Not too shabby batting IN FRONT of Bell either. Marte having a very nice season, seeing lots of fastballs.
OT: Pirates
- Thread starter pittdan77
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Heard a decent discussion of Bell's situation by Zeiss. Although he's very hard to listen to, he made a lot of sense.
The Pirates could offer Bell a deal like they did McCutcheon and try to lock him up for a few more years. It wouldn't be cheap, though, much more than Cutch because things have gotten more crazy in that short time since that deal was signed.
He felt Bell wouldn't be inclined to take that kind of deal though. He's eligible for arbitration next year, and coming off this monster season, he's going to get a HUGE raise, probably in the range of $10 million. Another big year, and another big raise the next year....then he's a FA, and with 3 monster years in a row, he's possibly looking at a deal in the range of $300 million or more!!! He'll be 30 at that time.
No way the Pirates can play in that sandbox!
Doubt they can pay or would pay what he's going to get in arbitration!
This is exactly what sucks about being a Pirate fan. Even when we get lucky and develop a player like Bell, the team always has holes to capitalize on it and the window is so small. We got lucky with Cutch because he signed for a deep discount, but Bell has Boras for an agent.
Nuff said!!
You’re right. Nice to see Marte do what he did last night. However, it seems like he just never makes that jump to the next level. He will hover around .280, get to .290, make you think he can be a .300 hitter...and then he’s back down to .270 again. Such a talented player with all the tools who just couldn’t reach expectations. But maybe our expectations were too high. Such a great athlete though.
Batting 3rd and continuing to do what he’s doing may bring suitors willing to give up a lot.
Ha! I read your entire post thinking Boras, Boras, Boras...and then you hit us with that very key fact at the very end.
I mentioned earlier that they brought up a pitcher that had a 9+ era. Thank God we had an 11 run lead when they brought him in for the ninth. Another thank God when he retired 3 straight batters. Whew!
Agrazal has been a decent spot starter for them.
They need to make a move for a starter or two.
Doesn't have to be Baumgartner, just two journeymen guys who hover around .500 would be enough the way they are swinging bats.
Now Dickerson hurt again! And Brault on the 10 day. Never ends with this team.
God hates Nutting!!!
They need to make a move for a starter or two.
Doesn't have to be Baumgartner, just two journeymen guys who hover around .500 would be enough the way they are swinging bats.
Now Dickerson hurt again! And Brault on the 10 day. Never ends with this team.
God hates Nutting!!!
But to be honest, that is almost every team in baseball. I mean Washington lost Harper. They could have paid him. Boras is going to definitely take Bell to free agency, he would never let him sign. He is perfect in the AL too, 1B-DH, Boston, NYY, LAA all will likely wage major bidding wars for him.
What is the big issue for the Pirates is when do you take him to the market? When do you start entertaining offers for him? After next year? I would.
That's why baseball ultimately SUCKS!
Need a cap, BAD! Ceiling and floor.
Of all professional sports, baseball has the most preordained outcomes.
A smaller team can spend and get there, but it bankrupts them for years after.
There is no balance, and no real hope for smaller franchises.
Just glimmers and spurts.
That's true. I mean, you don't see stars leaving in the NHL for the most part, the NBA and NFL less so. But just as we have seen this past week, in free agency all of a sudden downtrodden franchises like the Clippers can become a power.
Up until 1992, the Pirates were middle of the road payroll wise, 16th......now....LOL. If they were at 16, they would be right where Milwaukee and Cincy are, two smaller markets, around $127 million. Which means, they could play there, they choose not to.
Yeah, that's true. But it's also completely misleading.
DuRapau had an era over 9 in the majors. But that was in less than 10 innings pitched. His era at Indianapolis so far this year is 1.93. If you aren't going to give a chance to a guy with a AAA era of under 2.00 then who are you going to give a chance to? If you are going to permanently cast aside every pitcher who struggles in their first 10 innings in the majors you are going to make a ton of mistakes in judging pitchers.
In six seasons in the minors DuRapau has thrown 294 innings with an era of 2.72 and a whip of 0.94. Again, if you aren't going to give a guy like that a chance then who are you going to give a chance to?
Thanks for the info and you are absolutely correct.
Rooting for a team that spends $50 million less than each of its 4 division opponents and expecting to win is definition of insanity
Did anybody catch Dan Zangrilli's swipe at Pitt during the pregame radio show?
