If I understand correctly, since was sent down on May 27th the only way Mattson can come up again is if he replaces someone going on the IL. So Endy going on the IL is part of the transaction even if not yet announced. Then they needed a roster spot to bring up Sullivan, so they chose to DFA Wentz. In his pre-game press conference, Kelly described Wentz as the unfortunate victim of the need to bring up a non-roster catcher since Bart isn’t ready.
Florentino on paper is another amazing early season success story. OPS over 1,000 now. 11 walks and only 17 strikeouts. All this in a terrible league for hitters in general. And he’s playing the full season at age 18. He doesn’t turn 19 until November.
The results are speaking for themselves. Cruz got off to a rocky start in the field this season, but has improved as the year has progressed. Since the start of May, Cruz has been worth 3 Outs Above Average in the field, according to Baseball Savant. The only Pirate who has graded better than him in that stretch is Ke’Bryan Hayes (4 OAA)………wow!
I am curious what we are going to do at SS for next year because IKF should be used as a trade chip. Part of me wants to embrace the AB method and put Hayes there and his lack of bat would hurt a lot less, but then we still need a third baseman. Unless Yorke and Nicky sticks both find their way to being major league hitters, it'll have to come from outside the org
Some adds to the Konnor Griffin story. His hitting has been excellent, but in the first two months he had some high numbers of K's to BB - in April he had 6 BB/28 K and in May he had 4 BB/21 K. In June where he is hitting .500 (10 for 20) and has an OPS of 1.150, he has 5 BB/3 K. Is he making a conscious effort to cut down on his K's or is it that the pitchers of other clubs are not giving him much to hit? Either way, a helluva impact on the game in just his first 2+ months.
Fielding? He is currently maintaining fielding numbers at SS that are comparatively better than those of Javier Rivas in 2024 at Bradenton in his age 22 season -
Konnor Griffin is going to force the Pirates to step into the world where talent is rewarded by early promotions. Are there any flaws so far in his game? Yes - His GO/FO rate is 1.39 which means he is not hitting the ball in the air often enough. In less than 200 AB's he has 10 doubles, 2 triples, and 8 HR - just think of what those numbers may become if he drops that GO/FO rate down below 1.00!
A well played game where the Bullpen stepped up and held Philly scoreless over the last 5 innings, and Davis, Reynolds, and Frazier set the table for the win. NG came through with the sacrifice fly, made possible by the singles of Frazier, Triolo, and IKF to load the bases in the bottom of the 9th.
Henry Davis has made some real improvements this year on both sides of the ball, and Bryan Reynolds has quietly raised his OPS from a "slumping" .568 for March, April, and into mid-May to a .689 OPS after last night's game. Raising his season OPS by 121 points in only 18 games is an excellent accomplishment. Hoping we can extend that MOTO hitting by at least one or two more hitters as the season progresses.
Almost time for pirates to trade him to the Blue Jays for veteranosity, where he would blossom into an Iron Man. Perennial MVP candidate. The Pirate Way.
Love having Gonzales back in the lineup. Hoping he remains healthy and takes a step forward off of last year. I feel like he’s going to be someone that develops year-to-year to become an above average 2B.
I don’t want to get too hyped yet whenever Davis has a good hitting night, but I really think his play behind the plate is remarkable. I get that defensive metrics are noisy in such a small sample, but just the fact that Skenes wants to throw to him says all I need to hear.
It was a fun game last night seeing the team battle it's way to 5 runs. I'm hopeful that Davis continues to make strides with the bat. He along with Skenes can bring strong leadership and a winning approach to this team. NG seems to have a slow heartbeat. Dude was clutch many times last season, and it was great to see last night. Could the old Bednar be back? He sure looked good last night.....fingers crosses. This team needs to add a legit bat or two. I'd love to see another OF added that pushes Pham out and makes Cannario the 4th OF. Oh, and move KG to GBO please! Let's not coddle the young man. He needs to be challenged!
While we wait for a BDLC-type acquisition from Cherington, I don’t understand why they haven’t already jettisoned Pham after the dreadful start removed the team from having much of a chance of contending this year.
Now is as good of an opportunity as ever to bring up Cook and/or Suwinski (hell, even Bae) to share playing time with Canario. The odds are against all of these guys ever becoming a starting-caliber OF on a contender, and non of them have played well enough to make it clear they should be up, but the team is pissing away the chance (no matter how small) to find out all while giving Pham at-bats.
Cuvet just hit a 3 run homer in the super regionals in the 8th inning.
Looks like Wentz is out. He seemed to be forgotten anyway. Mattson up. Brett Sullivan looks like the replacement for Endy.
Official on Mattson and Wentz (dfa). Still evaluating Endy.
If I understand correctly, since was sent down on May 27th the only way Mattson can come up again is if he replaces someone going on the IL. So Endy going on the IL is part of the transaction even if not yet announced. Then they needed a roster spot to bring up Sullivan, so they chose to DFA Wentz. In his pre-game press conference, Kelly described Wentz as the unfortunate victim of the need to bring up a non-roster catcher since Bart isn’t ready.
Thought it was ten days.
I got all this from the DK site. That’s how they are explaining it.
Doesn’t seem right, but whatever.
If they’re committed to ILing Endy, might as well do it. You really gonna go into a game with H(BP)ank as your only C?
Yeah, can’t do that.
