135 Comments

Seems like Cherington getting caught flat footed. These prices are all bargains!

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O's get Elflin. There goes my dream of Jones for Mayo, I guess. Maybe in the offseason though.

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All these contenders trying to get better. Good thing the Pirates aren't in as desperate shape as the rest of MLB.

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Desperately avoiding spending money is all. You can see the teams who care. Mariners, Rangers, O's, Red Sox. Then there's the teams that are so far ahead in the standings they can let it play out like Dodgers and Yankees. The Phillies are in that tier but still trying to add. None of them have dumpy little moth pocket losers for owners though.

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Jul 26·edited Jul 26

Fleming DFA'd

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They really need make addition this weekend with Reynolds being out. I would be calling the nationals about Winker right now and seeing if rays would part with Rosario. Or just go big and get Rooker before the game!

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Just go big, Ben. Then we can call him Big Balls Ben, instead of No Balls Ben.

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Those don't grow back bud.

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misinformation

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Rooker would be fun even if he's a huge risk.

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I mean if he hits like has been, then the you can live with a terrible RF for the rest of the season. Then make him DH next year or first base. I would love a bleday and rooker trade and then get Rosario. I think that’s what they need I wouldn’t hate jazz, Winker and Rosario either.

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I don't want Jazz. He'd be a terrible clubhouse guy and we don't need a league average bat who's a terrible clubhouse guy.

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I heard it differently.

I heard he struggles being *the guy*

He wouldn't be *the guy* in Pittsburgh with Cruz, Cutch, Reynolds, Skenes, Keller, Bednar.

A guy like Cutch could be a great mentor for someone like Jazz.

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He doesn't want anyone to be "the guy". Links below.

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He’d be a huge upgrade over Taylor and Suwinski though. Why does everyone think he’s a bad clubhouse guy? If I had my way rooker, bleday, roario and Scott would be the moves. In saying, that I realize we most likely get something like Winker and Pham.

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Any meaningful upgrade would be appreciated

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It’ll be interesting to see, when it’s all said and done, how the BC regime handles their first “buying” attempt at the deadline.

I’m not expecting much in terms of the bigger names being floated around cause I’m sure he’ll be scared off by the asking price. They’ll end up with more minor improvements instead of a big splash. I’d anticipate a Winker-type acquisition, possibly a catcher and possibly a reliever.

I’ve also seen people mention getting a second lefty in the bullpen. While I don’t disagree, I could just as easily see them place Perez/Gonzales/Falter in the pen to fulfill that role instead of acquiring one. I can’t imagine any of those players will fetch much in return, making them “salary dump” moves in Perez/Gonzales’ case.

This upcoming series does concern me. Arizona has been just as hot as the Pirates as of late and losing Reynolds is going to hurt an already struggling offense.

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Basically just got a FG prospects update for pre-deadline even if a lot of the board is broken right now:

1. Bubba 55 FV 24th overall

2. Termarr 50 FV 59th overall

3. Konnor 45+

4. Burrows 45+

5. Ashcraft 45+

6. Harrington 45

7. Barco 45

8. Brannigan 45

9. Delgado 45

10. YDLS 45

11. Sanford 45

I'll let you all check the rest.. https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board?org=pit

Also edited to point out that Mitch Jebb is listed as our 36th ranked prospect haha

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Still no Carlson Reed, has very similar stat line as the pitching prospect the Mariners just traded to Tampa Bay. I guess Reed is a year younger and averages more strikeouts per 9.

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You can’t scout a stat line. College pitchers should be dominating A and A+ ball the way the minors are structured now. So you can’t rely on stats, you need to actually have eyes on the prospects now, more than ever

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And FG is lacking those eyes.

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Probably just a total miss for them. Just not enough eyeballs at games and hands on keyboard.

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Yep, it's a big miss though. They are spread pretty thin, Reed should be at least a 40 if not a bit higher.

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They also have the toolshed Griffin ranked a 45.

I no longer trust prospect rankings I trust production. I trust informed analysis.

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Yinz are gonna get this butthurt over a prospect BA also has shoved way down the list and calls "almost certainly a relief-only prospect as a professional"?

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Jul 26·edited Jul 26

Same with Hopkins "relief", at least Reed has 3 quality pitches instead of 2.

The bigger issue I have with FG is the way they slap higher grades on international players for select tools but ignore red flags. Also think they are spread thin and overlook several players (McAdoo). Just can't take their rankings overall seriously, they are still good on an individual bases though.

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Huh?

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I don't think anyone is "butthurt", snowflake. What a beta way to look at it :)

We got guys tossing slurs and folks accusing others of being butthurt. Feels like the early internet all over again. What is happening here.

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I'm pretty sure you just used a slur.

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I just completed a cyber security class for work called Ransomware Foundations.

They had a topic on misinformation and disinformation.

Reminded me of a lot of the BS in here.

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The recent WEF showed its concern for mis- and disinformation . That tells a reasonable person something about the terms mis- and disinformation.

