70 Comments

Indy wins and is only 3 games back of Columbus (Indians). 5 games left at home with Rochester and 6 away at St Paul to finish the season. Could the Pirates be holding guys like Peguero, Yorke, and Suwinski at AAA for that reason? Hard to figure any other reason for Alika Williams, MAT, and a few others still answering the bell at the MLB level.

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Booyah!! #69 in the books and a series won! Raise it!!

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Losing at Tankathon though

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🏴‍☠️X69

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heehee

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Dirty old men

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niccceeeeee.

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🏴‍☠️X69

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7 pitchers used (so far). Must be hoping Falters has some innings in him tomorrow.

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Holderman and Beeks didn't see action. Can probably use Borucki again.

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They also didn't use their top reliever.

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The one with the 6.75 ERA?

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Yeah, the iron man.

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I sure hope that Cruz and Bart are the answer in CF and C.

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So far so good!

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Bednar with a decent inning of work. Hope he keeps it up.

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I beginning to wonder if Nicolas could ever put it together. Would not surprise me if he begins next year in AAA.

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Well he's single handedly trying to let the marlins back in this game. If he isn't walking them, they're hitting him hard.

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The club has had a lot of success in getting pitchers with control issues to throw strikes. Obviously he has not been one of their more apt pupils.

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Congrats to Cutch on No. 20. Great player and great person.

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Torn about whether I hope he retires or comes back next year. He’s been pretty good this year, despite higher k rate. He is also at the age where it can all come apart pretty quickly. Should he retire while he is still pretty good or try to push it another year?

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For $5M, I'd let it ride. The bat still appears to be there, especially this late in the season. Plus, as I understand it, the clubhouse veteranosity is real. If not him -- the known known -- they'll go find some other purported veteranosity and let him Sean Rodriguez around for 3 months.

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I'd even give him a bonus. Call it a COLA adjustment. Looking at the DH market, you've either got extremely high priced veterans or pre-arbs making pennies. He's perfectly cromulent in that role, and nobody's really stepped up to challenge him.

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Embiggen his salary.

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Nice use of the word cromulent. Got the context but googled to make sure. I applaud you.

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Thanks. I didn't think his production rose to the level of incrinculent.

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Damn Starkey. He was that last time I watched steady Bucs on the tube.

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He’s said he wants to return.

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Chandler probably done after 6 innings

1 h 0 r 2 bb 10 k

The hit came with 2 outs in the 6th (perfect until then), then back to back walks, finished with a strikeout of House with 2 of the last 3 pitches hitting 99mph.

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Same question goes for you below Mel

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Was just insane tonight. He's so fun to watch

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How close is he to Skenes or Jones level for his age? I hope they become the three pirateers and mow people until we can't afford them.

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Skenes is a different animal, I don't think Skenes has a ceiling he's that complete. I give Bubba a higher ceiling than Jones but not by much, I've seen Chandler command his pitches for stretches that made me think at times he could enter Skenes territory. I've also seen him lose it, tonight for example. After the first hit after 5.2 perfect, he walked the next 2 batters on around 9 or 10 pitches. Actually it's the biggest issue that I've noticed with Chandler, going to the stretch for the first time in a game, he loses his control sometimes. He came back and blew away House with 99mph heat to end his night (it was a 3-2 count). With that said it should be an easy fix (nothing is easy at that level lol).

I'm very excited to see this 3 headed monster with Keller as a foundation. To rate them at 21 years old ACE 1 Skenes

1a Chandler 1b Jones

Going forward Skenes could be the best pitcher in baseball. Jones could be a top 15 pitcher if he can add a third pitch or more. Chandler has top 15 potential as well, if his command develops he could be more, closer to Skenes.

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I think he's better than Jones was last year. I think going into this year there were still legit concerns if Jones would be a reliever or not. He's answered that this year with the huge leap he's made.

But if we are talking about comparing Jones at 21 to Bubba this year (at 21), I take Bubba every time.

Skenes is different, but I think there's a lot less of a gap between them now. But really at this point, Skenes is on another level still.

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I recall Jones made a quantum leap over the winter.

Forget who/where he worked (Driveline?) but we need more guys who actually do the real work in the off-season.

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Thanks. I always liked Jones from the MLB write up. His attitude or I guess demeanor was what I loved. When I worked in PT. Athletes like him always outperformed what the Dr expected. Do 70 when you ask for 30.

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All 3 have great a demeanor. All ultra competitive, Skenes with structure and adaptation. Jones with intensity and personal responsibility. Bubba with realization and determination. They all can grow and learn from each other and ease the pressure in one sense, while being driven to be their best.

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Chandler has it working tonight. Be interesting to see how they handle him next year.

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Hope is the JJ route and hopefully content for the ROY.

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He's doing alright through 5 innings.

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Was I the only one who was not sure if IKF was gonna get up from that slide into 3rd?

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Marlins have not fielded well in this series. Happy to accept the gifts.

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I haven't followed Jake Burger since he was drafted but that's exactly what I'd have expected him to look like if a club actually tried playing him in the field.

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I think I’ll put the Hoppers on the main screen tonight. Haven’t seen Reed in a good while, so hoping he’s got good stuff tonight.

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I'm not going to pretend like he was a big loss or I had anything to do with helping him succeed, but the day that the Pirates released Adam Oller, I wrote him and gave a "pep talk", mostly saying I was surprised that they got rid of him because they weren't in the place to get rid of a player with a legit big league shot. I really liked the progress he was making in looks that I got between the 2017 and 2018 seasons. I was going to push for him to be a top 50 prospect, but he was cut before the list was finalized.

While I hate to see the Pirates whiff on a future big league player, I did like that a hidden gem I saw who no one was talking about, made it to the majors. He has played parts of three seasons, helped out by being with the A's for part of that time. He just passed a year of service time. Not bad for him either. He went from a meager bonus and being released, to making about $1M in salary the last three years (majors/minors combined) and a nice little guaranteed pension down the line. He's not set for life yet, but I'm sure money won't be an issue any time soon.

He's a good guy, so I'm glad to see it. Hope he loses today, don't tell him I said that :)

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Why not just bring Bubba up for the last 3 weeks instead of doing bullpen games? Let him get a taste. Same foe some of the other young guys. Dump the dead weight on the roster and let's move forward.

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I'm sure the issue with him is he won't be Rule 5 eligible, so you'd be taking a 40-man roster spot you don't need to fill, just for minimum big league time for someone who has minimum triple-A time. I'm sure he will get a shot at making the team out of Spring Training anyway (wouldn't have said that before Jared Jones did it this year)

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I get it if we had a solid 40 on the 40 man, but I'm guessing just looking at the major league roster that there are some expendable bodies that are just taking up space 😉.

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It's more a case of limiting moves and not forcing cuts for moves during the off-season. I don't know if three starts would be worth it. I'd rather see Burrows come up and see how he handles 3-4 starts

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Cherington is an asset manager first and foremost. Not happening.

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