I heard fans yelling at Shelton, but not at Bednar. Tellez has no idea about Pittsburgh fans. As far as him telling Yinzers how to act, maybe he should drop the bat and run it at least halfway down to first base the next time he hits a ground ball.
I never thought that once. I thought they just booed Shelton who let him stay in there for 5 or 6 batters when it was obvious he should have been pulled after 2 or 3.
Mystifying to see the hometown fans booing Bednar.
We’re not talking about the coach’s kid, or Rob Zastryzny walking in runs versus Oakland. Bednar’s been nails for the Pirates. 2x all-star and one of the best closers in the bigs last couple of years. Even second half of last year he was merely good rather than suffocating.
Yeah it was horrifying watching him bean a couple of batters and single-handedly lose the game. But there’s obviously something wrong with him that should have been addressed by the people who manage the club.
Maybe. I’ve seen that floated as an explanation. Like people claim Hedges was booed as a protest against Cherington that he was blocking Endy and Tank, rather than because he couldn’t hit a wall with a handful of peas.
Regardless, I agree with Gary Morgan’s point: if you were really booing Shelton, why did you start booing before the 3 batter minimum?
I’ll admit that wasn’t a possibility I’d considered. I would have assumed people who made the effort to come out to a day game on a Tuesday would be aware that a manager can’t yank a pitcher until he’s faced three batters.
I still don’t buy it. Were the fans who booed Bailey Falter on a day he wasn’t even pitching (and before he decided to deal in his second start) secretly voicing their anger and frustration at Shelton, or at BC for rostering Falter in the first place?
No. They were booing Falter because he’s been buns.
I think that a lot of the people who won’t “admit” this — Pirates fans on Reddit, Facebook, etc. who acknowledge booing the crap out of these players but insist there was some larger strategy to their booing — won’t admit it because at some level they’re aware of the vague hypocrisy and scattershot nature of booing some players and not others.
Are we going to boo Davis? He’s been godawful at the plate. What about Cutch? He got a hit yesterday but he’s been bad too. You could take the Hedges argument and say he’s “blocking” other guys from DHing.
What about Keller? He pulled it together yesterday sort of, but he’s been, uh, not good, off and on, since the all-star break. Why’s he not getting booed in those outings where he’s getting smacked around the ball yard and opposing base runners are running across home plate like commuters through a turnstile?
Booing Bednar is a sad situation and testament against the people in attendance today. This is just asinine. Guy missed spring training and had a couple bad outings as a result. No reason to get all spiteful with him. There are times in the past few years where he has been the only reason to watch this pitiful team.
But as I've said before, it's hard to find the opportunity to boo the manager* for not putting players in position to succeed (e.g., give your closer who "missed so much of ST" a chance to get built up through low-leverage innings), so the frustration comes out as booing the player.
Maybe it becomes a rallying point, but it's hard to believe that after a 9-3 start the only headline I've seen on espn.com about the Pirates is one about discontent between the fans and their hometown player.
Ok I hate the general public people that I had to deal with for 40 years of dealing with customers starting with a finance company job…….. so tired of people bitc…..complaining about stuff thinking I could change things that I had no authority or control of…….
People on this board are way different (at least when they are on this board lol!). We can disagree on stuff but at least we can discuss with some civility and not devolve into insults. This group was one of the things that gave me some peace and enjoyment when I was in my dark period when my wife got sick around 7 years ago. Was a nice place to hang out and have some good conversations. Far different than boards like MLBTR where will instantly resort to insults if you dare disagree. I do like us. Everyone else can get off my lawn already!
Watching the second. Jimenez has walked three of the first four, and only got an out because the guy chased ball four and popped up. He’s all over the place. Delivery is a serious mess.
That sounds like my one and only start in little league. No idea how I never hit any of the 6 batters that I faced. Threw behind every kid I faced. I bet the kid that was catching still remembers that asshole that could not throw a strike if his life depended on it!
