ADVERTISEMENT

OT: Pirates

It is truly sad that after beating the Brewers 5 straight, we send Meadows to the minors. I think this move proves, once again, that the almighty dollar far exceeds winning.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blue Goose
It is truly sad that after beating the Brewers 5 straight, we send Meadows to the minors. I think this move proves, once again, that the almighty dollar far exceeds winning.

They beat the Brewers 5 straight and went 7-1 in this stretch without Meadows. I mean I have no problems criticizing this mgmt and don't go out of my way to defend them, but right now they have 3 pretty good OFers who are playing well. So if they can send him down for a month and save an arbitration year, yeah it makes sense.
 
They beat the Brewers 5 straight and went 7-1 in this stretch without Meadows. I mean I have no problems criticizing this mgmt and don't go out of my way to defend them, but right now they have 3 pretty good OFers who are playing well. So if they can send him down for a month and save an arbitration year, yeah it makes sense.
Gotta agree . He's an awesome kid but didn't factor in this last stretch .
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saboteur
It is truly sad that after beating the Brewers 5 straight, we send Meadows to the minors. I think this move proves, once again, that the almighty dollar far exceeds winning.
Well there is a 4 game break coming up and he hasn’t been playing. So he can go down and play everyday or stay up and not play for 4 days and rarely after that.
 
Im intrigued by the future staff

Musgrove, taillon, kingham and holmes.

And glasnow has sick stuff to go with a fastball that touches 100

A work in progress to be sure, but im optimistic going into next year
 
Im intrigued by the future staff

Musgrove, taillon, kingham and holmes.

And glasnow has sick stuff to go with a fastball that touches 100

A work in progress to be sure, but im optimistic going into next year

I am not. Not at all. Rinse, lather, repeat. It is the same old same old. Neal Huntingdon said on his show last week that their goal is to have a team than "analytically" is projected out to 78-82 wins like they had in 2013, 14 and 15, and have them overperform, and hopefully win 90+

What this means folks, is even if the Pirates start to put together a contender again, they are still not going to go out and sign a big free agent like KC, Cleveland and now Milwaukee or trade prospects for a Chris Sale or Johnny Cueto to go over the hump. That is not part of the plan.

So basically the Pirates philosophy is to build a .500 team and hope for a happy accident or two. So no, I am not optimistic about anything, especially in regards to pitching. Glasnow's stuff is so good, it is criminal how he hasn't been able to develop further. When you see how Morton and Cole (both of who have become All Stars) and you see Taillon basically plateauing, should Ray Searage get a raise? They won yesterday in spite of Hurdle.

Look at St Louis, long time St Louis Manager and player Mike Matheny was fired yesterday. He has been hugely successful and a WS winner. Mediocrity within the Pirates is rewarded provided it is maintained within the framework of the budget. Most mgmt and ownership groups end goal is the ring. The Pirates is the P&L statement.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Panther Holla
I'm just going to live in the moment. Yesterday's second game was AWESOME!
 
I missed something with cervelli. what happened? The morning show was talking about him like his career is over. did he get injured?
 
The next couple of weeks leading up to the trading deadline should prove to be mildly comical for the Pirates.
Huntington prematurely ran his mouth, setting up the fans for the inevitable fire sale, saying 4-4 wouldn't cut it, but the team went 7-1! LOL

Despite the streak, nothing has changed. They are still 9 out of first place, and almost 6 behind in the last wildcard, with 6 teams to jump. The leader for the last wildcard spot is 10 games over .500, the Pirates are still one game below.

So, the Pirates will be sellers, but Big Deal! The guys they will be trying to peddle are a pretty average to below average lot. Cervelli is pretty much done as a catcher due to concussion issues, see John Jaso. He is unproven at any other position, so perhaps he's a DH candidate, but he isn't that much of an offensive force.
Harrison is mired in a batting slump, and now has hamstring issues. Good luck unloading him.
Mercer is an average SS. Most contenders already have solid SS's and Mercer doesn't play other positions.
Freece, probably marketable as a bat off the bench, but for peanuts.
Nova? Perhaps has some value but not much. Basically a .500 pitcher.

So, you'll see the Pirates unload these assets, read salaries, but they won't get anything back.
Next year, it will be the core of Marte, Polanco, Bell, maybe Dickerson if he isn't dumped, Diaz behind the plate, Moran at 3rd, and then rookies at SS and 2nd.

The pitching staff will get considerably younger, but who knows if they'll be better. The pen, outside of Vasquez will be a hodge podge as usual.

Payroll will be well below $100 million as usual, probably significantly below, since it is the Nutting way.
Hurdle and Co. will be back as will Neal and Frank because they are "winning" in the checkbook, and that is where it really matters in Nutting's world!
 
The next couple of weeks leading up to the trading deadline should prove to be mildly comical for the Pirates.
Huntington prematurely ran his mouth, setting up the fans for the inevitable fire sale, saying 4-4 wouldn't cut it, but the team went 7-1! LOL

Despite the streak, nothing has changed. They are still 9 out of first place, and almost 6 behind in the last wildcard, with 6 teams to jump. The leader for the last wildcard spot is 10 games over .500, the Pirates are still one game below.

So, the Pirates will be sellers, but Big Deal! The guys they will be trying to peddle are a pretty average to below average lot. Cervelli is pretty much done as a catcher due to concussion issues, see John Jaso. He is unproven at any other position, so perhaps he's a DH candidate, but he isn't that much of an offensive force.
Harrison is mired in a batting slump, and now has hamstring issues. Good luck unloading him.
Mercer is an average SS. Most contenders already have solid SS's and Mercer doesn't play other positions.
Freece, probably marketable as a bat off the bench, but for peanuts.
Nova? Perhaps has some value but not much. Basically a .500 pitcher.

