2014 Pirates

[Darkstone42]

Also, Volquez was rated third best fastball in the National League this year, which is a nice thing to have in your pitching staff.

2014 Major League Best Tools - BaseballAmerica.com

 

[steelparrot]

Frieri is gone

 

[thedddd]

Frieri is gone

Yeah it is the addition by subtraction!

Pirates Designate Ernesto Frieri For Assignment ? MLB Trade Rumors

 

[sychmd]

volquez seems to have a good attitude and was very coachable.
has obviously responded well.

with taillon delayed a year and kingham probably needing all next year in AAA till sep, i would say we have
cole, morton, worley. then options of volquez, locke, liriano, cumpton.
it seems like we always have one injured and one underperforming so having all 7 back if the price is right would be good security. i think we need to do a better job in general having our team ready to really play in april as our hitters are much slower than the league, but getting our island guys going in the cold weather needs to be figured out as well.

 

[Darkstone42]

Oh hey, we're leading the NL Wildcard now!

 

[WVUinVegas]

Guess who has the 2nd highest team OPS in the NL right now (behind the Rockies who always lead this because of Coors Field)

 

[element1286]

Guess who has the 2nd highest team OPS in the NL right now (behind the Rockies who always lead this because of Coors Field)

Yep the offense is legit, the pitching needs to catch up.

 

[Illinest]

Bad news from the mouth of the GM. He danced around it as usual but he pretty much said that he expects Russell Martin to sign a deal that's bigger than the Pirates are willing to pay. Then he also conspicuously failed to mention Neil Walker's name during a discussion about Alen Hanson. The way he phrased the response made it seem pretty clear that they're planning for Mercer to be here a lot longer than Walker.
Couple that with Pedro's impending move to first.

The offense on the whole has been performing pretty well but Neil Walker has been a big part of that. Russell Martin has been a big part of that too. Having Harrison as a bench player has also been important. All those things could change in 2015.
And McCutchen as perhaps the best player in the NL is the biggest factor of all. Let's not forget that McCutchen was signed under Littlefield and the scouts had to beg Littlefield to do that. The scouts deserve credit for McCutchen, not DL or NH. Gayo deserves credit for Marte and Polanco. DL (maybe) deserves credit for Walker. Consensus opinion and a poor win/loss record deserve credit for Alvarez. Neal gets credit for Mercer and Martin, but he's already prepping the fans for the loss of Martin.

 

[sychmd]

walker is too fragile while young and not good enough defensively.
i would keep him if he could move back to third and at least be average at third.
sell this winter while he is worth the most he ever will be.

mercer is a keeper.
alvarez to first might work out. he will easily handle it fielding wise as he is good with the glove and athletic as a fielder.
hanson has a lot of XBH and speed. OBP is a struggle. but i think he can give walker like numbers and more defense fairly quickly.

martin is the big loss as not sure if sanchez can be the man.
martin is definitely having a great year by his standards, but will regress next year more towards his average. doubt if he will repeat what he is doing this year either offensively or defensively.

wish mcguire or the bradenton guy were a bit more ready to roll. we at east need a good D catcher as our other positions could be really good (assuming everyone is healthy) we won't need to much out of C, just average #8 hitters.

marte, cutch, polanco, mercer, harrison, walker, alvarez, C. stewart is OK as a backup,

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Still need to keep Gaby around to platoon with Alverz at first since neither can hit same handed pitchers.

 

[sychmd]

Still need to keep Gaby around to platoon with Alverz at first since neither can hit same handed pitchers.

i would see what hague can do or what bell might be able to do.
seems like they should give lambo another chance and see if he can play 1st and corner OF in the majors. other than the crappy ST, he has hit well last year and this.
now he realizes he doesn't have to hit a HR every time after the amazing stretch he had last year at AA/AAA with HRs.
let lamb and pedro fight it out for the 1B LH platoon spot and lamb/snider fight it out for the LH corner 4th OF.

hopefully snider is following the same path of harrison and is finally getting comfortable in the ML and will have a breakout year next year (not all-star, but just a really reliable 4th OF who can make things happen and bring some energy.)

 

[element1286]

Walker is controlled for three more years, till he is 31, no reason to really keep him much beyond that. Most likely the Pirates will have gotten the best out of Walker at that point. Although I'd sign him to a deal in the offseason for some cost certainty through arb, and if he is willing to accept a year of free agency.

No reason to move him to third though.

 

[sychmd]

why not move him to third,
he isn't a good 2b.
harrison is a 2B.
would upgrade 2 positions defensively.

 

[thedddd]

If I remember correctly Walker wasn't that good at 3B in AA and AAA, hence the move to 2nd.

 

[Illinest]

If I remember correctly Walker wasn't that good at 3B in AA and AAA, hence the move to 2nd.

Everybody seems to do this when it comes to Walker.
He was above average defensively last season according to Sabermetrics. This season no - but I think that his 2014 results are skewed to the poor by injury and small sample size. Prior to this year he has followed a trend of improved performance each year since he switched to 2B.
In short - his defense is not a problem. Injuries maybe, and injuries that affect his defense yes. But his defense when healthy is about average for the position.

He was also turning into a decent 3B before the switch. You can't look at a guy's first professional season at 3B and make a valid judgment about his skills. Walker could play 3B again. I've got no doubt about that. I think his arm plays better at 3B. He always seemed to get more zip on the ball when he could plant his feet. His range is fine and he's a pretty athletic guy.

The real reason Walker was switched is because Akinori Iwamura was signed by genius GM and proceeded to suck so bad that we had little choice but to try Neil Walker at 2B. Pedro Alvarez was also on his way and it was thought that we should make room for Alvarez prior to his arrival.

 

[sychmd]

If I remember correctly Walker wasn't that good at 3B in AA and AAA, hence the move to 2nd.

he to moved because alvarez was drafted and we needed a 2b for the future.

 

[thedddd]

Pedro wasn't just it.

The deciding factor for Walkers move was multiple reasons:
-Walker regressed in 2009 at 3B from the prior season. In 2009 he actually played 3B exclusively in AAA. Yeah in 2007 he was just learning 3B, 2008 he got better but in 2009 I think they knew then he wasn't going to be their 3B going forward. This was due to the Pedro's offensive potential vs Walkers offensive potential.
-Walker wasn't that much better than Alvarez fielding 3B in the minors. So to make Alvarez change positions for Walker was not logical on many levels.
-Finally they had even less options at 2B and Walker was the best athelete at the time to justify the move.

Also I don't understand the logic of moving Harrison to 2B and Walker to 3B because when you look at their numbers (minors and majors) Harrison is the better 3B and Walker is the better 2B.

 

[sychmd]

Also I don't understand the logic of moving Harrison to 2B and Walker to 3B because when you look at their numbers (minors and majors) Harrison is the better 3B and Walker is the better 2B.

just thought harrisons position coming up was 2B, and walkers was 3B till alvarez came.

harrison seems to have a lot more range so can play at 2B, where walker seems to have no range, so would be better at 3B and assume he has some arm as he was a catcher initially.

doesn't make sense to put the slower guy at 2B and the quicker guy at 3B,
or the weaker arm(if he came up as a 2B means he didn't have the arm for SS usually) at 3B, and the stronger arm at 2B.

 

[thedddd]

Oh yeah that makes sense about speed and arm strength. Trust me I am not thrilled with either at 3B and wished Walker was better in the past. Just think if that was the case maybe Alvarez would have been traded way before all his value went away.

 

[steelparrot]

That is something for next spring training, not the rest of this season.

I bet we try to trade Pedro, he still has some value.