2018 Pirates

[steelparrot]

Colin Moran Looks Dramatically Different | FanGraphs Baseball

The Gerrit Cole Trade Has a Perception Problem | FanGraphs Baseball


A couple interesting reads.

 

[Darkstone42]

Colin Moran Looks Dramatically Different | FanGraphs Baseball

The Gerrit Cole Trade Has a Perception Problem | FanGraphs Baseball


A couple interesting reads.

I almost posted those myself. I love Jeff Sullivan's work, and he summarized neatly a few of the things I thought myself about the trades, with the additional credibility of being an outside perspective.

Plus his delightfully tongue-in-cheek writing style.

 

[thedddd]

Online petitions by Pittsburgh Pirates fans say they're no fans of owner Bob Nutting

 

[Etrius24]

The idea to add a pair of dominating bullpen arms in the Cole trade makes sense. The pirates have their closer.... and they have a lot of young talent in the rotation. There will be speed bumps and growing pains with the young starters and they will need all of the bullpen help they can get....

The Pirates added a young third baseman that can hit... He is ready now to contribute... He is not a hall of fame type of player... But if he is an above average third baseman for this team for the next 5 years that is pretty freaking awesome. 20+ home run power from a guy who hits for average and draws walks... Yes please.

The Pirates have a young first baseman with a good to great bat....They just added a third baseman with a plus bat... Polanco and Marte in the outfield are solid... They have the talented Meadows waiting for his chance to show he can be part of an outstanding outfield... He has nothing left to prove in the minors. (IMO)

In an ideal world the Pirates add another bat... The Rumor of Neil Walker was nice... But it would mean the Bucs would have no reason to keep Freese on the big league Roster.... Harrison would be the super utility and he would split time at third with Moran and at second with Walker...

The Rotation on this team is really young.... How they develop is going to determine how this season goes. It is time to Lean on Glasnow and Taillon... Williams and Kuhl showed promise last season... Kingham is waiting for his chance in the rotation and they have Brault also... None of these kids have anything left to prove in the minors. ( Maybe Glasnow a little if his spring training is not great...

In the McCutchen Trade they brought in another hard throwing dominating reliever... in Crick....

So there is a lot of talent on the pitching side of things.... Bringing Walker back would make the lineup somewhat solid. It Hurts losing McCutchen... But he was 31 years old and expensive.... Cole is going to be someone that makes more than 20 million a season... There is no way Pittsburgh has that kind of money.... It was time to retool...

 

[Darkstone42]

The idea to add a pair of dominating bullpen arms in the Cole trade makes sense. The pirates have their closer.... and they have a lot of young talent in the rotation. There will be speed bumps and growing pains with the young starters and they will need all of the bullpen help they can get....

The Pirates added a young third baseman that can hit... He is ready now to contribute... He is not a hall of fame type of player... But if he is an above average third baseman for this team for the next 5 years that is pretty freaking awesome. 20+ home run power from a guy who hits for average and draws walks... Yes please.

The Pirates have a young first baseman with a good to great bat....They just added a third baseman with a plus bat... Polanco and Marte in the outfield are solid... They have the talented Meadows waiting for his chance to show he can be part of an outstanding outfield... He has nothing left to prove in the minors. (IMO)

In an ideal world the Pirates add another bat... The Rumor of Neil Walker was nice... But it would mean the Bucs would have no reason to keep Freese on the big league Roster.... Harrison would be the super utility and he would split time at third with Moran and at second with Walker...

The Rotation on this team is really young.... How they develop is going to determine how this season goes. It is time to Lean on Glasnow and Taillon... Williams and Kuhl showed promise last season... Kingham is waiting for his chance in the rotation and they have Brault also... None of these kids have anything left to prove in the minors. ( Maybe Glasnow a little if his spring training is not great...

In the McCutchen Trade they brought in another hard throwing dominating reliever... in Crick....

So there is a lot of talent on the pitching side of things.... Bringing Walker back would make the lineup somewhat solid. It Hurts losing McCutchen... But he was 31 years old and expensive.... Cole is going to be someone that makes more than 20 million a season... There is no way Pittsburgh has that kind of money.... It was time to retool...

I agree with everything except the Meadows part. He needs to show he can stay healthy, or, if he can't do that, that he can recover quickly from his injuries to be a productive player. He struggled mightily last season in AAA, and while injuries likely played a part in that, if he's going to keep having hammy trouble, he has to be able to bounce back from it, or else he'll be a black hole in the lineup for a couple weeks at a time even when he is healthy.

