129 Comments

Pluses: Ashcraft returns and pitches well; TJ 2-4, 1 HR, 1 BB and 2 Ks.

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If you want to see some of the worst relief pitching ever, check the Altoona and Greensboro box scores.

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I do. Escotto shows promise!

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Miguel Andujar batting .304 and Carlos Santana doing well for the Twins. Why did we not want these guys? Even with Tellez more dialed in would still rather have Santana who wanted to come back.

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Andujar needed a place where he could play regularly. For better or worse that wasn't here because of Suwinski and Bae. I wanted Santana back, but I guess it was a matter of $3 mill more than Rowdy. Glad he's turned it around as we probably would've been as hard on Santana as Tellez during April/May. Hope he gets to show off during the playoffs.

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At bats were open for him in right field, but they signed Olivares instead.

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Traded for Oliveras

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Correct. Just saying at bats were open in right field. That is why they went out and got Olivares.

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Tough look for Tumpane today- don’t know if he was the reason the Pirates lost but he sure helped contribute to it!

I’m guessing Ortiz goes tomorrow and Falter goes to the DL with Borucki coming up to help out the bullpen tomorrow?

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Just the kind of game I was dreading after last night. Unfortunately the ump contributed to that but even if we get to 5-3 there is no guarantee.

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The Cherington offense will not be denied.

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Tough one losing Falter so early. Would've liked to see Jack have had a chance with bags loaded instead of getting jobbed, but such is baseball.

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And Cutch with a brutal game going 0-4 with the game ending doubleplay dropping him to a 106 wRC+.

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That might've been called a strike against Jack, lol.

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Diaz has sat for a while. Maybe he'll be rusty? Best we can hope.

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The bucket hats got 37K, the Hawaiian shirts 36K. I was hoping Skenes would be worth more than 1K seats.

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That right there is why we can't get rid of Cherington and Shelton lol

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Not a single pitch thrown for a strike. I brought this up before. A missed call in favor of the pitcher is significantly worse for the batter with only 3 strikes at their disposal. To miss 2 calls like we just saw is pretty much a guaranteed out. Horrible.

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MLB has to do something. It isn’t fair.

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Do other teams suffer at the hands of the umps the way we do??!!

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Umpires always give the benefit of the doubt to the big market teams. Thats why they don’t want the ABS system. The big markets would lose their advantage.

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I have never really wanted it but after tonight I’m tempted.

The human solution I propose is that only the best umps call balls and strikes and they get paid more. No more rotating everyone on the crew.

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I have a system. Give each manager 2 ump reverse-ejections per season. The ump who gets tossed the most gets demoted from MLB. The crowd would love it and it would reward good umpiring. As of now, the human system has bad incentives (no accountability)

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i was against it too until i realized its basically the same technology that they use in tennis

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One word for that. Union. That will never fly with the umpire union

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I have a _feeling_ umps don't have a lot of respect for the Pirates. It'd be a lot of work to compile all the ump scorecards to prove it.

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Well that was horseshit. Can't blame Jack for swinging at that last pitch given the previous two calls.

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Jack got hosed on pitch #2.

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And pitch #5 ……

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Had to swing at #6 cause was a strike called both times before….

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Hayes with bases loaded gives me little hope.

Edit: FU Lindor.

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You were right to feel that way. Ke'Lineout came through.

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Dammit Bart. Chris Stewart would've hit oppo there.

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It sickens me that the Mets have TWO catchers with OPS > .850.

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The Mets are probably the hardest team in the MLB to like, but I can't help really liking some of their players. Lindor is just one of the a jazziest players in the league. Diaz is fun to watch, and Iglesias has been an under-the-radar guy for as long as I can remember.

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We have one if you add them together.

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I wonder what next year looks like with Bart, Davis and Endy as options. Its weird to me they're not even considering having Endy DH at all this year from what they've said in the injury reports.

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Ben will still sign a washed-up, zero-bat veteran. He just has to have one.

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Cutch *ducks*

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He's 12th in wRC+ among DHs. That's above "pathetic", right?

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Yeah he's fine this year but we should all accept that Cherington is clearly going to sign him one year too many. It's almost a lock, right? Maybe even two years too many.

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Had a total reconstruction of his UCL plus flexor tendon repair. If the Docs say to shut him down for the year, you shut him down .

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Didn't Harper have the same and he DH'd?

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Sounds like Endy’s injury was more severe. Harper was hurt in April 2022 but did not have surgery until that November.

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Well, there is the part where he can actually hit.

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Zing. Yes, there is. I have been puzzled by how confident average Pirates fans have been about Endy being a good player.

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