I vividly remember the resident scouting expert at the old place arguing with me that Jimenez didn't have a violent delivery when such a fact is blatantly obvious from the first time you see this kid throw and is clearly leading to his inability to repeat his mechanics enough to control the ball.
Forrester's fanned three times in three times up. I just haven't liked anything I've seen of him.
Meanwhile, the Marauders have allowed one hit and six runs, including one on the delayed double steal, which always works against all teams in the org. Do they do any coaching at all?
Assembling a bullpen with some depth has helped them to a surprising 9-3 mark. Up to this point that depth has helped get through some injuries but the Bednar situation looms as a huge stumbling block.
It's absolutely hilarious that Major League Baseball threw gasoline on the dumpster fire of pitcher injuries by freaking out about "sticky stuff" while achieving absolutely zero tangible improvement on the goals they sought.
Did I mention the entire thing was spawned by junk science from a rapist they've now blackballed from the league?
I can't remember where I saw or read it, someone mentioned pitchers using a tighter grip to compensate for the lack of sticky stuff might be leading to more injuries.
Glasnow mentioned something similar, how he used sunscreen and rosin, then went cold turkey for a start and woke up the next day sore in spots he never experienced. Basically saying the baseballs are harder to “grip” now without sticky stuff.
MLB has commissioned a systematic study of pitching injuries, and it will, no doubt, be several years before we have the results. However, most people who have some data and experience on treating elbow injuries seem to agree (along with Verlander) that the problem begins at the lower levels... where pitchers are putting too much strain on their elbows in little leagues and high schools with too much emphasis on velocity before their ligaments have the tensile strength necessary to withstand the torque. Problems then often manifest later in college or the minors.
Also true, but that hasn't changed in just the last couple years.
What has is how tightly big league pitchers now have to grip the ball, which only adds stress to the muscles and ligaments already under astronomical pressure.
Combine the two and it sure as heck seems awfully coincidental that there's an increase in elbows blowing out.
The whole sticky stuff thing was almost the stupidest thing I can remember in baseball. The pitchers did not indent the seams in the baseballs. It was the league who mandated that in an effort to get more homeruns, which resulted in more pitcher injuries and less actual fan interest since the number of rallies decreased and the game moved to boring 3-true-outcome ball. Besides, pitchers have been using pinetar, vasoline, all sorts of things for ages, and I am not sure it ever made any difference at all... TBH.
It boggles my mind that players have no one at the table to discuss the ball. I’d have to think indenting the seams is one (of many) causes that goes into the injury issue. First and foremost being…throwing hard ain’t good for the arm.
I have DEEP takes on this. I think it's pretty much a bullshit conspiracy theory.
The variation in seem height found in these studies is *less* than the ASTM tolerance for CNC-milled aircraft parts. Think about that!
Does it really seam (lol) rationale that MLB sent a directive to the low-paid Hondurans or whoever that hand-sew these baseballs to adjust them to agree more precise than robots cutting steel?
I’m well aware of your deep takes, haha. Do you think pitchers are lying/mistaken that the ball seemed different year to year? I suppose it’s possible, sure. Are they really going to remember year to year? That’s a valid question and probably contains some human error in memory there, unless they had balls from both seasons.
If it’s not seams, why would we get rabbit ball year in 2019 where Josh Bell looked like an absolute monster for half a season along with a bunch of other guys who clearly never approached those seasons again. As someone in a profession who has little or no say in the tools I use for my job, I’d find it just as frustrating if I was a ball player. Especially since that’s a much more valuable profession than my own.
In those overly simplistic terms you put forth that there was a directive to make the ball different? Nah prolly not. But do you think MLB never puts the thumb on the scale to impact their product? Shit, for years the two leagues used actual different balls. Come on, mannn.
I’m no doctor, but I’d bet the ball has little to do with the injuries anyway. Pitchers throw harder than ever, and younger than ever. It makes me think that with the generation that makes the bigs now, they’ve probably already done a lot of damage to their young arms. Showcases, travel ball, year round baseball. There’s probably a whole host of factors at play, and it’s unlikely to ever be solved…or anyone desires it to be solved.
