I enjoyed Kelly in the dugout. TV producer did a good job. Showed him interacting with Marin, Hague, going out of his way to talk with Strom. How he congratulated Falter. He was immediately prepared to respond with LH Ferguson when Braves PH with Verdugo. Shelton had become a bump on the log, sleepwalking as we say. I think the team wants to respond for Kelly.
Very true. I would go so far as to say that if Shelton had been managing the line drive for sure would have found grass. That’s how bad the karma has been.
Oh, they're still the same roster with broken pieces. But I think/hope the players have their heads in the game for Kelly. And Kelly keeps their heads in the game and wins their confidence too. That by itself will produce more wins. Not a playoff team but .450 ball rather than .333 ball.
On the flip side, I don't know how Nutting/Williams can keep Walker on the telecasts. The family relationship with Kelly is unfortunate for him, but it's too great a conflict of interest.....perceived or not.
I get your point, bu I say, let Walker just keep announcing the way he always does. It's not like he says bad things anyway. I'm not sure how he can sound too much like a homer with Brown in the booth. As you insinuate, it may be awkward for Walker, but I don't think you fire an announncer because of an interim manager.
I was thinking re-assigning him, but they may let it ride. If they give Kelly the job in 2026, then you've got to move Walker. Kelly might bring Neil onto the coaching staff then.
If you can't see the difference between being an employee of the team versus a family relative of the field Manager....well idk what to say about that. There's been open criticism by Brown, Walk, Wehner......pointing out bad decisions, bad execution. Do you watch the games?
Seriously? If Brown and Block are Ok with it......of course, they're not going to publically touch the subject. If you're working next to Neil, how can you comfortably criticize or question pitching changes and all the other decisions that come up in the game. Secondly, it should be uncomfortable for Neil himself. Third, all the other TV staff don't want to say the wrong thing about Kelly that might embarrass Walker and create strains in their own relationships on air and off with Neil.
This is fraught with conflict, but Front Office may not be sharp enough to get it. Tbd.
Plus, I think that was Walker/Kelly's family behind home plate for the whole game....wife, daughter and Dons parents. Gotta be more awkward when they're on TV all game
What I love about the Griffin clip —— which we’ve seen before —— is that on the double (to left field) he went out of the box full bore with a triple in mind. I hope he never loses that.
Requesting info from Advance Scout AM regarding Konnor Griffin, 19. He is hitting it a ton in his first exposure to professional baseball - should he be promoted to A+ and When? Javier Rivas is at SS in A+, doing well, but is in his age 23 year. Jack Brannigan is healthy and is playing SS at AA, and looks like the heir apparent to the Shortstop job for the Pirates unless Liover Peguero puts it into a higher gear and claims the job. Do you think the Pirates would ever consider Oneil Cruz for a return to SS?
1) Let Griffin be: the rush to promote any player every time he has a good few games is exhausting. This is is first professional season. I’d guess he’s down in Bradenton for most of this season unless he hits .500 over the next month and checks a lot of boxes.
2) and 3) Stats has it right. Branigan is more of a utility guy with some thump. I’m interested in Rivas if he’s made tangible changes.
4) Absolutely not. The last thing you do is move Cruz back.
Seriously. Griffin has 36 strikeouts and five walks. When he connects he’s amazing, but there’s no way he’s ready for AA and even a Greensboro promotion will depend on how he’s looking in August.
The 36 strike outs and 5 walks is glaring and he should stay in Bradenton until that gets fixed. He is great when he connects, but the hitting is the least of his tools. His fielding and his arm are also amazing. His baserunning and anticipation during the game are completely off the charts. I think most people overrate his hitting, but underrate the rest of his game.
I’m firmly in the camp of him needing more time in an attempt to iron out some of the K issues and try to hone in on a defensive home. But this kid also sounds uber driven to succeed (the swing change in the offseason many industry types said he needed). I’m excited for him, but some of the expectations some folks have here are…odd.
