Asst. GM was on yesterday. Promoted from general counsel. Made some very compelling talking points. From Thousand Oaks and played ball growing up with Jack Wilson.
-They're going to give Pham an extended run to see if something clicks. It's only fair to the player to see if he can normalize his batting line. Not fair to cut bait on a guy after 30 games...It would be impulsive to act in that manner. That's a fans mindset.
-Mentioned that Horwitz should be in AAA before he comes to PGH.
-Lawerence is getting a second opinion, which obviously is not good.
-Mentioned Gorski is basically up to face lefties and double switches.
-Talked about the trade to acquire Inmanuel Valdez and traits that they liked.
Wanting to see players on a team that *should* be trying to contend earn their playing time with their on-field performance or at the very least, prioritize giving reps to guys with some semblance of upside - well, that's 'a fans mindset'.
Wanting to see a no-upside, washed veteran (who's put up negative offensive run values in 2 of the last 3 years and is currently bottom 10 in the league) 'normalize his batting line' is a GM's mindset......
I guess it really is true that the average fan could run this team better than Cherington and his staff!
Well... his batting average is .184, and his expected batting average per Statcast is .202. He is slugging .230, and his expected slugging is .285. His wOBA is .228 and xwOBA is .255 so that must be what they mean by "normalization:" instead of being the worst player in baseball, he should only be in the bottom 5%.
The dude has hit 3 balls more than 180 feet all season, and one of those was against some rook from Japan who was all keen to show him a bunch of splitters. Any veteran pitcher has realized by now that the guy can't catch up to any pitch over 93 MPH and will just pump fastballs by him.
It's just typical condescending drek from one of the people responsible for the gross mismanagement of the franchise for the past 6 years.
And my favorite part was when he was micked up in spring training he was walking around telling anyone that would listen that he never misses pitches in the zone, and he doesn’t swing outside the zone. I probably dislike him more than I should, should probably put more of my dislike on Cheringron for having to subject us to him! Cutting him can’t come soon enough for me
See my examples below: Wendle, Hicks... there are tons. It happens all the time, especially now that there is statcast data and so forth, to verify the eye test that a guy has lost it. The perfect example and direct comp is Aaron Hicks who was very similar to Pham, but had clearly lost it a couple of years ago. The Yankees noticed it after about a month and DFAed him, despite owing him a ton of money for 2 or 3 more years.
Well... no GMs sign guys like Pham, 37 years old, negative WAR for 2 years, obviously declining skills, as evidenced by the fact that no GM signed Pham, until Cherington came calling with his ridiculous $4 million offer.
So... your question actually is... can you give any examples of a free agent signing as bad as that of Pham, such that the team feels like he cannot be DFA'd or they look really stupid?
Pre-homestand roster moves would be a welcome development. For instance, Bubba up to start on Thursday would get some buzz going, and do they really want Holderman to get booed at home?
3-3 in LA would be fine with a different start to the year. 3-3 while losing leads in all three losses is a blow to a team built on pitching. It is evident at this point that 2/5 of the rotation is questionable. Jones, Oviedo, and now Lawrence in the pen are BIG losses. Pham, Canario, and (if he's basically unused) Gorski are dead weights in the OF. I am encouraged by the offense out west but there is no track record for that to continue. This Cubs series could be bad. I hope I'm wrong.
Before we get excited about a 3-3 trip, let’s try to remember that the Angels are a bad team. They won some games early, but now they’re settling in to last place. They’ve lost 10 of 13. After the Pirates left, they got stomped three straight by the struggling Twins.
It didn't take long for Jack to start hitting again! Similar to Hank, they just thrive at AAA. Once again, it's a huge jump to be able to hit MLB pitching.
Didn't Jack struggle in AAA after being sent down last year, too? At this point in their careers, I might be a little more encouraged if he were to start mashing down there than I would be if it was Hank. Jack seems to let bad results really affect him even when the process is going well. So, if he were to put a few months together of results, it might be worthwhile to bring him up one last time and pray that he goes on a heater.
Whereas with Davis, I think it's just a matter of whether he can make the adjustments to hit the kind of velocity you're going to see regularly in the MLB that just isn't in AAA. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely especially with how little playing time he gets up here.