So, you'll see the Pirates unload these assets, read salaries, but they won't get anything back.
Next year, it will be the core of Marte, Polanco, Bell, maybe Dickerson if he isn't dumped, Diaz behind the plate, Moran at 3rd, and then rookies at SS and 2nd.

The pitching staff will get considerably younger, but who knows if they'll be better. The pen, outside of Vasquez will be a hodge podge as usual.

Payroll will be well below $100 million as usual, probably significantly below, since it is the Nutting way.
Hurdle and Co. will be back as will Neal and Frank because they are "winning" in the checkbook, and that is where it really matters in Nutting's world!
Interesting
But who can they dump now....maybe I’m wrong who’s going to pick up anybody except maybe Vasquez....of if they throw Marte , Bell or Polanco out there as well.

They’re better than that losing 20/30 or whatever but making the playoffs does look like a real stretch.

Still have about 70 games left....and the Yanks and Red Sox fortunately are in the AL..
Also , how bad do some of these teams in MLB suck...there’s some nightmare records out there.
 
is it me or does every single player that the pirates might try and trade, they have very little if any real trade value but God forbid if we want to go out and get a relief pitcher or a middle infielder, it will cost us the world. Mercer gets us nothing, no one wants polanco, no one wants marte, no one wants Jay-Hay but if we tried to go out and get a Jay Hay Caliber player, we'd have to give up 1/2 our triple A team..
 
  • Like
Reactions: Black Panther
Im intrigued by the future staff

Musgrove, taillon, kingham and holmes.

And glasnow has sick stuff to go with a fastball that touches 100

A work in progress to be sure, but im optimistic going into next year
Too bad Glasnow averages three walks per inning. Control has been the problem his entire career. Will it ever change?
 
Neil Walker is hitting .190 ish for the Yanks.
Cutch is hitting .261 and on track to hit 16 HRs.
Cole is 10-2 with a sub 2.5 era
Harrison is a journey man by most standards and gets points for making the routine look difficult.
The only complaint I have with ownership is the lack of key free agents at the right time.
Nothing about this current team bothers me. In baseball you are what you record says you are. The Pirates are an average team. Cervelli is done due to concussion issues, but he too makes the routine look difficult and while likeable, is not essential.
The only way they contend, under any reasonable ownership group in a shrinking market, is by a stellar farm system.
Bitch about Cutch all you want, he's average at a very high price.
Walker is well below the Mendoza line.
Management was right about both.
Cole was gone to the highest bidder anyway with Boras as his agent. I dont think the Astros can keep him. He will call California home next year.
Pittsburgh is a tiny market. If I owned them, I would move them. Be careful what "yinz" ask fir n'at.
 
Mexico City.
If you want to remain in the US, here are some candidates....plus San Antonio and Columbus.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...kets-without-major-league-baseball-teams.html

All of these markets will surpass Yinzerburgh in the next 10 years.

It won't happen. The city will do what they've always done and shovel cash into whoever owns the Pirates office until they stay. Nutting will leverage moving them but it's pretty safe to say the city will sell out to keep them.
 
I’m starting to believe....

(I know that you can’t do this and it works both ways....but I really wish they didn’t have that run where they blew 4 or 5 multiple run, late inning leads. They would be in that 10-12 game over range and in division striking distance. It’s generally not super expensive to put together an effective bullpen, and that was a fail early on)
 
I tell ya what the offense has looked good but life is about to get rough once they get to August. 28 of the next 30 are against teams with a winning record. Also they are gonna get Kluber and Bauer next series against Cleveland.
 
It is truly sad that after beating the Brewers 5 straight, we send Meadows to the minors. I think this move proves, once again, that the almighty dollar far exceeds winning.

How so? The outfield is insanely hot, and he is the 4th best option.

That said...I think they may have mismanaged him by keeping him up if he wasn’t going to play.

To keep a player out of super 2 status, they can’t be in the top 22% of time in the majors for players with 2+ years. Otherwise they are considered having 3 years of service. So if he wasn’t going to play, they should have sent him down earlier to ensure more control down the road
 
I tell ya what the offense has looked good but life is about to get rough once they get to August. 28 of the next 30 are against teams with a winning record. Also they are gonna get Kluber and Bauer next series against Cleveland.

Good point....that has always been the issue this year. I’m hoping the fact that this all started against some pretty good teams mean it’s different this time. I’m not sure I trust the pitching against good hitting teams.
 
Mexico City.
If you want to remain in the US, here are some candidates....plus San Antonio and Columbus.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...kets-without-major-league-baseball-teams.html

All of these markets will surpass Yinzerburgh in the next 10 years.
The Oakland A’s play in a stadium that routinely floods raw sewage and the Tampa Bay Rays play in a airport hanger, yet none of the cities listed in the above link are trying to lure them to their town. MLB doesn’t move the needle in the stadium extortion racket like the NFL does.
 
The Oakland A’s play in a stadium that routinely floods raw sewage and the Tampa Bay Rays play in a airport hanger, yet none of the cities listed in the above link are trying to lure them to their town. MLB doesn’t move the needle in the stadium extortion racket like the NFL does.
Hard to believe the SF Giants almost moved into that trash can in St Pete.

What a dump
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT