My favorite Gorski bit was from when he was at Greensboro and started playing first. He said he liked it because it was kinda boring in center at that ballpark because there are no power alleys to run down flyballs in.
Gorski went deep again. No idea whether he's fixed something or what, but he sure is hot. Since May 16, 12-for-27 with two doubles, two triples and six dingerz. That's 1.333 SLG.
When they hit well they don't pitch and when they pitch well they don't hit. Hard to be fan of this bunch. If it weren't for Skenes, Jones and possibly Cruz I think I'd just give up on them.
For 110 years, roster size was 25. How did managers manage their bullpen? Since 2020, roster size is now 26. And still Shelton and BC and Marin/ Meccage can't construct and manage the pen.
The real problem is lack of talent. Well . . . and Shelton, but mainly lack of talent.
I kept wondering how BC ended up with Chapman, even for 10.5M. The absolute rule has been, the moment any other team shows interest in a FA, Ben is out. I thought SOMEBODY else must have been interested, although there were no rumors. The obvious answer is everybody but BC knew he was cooked.
Awfully prescient call for the 7th most valuable reliever in baseball and setup man who did not blow a single lead in 9 appearances for the World Series Champion Texas Rangers.
I could already be bungling up the timeline but didn't the signing come right after a handful of IMMENENT signings fell through and Bob made some public statement that was basically like HEY IT AIN'T ME.
Then boom, $10m reliever. Job done.
Wouldn't be surprised at all if he fell into the FA type that clubs were waiting out and Ben just decided, for some reason, to blow his wad a month before he needed to.
No I bungled it. John McKay was coach of the Bucs I was referring to. A reporter asked how he felt about his teams execution and he jokingly said he was in favor of it. Rich Brooks was the guy who coached the Rams. Wrong shitty team football coach.
I don’t have the patience to add up theirs and BC’s W/L records, but after the success they’ve had they’re entitled to a rough patch here and there. BC has turned out unending shit. He gets no mulligans.
Should’ve left Hernandez in to finish the inning and brought Stratton for the in next inning… Shelton lets Chapman blow the game last night and tries to overcompensate by micromanaging the bullpen today.
Regardless, this bullpen needs help. I understand the unforeseen injuries happened and Fleming and Roansy had their faults, but the alternative for finding depth now is the waiver wire…
I think the Pirates need a long reliever. When we have 8 relievers and Shelton is leaving relievers in for 3 or 4 extra batters, something is wrong. We saw this early in the year with Bednar, Skenes first game with Nicolas, last night with Mlodzinski and today with Stratton.
His easy answer tonight was our bullpen needs to be better.
They had 2. They DFAed both of them, and they continue to insist that Ortiz is a long-reliever, when he would be much better suited to a 1-inning-and-done setup guy or middle reliever so as to maintain his velocity. They are just a mismanaged team from top to bottom who never maximize players' potential and constantly put every player in positions to fail by using them in roles or positions for which they are not best suited.
That's why I don't like his simplistic answer. When he gives his answers like "execution" it is basically a defensive answer stating the obvious. It is easy to throw the players under the bus, but how about figure out how to solve the problem.
You can tell they are losing when everything is the players' fault. You can tell Skenes is good because Shelton helped pick him and develop him. The guy is such a tool. I wouldn't want to play for him, and I'm not sure why the current players do.
Earlier this week I read somewhere in an article where Nick Gonzales said the adjustments and work he put in during the offseason helped him be a better player this year. In the same article, Shelton was quoted as saying the decision of starting him triple A is what he thought made the difference.
The bullpen appeared to be the strength of the team in April. Now?
I don't keep track of these things, but I suspect the bullpen has blown leads that have ended with losses approximately 5 to 10 games. The Giants series was a sweep had the bullpen held the leads they were given. The 2024 season would seem different and far better had the bullpen remained reliable. As poor as the hitting has been, it's the bullpen that has scuttled the Pirates' playoff chances.
Exactly my thoughts. Change nothing about the offense and we still should be 28-23 or 27-24. 51 games in and this team has been a severe disappointment. Tellez must be gone after this. I know bullpens are more complicated but if they have any hopes of gaining traction they MUST turn it around. At some point they may need to cut Chapman and eat the salary. I don’t think they are there yet, but they need to figure it out.
I think you can get carried away in that manner. Even the best bullpens are gonna blow some games. Hell, the Bucs only win this series came on 4 in the ninth.
That being said? yeah, they should have a few more wins than they do thanks to bullpen ineptitude. I can’t even fault management for this; it’s guys we thought would be lights out and have been anything but.
