2019 Pittsburgh Pirates Season Thread

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:52 am

Polanco had a "setback" with his shoulder during his rehab assignment with Indy.

So, Dickerson needs to stay put? Or do the Pirates ride the Melky train until the wheels fall off?

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:54 am

Polanco had a "setback" with his shoulder during his rehab assignment with Indy.

So, Dickerson needs to stay put? Or do the Pirates ride the Melky train until the wheels fall off?

If anyone will take Dickerson, they will for sure trade him, regardless of Polanco's condition. I think they should also shop Melky, then you can just bring up Reyes and Martin to get the other at bats in the OF.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:56 am

Seasons over. Get what you can for Dickerson and Melky. Ride out the post-trade deadline season with Jason Martin, Pablo Reyes, and Jose Osuna in the outfield with Reynolds and Marte.

Edit: TL is correct.

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:57 am

i don't see a need to cater to will craig.

Postby **Morkle** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:01 am

I would trade Polanco into the sun if it's possible, honestly - whatever they're hoping comes from him, isn't coming.

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:04 am

Bell has gotten way too swoll for OF

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:15 am

Fan morning show made comments this morning to put Bell back in the outfield and promote Craig to first base. Everyone lambasted Bell for the defense last year, and he's gotten passable as his bat has made up for deficiencies, and now they want to completely scrap everything because the Pirates suck in the outfield on one of the corners, lmao.

This idea is dumb on every level. Bell hasn't played OF since 2016. Will Craig (who is good defensively at 1B) is batting 247/324/453/777 in AAA and has been awful in June and July. That's not a bat worth adding to an MLB lineup. This same basic idea could be accomplished by putting Osuna, who is also a good defensive 1B and is batting 339/391/695/1086 in MLB this season, at 1B and moving Bell to RF, but why bother? Osuna can fake it well enough in RF and why make your best player move positions when he's finally kinda figuring out how to play the position a little bit.

Now, getting Osuna more ABs is an idea I can get behind.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:20 am

I would wager that every Pirate suggestion made by the Fan is dumb as hell.

My favorite was Ron Cook arguing the need to give Alvarez a contract extension after 2013.

Postby **Morkle** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:21 am

I think anything the Pirates do now is re-arranging chairs on a sinking ship.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:30 am

I think anything the Pirates do now is re-arranging chairs on a sinking ship.

This is what happens when you're an offense first team. Hitters slump, that's a product of baseball, failing 7/10 times makes you a hall of famer. They are an 80 win team on a 100 loss budget. When the offense is off, they are completely overmatched getting 27 outs is pulling teeth every night.

I'd of course like to see them fill this organization gap this offseason. I think they really just need guys that both pitch out of the bullpen and spot start when needed. I'm not sure where those guys are, but they are definitely not on this team.

Postby **Morkle** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:40 am

They're not filling that gap. They're always going to be a 100 loss budget. The agony is in expecting them to do something about it when they can.

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:52 am

https://twitter.com/rtjr/status/1151126 ... 68864?s=19

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:00 am

If Cruz struggles with ks and defense to end this year does he stay in Bradenton? Same with Mitchell? I would imagine Castro, Sanchez, Martin, Macias and Bae could all start there.

So AA would have ? in the infield. Glendinning if he normalizes could stay. Valerio and Lambert types. Outfield of Swaggerty, Sharpe and Amaral isn't bad to watch

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:01 am

I think Mitchell and Cruz will move up.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:18 am

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resour ... ts/pirates

New fangraphs feature, will come in handy for sure.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:20 am

Cruz's fielding looks to have improved. I mean, he made 33 errors last year so it's hard not to improve on that. His fielding percentage and range factor for this season aren't far off Tucker's numbers in Bradenton. I'd like to see his Ks go down, but like every Dominican he's a free swinger and they're probably never going to drop by much. I don't see how he doesn't get moved up.

I don't know what they do with Mitchell. He's another guy who has been bad in June and July. It wouldn't surprise me if he starts next season in Bradenton.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 4:20 pm

Marte in the lineup. Hurdle is a *****.

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 4:33 pm

They're 1-9 without Marte in the lineup this year

Postby **Morkle** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:10 am

The guy is 30, if he hasn't learned to give effort by now, no amount of benching will do that for him.

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:17 am

Keller's start last night was a pitching equivalent to stringer bell's 40 degree day: 5 IP, 3 R, 3 ER

which brings me to this question: why is Dario agrazal able to get guys out at the major league level while keller cant?

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:22 am

Good win. Agrazal's stuff is thoroughly unimpressive but he's like Searage and GMNH's wet dream. No strikeouts, tons of weak contact, and twice as many groundouts as flyouts.

Dickie Dunn is Concerned About our Top Prospects:
- Mitch Keller: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K.
- Ke'Bryan Hayes: 0 for 4.
- Travis Swaggerty: 0 for 4.
- Oneil Cruz: 2 for 4 with 2 R. Now batting 300 in A+.
- Cole Tucker: 1 for 4 with a 2B.

Indy: Will Craig must have gotten word that the Fan Morning Show wants him called up. 2 for 4 with his 18th HR of the season. Pablo Reyes didn't manage to keep his HR streak going, but was 1 for 2 with 2 BB. Boosting that OBP.

Altoona: Oliva was 1 for 5 and is batting 432 over his last 10. Glendinning was 1 for 4 and is no longer the hit machine he was in A+ but is still batting 288/344/441/784 in AA. Those two plus Bolton are the only Altoona players I find remotely interesting.

Bradenton: Mason Martin 2 fo 4 with a 2B, Cal Mitchell 1 for 3 with his 11th HR, Lolo Sanchez still really struggling at this level.

Greensboro: Bae 1 for 5 with 2 K. Fabricio Macias gets little love in the prospect rankings but was a good international signing out of Mexico last year. 3 for 4 last night with a 2B and 3 RBIs. 295/348/426/774, 16 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, and 48 RBIs on the season.

GCL Pirates: Pie went 3 for 3 with 2 R, a BB, and a SB. Would be nice to see him turn around his season.

DSL1: Not the team of destiny, so don't care.

DSL2: 6-2 loss to DSL Colorado, falling to 31-7 on the season. They only have a 1 game lead on DSL Rangers1 for the best record. Future HOFer Alexander Mojica was 3 for 4 in the loss.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:35 am

Future HOFer Alexander Mojica was 3 for 4 in the loss.

Postby **willeyeam** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:41 am

Wow he is crushing the ball

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:52 am

And he's only 12 years old still

Postby **LeopardLetang** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:10 am

Macias is crazy streaky. I got the impression last year too but looking back it's even more pronounced this year.

First 16g only 1 2hit+ g

Next 7g ... 6 2hg

10g... 1 2hg
8g... 7 2hg
16g... 3 2hg

It gets a little variable here as he sprinkled in a few mini streaks of 2 2hit games but

9g... 5 2hg
10g... 3 2h

And now his last 5 games he has gone

3-5, 3-5, 3-5, 2-4, 3-4