North Shore Notes
View From the Crow's Nest
By Jim Lachimia

o   This offseason wasn't the first time Matt Capps' agent and the Pirates had issues. Two years ago, after he had spent only a half a season in the closer's role, his rep asked for closer money when the two sides opened discussions about a long-term contract. Back then, the Pirates felt there wasn't enough of a track record to warrant that, and he ended up with a two-year deal instead of three or four. Since Capps was hurt for a good portion of 2008 and easily had his worst season in 2009, the club played that situation right. But it's hard to say if non-tendering him last month was the right move. On principle, he didn't deserve a big raise for 2010. However, the system was dictating that he was going to get one anyway, and the Pirates couldn't stomach that.

o   According to reliable sources, Pirates' prospect Jeff Clement plays first base like you would expect a former catcher to, meaning he's a big drop off from the ultra-smooth Adam LaRoche. I still think Garrett Jones will end up at first base this season and Brandon Moss will reclaim an everyday spot in the line-up in right field.

o   Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki led all major leaguers with 2,030 hits during the first decade of the 21st century - and he did it in nine years, not 10, because his first season in U.S. was 2001. He averaged 226 hits during those nine seasons. Baseball's hits leader in the 1990s was Mark Grace with 1,754 in 10 years (a 175 average). So Suzuki averaged 50 more hits a season than Grace did. Almost none of Grace's were "leg hits" though.

o   Former Angel John Lackey recently signed five-year, $82.5 million deal to join Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and 55-year-old Tim Wakefield in the Red Sox starting rotation. Just kidding about our old knuckle-balling friend (Timmy's only 43), but Boston skipper Terry Francona definitely has a starting rotation that can go head-to-head with anyone's now - especially if Dice-K stays healthy.

o   I still don't know what to think of Lastings Milledge. Having watched him closely for half a season, I have no idea if he's going to be a real big contributor for the Pirates offensively in 2010, or just be ordinary. The fun part of trades is evaluating them at different points, but so far I'd still rather have Nyjer Morgan in left field and at the top of the line-up alongside Andrew McCutchen. The early returns on that deal favor Washington. Morgan hit .351 in 49 games for the Nationals last summer and Milledge hit .291 in 58 games for the Buccos.

Odds And Ends: Ken Griffey Jr.-who turned 40 years old Nov. 21-will be back with Seattle in 2010 after hitting only .214 with 19 homers and 57 RBI in 117 games for the Mariners last season… The average salary for the 926 players who were in the majors before the rosters expanded in September last year was $2,996,000… During the 2009 season, National League MVP Albert Pujols was 10-for-17 with three doubles, five homers and 35 RBI with the bases loaded. Now that's clutch. And it only seems like he did all that damage against the Pirates… It's six months later now, but still incredible to me that Ian Snell asked the Pirates to demote him to the minors and then struck out 17 batters in his first start for Triple-A Indianapolis. He could be the poster boy for underachieving… Last summer, Andy Van Slyke referred to Nate McLouth as "the best white centerfielder in the game." And when Van Slyke wondered aloud why the Pirates would trade a guy like that, coach Rich Donnelly replied: "Because now we might have the best black one." That's stretching since Torii Hunter of the Angels picked up his ninth career Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2009, but it is fun to watch McCutchen patrol center field. And he's not even as good out there yet as he's going to be eventually.