ADVERTISEMENT

Bucco Fever ~ Catch It

We were talking last week about them just tanking the whole season to get the number one draft pick, and I have to say that I don't know if that's what they are doing, but it sure looks like that's the strategy.

This team has about six guys, maybe seven, who ought to be playing all the time. Especially in a short season. Assuming that your goal is to win as much as possible. Bell, Frazier, Newman, Moran, Reynolds and Polanco, and perhaps, dare I say it, Stallings (as much for his defense as his offense). And yet every day one or two or more of those guys are sitting on the bench while we see Dyson and Evans (who has actually hit the ball pretty well so far) and Murphy and Gonzalez and Heridia out in the field. Why?

Cole Tucker looks over matched at times, but at least he's a young guy that you are trying to find out about and who you hope will get better with time. What does a guy like Jarrod Dyson bring to the table. He's old, so he's not going to get any better. The last few years he's stunk, .230/.313/.320 last year and .189/.282/.257 (good god, a .257 slugging percentage!) two years ago. Why on earth is he anything more than a once a week fill it? Hell, why is he even on the roster?

And then you have the foolish aggressiveness on the bases, which is getting guys thrown out at a ridiculous rate. Why?

I'll tell you why. They aren't trying to win. They are trying to lose so much they get that number one pick.
You may be exactly right, they want that pick. But what difference does that pick mean to a team like the Pirates? They will never spend the money to acquire other good players, and they will never spend the money to re-sign the good players they draft. This has been the case for almost 30 years, going back to the Bonds era. The Pirates are actually fortunate that there are no fans permitted at the games - who would pay money to watch this team try to lose. Of course, maybe they would not adopt this strategy if they had to attract real paying customers.
 
So...you guys went into this season with.................what kind of expectations? Isn't this club basically performing as we all expected?

This year is a wash. It is a throw away. The Pirates should be playing every young guy or tradeable commodity. Colin Moran, keep on hitting HR's.
Every year is a wash for the pirates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pierre93
You may be exactly right, they want that pick. But what difference does that pick mean to a team like the Pirates? They will never spend the money to acquire other good players, and they will never spend the money to re-sign the good players they draft. This has been the case for almost 30 years, going back to the Bonds era. The Pirates are actually fortunate that there are no fans permitted at the games - who would pay money to watch this team try to lose. Of course, maybe they would not adopt this strategy if they had to attract real paying customers.

This. It makes no difference whether the Pirates get the #1 pick because they won't draft the best player (too expensive). And if they do get the best player, they will just trade him for more assets 3 years from now, or won't sufficiently build around him and he'll leave the team as a 31 year old free agent having never won anything.

The Pirates' personnel moves are basically a flow chart where none of the results end in a championship. Anyone who follows them at this point needs to accept that.
 
Baseball is one sport that 1 player can't elevate a team! Hockey - Look at what Price is doing in the playoffs | A top QB can elevate a team and in BB a top player can carry a team.

BB is far different and with the Pirates spending philosophy they will NEVER amount to anything without changing that aspect.

This. It makes no difference whether the Pirates get the #1 pick because they won't draft the best player (too expensive). And if they do get the best player, they will just trade him for more assets 3 years from now, or won't sufficiently build around him and he'll leave the team as a 31 year old free agent having never won anything.

The Pirates' personnel moves are basically a flow chart where none of the results end in a championship. Anyone who follows them at this point needs to accept that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lilspainishflea
Baseball is one sport that 1 player can't elevate a team! Hockey - Look at what Price is doing in the playoffs | A top QB can elevate a team and in BB a top player can carry a team.

BB is far different and with the Pirates spending philosophy they will NEVER amount to anything without changing that aspect.

Proof you're right: Mike Trout has 3 MVPs and was MVP runner-up twice. Some metrics suggest that he's one of the best ballplayers in decades. The Angels made the playoffs once since Trout joined the team.
 
The only cure is a suppository administered with a Dale Berra applicator. Yeah its that bad........
 
If you didn't know anything about metrics and you just watched him play it would be easy to see that he's an all time great player.

I have watched quite a bit of Angels baseball for years (sadly), and it seems that Trout does something special on a regular basis. I’m 52 years old and he’s probably the best overall player I’ve ever seen.
 
If this was a 162 game season, the Pirates would be on pace to finish with the worst record in modern baseball history.

An unprecedented tank job!
tenor.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: PittPanthers90
If this was a 162 game season, the Pirates would be on pace to finish with the worst record in modern baseball history.

An unprecedented tank job!
tenor.gif
If they win 14 games or fewer, they will finish with the lowest winning percentage in modern history. That is assuming there are 60 games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
I feel bad for del pozo. That guy clearly doesn’t belong.


So far this season he's gotten 11 outs and given up 7 hits and 8 walks. That is, ah, not good.

Opponent's slash line against him so far: .421/.600/.529

Last night's bullpen numbers: 7 innings, 16 runs, 14 of which were earned (the other two were the guys who started on second base in the 10th and 11th), 15 hits, 6 walks, 9 strikeouts, 165 pitches needed to go 7 innings
 
No baseball team that has Jacob Stallings as its starting catcher will be successful.
Oh how I wish that the Pirates played the New York Yankees this year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pierre93
Reports are their first game against St Louis is ppd. others pending. I’m really hoping they make these lost games up so I can cash my Under bet.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HOF Coach
I’m really hoping they make these lost games up so I can cash my Under bet.


At this point I can't see how all the postponed games are going to get made up. There's just going to be too many of them for some teams.

Instead of adding an extra week of playoffs they should have used the week after the season was over to play some of the make up games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
Another sweep, this time courtesy of the Tigers. They’re so bad, it’s comical at this point. Realistically, they should be 1-15 right now. Don’t know how they came back against Milwaukee and Minnesota.
 
Another sweep, this time courtesy of the Tigers. They’re so bad, it’s comical at this point. Realistically, they should be 1-15 right now. Don’t know how they came back against Milwaukee and Minnesota.
Who won the pierogi race? :p
 
So starved for sports. So depressed when I turn on the suckos. Not worth it.

If only they got rid of Polanco, the season would be a success
 
At this point I can't see how all the postponed games are going to get made up. There's just going to be too many of them for some teams.

Instead of adding an extra week of playoffs they should have used the week after the season was over to play some of the make up games.
I posted the same idea a week or so ago. They might end up doing it yet.
 
I posted the same idea a week or so ago. They might end up doing it yet.


With the Pirates - Cardinals series getting postponed, as of the end of the day on Wednesday the Cardinals will have played five games. That means 55 more games to go for them. At that point the season will have 46 days left in it. I can't imagine how they could play that many games in that many days. It just isn't going to be practical.
 
So starved for sports. So depressed when I turn on the suckos. Not worth it.

If only they got rid of Polanco, the season would be a success

For the better part of the last decade, the Pirates have mostly had 60 game starts that would have hung around contention this year.

Now the one time there is low hanging fruit in order to get a shot at the playoffs, they do this. It’s pretty insufferable. The team has some nice pieces, but the weak links are as weak as I have seen on any team in years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HailToPitt725
For the better part of the last decade, the Pirates have mostly had 60 game starts that would have hung around contention this year.

Now the one time there is low hanging fruit in order to get a shot at the playoffs, they do this. It’s pretty insufferable. The team has some nice pieces, but the weak links are as weak as I have seen on any team in years.

They're fading in July and August just as they have for years.
 
ADVERTISEMENT