The Official 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Season Thread

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:59 am

Altoona Curve win the Eastern League Championship in a three game sweep with a 4-2 win with a strong start from Mitch Keller and a three run triple from their roly poly catcher.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:01 am

https://twitter.com/DanHoppSports/statu ... 9032725504

Postby **Troy Loney** » Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:06 am

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... d=95a204e0

Coley, McCrae and Anderson are interesting SP prospects as well. It will be interesting to see if they decide to leverage their deep farm system to improve the big league club this offseason.

Postby **beerman** » Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:40 am

As of this morning the Pirates and Blue Jays are tied for what would be the 10th/11th picks in next years draft. Both are just a half game clear of the Marlins. Also, Atlanta (9th - 1GB), San Diego (8th - 2.5GB) and Oakland (7th - 3.5GB) could be within reach if they suck enough down the stretch. Something to root for.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:44 am

As of this morning the Pirates and Blue Jays are tied for what would be the 10th/11th picks in next years draft. Both are just a half game clear of the Marlins. Also, Atlanta (9th - 1GB), San Diego (8th - 2.5GB) and Oakland (7th - 3.5GB) could be within reach if they suck enough down the stretch. Something to root for.

Warning cynicism approaching. The Pirates are aiming for the 11th overall pick because it's the first unprotected one and they would have a legitimate reason for not signing any FA that had received a QO.

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Sat Sep 16, 2017 11:14 pm

Pitt sucks and damnit the pirates suck too

At least dovydas got to pitch in another high leverage situation (The 8th inning when the pirates are losing 2-0)

Postby **willeyeam** » Sat Sep 16, 2017 11:53 pm

There hasn't been a high leverage situation since mid July

Postby **beerman** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 8:25 am

As of this morning the Pirates and Blue Jays are tied for what would be the 10th/11th picks in next years draft. Both are just a half game clear of the Marlins. Also, Atlanta (9th - 1GB), San Diego (8th - 2.5GB) and Oakland (7th - 3.5GB) could be within reach if they suck enough down the stretch. Something to root for.

The sweep puts them in a tie for 9th/10th picks with Atlanta. Within 1.5 of the A's and Padres and 2 of the Reds.

1.5 clear of the Marlins in the 11th spot.

Postby **columbia** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 8:30 am

The **** Reds swept them?

Postby **Troy Loney** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 8:49 am

It had seemed likely for a while that this season would spiral out of control. This death spiral does change some things though, as opposed to going into the offseason with some confidence and belief in the current crop of players, one has to question the core building blocks. Staying the course would require them to put faith in a lot of players. They have to count on Cole, McCutchen, Taillon, Bell, Harrison and Rivero. I don't think that's unreasonable, but these guys have to have zero questions around them, because the other guys they will be counting on - Nova, Polanco, Meadows, Marte, Cervelli, Kuhl, Williams & Glasnow all have questions. So even if they get enough contribution from the players they are hoping from, downs seasons from the guys they are counting on could cancel those out and then some.

I think the only given is that they'll get racked through the coals no matter which decisions they make this offseason.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:20 am

I bet they dump Nova, Harrison, Freese, and Cervelli over the winter.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:25 am

I think they should/will keep Freese, and hopefully employ him as a bench player.

Trading Nova and Harrison would be prudent, even after having all star first halves, both of those players are more likely to erase all their existing trade value, than to become more valuable. I assume they'll keep Cervelli, he's probably due for a productive season next year.

Postby **Morkle** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:27 am

I see them retaining Cutch, and dumping Cole. I don't know though, what little faith I had from the winning seasons has all since been smashed, stepped on, burned, peed on, pooped on, and then left there to rot.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:50 am

Pirates record for HR given up in a season is 32. Cole is at 30 and Nova is at 29. We could have a record breaking close to the 2017 disaster.

Postby **Viva la Ben** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 12:50 pm

Drew Hutchinson has been released.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 12:51 pm

Postby **willeyeam** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:02 pm

Postby **Viva la Ben** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:12 pm

Remember NH said the trade with Toronto was to specifically acquire Hutchinson.
https://twitter.com/stephenjnesbitt/sta ... 3176439808

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:16 pm

some good GMNH quotes in the paper today Re: Hutchinson. The best was his quote about how they really didn't need Hutchinson because the starters stayed healthy all year. It was something like "well, if we needed 8 or 9 starters, drew certainly would have gotten a chance to start, but our starters stayed healthy, so you can't really blame drew for that"

at least the pirates got financial flexibility out of that liriano/Hutchinson trade

Postby **Viva la Ben** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:27 pm

I haven't gone to a game this season, and went once with free tickets last season. I won't go again for a while, at least until there is new ownership.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:58 pm

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZL5AothCDY/

I sure the Rawlings rep rolled his eyes a few times about that customization.

Postby **columbia** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 4:55 am

There's talk of the Mets walking away from Harvey. You know that Nutting is already slobbering over that idea.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:47 am

Moved into the 9th pick last night. Half a game ahead of 10th, 2.5 games clear of 11th, and only 2.5 games from a top five pick. I have faith this terrible team that is putting forth absolutely zero effort can pull this off.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 10:11 am

I think they'll end up in the 6-8 range. It's going to be an interesting FA class, i'm not sure which guys are going to get QO's but it would of course be nice to see them take advantage of that protected pick and sign a FA.

Postby **beerman** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 10:41 am

It's hard to see them being any good next season unless they're willing to make a significant move or two over the offseason. Whether that's taking advantage of the protected pick and adding a FA (3B?) or significant trades.

I'm hoping that the team limping to the finish at least forces the FO to not fall back on bringing most of the same roster back next year and hoping for internal improvement/better health. There's some talent here but as currently constructed the ceiling is probably flirting with or being a few games over .500.