Dodint's Thread of Pirates 23-24 Offseason Optimism

[King Colby]

Michael A. Taylor signed 1 year $4M

Domingo German signed to minor league deal

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Cruz with 2 homer so far today against the Phils. Buccos up 11-1 in the top of the 5th

[Morkle]

He should start in the minors, he needs conditioning.

[willeyeam]

Good to see he's healthy. I'm not going to say he'll be any good or not based on this spring but 7 homers tells me he's at least recovered and ready to roll which is a good thing

[Troy Loney]

I think Roansy has officially lost that battle for a rotation spot. He's likely getting stashed in the bullpen till he can prove he can throw strikes.

Jared Jones will come north with the team, Skenes will be up in June. Pretty dumb for people to complain about Skenes. They will want to cap his innings around 150, so let him build slowly up to 5-6 IP/start.

I think Quinn looked a little better in his last start and Ortiz has been decent. Might as well give the spot to one of them, and if they fail try the other again.

Cruz and Hayes just ripping the ball right now, will obviously be interesting to see what carries north.

I like the Taylor move, OF defense now a strength and Suwinski can move more into the primary guy in a platoon, puts him more in a position to succeed imo. Davis is also not doing anything to dissuade the team from giving him primary catching duties for the team.

Would just reiterate that the move for Taylor is perfect. Olivares was looking like a 9 hitter in this lineup anyways. A premium CF glove with some pop and speed at the bottom is perfectly fine. Triolo and Hayes gives you an elite glove on both sides of the IF.

[willeyeam]

here are Paul Skenes' outings as a professional, including this spring:

1.0 ip
1.0 ip
2.0 ip
0.2 ip
2.0 ip
1.0 ip
2.0 ip

anyone who thought this dude was actually gonna break spring with the pirates as a starter is dumb

[Troy Loney]

Good to see he's healthy. I'm not going to say he'll be any good or not based on this spring but 7 homers tells me he's at least recovered and ready to roll which is a good thing

If he keeps his K% under 25%, he will be in the MVP conversation.

Also, 7 xbh this spring. All HR.

[Rylan]

I am excited to see Skenes debut sometime later this year though.

[King Colby]

I am still hoping for (and somewhat expecting) another starter acquisition

[faftorial]

Anderson may get a spot in the rotation with how well he's been pitching.

Have they announced that Jones is making the rotation and that RC goes to the bullpen? They announced Skenes was going to AAA a while ago. TL often mixes facts and opinion is hit posts ITT.

[Troy Loney]

Anderson may get a spot in the rotation with how well he's been pitching.

Have they announced that Jones is making the rotation and that RC goes to the bullpen? They announced Skenes was going to AAA a while ago. TL often mixes facts and opinion is hit posts ITT.

I said I think RC is going to the bullpen based on his performance and coming in today in relief. The starters are getting stretched out (see perez, Keller, Marco, quinn and jones).

Apologies for not adding the caveat of “I believe” to the comment on jones. Anderson is battling falter for the swing man job. Jones is lapping the field of those competing for a rotation spot.

[willeyeam]

I am still hoping for (and somewhat expecting) another starter acquisition

Why? The expecting part

[LeopardLetang]

Yeah I don't expect it. I think the duo of German and Lauer are equal to Perez and Marco Gonzales. I feel better not having to wait until mid season for Skenes Jones (sooner) Brubaker Burrows (probably not) to upgrade the "rotation"

Instead give last ditch efforts to Contreras and Falter (might be gone before it) and a shot to Ortiz and Priester. And stretch out Lauer and German on minor league contracts over the first month.

Some grade A dumpster diving to end the offseason following the D+ grade prior. Overall I think B- for the off-season (in the pirates vacuum)

A normal team could have signed Hoskins and an established starter and that catcher they were "in on" and been a possible playoff team. Instead they're a possible .500 team.

With my lowered expectations and the strong spring by Skenes, Jones, Davis, Cruz, Hayes and Priester I'm feeling the excitement. So much quality depth should keep the season interesting.

I think there is talent and a fair amount of star talent. So unfortunately I think it comes down to management this year.

The actual manager choosing the matchups game to game. And the GM evaluating who to drop who to bring up and when.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I saw jones pitch when I was in Florida last week

His stuff is real. He’s also wild as hell and threw a lot of pitches. Seems like a guy who struggles with command because his stuff is too good (lots of late movement with his heat). I hope he has a shot of making the rotation but I have doubts he will stick there a whole season

[faftorial]

I saw jones pitch when I was in Florida last week

His stuff is real. He’s also wild as hell and threw a lot of pitches. Seems like a guy who struggles with command because his stuff is too good (lots of late movement with his heat). I hope he has a shot of making the rotation but I have doubts he will stick there a whole season

My guess is he'll go to Indy and come up in May or so with Skenes but we'll see.

[Troy Loney]

Yeah I don't expect it. I think the duo of German and Lauer are equal to Perez and Marco Gonzales. I feel better not having to wait until mid season for Skenes Jones (sooner) Brubaker Burrows (probably not) to upgrade the "rotation"

Instead give last ditch efforts to Contreras and Falter (might be gone before it) and a shot to Ortiz and Priester. And stretch out Lauer and German on minor league contracts over the first month.