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I think you just made that up.

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Clearly fake news...

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Q3 2024 Security Awareness Training.

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I was just trying to make a weak misinformation joke.

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All good, man

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So you work a corporate bullshit laptop job if you're doing that. Careful what slurs you use at work bud.

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I don't have a corp bs laptop job. I'm on site virtually every day, unless I need to travel.

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Does your job know you're doing homophobic slurs on a baseball website at work? I think the one you did yesterday was like at 9:15 EST lol.

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This is your classic disinformation. Not to be confused with misinformation.

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deletedJul 26
Comment deleted
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Jul 26·edited Jul 26

Alright fellas, what am I missing about the aura of Jazz Chisholm?

People I very much respect talking him up like a dude I just don't see here. Heavy weight on his relatively low cost?

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The aura.....he was on the cover of MLB The Show. And the commercial with Jeter. On the downside, no one with less accomplishments has ever been on the cover.

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He plays with a lot of energy, brings excitement to the fans and even dyed his hair blue. Serously, I think he would be fine on the Pirates, but his numbers don't show him as being a big game changer, imo.

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He's young, cheap, he had a 60 game stretch where he put up 2.6 fWAR two seasons ago with a 136 wRC+ but I've read scouts think he's (same as Luis Robert) already not aging well. He's not definitively suited for CF really and the only time he had obvious defensive value was back when he was a 2B. He gets hurt a lot. Supposedly he is a weirdo and unliked in his clubhouse. I hope some other team takes the risk.

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If the price is right, he's an upgrade.

I'm reading they're in on him, Ward and Bell.

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I'm hoping they don't trade for Ward or Bell. I'm ok with riding Rowdy out the rest of the season.

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Jul 26·edited Jul 26

Orioles trade outfielder Austin Hays to the Phillies for reliever Seranthony Dominguez and outfielder Christian Pache.

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Jul 26·edited Jul 26

means Mullins is off the board?

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So two of MLB's four best teams thought they needed to upgrade, but Ben thinks the Pirates are fine with the guys they have.

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With so many teams in contention and it being a tournament, I wondered if it would actually decrease the amount of big trades. With the 4 best teams actually getting a bye, maybe they are actually more likely to trade.

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Run prevention is equally important to run creation, Wilbur, and we have to make moves with an eye toward 2025 and 2026 not just 2024. Do we believe in this team, yes and no, but are we satisfied? No. We're just one of 25 teams who aren't satisfied and when you talk about numbers, that's when my eyes gloss over unless it's budget and operating cost and possible savings for Bob.

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Always liked Dominguez. Through injury and a bit of HRitis, he hasn't been quite as good as I thought he would, but would still love to have him.

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Any guesses of what it's going to take to land Jazz?

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After seeing the Arozarena deal, I am thinking less than what we originally thought.

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Solometo the LHP added to Bradenton roster from FCL?

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He's starting tonight.

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Yep

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Brewers now rumored to be trying to snag a LHB with Yelich down with a back injury. Wonder if they go after Jazz and stamp out this months long speculation on him coming this way. Could see them trying for Jesus Sanchez, too.

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Absolutely absurd to let Arozarena get away on a salary dump.

These guys are impossibly fucking cheap.

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Just when you sold me on Arozarena, it appears the Mariners stole him.

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The pitcher the Rays got back is roughly the equivalent to Harrington if you believe FG.

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Jul 26·edited Jul 26

Probably more like Reed or Reilly from level, age, stuff and results. FG is probably low on Harrington.

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FG has Harrington ranked the same in terms of overall ranking and FV.

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They actually have Harrington a 45 and Hopkins a 45+ in their new updates. Reed has almost identical stat line at the same level but is almost a year younger and isn't in the top 41 pirates prospects. Reilly has almost an identical stat line at the same age but a level higher.

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I missed the + when I was reading that. Of course, there’s allegedly the PBTNL too. It’s possible the deal is a little meatier if you accept the FG opinion on Hopkins, and of course the PBTNL is of consequence.

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Yep

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Maybe the Rays didn't even bother talking to Cherington

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anybody know what is "Happ"ening around here?

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I think we are just letting the days go by.

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Same as it ever was.

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“And you may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful Happ.”

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great song

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Let's make it super simple for Bashful Ben: there's lot of blue lines on Bryan De La Cruz's statcast bud. Go look at Jesus Sanchez' page. Those are red lines. Try to get him instead, ok?

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Good for Skenes and Jones for making the FG list. Nice feather in the cap for the draft & dev team. Now, parlay that depth of pitching for a couple hitters.

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Also find it incredibly hard to believe that if you offered all 30 GMs their pick of Oneil Cruz or Zack fucking Neto more would choose the latter.

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Good for Jordan and Pippen being the most amazing 1-2 ever in NBA. Nice feather in the cap for the draft & dev team lol. Thomas Harrington should get more credit for Jones than the Pirates dev team after teaching him the split grip fastball Jones credited with massively improving his control.

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