I have no doubt there were minor deviations in the ball, just like there have continually been over the entire history of the game. None of which resulted in home run spikes of this magnitude in either direction.
I'm also not naive enough to believe MLB doesn't pull shenanigans, but I have absolutely zero confidence they could pull something like this off given the exceptionally narrow degrees within which such a thing doesn't go absurdly wrong.
Similar to your take on injuries, the ball itself has ultimately had a minor effect on home runs. Everything about the game right now is geared towards power production and that shift had already started leading to home run increases half a decade before anyone started fingering their balls.
That famous study everyone cites but nobody reads (what is this, Congress?) outright admitted they can only account, at most, for 30% of the one-year increase in home runs.
Except... the MLB admitted that the balls changed in 2015, and several studies of the balls confirmed that they changed in seam-stitching and materials. So... from "conspiracy theory" to confirmed fact..., and Verlander knew what he was talking about. BTW, McCutcheon was part of that "conspiracy theory" too. https://theconversation.com/whats-really-behind-baseballs-home-run-surge-120265
The ball can change *without* there being some hair-brained conspiracy behind the league directing it. You're smart enough to understand this, don't be so silly.
Some other facts:
-The ball has changed to greater degrees throughout the history of the sport, none of which have resulted in this substantial of an increase to home runs.
-a 7% decrease in seam height is literally impossible to direct using the means and methods available. you're talking about fractions of a millimeter on a manufacturing process with far greater inherent tolerances.
-the home run spike began years before the players noticed anything about the ball.
This conspiracy logic is the same kind of brain worm that led everyone to being so incredibly wrong about the effect of sticky stuff.
Combine bad statistics with a predisposition for what the answer is and you'll perform all sorts of exercises in confirming your priors. Ignoring instead of controlling for variables is blatant junk science.
Terry Forster is the best I could come up with, but that was a long time ago and not in the top 100 save list. I think Gagne admitted to using steroids during his Cy Young year, but he sure went downhill. I think Bednar will be just fine, assuming he is healthy.
I remember that name! Had forgotten though till you mentioned Terry. Also forgot that he was only in Pittsburgh for 1 season. He could hit .346 with An OPS of 808. 1 double and 1 trip-trip-triple.
Shelton says Bednar is healthy but his command isn't there because he missed so much of ST. Well, OK, but wouldn't that argue for not having him close? Is it possible to get the manager off auto-pilot for a minute or two?
Although probably unpopular, Bednar has options left. They can send him down to Altoona or Indy to find his command. It's the same difference in time as an IL visit with an already built in reason.
That's what I would do. The commissioner's office has been persnickety lately about IL stints for fake injuries. Just send him down for 10 days. It's not a permanent thing. Bednar has to know that. It is just to make up for the time he missed in spring training. Not a big deal except for a little missed pay... which the Pirates could make up next year by giving him a little more in the pre-arb deal.
Well, that sucked. I assume Bednar hasn't lost 'it'. Put me on the group that wants Bednar to find 'it' while pitching for Indianapolis. This season, I'm interested more in wins than player development. I'd like to see the 2024 Pirates best the McClatchy Line.
I don't classify a player with 3 years of stellar results being in the 'player development' mode. He clearly is struggling and needs either a DL and re-hab stint or to be used out of the closer role. Only way Bednar goes to Indy is on a re-hab assignment or if he truly goes all Steve Blass on us.
I did mot put Bedmar in the player development category. I put him in the broken player who needs to be fixed category. It's best for the MLB team that the Indianapolis staff fixes him, so that he doesn't cost the MLB team additional games.
And BTW Mackey was lobbying all off season for the Bucs to sign him to a long-term deal basically because in addition to being good he’s a yinzer. But there is no more variable position in sports than relief pitcher/certified closer. That would not have been a smart move. With relief pitchers you go year to year, especially when they’re nowhere near free agency.
