A's @ Pirates

[Darkstone42]

Walker's injury is providing a shining example of why we need to upgrade the bench. We either have to play the black hole Barmes (though he's been surprisingly not terrible the last couple games he's played) or the supermassive black hole Inge. If we want to give Mercer the day off, we have to play them both.

And now Harrison's back on the roster.

This leaves us with essentially no pinch hitters worth anything, as well as two to three consecutive sure outs at the bottom of our order.

Marte, Tabata, McCutchen and Alvarez are all hitting now, but it seems never in the same inning, and Jones, Sanchez, and Martin have all gone cold, so there's no one hitting behind them, either.

But, baseball is inherently a game of streaks, and the Bucs' bats are cold and going up against an elite defense. They've been a bit streaky all season, though, so I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that we'll get back on track soon. Especially if the Mets are planning on sitting Harvey so he can start the All-Star game.

 

[RaiderZar]

Does this one look like a rain out or just a delay?

 

[element1286]

Does this one look like a rain out or just a delay?

They should be able to get it in, rain will pass.

 

[sychmd]

time to bring up sanchez. let him play more than mcK so martin is a bit more rested.
martin's hitting seems to be sluggish as the year wears on.
mcK gives us nothing offensively or defensively.

why are we not giving dejesus a shot. he seems to be doing well at AAA. we know what harrison can do. lets try another option. if you want to keep both harrison and dejesus, time to get rid of inge. i would be ok with getting rid of barmes and bringing in lambo or presley.

bench: snider, t sanchez, gabby, dejesus, lambo, and harrison(till walker is back).

also, hurdle has to stop his obsession with the double switch. he takes out a bat when he does and he does it in the 6th inning. we have way more pitchers than hitters so we cant just take our hitters out of the lineup to look smart.

 

[thedddd]

Got to love the ESPN crew. Not even three innings and they already called Marte -> Tabata and then Mercer -> Barmes. Good job <sarcasm>

 

[element1286]

Got to love the ESPN crew. Not even three innings and they already called Marte -> Tabata and then Mercer -> Barmes. Good job <sarcasm>

This game is on espn?

 

[thedddd]

This game is on espn?

Yeah very surprising.

Well it is about time they score a run off a few hits tonight off of Milone!
First good hussle by Marte to get a double and then the follow up double by Tabata.

 

[thedddd]

Good to see the hits dropping tonight unlike the other few games.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Darkstone42]

time to bring up sanchez. let him play more than mcK so martin is a bit more rested.
martin's hitting seems to be sluggish as the year wears on.
mcK gives us nothing offensively or defensively.

why are we not giving dejesus a shot. he seems to be doing well at AAA. we know what harrison can do. lets try another option. if you want to keep both harrison and dejesus, time to get rid of inge. i would be ok with getting rid of barmes and bringing in lambo or presley.

bench: snider, t sanchez, gabby, dejesus, lambo, and harrison(till walker is back).

also, hurdle has to stop his obsession with the double switch. he takes out a bat when he does and he does it in the 6th inning. we have way more pitchers than hitters so we cant just take our hitters out of the lineup to look smart.

I hate those double switches.

 

[steelparrot]

We gotta do some upgrades McKenry, Inge, Harrison, Snider ..can live with barmes since hes been benched.


Shouldnt have to give up much to get a backup catcher and a utility player or 2 and a league ave rfer.

 

[thedddd]

We gotta do some upgrades McKenry, Inge, Harrison, Snider ..can live with barmes since hes been benched.


Shouldnt have to give up much to get a backup catcher and a utility player or 2 and a league ave rfer.

Heck you can upgrade Snider for nothing by signing Francouer. NOT that it is much of an upgrade but it is an upgrade. Just read this out there: Trade Candidate: Nate Schierholtz: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com. I am still wondering why they insist on keeping Snider over Presley but oh well...

As for Barmes I am fine with him on the bench as for the other 3 they are useless.

 

[RaiderZar]

[MEDIA=twitter]355186854628306944[/MEDIA]

That is all...