What a joke this organization is. It's amazing BC is employed. He continues to do nothing to improve this team. Free agent signings are mostly a joke, minor league system still has the same issues of not developing guys, he has an issue of not identifying talent ( players and coaches). On the plus side, if you are a live better...betting the opponent to win anytime the pirates have a lead seems to be a near lock. This pen has to be the worst in baseball.
Might mean nothing, but I was just noticing that the starters have over performed their FIP by 0.58 runs ( 3.71 ERA vs 4.29 FIP) and the relievers have underperformed their FIP by...you guessed it...0.58 runs (4.42 ERA vs 3.84 FIP).
Bullpen is currently 0.5% away from the lowest strand rate in all of baseball.
I am smart enough to know how unpredictable pitching is from one year to the next, but even more unpredictable is relief pitching from one year to the next, but so old I keep forgetting.
This might be the defining series of the season. Hope not, but as Brault is saying, we couldn’t make things happen after receiving good fortune early. He’s right—there’s a big difference in “hoping” things happen instead of “making” things happen.
Brault is awesome, btw. He seems able to call the team out in a diplomatic and respectful way. I think he can do anything he’s given the chance to do—GM, coach, manage, color commentator, play-by-play guy, …
Gorski on quite a tear right now. I can’t imagine him succeeding in the majors with that swing, but I’ve always been fascinated by his skill set.
My favorite Gorski bit was from when he was at Greensboro and started playing first. He said he liked it because it was kinda boring in center at that ballpark because there are no power alleys to run down flyballs in.
I keep seeing he grades well defensively, but never really get to see him play the field. Average? Above average?
I would save Jack Suwinski is a safe comp defensively.
Above imo. Still playing first some also.
Davis is 3-3 with 2 homers, OPS over .1300
Both off pitchers even!!
Gorski went deep again. No idea whether he's fixed something or what, but he sure is hot. Since May 16, 12-for-27 with two doubles, two triples and six dingerz. That's 1.333 SLG.
Bring-him-up!!!!! (Before the slump sets in 😁)
When they hit well they don't pitch and when they pitch well they don't hit. Hard to be fan of this bunch. If it weren't for Skenes, Jones and possibly Cruz I think I'd just give up on them.
Braves use 6 pitchers today to shut-out Cubs.
LOL.
The NL Central is so winnable, but you can't give away games like we have in the last two days.
For 110 years, roster size was 25. How did managers manage their bullpen? Since 2020, roster size is now 26. And still Shelton and BC and Marin/ Meccage can't construct and manage the pen.
The real problem is lack of talent. Well . . . and Shelton, but mainly lack of talent.
I kept wondering how BC ended up with Chapman, even for 10.5M. The absolute rule has been, the moment any other team shows interest in a FA, Ben is out. I thought SOMEBODY else must have been interested, although there were no rumors. The obvious answer is everybody but BC knew he was cooked.
Awfully prescient call for the 7th most valuable reliever in baseball and setup man who did not blow a single lead in 9 appearances for the World Series Champion Texas Rangers.
Sometimes it really is just about execution!
But why did nobody else jump on him? It really had me puzzled at the time. Non-baseball issues?
Still a great question, you're right.
I could already be bungling up the timeline but didn't the signing come right after a handful of IMMENENT signings fell through and Bob made some public statement that was basically like HEY IT AIN'T ME.
Then boom, $10m reliever. Job done.
Wouldn't be surprised at all if he fell into the FA type that clubs were waiting out and Ben just decided, for some reason, to blow his wad a month before he needed to.
That was precisely my theory at one point. Probably as accurate as we can get.
I'm for the execution of all of them.
Welcome to the chat Rich Brooks.
I'm guessing you mean Mel Brooks.
No I bungled it. John McKay was coach of the Bucs I was referring to. A reporter asked how he felt about his teams execution and he jokingly said he was in favor of it. Rich Brooks was the guy who coached the Rams. Wrong shitty team football coach.
Pen management was a lot easier when it only had to cover an inning or two each game!
Yeah, that’s why the other 29 teams don’t do it any better than the Pirates.
Oh . . . wait . . . .
I know you're just shitposting but by not one single metric are there 29 better bullpens in baseball.
Ironically the least valuable bullpen in baseball currently belongs to Tampa.
I don’t have the patience to add up theirs and BC’s W/L records, but after the success they’ve had they’re entitled to a rough patch here and there. BC has turned out unending shit. He gets no mulligans.
Haha, no, just 25 or so.
See! much better. ;)
Should’ve left Hernandez in to finish the inning and brought Stratton for the in next inning… Shelton lets Chapman blow the game last night and tries to overcompensate by micromanaging the bullpen today.
Regardless, this bullpen needs help. I understand the unforeseen injuries happened and Fleming and Roansy had their faults, but the alternative for finding depth now is the waiver wire…
Memorial Day seems to be the magic number when trades become legal.