It is what it is in trying to get to and stay in MLB. Keep hustling (they both do) and give it all you have and hope this is the time where you will "see better and make better contact" against the type of pitching at MLB.
Bart was a great sign last year and is a Keeper, so I do not see Hank as the RH hitting Catcher anytime soon. When Endy comes back, Hank will probably join Jack at AAA. Why? Younger, a switch hitter, also plays 1B, 2B, OF, and coming back after missing almost all of 2024 due to an arm injury. It will come back to him and this time off has probably helped him.
3-3 is not a bad road trip to LA, but it could have been better and, given the hole we dug by playing so poorly early, probably needed to be better. Perhaps with different bullpen choices on Thursday and Saturday it would have been 4-2 or even 5-1. But in Thursday's game it's even easier to point a finger at the inability to score after the 2nd and yesterday, while it wouldn't likely have changed the outcome, the inability to score after the 1st despite Glasnow going out is concerning.
In my alternate view, 3-3 is the worst possible outcome--probably just good enough to stifle momentum for bigger changes but not good enough to make any progress towards getting in the race. Only two teams, the White Sox and Rockies, have more losses than we have.
In any case, May will be interesting. We only play two teams that currently have losing records and one of those is the Braves who have been playing much better lately (7-3 over their last 10). Plus, May will likely be when we see some significant additions to the roster, but will they be enough?
Good to see Spencer Horwitz in the batting order for Altoona - wonder if they keep him close to Pittsburgh for his complete rehab assignment? Nice start to the order with Horwitz leading off and TJ batting second.
Looking at the Pitching Leaders in the Minors - AAA IL, Bubba Chandler is 3rd with a 1.33 ERA; in AA Hunter Barco Leads the EL with a 0.00 ERA, 12th is Wilber Dotel with a 2.50 ERA, and Po Yu Chen is 17th; In the A+ SAL Garrett McMillan is 7th with a 1.77 ERA, Antwone Kelly is 19th with a 3.18 ERA.
Leading Hitters in the lower levels is very impressive with the Pirates having 4 hitters at the A+ level in the Top 25 in OPS - 2nd Esmerlyn Valdez 1.059, 3rd Javier Rivas 1.013, 9th Omar Alfonzo .883, and 15th Shalin Polanco .857 OPS. At A in the FSL, Konnor Griffin with an .859 OPS is 11th, Axiel Plaz .780 OPS is 21st.
Any reason three starters were pulled early in their games? Is this a new strategy? Can we expect to see Skenes go two and a third. I like to think of that one third as Shelton's contribution to baseball.
Unless Shelton had already told Skenes he wanted him to face a certain hitter, I don't agree with sending him back out in the 7th for one batter. Skenes appeared to shout when he got the final K in the 6th inning, as if his day was done, he was very close to 100 pitches. There is physiological sh*t that happens when any pitcher mentally starts to shut down. And then he has to ramp back up for the 7th when Shelton asked him? That's another 5-6 warm up pitches and then face one hitter. I'd like to know if/when Shelton let him know how long Skenes would go.
One possibility is that with the MiLB Off Day today, we wanted to get some of the RP's some work before the day off. At the upper levels, we may be saving innings for some of those SP's to put to use at the MLB level coinciding with the trade deadline.
Can Shelton last much longer? 5 years of a piss-poor .415 Winning Percentage and we are currently below that at .379 as we are drawing near the 20% mark of his 6th year. A pitifully ridiculous situation!
They’ve always done this early in the season. Pitching four days rest for first few times they work a little stricter with the pitch count on Sunday.
It’ll go up as the season continues
Also with Barco throwing around 70 innings last year, I’d imagine he’s going to be capped around 100, 110 max, this year. So shaving a couple innings now keeps him for the whole season
Asst. GM was on yesterday. Promoted from general counsel. Made some very compelling talking points. From Thousand Oaks and played ball growing up with Jack Wilson.
-They're going to give Pham an extended run to see if something clicks. It's only fair to the player to see if he can normalize his batting line. Not fair to cut bait on a guy after 30 games...It would be impulsive to act in that manner. That's a fans mindset.
