Pirates in Miami Series Thread

[Darkstone42]

Oh hi. Finals are over, so I can start watching baseball again!

After narrowly winning the series with the Astros, the Pirates head south to take on the Miami Marlins and their terrible, ugly, awful new logo in a two game set.

Hopefully, the Pirates start to improve their road record in this series.

Go Bucs!

 

[Illinest]

This is a softer part of the schedule. If the Pirates are a team that has a shot at .500 then this is the part of the schedule that the Pirates need to stockpile some wins in.

 

[Illinest]

I've been watching Josh Willingham and feeling sad. I think a few of us had talked about him as a possibility for 1B or OF. Actually I did a forum search and I can't find any mention of him so it must have been another board. Maybe he was discussed as a trade target on the ESPN boards before they went to crap?

Well anyways - he's been really good this year. 7 HR and an OPS over 1.000 He was a free agent, he was signed for 7 million a year. We could've beat that figure.

This reminds me of the terrible feeling I had when they announced the Barajas signing. I was pretty sure that Barmes would be signed and I was okay with that because I figured every team has one position with weak production. We've got two guys in Barmes and Barajas who have never gotten on base a lot. It's not so much that Barajas is letting us down - it's that our GM should have his head examined for spending as much money as he did on two players who have career OBPs south of .300. They're both crappy at the plate and they're both getting paid too much.

Think about how much different this could've been. The year prior (when the team was still trying to give Cedeno a chance) I was big on trading for JJ Hardy. He could've easily been our SS. Matt Weiters should've been our Catcher. 8 HRs, .900 OPS, Gold Glove defense.

It gets to be frustrating when you look at what could've (or in many cases should've) been.

1. Tabata - LF (R) with Marte a potential call-up
2. McCutchen - CF (R)
3. Weiters - C (S)
4. Willingham - RF (R)
5. Alvarez - 3B (L)
6. Jones/McGehee - 1B (L/R)
7. Walker - 2B (S)
8. Hardy - SS (R)

See now some people do that and it's like 'imagine if we signed Pujols' and it's hard to take it seriously because everyone knew we weren't going to sign Pujols, but this lineup is different because EVERYONE expected us to draft Weiters and there were plenty of knowledgeable fans who expected us to make a play for Hardy and Willingham, and the actual cost of acquisition in each case was within our means.

And have you seen what Miguel Sano is doing? (sigh....)


But I have to give some credit to Neil for improving the pitching staff. I just wish he had acquired a few decent bats at some point. He doesn't even seem to draft bats. We seem to be totally dependent on Gayo for position prospects (aside from Josh Bell and some Littlefield holdovers)

 

[Darkstone42]

Attention! A Rod Barajas sighting has just occurred in Miami!

 

[Darkstone42]

I've been watching Josh Willingham and feeling sad. I think a few of us had talked about him as a possibility for 1B or OF. Actually I did a forum search and I can't find any mention of him so it must have been another board. Maybe he was discussed as a trade target on the ESPN boards before they went to crap?

Well anyways - he's been really good this year. 7 HR and an OPS over 1.000 He was a free agent, he was signed for 7 million a year. We could've beat that figure.

This reminds me of the terrible feeling I had when they announced the Barajas signing. I was pretty sure that Barmes would be signed and I was okay with that because I figured every team has one position with weak production. We've got two guys in Barmes and Barajas who have never gotten on base a lot. It's not so much that Barajas is letting us down - it's that our GM should have his head examined for spending as much money as he did on two players who have career OBPs south of .300. They're both crappy at the plate and they're both getting paid too much.

Think about how much different this could've been. The year prior (when the team was still trying to give Cedeno a chance) I was big on trading for JJ Hardy. He could've easily been our SS. Matt Weiters should've been our Catcher. 8 HRs, .900 OPS, Gold Glove defense.

It gets to be frustrating when you look at what could've (or in many cases should've) been.

1. Tabata - LF (R) with Marte a potential call-up
2. McCutchen - CF (R)
3. Weiters - C (S)
4. Willingham - RF (R)
5. Alvarez - 3B (L)
6. Jones/McGehee - 1B (L/R)
7. Walker - 2B (S)
8. Hardy - SS (R)

See now some people do that and it's like 'imagine if we signed Pujols' and it's hard to take it seriously because everyone knew we weren't going to sign Pujols, but this lineup is different because EVERYONE expected us to draft Weiters and there were plenty of knowledgeable fans who expected us to make a play for Hardy and Willingham, and the actual cost of acquisition in each case was within our means.

And have you seen what Miguel Sano is doing? (sigh....)


But I have to give some credit to Neil for improving the pitching staff. I just wish he had acquired a few decent bats at some point. He doesn't even seem to draft bats. We seem to be totally dependent on Gayo for position prospects (aside from Josh Bell and some Littlefield holdovers)

I would love to have that lineup.

