2018 Pittsburgh Pirates In-Season Thread

Postby **LITT** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 6:59 am

itll be interesting to see how the locker room responds this year to them not making any trades and improving the team. it seemed like cutch was always a little pissant about it. im curious if a changing of the guard will alter their approach.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:03 am

I think this shows why the length of the baseball season is hard for a lot of people to manage.

I really don't know what to think of any of this, I do think that sorting out the bullpen allows hurdle to manage the starters better, and because of that they have been very good for the past few weeks.

Moving Dickerson to leadoff has been oddly impactful. They've always had trouble finding a guy that could thrive in that role, and for whatever reason, Dickerson has been insane since the move. I't probably some combo of his improved two-strike approach and ability to hit homeruns when pitchers make mistakes. Also, Marte has been on for a while, moving the OF to the top of the order has changed the offense.

Bell has also raised his OPS 50 points in the last month, so while Moran and Diaz have sputtered, there are guys in the order besides the top three doing something.

Kevin Kramer has been on an absurd tear at Indy the last month, and I would really like to see him brought up to play 2B, Newman has still been ok, but since Dickerson now owns the leadoff spot, brining Kramer up to bat 7th or so could provide a major jolt, and I could even see him pushing Moran and Diaz down in the lineup.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:20 am

While clearly no one saw this coming, it does shed some light on how ridiculous the "rebuild now" crowd is.

Rebuilding would mean trading Marte, Vazquez and Taillon. I think these folks recognized that this didn't make much sense, Zeise talked himself through this dilemma in a column that eventually advocated that they use the deadline to dump salary. I think that's important, the same idiots that will decry the pirates for dumping salary, are advocating it. Being a sports contrarian is just a stupid way to orient your life.

As for the deadline, I think getting a left handed starter is the only priority. I'd like to know what it would take to get Hamels.

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:29 am

While clearly no one saw this coming, it does shed some light on how ridiculous the "rebuild now" crowd is.

Rebuilding would mean trading Marte, Vazquez and Taillon. I think these folks recognized that this didn't make much sense, Zeise talked himself through this dilemma in a column that eventually advocated that they use the deadline to dump salary. I think that's important, the same idiots that will decry the pirates for dumping salary, are advocating it. Being a sports contrarian is just a stupid way to orient your life.

As for the deadline, I think getting a left handed starter is the only priority. I'd like to know what it would take to get Hamels.

You just described a large percentage of Yinzer sports fans, and likely most fans in general.

Postby **willeyeam** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:30 am

Most people are stupid, to be fair

Postby **King Colby** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:25 am

I really have no idea what they should do. The odd thing is, the guys they would "sell" are guys that aren't really even contributing other than Dickerson.

Honestly at this point id rather they add a reliever or two, figure out if there's any way to get a starter, and then just see what these guys are made of.

Its not like they would get anything in return for harrison or freese. Just keep them and decline their club options for next year. No one wants cervelli. Hang on to dickerson and either deal in the winter or maybe it lets you trade meadows for a starter. The only one I'm not sure of is mercer. No clue on his value.

Postby **King Colby** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:35 am

Dickerson .856/11/42 3.4 WAR
Polanco .829/17/54 1.5 WAR
Marte .827/15/49 3.6 WAR
McCutchen .766/10/42 0.9 WAR

Kinda amazing that Cutch has been the 4th best of the 4 this year especially in light of the total meltdown when he was dealt. I think its very apparent that the Pirates organization's biggest mistake regarding Cutch was holding onto him 1 year too long. Or maybe even 1/2 year too long.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:45 am

Hard to say they could have ever really gotten much for McCutchen. He went from MVP candidate to replacement level production in one offseason. So his trade value went from one of the most valuable guys in the league, to meh. I wonder about those National trade talks with him though. It seems like NH wasn't budging on his ask for Robles, but if the Nats offered the Eaton package to the Pirates, at the time, it would have been crazy to turn down. But, at this point, is it even clear who won that trade?

Off topic, Michael Kopech looks like Tyler Glasnow 2.0. I feel like the white sox were lauded as the greatest negotiators in history for getting Moncado and Kopech for Sale, the Red Sox are probably like, "who did we trade for Sale again"?

Postby **King Colby** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:00 am

I think industry wide there was way too much value placed on prospects and farm rankings for a few years there when baseball america really took off. Prospects are so high risk until they reach the upper levels. Think back to some of the trades the bucs made. Remember harold ramirez and reese mcguire? Remember what they traded for wandy Rodriguez? Remember what they could have gotten for alen hanson and/or glasnow? Time to quit hoarding these guys.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:40 pm

Pirates bringing the bombs again.

4-0 Buccos

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:41 pm

What **** alternate timeline did we get put in?

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 9:38 pm

The YOLO PIRATES 7-0

Postby **Ad@m** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:26 pm

https://mobile.twitter.com/Pirates/stat ... 5281207296

#RAISEIT!!!

This game is called after 6 and it is official!
YOUR BUCS win it 7-0 for our 10th straight win!

Postby **iamjs** » Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:41 pm

how many?

https://twitter.com/MeLlamoTrevor/statu ... 8929458177

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:22 am

I was there. It rained a lot. But in between, the pirates were pretty good again. Raise it

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:46 am

These last four games haven't even been close.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:50 am

Baseball is nuts.

Not a single facet of the Pirates' collective game was working a few weeks ago: defense, offense, starting pitching, relief pitching, even coaching. Now it's all clicking at the same time. The mind boggles.

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:51 am

Dat all star break doe.

Postby **count2infinity** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:58 am

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:04 am

many people are saying they might go 113-49

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:16 am

Two straight scoreless outing from Trevor Williams, he has at times looked as though he had to be removed from the starting rotation, so to me that's encouraging.

Diaz isn't really holding down the clean up spot (was to be expected), getting Cervelli back would be a boost.

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:20 am

Two straight scoreless outing from Trevor Williams, he has at times looked as though he had to be removed from the starting rotation, so to me that's encouraging.

Diaz isn't really holding down the clean up spot (was to be expected), getting Cervelli back would be a boost.

Williams either throws a shutout or lets up 7 ER

Postby **MrKennethTKangaroo** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:30 am

many people are saying they might go 113-49

I have no reason to not believe these people.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:30 am

His fastball averaged 91 last night. Same speed as his sinker. That's weird.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:31 am

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/neil-wa ... is-winter/

Neil Walker worried about not getting an MLB job this offseason.

Neil Walker is batting under .200.