Isn’t the catcher trying to influence the umpire, to make a pitch that is outside the strike zone appear to be a strike? The catcher is moving his glove into the strike zone, after he catches the pitch.
OT:Buccos
- Thread starter mike 301
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He’s just catching the pitch. The umpire shouldn’t be influenced by where the catcher catches the ball. He should be watching the ball in relation to home plate.
I agree, but apparently the umpires are being influenced. If it wasn’t working, the catchers would not be doing it, and managers would not be commenting on it.
Bryan Reynolds has been a massive disappointment. Not quite turd level that I had referenced earlier in this thread, but if you take away his 1st 2 weeks of the season, he has been a way below average left fielder. When guys you pay and count on flop, it really makes you wonder about the future of this team.
Sounds like you’re coming around to the thought that it’s the umpires doing a poor job rather than the catchers cheating. I agree!!
My conversation with the wife as the game started
Me: "This guy is gonna get rocked by the third time around"
wife: "How do you know that?"
Me: "His ERA in the minors is 4.51, he is giving up runs in the minors, what do they think is gonna happen with big league hitters."
Wife now thinks I know something, but really all I know is that 4.51 ERA in the minors makes one suspect
Me: "This guy is gonna get rocked by the third time around"
wife: "How do you know that?"
Me: "His ERA in the minors is 4.51, he is giving up runs in the minors, what do they think is gonna happen with big league hitters."
Wife now thinks I know something, but really all I know is that 4.51 ERA in the minors makes one suspect
Just in time to justify dumping all his assets to lock in a bigger profit for the year.
They need to go and get veterans in the offseason. This cheap bargaining game is for the birds.
This is the dumbest form of development I've ever seen. Draft a catcher at the 1:1 spot and put him in the outfield a couple years later, at the MLB level of all places....??? SMH.
F###king dumb!!
Now they're playing all the top minor leaguers before they're ready for the bigs because ol Nut Face is scared to sign established players.
Hopeless...Pure Hopeless
This is the dumbest form of development I've ever seen. Draft a catcher at the 1:1 spot and put him in the outfield a couple years later, at the MLB level of all places....??? SMH.
F###king dumb!!
Now they're playing all the top minor leaguers before they're ready for the bigs because ol Nut Face is scared to sign established players.
Hopeless...Pure Hopeless
I think tonight was the most disappointing game of the season for me. Another terribly mismanaged by Shelton… he hung Priester out to dry way too long on the mound, he let rookies bat 5-9 without having any sort of veteran sprinkled in to take some pressure off them, and there were just way too many ABs that they just looked lost. I blame that on the hitting staff.
Oh, and don’t forget the catcher you drafted 1-1 continuing to play in the outfield. I don’t get it. You’re willing to accept growing pains elsewhere in the lineup, but not for the player you drafted with the first overall pick?
Oh, and don’t forget the catcher you drafted 1-1 continuing to play in the outfield. I don’t get it. You’re willing to accept growing pains elsewhere in the lineup, but not for the player you drafted with the first overall pick?
It is like a Little League game, just playing for the fun of the game, once the game is over, fifteen minutes later the kids are moving on and having fun, no one is worried about winning or losing, just having a good time, manager included, not much pre-game strategy, put'em uot there and go play.
It's like he wanted them (the rookies) to fail. Throw them all in without any plan or thought, watch them all fail, and then put all the journeyman vets back in after letting your top.prospacts fail.
I didn't know much about Priester until last night. I only watched the first few innings, but I couldn't help but wonder if would only take a little while before major leaguers adjusted to the natural sink on his ball and started getting under it, as opposed to hitting it into the ground. Evidently, it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might, lol.
I didn't realize he was such a "contact" pitcher wit low velocity. He needs to locate that curve a lot better and hopefully grow into a third or fourth starter, it seems. Yayyyyy!
