The Pittsburgh Pirates, as woeful as they are in most other phases of the game, had the best starting outfield in the majors last season in Xavier Nady, Nate McLouth, and Jason Bay.  And yet, despite dealing away all three of those players as well as defensive genius Nyjer Morgan in the span of less than one year’s time, the Pirates have not missed a beat.

Their new outfield seems nearly as good as before so far, with Garret Jones providing big-time power in left, Andrew McCutchen merchandising speed and defense in center, and Delwyn Young providing a .300 batting average and high OBP in right.  Their OPS’s, respectively, are 1.118, .801, and .793 so far.

While this new trio is not quite as good as Nady/McLouth/Bay just yet, these three players are younger, and all three still have some upside left to go.  I’m not sure if that upside will all pan out and necessarily translate into stardom for these guys, but it is pretty impressive how the Pirates keep churning out this sort of top-shelf outfield talent.

Now if only they had actually gotten more in return for trading away four of the better outfielders in the game…

In last night’s Dodger victory over the Giants to sweep a 3 game series, Dodgers reserve infielder Doug Mientkiewicz slapped a pinch-hit RBI double down the right field line and then made a horribly awkward and completely unnecessary dive into second base, severely dislocating his right shoulder in the process (pictured above).  At the time of the dive, no infielder was even within 20 feet of the second base bag.

Back in the clubhouse, Dodger trainers popped his shoulder back in, but then it popped right back out again, meaning Mientkiewicz is probably headed for surgery.

Sucks for Mientkiewicz, but what really makes this so frustrating for Dodgers fans is what Mientkiewicz cost the team.

Manager Joe Torre insisted the Dodgers sign Mientkiewicz to a minor league contract in the offseason (because Joe loves what he knows, and he knows Mientkiewicz from when he managed him back on the Yankees), and Torre was then bound and determined to shoehorn Mientkiewicz onto the major league squad, no matter how much Mientkiewicz did not fit in with the rest of the roster.

“I like how he is not afraid to get his shirt dirty,” Torre said back in late March.

But of course, forcing Mientkiewicz onto the roster ultimately meant that the Dodgers had to trade away Delwyn Young to Pittsburgh, only to have Mientkiewicz tear up his shoulder on a ridiculously foolish play just two days after the trade.

So now the Dodgers have no Delwyn Young *and* they’ve lost Mientkiewicz, so they’ll have to call up either Blake DeWitt or Xavier Paul, both of whom would be much better served getting at-bats every day than riding the pine in the majors.

But Torre was right about one thing. Mientkiewicz definitely was not afraid to get his shirt dirty.