Some grade A dumpster diving to end the offseason following the D+ grade prior. Overall I think B- for the off-season (in the pirates vacuum)

A normal team could have signed Hoskins and an established starter and that catcher they were "in on" and been a possible playoff team. Instead they're a possible .500 team.

With my lowered expectations and the strong spring by Skenes, Jones, Davis, Cruz, Hayes and Priester I'm feeling the excitement. So much quality depth should keep the season interesting.

I think there is talent and a fair amount of star talent. So unfortunately I think it comes down to management this year.

The actual manager choosing the matchups game to game. And the GM evaluating who to drop who to bring up and when.

On the pitching, Marco is a flier, but they're treating him like a lock, which I think is concerning.

Perez looks good though, he seems to do better in low pressure environments.

They dropped the ball not getting one more innings eater type guy, I think they wanted one, but the prices were just not in line with performance, and that's why they went in the Chapman direction to say that spending on the bullpen will better help them win.

Honestly, it is just a couple of months that they have to survive before the reinforcements starts piling in. I'm still of the opinion that Jones is the #5 out of camp. Skenes mid June, and Brubaker sometimes this summer as well. They have a strong collection of guys that could emerge this year as well, that camp being Ashcraft, Solometo, Chandler, Harrington, and Barco.

Not sure how Rhys is looking this spring, but I'm not sure that have moved the needle, and also looking like opening the door for Davis at C is working out extremely well. I was close to writing him off, and he could be the primary catcher and bat cleanup. I think his intangibles are impressive and he seems to be a guy that the team coalesces around.

[LeopardLetang]

Yeah Marco seemed like the kind of guy to fight for the fifth spot. And I don't really like Hoskins. Especially for the pirates at the price. But a real 1bman would really lengthen the lineup

Grandal going down felt like addition by subtraction. I love watching Davis. I'm really in a spring swoon. And maybe it's because they're out there with kids but I love seeing Cruz Davis Hayes and Cool man Reynolds. It's been a fun spring with all the home runs.

I've watched a bunch of interviews this spring. Some great ones. Tellez and Fleming I think. Then some duds like Davis and Endy. Funny their contrast. Davis stared dead ahead and shot out standard lines like robo tank. And Endy was like a young Will Smith. Relaxing all cool but seemed like his head was everywhere in the booth and didn't say anything interesting. They teed him up twice to comment on his old teammate Gutierrez who was catching and he oddly ignored it both times. I judge nothing from the interviews really but found them interesting.

[Troy Loney]

Davis' persona reminds me of Crosby. Just nothing going on in that brain except baseball.

I listened to a podcast last week with McKenry on it, and he was giving his take on the Davis situation and provided some interesting tidbits about why he thinks he'll perform much better as a catcher.

The dude's head is going so fast, and in RF there's a lot of downtime. And he's also new to the position, so he was out there worrying about messing up and thinking about his next at bats. At catcher it's 100% engagement on every pitch. Could lend to a better mental space for Davis to operate in.

[LeopardLetang]

Good. I like hearing an optimistic take. And yeah that's why I called him robo sid. Gonna be some big personalities on this team the next few years.

[King Colby]

I am still hoping for (and somewhat expecting) another starter acquisition

Why? The expecting part

Too many position players right now. Hoping for a deal to package a few of them for a pitcher

[Ad@m]

I am still hoping for (and somewhat expecting) another starter acquisition

Bauer

[LeopardLetang]

I am still hoping for (and somewhat expecting) another starter acquisition

Why? The expecting part

Too many position players right now. Hoping for a deal to package a few of them for a pitcher

Olivares or Joe? I think you send Nick G down to mash AAA and gain value. And send Bae down to play CF.

So maybe a month in. See what happens with injuries at home and around the league

The extra players all have options or in minor league deals. And are either prospects with low value or just good veteran depth (McKinney and Celestino)

[willeyeam]

The extra players aren't good

[Troy Loney]

Also judging the rash of SP injuries going around right now, no team with any 2024 aspirations will be looking to trade a starter.

Miami being hard hit, which is good news for the Pirates who get them for a 4-game series in Miami to start the season.

[Troy Loney]

Fangraphs releasing their position rankings this week.

Famous last words, but I don't think outlets have any idea what the Pirates are/have this year.

I wasn't digging into them much on the first few groupings (C, 1B, 2B) as the overall ranking seemed fair, but SS came out and Cruz was in the middle of the pack, so I went back through.

Firstly, some of the guys that effectively rank ahead of Cruz is weak. I get putting him behind all those with proven, strong track records, but like Volpe? and whoever that is for the Angels? Bad.

So then I skimmed back through. They have Peguero as the primary 2B, Triolo is going to get most of those at bats. But then Triolo has a shitting projection because he has a 30% k rate in 2023. Which is true, but those results are from his two stints, his k rate was way down after his second call up. So i think his projections are low. They also have Davis making no improvements at the plate for '24, resulting in a < 2 WAR projection (from a position where playing time and competent defense is like a guaranteed 1.5 WAR (Delay had 1.1 WAR last year)