Imo, it is too early to form expectations on how he will hit, especially from what we have seen in this organization. Every other aspect, my expectations are through the roof..... but he has to be able to hit.
Part of me wishes they would have kept Brannigan a two-way player. They could have had him throw 1 or 2 innings, once or twice a week on a schedule. He could have possibly been one of the best utility players in baseball, even if he only came out of the pen on Wednesday and or Saturdays lol.
I've already weighed in on the Griffin question, which is worthy of much debate. He's likely our next star after Cruz. I'd like to see him on a 2-year program. Greensboro by June (or even skip high A and go straight to Altoona). Finish year at Toona. Start 2026 at Toona, promote to Indy in the Spring as a 20 year old. If the kid is exceptional at AAA (like .800 ops) and is handling all pitches, call him up to Pirates early 2027 at age 21.
I know you didn't ask for my opinion, but here goes. 1) I think Griffin could make the jump to the majors tomorrow, if it wasn't for one thing.... his strike outs. When we see some of those strike outs turning into walks, start moving up levels. 2) As far as Branigan, I see him more as the heir apparent to Jared Triolo. 3) Not Peggy for a starting shortstop. 4) I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like Cruz has made huge strides in center, let's leave him there.
Coming straight from HS to professional pitching that involves guys who have had 3 or 4 years of post HS work is difficult, but he is actually getting better as the season progresses. K's are an issue, but he is working around that issue at present, which is a positive quality. Like to see Peguero pick it up a little at AAA and be ready when IKF goes down the road. If he cannot cut it in Aug/Sep, then it will be wide open.
Literally on Cruz, and for SS it's looking like we'll need to go outside of the system for a long-term answer. Perhaps not coincidentally, MLB Pipeline's first mock draft has us taking a college SS. Maybe Melkel or other expect on college baseball can chime in, but I liked Pipeline's blurb:
"The best college position player available, Arquette has more power upside than most middle infielders and still will profile well offensively even if he slides over to second base. He could fit into the top three picks and this is probably as low as he would go."
I like Arquette in general, but I don't want them to take a college hitter at pick 6 currently. I don't think Arquette is a long-term shortstop, probably a 3rd or 2nd basemen. His pull side power in most ballparks would be great but a liability at PNC. At PNC I think he would have a lot of warning track power (haven't really seen him crush balls to his pull side). I do think he has the highest floor in this class, just above Houston (a surefire shortstop). It might just be me being to critical but there was 10 to 12 college hitters that I liked better last year compared to the top of '25's college hitters. There's still time to change my mind if he starts really crushing the ball though. If they went college bat, I'd take LaViollette even though I think Arquette is a better all around player. LaViollette has the potential to be a superstar if his hit tool improves and I would still prefer to avoid college bats at pick 6 (currently).
Pick 50 should have a similar bat available on the college side.
Yep, I'm not sold on him, can still see the talent to dream on. Edit) I will give him a positive in k% v bb%
As fr 27% k / 17% bb
so 24% k / 19% bb
jr 22% k / 21% bb
Slow but steady improvement.
At pick 50 there should be similar bats available, examples Gavin Turley, Max Williams, and possibly Mason Neville (unlikely for Neville).
I'm still best player available at pick 6, power bats for the following 3 or 4 picks, then heavy on college arms through round 10. Grab a tough sign or 2, a local prep standout a little off the radar, and hopefully find a few diamonds in the rough with picks in rounds 11 through 20.
Agree on LaViollette. In the MLB Pipeline mock he is still available at pick 6. If that how it actually plays out I would grab him. Of course the scouts have to be sure that the problems he’s had this year are fixable.
He would be my first choice if we were looking for a "now" SS, but the Pirates tend to treat college talent the same as HS talent - touch every base on the way up through the system. They did move TJ quicker, and I hope they do the same for Konnor Griffin. TJ has advanced control of the strike zone and has continued that at the AA level while keeping his power. Griffin has the power, but I agree with Cbl that he needs to get a little more control of the strike zone.