I didn't realize he was such a "contact" pitcher wit low velocity. He needs to locate that curve a lot better and hopefully grow into a third or fourth starter, it seems. Yayyyyy!
Yeah, the podcast I listen to (North Shore Nine) said his ceiling is a #3 starter, which honestly isn’t a bad thing, and he’ll be an up-and-down type of pitcher. According to them, he already has the best curveball on the team but his potential is limited due to his fastball.
When we already have Skenes, Keller, hopefully Contreras again, and then a guy like Solometo in the minors, I guess we can afford to have a guy like Priester.
I mean he was a 1st rounder, but he was also 18th overall. That's not exactly a slam dunk for success in the bigs.
The problem we see in this town is we saw the Pens when MAF, Sid, Geno, Staal, Letang all came up at relatively the same time and launched the Pens into greatness. Skenes might be one of these guys, but there is not a guarantee on these guys.
New guys??
And on top of that, he was a Neal Huntington late-tenure first rounder. If he actually turns into a rotation guy for us, that is a 100% improvement over what we got from Tucker, Swaggerty, etc.
I’d say overall that this ‘future’ the Pirates have been selling and fans have been hoping for may fall short of expectations. They have been drafting in good position for a while now as well as picking up numerous prospects trading vets to other teams. We all know the names because they’re thrown out there frequently but their minor league stats may be decent but really don’t jump off the page, definitely not anything head and shoulders above other teams.
Sure seems like the Pirates strategy was to load up heavily in quantity and, while the overall success rate would not be overwhelming, would at least deliver a decent core group of above average to top quality. I’m skeptical that it’s trending in that direction.
LOL!!!!
3 of the guys in the starting lineup last night were making their ML debuts. The SS had ONE game under his belt.
The second baseman, third baseman, and RF'er have like 2 dozen ML games between them.
The CF'er is in his first full ML season.
Yep, they suck! How many HOF'ers struggled their first season???
These guys don't need to be HOF'ers, just Al Olivers, Richie Hebners, Manny Sanguillens, Dave Cash's, etc.
Growing pains for a while, then we'll see.
3 of the guys in the starting lineup last night were making their ML debuts. The SS had ONE game under his belt.
The second baseman, third baseman, and RF'er have like 2 dozen ML games between them.
The CF'er is in his first full ML season.
Yep, they suck! How many HOF'ers struggled their first season???
These guys don't need to be HOF'ers, just Al Olivers, Richie Hebners, Manny Sanguillens, Dave Cash's, etc.
Growing pains for a while, then we'll see.
Oh there's definitely nothing wrong with being a #3 starter. But here are my issues with that....
1) If that's his ceiling, should I expect him to hit it in this organization? Like I thought he would have more top-of-the-line potential and could potentially function as a #3 while he was figuring it out. If it's going to take him a while to even get to that level, well...
2) I'm tired of being sold a bill of goods on these hypothetical staffs. They never come to fruition. Ever. Cole-Glasnow-Taillon-(was Keller also in that plan?).... psh, yeah right. And that will be the same in this case. Keller may be gone after '24. And guys like Skenes, the aforementioned Priester, etc. aren't just going to come here and max out right away.
More than anything, though, I'm just surprised he was rated so high in a farm system that is rated so high if that truly is his ceiling.
Yep, that's my thing. Like we didn't even win a playoff series in '13 - '15, and who is our McCutchen? Perhaps Skenes is our Cole, but Keller is nearing the end of his contract; do we have a Burnett, Volquez, Liriano, etc. in the works?
I'm willing to give these guys a chance, but I just expected more from guys like Hayes by this point... Reynolds is not looking too hot... Suwinski goes into these freaking epic slumps... etc. Our prospects need to be better than other teams', because we can't supplement with sure things via free agency. Nobody is suggesting they need to all come up here and dominate right away, but my God; we can't just keep kicking the can down the road indefinitely, either. Plenty of young guys from the Orioles, Rays, Reds, Braves, etc. have shown/are showing some big-time talent.
