Amazing how the Brewers have become that team. Outside of the covid year, they have finished at least 10 games above .500 the past 6 years.
OT:Buccos
- Thread starter mike 301
- Start date
Not sure the Pirates are "good". They are certainly better, and playing a nice brand of scrappy fundamentally sound baseball.
They are like some of the early Leyland teams, playing small ball and good defense with amazingly effective starting pitching and a solid back end bullpen.
When they're "good" teams will fear coming here or seeing the PIrates show up at their house. We're not there yet. All the pieces are not in place yet..
The great news is the cupboard is far from bare and this nice start is no mirage. Anxious to see who they bring up mid season and how that affects things.
They are like some of the early Leyland teams, playing small ball and good defense with amazingly effective starting pitching and a solid back end bullpen.
When they're "good" teams will fear coming here or seeing the PIrates show up at their house. We're not there yet. All the pieces are not in place yet..
The great news is the cupboard is far from bare and this nice start is no mirage. Anxious to see who they bring up mid season and how that affects things.
We have this to also look forward to...
Sooner than that, the catcher position is due for a significant upgrade in July when Rodriguez comes up. That puts some extra pop into the lineup.
There are also a couple of young arms waiting, and that's a good thing because a guy like Hill in your starting rotation is a liability over the long haul.
Probably a better option at SS until Cruz gets back as well.
Hopefully a couple of the young break out guys early will continue to produce. Sometimes it takes the league a turn through to figure these guys out, and once they do, if they can't adjust to the adjustments, they flame out!
Because he was part of the tank. They brought him in on it and it changed some of his tactics. They needed to just let those losses build up. His decisions were often shaded by the Bucs being in teardown mode.
I mean it's clear as day, he's managing differently this year, and he's doing all the right things as far as I can see. It's like they just took the engine governor's off of this guy. And he clearly knows what he's doing.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
This is evidence that supports that they purposely tanked. Just look at that lineup:
So .. Who shot JFK ? I kid, I kid ... Your theory is quite possible .. But I guess , anything is
I think it's pretty clear he was part of "the tank". I mean look at last year, when by far their best reliever (and probably pitcher) was David Bednar. And how did he use Bednar? Well even though the team was bad, which means that a top closer might not get as much work, he actually pitched him until almost literally his arm fell off. Which meant that he wasn't available any more.
A good way to tank? Make it so that your best pitcher can't pitch any more!
Well, either that or just use the guy really, really stupidly in the first place. One or the other.
Not buying the tank theory. So every bit of emotion he exhibited was a big act, too? We got lucky by winning the lottery and seemingly are on a path to land the consensus #1 pick this year, but many (most?) MLB drafts don't even have a consensus #1 pick. Who were we tanking for? This isn't the NBA with LeBron James coming out of high school.
Not only that, but to think that they tanked just to get a 16% chance to get the top pick seems, well, let's say not really an optimal strategy.
I mean .
45 minutes later interviewing JT Brubaker like he was Cy Young ...
Sorry . An hour and 45 minutes like he was Tommy John himself ...
My goodness . It's excruciating ..
45 minutes later interviewing JT Brubaker like he was Cy Young ...
Sorry . An hour and 45 minutes like he was Tommy John himself ...
My goodness . It's excruciating ..
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What a great start by Vince Velasquez, who has TEN strikeouts through seven innings pitched. Now it's time to add an insurance run...
Andrew McCutcheon should be our next manager ...
Pure Pittsburgh Pirate ...
Pure Pittsburgh Pirate ...
SEVEN IN A ROW! BUCS WIN AGAIN.... So what else is new?
In all of the years the Pirates have had #1 overall pick, there was no "THE GUY", well maybe Cole. This year there finally seems to be "THE GUY" as a position player.
Some think there are 3 or 4 "GUYS".
Good because it will be harder for the Pirates to screw this up!!
Vinnie V. has righted the ship. 3-2 now with 10 k's today. Tied for 1st. 3rd best winning % in all of baseball.
I’m sure the network heads are salivating at a potential Tampa bay/ pittsburgh World Series
I couldn't agree with this statement more. Best hitting prospect since Harper maybe?
The only thing i din't like from him today was not bunting in the seventh with Bae up and nobody out with runners on 1st and second. Need to try to get that insurance run in
Time will tell if Shelty is the man for the job. As an analogy penn state football has had slipping jimmy for quite a few years. He beats up on the cupcakes on penn states schedule only to regularly crap the bed against legit competition. Are the bucs for real or a fraud team that fights for 3rd place in their big ten east division like our friends to the east? Time will tell.
