2018 Pittsburgh Pirates In-Season Thread

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Jordy supposedly needs a rest.

[willeyeam]

Jordy supposedly needs a rest.

This isn't all on hurdle. Jordy and JHay can't play 162 games so his options are limited. Call up Bostick, Newman, Kramer, Kang, anyone else up and send Sean Rod packing

[NailedPenguin]

The suck ass Reds about to be only 4 games behind the bucs after taking it to the Cubs

[DigitalGypsy66]

Interesting article in the Washington Post about the state of baseball and tanking. It's amazing that the Pirates can't even (or won't) tank properly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/spo ... c42df480d0

Too many really good teams, too many really bad teams, attendance and TV ratings down.

If my son who plays organized baseball nearly year round can't be arsed to watch more than a couple of innings on TV, what hope is there for MLB?

[NailedPenguin]

[dodint]

You know that pitcher can sing the anthem? WTAE doing another full feature on that after doing a 15 second clip of their shutout loss. Keep reaching.

[Troy Loney]

It’s not hard to see the direct line between payroll structure in mlb and this trend. The pirates aren’t tanking, and it wouldn’t make sense to tank because there are so many tanking teams right now that the pick won’t be high enough. Tanking doesn’t really work when you aren’t in line for a top 3 pick.

Free agency has been like this for a while, there are few teams that look at the available free agent veterans against their cheap in house options and choose the expensive route.

Fixing the international bonus system will help some, cause now teams with money can’t just buy up al the top Latin American prospects to keep rebuilding their system, but until mlb institutes a cap and floor, this is what we’ll get. I imagine they would then have to change arbitration to an RFA type system, which is probably the reason the small market teams aren’t being more vocal about the need for a cap

[DigitalGypsy66]

Frank Coonelly wrote a letter to the Pennsylvania Gaming Board to ask for potential gambling revenue to help maintain the costs of upkeep on PNC Park.

https://www.legalsportsreport.com/21429 ... ting-help/

https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2018 ... rrassment/

A copy of the letter: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dksports-cdn/u ... letter.pdf

[Dickie Dunn]

Frank Coonelly wrote a letter to the Pennsylvania Gaming Board to ask for potential gambling revenue to help maintain the costs of upkeep on PNC Park.

https://www.legalsportsreport.com/21429 ... ting-help/

https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2018 ... rrassment/

A copy of the letter: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dksports-cdn/u ... letter.pdf

I don't even have words. This **** franchise man. On that note of pure tone deaf stupidity, hearing the soundbites from the two **** for brains running this show on a daily basis is just infuriating. The way these two **** speak of SRod you would think they were trying to find a way to keep 42 year old Willie Stargell in the lineup without embarrassing him, not a **** 225 career hitter who has spent 2 and a half shitty seasons in this city, ruining my life. The speak of him with higher reverence than they ever did McCutchen.

GMNH: Before yesterday's game he was rambling on and on and on about how important SRod is to the team and the clubhouse and the young players on the roster and that he's done so much good work in the cages that they wanted to give him a "cluster of at-bats" to see if his changes bear fruit. ZERO FOR **** NINE WITH SIX STRIKEOUTS AND A DOUBLE PLAY. More like a cluster **** of at-bats. 1 for 25 in June with 12 strikeouts. Dude went 2 for 4 on May 17th, bringing his season slash line to 189/302/378/681. Since then he's 3 for 43 with 18 Ks and is batting 070/216/093/309 and has committed 5 errors in 73 innings since May 31st. GET RID OF HIM.

IMCH: GMNH also said some bullshit before the game about how even though Monday was rained out they were treating it like a gameday since the players had to go through the mental and physical exhaustion of preparing for a game. I wish once or twice a year baseball players were forced to play something where you don't stand around for three hours and maybe swing a bat like 10 times so they can see what real mental and physical exhaustion is like, but regardless that's the excuse they gave for starting SRod at SS. Late in the game the Pirates actually had a runner on and **** SRod is at the plate and Hurdle's reasoning for not using a pinch hitter and then putting Mercer in the game was actually "Well what if we tie it up and then the game goes 17 innings and the guy I was trying to rest plays a full game anyways". WHO THE **** WORRIES ABOUT A 17 INNING GAME WHEN YOU'RE LOSING 3-0!?! Ya know what you do if that somehow actually manages to happen? You option Osuna or you tell SRod to pack his bags and march his greasy ass elsewhere and then you call up Newman or Kramer or Kang or Moroff or Reyes or sign one of the need two, got two guys to play SS the following day because any of them would be a **** upgrade over what you're using now.


TLDR: This team is being run by dadholes who are also idiots.

