2023 Pirates Season Thread

[dodint]

This is the way.

[Morkle]

lol all those good vibes, just SMASHED to the ground.

[count2infinity]

Looks like my plans to take my kid to a buccos game in an empty stadium this year might still come to fruition.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I was this close to springing for MLB.tv. Had the screen up and partially filled out, forgot to pull the trigger. They almost had me...

[Troy Loney]

C: With the rotation crashing down a bit, there is no like meaningful Hedges factor. So look for Endy to be up in June. I hope they keep Delay as the backup, so not exactly sure what they do. But Delay is pretty good and should pair well with Endy.

1B: Nunez is not bursting down any doors, I hope they find a way to keep Santana for another year.

2B: Castro establishing himself as a plus platoon partner and sort of super utility guy. Bae and Marcano can compete for that primary spot for 2024 (start vs RHP). Definitely not a wasted roster spot for any of these three guys. Gonzales is going to have to really improve to crack the ML roster.

SS: We miss him.

3B: Hayes's ceiling with the bat seems to shrink every year. I think there's another level in there. But again, even just providing elite defense at 3B makes that contract worth it (and it's a front loaded deal so it only gets better)

RF/DH: Joe and McCutchen are good placeholders, but I think this may sort itself out. Our two best hitting prospects currently play the same position. Mitchell, Canaan and Swaggerty are all still on the 40-man. Not sure how it will play out, but not something that needs to be addressed.

CF/LF: Probably the cleanest long term situations with Reynolds and Suwinski

SP:
Keller / Roansy - 40% of the rotation is set through 2025
Hill - may grind though 2023, but he's not going to be brought back
Velazquez - he came her to play for a contract. His injury situation makes him a massive question mark.
Oviedo - may have to be a guy that goes back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen. Sucks, but looks like the Cardinals correctly appraised him,
Ortiz - He's basically needed now for 2023, not sure what his service time situation is, but I imagine it's a consideration.
Priester - still in development, he may get some big league experience late this summer and hopefully be a contributor in 2024.

Between Bednar, Holderman, Underwood, Stephenson, and Hernandez I don't see any concern with the bullpen any time soon. It's encouraging.

The rotation will again need to be addressed in FA next year, and that's where I think the Burrows injury stings. They could have been looking to replace their stopgaps with a talented prospect, as opposed to going back for more stop gaps.

Appraisal from earlier this month.

No longer care about keeping Santana around. The SS situation is predictably killing them. Not sure what I think about the Marcano, Bae, Castro throuple, Hayes - Do better. Joe. McCutchen, and Suwinski are doing fine at meeting/exceeding expectations. Need to start seeing some sort of logical plan/path for Endy and Davis to progress and start break in to the majors.

Still fine with the bullpen, would just swap underwood and stephenson for Moreta and I guess Ramirez. Either way, if you're talking about the 4th and 5th guys in the bullpen, that's still a good place to be.

Starting pitching is in a bad place and no clarity for the short or mid term beyond Keller. Ortiz needed another development year, and the Velazquez experiment is unfortunately failing due to injury. So they are going to be in the same spot next offseason looking to bring in at least two starting pitchers, one will definitely be another Tyler Anderson, Quintana, Velazquez reclamation effort, but curious to see what they do for the other spot. Might be time to start moving prospects for big leaguers. Already lost one guy for nothing in the rule V last year, they need to be smarter at roster management. They were clearly in no position to lose a major league bat in the rule V last year.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Suwinski is an interesting player. He and Barry Bonds are the only players to hit more than 1 ball into the bay in one game since that stadium opened. His crazy HR total last year, with the home split. Could he be competent if he gets more consistent results at the plate?

[willeyeam]

874 OPS - he is already competent and then some

[robbiestoupe]

Suwinski is a great guy to have batting 6th or 7th on a team full of major league players around him. That way you could live with is 3-25 with 14 k streak and really live with his 8-20 with 4 hr streak. Because that's who he seems to be.

Unfortunately for the Pirates he's batting 4th with the hopes of anchoring an offense that has no power.

[Troy Loney]

He also can't hit LHP. He can draw walks still, but that's it. Him and Castro are both like 1.000 OPS against the opposite hand, and .500 OPS against same handed pitchers.

So I would say they are both valuable, but both limited. Castro more so when Cruz is back to get starts at SS vs LH starters.

[King Colby]

Choi and Cruz were big losses. The starting pitching kept them afloat for a while but as soon as that heater ended, the lack of offensive depth reared its ugly head in a hurry.

They've lost 19 of 25. That's a .240 win % and you have to figure they eventually have to level off here, because they're not the Worst Team in Baseball, much like they weren't the Best Team in Baseball in april

[King Colby]

They literally went from a 116 win pace over 28 games to a 38 win pace over 25 games.

[robbiestoupe]

Thank the baseball gods for the A's then. Imagine being the May version of the Pirates and still be like 10 games better than the A's.

[willeyeam]

we riot if they don't take Crew right?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/inside ... projection

[robbiestoupe]

we riot if they don't take Crew right?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/inside ... projection

Was just reading up on that. Crews most definitely. I'd be OK with Skenes but don't really like taking a pitcher #1 if there is another potential AllStar in the field at #1.

[Troy Loney]

Was not expecting the article to propose that the Pirates would do the 2021 strategy again, especially considering the 2021 strategy is not really working out. Mayer and Lawler have already surpassed Davis on most prospect lists, White is trending complete bust due to injuries, Chandler can't throw strikes, and Solemeto is > okay, but not much more you can say about him.

Take the best player, punt your other top 10 picks if you want to save bonus space and sign high schoolers

[DigitalGypsy66]

I wonder who Crews' agent/agency will be? If it's Boras, the Pirates might be gunshy.

[faftorial]

I wonder who Crews' agent/agency will be? If it's Boras, the Pirates might be gunshy.

I spent a few minutes googling who his agent is and didn't find anything.

[Troy Loney]

Probably cause he’s still a student athlete

[robbiestoupe]

Pretty sure the Pirates are done being afraid of Boras. They drafted Cole with Boras as his agent. They knew they'd only get 6 years max out of him, and even though they royally screwed his potential, I'm sure they're glad they drafted him.

Not only do you get the guy for 6 years, you trade him for a haul if he realizes his full potential and you can't afford to sign him.

[Morkle]

If they fool themselves out of taking Crews, this club is not serious.

[Dickie Dunn]

If they don't take Crews I'll never give two shits about this franchise again.

[Dickie Dunn]

Was not expecting the article to propose that the Pirates would do the 2021 strategy again, especially considering the 2021 strategy is not really working out. Mayer and Lawler have already surpassed Davis on most prospect lists, White is trending complete bust due to injuries, Chandler can't throw strikes, and Solemeto is > okay, but not much more you can say about him.

Take the best player, punt your other top 10 picks if you want to save bonus space and sign high schoolers

Yea. They're all scrubs and while I like Davis, Mayer and Lawler will likely end up being better players.

[Ad@m]

[King Colby]

Bednar has not walked a single batter this year

[DigitalGypsy66]

First save opportunity in over a month, too. Yikes.