34 Comments

I might’ve missed this discussion on another thread, but have they announced what’s going on with German yet?

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Getting a visa from a Latam country to work or even visit the U.S. is a ridiculously long process. I have helped several people get visas, mostly tourist (but also work), and it takes months. I'm sure MLB has some expedited process or access, but there is still a mountain of bureaucratic sloths to wade through. For someone, like him, with some marks on his record... it is even more difficult. Meanwhile, people who make no effort to do things legally walk across the border every day. I'm not a political person, but this system needs to be fixed so that those who do things the right way are rewarded and not those who do as they please.

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BTW... I would just add that this year especially has been the worst ever at trying to get visas into the U.S. from Latam. They are rejecting visas left and right.

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I always just assumed MLB had a way to expedite the process and had them resolved a lot quicker than the average person, but you bring up a good point about how his record could affect things.

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I don’t think there’s much they can do beyond having good lawyers. That helps.

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If you have a good lawyer it’s not difficult getting a visa. Assuming you don’t have drug trafficking on your record or violent felonies. Otherwise, it’s about a 3-4 week process.

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It was a 3-4 week process about 4 years ago. It has gotten longer each year. Last year, I worked on a tourist visa and work visa for two Latams... 3 months for the former... 6 for the latter. The Covid shutdowns and backlog had a lot to do with it. I thought that was all through though, except this year, I had 4 tourist visas denied. No reason given. They had to wait 4 months for the denial.

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Well, he’s got domestic violence on his card.

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That's basically a automatic denial at this point. The Pirates are going to need a very good immigration lawyer to get him through. They will have to deal with Interpol and the FBI in addition to Customs and Immigration.

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TBH... if he were not a baseball pitcher... he would not get a visa... job offer in hand or no. It has been that bad this year trying to get visas.

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Supposedly it's just visa issues. Cherington said that's normal but when you sign a guy in December or January you have weeks to work through the process with nobody knowing about it whereas because he was signed so late, everyone is aware of it now. They say that he's building up his arm (I think in Bradenton, so he may be in the country but not able to work yet) so should be ready as soon as he gets his visa.

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Interesting. Thanks!

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Good pitching and poor hitting is keeping Buc games close on most days. Around the league, there were a lots of blowouts yesterday. 5 position players took the mound. If that isn't a record for a single day , it has to be close.

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With all the pitching injuries already, I'm wondering what the latter part of the season will be like. My guess is lots of offense as teams have to start pitchers who should be in the bullpen or AAA. We'll surely have some attrition too, which is why I hope we can keep Lauer and that things work out with German.

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Apr 28·edited Apr 28

14 down. 67 to go.

Pirates win 4-3 in 10 innings over the Giants.

They are playing .500 baseball and are 4 games back in the Central.

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It’s time to spread some CARROTS ON THE HOUSE!!!

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@> One delicious gnaw-stick for David Bednar for three swinging K’s and an oops.

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@>@> Two orange tooth-roots split between B.Rey and Key Hayes for their back to back jacks to win it.

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@>@>@> Three caratin bombs to Perez for a quality start.

___________________________________________

“Heeey. Wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute. This don’t look like the Coachella Valley to me.”

-Wabbit

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Optimism wins this morning, hopefully that 10th helps break Key back into some power and despite how badly I feel we have played, we got a chance to win the series on the back of our pitching. Could be above .500 once again

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Excellent outing for the kid, Michael Kennedy, who will throw all of this year as a 19 year old. If you pull up the stats for A in the FSL, Kennedy is #11 with 4 Starts, 17 IP, 22K/3BB. And the riches do not end there - at #21 is Carlson Reed 21, with 4 ST, 15.2 IP, 23K/10BB; #33 is Antwone Kelley 20, 3 ST, 13.2 IP, #56 is Hung-Leng Chang 22, 3 ST, 13 IP, 10K/4BB.

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Apr 28·edited Apr 28

Honestly, if we could all be honest with ourselves, not have an agenda for 1 second, being 14-14 with that lineup usually under performing hugely, that high priced(for us) closer tandem kinda a nightmare, and our starters being this, BOY, aren't they doing good, the positive👏👏👏👏... is Shelton really that bad🤷‍♂️🤔???? Or just lazy narrative, I dont care, just curious what thoughtful folks think🤷‍♂️, im sure most of the usual Shelton hater posts, end with LOL, so those arent serious posts, of course, but the serious ones, i dont get it🤷‍♂️

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Not sure about the Shelton hating - I've noticed a lot less this year, and I think the team has played fairly well to date. Pitching overall has been better than expected, and hitting has been down, but 8 hits the first game in SF and 11 hits last night is hard to criticize.