I don't know where Jack Z and Zangrilli were doing the show, but Jack spotted someone in a Pitt shirt, and Zangrilli apparently made a comment or gesture off the air....
JACK Z: Oh, you can't do that in this town.
ZANGRILLI: There are more of us here than of them. Trust me on that.
Zangrilli has worked for WVU, and he has apparently swallowed the Hoopie Kool-Ade that WVU somehow has a greater presence in Pittsburgh among the fans than our local university. This despite the fact that aside from AT&T SPorts, the local media largely ignores the Mountaineers, and that you have to dig to find Hoopiewear in the 412,
I don't know where Jack Z and Zangrilli were doing the show, but Jack spotted someone in a Pitt shirt, and Zangrilli apparently made a comment or gesture off the air....
JACK Z: Oh, you can't do that in this town.
ZANGRILLI: There are more of us here than of them. Trust me on that.
Zangrilli has worked for WVU, and he has apparently swallowed the Hoopie Kool-Ade that WVU somehow has a greater presence in Pittsburgh among the fans than our local university. This despite the fact that aside from AT&T SPorts, the local media largely ignores the Mountaineers, and that you have to dig to find Hoopiewear in the 412,
Also took a shot during a rain delay.
Took a call from Morgantown and his partner said that would upset Pitt fans, and he said "Yeah, all sixteen of them?"
Nice from our flagship station!!!
Who owns the Pirates? A West Virginian. What would we expect?
Who owns ATT Sports Net? That is a better question. Don't they hire the slugs that fill time between games?
Pitt obviously has no control or influence with that station. Otherwise, they'd amp up some pressure or take their business elsewhere.
Or maybe the broadcasts of Pitt sports isn't worth much and they have to take it?
I dunno. And I am not sure why there is no Pitt content on that station. Not sure, not SMF on Tier 3 rights and stuff like that.
As for the Fan, yeah there are just few Pitt grads in the local media, and aside from Richie Walsh, it seems like they go out of their way to not be a "homer", whereas most of the other folks in town who went to other schools are unabashed fanboys of their alma mater.
Walsh is pretty much the only admitted pitt fan in our media and we bash him on here.. Pomp is pretty good, not a fan but definitely fair to pitt..
Going back a few years but Altoona and former nitter Paul Alexander was actually very pro pitt when he was on the Fan. one of the few who could be pro pitt and pro psu without sounding like a fanboy..
True, and add in the owner is a hoopie and the president a nitter makes it really tough for me to root for the Pirates. Not adding anything after the 2015 season and dumping Walker was the final straw for me. But everyone loves the buccos.....you hardly see any criticism in the PG about their futility, and the AT&T broadcast is just one big infomercial for the Pirates.
Sum it up this way... screw the Pirates and the ups and WVU scum who have a hand in their ownership, management and broadcasting of their games. Any moron in the eastern US can be admitted to the animal training institute known as WVU and any of the 150 trailer parks which comprise ups’ vast branch campus network!
When he was hired, the Nitter Coonelly happily reflected on sitting in Pitt Stadium as a PSU student during 48-14.
I've hated him ever since.
Was the Hoopie calling from Sam Drucker's store?
FWIW, I complained to 93.7 and demanded more professionalism from a broadcaster on Pitt's flagship. Don't expect anything to come of it.
What a freak show!
Like watching 400 pound beer keg slow pitch softball players launching lobbed pitches into orbit.
Such exaggerated swings, the distance, jacking 6 or 7 in a row.....it really didn't have anything to do with normal baseball hitting skills.
Consider the runner up, Guerrera Jr, had like 6 HR's coming in. Then he promptly blasts 29 in 4 and a half minutes??
Watching those swings, you can certainly see how players could get their "real" strokes screwed up by this contest. But, a million dollar prize is hard to pass up.
Glad Bell bowed out early and he didn't seem to alter his stroke much, hitting a lot of line drives and not those lofted moon shots.
Like I said, freak show, kinda like the hot dog eating contest, but I'm sure some folks loved it.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/scott-boras-on-potential-josh-bell-extension.html
Article on a potential Bell extension. Boras lays into the Pirates pretty good. Hate the guy but he has a good point.
