2018-2019 Pittsburgh Pirate Baseball Club Off-Season Thread of Despair

[Dickie Dunn]

Bannister's a good guy...but two AL West titles, and then a 78 win season, then the wheels fell off last season...and he was fired? That's a little odd, no?

I think that's just how teams not named the Pirates tend to operate.

[DigitalGypsy66]

that's my thought after I posted. "I wonder if normal teams fire managers after a bad season or two?"

[Morkle]

Cardinals got Goldschmidt &Miller. Reds got Puig, Kemp &Wood. Pirates brought back their old bench coach. BUCCO FEVER...CATCH IT!

[LeopardLetang]

Haha that's funny. Yet i kinda have the fever anyway. Got sick somewhere i guess

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

You’ll have the fever when pitchers and catchers report in just over a month

[willeyeam]

I wasn't aware Bucco Fever was something that subsided

[dodint]

Cardinals got Goldschmidt &Miller. Reds got Puig, Kemp &Wood. Pirates brought back their old bench coach. BUCCO FEVER...CATCH IT!

At least you guys will always have 11-4.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Cardinals got Goldschmidt &Miller. Reds got Puig, Kemp &Wood. Pirates brought back their old bench coach. BUCCO FEVER...CATCH IT!

Reds moves are the kinds of things done on MLB the Show.

Their pitching is still terribad.

[Troy Loney]

Some positives from yesterday's mini camp:

It looks like Tucker is finally starting to fill out. I've never seen him live in person, but for those that have, you should go take a look at Pirates' Prospects instagram feed, and the videos of Tucker, and give an assessment. I'm pretty sure he was still very lanky as late as last year.

Polanco is also apparently ahead of schedule and is already hitting. I think the initial time frame was 7 to 9 months, so mid april to mid June. So if he is ahead of schedule maybe he is cleared for baseball activity in April and ready by May.

[Freddy Rumsen]

#Pirates, Keone Kela settle at 3,175,000, avoiding arbitration, source tells The Athletic.

#Pirates, Corey Dickerson settle at $8.5 million, avoiding arbitration, source tells The Athletic.

https://twitter.com/ByRobertMurray/stat ... 12865?s=19

[Troy Loney]

I predicted Kela at 3.25M and had Dickerson at 8.5M for my payroll prediction:

C Cervelli $11,500,000
1B Bell $600,000
2B Frazier $550,000
SS
3B Moran $600,000
RF Chisenhall $2,750,000
CF Marte $10,333,334
LF Dickerson $8,500,000

1P Archer $7,700,000
2P Taillon $600,000
3P Musgrove $600,000
4P Williams $600,000
5P Kingham $550,000

BN Gonzalez $550,000
BN Diaz $550,000
BN Reyes $550,000
BN Kang $3,000,000
BN Newman/Osuna $550,000

RP Vazquez $4,500,000
RP Kela $3,250,000
RP Crick $550,000
RP Rodriguez $550,000
RP Lyles $2,050,000
RP Feliz $850,000
RP Brault $550,000
Retained Harrison/Kang $1,250,000
DL Polanco $6,100,000
$69,733,334

[LeopardLetang]

You underestimated the bmtib's prowess

[Freddy Rumsen]

The Pirates today claimed right-handed pitcher Aaron Slegers off waivers from the Minnesota Twins.

To make room on the 40-man roster, RHP Dario Agrazal has been designated for assignment.

https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1083 ... 41248?s=19

[Troy Loney]

Definitely a better option for the 40-man.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

i forgot about kela

[robbiestoupe]

Source of the post 1P Archer $7,700,000
2P Taillon $600,000
3P Musgrove $600,000
4P Williams $600,000
5P Kingham $550,000

Source of the post SS [not found]

Source of the post $69,733,334

[Dickie Dunn]

Source of the post 1P Archer $7,700,000
2P Taillon $600,000
3P Musgrove $600,000
4P Williams $600,000
5P Kingham $550,000

Source of the post SS [not found]

Source of the post $69,733,334

This is obviously wrong though. Gonzalez will be the SS and Newman and Osuna (or some version of similar cost) will both be on the bench.

[Dickie Dunn]

We have the ninth-best record in baseball over the last six years,” Huntington said. “We are one a few teams that have made the postseason three times in the last seven years. However, we haven’t brought a World Series home. There’s a tremendous group of people whom I’m honored to work with and they’re committed to bringing a championship here. We have a strong group of young players who can develop and get better. We have an ownership group fully committed to bringing a title to Pittsburgh.”

Well just go ahead and raise a **** banner for these accomplishments.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pir ... 1901140033

Bucs Dugout did a solid deep dive into the Pirates being cheap.

Two things are striking about this chart. One is that the Pirates’ payroll has increased only six times in the dozen years since Nutting took over, if you include 2019. Speaking of which, here are the 2019 payrolls currently projected by Cot’s.

Obviously, what the chart shows — apart from the fact that the Pirates are the lowest-spending of the five teams — is that the other teams all have seen much sharper increases and decreases in their spending since 2007. Well, with one exception, that being the very sharp drop in the Pirates’ projected spending for 2019. It’s easy to check what was happening with the other four teams as their payrolls fluctuated. When they had a chance to win, they all sharply increased spending. When they didn’t, they retrenched or rebuilt. Payroll fluctuated in large part based on the teams’ needs on the field.

In the Pirates’ case, nothing of the sort happened. Payroll increased steadily as attendance grew steadily from around 19,000 per game in 2009-11 to over 30,000 in 2014-15. But no sharp increase ever happened. And the sharp reduction they’re headed for in 2019 comes after a winning season and at a time when the Pirates claim not to be rebuilding or retooling. The inescapable conclusion is that, unlike the rest of their peer group, the Pirates don’t base their payroll even partially on the team’s on-field needs. It’s strictly dictated by the profit margin that ownership mandates.

NO ****.

https://www.bucsdugout.com/2019/1/14/18 ... omparisons

[DigitalGypsy66]

Steve Blass will retire at the end of this season. He's been in the organization for nearly 60 years...

[willeyeam]

That will be a sad day

[Troy Loney]

Guess that means more wehner.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Wehner is better imo but blass leaving the booth is an end of an era

[Viva la Ben]

Still have Bob Walk tho.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Steve was the last tangible relation to championship baseball in Pittsburgh.

[Viva la Ben]

Does Manny ever show up at that BBQ place in the outfield anymore?