33 Comments

I remember watching a specific scouting video of Hearn maybe 2080 Baseball (is that still around?) and it was the most bowel-loosening stuff I'd ever seen. Yet he's just a dude, barely able to hold down a big league job. Baseball is impossibly hard.

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"Bowel-loosening stuff" is one of the most incredible descriptors I have ever read lol, ever thought of being a poet?

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improved upon "pants-shitting". #growth

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I like Triolo and think he has a good chance to break camp with the Pirates next season. Watching him play, I see a little DJ LeMahieu, a little Neil Walker. But he needs to hit more. .393 BABIP with an 81 wRC+ isn't exactly a recipe for success. Maybe if he cuts the k's down to the mid 20's, he could make it work. Walk rate is good, but the rest is empty and lucky. At the end of the day, with his defensive versatility, he might just be the next Sean Rodriguez.

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Really hoping his lack if impact is at least somewhat due to his earlier hamate injury and by next spring he will be fully recovered

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Yeah, the hamate certainly has factored into his lack of power, however, he's not a power guy, but he's not an .038 ISO dude either. I'd guess around .100 ISO with a fully recovered hamate. His calling card for above average wRC+ in the minors was a high bb%.

At the end of the day, the hamate isn't causing him to k 31% of the time.

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@Bmac- looks like manoah was optioned to AAA and didnt report because he was upset and has decided not to throw anymore this year (per reports), feels like his time in toronto is coming to an end so you might get a shot at him after all

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Apparently we met with Yamamoto yesterday (?). I believe he's posted so will be getting real money and I am doubting Nutting will give Reynolds+ money so likely just a stunt to say we tried

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I know that jumping to conclusions where the Pirates MI's are concerned is just asking for trouble, but glad to see Jared Triolo up. Last night he played some at 1B so that is 3B, 2B, and 1B so far for the Pirates this year, and puts the ball in play.

Looking very much like the Pirates are setting the stage for 2024 with Oneil Cruz and Liover Peguero as our primary MI, and Triolo and Ji-Hwan Bae serving as Utility Players. Triolo did very well at 3B when Hayes was injured and also at 2B, and in the minors he has also played SS and OF. Bae has done well at both 2B and CF, and has stolen 20+ bases so far this year.

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Tree is also sneakily a very good base stealer

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I knew from his 24/29 SB last year at AA - 83%. Also at AA in 2022 he had 63 Walks and only 87 K's. The kind of player who shows up every day wanting to do it on both sides of the ball - a throwback type of ballplayer, and something the Pirates never have enough of in the lineup!

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Thats dope, I didnt realize that! Feels like we decided as a team not to steal after being too successful early in the season

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Bae is coming off of injury, and I hope he is being conservative trying to make it through the season healthy. I think the Pirates knew going into 2023 that they had to trim the MI's. Never thought it would be Castro, but he is with a playoff team. Marcano is out until possibly July, and I expect the Pirates will trade Nick Gonzales this off-season.

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Personally, I think the injury might've hurt Marcano's long term place on the team. I'd hold on to Nicky G just because the bat potential. Theoretically, a MIF can be moved around.

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Injury didn't help, but I believe his bad play hurts his long-term place on the team.

The guy is well below replacement. He's never been an even replacement player and is -0.8 for his career. They'll be able to hide him on the IL for quite a while with the ACL, but if not for that, I'd guess he'd be off the 40 this winter.

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I'd have to ask Ethan, but I wonder if he was optioned long enough this season to use up his final option. That said, you're not wrong, while at the same time Peggy is the only one that's really showing signs of potentially grabbing 2B (assuming they don't actually consider moving Cruz off SS). Past that, in terms of utility bench guy, no one else has really proven themselves head and shoulders better outside of personal preference. My personal preference would be to DFA Marcano, but overall there's still just a sea of versatile utility guys. So, his play wasn't helpful, but the injury gives a leg up to other players who will at least be healthy.

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I personally dont like bae, but in pure baseball terms i think that combo that you outlined above has pretty nice balance of defense, offense, athleticism, speed, etc. Not to mention flexibility to backup in the OF and cost certainty for the next several years! Hoping more time passing from triolo's hamate injury brings back a little more impact with the bat for next year

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Feels like it was more a case of they just weren't actually good at it

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Eh doesnt sound right, I dont think our team is capable of being bad at a baseball fundamental

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It's funny looking at Bae's splits, cause he went 11 for 12 in Mar/Apr, then 4 of 8 in May, then 5 of 6 in June. Only 2 of 3 since.

As if you can see the trend of pitchers/catchers grasping the new rules, where Bae was just stealing bases at will cause of his speed. Then the pitchers/catchers got their timing down, then Bae had to re-adjust.

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I wonder how many of his CSs were over sliding the bag.

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Feels like he steals more just based on pure speed than actual base stealing skill/talent, which is nice but if we could match his speed with some skill then he could become a real menace. For example, freddie freeman has almost 20 bags lol

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