104 Comments

For hopefully no prospect capital I like the move but as most have said, not as the key rotation upgrade. He could be an innings eater with mediocre results or a washout but he will get an opportunity to prove what he has left.

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This can be fine as a backstop move, but I’d still want two more reliable starters and one more rebound (Frankie Montas, maybe?).

But I’m worried this is our major upgrade and the next piece is our rebound candidate and that is not going to get the job done unless there is major improvement from our AAAA pitchers.

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Why am I having Derek Holland flashbacks?

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Ouch

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Nerve surgery in August? Geesh, why can't we just sign a healthy SP?

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Now sign Bauer and Paxton and we have at least a middling rotation for 2024

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Gonzales misses about the least amount of bats in MLB

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Marco Gonzales last start: May 28, 2023

5.2 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 SO, 1 ER

Austin Hedges hit a sacrifice fly to score Ji-Hwan Bae & the Pirates lost to the Mariners 6-3 in 10 innings. Eugenio Suarez walked off Robert Stephenson.

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We just got marco gonzales

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Seattle got their salary salary dump and Atlanta got the actual piece they wanted in Kalenic and the Pirates ended up with potential innings eater for the rotation or as I like to say, I hope this f***ing works out for us.

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makes sense, glad it was a PTBNL & not a real prospect. wonder how much cash ATL/SEA sent.. option for next year too in case he bounces back

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The Braves' end, according to MLBTR, is a PTBNL or cash. That's a tipoff the PTBNL is nobody of note.

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I remember one time Brian Bixler was traded for a player to be named later and then he ended coming back as that player to be named later.

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Can look to extend after this year if he shows he is healthy. Make the option a bit more palatable.

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I'm reading he has a $15 million club option for 2025 unless there's some trade clause that negates that. I can't see wanting to pay him $15M in Pittsburgh, though.

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like

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Fitting that BC starts building his nonexistent rotation with a guy two other teams, days apart, just wanted to be rid of.

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Just woke to this news. About the only benefit of this deal is that Gonzales has to know he is out of baseball if he does not show better than he has the past two years.

According to Cot's, the $15 mil for 2025 is a Club Option at no cost to decline. Probably rolled that money into the 2023 salary.

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Might need a guy who can eat more then 50 innings, but BC loves the concept of hope!

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Depends on the player to be named later and how much cash Atlanta tossed in. The Devil is in the details. If the Pirates got Gonzalez for 3 or 4 million per year for a guy who was rule 5 eligible but not picked then it was a good acquisition. If they are giving up some ranked prospect, it was awful.

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Its player to be named or cash considerations. That means the player is not going to be that good, or it may just be a nominal payment of $1.

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I just read that. I think that means that Melkel is right. The Braves want a guy who is rule 5 eligible and they are willing to kick over some cash if he is available. If he is not, they want some of that cash back. At least, I hope this is the case, and the Pirates are not giving up anything of real consequence here for a guy whose like they could have acquired on the free agent market for a quarter of the 12 million Gonzalez is owed.

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This sounds likely to me too.

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Trading a penny for two pennies isn’t a good acquisition if you needed $100.

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Our bounce back lefty.

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For a player to be named later. This was a solid trade.

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I remember when a player to be named later hurt. I guess it depends on how much cash they're sending back.

My guess it's for one of our players who is available for the rule 5 draft tomorrow that doesn't get selected.

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Last player to be named was a name player but has only pitched 9 games in the bigs so far due to injury. Has had setbacks since hitting the IL in early 2022. For his sake, hope he is healthy now.

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Its a start for sure. He was bad/hurt last year, but a pretty solid work horse with good numbers for several seasons before that. I think it should be a good deal

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But for a 1.2 inning start when he gave up 8 earned runs, his ERA would have been under 4. Also, on April 19 he pitched 6 innings allowing 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 BB while striking out 9 against the Brewers--maybe he's a Brewers-killer :)

If he's one of 3-4 candidates for the rotation, this is a good move.

