Pittsburgh Pirates Thread

Schedule is pretty tough from here to the ASB. If they can make it through April above .500, that'd be great considering how banged up the rotation has been. Dickerson should be back early June, I think.
 
I can't believe they sent Keller back to AAA. After his first inning (debut) he pitched very well. And now Lyles looks to have tweaked something. Unreal.
 
They're just hanging on right now. The rotation is still a mess and they have 2 reliable relievers. They're starting Rookie Davis tomorrow, who has a an ERA over 8 as a starter. His best game has been 5IP, 0 ER, and that's probably the absolute best that can be hope for. Given they'll be in Milwaukee, I'm not betting on it.

The offense will have to carry them this weekend, no doubt about it. After Davis, Lyles goes on Saturday, and then Brault to finish on Sunday. Why they aren't giving Keller another start here is mindboggling to me given he looked fine after the first inning of his debut.

Thankfully, the offense has been scoring quite a bit lately. Only 2 or 3 guys aren't hitting above .300 the past couple weeks.
 
Diaz is better than Cervelli so that injury kind of works itself out.

The real problem is the pitching staff. Taillon, Williams, and Lyles are all out. The two remaining starters, Archer and Musgrove, have been pretty bad for the most part. They've brought up Keller, but he's having some growing pains to say the least. And the bullpen has been a complete disaster. They've been hanging on with three reliable relievers and a bunch of bums who can't make it through an inning without surrendering runs.

It's really been unfortunate because the offense has been scoring quite a bit. Even with average pitching they'd be over .500.
 
Yep. Bucs have the opposite problem as the Reds - though the Reds hitting seems to be coming around. Maybe things will improve with Williams and Lyle returning - as long as they can pitch sufficient innings to keep from wearing out the the good relievers you mentioned.

Always thought teams carried too many relievers (pretty much guaranteeing some duds), but with sabermetrics being what they are today I guess they might even consider adding more relievers. As I type that I recall an announcer very recently suggesting just that. Good grief. Pretty soon everyone will be pitching 1/3 of an inning! :)
 
Pirates win 2 of 3 in HOUSTON, the first home series the Astros have lost this season. Bucs outscored them 24-2 in final two games. This team could be all right if they can get and stay healthy. They are not going to win the division but 82 to 86 wins is a possibility.
 
Really nice series win. Houston has been spiraling lately, so they caught them at the right time.

The offense continues to rake. I believe 6 players are hitting at least .300 and several more between .275-.290. Unreal job by Rick Eckstein so far this season.

The pitching is coming together a bit with Williams back and Musgrove and Archer pitching better. The back end is still a bit up in the air with Brault, Lyles, Keller, and Agrazal vying. The bullpen has really settled down, finally. Just need to get Hartlieb back to AAA.

A tough divisional stretch coming up (@Brewers, Cubs, Brewers). I'm hoping they can be close to .500 at the break.
 
Bucs win 3rd straight over Cubs in come from behind fashion. 3 games out. This division is really tight right now. Someone is going to go on a 10 game streak after the break and pull away a bit but I'm not sure who.
 
PIRATES go into the All Star Break with the best team batting average in the NL .271, one point behind the Red Sox and Minnesota who have the DH to inflate the stat.
 
The annual pre-ASB run saw them go 13-5 against the Padres, Astros, Brewers x2, and the Cubs. Only 1 series loss (1-2 @Milwaukee).

The offense is crushing it. Eckstein has done a phenomenal job turning just about everyone into the best hitter they can be. Even the bench pieces are cranking homers (Melky, Kang, and Osuna have 19 combined).

The bullpen has settled down for the most part. Still an occasional shaky outing (Crick especially), but hopefully Keone Kela is back by the end of the month to solidify things a bit.

Some good news for the rotation: Taillon did some long toss today and said he felt fine. It would be huge to have him back for the final two months and bump Lyles or Brault into the pen.

Still a bit early to be talking deadline moves, but I think they should really look at adding to the bullpen and possibly a solid back-end starter. Apparently, Pirates scouts were watching Andrew Cashner this week. He's having a bit of a comeback season, but I worry about the prospect asking price considering the Orioles are in a deep rebuild.

Just 2.5 half back despite being 1 game under .500. The entire division is within 4.5 games. Why couldn't the rest of the division been this bad when the Pirates were winning nearly 100 games and still finishing in second place?
 
