Pirates at Phillies Series Thread|04/22-04/25

[Darkstone42]

I guess I understand protecting Pedro from lefties, but he's starting to hit, and we need him to hit, and he should be in the lineup as often as possible.

 

[Darkstone42]

Locked had a great start. 6 shutout innings, 6 Ks. From what I saw, his control was spot on.

 

[steelparrot]

Locke stepping up and being a solid starter would be huge for the long term.

 

[ramburgh]

Nice to see Locke step up. I think Liriano replaces Sanchez and Contreras replaces Hughes in the next week.

I am sure they will give Liriano several starts before judging his abilities so we have a rotation of Burnett, Locke, Rodriguez, McDonald and Liriano. If Locke and McDonald start throwing like they have in their most recent starts then what happens when Morton is ready in a few weeks. Not a bad problem, but an interesting situation that we aren't accustomed to facing. Not to mention Karstens and Cole in a month or two. I am sure we will hear "these things always find a way to work themselves out," but what if there is no clear answer. Hate to trade anything away and then be in the Dodgers position with their need for SP after they were 8 SP strong going into the season.

On a side note, the Jones/Sanchez and Snider/Tabata spots seem to be working out nicely. Will we see an Alvarez/Inge quasi platoon at third?

Not to get too far ahead of myself, but the Phillies will be dumping vets at the deadline to get younger if they aren't in the playoff race (tough to be when you have Atlanta and Washington roughly 19 times each), and they might match up well with the Pirates to trade some younger SP. I would love to see a trade for Jimmy Rollins. I think he is in the Pirates price range and has a decent contract at $11M this year, $11M in 2014 and an $11M option for 2015. After this year that wouldn't be too different than what the Pirates are paying Barmes. This one big splash move might be the one the pushes them into the playoffs.

The line-up possibilities become pretty sweet:
Rollins, Marte, McCutchen, Jones/Sanchez, Snider, Alvarez, Walker, Martin
Bench - McKenry, Inge, Barmes, Tabata, Jones/Sanchez

Would someone like Stolmy Pimental (if he keeps pitching like he has been so far this year) be a good starting point to land Rollins?

 

[Illinest]

I am starting to think that the Pirates might be more interested in what Charlie Morton is doing. He pitched 4 innings in Altoona tonight and Jameson Taillon tweeted his appreciation for Morton's sinker. 1 hit, 2 bbs, no runs allowed for Morton.

Morton might be a better bet than any of them. He's coming off an injury admittedly but if I'm not mistaken some pitchers actually come back stronger after the surgery he had done. He was pitching very well in 2011 and may be able to do the same again.

If I recall correctly he was punching out the rightys pretty easily but he didn't have a good way to attack left-handed hitters. A definite achilles heel if it's still like that for him.

 

[Darkstone42]

I am starting to think that the Pirates might be more interested in what Charlie Morton is doing. He pitched 4 innings in Altoona tonight and Jameson Taillon tweeted his appreciation for Morton's sinker. 1 hit, 2 bbs, no runs allowed for Morton.

Morton might be a better bet than any of them. He's coming off an injury admittedly but if I'm not mistaken some pitchers actually come back stronger after the surgery he had done. He was pitching very well in 2011 and may be able to do the same again.

If I recall correctly he was punching out the rightys pretty easily but he didn't have a good way to attack left-handed hitters. A definite achilles heel if it's still like that for him.

Morton is very interesting to me. I get the impression that he understands pitching well enough, and if reports of his velocity being up are true, he could be some kind of pitcher for us. In my eyes, the big positive with Morton is that he's shown he can adjust and change his pitching style if he needs to in order to have success. I think that's a very important quality.

 

[magnumo]

I would love to see a trade for Jimmy Rollins. I think he is in the Pirates price range and has a decent contract at $11M this year, $11M in 2014 and an $11M option for 2015. After this year that wouldn't be too different than what the Pirates are paying Barmes. This one big splash move might be the one the pushes them into the playoffs.