Not thinking that Shelton is the right person for the job, or that readers favor one player over another is not an agenda. Noting that we have a position shortage now and nothing to look forward to coming up from the minors next year, tends to make me wonder what BC has in mind. It is not 1B because Joe has proven to be capable of playing there against RH and LH pitching. And, next year we have Endy coming back and he played a lot of 1B in the early minors. We lack a RH hitting CF with some pop in the bat. I think BC is aware of that, but . . . ?

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To answer your question about Shelton--I've warmed up to him since his days of "my job is to keep things fun". I still think he's a poor in-game manager and is too loyal to veterans (but to be fair, many managers are too loyal to veterans as it's human nature). On the positive side, players seem to genuinely like playing for him which may have been why we finished strong last year, and he's gotten a little better about praising players for their successes instead of only calling them out for lack of execution while citing management for successes.

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As for your last sentence/paragraph…it’s just dumb. I know you’re not a dumb person, but that is an asinine statement.

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I focussed on ..."On the positive side, players seem to genuinely like playing for him"... portion🤣

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I’m dumbfounded by this…

Calling players out for lack of execution while citing mgmt for success.

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I dont know where it comes from, seemingly parsing comments from press conferences across time...exhausting, i find myself supporting Shelton and I have really no feelings about the guy🤣🤣

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We all read comments with certain biases, so take mine for what they're worth. There are numerous examples of Shelton simply saying that a player needed to execute, including times when I don't think Shelton put the player in an optimal position to succeed. I much prefer when he says, as he has more frequently lately, "we need to do a better job" which implies not only execution but preparation that includes coaching.

As for taking credit, earlier this month when the veterans were doing well (Perez still is; Chapman, MAT, Tellez, and Gonzales not so much), Shelton talked about how they were "very intentional" in who they went after this offseason as if they deserved accolades for their ability to identify players who were undervalued. As I said, I've warmed up to him. Initially he rubbed me the wrong way but I won't go into that again as it will just attract insults, evidently.

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*too loyal to veterans*

What veterans are you referring to? Andrew McCutchen?

Pirates during the Shelton era have consistently fielded one of the youngest teams in baseball.

This is what Ted is referencing as far as narratives go.

Honestly, it’s not enjoyable commenting in these rooms due to this complete and utter bullshit.

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So I'm supposed to agree with you or get insulted? Not once have I insulted a poster or a post, but have just offered a different opinion. What makes these rooms unenjoyable is when people attack the poster as dumb or asinine or whatever just because they don't agree.

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What veterans are you referring to?

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Yes, I think in March most of us would have gladly accepted 14-14 at this point, especially with eleven of those 28 games coming against the Brewers, Orioles, and Phillies.

I'm sure we'd all feel better if the 10-4 to 4-10 were flipped, especially after what happened last year. The bigger concern is that we're in Year 5 of the rebuild and it's the Reds and Cubs, and even the Brewers (despite never having high draft picks) who are the teams in our division getting noticed for their young talent. I.e., 3-4 years ago we took comfort that we were ahead of our rivals in rebuilding due to our high picks and high profile trades, and now we seem to have been passed by.

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My take:

1. As with likely every .500ish team, there’s some good and bad. SP has definitely been good. Very good. Except for Keller. Bullpen has been mixed, which is worse than expected. Offense has been lacking in power and timely hits for most part.

2. Shelton is bottom half of baseball Managers. He sticks to preconceived game plans at the expense of riding hot hands. Such as benching MAT for 3 straight days when he was running on a heater to begin season. He also sacrifices better chances to win in order to “show faith” in veterans. Tellez is this year’s poster boy for veteranosity.

All in all, they’re about where they deserve to be, IMO.

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Last sentence worked for me mate👍

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Tellez is a notoriously streaky hitter. He'll get hot at some point and carry the team for a month, but it sure is frustrating watching Shelton try and force a turnaround for him. On the other hand - Cutch looked awful for three weeks then came alive when the manager moved him to leadoff - so credit to him for that if we're knocking the Tellez faith.

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Like the word - veteranosity! However, much as I do not think he should be kept, the Pirates have a note on him for $3.2 mil and BC is not giving up this easily or this early. When Grandal is ready, I think Hank will be sent back down.

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