-Mentioned that Horwitz should be in AAA before he comes to PGH.
-Lawerence is getting a second opinion, which obviously is not good.
-Mentioned Gorski is basically up to face lefties and double switches.
-Talked about the trade to acquire Inmanuel Valdez and traits that they liked.
Wanting to see players on a team that *should* be trying to contend earn their playing time with their on-field performance or at the very least, prioritize giving reps to guys with some semblance of upside - well, that's 'a fans mindset'.
Wanting to see a no-upside, washed veteran (who's put up negative offensive run values in 2 of the last 3 years and is currently bottom 10 in the league) 'normalize his batting line' is a GM's mindset......
I guess it really is true that the average fan could run this team better than Cherington and his staff!
Well... his batting average is .184, and his expected batting average per Statcast is .202. He is slugging .230, and his expected slugging is .285. His wOBA is .228 and xwOBA is .255 so that must be what they mean by "normalization:" instead of being the worst player in baseball, he should only be in the bottom 5%.
The dude has hit 3 balls more than 180 feet all season, and one of those was against some rook from Japan who was all keen to show him a bunch of splitters. Any veteran pitcher has realized by now that the guy can't catch up to any pitch over 93 MPH and will just pump fastballs by him.
It's just typical condescending drek from one of the people responsible for the gross mismanagement of the franchise for the past 6 years.
And my favorite part was when he was micked up in spring training he was walking around telling anyone that would listen that he never misses pitches in the zone, and he doesn’t swing outside the zone. I probably dislike him more than I should, should probably put more of my dislike on Cheringron for having to subject us to him! Cutting him can’t come soon enough for me
Any examples of GM's DFA'ing vet FA's after 28 games?
I will give you the perfect example. The Cardinals DFA'd Tommy Pham after 28 games and 77 PAs last year... 22 less than he has from the Pirates.
thank you. but completely different examples.
this is the first 28 games of the season. Pham already played more than half a season when the Cards DFA'd him.
They probably did it as a favor as Pham was with KC after the STL DFA and started for KC in the playoffs.
See my examples below: Wendle, Hicks... there are tons. It happens all the time, especially now that there is statcast data and so forth, to verify the eye test that a guy has lost it. The perfect example and direct comp is Aaron Hicks who was very similar to Pham, but had clearly lost it a couple of years ago. The Yankees noticed it after about a month and DFAed him, despite owing him a ton of money for 2 or 3 more years.
Well... no GMs sign guys like Pham, 37 years old, negative WAR for 2 years, obviously declining skills, as evidenced by the fact that no GM signed Pham, until Cherington came calling with his ridiculous $4 million offer.
The Dodgers DFA'd Eddie Rosario last week.
He signed a minor league deal with LAD.
Additionally, Cherington signed Pham because of Oneil Cruz.
Also, Pham has not been negative WAR for 2 years.
2023 positive 1.9. 2024 negative -0.1
So... your question actually is... can you give any examples of a free agent signing as bad as that of Pham, such that the team feels like he cannot be DFA'd or they look really stupid?
The average fan would've drafted Dylan Crews
Pre-homestand roster moves would be a welcome development. For instance, Bubba up to start on Thursday would get some buzz going, and do they really want Holderman to get booed at home?
3-3 in LA would be fine with a different start to the year. 3-3 while losing leads in all three losses is a blow to a team built on pitching. It is evident at this point that 2/5 of the rotation is questionable. Jones, Oviedo, and now Lawrence in the pen are BIG losses. Pham, Canario, and (if he's basically unused) Gorski are dead weights in the OF. I am encouraged by the offense out west but there is no track record for that to continue. This Cubs series could be bad. I hope I'm wrong.
Before we get excited about a 3-3 trip, let’s try to remember that the Angels are a bad team. They won some games early, but now they’re settling in to last place. They’ve lost 10 of 13. After the Pirates left, they got stomped three straight by the struggling Twins.
It didn't take long for Jack to start hitting again! Similar to Hank, they just thrive at AAA. Once again, it's a huge jump to be able to hit MLB pitching.