And again all of this without O'Neill Cruz.
Thinking ahead to 2025....
C Rodriguez/Davis
1B ?? Maybe Davis
2B. Bae? Johnson? Gonzalez?
SS Cruz
3B Hayes
OF Crews, Bae, Suwinski, Addition
DH Davis/Addition
Rotation
Contreras
Keller
Ovieto
Priester
Chandler/Solometo/Burrows
Now the Steelers could hit a HR with 3 picks in the top 50 this year, but the Pirates look like of the 3 pro teams, they have the best looking future. The Pirates.
Thinking ahead to 2025....
C Rodriguez/Davis
1B ?? Maybe Davis
2B. Bae? Johnson? Gonzalez?
SS Cruz
3B Hayes
OF Crews, Bae, Suwinski, Addition
DH Davis/Addition
Rotation
Contreras
Keller
Ovieto
Priester
Chandler/Solometo/Burrows
Now the Steelers could hit a HR with 3 picks in the top 50 this year, but the Pirates look like of the 3 pro teams, they have the best looking future. The Pirates.
Keith Law at the Athletic says that the draft this year is settling into tiers. Crews, Skenes and Langford are the top tier (and he says the Pirates are going to take one of the two hitters), and then a tier with the top three high school kids and three college guys, including the guy from Wake Forest who pitched against Pitt yesterday. And then another group of six guys, including Wake Forest's third baseman who hit a home run against Pitt this afternoon.
With runners on 1st and 2nd, if the defense runs the wheel play, which the Reds were, the batter is told to NOT bunt the ball, because there is no where for them to bunt it to. That's why Bae showed bunt twice and both times pulled the bat back (and the first time took a swing at it). He was doing exactly what guys are taught to do in that situation.
Which means the Pittsburgh Pirates are now atop of the National League… just like we all predicted!
3 best records in baseball:
1) TB
2) Pittsburgh (yep Pittsburgh)
3) Milwaukee
1) TB
2) Pittsburgh (yep Pittsburgh)
3) Milwaukee
That's great info appreciate you letting me know that
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I'm not homer. I listen to and watch a lot of sports and have Sirius and the TV packages like NHL and MLB where I can listen to hometown announcers. So I think I'm unbiased when I say this: Greg Brown is one of the best in the business and I watch and listen to a lot of baseball. Bob Walk and Wehner are good color commentators. But I agree with you, the rest are god awful.
Was just educating my teen son on how lucky Pittsburgh has been with announcers yesterday while we were driving and listening to the Pirate game.
Pirates: Bob Prince, Milo Hamilton, Lanny Fraterre, Jim Rooker, Steve Blass, Greg Brown, Bob Walk.
Steelers: Jack Fleming, Myron Cope, Bill Hillgrove, Tunch Ilkin, Craig Wolfley
Penguins: Mike Lange
Pitt Football: Bill Hillgrove, Johnny Sauer, Bill Fralic, Billy Osbourne, and now Pat Bostick. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone here. But all have been good, some great.
Pitt Basketball: Hillgrove, Dick Groat (Wow!), Curtis Aiken.
Very lucky to have had these guys. In a big market, some of these guys would have been household names.
I also told him it will be one of the saddest days in Pitt history when Bill Hillgrove retires. I know I've made fun of him and he does get the play wrong on a regular basis. But no one is more Pitt to Pitt than Billy. He has been the voice of the Panthers for most of my life and pretty much all of the time that I've been a Pitt fan (I got into Pitt in 1976 when I was a young elementary school student). And he is great with the Steeler games as well. He brings a personal touch to the game that few announcers I've ever listened to can. A total Pitt and city of Pittsburgh treasure who had the misfortune to be overshadowed by having Mike Lange and Myron Cope around at the same time.
I'm hoping Endy's injury isn't serious. "Forearm" injuries are often the precursor to the dreaded Tommy John surgery.
I think Crews would have a chance to be in Pittsburgh as soon as June of 2024. He draws comparisons to Mike Trout. And that might not be a stretch.
This is overall a great post. However… John Wehner???? I’m sorry. No. Granted I’m only an occasional partake of the product these days but…OMG, he’s … bad doesn’t even come close. He just kind of grunts.
im curious to see if henry davis gets moved to first. apparently he doesnt have the footwork/defense to be catcher. Just one article i read, who knows if it's legit.
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