2023 Pirates Season Thread

[Troy Loney]

I'm pretty happy with the shutdown lefty they found in the Rule 5 at least

I am also happy that they got a reliever, but taking a flier on a reliever is like standard rule V approach, position players that actually stick around from the rule V are not common. Although looks like the A's got someone from the Dodgers this year that might actually be good too. A 27 year old first baseman that was clearly blocked in the Dodgers organization.

I think I am mostly just annoyed with the 40-man roster management. While it was clearly the right move to add Marcano and Suwinski when they did, Mitchell, Swaggerty, and Canaan are just taking up space on the 40-man roster, they are not options for big league at bats and you can't be a corner OF bat that can't hit. If all three of those guys got picked up on waivers tomorrow, we'd never notice. But now we're going to have to watch Sabol play for the next 10 years.

[robbiestoupe]

Essentially they traded Sabol for Palacios, who they drafted in the minor league portion of the Rule V draft. Sick move

[Troy Loney]

Kind of, but they didn’t have to give palacios a 40-man spot then. I think it’s more that they could have removed any of the above guys I mentioned, or kept Sabol over triolo.

The bottom of the pirates’ 40-man is trash, as evidenced by the array of scrubs that have accrued about 1000 at bats since the beginning of last year. This is not an organization that should be in a position to expose major league capable hitters in the rule V. Sabol should have been added at some point last summer and given playing time. Again, just terrible roster management.

[King Colby]

You think Blake sabol is going to have a 10 year career?

[faftorial]

You think Blake sabol is going to have a 10 year career?

[Troy Loney]

Alex Dickerson had almost a 10 year career

[robbiestoupe]

My point is the Pirates were desperate enough to put minor league Rule 5 guy Palacios on the ML roster and give him significant playing time. If they were so devoid of OF talent, why leave Sabol unprotected?

I get it, he was basically a nothing prospect until he broke out last year in a big way. And many times the Pirates have had guys break out in the minors for one year and fizzle back to mediocrity the next year. Maybe they saw Sabol as the next Mason Martin. They basically gambled that nobody would take him in the draft and lost.

He's not the lone reason why this team has issues, but it's the adding up of little mistakes and miscalculations like this that ruin them. If you're going to operate on a shoestring budget like the Pirates, you have to win these battles, not lose them. You have to be shrewd and do the little things better than just about every other team, because you're already behind the 8 ball with the owner's miserly ways.

[willeyeam]

We've spent way too much time talking about Blake sabol

[willeyeam]

If we want to talk about dumb moves, let's talk about harold Ramirez

[willeyeam]

[Troy Loney]

Stop trading with the rays plz

Although, in related news, they guy they traded for Choi is a complete train wreck

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

As Walter sobchak once said, our **** troubles are over dude

[willeyeam]

Kebryans year

[Ad@m]

[willeyeam]

Great win tonight. Good stuff

[LeopardLetang]

Keys an odd dude. In his interview as player of the game he referenced bae striking out, Roansy not having good stuff and when asked about Palacios' hr he's like I don't really know the dude lol. It wasn't that bad but was still a bit weird. He wasn't awkward. More like a commentator. Like really in his head. Was excited to mention his dad was in the crowd and apparently said it was one of the biggest hits of his career which is true. I can't help but like him.

Roansy actually looked pretty good. The hits he gave up were mostly 1-2 pitches on the corners.

Bolton got by by the skin of his teeth. 3 balls on most batters. Well 4 balls on like half of the batters.

Sweet come back win. Bae with more great catches. Might put himself in some tough spots though with reads being pretty inexperienced in center.

Back end of the bullpen chugging along nicely

[Troy Loney]

Watched the replay of the key points of last nights game.

That third inning was weird. Roansy was cruising and then Donovan was just sitting on that slider and hit an effortless home run. Palacios just drops a ball in foul territory that would have ended the inning at 2-0, then three more hits and its 5-0.

I feel like hayes’ bat is oddly important for some reason. When he produces, this team is going to win games. I think it’s cause when he’s off/bad, he’s just terrible, so his numbers are driven by his handful of productive games, if you remove those he’s probably hedges’ slash line.

[robbiestoupe]

Shelton must think Hayes’ bat is important too based on where he puts him in the lineup. He should be batting 8th but is usually 2-3 slots higher. And even started the year as a lead off hitter.

He is a strange anomaly that’s for sure. Doesn’t strike out too much but has no power and hits opposite field at a very high rate. Think I mentioned it before but it’s almost like he’s a fraction of a second too late with his swing

[willeyeam]

Shelton must think Hayes’ bat is important too based on where he puts him in the lineup. He should be batting 8th but is usually 2-3 slots higher. And even started the year as a lead off hitter.

He is a strange anomaly that’s for sure. Doesn’t strike out too much but has no power and hits opposite field at a very high rate. Think I mentioned it before but it’s almost like he’s a fraction of a second too late with his swing

Bae is the same way right now. Trying to slap everything oppo and can't touch anything on the inside half

[Troy Loney]

Short season rookie leagues start on monday.

The complex league will have some very intriguing prospects. There is one big prep draft pick from last year in Michael Kennedy that I imagine starts there, but mostly looking at the international guys. De Los Santos, Blanco, and Plaz. Also thinking that their big signing from the '22 class (the Korean pitcher) starts there as he's 19. They spread their bonus pool around a ton with a lot of high six figure signings, but none of them were ranked that high, so who knows if there's anything there. But at some point will bounce their slash lines against the bonuses to see which of them are matching production with pedigree.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

This rain delay was an executive decision made by Nutting to sell more beer

[Ad@m]

Kebryans year

[Ad@m]

[shafnutz05]

Keeping the Cards in the basement feels pretty great

[willeyeam]

These games are games that the Cardinals usually do to us. Good stuff