2018 Pittsburgh Pirates In-Season Thread

[count2infinity]

This is the first inning of pirates baseball I’ve watched this season... off to a great start.

[Freddy Rumsen]

I forgot the game was this afternoon.

[shafnutz05]

They have pretty much mailed it in I think.

[Dickie Dunn]

I wish they were no hit.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

One hit? One god damn hit? That’s all we got

[dodint]

11-21 against teams above .500.

[robbiestoupe]

2-9 vs. NL East
5-8 vs. NL West
25-16 vs. everybody else

[Beveridge]

2-9 vs. NL East
5-8 vs. NL West
25-16 vs. everybody else

That everybody else stat is somewhat misleading.

9 - 1 vs Detroit and Chicago Whitesox. So 16 - 15 vs everyone not those 2 teams. 11 - 11 vs the 3 teams in their own division ahead of them, which leaves 5-4 vs Reds and Twins.

[Troy Loney]

They've held their own against the Cards and Cubs. The problem is definitely the three 4 game series losses to the Phillies, Nationals and Padres.

Either way, they are still hanging around after this futile stretch, and the question will be do they rebound or sink. The rotation is slowly finding its way, but the issues with Bell and Polanco are kind of insurmountable (mostly because Bell, Polanco can be replaced with Meadows).

[robbiestoupe]

2-9 vs. NL East
5-8 vs. NL West
25-16 vs. everybody else

That everybody else stat is somewhat misleading.

9 - 1 vs Detroit and Chicago Whitesox. So 16 - 15 vs everyone not those 2 teams. 11 - 11 vs the 3 teams in their own division ahead of them, which leaves 5-4 vs Reds and Twins.

Kinda my point. These stats are all meaningless. They play whoever is on the schedule

[Beveridge]

Correct and they are average as the record against the teams on their schedule has suggested almost 40% through the season.

[Dickie Dunn]

They've held their own against the Cards and Cubs. The problem is definitely the three 4 game series losses to the Phillies, Nationals and Padres.

Either way, they are still hanging around after this futile stretch, and the question will be do they rebound or sink. The rotation is slowly finding its way, but the issues with Bell and Polanco are kind of insurmountable (mostly because Bell, Polanco can be replaced with Meadows).

I don't even know what to do with Bell at this point but it seems like he could benefit from some low pressure ABs in AAA. Also wonder if they start giving Moran some looks at 1B to open up space for Kang's return.

Per the summary at Bucs Dugout, GMNH said this bullshit yesterday:

“Sean is a tremendous person. He is a competitor. He is a really positive influence in that clubhouse among our own players. This is not fantasy baseball. This is real world, and there are reasons for results. You want to give a guy like that as much time as possible to figure it out...you hope you don’t get to the point where you need to move on. We are not there.”

**** Hurdle. **** Huntington. **** SRod.

[Freddy Rumsen]

If he's that much of a good influence then just make him assistant bench coach.

[dodint]

This is the guy that fights giant Gatorade bottles, right?

[Dickie Dunn]

Gatordade Bottles of Unusual Size, but yes.

[Morkle]

"there are reasons for results" - yea your team sucks, and he sucks. Those are the reasons why you're a middling to below average franchise.

[slappybrown]

The "this isn't fantasy baseball" line is really disconcerting

[Dickie Dunn]

The "this isn't fantasy baseball" line is really disconcerting

That’s just his old d-bag “I’m smarter than you” swarm that pollutes most of his answers. Beyond that, the idea that "you want to give a guy like that as much time as possible to figure it out" is just **** offensive. FIGURE WHAT OUT!? Dudes career numbers are 227/300/381/682. Take out that complete aberration of a season in 2016, which happened right before he was in a brutal car crash, and you've got a 221/293/363/656 split with a 26% K rate. Plus, he's got a career split of 146/281/260/541 as a pinch hitter. At his very best throughout his career SRod is a 25th man on the roster, last guy on the bench, defensive replacement. He's a nothing at the plate and now that his defensive skills have eroded he's a nothing in the field as well.

**** Hurdle.

[Troy Loney]

I think there was a time where the Pirates' payroll decisions could be defended, but looking at what they have in committed salaries for next year? It's really quite astonishing. http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/pittsburgh-p ... roll/2019/

It's at under 65M, and the only guy looking at much of a raise in arbitration is Dickerson. mercer and seanrod are the only FA's so they could easily field an $80M team again, I mean, to their credit, they are fielding the best bottom payroll team, but at some point there has to be a method to this madness, as opposed to just grooming a strong pre-arbitration roster.

It's not as though it makes sense to add a Harper or Machado at $40M per year, but they should look to leverage some of these cheap players under control to add quality guys that are under contract. I'm sure the big spenders are going to be looking to shed some weight to make runs at those guys, so maybe they would be looking to deal some of their players with contracts to make that happen.

They are in a bit of a confounding spot, but it was through their roster construction decisions that they are there.

[Dickie Dunn]

I think there was a time where the Pirates' payroll decisions could be defended, but looking at what they have in committed salaries for next year? It's really quite astonishing. http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/pittsburgh-p ... roll/2019/

It's at under 65M, and the only guy looking at much of a raise in arbitration is Dickerson. mercer and seanrod are the only FA's so they could easily field an $80M team again, I mean, to their credit, they are fielding the best bottom payroll team, but at some point there has to be a method to this madness, as opposed to just grooming a strong pre-arbitration roster.

It's not as though it makes sense to add a Harper or Machado at $40M per year, but they should look to leverage some of these cheap players under control to add quality guys that are under contract. I'm sure the big spenders are going to be looking to shed some weight to make runs at those guys, so maybe they would be looking to deal some of their players with contracts to make that happen.

They are in a bit of a confounding spot, but it was through their roster construction decisions that they are there.

I fully expect Dickerson to get dealt at the deadline to "make space" for Meadows. Polanco is untradeable and I doubt they want to get rid of Marte. They'll claim the four man outfield rotation isn't working as they had hoped in order to dump Dickerson because he'll be getting a raise next season.

[Troy Loney]

There are definitely circumstances where dealing Dickerson makes sense. He's really just pretty good for a corner OF'er.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Polanco and Bell sunk this team this year, full stop.

Polanco's downgrade and inability to improve is an anchor.

[Dickie Dunn]

Dickerson might just be "pretty good" for a corner OF'er but most of the roster could be characterized as "pretty bad" for their position.

[Freddy Rumsen]

LF: Above-Average (Dickerson)
CF: Above-Average
RF: Below-Average
1B: Below-Average
2B: Below-Average
SS: Below-Average
3B: Average
SP: Average
RP: Average
C: Average

[Troy Loney]

C is above average at the moment.