I had hope for Javier Rivas with the way he started at A+, but looking today, he is at 4 K's per Walk and, if history is any indicator, that number will increase rather than decrease. I would not be surprised to see the Pirates doing more swapping of positions involving Brannigan and TJ. While Brannigan was injured last year, TJ got 36 games at SS with a .950 fielding percentage.
Hank Davis debuted in his second full season. Nick Gonzales in his third. You guys either don’t pay attention or for some bizarre reason expect them to push fringe prospects to the majors on a conveyor belt.
The perfect example is the Angels tossing Schanuel into the MLB starting lineup 5 weeks after they drafted him. Guy did nothing for a year and half and is only now starting to get his feet under him in the MLB. Lucky they didn't ruin him and wasted at least 1 year of service time giving him training at the MLB level that he should have had in the minors.
I'd give Rivas a bit more time, he's cut his K% from around 32% the last two years to 23% this year. He's making better contact than he ever has. He's also hitting better in month 2 of his possible breakout. I would like to see him walk more and k less but he is having a pretty significant turnaround, let's hope he can keep adjusting, similar to Griffin's young career. Griffin struck out over 36% his first 10 games, only 23% in his last 17 games (27% total). Griffin walked 5 times in those first 10 games, only 1 time since. Extremely small sample size but he is showing the ability to adjust.
Levi Sterling is getting clobbered in the 1st inning again. Gave up a cycle. Ouch.
Maybe for a change the focus on lower level pitching will have to be int'l guys, especially Navarro and Ramirez. Also Carlos Castillo, whom the Pirates apparently are quite high on.
Sterling is just experimenting with some pitches today, so don't worry. Just kidding, but that is the safe answer I learned during spring training when a pitcher got shelled.
Have they or the last regime ever had international arms provide any value? I’m drawing a blank but other than Edgar Santana, the best I remember are flash in the pan prospects like Escobar and Jimenez.
If we go for real prospects, the only guys above Bradenton are Ercolani and Kelly.
The others weren’t BC signings: Ortiz, Dotel, Bido, Santana.
Btw, in case anybody’s forgotten, Burrows and Ashcraft were NH draftees. BC has had some success with pitching, but not nearly what he gets credit for.
Last night was a palate cleanser. The big league team wins in delightful fashion behind youngsters hitting home runs. In the minors we have stellar debut performances by Barco and “Big Hoss” McMillan plus a wire to wire explosion from Konnor “Mickey Mantle” Griffin. Let’s do this again every day.
I wasn’t able to post this in the game thread last evening, but Nutting gave one on one interviews to Mackey and DK yesterday. So clearly he is feeling some pressure to explain himself. Here is the Mackey version:
Thanks for the article. It sounds like bull, but the work of BC and other front office personnel is ongoing and will not subside until after the Trading Deadline of Aug 1. The MLB 2025 Draft is held during the All Star Break and anybody wanting to make an offer for Pirate Pitching will be making those overtures to BC between now and Aug 1.
I would like to see one of those deals made to include an "A" Competitive Balance Pick. The Pirates now have the 1-6 pick and then not another pick until the 2-50 Pick. The Comp A picks are #'s 32 thru 37, and they are tradeable. Boston has the Brewers No. 32 A Pick which they got in the trade for Quinn Priester - not sure if that is tradeable by Boston.
Good interview, and pretty answers by Nutting. I know this is going to sound crazy to most people, but I sympathize with Nutting. I think that financially the team is barely scraping by. I do disagree with his overly cautious business practice of never going out on a limb and not taking any chances to build the brand by spending to win a championship, but the time to do that was 2016, when they had a core, not right now.
The biggest problem with Nutting is who he hires. He needs to get this next GM hiring decision right. He needs to find a serious-minded person: not a con artist who is able to baffle a search committee with BS. I still think that scouring the ranks of the coaches of high-profile college baseball programs is a good way to begin.
