23 Comments

Apparently the pirates are in on Yasmani Grandal. Veteranocity

I hate this front office.

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Honestly, if its a major league deal of like ~$5M, not a great move..If it is a NRI, I'm 100% behind it (or near vet min even)

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It's a major league deal with incentives. $2.5 million.

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Saw this thread before the news (obviously). I'm not hating, but certainly not loving it. I just don't understand why we hate Davis so much lol. They should know if he is Doumit bad already (and should have known that before #1 pick)

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BC didn't learn a thing from the Austin Hedges debacle.

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BC is doing nothing until our four guys go on the 60 day dl

Market is doing just about nothing until deadline passes for draft pick penalty bound to signing Chapman, Snell, Montgomery, etc...

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Burrows isn't going on the IL.

And I'm pretty sure they'll sign before July

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The video in the linked article on relievers is worth watching. Moreta’s slider is a freaky weird pitch.

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Don't know why the term "screwball" only seemed to apply to lefties? When I was growing up, the movement on that pitch of Moreta's was always referred to as in "in-shoot" - cross seam and run hand-side, but his seems to not only run hand-side, but drop also.

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Montgomery would be perfect, but there's no way they're doing that. I think he signs for like 5/110. They could absolutely do that, but they won't.

There were a ton of mid-level starting pitchers out there this offseason and BC really blew it. As of now, I'd see if Clevinger or Lorenzen could be had for 1 yr, 12 millionish or roll with what we have.

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The question as to why the Pirates don't even try to compete has been asked for a long time with the usual answer being that they don't have the resources other teams do. That's been the standard answer for so long most fans have simply come to accept it despite the reality that, while they have far less than some teams, they have far more than some others. The Reds and Brewers are two examples in their own division (and there are many others in MLB) who have a smaller media markets but don't use that as an excuse for not spending.

Right now the Pirates are at a point where they should be building a winning team instead of the chronic rebuilding that they always seem to be doing. The young core has arrived and will either develop or not, but with only a few quality additions they are in a position to actually take that next step everyone's been hoping for. They will probably have the second lowest payroll in MLB to begin the year with only the As, who are in complete limbo and don't even have a place to play next year, behind them. Stop lying to yourself, they have the money.

So, why aren't they doing it? Nothing BC says can be believed. He said they plan to increase spending, but here they still sit in virtually last place again. He identified areas of need but then signed guys for different positions that he himself said were not problem areas. Is he simply incompetent or is this the plan? Keep fans off balance by telling them what they want to hear but don't do anything to raise expectations too much?

The sad part for everyone involved is that if Nutting would spend only a small amount of money (in baseball terms) at this point to improve the Pirate baseball product, he could easily make a lot more of it simply by realistically raising those expectations. Imagine PNC nearly filled to capacity for every game and all the extra ticket and concession money not to mention the increased TV viewership and other revenue. He could be raking it in instead of letting it dribble in. Other smaller market owners recognize and do those kinds of things, which is one reason they can spend more, but not the Pirates. Maybe the fear of losing some of that revenue sharing money that he gets for not even trying to win drives his behavior or maybe he's just a lousy businessman who prefers welfare to work.

Sorry. Sunday morning raving from an old and frustrated fan who still remembers when the Pirates were relevant and wishing there was hope they might be again while I'm still around to see it happen. Thanks for listening, or not. I'll take the rest of the day off.

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Well said. This is the point in the rebuild where they should be supplementing young players with mid-level FA/trades. There was a glut of mid-level SP FA out there this year, and we wind up with Perez and Marco. Payroll is estimated at 79 million. No reason it shouldn't be 100+

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I suspect that WTM is right. If the Padres are willing to go $1 over the league minimum salary, the Pirates will bow out. They truly do base their entire "free-agent" strategy on making offers to guys who have no other offers: so afraid of agents provoking bidding wars are the Pirates. This aversion to making offers to guys in whom anyone else has any interest is the only explanation for this disjointed, completely haphazard offseason.

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The strategy for every signing, whether is draft of FA is to spread it around the cheap isle. Wishing someday they put that $15-$30 million on an actual good player

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Standing on the "top step" with the amount of pitching talent coming in 2024 and 2025? I think we have enough to compete for the playoffs right now - save the bucks for use on a few pitching extensions - that's my hope!

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Honestly I think they should be the player for Montgomery.

Lefty always plays better at PNC, vet, and now with playoff experience.

He’d be expensive but not $200 mil expensive.

He’d slot as the one, Mitch, two other softy’s then Quinn as the 4/5.

It’s necessary really if Ben was really trying to be a winning GM.

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Thor, I mean Loki, I mean Noah doesn’t seem better than any of our top options. Rather give Roansy, Ortiz or Priester that spot given that choice

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Me too. Thor is cooked.

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Agree. Not much left signing other than Lorenzen and maybe Ryu. Unless they want to swing a trade.

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If we’re going to have a blonde with an easy to hit fastball, let’s just roll with QP.

I say sign Lorezen, or Ryu, or better yet, trade from the MI/SP depth in the system for one of Marlins good SP’s.

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I totally agree. I think a 'veteran presence who who takes pressure off the younger players' only works if that player can actually perform at a reasonable level. Outside of the few higher $ starters left, I think we already have our veteran presence in Perez and Gonzales.

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…as if signing him would give the appearance that they’re trying lol. They need someone(s) better than both Gonzales and Perez.

I just don’t get it with them; in division teams like the Brewers and Reds have competed at the MLB level by pushing payroll and depleting their respective pipelines, then retooled on the fly in a shorter period of time than it has taken us to just build our pipeline. How about we walk AND chew gum boys and girls?!

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It's still legitimately astonishing that the entire Pittsburgh media ecosystem immediately carried water for Nutting upon his hiring of Cherington, absolutely certain that Nutting would provide him with all the funding he needed in spite of not only every shred of evidence in the contrary but without a single word from Nutting even pretending he would!

Literally, complete bullshit! All of it!

The most ridiculous take Tim Williams ever had was that Pittsburgh is somehow a difficult market to work in. The media literally does Nutting's bidding for him. There is no *easier* place to work baseball than Pittsburgh.

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