Pitching remains superb, but the elephant in the room remains RISP......1-17? Is that a typo in the box score? The Haines approach is broken. Nicky G. and Jack bail out the team today.
It's amazing what even one improved batter (NickGon) does for a team's chances. Hopefully, Davis follows a similar trajectory. I'd much rather have some top hitting prospects land upright than sit here wondering when Termarr will reach the majors.
I'm not worried about Termarr. Anyone his age who can hit in MLB Spring Training ought to do well in the minors. Just the old ups and downs that come with baseball.
My thought is that the Pirates will have to make a decision in another week or so when Ke'Bryan Hayes is ready. If the Pirates did decide to part ways with Rowdy, that would be the time. Triolo could help out at first, plus still get at bats at second and third. (or even at short, if they ever decide to flip Bae and Alika).
Dejan keeps saying some source told him Tellez would be gone if he didn't show some life in Chicago, and he didn't. (He actually went 2-for-8, which by Pirate standards is a blistering hot streak.) If it means having both Alika and Triolo on the team, I'm unenthused. Better than having Tellez, but you just can't win many games when the bottom 4-5 guys in your batting order are struggling to put up an OPS of .500.
I think the best realistic trade target would be Gavin Sheets. Still on the right side of 30 for a while, a little control, shouldn't cost too much in trade capital and can play 1st decent and a little bit of right field. He fits a platoon need if Joe cools off.
Brett Rooker? Pete Alonso just turned down a 7 year $25-million-per-year contract with the Mets. They are now supposedly looking to trade him. I'm sure they would pick up his remaining salary for the right offer.
They'll want a haul for Alonzo, bigger market teams would also outbid the pirates most likely.
Rooker would work.
I'm not overly high on Sheets, just think he is realistic and wouldn't cost a lot. I do think his numbers would improve playing primarily at 1st in a platoon role and add a left handed bat to pinch hit later in games.
Alonso is only a move that the Pirates should make at the deadline if they are very well positioned to make the playoffs, since he is a one-year rental. Rooker is 29 and next year is his first arb year. They could keep him for 2-3 years. He is a guy that they could look to acquire now if the As have accepted reality that they are still 2-3 years from competing.
I was thinking the same, just think Sheets could be got for a lot less. Like a 25 to 35 prospect and a lottery ticket maybe less. Rooker would cost a top 15, a top 25 and a lottery ticket maybe more. I know Rooker has the better track record and will have more competition.
He'd be good as well, definitely more positional flexibility, but he'd cost a little more in prospects and a lot more in actual dollars over $50 million for 3.5years.
Great to see that Mitchie the Kid is back to being Mitchie the kid again. Having 3 top starters is special and having 2 solid guys in the 4 & 5 slots is important as well. The Bucs have that.
I've especially enjoyed seeing the Pirates beat the Cubs ever since back in the day watching Leyland manage rings around Zip Zimmer. Always good to see, however it happens.
Really happy to see the team take the series. I think it's time for Rowdy to go to the IL. They've been hiding his sprained pectoral areola long enough. Dude needs a break.
One for seventeen with RISP not good enough for ya. I’m afraid it’s going to stay this way until they get rid of these guys who can’t hit and probably never will again. The important hit today was by Gonzales who BC kept in Indy way too long.
No guarantees that Gonzo hits like he is now if he came up a month ago. Have seen many players, Gonzo included last year, who were hitting in the minors but went stone cold when called up. Took a bit for him this year to start consistently hitting the breaking stuff. If he was brought up a month back who knows if he would have the current confidence that he has.
Joe has earned the job every day for now. If the Pirates want to be a serious team, regarded seriously, they need to start rewarding success and stop rewarding failure. It is as simple as that. They worry about the message that cutting Tellez sends to other free agents? Why not the message that keeping Tellez says to every player in the league who wants to win? The message that it sends to every guy in the organization who wants to win or be rewarded for success? Stop coddling losers!
@ Auroras Borealus — Joe has stated many of their games and has played in 41 of 48 games I believe. Not like. Not like he is exactly rotting on the bench. I agree that it has been time to do something with Rowdy. Would not mind seeing how Lamb would fare against MLB right handlers on a regular basis and have Joe float between 1B and the OF as he has been doing.