Wes Johnson and Jay Johnson are probably the only 2 people on planet earth (except Livy Dunn) who could convince Skenes to extend with the Pirates right now... so there is that.
I think that ship has sailed. This is Year 2 and I think the Pirates could consider trading him at the Year 4 Trade Deadline to get a max deal. If they do not get the right return, they can do it at the Year 5 Trade Deadline. It all depends on how competitive the Pirates could become in the next few years. Do guys like Horwitz, TJ, and others give us some length in the batting order? If somebody comes calling for Mitch Keller at the 2025 Trade Deadline, what kind of hitting return could the Pirates get?
What I read here is he plans to fire Cherington and probably Williams after the season is over. I get it. But if I were him, I would still do it now. Just do it. Send the big message. And give yourself as much time as possible to line up candidates.
One thing that he could do is fire Williams and bring in a baseball guy in Williams position to "oversee" Cherington. Then fire Cherington at the end of the season and replace him with a guy who does Williams' job of sales and marketing: thereby putting the baseball guy over the PR guy (which is how the operation should be set up).
I agree that they should go ahead and get rid of Williams since he doesn't make baseball decisions anyway. That's where things started to go wrong with the change in leadership--they got the first hire wrong, and that led to a second poor hire, and then a third, and then a fourth...it all started with hiring a hockey guy to run a baseball team.
I think one of the biggest failures of this group is failure to maximize revenues. Primarily their TV contracts. But the lesser streams too. They lose a lot of financial ground to other franchises here.
biggest mystery to me is who has insisted all these years that we sign washed up veterans and give them playing time over prospects that we´ve invested all this development and scouting in
is it the players association? the manager who respects the tenure of veternocity? is it nutting related to an insistance he may have to spend the offseason budget on a bushle of players instead of $25m on one guy?
it happens every year for the past 25 years
had we been playing only rookies during that time instead of over the hill vets on (overpaid) one year deals, the fans would have much more empathy
Winning would solve most of their problems and enable them to generate more revenue. That's the trick though... how to start winning on a shoestring budget in order to build the revenue base. I think that owning their own broadcast rights is something that could pay dividends in the future, but not until they stop being the laughingstock of baseball. Get a guy who can find and develop talent, because the only solution is finding and developing talent internally.
Did not watch the game, but it seems as if the Pirates and Braves swapped roles - the Pirates won based a lot on 2 solo HR's, and the Braves got hits and Walks, but could not score runs. The Pirates put up an imperfect 0 for number of Walks, and struck out 12 times. Bailey Falter pitched a helluva game and kept the Braves off-balance. Not a perfect prescription for winning, but they only pay on the bottom line, and that was Pirates 3, Braves 2. A nice showing in attendance on a cold night.
It will take a little time to allow the players to process the managerial change, but Kelly will put his mark on this team, and let them all know what he expects out of them - 100% of their effort from the time they get to the ballpark. There will be changes coming, as we are only about 2 months from the All Star Break, and contenders are already looking for help. The Pirates have about 3 or 4 pitchers not named Skenes or Chandler that should create a lot of interest.
I enjoyed Kelly in the dugout. TV producer did a good job. Showed him interacting with Marin, Hague, going out of his way to talk with Strom. How he congratulated Falter. He was immediately prepared to respond with LH Ferguson when Braves PH with Verdugo. Shelton had become a bump on the log, sleepwalking as we say. I think the team wants to respond for Kelly.
If Shelton was at the helm and that line drive from Albies found grass for the third and tying run off Santana this place would’ve self immolated.
Very true. I would go so far as to say that if Shelton had been managing the line drive for sure would have found grass. That’s how bad the karma has been.
Oh, they're still the same roster with broken pieces. But I think/hope the players have their heads in the game for Kelly. And Kelly keeps their heads in the game and wins their confidence too. That by itself will produce more wins. Not a playoff team but .450 ball rather than .333 ball.
I for one will be very disappointed if they only play.450 ball for the rest of the season.
We can hope with the injured guys coming back soon.
