Serious question. We all poop on Grandal, myself included, for being awful. We all agree he is abysmal on offense. Fangraphs has him at good enough on defense to be positive value. Baseball Ref isn't as high but only has him at -0.2 for the year. Like, I get it. He is awful on offense. He's probably better on defense than Bart. But what are we doing here? He should be catching once a week. Let him be Skenes personal catcher or whatever if they think that's important. But come on.
The bigger issue with this is the fact that the DH options in this game would have been Triolo, Bae, or Joe with Cutch apparently being injured. That is an abysmal bunch. I actually like Bae as a 26th guy starting once or twice a week but mainly pinch running and occasional
pH duties. Trip has to go find his stroke and Joe is a guy they most likely non tender
No but seriously. I get that Cutch must be injured/old/day-off so Bart is DHing again, but why not give Bart an extended tryout to see if he's an actual legitimate MLB catching option going forward? He should be in the lineup regardless but see if he's a real catcher going forward.
Saw the score. Won't watch. Same old story - collapsening after the deadline; inept coaching; little hope on the horizon to pick up legitimate players (unlike BDLC at least IKF actually resembles an actual ML player albeit a utility guy). As per discussion ... ditch Tellez, decide on MI mess and finally fire some people beginning with MGR and Hitting Coach (and, pipe dream, continuing through GM and owner).
But the events of these last 10 days align with our prior assumptions more than "inconceivable wild card". We knew the Pirates don't have enough hitting to get the job done, and that has only become more evident with each playoff-tier team they've played.
Playing a bunch of them in a row doesn't help the vibes, but it definitely rubs in the point that this isn't even a 7th WC seed team.
Yes, but in this stretch (as Luke pointed out) the hitting hasn’t been the culprit behind the losses. It’s been the starters and bullpen mostly.
Also we can say that the Bucs may have been punching above their weight AND, that’s ok because those wins they have are banked. And some more aggressive moves may have changed their trajectory.
Honestly, rather than even worrying about the OF, I would have rather they just focused on getting IKF and bullpen help. The pen has been pretty bad all year, and that offense wouldn’t get fixed at the deadline anyway.
Well 2 of the teams below the pirates aren't eligible (ChiSox and A's). I think wherever their spots would have been gets spread out evenly, not sure though.
Serious question. We all poop on Grandal, myself included, for being awful. We all agree he is abysmal on offense. Fangraphs has him at good enough on defense to be positive value. Baseball Ref isn't as high but only has him at -0.2 for the year. Like, I get it. He is awful on offense. He's probably better on defense than Bart. But what are we doing here? He should be catching once a week. Let him be Skenes personal catcher or whatever if they think that's important. But come on.
The bigger issue with this is the fact that the DH options in this game would have been Triolo, Bae, or Joe with Cutch apparently being injured. That is an abysmal bunch. I actually like Bae as a 26th guy starting once or twice a week but mainly pinch running and occasional
pH duties. Trip has to go find his stroke and Joe is a guy they most likely non tender
When those are your DH options in year five of a rebuild by an administration that came in talking about how they'd improve development, that says...
No but seriously. I get that Cutch must be injured/old/day-off so Bart is DHing again, but why not give Bart an extended tryout to see if he's an actual legitimate MLB catching option going forward? He should be in the lineup regardless but see if he's a real catcher going forward.
This trip is going every bit as badly as you could expect.
meh - the right guys are hitting and the schleps are doing what we expect them to do
She’Bryan Hayes showing life
Shelton let Grandal hit??? Is our bench that weak w Triolo, Bae, Cutch, Joe.
This ump needs to call all Heller's games.
Worst AB of the week for Cruz. Takes 1st right down the pipe. Swings at two nowhere near the zone.
Way to get out of that Heller.
Good call walking Ohtani.
On the bright side, Heller backed up the throw.
Came back to strikeout the side. Don't know if he'll ever have control but his pitches have good movement.
Takes 3 singles to score today.......maybe 4 with Grandal the lead runner.
Time for the one-run-short rally.
Skenes just realized pitching in MLB isn't really as easy as it seems.
Saw the score. Won't watch. Same old story - collapsening after the deadline; inept coaching; little hope on the horizon to pick up legitimate players (unlike BDLC at least IKF actually resembles an actual ML player albeit a utility guy). As per discussion ... ditch Tellez, decide on MI mess and finally fire some people beginning with MGR and Hitting Coach (and, pipe dream, continuing through GM and owner).
Man we went from a not inconceivable WC chance to “what are our lottery odds,” in about 10 days.
But the events of these last 10 days align with our prior assumptions more than "inconceivable wild card". We knew the Pirates don't have enough hitting to get the job done, and that has only become more evident with each playoff-tier team they've played.
Playing a bunch of them in a row doesn't help the vibes, but it definitely rubs in the point that this isn't even a 7th WC seed team.
Yes, but in this stretch (as Luke pointed out) the hitting hasn’t been the culprit behind the losses. It’s been the starters and bullpen mostly.
Also we can say that the Bucs may have been punching above their weight AND, that’s ok because those wins they have are banked. And some more aggressive moves may have changed their trajectory.
I come back to the hitting because you need hitters to win 8-7 games. This team doesn't have 'em.
Honestly, rather than even worrying about the OF, I would have rather they just focused on getting IKF and bullpen help. The pen has been pretty bad all year, and that offense wouldn’t get fixed at the deadline anyway.
Well 2 of the teams below the pirates aren't eligible (ChiSox and A's). I think wherever their spots would have been gets spread out evenly, not sure though.
It's been a crazy couple of weeks.
We're currently sitting in 9th spot with 1.99% odds.
https://www.tankathon.com/mlb
damn, Kiermeier. It's just what he does.
Appears Gavin Lux is seeing Skenes very well.
Teoscar is proving it’s better to be lucky than good.
But he's also good.
Most definitely, but tonight so far he’s just been lucky.
There was the good AB. Wow, didn’t think that was possible.