But we know how Jake Lamb does. There is nothing to see. Since the beginning of 2018, when he was 27 years old and in his prime, he has hit .207 with a .306 OBP and an OPS+ of 79, playing for 7 different teams. Almost all of this time platooning and only batting against righties. For his career, he is a net negative defensive runs saved and a net negative baserunner. Why would he be better at 33 with the Pirates than he was in his prime for 7 different teams. He is a "break-glass-in-case-of-emergency" player. There is no point in being rid of Tellez to bring in Tellez 2.0.
We actually don't know what Jake Lamb does. The dude was an all star in this league then had the Arizona special and had his shoulder fucked. I'm not saying he's the answer by any means but I don't see the hurt in giving him a shot compared to what our boy Rowdys putting out there
But we all knew what Falter could do, what Joe could do, what Gonzo could do…. Gonzo was a total bust a few months ago, most questioned why Joe and Falter were even on the 40 man heading into ST. Never said he was the answer but until the deadline, nothing really viable is available right now and Lamb is in the system. Nothing else that would be a real upgrade is going to be available for at least a month and a half yet so. That is the reason why Rowdy is on the team right now.
Nick Gonzalez is a 25 year-old who was a consensus top 10 draft pick with an obviously lightning-fast swing and 145 total PAs in the major leagues. It is apples and oranges comparing him to Lamb. Falter was a guy still finding his way in the MLB from four-seam/slider guy to sinker/slider to "all-of-the above" who had some intriguing underlying fastball metrics. Again... apples to oranges. We know who Lamb is.
Joe is exceeding all expectations and is unlikely to continue with this pace, but even a reasonable production rate he is better than either Tellez or Lamb against righties or lefties; he is better than either in the field; and he is better than either running the bases. Tellez and Lamb offer nothing to the team.
Not comparing player to player directly just the statement that we all know about enter plater name. Many had Gonzo as a bust because he had trouble with the curve bigly even in the minors. Well, looks like he figured it out. More of a possible comparison for Lamb and Joe with the exceeding expectations. My point is maybe short term Lamb would be better than Tellez if he can come up and see if he can continue to exceed expectations as there is not going to be much better available for trade for at least a month. Either stick with Tellez till something better comes available or bring up lamb as he could be better for a moth or at worst, no worse than Tellez at the plate.
Could not agree more, but it’s about money not performance. They are paying him over $3 million and he’s going to play. BC probably thought he’d be able to trade him in a few weeks but no one in their right mind would want him. They will need to release him the way they did Yoshi (who actually had very similar numbers to Rowdy’s now) couple of years ago but that didn’t happen until the first week of August.
But that's just a description of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. It's not a real reason to keeping giving him sub-500 OPS PAs when there's no other thesis for him. We're not even talking about an Austin Hedges type player where you might buy into his defensive value if you're blind and don't believe the aging curve exists.
I don't think it has anything to do with money at this point. It is just a stubborn refusal to admit a mistake: a mistake that everyone, except the Pirates' FO, knew was a mistake the minute they rushed out to sign the guy the day after the winter meetings.
It’s that too, but I imagine BC has to account for every dollar to you know who and cutting Tellez now would require an explanation he doesn’t relish doing. Whatever it is, it simply has to end.
I don't know how it works, but statements from guys in the FO past and present lead one to believe that Nutting is pretty hands off. I think Cherington gets a budget for the overall operation, and Nutting doesn't have much more to do with it beyond setting the topline budget. How that money gets appropriated to accounts (MLB payroll, coaching, development, fireworks) or various line items (like free agent salaries) is up to Cherington and Williams. I suspect that the explanations that Cherington and Williams have to give involve revenue, bottom-line profit/loss, and wins/losses. I also suspect that something like the fireworks night budget is far more important to Williams or Nutting than whether or not Rowdy Tellez plays until the All-Star break.
While I’ve questioned how hands off Nutting is, Tellez is about what, 3% of their budget? Joe doesn’t make that much less. This seems like more a stubbornness/competency issue.
And ESPN. Re Cubs fans, I always kinda went with the Lee Elia mindset but with a tad fewer F bombs. After Bartman, it was clear to me that they’re largely subhuman sociopaths.