The line-up possibilities become pretty sweet:
Rollins, Marte, McCutchen, Jones/Sanchez, Snider, Alvarez, Walker, Martin
Bench - McKenry, Inge, Barmes, Tabata, Jones/Sanchez

Would someone like Stolmy Pimental (if he keeps pitching like he has been so far this year) be a good starting point to land Rollins?

No one would like to see Barmes replaced more than I would.

However, I would NOT go after Jimmy Rollins. He's at an age (even older than Barmes) where continuing decline seems highly probable, and he's twice as expensive. IMO, the Pirates need to target a shortstop who's likely to be around and productive for a while.

Other thoughts.....

- Nice to see Locke perform well. Since he has options left, he NEEDS to pitch well, or he will find himself back at Indianapolis when both Liriano and Morton come off the DL.

- I don't understand the Pirates' love affair with Inge. He was awful last year, awful in Spring Training, and awful at Indianapolis on his rehab assignment..... and I agree with the thought that Alvarez needs to play, even against most lefties..... especially when it appears that Pedro is heating up.

- The current brain trust apparently is becoming more and more infatuated with veterans (kind of Littlefield-like, so to speak). Hence, I agree with the thought that Contreras probably will be the first relief pitcher called up..... and Hughes is definitely going through a rough patch, and has options remaining. So..... as soon as they think Contreras is ready, it seems likely that he will replace Hughes in the bullpen.

 

[sychmd]

SP
Morton has great stuff and sounds like it might even have more mph after injury. his problem is nibbling to much and not attacking. great upside tho.
Liriano will get a chance to regain his old form.
locke has options so first one down in a glut, not a bad thing to have cole, locke, mcp, irwin, oliver in AAA ready for injuries or rest to MLB starters - big league group burnett, wandy, mcD, morton, liriano, sanchez/trade.

relievers - contreras if ready for hughes, but i still like giving morris and welker a shot as well until contreras ready.

inge - i dont mind the vet who can play all the IF spots and play C so McK can PH and use his bat. inge gave power and RBI in limited role last year, and for bench, that is fine. our young guys as PH dont produce anything, so a vet might help that. plus, who else are we going to use harrison/mercer/daarnaud. they still could use daily play for development. if one really shined then i would consider them, but none have.

i liked having presley's bat and altho i have wanted to see tabata succeed, not sure he is ready, swap tabata for presley and let him get on a roll in AAA anad then come back.

 

[Darkstone42]

That was one of the most off-balance home run swings I have ever seen.

But man did it ever show off just how much pure power Pedro has.

 

[Darkstone42]

I don't understand having Marte bunt. He should have gotten it down, but it did work out in the end.

But Adams is terrible at holding runners. Just send Tabata.

But Snider pulls through with the RBI line drive single! Tie ball game! Two on for Cutch!

 

[Darkstone42]

Marte almost died.

 

[sychmd]

That was one of the most off-balance home run swings I have ever seen.

But man did it ever show off just how much pure power Pedro has.

off balance and not much speed in the bat and on the outside corner.
he has amazing power.

my idol as a kid was wilver dornell stargell and i dare say, over the next 10 years (if he can mature) he will set some stadium records like chicken on the hill with will did when he retired.

 

[Darkstone42]

Cutch draws the walk. Bases juiced and no outs for Jones.

 

[sychmd]

wandy of the hook and mazzaro gets a chance for a win if we can get teh runner in with no outs.

inge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sychmd]

i live in philly. last year the 8th crushed them and they blew so many saves.
adams has been good as the 8th inning guy, so great to get to him.

walker - uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh

 

[sychmd]

pedro, just bust the off speed stuff to center-left center. dont need to crush it

 

[SFNL]

Would have been nice to get insurance, but a nice turn of events in the top of the 8th!

 

[Darkstone42]

Go Bucs!

Also, 22,500!

 

[Etrius24]

Raise it!

Good win

Early in the season we lost good games due to the other team's impressive starting pitching efforts. Nice to see them overcome a gem of an effort by Halladay!

Tough matchup tomorrow against Lee... but it sure would be nice to be win the series and be 13 and 9.. I am going to be watching to see if McDonald can turn in another gem or will he revert back to the previous start? Getting McDonald locked in and consistent would be a huge boost for this team.

Go bucs!

 

[HammerDown]