I think the Pirates need a long reliever. When we have 8 relievers and Shelton is leaving relievers in for 3 or 4 extra batters, something is wrong. We saw this early in the year with Bednar, Skenes first game with Nicolas, last night with Mlodzinski and today with Stratton.
His easy answer tonight was our bullpen needs to be better.
They had 2. They DFAed both of them, and they continue to insist that Ortiz is a long-reliever, when he would be much better suited to a 1-inning-and-done setup guy or middle reliever so as to maintain his velocity. They are just a mismanaged team from top to bottom who never maximize players' potential and constantly put every player in positions to fail by using them in roles or positions for which they are not best suited.
That's why I don't like his simplistic answer. When he gives his answers like "execution" it is basically a defensive answer stating the obvious. It is easy to throw the players under the bus, but how about figure out how to solve the problem.
You can tell they are losing when everything is the players' fault. You can tell Skenes is good because Shelton helped pick him and develop him. The guy is such a tool. I wouldn't want to play for him, and I'm not sure why the current players do.
Earlier this week I read somewhere in an article where Nick Gonzales said the adjustments and work he put in during the offseason helped him be a better player this year. In the same article, Shelton was quoted as saying the decision of starting him triple A is what he thought made the difference.
People who are actually good at their jobs do not spend much, or any, time trying to convince everyone around them that they are good at their jobs.
As an aside it was a uniquely torturous series for me as my surname hit me from both sides: Matt for the Giants and Aroldis for us.
Atlanta next...
The bullpen appeared to be the strength of the team in April. Now?
I don't keep track of these things, but I suspect the bullpen has blown leads that have ended with losses approximately 5 to 10 games. The Giants series was a sweep had the bullpen held the leads they were given. The 2024 season would seem different and far better had the bullpen remained reliable. As poor as the hitting has been, it's the bullpen that has scuttled the Pirates' playoff chances.
Exactly my thoughts. Change nothing about the offense and we still should be 28-23 or 27-24. 51 games in and this team has been a severe disappointment. Tellez must be gone after this. I know bullpens are more complicated but if they have any hopes of gaining traction they MUST turn it around. At some point they may need to cut Chapman and eat the salary. I don’t think they are there yet, but they need to figure it out.
I think you can get carried away in that manner. Even the best bullpens are gonna blow some games. Hell, the Bucs only win this series came on 4 in the ninth.
That being said? yeah, they should have a few more wins than they do thanks to bullpen ineptitude. I can’t even fault management for this; it’s guys we thought would be lights out and have been anything but.
DAMMIT!!!!!!
Sumbich!!!!!!!!!
What a joke this organization is. It's amazing BC is employed. He continues to do nothing to improve this team. Free agent signings are mostly a joke, minor league system still has the same issues of not developing guys, he has an issue of not identifying talent ( players and coaches). On the plus side, if you are a live better...betting the opponent to win anytime the pirates have a lead seems to be a near lock. This pen has to be the worst in baseball.
The Pirates starters are 11th in ERA and 13th for Whip. The relievers are 26 in ERA and 25th in Whip. Who would have thought that 2 or 3 months ago?
Might mean nothing, but I was just noticing that the starters have over performed their FIP by 0.58 runs ( 3.71 ERA vs 4.29 FIP) and the relievers have underperformed their FIP by...you guessed it...0.58 runs (4.42 ERA vs 3.84 FIP).
Bullpen is currently 0.5% away from the lowest strand rate in all of baseball.
Very cool stat that I enjoy.
I am smart enough to know how unpredictable pitching is from one year to the next, but even more unpredictable is relief pitching from one year to the next, but so old I keep forgetting.
This game keeps us on our toes!
They came into the season with 2023's 3rd and 7th most valuable relievers in the game and those two have combined for an ERA over 5 and 5 blown saves.
No shortage of management issues, by all means, but the pen truly has just come down to execution.
This might be the defining series of the season. Hope not, but as Brault is saying, we couldn’t make things happen after receiving good fortune early. He’s right—there’s a big difference in “hoping” things happen instead of “making” things happen.
Brault is awesome, btw. He seems able to call the team out in a diplomatic and respectful way. I think he can do anything he’s given the chance to do—GM, coach, manage, color commentator, play-by-play guy, …
I like Capps too. Commentators who are pitchers seem to be much better.
I think you're right.
they should have gave him a shot today
He's also like the 4th best reliever currently employed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This series epitomizes why the Pirates are a laughing stock around the league
The way the Giants are run and the Pirates are run is day and night.
I would be so much less demoralized if we hadnt come back to win the first and then not blown the last two