Pittsburgh Pirates Thread

Shelton has a poor habit of leaving gassed SPs in there an inning too long. Keller should have been pulled after the 5th.

Not that it ended up mattering anyway. The bats did nothing and the bullpen less than nothing.
 
Saw that 5 of the 25 (or 20) top rated minor league prospects are Pirates. Maybe things will look up in 2-3 years.
 
Pittsburgh sweeps the Brewers.
Very streaky team. Unfortunately losing streaks are longer then the winning streaks. I do see a lot of potential talent in this organization however. If the Bucs get lucky they may have the mix of players to eventually be competitive in 2-3 years. I watched a bit of Tampa v Twins last night. Both teams are over .500 with a lot of guys I’ve never heard of. I will always be a Pirate fan, they were my first love growing up in the East Pittsburgh suburbs in the 60s-70s, It would be great to see them turnaround.
 
After years of absolute horror against the Brewers, I'll take it.

I'm optimistic they can be a near .500 team next season with just a few added pieces.

Rotation: Brubaker, Contrares, Keller, Thompson, Mike Burrows

Is this rotation terrible? No.

Is it anything more than decent? No.

Could they find better backend arms? Maybe, but would they pay the cost to do it? Doubtful. My thought is they (Thompson and Burrows) will be there after ST.

The rotation is good enough to break the 100-loss schneid. Add a Priester cup-o-joe in September for added zing.

Last thought here: if Keller's improvement continues and Thompson returns to his 2021 form, it's a borderline good rotation. Pie-in-the-sky, perhaps, but we can dream.

Relief is in better shape after the trades for Holderman and Oviedo. Bednar, De Los Santos, Crowe, Beede Holderman, Oviedo, and Bryse Wilson (2.08 ERA as a reliever this season, albeit over just 11 IP) is solid. They have to add some organizational depth pieces, but that is all that's necessary.

An infield of Hayes, Cruz, Marcano, and Chavis is the likely crew that starts us off in 2023 (possibly Kevin Newman at 2B if he's still with the club). At some point we figure to actually see what Ji-hwan Bae can do in the big leagues. I am hoping it's soon, before September. I have him penciled in as the utility man of 2023. And there's Diego Castillo. Solid defensive piece, hopefully he can find the bat again.

Catcher could stand to be upgraded. Heineman and Delay are just OK. Delay is at least flashing a solid BA right now. Perhaps they bring back Roberto Perez.

Jack Suwinski seems to be bouncing back in AAA. The K-rate is trending downward and the average is ticking up. With 4 HRs in two weeks, the power is obviously there. Reynolds is Reynolds (and I think they'll get a deal done). RF is a bit up in the air, but Cal Mitchell has hit well since coming back up (.282) - hopefully that continues. After those three, I would tentatively have Swaggerty up as the versatile, can-play-all-corners 4th OF. Whether he can perform well enough to remain is his big question.

What they lack for sure is a heavy bat DH who can also fill in at RF and 1B when needed.

Overview - 24 of 25:
OF: Reynolds, Suwinski, Mitchell, Swaggerty
IF: Hayes, Cruz, Chavis, Newman, Castillo
C: Heineman, Delay / (R. Perez?)
U: Marcano, Bae
DH: ?

Rotation: Brubaker, Roansy, Keller, Thompson, Burrows

Relief: Bednar, De Los Santos, Crowe, Holderman, Oviedo, Beede, Bryse Wilson

Opening Day:
1. Marcano - 2B
2. Reynolds - CF
3. Cruz - SS
4. DH
5. Suwinski - RF
6. Chavis - 1B
7. Hayes - 3B
8. Mitchell - RF
9. Catcher

SP: Brubaker

----

Needs:
High priority: Power bat for DH + 1B/RF depth, catcher upgrade

Low priority: Backend rotation arm(s), relief pitching organizational depth
 
Pretty disheartening season overall. Pitching didn’t really improve at all and the hitting regressed badly across the board. The young players didn’t really perform aside from Contrares.

The organization needs to turn a 180 soon or the fans are going to disappear completely
 
Pretty disheartening season overall. Pitching didn’t really improve at all and the hitting regressed badly across the board. The young players didn’t really perform aside from Contrares.

The organization needs to turn a 180 soon or the fans are going to disappear completely
I think the fans are already gone. There had to be fewer than 1,000 fans at PNC for that Reds series the second last week of the season.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I went to a couple games at PNC. Awesome ballpark. Nice area around it. It’s really a shame the organization is so poor. I really enjoyed watching O’Neill Cruz on tv this year, and especially live. They can build a franchise around him if they can get their act together and Cruz grows into his talent.
 
Andrew Mc Is back. I think it’s a good move. If nothing else will get a few more bodies in the stands until the novelty wears off. Overall the Bucs should be better with the winter additions. Really hope they hang on to Reynolds at least till the trade deadline and see if their is any future in keeping him.
 
According to an article in the Trib the Pirates are worth 1.32 billion, that ranked 23rd of all MLB teams. I’d like to see the owner use some of the equity.
 
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When is the Pirates’ contention window supposed to be?

The team has a few guys in place — Hayes, Cruz, Reynolds, Keller, Contreras — but mostly looks so, so far away from being a competitive team.

The patchwork of random vets occupying the roster probably won’t be enough to keep the Pirates out of the cellar, especially if Rich Hill and Vince Velasquez keep getting starts all season.

The Reds seem to be in a much better place than the Pirates.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
Allegedly in a couple years things should coalesce but who knows. The team is currently reluctant to pay Reynolds
 
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