutchen is the real deal. Although, when Nady gets traded I bet the Pirates will bring up Steven Pearce. Pearce plays right field for the Triple A team, but is a natural first baseman. Bringing him up would allow him to play at both places and let the Pirates sit LaRoche a little more often.
I think the Pirates have a great team that just needs a little more time to gel. Zack Duke and Paul Malhom have held down the pitching this year and that is great news. Dumatrait looks good and Snell will return to form. When that happens, the Pirates will make a run. It looks like it will be next year, but that is close enough to taste right now.