On the flip side, I don't know how Nutting/Williams can keep Walker on the telecasts. The family relationship with Kelly is unfortunate for him, but it's too great a conflict of interest.....perceived or not.
I get your point, bu I say, let Walker just keep announcing the way he always does. It's not like he says bad things anyway. I'm not sure how he can sound too much like a homer with Brown in the booth. As you insinuate, it may be awkward for Walker, but I don't think you fire an announncer because of an interim manager.
I was thinking re-assigning him, but they may let it ride. If they give Kelly the job in 2026, then you've got to move Walker. Kelly might bring Neil onto the coaching staff then.
Conflict of interest?
Brownie wouldn’t look out of place on North Korean media praising Dear Leader. How much worse could Neil be.
Apparently, he’s unaware that the announcers are employed by the Pittsburgh pirates and openly root for the team on air.
If you can't see the difference between being an employee of the team versus a family relative of the field Manager....well idk what to say about that. There's been open criticism by Brown, Walk, Wehner......pointing out bad decisions, bad execution. Do you watch the games?
What exactly is the conflict?
An announcer being related to a manager is not a conflict of interest.
Seriously? If Brown and Block are Ok with it......of course, they're not going to publically touch the subject. If you're working next to Neil, how can you comfortably criticize or question pitching changes and all the other decisions that come up in the game. Secondly, it should be uncomfortable for Neil himself. Third, all the other TV staff don't want to say the wrong thing about Kelly that might embarrass Walker and create strains in their own relationships on air and off with Neil.
This is fraught with conflict, but Front Office may not be sharp enough to get it. Tbd.
Plus, I think that was Walker/Kelly's family behind home plate for the whole game....wife, daughter and Dons parents. Gotta be more awkward when they're on TV all game
What I love about the Griffin clip —— which we’ve seen before —— is that on the double (to left field) he went out of the box full bore with a triple in mind. I hope he never loses that.
By far the most fun part of spring training practices was Konnor Griffin. He stood out like that on all of the drills as well.
Requesting info from Advance Scout AM regarding Konnor Griffin, 19. He is hitting it a ton in his first exposure to professional baseball - should he be promoted to A+ and When? Javier Rivas is at SS in A+, doing well, but is in his age 23 year. Jack Brannigan is healthy and is playing SS at AA, and looks like the heir apparent to the Shortstop job for the Pirates unless Liover Peguero puts it into a higher gear and claims the job. Do you think the Pirates would ever consider Oneil Cruz for a return to SS?
1) Let Griffin be: the rush to promote any player every time he has a good few games is exhausting. This is is first professional season. I’d guess he’s down in Bradenton for most of this season unless he hits .500 over the next month and checks a lot of boxes.
2) and 3) Stats has it right. Branigan is more of a utility guy with some thump. I’m interested in Rivas if he’s made tangible changes.
4) Absolutely not. The last thing you do is move Cruz back.
Seriously. Griffin has 36 strikeouts and five walks. When he connects he’s amazing, but there’s no way he’s ready for AA and even a Greensboro promotion will depend on how he’s looking in August.
The 36 strike outs and 5 walks is glaring and he should stay in Bradenton until that gets fixed. He is great when he connects, but the hitting is the least of his tools. His fielding and his arm are also amazing. His baserunning and anticipation during the game are completely off the charts. I think most people overrate his hitting, but underrate the rest of his game.
I’m firmly in the camp of him needing more time in an attempt to iron out some of the K issues and try to hone in on a defensive home. But this kid also sounds uber driven to succeed (the swing change in the offseason many industry types said he needed). I’m excited for him, but some of the expectations some folks have here are…odd.
Imo, it is too early to form expectations on how he will hit, especially from what we have seen in this organization. Every other aspect, my expectations are through the roof..... but he has to be able to hit.
Part of me wishes they would have kept Brannigan a two-way player. They could have had him throw 1 or 2 innings, once or twice a week on a schedule. He could have possibly been one of the best utility players in baseball, even if he only came out of the pen on Wednesday and or Saturdays lol.