This got me thinking and Rod Beck popped into my head, then i spent about 20 minutes re-remembering him via google. Thanks for costing me 20 minutes Arky🤣🤣
I asked about that in the baseball subreddit. People from a variety of Caribbean/Latin American countries were adamant that there is nothing culturally relative about squeezing mommy’s milkers much less posting a video onto social media of yourself doing it. Chapman, they said, is just a fucking weirdo.
Kurtz was 3 for 4 today 5 RBI's 2 HR. I believe that's 10 HR's in his last 6 games.
I heard fans yelling at Shelton, but not at Bednar. Tellez has no idea about Pittsburgh fans. As far as him telling Yinzers how to act, maybe he should drop the bat and run it at least halfway down to first base the next time he hits a ground ball.
Holliday is getting called up for Baltimore.
Bednar's a big boy. Every closer in baseball gets booed if they blow 3 out of their first 4 attempts!
Looks like I picked a good day to do yard work.
You could have just started your yardwork after the 8th.
I know it sucks to lose a game that was almost over but they really booed Bednar??? Ugh
I never thought that once. I thought they just booed Shelton who let him stay in there for 5 or 6 batters when it was obvious he should have been pulled after 2 or 3.
Mystifying to see the hometown fans booing Bednar.
We’re not talking about the coach’s kid, or Rob Zastryzny walking in runs versus Oakland. Bednar’s been nails for the Pirates. 2x all-star and one of the best closers in the bigs last couple of years. Even second half of last year he was merely good rather than suffocating.
Yeah it was horrifying watching him bean a couple of batters and single-handedly lose the game. But there’s obviously something wrong with him that should have been addressed by the people who manage the club.
Don’t get the Bednar hate at all.
Are we sure they weren't booing Shelton for taking too long to remove him?
Maybe. I’ve seen that floated as an explanation. Like people claim Hedges was booed as a protest against Cherington that he was blocking Endy and Tank, rather than because he couldn’t hit a wall with a handful of peas.
Regardless, I agree with Gary Morgan’s point: if you were really booing Shelton, why did you start booing before the 3 batter minimum?
Might depend on whether you're aware that there's a three-batter minimum.
I’ll admit that wasn’t a possibility I’d considered. I would have assumed people who made the effort to come out to a day game on a Tuesday would be aware that a manager can’t yank a pitcher until he’s faced three batters.
I still don’t buy it. Were the fans who booed Bailey Falter on a day he wasn’t even pitching (and before he decided to deal in his second start) secretly voicing their anger and frustration at Shelton, or at BC for rostering Falter in the first place?
No. They were booing Falter because he’s been buns.
I think that a lot of the people who won’t “admit” this — Pirates fans on Reddit, Facebook, etc. who acknowledge booing the crap out of these players but insist there was some larger strategy to their booing — won’t admit it because at some level they’re aware of the vague hypocrisy and scattershot nature of booing some players and not others.
Are we going to boo Davis? He’s been godawful at the plate. What about Cutch? He got a hit yesterday but he’s been bad too. You could take the Hedges argument and say he’s “blocking” other guys from DHing.
What about Keller? He pulled it together yesterday sort of, but he’s been, uh, not good, off and on, since the all-star break. Why’s he not getting booed in those outings where he’s getting smacked around the ball yard and opposing base runners are running across home plate like commuters through a turnstile?
I can't relate to booing anyway. I've never booed anybody in my life.
That was actually my first thought
Booing Bednar is a sad situation and testament against the people in attendance today. This is just asinine. Guy missed spring training and had a couple bad outings as a result. No reason to get all spiteful with him. There are times in the past few years where he has been the only reason to watch this pitiful team.
I never thought they were booing Bednar, but only Shelton for not taking him out earlier.
So this is something deserving an ESPN headline?
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39908899/struggling-pirates-closer-david-bednar-booed-home
But as I've said before, it's hard to find the opportunity to boo the manager* for not putting players in position to succeed (e.g., give your closer who "missed so much of ST" a chance to get built up through low-leverage innings), so the frustration comes out as booing the player.
