2024 Pirates Season Thread

[Ad@m]

Was Candy Man there last night? I was not a Pirates fan in 1979 - still living in MA - but I remember watching that World Series. Man, Pittsburgh in the 70s was something else.

[genoscoif]

Really cool to honor that team but man is it a gut punch to see the condition of so many of them. I get that time is undefeated, but watching clips of them during that series then cutting back to them live was a bit, I don't know, jarring?

Still, give them their flowers while they're still here. Was truly the golden age of sports in the burgh.

[LeopardLetang]

54g in 25-29

I'm going to rank the players performance vs our expectations.

S - breakout so far
A - top of reasonable expectations
B - optimistic expectations
C - expectations
D - pessimistic expectations
F - Bust for the year so far

Starting with the most important players

First the team grades.

Overall C-
Offense D
Defense C
Starters S
Relievers F

I think the average prediction would have been a little above 75 wins. I think the defense has been as bad as expected. The offense has been bad but until the last few weeks was exceptionally bad. The relievers get an F since we expectated great things. Injuries to the meat of the pen and implosion at the back end and the like 8 depth arms that looked good all have bombed in AAA or are off the roster. The starters have been outstanding on all accounts and were expected to be the biggest team weakness.

Players listed by importance to the organizion (■ indicates moved up a tier ¤ indicates moved down a tier since before the season and right now)


S importance:

Skenes (S) You can argue this was upper end of expectations. I'm still stunned.

Cruz (C) Terrible April but May he's showing his elite upside. Will his S-tier speed return? His D is still wonky but he's making most easy throws look easy now.


A importance:

■ Jones (S) this is a breakout

Reynolds (C) close to a D really because his reasonable offensive expectations are the highest on the team

Keller (B)

Hayes (D) expectations went up after last year offensively. Another injury

Davis (D) hard not to give an F here but even harder to give him one. I was impressed he didn't fail at catching but his swing confidence totally busted. Immediately tearing the cover off the ball in AAA keeps him off the floor

Bednar (D) rounding into shape. He needs to be a stud the rest of the year


B importance

¤ Suwinski (F) had a chance to become a big part of the organizion but swung and missed

■ Falter (S) no one reasonably hoped for this

Chapman (F) need him big time but he may be done

■ Nick G (A) sss but he's been hitting the breaking ball

■ Bart (S) sss but couldn't see this coming. Nick is younger and has 2 years of crushing AAA. These guys could both drop off fast but they could drop off some and still be important players

■ Holderman (A) grooming to be a closer

Joe (B) need a solid bat and defender somewhere and this year Joe turned around his risp

¤ Termarr (D) returning to A+ there are big expectations so batting under .200 is bad. Still on pace for well over 100bb and the last 2 weeks he's been much better .250 .866

Chandler (C) i think some struggles were expected. He's had some good outings and needs to bounce back like he did last year. Still such high upside

Peguero (B) solid year so far

Priester (B) great at AAA and went 6ip 3 of the last 4 starts in the majors


C importance

Barco (A) Harrington (A)

¤ Solometo (D) really struggling with control. But really young for AA. Relies on reach and unique delivery instead of velocity

Nunez (B) hitting fine at AAA

■Gorski (S) sss breakout right when he could get a chance. Big and fast can play center and 1st. 7hr last 9 games

Ashcraft (A) Sullivan (A)

Olivares (C) Taylor (D)

■Stratton (A) Grandal (C) Perez (D)

Triolo (D) Ortiz (B) Marco G (B)

Tellez (D) i thought we'd see him thrown out at second more trying to stretch a double into a double. Otherwise his futility was as expected. But seriously of course he gets an (F)

[count2infinity]

Source of the post Bednar (D) rounding into shape.

[willeyeam]

¤ Suwinski (F) had a chance to become a big part of the organizion but swung and missed

A+

[Troy Loney]

¤ Suwinski (F) had a chance to become a big part of the organizion but swung and missed

A+

Watched the opportunity go by

[Troy Loney]

All good stuff.

Rotation just really good, some rather shocking production from
Jones and falter and keller meeting high expectations.

Everyone else basically sucks

[LeopardLetang]

¤ Suwinski (F) had a chance to become a big part of the organizion but swung and missed

A+

Watched the opportunity go by

Better

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Good analysis LL

Shelty reported on the fan that Perez will go to the IL and Ke’Bryan hayes is going to be reactivated after another bout of vaginal soreness

Edit: also some guy named grant koch replaced Joey Bart, who also went to the IL

[Troy Loney]

Good analysis LL

Shelty reported on the fan that Perez will go to the IL and Ke’Bryan hayes is going to be reactivated after another bout of vaginal soreness

Edit: also some guy named grant koch replaced Joey Bart, who also went to the IL

I think I read that Bart's IL is retroactive too. Guessing Koch is up because this is short-term.

Davis is going the things Davis should be doing in AAA. He'll get another shot pretty soon I believe, he's also getting more games at DH. I do think the optimal situation is that him and Endy split the C role next year with Endy getting the majority of the starts at defense.

[Troy Loney]

https://www.milb.com/gameday/fcl-pirate ... /final/box

New team of destiny, the complex league pirates.

[willeyeam]

https://www.milb.com/gameday/fcl-pirate ... /final/box

New team of destiny, the complex league pirates.

Severino intrigues me

[Troy Loney]

Blanco getting better results is encouraging

[LeopardLetang]

YDLS was 2-2 yesterday with 2bb and 4 steals. Got up to .407avg. I didn't check today's yet. Must be good

[Troy Loney]

YDLS was 2-2 yesterday with 2bb and 4 steals. Got up to .407avg. I didn't check today's yet. Must be good

Didn’t play today

[LeopardLetang]

Delay was back catching yesterday at AAA

Someone that follows the minors much closer than me said Koch is a lazy bum on defense. I guess we'll see for a game or two

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

How does one survive as a minor league catcher with a 606 career ops while being lazy on defense

[LeopardLetang]

Yeah that's what i thought. And over Bins right now. Maybe Bins is rehabbing.

Anyway...

[King Colby]

Grandal could reasonably play every game until Bart can come back (or davis)

Tue wed
Off
Fri Sat sun
Off
Tue wed

Then Bart can come back thursday

[Troy Loney]

Apparently Koch caught for Skenes at Indy, so could see him tomorrow

[Rylan]

Doubleheader tomorrow.

[faftorial]

Pirate/Dodger 1976 playoffs on instead. Al Michaels with the call. He sounded much different 50 years ago.

I can boo Steve Garvey all over again.

[faftorial]

@DigitalGypsy66. The Candy Man on the mound.

[faftorial]

Not the playoffs. 8/9/76.

[willeyeam]

Why do we play the tigers in these stupid two game series every year

And follow up, why is it them and not Cleveland