Pirates @ Brewers Series Thread 5/24 - 5/26

[HammerDown]

Keep the pressure on the Cards, fellas!

 

[Darkstone42]

Estrada is pitching extremely well. His location has been perfect. We'll have to hope as he tires he makes a mistake.

 

[sychmd]

is there some reason why alvarez and jones arent in against the RHP. is there a bad track record or a good one with sanchez and inge.

 

[Darkstone42]

Another exceptional start by Locke. He seems to be almost getting better with each start. He's on some kind of roll. Man.

And another easy inning for Melancon. 26 IP, 27 K, 1 BB. Incredible.

 

[Darkstone42]

And Alvarez with a two-homer day. And that one was a bomb.

Grilli gets a rest today, which is nice.

 

[HammerDown]

Now, hopefully the Dodgers can beat the Cards this afternoon!

 

[Darkstone42]

I hope this marks the start of a Pedro Alvarez hot streak. He still hasn't had one yet this year, but his lows haven't been as low as last year's.

 

[steelparrot]

This would be a real good time for Pedro to go on a tear.

Karstens has been shutdown again, I doubt we ever see him in a Pirates uniform again.

Locke has locked up his spot in the rotation, at this point they just cant bench him for Morton/McDonald. Those 2 can duke it out for Gomez's spot.

 

[sychmd]

gomez should have gotten the win the other nite in the rain delayed game and has pitched well.
burnett, wandy, liriano, and locke have been very consistent and always give us a chance.
jeanmar has been the best 5th so far. he always gives us a chance.
it will be interesting to see how much of an audition they give to morton and mcdonald since they have a reliable 5th at present.

i say bring up hughes and send down watson. watson just isnt trustworthy in leverage situations.

 

[Darkstone42]

gomez should have gotten the win the other nite in the rain delayed game and has pitched well.
burnett, wandy, liriano, and locke have been very consistent and always give us a chance.
jeanmar has been the best 5th so far. he always gives us a chance.
it will be interesting to see how much of an audition they give to morton and mcdonald since they have a reliable 5th at present.

i say bring up hughes and send down watson. watson just isnt trustworthy in leverage situations.

Hughes is untrustworthy in all situations, though.

And Gomez hasn't given us enough innings yet, though not always by his own fault. I see him as a long reliever.

 

[sychmd]

hughes might have worked out some kinnks in AAA, at least seems better. hopefully he can get back to his reliability and effectiveness as last year.

for now, gomez is long relief when morton is ready, but if morton pitches like he did last year as the nibbler and excess pitch count and hs trouble getting thru 6, give it to gomez. younger and getting the job done well whenever asked in very awkward and strained situations.

mcD, hoping he can get his head on and arm healthy because he can make people miss and is young still.

lets take a series in miller, altho will have our work cut out for us as gallardo always looks like cy young against us.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Darkstone42]

We actually got to Gallardo. Wow.

 

[Darkstone42]

Raise the Jolly Roger! Not an easy win, but we took a series in Milwaukee, and that's big.

 

[Etrius24]

Pedro is frustrating to say the least!

The guy is leading the team in Homeruns and RBI... But he is struggling to keep his batting average over .200! His OPS has been under .700 for the entire season!

When I look at his numbers for the month of may I feel slightly optimistic.. OPS of .847 6 homeruns But even when he is going good his batting average is only .228! Even this month when he has been playing noticeably better he is striking out 4 times for every walk.

For the month of May Alvarez has been decent, but what scares me is the thought that this could be his hot streak and he could cool off some and revert back to the player that had an OPS of .560 for the month of April and batted .180! That scares the shit out of me..

As good as the pitching has been this team can ill afford Alvarez to play that poorly for an extended period of time.

 

[Darkstone42]

Pedro is frustrating to say the least!

The guy is leading the team in Homeruns and RBI... But he is struggling to keep his batting average over .200! His OPS has been under .700 for the entire season!

When I look at his numbers for the month of may I feel slightly optimistic.. OPS of .847 6 homeruns But even when he is going good his batting average is only .228! Even this month when he has been playing noticeably better he is striking out 4 times for every walk.

For the month of May Alvarez has been decent, but what scares me is the thought that this could be his hot streak and he could cool off some and revert back to the player that had an OPS of .560 for the month of April and batted .180! That scares the shit out of me..

As good as the pitching has been this team can ill afford Alvarez to play that poorly for an extended period of time.

I think what we're seeing now is Pedro's baseline performance. We've seen his hot streaks. They're ridiculous. This is not one of them.

 

[Etrius24]

Darkstone

I would love for you to be right that his baseline is an OPS of approximately .850 with a batting average of approximately .230.

However we have seen so few hot streaks from Alvarez that how do we really know?

Alvarez is 26 and that is important because we know that the majority of players reach their peak by the time they are 25! It is hard to say with a straight face that we can suddenly expect Alvarez to improve much anymore.

So I truly do hope that the baseline is a .850 OPS with big power and RBI totals.

 

[Darkstone42]

Darkstone

I would love for you to be right that his baseline is an OPS of approximately .850 with a batting average of approximately .230.

However we have seen so few hot streaks from Alvarez that how do we really know?

Alvarez is 26 and that is important because we know that the majority of players reach their peak by the time they are 25! It is hard to say with a straight face that we can suddenly expect Alvarez to improve much anymore.

So I truly do hope that the baseline is a .850 OPS with big power and RBI totals.

I've always though players peaked between 28 and 30.

 

[sychmd]

Darkstone

I would love for you to be right that his baseline is an OPS of approximately .850 with a batting average of approximately .230.

However we have seen so few hot streaks from Alvarez that how do we really know?

Alvarez is 26 and that is important because we know that the majority of players reach their peak by the time they are 25! It is hard to say with a straight face that we can suddenly expect Alvarez to improve much anymore.

So I truly do hope that the baseline is a .850 OPS with big power and RBI totals.

peak at 25? so cutch is going downhill.
i think physical peak is 27-29 and production peak is 28-31 as experience and maturity are added to physical peak.

25 most players are in their first or second years in mlb.

 

[Etrius24]

I was basing the number of 25 from a study done by bill james Showing on average that players peaked during the season in which they turned 25.

Arguments have been made that better exercise, nutrition, better medicine ( surgeries to repair damage ) maybe would change this..So that players can continue to get stronger and faster beyond the age of 25.. It is an interesting argument.

What we can take from this is that...Even if the peak season has been advanced a year or two.. That Alvarez is not going to get much better as he is already 26!

Mentally I guess it could be argued that Pedro could find a way to be more consistent and that would increase his overall offensive production...But his bat speed and power are not going to increase past the point where he reaches his physical peak.

As for McCutchen..I think he is at his peak right now.. I do not see another step forward for him... He had his breakout year... now he will play at or near that level for a few seasons and then he will slowly start to decline as he ages...after the age of 30 the decline will increase...until he is no longer an effective MLB player.

Sychmd, I think you misunderstood me.. A player reaches their peak on average physically at the age of 25... they stay at or near that level for a few seasons and then start to decline...So it is not like McCutchen is washed up and over the hill.. LOL He will play at a high level for several more years... but to expect further advancements in his power based on his age and experience would be more than optimistic... IMHO