Didn't Jack struggle in AAA after being sent down last year, too? At this point in their careers, I might be a little more encouraged if he were to start mashing down there than I would be if it was Hank. Jack seems to let bad results really affect him even when the process is going well. So, if he were to put a few months together of results, it might be worthwhile to bring him up one last time and pray that he goes on a heater.
Whereas with Davis, I think it's just a matter of whether he can make the adjustments to hit the kind of velocity you're going to see regularly in the MLB that just isn't in AAA. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem likely especially with how little playing time he gets up here.
It is what it is in trying to get to and stay in MLB. Keep hustling (they both do) and give it all you have and hope this is the time where you will "see better and make better contact" against the type of pitching at MLB.
Bart was a great sign last year and is a Keeper, so I do not see Hank as the RH hitting Catcher anytime soon. When Endy comes back, Hank will probably join Jack at AAA. Why? Younger, a switch hitter, also plays 1B, 2B, OF, and coming back after missing almost all of 2024 due to an arm injury. It will come back to him and this time off has probably helped him.
3-3 is not a bad road trip to LA, but it could have been better and, given the hole we dug by playing so poorly early, probably needed to be better. Perhaps with different bullpen choices on Thursday and Saturday it would have been 4-2 or even 5-1. But in Thursday's game it's even easier to point a finger at the inability to score after the 2nd and yesterday, while it wouldn't likely have changed the outcome, the inability to score after the 1st despite Glasnow going out is concerning.
In my alternate view, 3-3 is the worst possible outcome--probably just good enough to stifle momentum for bigger changes but not good enough to make any progress towards getting in the race. Only two teams, the White Sox and Rockies, have more losses than we have.
In any case, May will be interesting. We only play two teams that currently have losing records and one of those is the Braves who have been playing much better lately (7-3 over their last 10). Plus, May will likely be when we see some significant additions to the roster, but will they be enough?
Good to see Spencer Horwitz in the batting order for Altoona - wonder if they keep him close to Pittsburgh for his complete rehab assignment? Nice start to the order with Horwitz leading off and TJ batting second.
Looking at the Pitching Leaders in the Minors - AAA IL, Bubba Chandler is 3rd with a 1.33 ERA; in AA Hunter Barco Leads the EL with a 0.00 ERA, 12th is Wilber Dotel with a 2.50 ERA, and Po Yu Chen is 17th; In the A+ SAL Garrett McMillan is 7th with a 1.77 ERA, Antwone Kelly is 19th with a 3.18 ERA.
Leading Hitters in the lower levels is very impressive with the Pirates having 4 hitters at the A+ level in the Top 25 in OPS - 2nd Esmerlyn Valdez 1.059, 3rd Javier Rivas 1.013, 9th Omar Alfonzo .883, and 15th Shalin Polanco .857 OPS. At A in the FSL, Konnor Griffin with an .859 OPS is 11th, Axiel Plaz .780 OPS is 21st.
Any reason three starters were pulled early in their games? Is this a new strategy? Can we expect to see Skenes go two and a third. I like to think of that one third as Shelton's contribution to baseball.
Unless Shelton had already told Skenes he wanted him to face a certain hitter, I don't agree with sending him back out in the 7th for one batter. Skenes appeared to shout when he got the final K in the 6th inning, as if his day was done, he was very close to 100 pitches. There is physiological sh*t that happens when any pitcher mentally starts to shut down. And then he has to ramp back up for the 7th when Shelton asked him? That's another 5-6 warm up pitches and then face one hitter. I'd like to know if/when Shelton let him know how long Skenes would go.
One possibility is that with the MiLB Off Day today, we wanted to get some of the RP's some work before the day off. At the upper levels, we may be saving innings for some of those SP's to put to use at the MLB level coinciding with the trade deadline.
Can Shelton last much longer? 5 years of a piss-poor .415 Winning Percentage and we are currently below that at .379 as we are drawing near the 20% mark of his 6th year. A pitifully ridiculous situation!
They’ve always done this early in the season. Pitching four days rest for first few times they work a little stricter with the pitch count on Sunday.
It’ll go up as the season continues
Also with Barco throwing around 70 innings last year, I’d imagine he’s going to be capped around 100, 110 max, this year. So shaving a couple innings now keeps him for the whole season