2019 Pittsburgh Pirates Season Thread

[Gaucho]

Is Tucker considered a top prospect?

[Troy Loney]

He’s the kind of guy that prospect people didn’t agree on. Fangraphs was always high on him because of his projectable frame. He was very lanky up until last year, so he was late filling out, any power he has arrived very recently. So the ones that projected power when the frame developed were right. His other peripherals were always strong so once he started hitting for power, he became a late blooming top prospect.

[Gaucho]

Thanks. Seems to be a likeable guy.

[Troy Loney]

Yeah, him and Hayes both.

I don’t think I remember a situation where they had this level of talent in the minors that could make the jump. There is so much dead weight on offense right now for this squad so the infusion of young guys could make quite a difference.

Another intriguing thing with adding both tucker and Reynolds. They are both switch hitters, so you add that to bell and Cabrera, and half your lineup is immune to left-right matchups. There was a note in that pitching article about the managers angling for the favorable matchup on the pitchers side more and more.

Plus they have the Kang-Moran platoon and Reyes maybe platooning with Frazier. Essentially, the key to their offense is depth and versatility over star power. But that is contingent on bell and Polanco, you still need anchor guys to occupy the prime rbi spots in the lineup

[Troy Loney]

Puig and Kemp are so bad right now, I almost feel bad for the reds. The only good part of that trade for them was dumping baileys contract. But now those two lugs sucking up at bats is killing any chance they had this year.

I wish I knew which dolts at espn and Fangraphs voted for the reds to make the playoffs on their respective projection surveys.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Wow, it's almost like someone said that trade was terrible.

"But at least the Reds are trying to win..."

[Troy Loney]

Wow, it's almost like someone said that trade was terrible.

"But at least the Reds are trying to win..."

One of the few things we agreed on.

[Troy Loney]

I think the main takeaway is that they are pitching at an elite level right now. There will be some regression, but not to any real significant level where the pitching would derail the season.

The offense is one of the worst in the league. I fear this could be a lost season for Dickerson, it seems like a couple of times in his career an early season injury ruined the season for him, not sure exactly, but he has varied widely year to year. I think the pirates are extremely precautious and prevent guys from trying to play through stuff, that could mean a lot of missed time for Dickerson, but when he returns he should be almost 100%.

This lineup, that is terrible, will look completely different in a month, or maybe even in a week. Will adding Polanco, Diaz and chisenhall move them to the middle of the pack? They should, but if they become a middle of the road offense, does that demand the staff to continue elite production to remain a contender? I honestly think that is the intention of the FO, elite run prevention with mediocre offense to win games. To me bell was the wild card, the good outcome for them was middle of the pack, with some upside because bell was a wild card. They hit the lottery on that gamble, but now the other need is for Polanco, Dickerson and Marte to prove full health and get back in the lineup.

[shafnutz05]

This lineup, that is terrible, will look completely different in a month, or maybe even in a week. Will adding Polanco, Diaz and chisenhall move them to the middle of the pack? They should, but if they become a middle of the road offense, does that demand the staff to continue elite production to remain a contender?

This is what always worries me. It is very frustrating as a fan to see a pitching staff playing lights out and the offense failing to provide RS.

[Troy Loney]

This lineup, that is terrible, will look completely different in a month, or maybe even in a week. Will adding Polanco, Diaz and chisenhall move them to the middle of the pack? They should, but if they become a middle of the road offense, does that demand the staff to continue elite production to remain a contender?

This is what always worries me. It is very frustrating as a fan to see a pitching staff playing lights out and the offense failing to provide RS.

It is, but probably worth noting that there’s a bit of a chicken and the egg thing. Meaning the elite run prevention could be a function of the anemic offense. Starters are never asked for that extra inning as the games are close, so they are always pulled before trouble, most bullpen innings are going to the best guys, so many close games make it so there are very few mop up innings to be alloted to the weaker pitchers.

The point I was trying to make though, is that the teams weakness is naturally going to made over completely in the coming weeks. So the pillars of the offensive futility will have vanished and better hitters will be getting more at bats in almost every situation.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Wow, it's almost like someone said that trade was terrible.

"But at least the Reds are trying to win..."

One of the few things we agreed on.

[Troy Loney]

Former pirate Adrian Sampson outpitched gerrit cole last night.

Due to cole getting shelled. His era is over 5 after that start.

[willeyeam]

Moran playing 2nd. Kang at 3rd.. why not just switch those? Weird

[DigitalGypsy66]

I guess Frazier is injured?

[Troy Loney]

Back spasms

[DigitalGypsy66]

Diaz up, Stallings to the IL with a neck strain or some such.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Man, we can only hope that jacob stallings has a speedy, healthy recovery from this life-altering injury

[willeyeam]

I guess Frazier is injured?

Yeah but just put Kang at second and Moran at third if they're both playing? I don't understand this one

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I’m guessing it is along the lines of “why make two positions shittay when we can just make one position shittay”

[Dickie Dunn]

Moran playing 2nd. Kang at 3rd.. why not just switch those? Weird

From what I heard the other day they want to keep Kang at the position he feels most comfortable so he can just focus on remembering how to hit MLB pitching.

[Dickie Dunn]

Also, convenient injury timing for Stallings.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Thoughts and prayers for jacob

[willeyeam]

I’m guessing it is along the lines of “why make two positions shittay when we can just make one position shittay”

That's our softball teams strategy. Just put the shtty guy at 2nd because everyone pulls it and no one hits it there. Let's see how it translates to MLB

[DigitalGypsy66]

Archer is a strikeout pitcher or flyball pitcher, so the infield theoretically, shouldn't be challenged much say the stats people.

Josh Bell smashed a long homerun on a mistake pitch. Very nice.

[Dickie Dunn]

Chunk Ho Kang