Endy with finger laceration that required stitches. This has got to be a finger nail issue if they are considering IL. Can't imagine any other cut that would n't heal in a few days. Very strange injury that you rarely see.
You can't keep running Valdez, Pham, Frazier, Davis, and Endy out there every game and expect to be competitive. None of those guys are major-league players: not even backups or legitimate callups. About the only one who adds any value IMO is Davis, strangely enough, and only for his calling the games..
When you only have 4 hitters, every game that one of them is a little off, every time they get a bug in their eye, or have didn't get enough sleep is magnified by 2 or 3 times.
Guys have to pick each other up, and the Pirates only have 3 or 4 who can do that.
Kyle Finnegan was non-tendered by Nats and remained unsigned until Feb 27. The Nats re-signed him for $6M......and he's 6 for 6 in saves. The point.....he was available to replace Chapman.....was he ever on BC's radar? But really how did the entire MLB not swoop in and sign him?
Finnegan’s advanced stats last year were mediocre. He got saves, but he almost never pitched clean innings, and gave up lots of hard contact. That’s why the Nats non-tendered him.
I tend to disagree, this was a money play by Nats. They did not want to pay a 3rd year arb salary and probably saved a million or two by non-tendering him, and then re-signing him in late Feb.
And yet the Pirates chose to extend Bednar with a guaranteed contract when arbitration or non-tendering were both options. There were as many or more concerns with Bednar. The Nats seem to have made the better play here.
It’s so hard to get excited about a hitting prospect after seeing how many guys have stalled out in the upper levels or the few that do succeed in AAA come to the show and immediately fall apart.
Yeah, I mean without trying to sound like revisionist history with regards to others like Henry and Termarr, I feel like we could say he's easily the most talented hitter they've had overall during Ben's tenure. But I also am still skeptical.
It's funny, cause all of this has me thinking back to the 2023 draft and my main argument against Skenes, was that they had pitching and absolutely no hitting. And it’s still true. That isn't to say they made the wrong decision, but their pitching is here now from an overall standpoint, and the hitting is basically in it's own new 3-4 year cycle/rebuild. They've wasted Reynold's and Keller’s prime years. They're on their way to losing two of Skenes.
They need to do something NOW. A's and even Nats are ripe with opportunity to send off some pitching for hitters, upper level types circa Michael Busch types. But they won't do it. Even if they consider it, they traded a hype guy in Patrick Reilly for a late 20's Triple-A depth guy. So, what do they do?
Heads should be rolling, but Bob is all, "I gave them funds, now they have to execute." He should be furious at this product after 6 years.
They don't really have any more fungible pitching. Their bullpen is about 4 deep at the moment. Running Falter out every 5 (6) days is like playing Russian roulette. Yeah you get away with for a time hopefully, but eventually he will blow your brains out. They had to sign Heaney, and they have Mlod as a starter right now. Burrows is needed in the bullpen now. Both Harrington and Chandler will be needed to fill out the rotation at some point this year, almost certainly, and certainly next year: Skenes, Jones, Keller, Chandler, and Harrington.
On top of this, they have the whole mandatory 5-day rest thing, which requires that they maintain a spot-starter on the 26-man roster constantly (which is why Burrows is needed in the pen now). To make matters even worse, they have set arbitrary innings limits for this season on Burrows and Ashcraft.
If pitching is going to be their strength, they don't have much to trade.
They still have Oviedo who (should) be back at some point, even if very limited or even just the pen. Stratton should probably be in MLB right now, in addition to Mlod likely back to pen. Even if limited, they have a whole rotation in Triple-A, with Barco about ready for Indy. Sullivan just returned, and will go to Altoona. Next year Dotel will likely be on the precipice. McMillan should not be long for Altoona. They don't need full 5-man rotations at all levels of prospects. That’s not even considering if Solo has turned it around. Or Ercol who I could see spend the whole year in Altoona and return there to start 2026. They can stand to trade a couple for much much much much needed offensive upside. It's extremely limited.
They need relief pitchers too, and despite what Littlefield and Russell think, not every pitcher is fit to start. Burrows would definitely be better in the pen. Solometo may very well end up as a serviceable reliever rather than a starter: same for Dotel and Barco. Hunter Stratton is middle reliever / mopup guy on any decent team. It's only because we have Shugart, Wentz, and Mayza that he looks better than he is.
Sure, but they've shown an ability to develop pitching in some capacity. They have pitching depth, in some capacity. 3 of Skenes, Keller, Jones, and Bubba healthy should eventually be enough to navigate a season if you have to mix and match 4 and 5, wading through injuries and inconsistencies. As they have it now, they're 18th in ERA, 4th in FIP, 17th in xFIP, and 6th in WAR. Some semblance of an offense or defense would help offset bad days. The terrible defense and offense makes it so they have to be perfect night in and night out, while praying for perfect health, which they haven't had. They could have a top 3 pitching staff and they'd still be one of the worst teams cause it's so bad.
