35 Comments

Tyler Bleede is back in the bigs, with Cleveland…..I liked the arm when he was here even though he sucked. Anyway, wouldn’t be shocked if Cleveland helps him figure it out.

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Nick Burdi caught my attention in the Yanks game the other day.

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I have no idea how that kid’s arm is still attached to his body, much less competing in the bigs.

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We're coming down to the wire for final 26-man roster. With the first 4 games in Miami, we have a good chance of seeing 4 LH starting pitchers, and certainly 3 LH. I don't have McKinney's splits, but you might want Nicky G. over McKinney just for the RH bat. Triolo and Joe and Olivares should get starting ABs too. Wonder if Haddad (strategist) is aware....smh.

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FG CF rankings have the Pirates 25th. That’s heavily bolstered by Jack being projected for a quarter of the PT.

So Ben’s big position player additions have the Pirates ranked 19th, 25th and 28th at C, CF and 1B. And the two “better” ones would be much worse if not for Jack and Davis. Dave Littlefield would be embarrassed.

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I have never seen a team fritter away so much money and acquire so little. Where are we at in this post-season... closing in on $40 million on free agents... and what have they acquired? 1, maybe 2, backend starters, a reliever, a platoon centerfielder, an aging backup C whom they really didn't need, and a DH who gave them a home-team discount and whom the GM never intended to sign in the first place.

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They spent $40 million on raising the floor. The goal here isn’t really to put together a championship ball club, it’s to safely win 85 games. They are too risk averse to pool their resources into a few players, or even to spend more, and too risk averse to be more transactional.

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I think that is correct. The goal is not to win a championship. It is to avoid another embarrassing season and blunt criticism of the GM's competence so that he can get a contract extension.

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I don’t agree. BC is trying to make playoffs, not “avoid embarrassment.” The issue is BN won’t allow him to sign FA’s to multi-year deals, and/or deal prospects for veterans.

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You had me in the first half...

It's exceptionally clear that Nutting doesn't give a shit about how the money is spent.

Here's your overall budget, spend it as you will. That's his only strength as owner, unflinchingly opposed to meddling.

The lack of spending capacity is what induces the kind of uses that Cherington and Huntington before him predominantly supported.

Until a GM can produce enough internal talent to require only one or two additions, the lack of overall resource capacity necessitates this manner of spending.

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The fact is, we’re all speculating on BC & BN’s motivations. We see the tactics and draw conclusions from them not knowing if it’s correct or not.

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I think the truth might be somewhere in the middle? If they sign Montas/Candelario and cheap out on the rest of the adds, there’s some nice upside there but a hell of a lot of risk. Ben has reason to want to avoid that. Nutting probably doesn’t like the commitment to Candelario. And let’s be honest, is Nutting comfortable with the risk as well? From a revenue standpoint I think he’s just as happy to take the safe wins and the inevitable ticket sales that result.

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pretty good haul tbh

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It's a lot of cheap players, that is for sure. This is an upgrade over the last four years of filling out the roster with 4 or 5 waiver wire pickups as spring training came to an end; I'll grant you that. However, half of the guys whom they acquired could probably have been picked up off the waiver wire a month or two into the season.

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Mar 22·edited Mar 22

I'm not quite as concerned about Bob Nutting's money. ;)

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Oh... but you should be... we all should be. Bob is a humble public servant providing Pittsburghers and baseball fans generally great entertainment at reasonable prices for over 2 decades now.

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Can the 60-day IL be retroactive in ST? I'm guessing not, which is a shame for Grandal because there will probably be a 60 day gap between his last ST game and his first regular season game and that could save us a roster spot.

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Pretty sure it can be retroactive to the last time he played but also pretty sure ST games count.

Of course, I'd be fine putting him on the 60-day IL regardless.

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That is incorrect, ST games do not count and it begins with opening day.

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Pirates Move Roansy Contreras To Bullpen...Yikes the young man DOES NOT THROW ENOUGH STRIKES TO BE IN THE BULLPEN...

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Last night 15 pitches/12 strikes - very efficient. With 3 K's that was a minimum of 9 pitches, and he did face a 4th batter who got a hit. The different mentality of a RP knowing he is probably only throwing one inning could help him develop a more efficient approach as a SP.