“Pittsburgh really doesn’t have a history of giving star player contracts yet,” Boras told Mackey. “Maybe they will someday. They’ve had a history of signing players before they’ve evolved into stars.”
“The Pirates are making a lot of money. The revenue structure of this game, you can go back and look at 2003 or ‘04, they’re probably making $100 million more than they did back then. Yet their payroll is within $20 million of where it was back then. The ability to do it is not the question. It’s the model, the choice of what they want.”
Article on a potential Bell extension. Boras lays into the Pirates pretty good. Hate the guy but he has a good point.
“Pittsburgh really doesn’t have a history of giving star player contracts yet,” Boras told Mackey. “Maybe they will someday. They’ve had a history of signing players before they’ve evolved into stars.”
“The Pirates are making a lot of money. The revenue structure of this game, you can go back and look at 2003 or ‘04, they’re probably making $100 million more than they did back then. Yet their payroll is within $20 million of where it was back then. The ability to do it is not the question. It’s the model, the choice of what they want.”
Only Nutting could make Boras appear "reasonable"!!
Quite a feat!
Agree totally. It bordered on, no it was, "too much of a good thing". After awhile, the homers just ran together. And I also was not so disappointed that Bell got out early based on what was to come.
BIN-GO!!!!!
Again, I pointed out before this current ownership, the Pirates were always middle of the pack, say 16 in overall payroll. That would put them at $127 million, right where Milwaukee and Cincy (both smaller markets) are.
Look no further than how the Pirates IGNORED Dallas Keuchel as a mid season FA signing.
This team is and has been in desperate need of starting pitching help.
They tried to trade prospects for an established starter last year with Chris Archer, but the trade has been rightfully panned as a failure.
Here, they could have got exactly what they needed, an inning eating seasoned starter without giving up ANY prospects. The Braves ultimately signed him for $13 million.
Now you hear silly talk about the Pirates trading for Madison Bumgarner! Yeah right!!!
The Pirates have extra pieces, but they are all hurt or coming off injury that has diminished their value.
Keuchel is averaging about 7 innings a start and has been a .500 pitcher for the Braves. However with the kind of offense the Pirates are producing, he may have been 4-0 with the Bucs.
The idea of spending $13 million for a rental pitcher would send Nutting into an apoplectic fit, complete with frothing at the mouth.
But hey, we're 2 and a half games out, and there are a lot of fireworks and bobblehead days ahead!!! Go Buccos!!!
Exactly. All he would have cost the Pirates is some salary. Nothing in trade. This franchise is such BS. I mean, it is nice and they have a fun offense, but really I hope they come out of the gate and tank it, because they aren't going to win. They won't stay this hot as a team, the pitching is just horrid, and injuries have crushed it.
It is best for them to go 2-6, 2-7 out of the gate, stop this crazy notion and look to see what Marte, Melky and Vasquez can bring in return.
It would be nice to trade those guys if you could get a great return.
Marte and Vasquez should each pry a #1 pitching prospect from two franchises, say Philly and LA.
Melky a lesser prospect, but still a very good one.
But the Pirates always seem to be on the short end of these deals!
Then what do you do with Dickerson? He's a gold glove LF who hits for average, but can't stay on the field. If you trade Marte, do you sign him?
What about Kerplunko? They have a good bit of coin invested in him, but he's such a dope and enigma....does he have trade value?
Then Bell looms.
I don't see any way they sign him to any extension.
Taillon may never pitch again, Keller sits there at AAA, even with the team starving for competent starting pitching.
Cervelli is worthless as their top paid player. The Two free agent signings, the ss and rf are like ghosts. Signed but invisible!
Kela went from drop dead set up man to where the hell is he??
This franchise is poisoned. Nutting is the devil and they are cursed. PNC was built on an ancient Indian burial ground. It is the only explanation for this much ineptness!
Boras should be barking at the union. There are a few franchises that could easily spend more but you won't get a salary floor without conceding something like the arbitration structure and that won't happen.
I feel like he's openly taunting the Pirates. Like, "You missed out on this one!" I don't know that a half season means anything yet but you can bet that Boras is already shopping Bell.
The Pirates have scored 432 runs this year. The Braves have scored 491. The Braves are number one in the NL in runs scored. He might have been 4-0 with the Pirates, and he might have been 0-4.
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