Complete, total, and absolute garbage. I don't know how Hurdle, Searage, and Huntington still have jobs right now.
 
Greetings Pirates fans.

Since 2013, the Pirates lead the MLB, their pitchers have hit 41 more batters with fastballs than the 2nd place team. They obviously teach and encourage headhunting. They need put in their place, and Hurdle needs suspended. Their headhunting is why brawls like this happen.
 
The Pirates prioritize velocity and have guys who work inside or throw high in the zone. They do not encourage headhunting.
 
Every team prioritizes velocity and has guys that pitch inside. Maybe the Pirates also prioritize having the worst fastball command by a significant amount. Or maybe they encourage throwing at hitters. The Reds aren't the only team complaining about the Pirates and Hurdle. See Joe Madden.
 
Maddon is a crybaby about everything. And no, no team focuses as heavily on velocity as the Pirates. They do so at the expense of command and it shows. There is no headhunting.
 
Kela deciding to intentionally throw over a player does not prove the organization encourages throwing at batters’ heads.
 
Crusaders said:
Kela deciding to intentionally throw over a player does not prove the organization encourages throwing at batters’ heads.
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Maybe not encouraged, but it does seem clear that the pitchers were NOT discouraged either. Any reasonable manager says "Let's let that April thing be over with". Hurdle clearly did not give any such edict. Silence gives consent.
 
wolves82 said:
Maybe not encouraged, but it does seem clear that the pitchers were NOT discouraged either. Any reasonable manager says "Let's let that April thing be over with". Hurdle clearly did not give any such edict. Silence gives consent.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Bell is mostly correct in his description of Hurdle. As is most of the league.
 
wolves82 said:
Maybe not encouraged, but it does seem clear that the pitchers were NOT discouraged either. Any reasonable manager says "Let's let that April thing be over with". Hurdle clearly did not give any such edict. Silence gives consent.
Click to expand...

Silence does not give consent. What a moronic way to think about it.

Hurdle doesn't control what a player does in the moment. If a pitcher decides he didn't like a pitch from earlier in the game that almost hit a guy in the head, there's nothing the manager can do to stop him from throwing a message pitch.

As far as I can tell, neither manager has handed out fines to their staff for trying to throw inside. Hypocrisy and whining is all it is.
 
Crusaders said:
Silence does not give consent. What a moronic way to think about it.

Hurdle doesn't control what a player does in the moment. If a pitcher decides he didn't like a pitch from earlier in the game that almost hit a guy in the head, there's nothing the manager can do to stop him from throwing a message pitch.

As far as I can tell, neither manager has handed out fines to their staff for trying to throw inside. Hypocrisy and whining is all it is.
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Is it your position that if Hurdle says "cut out the crap, stop throwing at people's heads", that Pirate pitchers would do it anyway? What a moronic way to think about it.

Almost as stupid as universal free college tuition for everyone.
 
If he felt his players were intentionally throwing at people’s heads I’m sure he would. Pitchers missing their spots is part of the game, however. What manager is going to tell his pitchers to not throw up or not attack inside when that’s how they like to pitch? That is as silly as a manager telling their guys not to stand so close to the plate in the batter’s box. Obviously he’s not going to if that’s how their guys like to approach ABs.
 
wolves82 said:
Greetings Pirates fans.

Since 2013, the Pirates lead the MLB, their pitchers have hit 41 more batters with fastballs than the 2nd place team. They obviously teach and encourage headhunting. They need put in their place, and Hurdle needs suspended. Their headhunting is why brawls like this happen.
Click to expand...
The other day I heard a report that the Pirates are in the middle of the pack (12th-14th) in throwing high in the inside zone of the plate in the major leagues this season. Like politics, I'm sure everyone has there own stats and references to support their view. I'm sure the Reds feel one way and the Pirates feel the other.
 
They finally did it. They finally canned Hurdle, Searage, and Co.

If things do not improve with an entirely new staff, the GM and the president will have to go as well. I wouldn't have been upset if they were let go right now, but given how awful the staff has been, I'm happy with this.

The only guy worth keeping around is the hitting coach.

Ideally, they'd get a new owner, but that doesn't seem likely any time soon.
 
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