I've already weighed in on the Griffin question, which is worthy of much debate. He's likely our next star after Cruz. I'd like to see him on a 2-year program. Greensboro by June (or even skip high A and go straight to Altoona). Finish year at Toona. Start 2026 at Toona, promote to Indy in the Spring as a 20 year old. If the kid is exceptional at AAA (like .800 ops) and is handling all pitches, call him up to Pirates early 2027 at age 21.
So basically the Mike Trout plan. How’s the weather in fantasy land?
I know you didn't ask for my opinion, but here goes. 1) I think Griffin could make the jump to the majors tomorrow, if it wasn't for one thing.... his strike outs. When we see some of those strike outs turning into walks, start moving up levels. 2) As far as Branigan, I see him more as the heir apparent to Jared Triolo. 3) Not Peggy for a starting shortstop. 4) I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like Cruz has made huge strides in center, let's leave him there.
Coming straight from HS to professional pitching that involves guys who have had 3 or 4 years of post HS work is difficult, but he is actually getting better as the season progresses. K's are an issue, but he is working around that issue at present, which is a positive quality. Like to see Peguero pick it up a little at AAA and be ready when IKF goes down the road. If he cannot cut it in Aug/Sep, then it will be wide open.
Literally on Cruz, and for SS it's looking like we'll need to go outside of the system for a long-term answer. Perhaps not coincidentally, MLB Pipeline's first mock draft has us taking a college SS. Maybe Melkel or other expect on college baseball can chime in, but I liked Pipeline's blurb:
"The best college position player available, Arquette has more power upside than most middle infielders and still will profile well offensively even if he slides over to second base. He could fit into the top three picks and this is probably as low as he would go."
Royce Lewis is the answer
Cherington has his off for 36 yo Jose Iglesias already written up.
I like Arquette in general, but I don't want them to take a college hitter at pick 6 currently. I don't think Arquette is a long-term shortstop, probably a 3rd or 2nd basemen. His pull side power in most ballparks would be great but a liability at PNC. At PNC I think he would have a lot of warning track power (haven't really seen him crush balls to his pull side). I do think he has the highest floor in this class, just above Houston (a surefire shortstop). It might just be me being to critical but there was 10 to 12 college hitters that I liked better last year compared to the top of '25's college hitters. There's still time to change my mind if he starts really crushing the ball though. If they went college bat, I'd take LaViollette even though I think Arquette is a better all around player. LaViollette has the potential to be a superstar if his hit tool improves and I would still prefer to avoid college bats at pick 6 (currently).
Pick 50 should have a similar bat available on the college side.
For what it’s worth Keith Law has LaViolette ranked 25th in the class because of concerns with too much swing and miss. (24% K rate).
Yep, I'm not sold on him, can still see the talent to dream on. Edit) I will give him a positive in k% v bb%
As fr 27% k / 17% bb
so 24% k / 19% bb
jr 22% k / 21% bb
Slow but steady improvement.
At pick 50 there should be similar bats available, examples Gavin Turley, Max Williams, and possibly Mason Neville (unlikely for Neville).
I'm still best player available at pick 6, power bats for the following 3 or 4 picks, then heavy on college arms through round 10. Grab a tough sign or 2, a local prep standout a little off the radar, and hopefully find a few diamonds in the rough with picks in rounds 11 through 20.
Any locals who are likely to be picked in the first few rounds?
Agree on LaViollette. In the MLB Pipeline mock he is still available at pick 6. If that how it actually plays out I would grab him. Of course the scouts have to be sure that the problems he’s had this year are fixable.
He would be my first choice if we were looking for a "now" SS, but the Pirates tend to treat college talent the same as HS talent - touch every base on the way up through the system. They did move TJ quicker, and I hope they do the same for Konnor Griffin. TJ has advanced control of the strike zone and has continued that at the AA level while keeping his power. Griffin has the power, but I agree with Cbl that he needs to get a little more control of the strike zone.
