While the Pirates were on the vanguard of some analytical movements, those competitive advantages soon closed. Soon every team was shifting on the majority of plays. Catcher framing is no longer a market inefficiency and neither are ground-ball pitchers. In fact, the Pirates appeared to miss the next big trend in baseball: the home-run surge.
In 2017, in the year of the juiced ball and launch angle, only the Giants hit fewer home runs than the Pirates (151). In 2014, the Pirates were sixth in the majors in home runs (156). Pirates decision-makers thought after the 2014 season that we were headed away from an era of home runs and power and toward low-strikeout, line-drive hitters. (See: Royals’ and Giants’ World Series-winning teams.)
I asked Huntington about planning for the future in today’s environment last season.
“We actually had this misdirected belief that when college baseball went to the less impactful bats that we would get back to good baseball,” Huntington said. “That guys would learn how to hit and how to use the whole field with authority, learn how to hit and run… and we would get back to where we were pre-steroid era. Unfortunately, guys doubled down and tried to launch even more.
“It’s an interesting time in the industry. Is it a new normal? It’s a normal now. I don’t know if it’s a new normal, but it’s a normal now.”
It’s difficult to retain competitive advantages in part because information is so vast and deep, and best practices disseminate so quickly. The speed of change and copy-catting has never been greater in the sport. It’s also hard to stay ahead of the curve and foresee every new trend that is going to be important. In the 2014-15 offseason, not many thought we were on the verge of a run-scoring and home-run surge.
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-the ... -got-here/
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
What in the hell is the difference between "new normal" and "normal now?" Are they not technically the same? Isn't it more appropriate to say is launch angle and power hitters a new fad?
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Yes. That’s a dumb quote
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
its what people who dont know what theyre doing say to filibuster in meetings at your job, this is no different.
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
It’s a bad explanation for **** up royally and trying to say the **** was from elements out of their control. Like, we took the right action, but then it didn’t work.
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Maybe the pirates would have succeeded in their gap power/hit and run strategy if cutch didn't fall off a cliff, marte got suspended, jung ho didn't get barred from the country, and polanco actually panned out. Of course, they didn't. So now the pirates look like luddites.
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Some Indy pitcher got suspended for 50 games.
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Best Pirates follow on Twitter?
I can’t hang with that Beercheesetemple guy.
I can’t hang with that Beercheesetemple guy.
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Is it the Penn State stuff or is it the thing about the march today?
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Be glad you don't follow me on Twitter.
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
But seriously the best pirate guy to follow on Twitter is either the Bucs Dugout account or Liz Bloom, the post-gazette beat writer.
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
I hate this franchise so much. Damn that was great and simultaneously hard to read.
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
i'm not crying you're crying
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Yea that was a tough read.
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
I mean it was tough, but it was kind of pandering when he said he wanted to be here forever. That's kind of a jaded thought knowing the climate you're in with the Pirates. It was just never going to happen.
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
I set up a Tweetdeck search for "Jung Ho Kang" a while ago, and this popped up today:
https://twitter.com/NKMESSENGER/status/ ... 7320282113
https://twitter.com/NKMESSENGER/status/ ... 7320282113
He's trying everything to get back to the Pirates.Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang accepted Jesus as his savior last Sunday according to a Korean missionary in Dominican Republic. Hope he sincerely repented for his drunk driving and gets a 2nd chance to return to the MLB
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Wouldn't be the first...
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
In the meantime, the players are preparing best they can. Stars are stepping into behind-the-scenes leadership roles. Free agents are heeding the calls for patience. And the union, in addition to gathering information to best react to the market, is considering addressing a pair of situations contributing to the cause: Not only is it exploring whether the Miami Marlins are complying with revenue-sharing rules, it is likewise looking into whether the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have traded stars Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole this offseason, are reinvesting the money given to them into baseball operations, sources told Yahoo Sports.
https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/sports/so ... ssion=true
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Auditor: "Where's the money going? "
Nutting: "Latin America performance centers, we're a small market team so our scouting has to be the best"
Auditor: "Good enough for me"
Nutting: "Latin America performance centers, we're a small market team so our scouting has to be the best"
Auditor: "Good enough for me"
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Cutch is a free agent and doesn't produce to his salary. Cole was the most valuable asset on the team, wasn't making all that much, and the pirates weren't going anywhere.
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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Who the hell is running the MLBPA? Bunch of dumbasses over there.
I have no idea what the hell is going on in Miami, and I don't want to know, but every other couple years they go through a cycle of egregious spending, and a cycle of egregious salary dumps. Clumping them in with the pirates is confusing.
The worst offenders of what the MLBPA is attempting to decry are the Nationals, Cubs and Astros. These are high revenue teams that depressed their payroll for consecutive years to tank for high draft picks. Do they really want to point to the pirates spending at $80M instead of $100M. Or is the problem when the Cubs and Astros (two of the largest markets) spend $50M on salary? What's the argument? That they did this 3-5 years ago? Lol, they are the blueprint teams, and when they have to rebuild, da fuk do you think they're going to do?
I'm not even sure how to convey how terrible I think the MLBPA is at advocating for its members.
I have no idea what the hell is going on in Miami, and I don't want to know, but every other couple years they go through a cycle of egregious spending, and a cycle of egregious salary dumps. Clumping them in with the pirates is confusing.
The worst offenders of what the MLBPA is attempting to decry are the Nationals, Cubs and Astros. These are high revenue teams that depressed their payroll for consecutive years to tank for high draft picks. Do they really want to point to the pirates spending at $80M instead of $100M. Or is the problem when the Cubs and Astros (two of the largest markets) spend $50M on salary? What's the argument? That they did this 3-5 years ago? Lol, they are the blueprint teams, and when they have to rebuild, da fuk do you think they're going to do?
I'm not even sure how to convey how terrible I think the MLBPA is at advocating for its members.
2017-2018 Pittsburgh Pirates Off-Season Thread
Since the Pirates skip the rebuild part for decades at a time it's a bit dubious. The Cubs won the WS and the Nats make the playoffs consistently.
Shine a light on these dadholes, good and bright.
Shine a light on these dadholes, good and bright.
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