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Pretty wacky redsox and yankees trade went down, verdugo to the banks for 3 prospects, none of which are all that

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Cherington is a nibbler of a GM. Never throws a strike. This crap about not having a second position for catcher prospects comes after how many years of trying it for Endy? Two? The man lacks confidence and conviction and knows he's full of shit.

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Tommy tanks is picked 9th overall and hits a walkoff bomb after skenes throws an immaculate 9 inning shutout. RTJR, your buccos are undoubtedly the 2024 WS champs

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I'm still like Montgomery, but Tommy Tanks would be great. Thankfully we got the top pick last year and took Skenes. I really like this draft better for the next tier, not much separation from the first pick to the early 20's. Last year I thought there was a huge drop after the first 7 or 8 guys. (I did have Schanuel in my top 8 with Teel and Lowder.

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so far this offseason sucks

remember the offseason when all we got was Lonnie Chisenhall?

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Wasn't that guy drafted in 2006 by the Pirates then signed as a free agent by the Pirates in 2018 but never had a major league appearance as a Pirate, lol.

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This is Erik Gonzales erasure and I for one will not stand for it.

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dude is going to hit thirty bombs for the reds this year

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I'd be willing to bet against it. That'd be 26 more than any season so far in his MLB career.

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25 of them will be at GABP lol

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So, you're saying things could be worse.

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Had to laugh at this headline at dkps: “ Cherington expects payroll to increase in 2024.” This is the classic Coonelly BS. When you’ve had a rock bottom payroll for many years, an “increase” doesn’t mean s***. The question is whether you’ll raise it to a competitive level. That’s never happened under Nutting.

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With significant bumps through arb for Keller and Bednar and Reynolds' extension, it's hard to imagine it not increasing.

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Yeah, it’s called inflation. Every team deals with it. The Pirates have always acted like martyrs when they get hit with it.

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Nothing special, but I just read on MLBTR that 3 Utility IF (Garrett Hampson, Joey Wendle, and Paul De Jong were signed by MLB Teams and none of them are coming to the Pirates!

We truly have reached a higher level of existence

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Mark Mathias and The Erik Gonzales both signed by the Reds. ……. Trying hard not to laugh 😁

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Well Tommy Tanks should be in the mix at 9

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All in for this man, bring the bayou to the burgh!

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Can’t imagine a more appropriate name

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Have the Beatles in my head ——Number 9, Number 9……

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The Reds getting pick #2 kinda sucks.

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Especially with the mound of talent they have already built up, pretty bad for us and the rest of the division tbh

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Yep

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Reds and Cards -- trying to win, picking second and seventh.

Pirates -- not trying to win, picking ninth.

The math here isn't good.

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I don't even think the Reds went into '23 "trying to win" and their lack of deadline moves to shore up their pitching was surprising, but they've just had so much more success than we've had with prospects transitioning to the majors that they couldn't help but win.

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Yep, Reds will probably get Kurtz or Wetherholt. Either a quick replacement for Votto or their version of Ian Happ.

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Maybe they go with this years Bo Gentry 😁

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Let hope it isn't Wetherholt, we don't need another local kid like Happ to destroy us.

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Austin Hendrick have any shot of making the show for the Reds in your opinion. Numbers don't look good so far.

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Just watched a few of his highlights from this past year. His swing is a mess, even when he hit a couple homeruns his hips were completely open. If his bat was in line with his hips they would have been foul. His bellybutton had already passed by the pitcher. It looks like he's just trying to kill everything and his swing just falls apart. He'll never make enough contact to get by double A if he doesn't tone it down or figure out how to get his body in line.

Without major adjustments to his swing, I don't think he'll make it.

He'll still crush a few, but I think he'll strikeout nearly half the time if he gets promoted to double A without a big change.

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Better answer than I hoped for. If I was more than a farming librarian I'd give you a job in my front office.

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Haven't watched him hit in the last year or so. He's still fairly young though.

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