 

[thedddd]

Just think we have Moskos in AAA waiting for a injury to a left handed reliever....MUCH more valuable than a good hitting Catcher.

Seriously on to the game nice win, good pitching and why did Presley try to steal second with a 1 run lead in the 9th? They must have VERY little faith in the bats.

 

[magnumo]

I've been watching Josh Willingham and feeling sad. I think a few of us had talked about him as a possibility for 1B or OF. Actually I did a forum search and I can't find any mention of him so it must have been another board. Maybe he was discussed as a trade target on the ESPN boards before they went to crap?

Well anyways - he's been really good this year. 7 HR and an OPS over 1.000 He was a free agent, he was signed for 7 million a year. We could've beat that figure.

This reminds me of the terrible feeling I had when they announced the Barajas signing. I was pretty sure that Barmes would be signed and I was okay with that because I figured every team has one position with weak production. We've got two guys in Barmes and Barajas who have never gotten on base a lot. It's not so much that Barajas is letting us down - it's that our GM should have his head examined for spending as much money as he did on two players who have career OBPs south of .300. They're both crappy at the plate and they're both getting paid too much.

Think about how much different this could've been. The year prior (when the team was still trying to give Cedeno a chance) I was big on trading for JJ Hardy. He could've easily been our SS. Matt Weiters should've been our Catcher. 8 HRs, .900 OPS, Gold Glove defense.

It gets to be frustrating when you look at what could've (or in many cases should've) been.

1. Tabata - LF (R) with Marte a potential call-up
2. McCutchen - CF (R)
3. Weiters - C (S)
4. Willingham - RF (R)
5. Alvarez - 3B (L)
6. Jones/McGehee - 1B (L/R)
7. Walker - 2B (S)
8. Hardy - SS (R)

See now some people do that and it's like 'imagine if we signed Pujols' and it's hard to take it seriously because everyone knew we weren't going to sign Pujols, but this lineup is different because EVERYONE expected us to draft Weiters and there were plenty of knowledgeable fans who expected us to make a play for Hardy and Willingham, and the actual cost of acquisition in each case was within our means.

And have you seen what Miguel Sano is doing? (sigh....)


But I have to give some credit to Neil for improving the pitching staff. I just wish he had acquired a few decent bats at some point. He doesn't even seem to draft bats. We seem to be totally dependent on Gayo for position prospects (aside from Josh Bell and some Littlefield holdovers)

This is one of the bests posts I've ever seen on this board. (Tried to "approve" it, but got that "spread it around" message again.) At any rate, it generated a number of thoughts.....

- I, too, remember discussions about the Pirates trying to sign Willingham, although I don't remember where they took place. Too bad Huntington didn't pursue that.

- Couldn't agree more about your key point: As good a job as Huntington has done at building the pitching staff at a reasonably cost..... he has been equally bad at building an offense. Unfortunately, the bad offense cancels out much of the good pitching.

- The only good thing which can be said about the Wieters-Moskos fiasco is that, along with the acquisition of Matt Morris, it finally got Littlefield fired. Wieters not only would have solved the Pirates' catching problem for the long haul, but also would have allowed the team to draft someone other than Tony Sanchez in the first round in 2009..... perhaps going a long way toward filling another of the team's major holes. I guess we'll never know the whole truth behind why Littlefield picked Moskos over Wieters. Could anyone really be that stupid?

- This Pirate season is looking too much like a carbon copy of 2011. Here's hoping that the similarities end before a complete collapse of the team.

 

[Darkstone42]

As an aside, Alvarez is still an enigma. He's a little cold lately, and is striking out a lot again, but he's having a lot of games where he's 1-4 with a double or something, which is fine by me in the long haul if his cold streaks remain riddled with extra-base hits.

I look forward to him adjusting again and going on another tear, though.

 

[Illinest]

thanks for the kind words but I think that this season is different from 2011 because I think that the pitching staff is a little bit better. More talent, less smoke and mirrors.
Last year everyone was healthy and pitching above their peripherals. This year we've already covered a few injuries and the peripherals are better across the board.

 

[Illinest]

Oh its too early for correia to start fading isnt it? Oh well lets welcome karstens back and put lincoln in rotation until bedard is ready.

 

[element1286]

thanks for the kind words but I think that this season is different from 2011 because I think that the pitching staff is a little bit better. More talent, less smoke and mirrors.
Last year everyone was healthy and pitching above their peripherals. This year we've already covered a few injuries and the peripherals are better across the board.

I agree to an extent, but I still don't buy the pitching is "this" good, it's very good, but they aren't second best ERA in MLB baseball good, IMO. They are probably closer to 8 or 10.