Again, not saying this group can't be really good; they absolutely can be. But merely bringing up a bunch of young guys who, as you said, didn't jump off the page in the minors isn't necessarily going to translate to obvious success. We need a guy like Cruz to turn into a superstar as soon as next season.
Well I don't care where he was drafted at this point; I was going by the fact that he was ranked so highly in a farm system that's been in the top 5-10 for a few years now. Like, he was our highest-ranked pitcher for a while, and I just wouldn't have guessed he would be that high without aceish stuff. I'm just more surprised than anything. Certainly not writing him off, but he just looks like he'll have some learning to do. Hopefully he'll be the next Kyle Hendricks, I guess.
Reynolds is most disappointing. He is starting to project out to being a 2.5 WAR player. That is not exactly Cutch like in his best, it is not even Cutch Lite.
Tools-wise, Cruz is probably the best hope for a true everyday stud. I honestly don't know that he has the mindset to be that guy, though.
Hopefully Shelton at least took them all out to Dairy Queen after the game.
If he takes priester out after the 5th, where would his confidence be today? This idiot skipper pulls vets coasting in games with leads, but leaves a rookie in beyond what was necessary to build confidence and taste some success. Horrible manager. Horrible decision making.
We'll see what happens, but I want to know about this arbitrary window people are talking about opening up in the next year or two. This team feels miles from contending. If not for a Covid shortened season with a pathetic .317 win percentage and a ridiculous start to the season, this team would be on the verge of a fourth straight 100-loss season. On a historical note, the franchise is now 28 games above .500 all time. Remarkable given the overall ineptitude for the past 30 years.
I think the “window” is how long we have with the current core before we start trading players if/when they price themselves out of Pittsburgh. It’s not necessarily when they’re ready to make it happen as much as it is when it needs to happen.
Right. With the emergence of Keller, the signings of Hayes and Reynolds, and the knowing that Cruz was up and Davis, Gonzales, Rodriguez, Priester, etc. were close, I don't think all the window talk coming into this season was the least bit off base. The team's potential in that window might be a different tale, however, lol. Things aren't looking good right now. And I'm not talking about having unreasonable expectations for the guys who just got up. But with Reynolds regressing, Hayes seemingly having a lingering back issue, Suwinski continuing with these epic slumps... I mean, I don't know.
I guess, but as of today there really isn't a core, just a theoretical core they hope is going to be good enough to win games.
Right on. Priester is a good example. Is a 4.3 ERA in AAA going to really translate into wins at the next level? A spot start and return to the minors is what a good organization does with those numbers, one would think.
You do know that his era was that high because he got hammered in April and then pitched much better after that, right?
7.78 era at the end of April, 3.31 since the beginning of May. And if you throw out one really bad start at the end of May, 2.71 since the beginning of May.
No, I did not know that.
I have no faith in the ownership/management of the organization,. To me its a slight of hand, look over here while I pick the cities pocket, "exit velocity", "good stuff", interview your new number draft pick-superstar while your major league All-Star is getting his a** handed to him by a 7-0 score type of outfit, but that's just my take.
unfortunately shelty's job is safe as a kittenWe’re at the point where I kinda want to see how bad it gets…
In fairness, it's kind of funny how the outlook for the future on this thread has been so tied to this year's team, most of whom shouldn't factor into it.
But in double fairness, those who do factor into the future aren't exactly playing well, and the safe money is always on the Pirates to fail.
But in double fairness, those who do factor into the future aren't exactly playing well, and the safe money is always on the Pirates to fail.
Loved the Bucs since the '71 series ..
Just sad to watch ...
Just sad to watch ...
How about in triple fairness, add the fact that this is a continued effort by the Pirates and their media to spend no money while pushing a narrative of how great these prospects are. Case in point, Cole Tucker, 4 years of futile over the top superlatives, he was lousy. How is this group much different? Davis can hit at least, but not seeing much else.
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