Maybe it becomes a rallying point, but it's hard to believe that after a 9-3 start the only headline I've seen on espn.com about the Pirates is one about discontent between the fans and their hometown player.
People suck.
I hate people!
You fake it well then😀
Ok I hate the general public people that I had to deal with for 40 years of dealing with customers starting with a finance company job…….. so tired of people bitc…..complaining about stuff thinking I could change things that I had no authority or control of…….
People on this board are way different (at least when they are on this board lol!). We can disagree on stuff but at least we can discuss with some civility and not devolve into insults. This group was one of the things that gave me some peace and enjoyment when I was in my dark period when my wife got sick around 7 years ago. Was a nice place to hang out and have some good conversations. Far different than boards like MLBTR where will instantly resort to insults if you dare disagree. I do like us. Everyone else can get off my lawn already!
Garret Forrester making his debut behind the plate today. Catching Carlos Jimenez, so that’ll be interesting.
Watching the second. Jimenez has walked three of the first four, and only got an out because the guy chased ball four and popped up. He’s all over the place. Delivery is a serious mess.
That sounds like my one and only start in little league. No idea how I never hit any of the 6 batters that I faced. Threw behind every kid I faced. I bet the kid that was catching still remembers that asshole that could not throw a strike if his life depended on it!
I vividly remember the resident scouting expert at the old place arguing with me that Jimenez didn't have a violent delivery when such a fact is blatantly obvious from the first time you see this kid throw and is clearly leading to his inability to repeat his mechanics enough to control the ball.
Is he a worthy heir to the throne of Luis Escobar?
Mechanics?? MECHANICS??!!
Mid season form for him lol.
Such a shame because the stuff can be so good, but then he has these innings that just ruins the whole outing
I still say the huge rush to buy Carlos Jimenez stock was mostly about lack of interesting prospects in the system at the time.
2021 Jimenez barely gets a sniff in the 2024 prospect list.
He needs to make the move. I’m extremely skeptical that he’ll hit enough for any corner position.
Another strikeout. That fastball isn’t exactly overpowering and Forrester still struggled with it
He drew 3 walks the first game. Has kinda looked overmatched since then
Forrester's fanned three times in three times up. I just haven't liked anything I've seen of him.
Meanwhile, the Marauders have allowed one hit and six runs, including one on the delayed double steal, which always works against all teams in the org. Do they do any coaching at all?
Yea Forrester has not looked good at all. Then he plunked the base runner in the back of head throwing to first.
Rough night all around.
Assembling a bullpen with some depth has helped them to a surprising 9-3 mark. Up to this point that depth has helped get through some injuries but the Bednar situation looms as a huge stumbling block.
Well, they're 9-3 with no real contribution from him, so I think they're much better prepared for this than they'd have been in previous years.
MLB.com says the Pirates optioned Ryder Ryan. I guess Holderman will be activated
It's absolutely hilarious that Major League Baseball threw gasoline on the dumpster fire of pitcher injuries by freaking out about "sticky stuff" while achieving absolutely zero tangible improvement on the goals they sought.
Did I mention the entire thing was spawned by junk science from a rapist they've now blackballed from the league?
Truly incredible work, all around.
For the life of me, I can't see how the game has changed in the slightest, except maybe more injuries.
I can't remember where I saw or read it, someone mentioned pitchers using a tighter grip to compensate for the lack of sticky stuff might be leading to more injuries.
Glasnow mentioned something similar, how he used sunscreen and rosin, then went cold turkey for a start and woke up the next day sore in spots he never experienced. Basically saying the baseballs are harder to “grip” now without sticky stuff.
Tighter grip to facilitate both velo and spin is destroying elbows. The baseline for pitchers went from loose and smooth to tight and hard.
That’s what she said.