They cannot evaluate hitters or make quality acquisitions. They DID try the Michael Busch type. They acquired a late draft pick, slow, poor fielding, injured first baseman with fringe power who was in his mid-late 20's. Everyone wants BC to trade pitching for hitting. Why? He has demonstrated that he cannot do it.
If I’m the GM of this team I’m seriously considering moving Cruz back to short. He is an absolute nightmare to watch play CF and at some point is going to get himself or a teammate seriously injured.
I swear on Crews’ hit before Nuñez he could have gotten to that ball too. Just looked like from the moment it left the ball he just kind of lightly jogged in the direction of it and it ended up landing a few feet in front of him. His reads are awful, has zero instincts to play the position.
The four hits tonight were by three guys who are batting .156 (suwinski), .154 (Pham) and .154 (Davis), each of whom IMPROVED their season average tonight.
Looks like he has abandoned the 4-seamer completely and doesn't use the plus plus curve much any more. He will throw sinkers up in the zone though, which is probably the best he can do to set up the curve. He is mostly a sinker/slider/cutter guy now though, occasionally working up in the zone to get his curve in.
You just can't take fastball after fastball right down broadway for strikes. The Pirates excel at watching every meatball go by for a strike and swinging at every chase pitch.
Endy with finger laceration that required stitches. This has got to be a finger nail issue if they are considering IL. Can't imagine any other cut that would n't heal in a few days. Very strange injury that you rarely see.
Man, were there some uncompetitive ABs tonite. Irvin was good, but not as good as we made him look to be.
You can't keep running Valdez, Pham, Frazier, Davis, and Endy out there every game and expect to be competitive. None of those guys are major-league players: not even backups or legitimate callups. About the only one who adds any value IMO is Davis, strangely enough, and only for his calling the games..
The uncompetitive ABs were IKF and Cruz too......so it's just the whole line up is sucking right now.
Miserable offensive start to the season.
When you only have 4 hitters, every game that one of them is a little off, every time they get a bug in their eye, or have didn't get enough sleep is magnified by 2 or 3 times.
Guys have to pick each other up, and the Pirates only have 3 or 4 who can do that.
Kyle Finnegan was non-tendered by Nats and remained unsigned until Feb 27. The Nats re-signed him for $6M......and he's 6 for 6 in saves. The point.....he was available to replace Chapman.....was he ever on BC's radar? But really how did the entire MLB not swoop in and sign him?
Finnegan’s advanced stats last year were mediocre. He got saves, but he almost never pitched clean innings, and gave up lots of hard contact. That’s why the Nats non-tendered him.
I tend to disagree, this was a money play by Nats. They did not want to pay a 3rd year arb salary and probably saved a million or two by non-tendering him, and then re-signing him in late Feb.
I think it was both. His third year arb was somewhat expensive and he was risky given his underlying metrics showed he could be trouble
And yet the Pirates chose to extend Bednar with a guaranteed contract when arbitration or non-tendering were both options. There were as many or more concerns with Bednar. The Nats seem to have made the better play here.
So, Konnor Griffin is sweet. There’s that
It’s so hard to get excited about a hitting prospect after seeing how many guys have stalled out in the upper levels or the few that do succeed in AAA come to the show and immediately fall apart.
Yeah, I mean without trying to sound like revisionist history with regards to others like Henry and Termarr, I feel like we could say he's easily the most talented hitter they've had overall during Ben's tenure. But I also am still skeptical.
It's funny, cause all of this has me thinking back to the 2023 draft and my main argument against Skenes, was that they had pitching and absolutely no hitting. And it’s still true. That isn't to say they made the wrong decision, but their pitching is here now from an overall standpoint, and the hitting is basically in it's own new 3-4 year cycle/rebuild. They've wasted Reynold's and Keller’s prime years. They're on their way to losing two of Skenes.
They need to do something NOW. A's and even Nats are ripe with opportunity to send off some pitching for hitters, upper level types circa Michael Busch types. But they won't do it. Even if they consider it, they traded a hype guy in Patrick Reilly for a late 20's Triple-A depth guy. So, what do they do?
Heads should be rolling, but Bob is all, "I gave them funds, now they have to execute." He should be furious at this product after 6 years.
They don't really have any more fungible pitching. Their bullpen is about 4 deep at the moment. Running Falter out every 5 (6) days is like playing Russian roulette. Yeah you get away with for a time hopefully, but eventually he will blow your brains out. They had to sign Heaney, and they have Mlod as a starter right now. Burrows is needed in the bullpen now. Both Harrington and Chandler will be needed to fill out the rotation at some point this year, almost certainly, and certainly next year: Skenes, Jones, Keller, Chandler, and Harrington.