I had hope for Javier Rivas with the way he started at A+, but looking today, he is at 4 K's per Walk and, if history is any indicator, that number will increase rather than decrease. I would not be surprised to see the Pirates doing more swapping of positions involving Brannigan and TJ. While Brannigan was injured last year, TJ got 36 games at SS with a .950 fielding percentage.
Hank Davis debuted in his second full season. Nick Gonzales in his third. You guys either don’t pay attention or for some bizarre reason expect them to push fringe prospects to the majors on a conveyor belt.
The perfect example is the Angels tossing Schanuel into the MLB starting lineup 5 weeks after they drafted him. Guy did nothing for a year and half and is only now starting to get his feet under him in the MLB. Lucky they didn't ruin him and wasted at least 1 year of service time giving him training at the MLB level that he should have had in the minors.
I'd give Rivas a bit more time, he's cut his K% from around 32% the last two years to 23% this year. He's making better contact than he ever has. He's also hitting better in month 2 of his possible breakout. I would like to see him walk more and k less but he is having a pretty significant turnaround, let's hope he can keep adjusting, similar to Griffin's young career. Griffin struck out over 36% his first 10 games, only 23% in his last 17 games (27% total). Griffin walked 5 times in those first 10 games, only 1 time since. Extremely small sample size but he is showing the ability to adjust.
I think IKF or outside the organization for a short-term shortstop. Griffin for the long-term answer at short.
Levi Sterling is getting clobbered in the 1st inning again. Gave up a cycle. Ouch.
Maybe for a change the focus on lower level pitching will have to be int'l guys, especially Navarro and Ramirez. Also Carlos Castillo, whom the Pirates apparently are quite high on.
By the box score it looks like he rebounded pretty good.
I told AM, who was there, that he saw Sterling’s coming out party.
Sterling is just experimenting with some pitches today, so don't worry. Just kidding, but that is the safe answer I learned during spring training when a pitcher got shelled.
Have they or the last regime ever had international arms provide any value? I’m drawing a blank but other than Edgar Santana, the best I remember are flash in the pan prospects like Escobar and Jimenez.
If we go for real prospects, the only guys above Bradenton are Ercolani and Kelly.
The others weren’t BC signings: Ortiz, Dotel, Bido, Santana.
Btw, in case anybody’s forgotten, Burrows and Ashcraft were NH draftees. BC has had some success with pitching, but not nearly what he gets credit for.
Luis Ortiz?
Ah yes, I was blanking on the easy one. Still between this regime and the last one, the track record international arms ain’t good.
Ortiz
Bido
Agrazal
That’s a meager list, aside from Ortiz. Although maybe Bido hangs around with the Athletics.
Yeah, not good. Wilbur Dotel has a pretty decent chance of being the next one.
Last night was a palate cleanser. The big league team wins in delightful fashion behind youngsters hitting home runs. In the minors we have stellar debut performances by Barco and “Big Hoss” McMillan plus a wire to wire explosion from Konnor “Mickey Mantle” Griffin. Let’s do this again every day.
I wasn’t able to post this in the game thread last evening, but Nutting gave one on one interviews to Mackey and DK yesterday. So clearly he is feeling some pressure to explain himself. Here is the Mackey version:
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2025/05/09/nutting-qa-pirates-cherington-williams-shelton-changes/stories/202505090061
Thanks for the article. It sounds like bull, but the work of BC and other front office personnel is ongoing and will not subside until after the Trading Deadline of Aug 1. The MLB 2025 Draft is held during the All Star Break and anybody wanting to make an offer for Pirate Pitching will be making those overtures to BC between now and Aug 1.
I would like to see one of those deals made to include an "A" Competitive Balance Pick. The Pirates now have the 1-6 pick and then not another pick until the 2-50 Pick. The Comp A picks are #'s 32 thru 37, and they are tradeable. Boston has the Brewers No. 32 A Pick which they got in the trade for Quinn Priester - not sure if that is tradeable by Boston.