MLB has commissioned a systematic study of pitching injuries, and it will, no doubt, be several years before we have the results. However, most people who have some data and experience on treating elbow injuries seem to agree (along with Verlander) that the problem begins at the lower levels... where pitchers are putting too much strain on their elbows in little leagues and high schools with too much emphasis on velocity before their ligaments have the tensile strength necessary to withstand the torque. Problems then often manifest later in college or the minors.
Also true, but that hasn't changed in just the last couple years.
What has is how tightly big league pitchers now have to grip the ball, which only adds stress to the muscles and ligaments already under astronomical pressure.
Combine the two and it sure as heck seems awfully coincidental that there's an increase in elbows blowing out.
The whole sticky stuff thing was almost the stupidest thing I can remember in baseball. The pitchers did not indent the seams in the baseballs. It was the league who mandated that in an effort to get more homeruns, which resulted in more pitcher injuries and less actual fan interest since the number of rallies decreased and the game moved to boring 3-true-outcome ball. Besides, pitchers have been using pinetar, vasoline, all sorts of things for ages, and I am not sure it ever made any difference at all... TBH.
It boggles my mind that players have no one at the table to discuss the ball. I’d have to think indenting the seams is one (of many) causes that goes into the injury issue. First and foremost being…throwing hard ain’t good for the arm.
I have DEEP takes on this. I think it's pretty much a bullshit conspiracy theory.
The variation in seem height found in these studies is *less* than the ASTM tolerance for CNC-milled aircraft parts. Think about that!
Does it really seam (lol) rationale that MLB sent a directive to the low-paid Hondurans or whoever that hand-sew these baseballs to adjust them to agree more precise than robots cutting steel?
Come on, mannnn.
I’m well aware of your deep takes, haha. Do you think pitchers are lying/mistaken that the ball seemed different year to year? I suppose it’s possible, sure. Are they really going to remember year to year? That’s a valid question and probably contains some human error in memory there, unless they had balls from both seasons.
If it’s not seams, why would we get rabbit ball year in 2019 where Josh Bell looked like an absolute monster for half a season along with a bunch of other guys who clearly never approached those seasons again. As someone in a profession who has little or no say in the tools I use for my job, I’d find it just as frustrating if I was a ball player. Especially since that’s a much more valuable profession than my own.
In those overly simplistic terms you put forth that there was a directive to make the ball different? Nah prolly not. But do you think MLB never puts the thumb on the scale to impact their product? Shit, for years the two leagues used actual different balls. Come on, mannn.
I’m no doctor, but I’d bet the ball has little to do with the injuries anyway. Pitchers throw harder than ever, and younger than ever. It makes me think that with the generation that makes the bigs now, they’ve probably already done a lot of damage to their young arms. Showcases, travel ball, year round baseball. There’s probably a whole host of factors at play, and it’s unlikely to ever be solved…or anyone desires it to be solved.
I have no doubt there were minor deviations in the ball, just like there have continually been over the entire history of the game. None of which resulted in home run spikes of this magnitude in either direction.
I'm also not naive enough to believe MLB doesn't pull shenanigans, but I have absolutely zero confidence they could pull something like this off given the exceptionally narrow degrees within which such a thing doesn't go absurdly wrong.
Similar to your take on injuries, the ball itself has ultimately had a minor effect on home runs. Everything about the game right now is geared towards power production and that shift had already started leading to home run increases half a decade before anyone started fingering their balls.
That famous study everyone cites but nobody reads (what is this, Congress?) outright admitted they can only account, at most, for 30% of the one-year increase in home runs.
Except... the MLB admitted that the balls changed in 2015, and several studies of the balls confirmed that they changed in seam-stitching and materials. So... from "conspiracy theory" to confirmed fact..., and Verlander knew what he was talking about. BTW, McCutcheon was part of that "conspiracy theory" too. https://theconversation.com/whats-really-behind-baseballs-home-run-surge-120265
The ball can change *without* there being some hair-brained conspiracy behind the league directing it. You're smart enough to understand this, don't be so silly.
Some other facts:
-The ball has changed to greater degrees throughout the history of the sport, none of which have resulted in this substantial of an increase to home runs.