Gonzalez changes a lot if he continues like this. By my reckoning, they were 2 bats short of being competitive. If Gonzalez keeps it up, they are only 1 bat short. (I expect Joe to start petering off and Suwinski to start improving- for a general wash). If they can stay very healthy until July, they could stay close enough that it warrants a move to acquire that bat. It is also possible that Joe continues to exceed all expectations and Suwinski comes around: thereby producing that bat if they would only rid themselves of Tellez. We'll see. They need to stay very healthy though, because they have no one at AAA who is likely to help.
Maybe in the future, but not to replace Tellez. I think Peguero needs a quantity of time in AAA, and I wouldn't call him up, except in emergency, for several months at least.
Interestingly, Pirates have played more >.500 teams than anyone but Mets. And are 12-11 vs those teams. Need to beat up on weak sisters. And start winning at home.
Pitching remains superb, but the elephant in the room remains RISP......1-17? Is that a typo in the box score? The Haines approach is broken. Nicky G. and Jack bail out the team today.
1-for-17 . . . it’s like the RISP version of six bases loaded walks. Even in wins, the clown show never shuts down.
It's amazing what even one improved batter (NickGon) does for a team's chances. Hopefully, Davis follows a similar trajectory. I'd much rather have some top hitting prospects land upright than sit here wondering when Termarr will reach the majors.
TJ may be righting his ship. Today: 3-5, HR, yesterday: 2-3, 2 2B, 1 BB. Hopefully, this continues.
I'm not worried about Termarr. Anyone his age who can hit in MLB Spring Training ought to do well in the minors. Just the old ups and downs that come with baseball.
My thought is that the Pirates will have to make a decision in another week or so when Ke'Bryan Hayes is ready. If the Pirates did decide to part ways with Rowdy, that would be the time. Triolo could help out at first, plus still get at bats at second and third. (or even at short, if they ever decide to flip Bae and Alika).
Dejan keeps saying some source told him Tellez would be gone if he didn't show some life in Chicago, and he didn't. (He actually went 2-for-8, which by Pirate standards is a blistering hot streak.) If it means having both Alika and Triolo on the team, I'm unenthused. Better than having Tellez, but you just can't win many games when the bottom 4-5 guys in your batting order are struggling to put up an OPS of .500.
I think the best realistic trade target would be Gavin Sheets. Still on the right side of 30 for a while, a little control, shouldn't cost too much in trade capital and can play 1st decent and a little bit of right field. He fits a platoon need if Joe cools off.
Brett Rooker? Pete Alonso just turned down a 7 year $25-million-per-year contract with the Mets. They are now supposedly looking to trade him. I'm sure they would pick up his remaining salary for the right offer.
They'll want a haul for Alonzo, bigger market teams would also outbid the pirates most likely.
Rooker would work.
I'm not overly high on Sheets, just think he is realistic and wouldn't cost a lot. I do think his numbers would improve playing primarily at 1st in a platoon role and add a left handed bat to pinch hit later in games.
Alonso is only a move that the Pirates should make at the deadline if they are very well positioned to make the playoffs, since he is a one-year rental. Rooker is 29 and next year is his first arb year. They could keep him for 2-3 years. He is a guy that they could look to acquire now if the As have accepted reality that they are still 2-3 years from competing.
I was thinking the same, just think Sheets could be got for a lot less. Like a 25 to 35 prospect and a lottery ticket maybe less. Rooker would cost a top 15, a top 25 and a lottery ticket maybe more. I know Rooker has the better track record and will have more competition.
Ryan McMahon should be the target
He'd be good as well, definitely more positional flexibility, but he'd cost a little more in prospects and a lot more in actual dollars over $50 million for 3.5years.
buy low on Golddschmidt is the play we are looking for
Don't give me hope.
Good thought and good luck. I’m not going to hold my breath though.
Great to see that Mitchie the Kid is back to being Mitchie the kid again. Having 3 top starters is special and having 2 solid guys in the 4 & 5 slots is important as well. The Bucs have that.
I've especially enjoyed seeing the Pirates beat the Cubs ever since back in the day watching Leyland manage rings around Zip Zimmer. Always good to see, however it happens.
Enjoy:
https://youtu.be/uiVVbYK9HXw?si=qTXYyq1O1TuzuxK4
Really happy to see the team take the series. I think it's time for Rowdy to go to the IL. They've been hiding his sprained pectoral areola long enough. Dude needs a break.
Great win but I hope Tellez gets his pink slip. Bring up Bae or Lamb. Play Bart every other game for a couple weeks.
