2018 Pittsburgh Pirates In-Season Thread

[willeyeam]

Just saw that the Pirates lead MLB in BABIP.

So there's definitely imminent regression. They are going to have to get the bullpen fixed ASAP.

I think an easy thing GMNH could do to help the team and gain a decent amount of goodwill is to add a bullpen arm. Make a move and address an obvious weakness. Musgrove returning will obviously help, adding him or Brault back to the pen, but I still think they're another 8th inning guy away. Kontos-X-Lannister would be a nice 7th-8th-9th setup

[DigitalGypsy66]

I do hope the Lannister thing sticks. It just feels right.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

niemi played 3 games with the pens before GMJR pulled the plug on that experiment. 3. that is what a guy that has freedom to do what it takes to win does...gtfo out of a bad situation.

we will see if gmnh is afforded such freedom when it comes to the bullpen

[Dickie Dunn]

Where da haterz

Dickie, come repent.

[Morkle]

Where da haterz

Dickie, come repent.

Who was the team that started out hot last year and still lost 98 games?

[Troy Loney]

Of all the statistical numbers out there BABIP has to be one of the most misleading. If you are seeing the ball and hitting it square, of course your BABIP is going to be high. The opposite goes for when you aren't reading the ball correctly.

That doesn't mean the Pirates won't regress, but they may be who we think they are - a good hitting team that will end up in the top of MLB in BABIP.

I'm not sure that they are technically hitting the ball that hard right now though.

But, they do have a lower HR/fly Ball ratio, so there's a chance their HR totals could see a boost.

[Troy Loney]

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx? ... &sort=16,d

[robbiestoupe]

Is there a stat that mixes how hard the ball is hit and BABIP? That to me would be useful. If you combine all that with UZR/150 or some other relevant defensive stat for the defense the batter is facing, that would tell you how good a hitter you have.

[willeyeam]

https://twitter.com/indyindians/status/ ... 6128072709

This is very good

[Troy Loney]

Crick also pitching well in relief at Indy.

I'm guessing they still want Smoker as a lefty in the pen? But if Brault moves back there, then they can make the swap (Smoker for Crick).

[slappybrown]

https://twitter.com/indyindians/status/ ... 6128072709

This is very good

is expectation a mid-season call up

[Troy Loney]

Fluid situation, not sure what's going on with Musgrove, but Brault is going to be given the opportunity to own that rotation slot the same way that Williams did last year.

If we assume that Musgrove returns in the next month, the rotation depth will probably look something like:

Taillon
Williams
Nova
Kuhl
Brault
Musgrove
Kingham
Glasnow

I think that Kuhl is the most likely to pitch himself out of the rotation, and I anyone can get injured.

[willeyeam]

https://twitter.com/indyindians/status/ ... 6128072709

This is very good

is expectation a mid-season call up

The rotation isn't great so the opportunity is there if Musgrove or Kuhl stink.. He has had a crazy run of injuries like Taillon, so I don't think he'll get rushed along for anything. Pretty sure 2014 was his last full year. So I don't really have an expectation for him but I'd be surprised if he keeps it up and doesn't get a call up

[shafnutz05]

Bucs get three runs on Lester in the first and promptly give up four in the bottom half. That's sad

[Freddy Rumsen]

It's what the Pirates do.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Pirates with a flyers-esque performance in the 6th innning

[Dickie Dunn]

[shafnutz05]

Our pitching is really, really, really bad. Even our offense continues hitting at a good pace, it won't matter.

[willeyeam]

Pirates with a flyers-esque performance in the 6th innning

was listening on the way back and it sounds like Glasnow got some really terrible luck and then pretty much said eff it

[Troy Loney]

The bullpen has been bad all year, and they're still 8-3.

I think the bullpen is fixable, as long as the offense keeps scoring runs, I think they'll hang around.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Pirates with a flyers-esque performance in the 6th innning

was listening on the way back and it sounds like Glasnow got some really terrible luck and then pretty much said eff it

Glasnow struck out the first batter of the inning, but it was a wild pitch/passed ball so he reached. Then he got to second on a fielders choice. Then he stole third. Then glasnow got a ground ball to jhay and jhay went home with it but didn't get an out. then the wheels really came off. but honestly it didn't seem like that bad of a performance from glasnow.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Yeah that inning was not all about Glasnow getting nailed with hard hits (only really one). It was all cheap stuff compounded by poor fielding.

[Morkle]

The bullpen has been bad all year, and they're still 8-3.

I think the bullpen is fixable, as long as the offense keeps scoring runs, I think they'll hang around.

I expect the offense to regress, which leads to a bad time.

[willeyeam]

The bullpen has been bad all year, and they're still 8-3.

I think the bullpen is fixable, as long as the offense keeps scoring runs, I think they'll hang around.

I expect the offense to regress, which leads to a bad time.

of course, and the bullpen isn't going to keep a 7.51 ERA all season either

[willeyeam]

2-1 Bucs in the 7th, Williams at 94 pitches which means it's time for bullpen roulette