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At this point, it's worth a try on merit, and not just to stash him, since Moreta is gone, Mlod looks ominous, Holderman is always an injury waiting to happen, and Nicolas and Selby flopped.

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I hate to say it, but we just may have to use Jared Jones a lot earlier than expected.

He is definitely deserving and hopefully his Agent has explained the nuances of MLB Service - I can see not getting the 172, but a definite NO on holding him back for Super 2 purposes, which is just money and we have that.

Has Ashcraft been pitching regularly in MiLB Camp? I would not be surprised if he was up early in 2024.

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Yes, the timing is right because they can certainly focus on the positive aspect of filling a need instead of the negative aspect of having failed (to this point) as a starter.

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Ortiz and Priester in the Rotation?

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Ortiz threw about 5 innings in an intrasquad game yesterday. I’d guess they’re keeping him ready in case they decide Marco and Falter would just be too embarrassing, if there is such a thing on the Pirates.

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A well-pitched game especially seeing the Bednar name in the box score with good velo (95-96 mph), and Contreras with an inning out of the BP, 3 K's. With Palacios and Gonzales back to AAA and Grandal probably headed to the 7 or 14 day IL, looks good for Delay to start the season. With the season-opening games scheduled for Miami, I think MAT should have enough time to be ready. Not sure what the circumstances are with Ji-Hwan Bae, but could probably start at AAA after an extended ST at Pirate City. Celestino probably down to AAA and possibly coming up around the AS Break/Trade Deadline or earlier, if needed?

Tip of the cap to 37 year old Paolo Espino throwing 5 scoreless innings of various slowballs last night after Ricky Tiedeman started and went 3 innings with a good share of upper 90's pitches.

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My quick thoughts:

Mlod: forearm tightness - does this ever end well?

Harrington: sounds odd - but this is better news than I thought as in my brief brain scan I think I can recall strained rotator cuffs not always ending bad.

Grandal: the longer he is out the better as I think this makes it easier to start Davis daily vs. 'needing' to start the veteran (Grandal).

Backup Outfield: I still think the last spot needs to be a lefty but personally had totally forgot about Bae. I prefer he go to AAA and play CF daily because I think that could be his best outcome - a defense first CF (and hopefully improved hitting). I initially thought Olivares was a lock but I think the Taylor signing changed that as another RH outfielder just seems like an odd fit. To me the McKinney challenge is the corresponding 40 man move and his longer history of poor performance although it was pointed out he finished strong in NY last year so maybe he made a real change.

That is all. Lets' Go Bucs!

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Forearm tightness is probably the most common injury among pitchers. Yes, with rest most times pitchers return but it may be 30+ days.

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Yeah, I can't think of a case when forearm tightness ended well. And Mlod fits my anecdotal observations that soon after we read about improved stuff (Mackey and others were all over how good Mlod looked in early ST), we read about arm problems.

I know some will criticize this, but my theory is that all the extra data on spin rates, movement, etc. is encouraging or even forcing pitchers to make changes that their arms just haven't developed to handle and thus putting too much stress on their elbows and/or shoulders.

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Can't be true. There was an entire league-wide multi-year scandal based on the premise that pitchers cannot in fact do anything about their spin rates and cheating is the only possible way to improve.

Anyways, ironically enough remember when Felipe Rivero busted his elbow and then just showed up the next week and kept pitching? Walked off the mound like his arm broke in half.

https://www.mlb.com/news/felipe-vazquez-ok-after-forearm-injury-scare-c278662138

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I've done the Plantar Fasciitis thing, and if he is not running now, it does not happen quickly. Would not be surprised if he starts the season on the 14 Day IL. Taylor looks like he will be ready in CF, so Celestino, RH hitting CF who is out of options, goes to AAA (signed to a MiLB Contract). Olivares makes the 26 as the RH hitting option for 'Ski in RF, and the relief OF for Taylor and Reynolds.

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I thought all along it was Olivares(until Taylor signing) but now worry about the lack of lefties. If there is a 'nasty' RHP particularly on RH batters the most lefties in the lineup would be 4. It would be nice to slide one more lefty on the bench even as a pinch hitter.

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Mar 22·edited Mar 22

McKinney has earned a spot, but I still lean Olivares over McKinney even if it might leave us a bit short on lefties. Olivares has had a rough spring, but as Shelton said, he's probably pressing. And in my limited viewing, there have been several well-struck balls.

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