On top of this, they have the whole mandatory 5-day rest thing, which requires that they maintain a spot-starter on the 26-man roster constantly (which is why Burrows is needed in the pen now). To make matters even worse, they have set arbitrary innings limits for this season on Burrows and Ashcraft.
If pitching is going to be their strength, they don't have much to trade.
They still have Oviedo who (should) be back at some point, even if very limited or even just the pen. Stratton should probably be in MLB right now, in addition to Mlod likely back to pen. Even if limited, they have a whole rotation in Triple-A, with Barco about ready for Indy. Sullivan just returned, and will go to Altoona. Next year Dotel will likely be on the precipice. McMillan should not be long for Altoona. They don't need full 5-man rotations at all levels of prospects. That’s not even considering if Solo has turned it around. Or Ercol who I could see spend the whole year in Altoona and return there to start 2026. They can stand to trade a couple for much much much much needed offensive upside. It's extremely limited.
They need relief pitchers too, and despite what Littlefield and Russell think, not every pitcher is fit to start. Burrows would definitely be better in the pen. Solometo may very well end up as a serviceable reliever rather than a starter: same for Dotel and Barco. Hunter Stratton is middle reliever / mopup guy on any decent team. It's only because we have Shugart, Wentz, and Mayza that he looks better than he is.
They need 13 pitchers... not 5 or 6.
Sure, but they've shown an ability to develop pitching in some capacity. They have pitching depth, in some capacity. 3 of Skenes, Keller, Jones, and Bubba healthy should eventually be enough to navigate a season if you have to mix and match 4 and 5, wading through injuries and inconsistencies. As they have it now, they're 18th in ERA, 4th in FIP, 17th in xFIP, and 6th in WAR. Some semblance of an offense or defense would help offset bad days. The terrible defense and offense makes it so they have to be perfect night in and night out, while praying for perfect health, which they haven't had. They could have a top 3 pitching staff and they'd still be one of the worst teams cause it's so bad.
The BCFC will not stand for this slander!
They cannot evaluate hitters or make quality acquisitions. They DID try the Michael Busch type. They acquired a late draft pick, slow, poor fielding, injured first baseman with fringe power who was in his mid-late 20's. Everyone wants BC to trade pitching for hitting. Why? He has demonstrated that he cannot do it.
Execute? Great idea!
Off with their heads
Extend him now!
If I’m the GM of this team I’m seriously considering moving Cruz back to short. He is an absolute nightmare to watch play CF and at some point is going to get himself or a teammate seriously injured.
I swear on Crews’ hit before Nuñez he could have gotten to that ball too. Just looked like from the moment it left the ball he just kind of lightly jogged in the direction of it and it ended up landing a few feet in front of him. His reads are awful, has zero instincts to play the position.
Billy Cook is quietly crushing left hand pitching in Indy, super small sample but he did last year as well. He was a homer shy of the cycle tonight.
The BCFC approves, need a RH platoon bat at first with endy down
The Cubs just optioned Shaw to AAA because he was hitting .173 with a .535 OPS. On the Pirates, he would batting cleanup.
On the pirates he'd be making $4 million a year
The four hits tonight were by three guys who are batting .156 (suwinski), .154 (Pham) and .154 (Davis), each of whom IMPROVED their season average tonight.
Pham's hit went 15 feet.
And he showed veteran leadership by hustling down the oh fuck it.
Griffin hit a homer, a little good news.
https://x.com/MLBPipeline/status/1912312989048504458
Going the other way against a lefty who leaves a fastball up. Impressive.
OPS over .900 again.
Rough day down on the farm too
In other news, QP has a no-hitter through 5 for Brewers. SMH
Looks like he has abandoned the 4-seamer completely and doesn't use the plus plus curve much any more. He will throw sinkers up in the zone though, which is probably the best he can do to set up the curve. He is mostly a sinker/slider/cutter guy now though, occasionally working up in the zone to get his curve in.
Necklaces only work when Cutch is in the lineup.
Send Valdez down right now after that reaction while hitting .200
He got 3 fat meatballs that AB, watched two of them, and barely managed to foul off the 3rd. You can't be a major-league hitter and do that.
That whole major-league hitter business is something we don't seem to really have much of
You just can't take fastball after fastball right down broadway for strikes. The Pirates excel at watching every meatball go by for a strike and swinging at every chase pitch.
what the fuck
Keystone Cops every night.
At least this time they didn't run into each other.... progress!
What is the situation with BRey? Is he going to heal? Is it worth it having him at DH if he is going to scuffle and keep Cutch out of the lineup?
He is an infield single away from having the best avg., ops., obp., and slg. of anyone in their lineup tonight.
The best of a bad bunch but he is not hitting very well. Is he actually getting better physically or would he benefit from 10 day IL stint…