Yardbarker: Chris Bootcheck

Rounding up Pirate news

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:07:00 -0500

I had to give lab meeting this week, which is why posting has been a bit light the last few days. The Pirates have managed to do a few small, newsworthy things this week, though, so let's briefly run them down. Denny Bautista, Chris Bootcheck, and Craig Hansen are off the 40-man roster. Hansen is really the only one of the three that's news, but it probably has more to do with his injury than anything else. The story says on Bootcheck has elected to go to free agency, so Bautista will...

Bootcheck elects for free agency

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:09:16 -0500

The Pittsburgh Pirates and reliever Chris Bootcheck have parted ways. Bootcheck didn’t exactly fit into the Pirates future despite being a 2009 Triple-A All-Star. When the Pirates put him on waivers a few days ago it signaled the end to his time with the organization. So now the soon to be 31-year old former first round [...]

Pirates Dump Denny Bautista, Craig Hansen, Chris Bootcheck

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:22:23 -0500

They're all off the 40-man. Bautista and Bootcheck are no surprise. The big news here is the removal of Hansen, who was one of four players acquired in the Jason Bay deal. Hansen has a nerve disorder that could take years to heal, which is bad enough, but there's also the fact that he was hardly a reliably great pitcher even before that was diagnosed. Perhaps the Bucs can resign him to a minor league deal, but they were probably wise to take him off the roster. These moves shoul...

The future of the Pirates bullpen

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:09:03 -0500

Let’s be blunt. It’s pretty clear that the Pirates have a horrible bullpen right now. Currently on the roster, we have: Denny Bautista Chris Bootcheck Matt Capps Phil Dumatrait Jesse Chavez Joel Hanrahan Steven Jackson Yikes. With a lead or in a close game, I would trust exactly two of those guys (and even that trust is a bit shaky): Chavez and Hanrahan. [...]

Cubs Clobber Pirates

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:26:14 -0500

This might be a new low. This was horrible. The matinee was broadcast on WGN and I was half tempted to hunker down and watch. I didn't (guilty conscience prevents me from doing so) and am mightily glad I didn't. The Cubs jumped out early with a four run first off of Charlie Morton. The main damage was a three run homer from Kosuke Fukudome. Then Morton didn't make it out of the second. Chicago sent 14 men to the plate in a 10 run outburst. Morton was pulled for Chris Bootcheck who...

Game 113: Rockies 8 Pirates 0

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:35:00 -0500

I think that the highlight of this game was Chris Bootcheck striking out two hitters in the sixth inning to drop his ERA to 21.60. That should pretty much tell you exactly what you need to know about this one. We did manage to draw four walks off of Jiminez in his eight innings, but then we coupled that with three hits and that's bad. Kevin Hart's velocity was pretty good tonight but he looked awfully hittable. That's probably an effect of the thin air on the sinking action of his...

Pirates Promote Chris Bootcheck

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:02:46 -0500

Hey all, just checking in here from Utah. Regular updates will resume Monday. In the meantime, I'll address a couple bits of news: The Pirates have placed Donnie Veal on the DL and have promoted Chris Bootcheck. It's nice to see Bootcheck, who's persevered through years in the minors, get a shot he deserves after striking out 55 batters in 42.7 innings at AAA. The Donnie Veal saga, though, just goes on and on. He's now only thrown 24 innings in a season he could...

Bootcheck gets call to relieve Bucs' bullpen

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:12:59 -0500

In 40 relief appearances in Indianapolis, Chris Bootcheck went 3-2 with a 3.32 ERA. As the team's closer, he recorded 20 saves.

Minor League Roundup: 5-13-09

Wed, 13 May 2009 14:41:43 -0500

AAA Indianapolis is 14-18 after a 6-5 loss to Rochester on Tuesday. Tom Gorzelanny pitched 5.2 solid innings, giving up 1 run with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Corey Hamman then pitched a scoreless innings. Romulo continues to get hit hard (1.1 innings 2 earned), and Chris Bootcheck was bad again (got 1 out gave [...]

Minor League Roundup: 4-14-09

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:35:52 -0500

Jesse catches you up on what happened down on the farm on Monday: AAA Indianapolis had another tough loss on Monday against Columbus. The Indians lost 3-2 and now have a poor recor of 1-4. Virgil Vasquez pitched a gem of a 5 inning start, allowing no runs on 3 hits. Chris Bootcheck ended up blowing [...]

Minor League Roundup: 4-11-09

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:22:19 -0500

Catching up on some games from yesterday and this afternoon… AAA-Indianapolis (0-2) The Indians lost their second game of the year last night as Ty Taubenheim (0-0) pitched five innings and gave up two runs (one earned) on one hit and two walks. Ty also had four K’s. Chris Bootcheck pitched two solid innings, but Denny Bautista [...]

Spring Training Gameday #7 vs. Twins

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:00:46 -0500

Apparently, we can actually follow the Bucs live today.? You can supposedly listen to the game for free on [Pirates.com]. First pitch is at 1:05 in I am having trouble picking up the audio. It redirects me to the screen where you login to/buy Gameday Audio. I see nothing free about ...

Welcome aboard, Tim Neverett

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:07:32 -0500

Does the first game of the spring get a gamethread? I don't see why it shouldn't, though I'm posting it more as an "afternoon discussion while there happens to be a baseball game taking place" thread than anything. I obviously won't do this for every game since the spring training novelty wears ...

Spring Training Gameday #1 vs. Phillies

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:07:16 -0500

No, I won?t be doing Gamedays for every single ST game. But we haven?t played since September, so I?m kind of excited. And if anyone?s wondering, we mix it up and play Manatee CC at the end of the ST schedule this season, not the Phillies (0-0) at Pirates 1:05?McKechnie ...