Good interview, and pretty answers by Nutting. I know this is going to sound crazy to most people, but I sympathize with Nutting. I think that financially the team is barely scraping by. I do disagree with his overly cautious business practice of never going out on a limb and not taking any chances to build the brand by spending to win a championship, but the time to do that was 2016, when they had a core, not right now.
The biggest problem with Nutting is who he hires. He needs to get this next GM hiring decision right. He needs to find a serious-minded person: not a con artist who is able to baffle a search committee with BS. I still think that scouring the ranks of the coaches of high-profile college baseball programs is a good way to begin.
The best interview of Nutting that I can recall. Mackey asked good questions and Nutting was fairly open.
Could not agree more.
Wes Johnson and Jay Johnson are probably the only 2 people on planet earth (except Livy Dunn) who could convince Skenes to extend with the Pirates right now... so there is that.
I think that ship has sailed. This is Year 2 and I think the Pirates could consider trading him at the Year 4 Trade Deadline to get a max deal. If they do not get the right return, they can do it at the Year 5 Trade Deadline. It all depends on how competitive the Pirates could become in the next few years. Do guys like Horwitz, TJ, and others give us some length in the batting order? If somebody comes calling for Mitch Keller at the 2025 Trade Deadline, what kind of hitting return could the Pirates get?
What I read here is he plans to fire Cherington and probably Williams after the season is over. I get it. But if I were him, I would still do it now. Just do it. Send the big message. And give yourself as much time as possible to line up candidates.
Yeah, that was my takeaway--it will take a remarkable turnaround for Cherington to keep his job after the season, and probably Williams too.
One thing that he could do is fire Williams and bring in a baseball guy in Williams position to "oversee" Cherington. Then fire Cherington at the end of the season and replace him with a guy who does Williams' job of sales and marketing: thereby putting the baseball guy over the PR guy (which is how the operation should be set up).
I agree that they should go ahead and get rid of Williams since he doesn't make baseball decisions anyway. That's where things started to go wrong with the change in leadership--they got the first hire wrong, and that led to a second poor hire, and then a third, and then a fourth...it all started with hiring a hockey guy to run a baseball team.
I can't like or agree with this statement enough.
I think one of the biggest failures of this group is failure to maximize revenues. Primarily their TV contracts. But the lesser streams too. They lose a lot of financial ground to other franchises here.
biggest mystery to me is who has insisted all these years that we sign washed up veterans and give them playing time over prospects that we´ve invested all this development and scouting in
is it the players association? the manager who respects the tenure of veternocity? is it nutting related to an insistance he may have to spend the offseason budget on a bushle of players instead of $25m on one guy?
it happens every year for the past 25 years
had we been playing only rookies during that time instead of over the hill vets on (overpaid) one year deals, the fans would have much more empathy
Winning would solve most of their problems and enable them to generate more revenue. That's the trick though... how to start winning on a shoestring budget in order to build the revenue base. I think that owning their own broadcast rights is something that could pay dividends in the future, but not until they stop being the laughingstock of baseball. Get a guy who can find and develop talent, because the only solution is finding and developing talent internally.
Did not watch the game, but it seems as if the Pirates and Braves swapped roles - the Pirates won based a lot on 2 solo HR's, and the Braves got hits and Walks, but could not score runs. The Pirates put up an imperfect 0 for number of Walks, and struck out 12 times. Bailey Falter pitched a helluva game and kept the Braves off-balance. Not a perfect prescription for winning, but they only pay on the bottom line, and that was Pirates 3, Braves 2. A nice showing in attendance on a cold night.
It will take a little time to allow the players to process the managerial change, but Kelly will put his mark on this team, and let them all know what he expects out of them - 100% of their effort from the time they get to the ballpark. There will be changes coming, as we are only about 2 months from the All Star Break, and contenders are already looking for help. The Pirates have about 3 or 4 pitchers not named Skenes or Chandler that should create a lot of interest.