 

[Paul Fizzle]

Pirates All Day baby

All Day

 

[ramburgh]

Checked in the contracts of Alex Rios and Alexei Ramirez and the thoughts of others that bringing both of them to Pittsburgh might not be terrible, as long as Taillon or Polanco are not involved. Alex's contract sets up nicely for Polanco as he is signed through 2014 with an option for 2015. That means that if Polanco is ready at this time next year, there is just half a year left of having Rios, but if he is not then the Pirates can exercise Alex's option for 2015. The same thing with Ramirez at shortstop, but an extra year. He is signed through 2015 with an option for 2016. This gives an extra year for Hanson (if he sticks at ss) if necessary.

Here are the numbers:
Rios: '13-$12,500,000, '14-$12,500,000, '15-$14,000,000 (option with $1M buyout)
Ramirez: '13-$7,000,000, '14-$9,500,000, '15-$10,000,000, '16-$10,000,000 (option with $1M buyout)

That is adding a good bit of salary to the books, but Barmes ($5.5M) and Wandy ($8.5M of $13M) can come off the books which is $14M of the $22M they will make in 2014. Possibly Burnett, but I think he re-sign and be back for another year or so. Plus money is going up and the winning will make the team more money.

That 2014 staff would be Liriano, Burnett, Locke, Cole, Morton with Taillon up in June/July and a couple other AAA pitchers as options

Batting order: Marte, Ramirez, McCutchen, Rios, Alvarez, Martin, Jones/Sanchez, Walker

Next year's payroll would be about $12M-$15M more than this year's, but that is to be expected when you have "the young core" in place.

What would it take to land Ramirez and Rios?
Does a package along the lines of Mercer, Lambo, Bell or Barnes, Allie, Pimental and Black get it done?

 

[BigDDude]

Is there any way they can play the game today WITHOUT a rain delay? Or, do they need to move the series to Oakland, where in Cali, we are nice enough not to have our baseball games rained out?

 

[element1286]

Checked in the contracts of Alex Rios and Alexei Ramirez and the thoughts of others that bringing both of them to Pittsburgh might not be terrible, as long as Taillon or Polanco are not involved. Alex's contract sets up nicely for Polanco as he is signed through 2014 with an option for 2015. That means that if Polanco is ready at this time next year, there is just half a year left of having Rios, but if he is not then the Pirates can exercise Alex's option for 2015. The same thing with Ramirez at shortstop, but an extra year. He is signed through 2015 with an option for 2016. This gives an extra year for Hanson (if he sticks at ss) if necessary.

Here are the numbers:
Rios: '13-$12,500,000, '14-$12,500,000, '15-$14,000,000 (option with $1M buyout)
Ramirez: '13-$7,000,000, '14-$9,500,000, '15-$10,000,000, '16-$10,000,000 (option with $1M buyout)

That is adding a good bit of salary to the books, but Barmes ($5.5M) and Wandy ($8.5M of $13M) can come off the books which is $14M of the $22M they will make in 2014. Possibly Burnett, but I think he re-sign and be back for another year or so. Plus money is going up and the winning will make the team more money.

That 2014 staff would be Liriano, Burnett, Locke, Cole, Morton with Taillon up in June/July and a couple other AAA pitchers as options

Batting order: Marte, Ramirez, McCutchen, Rios, Alvarez, Martin, Jones/Sanchez, Walker

Next year's payroll would be about $12M-$15M more than this year's, but that is to be expected when you have "the young core" in place.

What would it take to land Ramirez and Rios?
Does a package along the lines of Mercer, Lambo, Bell or Barnes, Allie, Pimental and Black get it done?

Whoa what?!

Can't see this getting done in real life. That is a video game trade. Or a Dodger trade, maybe. Can't honestly say I'm a fan of committing that much money to those two guys for that long.

 

[OregonDucks]

First time the Pirates have ever beaten Oakland. Awesome.

Didn't Pirate fans see this 2 years ago? Amazing job molding this team to what it is today.

 

[Paul Fizzle]

First time the Pirates have ever beaten Oakland. Awesome.

Didn't Pirate fans see this 2 years ago? Amazing job molding this team to what it is today.

Pirates All Day baby

All Day

 

[OregonDucks]

Pirates All Day baby

All Day

It is funny. I remember playing every game of MLB 2k11, I picked the Pirates as my franchise team (as I wanted a challenge and wanted to be able to take them to the playoffs for the first time in 20 years) and when I was playing with them, I knew Pedro Alvarez was going to be a smasher and McCutchen was going to be something special.