-a 7% decrease in seam height is literally impossible to direct using the means and methods available. you're talking about fractions of a millimeter on a manufacturing process with far greater inherent tolerances.
-the home run spike began years before the players noticed anything about the ball.
This conspiracy logic is the same kind of brain worm that led everyone to being so incredibly wrong about the effect of sticky stuff.
Combine bad statistics with a predisposition for what the answer is and you'll perform all sorts of exercises in confirming your priors. Ignoring instead of controlling for variables is blatant junk science.
I don't think heavier closers age well...look at Eric Gagne. They'll peak for about 3 good years, and they're done by 29.
Is there a single adult in the room?
Terry Forster is the best I could come up with, but that was a long time ago and not in the top 100 save list. I think Gagne admitted to using steroids during his Cy Young year, but he sure went downhill. I think Bednar will be just fine, assuming he is healthy.
I remember that name! Had forgotten though till you mentioned Terry. Also forgot that he was only in Pittsburgh for 1 season. He could hit .346 with An OPS of 808. 1 double and 1 trip-trip-triple.
Yeah, I was just trying to be funny.
Shelton says Bednar is healthy but his command isn't there because he missed so much of ST. Well, OK, but wouldn't that argue for not having him close? Is it possible to get the manager off auto-pilot for a minute or two?
Although probably unpopular, Bednar has options left. They can send him down to Altoona or Indy to find his command. It's the same difference in time as an IL visit with an already built in reason.
That's what I would do. The commissioner's office has been persnickety lately about IL stints for fake injuries. Just send him down for 10 days. It's not a permanent thing. Bednar has to know that. It is just to make up for the time he missed in spring training. Not a big deal except for a little missed pay... which the Pirates could make up next year by giving him a little more in the pre-arb deal.
There would be no pay cut, he's on an MLB contract.
Yep
Well, that sucked. I assume Bednar hasn't lost 'it'. Put me on the group that wants Bednar to find 'it' while pitching for Indianapolis. This season, I'm interested more in wins than player development. I'd like to see the 2024 Pirates best the McClatchy Line.
I don't classify a player with 3 years of stellar results being in the 'player development' mode. He clearly is struggling and needs either a DL and re-hab stint or to be used out of the closer role. Only way Bednar goes to Indy is on a re-hab assignment or if he truly goes all Steve Blass on us.
I did mot put Bedmar in the player development category. I put him in the broken player who needs to be fixed category. It's best for the MLB team that the Indianapolis staff fixes him, so that he doesn't cost the MLB team additional games.
That one hurts. Time to put Chapman in the closet role at the very least.
And BTW Mackey was lobbying all off season for the Bucs to sign him to a long-term deal basically because in addition to being good he’s a yinzer. But there is no more variable position in sports than relief pitcher/certified closer. That would not have been a smart move. With relief pitchers you go year to year, especially when they’re nowhere near free agency.
Most closers don’t last long and the bad bodied closers (cough, Hanrahan) have an even shorter shelf life.
This got me thinking and Rod Beck popped into my head, then i spent about 20 minutes re-remembering him via google. Thanks for costing me 20 minutes Arky🤣🤣
To be fair, that may be a reason they extended Keller but, as far as I know, never addressed it with Bednar.
Good point - one a year is the current path for the Pirates - Hayes, Reynolds, Keller.
this^
Chapman is truly a unicorn.
And Mo Rivera. But there are few and far between.
Bednar is impossible to dislike, but there’s no way, no how, they should think of extending this guy who is gonna be 30 in October.
remember that time he honked on his moms boobs
I'd really like to forget that
something something cultural norms.
I asked about that in the baseball subreddit. People from a variety of Caribbean/Latin American countries were adamant that there is nothing culturally relative about squeezing mommy’s milkers much less posting a video onto social media of yourself doing it. Chapman, they said, is just a fucking weirdo.
Living in a Latin American country... I can confirm... nothing cultural about it.
That term has far more relevancy than I think people want to believe lol