2019 Pittsburgh Pirates Season Thread

[shafnutz05]

I think Bell has arrived

[Gaucho]

[willeyeam]

Lol

[Ad@m]

‍

[blackjack68]

Another stunner!

[willeyeam]

Raise it. 3 out of 4 in St Louis is fantastic. Time for revenge against the DBacks

[Factorial]

I like watching Brault pitch even though he does suck.

Josh Bell looking like a triple crown guy.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Pretty sure I’m the only one here who visits it with any regularity, but Bucs Dugout is in full disaster mode again. They hired a new site manager who is a Braves fan, which is weird but really no big deal because it’s just a job after all. However, the revelation that all existing contributors were fired with the opportunity to reapply for their job has gone over as well as anyone with a functioning brain could expect. Lots of deleted posts, a locked game thread, and a post game thread that is non-commentable. Running a fan website should be a hell of a lot easier than Vox is making it out to be.

That's unfortunate. The SB Nation team blogs were probably the first team-oriented sites that I really started enjoying. Whether to check out the Pgh sites or to get a sweet, sweet taste of schadenfreude on the other teams' sites. I think I enjoyed it initially because it had a flare of independence. Now it's a part of the shtty Vox media conglomerate.

Yep.

Jim Hammett was talking about his experience at Cardiac Hill. He said most site managers make like $50 a week from Voxmedia.

[Troy Loney]

Archer is back this week, this at least gets Brault out of the rotation, though we're still stuck with Kingham, who is basically just as bad right now.

Reynolds and Melky are coming back to earth, so hopefully Dickerson or Chisenhall can get back soon. The offense looks a lot better with them having someone that can get on base in front of Bell, and Marte is starting to see a bit of an uptick to his numbers. I'm hoping that they try Dickerson back in the leadoff spot when he returns, Frazier is not getting the job done. Then have some sort of rotation between Frazier, Newman and Cole until Gonzalez returns. Tucker is not ready, but they can't send him down yet because they don't have another SS on the roster.

Moran is fine at 3B for the time being, but if they don't have designs on bringing Hayes up this summer, they need to acquire a starter. I'm not sure how many more at bats they can give Kang and so they are just burning a bench spot on his worthless ass.

Cervelli and Diaz have been terrible at the plate, I think there is clearly room for positive regression for both of them, and all offense improvement is welcome right now.

RichRod has had some positive outings recently, I fear he's in line to cost them another game soon. Otherwise, maybe Durapau can stick. This Stratton guy has terrible numbers, but a move to the bullpen and from the AL to the NL could be good for him, I mean, he just has to be better than Lyons and Feliz, so the ask is low. At this moment, Feliz, Holmes and Brault are all on the active 25-man. One is gone when Archer returns, but really, those three need to be as far away from playing in a real game as can be,

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

We are nearing completion of the first quarter of the season. The buccos' record appears (20-17) to have exceeded most of our expectations, yet the vibe I get from the fanbase (including this newsgroup) is that the team could/should be doing much more. I think it has a lot to do with how dramatically different players have performed compared to their expectations. on one side of the spectrum you have bell (I think we all *hoped* he would get better but not a freaking 40 home run guy) and on the other side you have cervelli and the bullpen.

not sure where the team goes from here, but I suppose the starting pitching is going to be the biggest factor going forward.

[Troy Loney]

We are nearing completion of the first quarter of the season. The buccos' record appears (20-17) to have exceeded most of our expectations, yet the vibe I get from the fanbase (including this newsgroup) is that the team could/should be doing much more. I think it has a lot to do with how dramatically different players have performed compared to their expectations. on one side of the spectrum you have bell (I think we all *hoped* he would get better but not a freaking 40 home run guy) and on the other side you have cervelli and the bullpen.

not sure where the team goes from here, but I suppose the starting pitching is going to be the biggest factor going forward.

Bell being good is obviously good, but nothing that Bell, Polanco or anyone else on the offense does matters if they have no reliable bullpen arms.

I was less concerned about rotation depth because I was a believer in the bullpen, my belief in the bullpen also made me less concerned about offensive shortcomings because the bullpen was supposed to shorten games. Because the bullpen has gone from a saving grace, to a liability changes my outlook on the team drastically.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

the optimist would have this to say about the bullpen: you can never really be sure who is going to start sucking all of the sudden and you can never be sure who is going to turn from a nobody a valuable contributor. Last year, santana and richrod made a like 135 appearances combined and both were very good. crick was better than expected. I was hoping burdi was going to be this year's pleasant surprise, but that obviously won't be the case. long story short, they need to find some stiff that will come in and magically do a good job.

[Freddy Rumsen]

I think the team is about where I thought they would be. Go on runs, losing and winning, as the players ebb and flow and end up around .500 at the end of the year.

[DigitalGypsy66]

18-19 players on the IL throughout most of the season so far, including most of the outfield at one point.

Glad my local homeboy Jordan Lyles is pitching well, too.

Might need to get MLB.tv's Father's Day special next month.

[willeyeam]

They're about where I thought they'd be. But I didn't foresee so many injuries. So perhaps that is a good sign going forward as some others got experience and weathered the storm. Bell seems to have figured it out and Polanco is picking up where he left off before his injury last year. A healthy Dickerson will help at some point. Wouldn't hate them making a move for a 3B. I don't think they'll quite contend for the division but 85-90 wins should be a somewhat realistic goal if Taillon isn't out longer than anticipated.

[LeopardLetang]

long story short, they need to find some stiff that will come in and magically do a good job.

Like liriano apparently

[willeyeam]

They're about where I thought they'd be. But I didn't foresee so many injuries. So perhaps that is a good sign going forward as some others got experience and weathered the storm. Bell seems to have figured it out and Polanco is picking up where he left off before his injury last year. A healthy Dickerson will help at some point. Wouldn't hate them making a move for a 3B. I don't think they'll quite contend for the division but 85-90 wins should be a somewhat realistic goal if Taillon isn't out longer than anticipated.

And Taillon promptly gets moved to the 60 day DL. Sign Keuchel

Here's the other thing though, he has to want to come here too

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I am over nick kingham

[Kovyfalcon27]

If the Buccos win back to back games with Brault and Kingham starting then you might as well just book the World Series right now.

[willeyeam]

Goodness gracious

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

If the Buccos win back to back games with Brault and Kingham starting then you might as well just book the World Series right now.

They should have done it last week, but that walking calamity michael Feliz **** that all up

[willeyeam]

The bigger issue in these Brault/Kingham games is the effect on the pen. As bad as they've been, the Bucs have had a shot to win all of their starts iirc. But they go 4 innings and wear the pen out and then we're stuck throwing Rich Rod for two innings tomorrow in a tight game

[willeyeam]

If the Buccos win back to back games with Brault and Kingham starting then you might as well just book the World Series right now.

They should have done it last week, but that walking calamity michael Feliz **** that all up

Exhibit A to my post above

[willeyeam]

The recipe for sustained success

https://twitter.com/adamdberry/status/1 ... 81603?s=19

[willeyeam]

Adam Frazier has such a pretty swing when he's hitting well