I also think NH was correct to identify that the best chance any Pirates team has to succeed is to overperform on the shoulders of a great bullpen. The last couple years, and especially last year, they had unreliable bullpens. Last season goes much better if they don't blow so many late leads as they did.

 

[thedddd]

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/22/18

Looks like Chris Stewart won't be back now.

 

[Darkstone42]

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/22/18

Looks like Chris Stewart won't be back now.

I like Lavarnway. He once had a ton of pop in his bat, and he's still steady defensively. You could do worse for a third/fourth catcher.

 

[thedddd]

I like Lavarnway. He once had a ton of pop in his bat, and he's still steady defensively. You could do worse for a third/fourth catcher.

Yeah his defense is pretty good, can't complain about that one.
Truthfully though i still worry about Diaz and it will ever click, now at 27 he really should be the starter. Stallings isn't good and really this gives them good insurance when Cirvelli gets hurt.

 

[thedddd]

MLB players union reportedly upset with Marlins and Pirates for slashing payroll

You knew this was coming. Unfortunately the model of the mlb helps deal the hand given to the Pirates.
On the other hand in what dream world is Miami a small market?

 

[Darkstone42]

MLB players union reportedly upset with Marlins and Pirates for slashing payroll

You knew this was coming. Unfortunately the model of the mlb helps deal the hand given to the Pirates.
On the other hand in what dream world is Miami a small market?

If they wanted to give in to a salary cap, they could have prevented this. A cap allows there to also be a floor. It improves the chances of good, likely expensive players to actually get signed instead of what's happening this off season, and the floor allows younger players to get paid better earlier. The MLBPA has consistently fallen into the trap of negotiated on behalf of their own top 1% before everyone else. And it's come at the expense of young players and middling veterans. They punted their opportunity for real, actionable recourse against teams like the Pirates and Marlins.

 

[thedddd]

pittsburgh dad

 

[thedddd]

Central Notes: Brewers, Indians, Salazar, Pirates

• Pirates left-hander Nik Turley received an 80-game suspension Saturday after testing positive for Ipamorelin, a performance-enhancing drug. The 28-year-old will go on the restricted list, thus opening up a spot on the Pirates’ 40-man roster (which was at capacity before his ban). Turley is in his first offseason with the Pirates, who claimed him off waivers from the Twins in November. The former Yankees prospect made his big league debut with Minnesota last season and struggled across 10 appearances (11.21 ERA, 6.62 K/9 and 4.08 BB/9 in 17 2/3 innings).

Didn't know he was on the 40 man but now it frees up a spot.

 

[steelparrot]

pittsburgh dad

That guy is funny.

 

[steelparrot]

If they wanted to give in to a salary cap, they could have prevented this. A cap allows there to also be a floor. It improves the chances of good, likely expensive players to actually get signed instead of what's happening this off season, and the floor allows younger players to get paid better earlier. The MLBPA has consistently fallen into the trap of negotiated on behalf of their own top 1% before everyone else. And it's come at the expense of young players and middling veterans. They punted their opportunity for real, actionable recourse against teams like the Pirates and Marlins.

Its not really the small market teams slowing up the free agent market, its teams trying to reset luxury tax rates.
The Pirates and Marlins helping them spend outside of freeagency doesnt help the free agent market though.

Going off the numbers i could find
MLB revenue by team/franchise 2016 | Statistic
2016 revenues:

Yankees 526 million
Rays 205 million

Pirates 265 btw, without balancing out revenue more(aka the league takes over all tv rights) I just dont see what can be done.

 

[thedddd]

Pirates Acquire Josh Smoker

Looks like they got the extra lefty replacement. Live arm only if he can get some movement on it, if so might be an ok addition to the bullpen.

 

[thedddd]

Could Baseball Borrow the Premier League’s Spending Incentive? | FanGraphs Baseball

 

[thedddd]

Rumors the Pirates are interested in Melky Cabrera. WHY!?!

Seriously I never understood the fascination with him outside the fact he was overvalued being a Yankee.

 

[Darkstone42]

Elias Diaz's mother has been kidnapped in Venezuela. All the best to his family through what will certainly be a trying process.

 

[thedddd]

Pirates To Sign Daniel Nava
Good insurance for the OF.

@navamind - will you root for the Pirates now?

 

[thedddd]

Michael McKenry back to broadcast for Pirates

The Fort joins the broadcast team.