[Morkle]

GMNH: Before yesterday's game he was rambling on and on and on about how important SRod is to the team and the clubhouse and the young players on the roster and that he's done so much good work in the cages that they wanted to give him a "cluster of at-bats" to see if his changes bear fruit. ZERO FOR **** NINE WITH SIX STRIKEOUTS AND A DOUBLE PLAY. More like a cluster **** of at-bats. 1 for 25 in June with 12 strikeouts. Dude went 2 for 4 on May 17th, bringing his season slash line to 189/302/378/681. Since then he's 3 for 43 with 18 Ks and is batting 070/216/093/309 and has committed 5 errors in 73 innings since May 31st. GET RID OF HIM.

Heard it. Him trying to pass this off pretty much just tells me all I need to know about his intentions with the team this year. I also think he no longer gets to dodint about attendance issues ever again, they're obviously not doing their best to put a winning team on the field. No way would I pay sub-$13 bucks to watch a guy who's batting.143 go 0-9.

I just am so out of love with everything about this team right now. The owner, the GM constantly pushing garbage, and Hurdle. I think Hurdle and staff have gone past their expiration date, and it's just old and tiring.

[Dickie Dunn]

I think most people felt that way about GMNH and IMCH last season and then they somehow got 4 year extensions and neither of them is getting paid John Russell money, so I don't expect any terminations to be considered until 2020ish.

[Freddy Rumsen]

They've lost me as a fan.

I used to be a big booster of NH, but my goodness what a dodint.

[shafnutz05]

A+ rant DD.

At this point, I am rooting for the world to burn. Let's see just how bad it gets. Let's put S-Rod at leadoff every game for the rest of the year.

[dodint]

https://www.reddit.com/r/buccos/comment ... l_15_2018/

Have a walk down nostalgia lane.

[Dickie Dunn]

Dickie Dunn's Prospect Update AKA A List of Players Already Better Than SRod

AAA
Kramer: 286 with 3 HRs over last 10 games. Still striking out a ton.
Kang: 1 for 8 over last two games.
Luplow: Batting 452 over last 10. Isn't showing the long ball power from last season but still has 31 XBH.
Moroff: 344 with 2 HRs over last 10. Still shitty though.
Newman: 333 over last 10. Still has less power than a Rude Beetle slap shot.

AA
Craig: 2 for 17 since people had nice things to say about him.
Hayes: Returned from injury, is 1 for 12 with a HR.
Martin: 286 over his last 10. Don't understand how he's still in AA at this point.
Reynolds: 368 over his last 10.
Tucker: Can't hit.

WV Power
Bolton: 0.89 ERA, 0.74 WHIP in 20.1 IP
Cruz: 447 with 2 HR, 11 RBI, and only 5 Ks in his last 10. Have less of an idea how he's still in WV.
Mitchell: Always swinging for the fences landed him on the DL>
Lolo: 290 over his last 10.

WV Black Bears
Swaggerty: 429/500/571/1071 in 2 games. Start preparing for his Cooperstown induction.

Also of note is that Felix Pie has looked less than stellar since TL had nice things to say about him.

A new addition to this week's edition of my rants and misery regarding the Pirates is a look at how our tradeable assets are performing.

Cervelli: Currently dead. Was only batting 162/354/297/651 in June. I could see a contender wanting him for depth/insurance.

Marte: I doubt the Pirates want to trade him but I imagine he could fetch a decent return. 192/247/342/589 in June.

Dickerson: They seem eager to trade him. Knock on him was his poor second half last season. This year he got an early start on it.
266/299/313/611 in June with 0 HR, 3 2Bs, only 1 RBI, and an ISO of 047.

Harrison: 257/303/371/674 in June. Best skill is getting hit with the ball.

Mercer: 281/339/439/777 in June, which throughout his career seems to be one of the two months he can hit.

Freese: 286/394/321/715 in June, which is funny because I've blocked out all instances of him playing this month. Dude has zero power.

Polanco: Not a tradeable asset, just wanted everyone to know that he's batting 217/339/391/731 in June, which is somehow significantly better than Bell's 230/342/311/654.

Nova: Been really good in June after a bad May. 0.92 ERA with an 0.86 WHIP. 167/224/254/478 against. Trade him before he remembers who he is.

TLDR: All prospects are better than SRod, none of our tradeable veterans are very good or desirable.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

the only thing I have to say is that the minor leagues are infested with guys that cant hit but can really flash leather. srod cant do either. and his career obp is 300.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

A+ rant DD.

At this point, I am rooting for the world to burn. Let's see just how bad it gets. Let's put S-Rod at leadoff every game for the rest of the year.

