2019 Pittsburgh Pirates Season Thread

[willeyeam]

And an even better safety squeeze. The fundamentals make me happy

[Ad@m]

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[willeyeam]

Raise it. 2.5 out heading into the break!

[Troy Loney]

Good to see the offense coming from Frazier, Reynolds, Moran and Newman.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Teasing us again...

I’ll enjoy it while it lasts...

[DigitalGypsy66]

Cervelli says he’s done catching. Not sure where he’ll end up playing, but “he can’t keep living like this.”

[LeopardLetang]

Frazier hates to see the break come. 18-30 in July with like a 1.550 ops

[Morkle]

So the Pirates are 2.5 games out. Does the front office better the team?

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

So the Pirates are 2.5 games out. Does the front office better the team?

better the team through a meaningful move beyond shoring up the bullpen? they cant (bc of cheap ownership) wont (bc GMNH fudged the last deadline up so badly) and shouldn't (starting pitching is too expensive in the trade market).

[Morkle]

So the Pirates are 2.5 games out. Does the front office better the team?

better the team through a meaningful move beyond shoring up the bullpen? they cant (bc of cheap ownership) wont (bc GMNH fudged the last deadline up so badly) and shouldn't (starting pitching is too expensive in the trade market).

I would hope they fix the bullpen, I think the starters are OK enough to win the division if the bats stay warm.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Huntington says he wants to "honor" this year's team by potentially adding to it at the deadline.

[robbiestoupe]

Probably won't, and it's the right move. Apart from this being similar to last year, the team is just not a championship caliber team. Adding a piece, even a large piece, will not make this team a favorite to win the WS. Perhaps it will give them a better chance at winning the division or making the WC, but that's it. Better to stand pat and ride the wave, or like I mentioned earlier, explore the sellers market to see if you can get a Godfather deal on a trade.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Probably won't, and it's the right move. Apart from this being similar to last year, the team is just not a championship caliber team. Adding a piece, even a large piece, will not make this team a favorite to win the WS. Perhaps it will give them a better chance at winning the division or making the WC, but that's it. Better to stand pat and ride the wave, or like I mentioned earlier, explore the sellers market to see if you can get a Godfather deal on a trade.

my buddy and I were talking about the second half of the season and we generally said these same things. my personal opinion is that unless someone steps up and goes on a historical tear (lets say marte has his best 3 month stretch of his career and has an ops of like 1.000) while the rest of the offense conintinues to hum along), this team wont go anywhere.

[Morkle]

I think if the Pirates are this close to leading the division it will do more to further hurt the general public perception of the team than anything if they don't even come across as helping something with it.

If they want good will, no matter the right time to do it or not, I think they have to show they're somewhat serious about contending, even if they're not.

[Troy Loney]

So the Pirates are 2.5 games out. Does the front office better the team?

better the team through a meaningful move beyond shoring up the bullpen? they cant (bc of cheap ownership) wont (bc GMNH fudged the last deadline up so badly) and shouldn't (starting pitching is too expensive in the trade market).

It would be nice for fangraphs, or other non-paywall outlet to do a roster dive into all the crap teams to see what could be available in a trade. The Pirates don't need a splashy move, they just need some veteran depth in the bullpen. Right now they have on the active roster, Agrazal, Stratton, Feliz, Holmes and Luis Escobar.

[robbiestoupe]

The Pirates are in a similar situation as Tampa last year. They had no reason to trade Archer unless they were blown away by a deal. Unfortunately, the person in charge of making those decisions on the Pirates is the same guy who was fleeced by Tampa.

[Troy Loney]

The Pirates are in a similar situation as Tampa last year. They had no reason to trade Archer unless they were blown away by a deal. Unfortunately, the person in charge of making those decisions on the Pirates is the same guy who was fleeced by Tampa.

Not really, Tampa had no chance of winning the division last year.

[willeyeam]

I think if the Pirates are this close to leading the division it will do more to further hurt the general public perception of the team than anything if they don't even come across as helping something with it.

That's what we said last year when they got Archer

[robbiestoupe]

I think if the Pirates are this close to leading the division it will do more to further hurt the general public perception of the team than anything if they don't even come across as helping something with it.

If they want good will, no matter the right time to do it or not, I think they have to show they're somewhat serious about contending, even if they're not.

Disagreed. The job of the GM is to assemble a championship caliber team. The situation you describe above is the exact thing that got them in trouble last year with the Archer trade. It was just as much a "look fans, we're serious" trade as it was a baseball trade.

[robbiestoupe]

The Pirates are in a similar situation as Tampa last year. They had no reason to trade Archer unless they were blown away by a deal. Unfortunately, the person in charge of making those decisions on the Pirates is the same guy who was fleeced by Tampa.

Not really, Tampa had no chance of winning the division last year.

No, but they were in the wildcard chase and had a very good record. Their fault was being in the best division in baseball last year.

[Troy Loney]

Back when the Pirates were good at preventing the other team from scoring, they were able to deploy their MLB scouts to locate guys like Happ or Worley that could improve with a change of scenery. I don't think the Pirates have that same competency, and that's why I think it would be hard for them to make an impact improvement at the deadline. I think the key is to just locate some steady 4 era guys that can come and take the roster spots from the current cast of rotating scrubs.

[Morkle]

I think if the Pirates are this close to leading the division it will do more to further hurt the general public perception of the team than anything if they don't even come across as helping something with it.

If they want good will, no matter the right time to do it or not, I think they have to show they're somewhat serious about contending, even if they're not.

Disagreed. The job of the GM is to assemble a championship caliber team. The situation you describe above is the exact thing that got them in trouble last year with the Archer trade. It was just as much a "look fans, we're serious" trade as it was a baseball trade.

I think the sooner we stop thinking about serious baseball fans and look at just the general public perception of the team, I think they need to do more.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I think the sooner we stop thinking about serious baseball fans and look at just the general public perception of the team, I think they need to do more.

are you suggesting the team make moves to appease the fans, regardless of the long-term consequences of the moves?

[willeyeam]

I think if the Pirates are this close to leading the division it will do more to further hurt the general public perception of the team than anything if they don't even come across as helping something with it.

If they want good will, no matter the right time to do it or not, I think they have to show they're somewhat serious about contending, even if they're not.

Disagreed. The job of the GM is to assemble a championship caliber team. The situation you describe above is the exact thing that got them in trouble last year with the Archer trade. It was just as much a "look fans, we're serious" trade as it was a baseball trade.

I think the sooner we stop thinking about serious baseball fans and look at just the general public perception of the team, I think they need to do more.

wut

[willeyeam]

if that's the case, the public is still heads over heels with making a move for Archer and going for it, right?