Most importantly, please learn how to manufacture some freaking runs.
One for seventeen with RISP not good enough for ya. I’m afraid it’s going to stay this way until they get rid of these guys who can’t hit and probably never will again. The important hit today was by Gonzales who BC kept in Indy way too long.
No guarantees that Gonzo hits like he is now if he came up a month ago. Have seen many players, Gonzo included last year, who were hitting in the minors but went stone cold when called up. Took a bit for him this year to start consistently hitting the breaking stuff. If he was brought up a month back who knows if he would have the current confidence that he has.
There are no guarantees but who knows that he wouldn’t have?
Agree, and Nick needs to keep hitting.
Joe has earned the job every day for now. If the Pirates want to be a serious team, regarded seriously, they need to start rewarding success and stop rewarding failure. It is as simple as that. They worry about the message that cutting Tellez sends to other free agents? Why not the message that keeping Tellez says to every player in the league who wants to win? The message that it sends to every guy in the organization who wants to win or be rewarded for success? Stop coddling losers!
@ Auroras Borealus — Joe has stated many of their games and has played in 41 of 48 games I believe. Not like. Not like he is exactly rotting on the bench. I agree that it has been time to do something with Rowdy. Would not mind seeing how Lamb would fare against MLB right handlers on a regular basis and have Joe float between 1B and the OF as he has been doing.
But we know how Jake Lamb does. There is nothing to see. Since the beginning of 2018, when he was 27 years old and in his prime, he has hit .207 with a .306 OBP and an OPS+ of 79, playing for 7 different teams. Almost all of this time platooning and only batting against righties. For his career, he is a net negative defensive runs saved and a net negative baserunner. Why would he be better at 33 with the Pirates than he was in his prime for 7 different teams. He is a "break-glass-in-case-of-emergency" player. There is no point in being rid of Tellez to bring in Tellez 2.0.
We actually don't know what Jake Lamb does. The dude was an all star in this league then had the Arizona special and had his shoulder fucked. I'm not saying he's the answer by any means but I don't see the hurt in giving him a shot compared to what our boy Rowdys putting out there
That's unfortunately better than the 70 wRC+ Rowdy has put up from 2023 to today.
You would expect Lamb's aging curve to work him toward Tellez-like numbers.
At this point, it's a literal crapshoot and you could have crap either way. Go with the maybe not crap.
But we all knew what Falter could do, what Joe could do, what Gonzo could do…. Gonzo was a total bust a few months ago, most questioned why Joe and Falter were even on the 40 man heading into ST. Never said he was the answer but until the deadline, nothing really viable is available right now and Lamb is in the system. Nothing else that would be a real upgrade is going to be available for at least a month and a half yet so. That is the reason why Rowdy is on the team right now.
Nick Gonzalez is a 25 year-old who was a consensus top 10 draft pick with an obviously lightning-fast swing and 145 total PAs in the major leagues. It is apples and oranges comparing him to Lamb. Falter was a guy still finding his way in the MLB from four-seam/slider guy to sinker/slider to "all-of-the above" who had some intriguing underlying fastball metrics. Again... apples to oranges. We know who Lamb is.
Joe is exceeding all expectations and is unlikely to continue with this pace, but even a reasonable production rate he is better than either Tellez or Lamb against righties or lefties; he is better than either in the field; and he is better than either running the bases. Tellez and Lamb offer nothing to the team.
Not comparing player to player directly just the statement that we all know about enter plater name. Many had Gonzo as a bust because he had trouble with the curve bigly even in the minors. Well, looks like he figured it out. More of a possible comparison for Lamb and Joe with the exceeding expectations. My point is maybe short term Lamb would be better than Tellez if he can come up and see if he can continue to exceed expectations as there is not going to be much better available for trade for at least a month. Either stick with Tellez till something better comes available or bring up lamb as he could be better for a moth or at worst, no worse than Tellez at the plate.
Could not agree more, but it’s about money not performance. They are paying him over $3 million and he’s going to play. BC probably thought he’d be able to trade him in a few weeks but no one in their right mind would want him. They will need to release him the way they did Yoshi (who actually had very similar numbers to Rowdy’s now) couple of years ago but that didn’t happen until the first week of August.