Agreed, I enjoyed the rant.

[NailedPenguin]

and f*** Tim Williams and the other Pirate slurpers that rode their high horses in friggen mid April. Complaining about a made up boycott and how people are missing an exciting team. They were all so goddamn smug about everything, even about people crediting Milwaukee for spending some money to improve. They ridiculed that and look where we're at. Now that everybody was right except them, they can play the "people rooting for the pirates to lose" "and we're still the real fans" BS.

[dodint]

YEAH!

[count2infinity]

They're trying their hardest to blow this...

[dodint]

They're playing a soft team, they have a shot.

[Troy Loney]

and f*** Tim Williams and the other Pirate slurpers that rode their high horses in friggen mid April. Complaining about a made up boycott and how people are missing an exciting team. They were all so goddamn smug about everything, even about people crediting Milwaukee for spending some money to improve. They ridiculed that and look where we're at. Now that everybody was right except them, they can play the "people rooting for the pirates to lose" "and we're still the real fans" BS.

I do think that Williams goes over the top with his baseball economics influencing payroll decisions argument. But I think you do have to wonder why the Pirates were being pointed out for being cheap when their payroll is the same as the Brewers. I think it's clear as day that people are pissed that the Pirates suck, and because the determinants of on field success are many and hard to identify, it's easy to immediately assign the cause as cheapness.

And yes, his diatribe against the boycott was patently absurd. These are just fairweather fans that chose label their being fairweather fans as a "boycott".

[robbiestoupe]

The Brewers comparison is not apples to apples. They shrunk their payroll (tanking if you will) and had a semi decent year last year. They realized they had a good young core, so traded for Christian Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain. The Pirates were happy to blow their load on SRod.

[Troy Loney]

Dickie Dunn's Prospect Update AKA A List of Players Already Better Than SRod

AAA
Kramer: 286 with 3 HRs over last 10 games. Still striking out a ton.
Kang: 1 for 8 over last two games.
Luplow: Batting 452 over last 10. Isn't showing the long ball power from last season but still has 31 XBH.
Moroff: 344 with 2 HRs over last 10. Still shitty though.
Newman: 333 over last 10. Still has less power than a Rude Beetle slap shot.

AA
Craig: 2 for 17 since people had nice things to say about him.
Hayes: Returned from injury, is 1 for 12 with a HR.
Martin: 286 over his last 10. Don't understand how he's still in AA at this point.
Reynolds: 368 over his last 10.
Tucker: Can't hit.

WV Power
Bolton: 0.89 ERA, 0.74 WHIP in 20.1 IP
Cruz: 447 with 2 HR, 11 RBI, and only 5 Ks in his last 10. Have less of an idea how he's still in WV.
Mitchell: Always swinging for the fences landed him on the DL>
Lolo: 290 over his last 10.

WV Black Bears
Swaggerty: 429/500/571/1071 in 2 games. Start preparing for his Cooperstown induction.

Also of note is that Felix Pie has looked less than stellar since TL had nice things to say about him.

A new addition to this week's edition of my rants and misery regarding the Pirates is a look at how our tradeable assets are performing.

Cervelli: Currently dead. Was only batting 162/354/297/651 in June. I could see a contender wanting him for depth/insurance.

Marte: I doubt the Pirates want to trade him but I imagine he could fetch a decent return. 192/247/342/589 in June.

Dickerson: They seem eager to trade him. Knock on him was his poor second half last season. This year he got an early start on it.
266/299/313/611 in June with 0 HR, 3 2Bs, only 1 RBI, and an ISO of 047.

Harrison: 257/303/371/674 in June. Best skill is getting hit with the ball.

Mercer: 281/339/439/777 in June, which throughout his career seems to be one of the two months he can hit.

Freese: 286/394/321/715 in June, which is funny because I've blocked out all instances of him playing this month. Dude has zero power.

Polanco: Not a tradeable asset, just wanted everyone to know that he's batting 217/339/391/731 in June, which is somehow significantly better than Bell's 230/342/311/654.

Nova: Been really good in June after a bad May. 0.92 ERA with an 0.86 WHIP. 167/224/254/478 against. Trade him before he remembers who he is.

TLDR: All prospects are better than SRod, none of our tradeable veterans are very good or desirable.

Keller has seemed to really figure things out in AA, he has like a 1 ERA in his last 32 innings. I'm not sure when the mid season promotion are to happen, but I think him, Hayes and Martin should be moved up to Indy. I'm impressed with Hayes, he slumped out of the gates, but for most of the year he's been an .800 OPS guy with strong good K:BB ratios.

Newman or Kramer need to start getting some MLB time unless for some reason the Pirates want to resign Mercer after this year. He's probably going to get paid less in FA than he did in his last arbitration year, so I guess it's not out of the question. I imagine they are trying to trade Sean Rod and Freese, but who knows.

So right now, you can probably improve the team by replacing Freese, Rodriguez, Harrison, Mercer and Nova with in house options. Newman, Kramer, Moroff, Bostick/Frazier and Kingham. So this is going to make some people throw up, but that would make their 2019 payroll projection to be about $50M. Not like they're going to sign Harper or Machado, but they won't have a payroll that low. I imagine that they will try and extend Taillon and Meadows or something like that. NH has built the best roster $50M can buy, they need to figure out how to use money to make the team better.

[Dickie Dunn]

Dickie Dunn's Prospect Update AKA A List of Players Already Better Than SRod

AAA
Kramer: 286 with 3 HRs over last 10 games. Still striking out a ton.
Kang: 1 for 8 over last two games.
Luplow: Batting 452 over last 10. Isn't showing the long ball power from last season but still has 31 XBH.
Moroff: 344 with 2 HRs over last 10. Still shitty though.
Newman: 333 over last 10. Still has less power than a Rude Beetle slap shot.

AA
Craig: 2 for 17 since people had nice things to say about him.
Hayes: Returned from injury, is 1 for 12 with a HR.
Martin: 286 over his last 10. Don't understand how he's still in AA at this point.
Reynolds: 368 over his last 10.
Tucker: Can't hit.

WV Power
Bolton: 0.89 ERA, 0.74 WHIP in 20.1 IP
Cruz: 447 with 2 HR, 11 RBI, and only 5 Ks in his last 10. Have less of an idea how he's still in WV.
Mitchell: Always swinging for the fences landed him on the DL>
Lolo: 290 over his last 10.

WV Black Bears
Swaggerty: 429/500/571/1071 in 2 games. Start preparing for his Cooperstown induction.

Also of note is that Felix Pie has looked less than stellar since TL had nice things to say about him.

A new addition to this week's edition of my rants and misery regarding the Pirates is a look at how our tradeable assets are performing.

Cervelli: Currently dead. Was only batting 162/354/297/651 in June. I could see a contender wanting him for depth/insurance.

Marte: I doubt the Pirates want to trade him but I imagine he could fetch a decent return. 192/247/342/589 in June.

Dickerson: They seem eager to trade him. Knock on him was his poor second half last season. This year he got an early start on it.
266/299/313/611 in June with 0 HR, 3 2Bs, only 1 RBI, and an ISO of 047.

Harrison: 257/303/371/674 in June. Best skill is getting hit with the ball.

Mercer: 281/339/439/777 in June, which throughout his career seems to be one of the two months he can hit.

Freese: 286/394/321/715 in June, which is funny because I've blocked out all instances of him playing this month. Dude has zero power.

Polanco: Not a tradeable asset, just wanted everyone to know that he's batting 217/339/391/731 in June, which is somehow significantly better than Bell's 230/342/311/654.

Nova: Been really good in June after a bad May. 0.92 ERA with an 0.86 WHIP. 167/224/254/478 against. Trade him before he remembers who he is.

TLDR: All prospects are better than SRod, none of our tradeable veterans are very good or desirable.

Keller has seemed to really figure things out in AA, he has like a 1 ERA in his last 32 innings. I'm not sure when the mid season promotion are to happen, but I think him, Hayes and Martin should be moved up to Indy. I'm impressed with Hayes, he slumped out of the gates, but for most of the year he's been an .800 OPS guy with strong good K:BB ratios.

Newman or Kramer need to start getting some MLB time unless for some reason the Pirates want to resign Mercer after this year. He's probably going to get paid less in FA than he did in his last arbitration year, so I guess it's not out of the question. I imagine they are trying to trade Sean Rod and Freese, but who knows.

So right now, you can probably improve the team by replacing Freese, Rodriguez, Harrison, Mercer and Nova with in house options. Newman, Kramer, Moroff, Bostick/Frazier and Kingham. So this is going to make some people throw up, but that would make their 2019 payroll projection to be about $50M. Not like they're going to sign Harper or Machado, but they won't have a payroll that low. I imagine that they will try and extend Taillon and Meadows or something like that. NH has built the best roster $50M can buy, they need to figure out how to use money to make the team better.

I'd be fine with a $50M payroll if it meant they were turning to the young guys. Keller had another great start last night with 1 hit, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts over 8 shutout innings. His ERA peaked on 5/26 at 3.69. Five starts later its down to 2.72.