But that's just a description of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. It's not a real reason to keeping giving him sub-500 OPS PAs when there's no other thesis for him. We're not even talking about an Austin Hedges type player where you might buy into his defensive value if you're blind and don't believe the aging curve exists.
I mean, Connor Joe is making almost as much money…
Yeah, and he’s earning it unlike Mr. Tellez.
He is, but I also think that sort of counteracts the money argument. Incompetence makes more sense, especially when you toss in some gamblers fallacy.
I don't think it has anything to do with money at this point. It is just a stubborn refusal to admit a mistake: a mistake that everyone, except the Pirates' FO, knew was a mistake the minute they rushed out to sign the guy the day after the winter meetings.
It’s that too, but I imagine BC has to account for every dollar to you know who and cutting Tellez now would require an explanation he doesn’t relish doing. Whatever it is, it simply has to end.
I don't know how it works, but statements from guys in the FO past and present lead one to believe that Nutting is pretty hands off. I think Cherington gets a budget for the overall operation, and Nutting doesn't have much more to do with it beyond setting the topline budget. How that money gets appropriated to accounts (MLB payroll, coaching, development, fireworks) or various line items (like free agent salaries) is up to Cherington and Williams. I suspect that the explanations that Cherington and Williams have to give involve revenue, bottom-line profit/loss, and wins/losses. I also suspect that something like the fireworks night budget is far more important to Williams or Nutting than whether or not Rowdy Tellez plays until the All-Star break.
While I’ve questioned how hands off Nutting is, Tellez is about what, 3% of their budget? Joe doesn’t make that much less. This seems like more a stubbornness/competency issue.
Lamb, Hiura, someone off another team's scrap heap...literally anyone else.
A dog that found a stick.
There are 3.2 million reasons that is not going to happen.
At this point, probably only 2.4 but the point is still accurate.
True but also sad.
Sad, but also true!
Series recap:
Pirates - 3 wins
Umpires- 1 win
Cubs - Unloveable Losers , except to Umpires and Replay Officials.
And ESPN. Re Cubs fans, I always kinda went with the Lee Elia mindset but with a tad fewer F bombs. After Bartman, it was clear to me that they’re largely subhuman sociopaths.
Pirates' pitching: 36 IP, 18 H, 10 R.
Pirates' starters: 25 2/3 IP, 12 H, 5 ER.
That was some damn fine starting pitching.
So I guess we’re just gonna have to white-knuckle 2/3 of our games the rest of the way with good arms and bad bats.
Gonzalez changes a lot if he continues like this. By my reckoning, they were 2 bats short of being competitive. If Gonzalez keeps it up, they are only 1 bat short. (I expect Joe to start petering off and Suwinski to start improving- for a general wash). If they can stay very healthy until July, they could stay close enough that it warrants a move to acquire that bat. It is also possible that Joe continues to exceed all expectations and Suwinski comes around: thereby producing that bat if they would only rid themselves of Tellez. We'll see. They need to stay very healthy though, because they have no one at AAA who is likely to help.
i think Peguero is that bat when we ship out Tellez
Peguero is part of the band
Plus I think Cutch may be in for a lot more outfield play and they´ll let Tank focus exclusively on hitting while playing a lot of DH
Maybe in the future, but not to replace Tellez. I think Peguero needs a quantity of time in AAA, and I wouldn't call him up, except in emergency, for several months at least.
Leave Tellez feasting on an extra large deep dish.
Booyah!!!! 22 down and 114 to go !! Sweet to take 3 of 4 from the Cubs!
Interestingly, Pirates have played more >.500 teams than anyone but Mets. And are 12-11 vs those teams. Need to beat up on weak sisters. And start winning at home.
Hat tip to Keller/Holderman/Chapman/Bednar. A two hitter.
Reverse jinx wins again!
#RaiseIt
Hell yeah...have a miserable El ride home, Cubs fans.
and get stuck in slow traffic for a couple of years.
I meant to say hours, but years might have worked better.
And there was noooooo doubt about it!
So... with his performance today, McCutchen has now moved above 100 wRC+?
I think I'd stick with Chapman to start the 9th.
He averages 16 pitches per outing and so far he has thrown 10. The Cubs would prefer Bednar. I think I agree with you.
Yeah. Only 10 pitches, would be smart to go with the hot hand. But Shelton won't.
There are buttons to be pushed! Push the damn buttons!