I was thinking last evening: is Pham their emergency catcher? Somehow it wouldn’t surprise me.
Do you think they'll promote Florentino soon, kid seems to have figured out the fcl?
Sullivan seems like the smart choice to bring up, Gutierrez needs the reps in Indy and might be harder (not much) to get through waivers.
I was thinking July for Florentino but, I dunno, couple more weeks of this . . . .
Taylor really should move up, which would be a natural exchange.
Florentino on paper is another amazing early season success story. OPS over 1,000 now. 11 walks and only 17 strikeouts. All this in a terrible league for hitters in general. And he’s playing the full season at age 18. He doesn’t turn 19 until November.
And his middle name is Adonis! Gotta love it.
Only struck out once in his last 9 games.
Oh, hells yeah! Adonis >>> Edward.
The AUSL starts today at 3p EST if anyone is free in the middle of the day
good things happen when this team bunts
even Oneil should get in on the action
Poke some down that third base line when they shift big then steal second makes it an easy double
Nice article on Brock and Cruz in the MLB.com email today
From that article;
The results are speaking for themselves. Cruz got off to a rocky start in the field this season, but has improved as the year has progressed. Since the start of May, Cruz has been worth 3 Outs Above Average in the field, according to Baseball Savant. The only Pirate who has graded better than him in that stretch is Ke’Bryan Hayes (4 OAA)………wow!
I am curious what we are going to do at SS for next year because IKF should be used as a trade chip. Part of me wants to embrace the AB method and put Hayes there and his lack of bat would hurt a lot less, but then we still need a third baseman. Unless Yorke and Nicky sticks both find their way to being major league hitters, it'll have to come from outside the org
why should IKF be used as a trade chip?
we are going to need him in October
Yeah. His house is a great place to watch the wild card games and he gives out full candy bars on Halloween.
Let this be the Henry Davis from now on!
Some adds to the Konnor Griffin story. His hitting has been excellent, but in the first two months he had some high numbers of K's to BB - in April he had 6 BB/28 K and in May he had 4 BB/21 K. In June where he is hitting .500 (10 for 20) and has an OPS of 1.150, he has 5 BB/3 K. Is he making a conscious effort to cut down on his K's or is it that the pitchers of other clubs are not giving him much to hit? Either way, a helluva impact on the game in just his first 2+ months.
Fielding? He is currently maintaining fielding numbers at SS that are comparatively better than those of Javier Rivas in 2024 at Bradenton in his age 22 season -
Rivas - 54 games, 81 PO, 124 Assists, 8 Errors, 28 DP's - .962 Fldg %age
Griffin - 31 games, 40 PO, 89 Assists, 2 Errors, 18 DPs - .985 Fldg %age
Konnor Griffin is going to force the Pirates to step into the world where talent is rewarded by early promotions. Are there any flaws so far in his game? Yes - His GO/FO rate is 1.39 which means he is not hitting the ball in the air often enough. In less than 200 AB's he has 10 doubles, 2 triples, and 8 HR - just think of what those numbers may become if he drops that GO/FO rate down below 1.00!
A GREAT Draft by the Pirates last year!
Has there been any updates on Zander Mueth? He’s been on the 7-day IL all season
A well played game where the Bullpen stepped up and held Philly scoreless over the last 5 innings, and Davis, Reynolds, and Frazier set the table for the win. NG came through with the sacrifice fly, made possible by the singles of Frazier, Triolo, and IKF to load the bases in the bottom of the 9th.
Henry Davis has made some real improvements this year on both sides of the ball, and Bryan Reynolds has quietly raised his OPS from a "slumping" .568 for March, April, and into mid-May to a .689 OPS after last night's game. Raising his season OPS by 121 points in only 18 games is an excellent accomplishment. Hoping we can extend that MOTO hitting by at least one or two more hitters as the season progresses.
Endy is getting close to being labelled as injury prone. Time for Bart to shake off those cobwebs.
endy needs to start taking reps at second and in the outfield
he is a valuable bench piece
Ship. Sailed.
Almost time for pirates to trade him to the Blue Jays for veteranosity, where he would blossom into an Iron Man. Perennial MVP candidate. The Pirate Way.
Love having Gonzales back in the lineup. Hoping he remains healthy and takes a step forward off of last year. I feel like he’s going to be someone that develops year-to-year to become an above average 2B.
I don’t want to get too hyped yet whenever Davis has a good hitting night, but I really think his play behind the plate is remarkable. I get that defensive metrics are noisy in such a small sample, but just the fact that Skenes wants to throw to him says all I need to hear.
He just needs to stay healthy. He offers more at the plate than anyone else at 2B right now, but he needs that game action.
It was a fun game last night seeing the team battle it's way to 5 runs. I'm hopeful that Davis continues to make strides with the bat. He along with Skenes can bring strong leadership and a winning approach to this team. NG seems to have a slow heartbeat. Dude was clutch many times last season, and it was great to see last night. Could the old Bednar be back? He sure looked good last night.....fingers crosses. This team needs to add a legit bat or two. I'd love to see another OF added that pushes Pham out and makes Cannario the 4th OF. Oh, and move KG to GBO please! Let's not coddle the young man. He needs to be challenged!
While we wait for a BDLC-type acquisition from Cherington, I don’t understand why they haven’t already jettisoned Pham after the dreadful start removed the team from having much of a chance of contending this year.
Now is as good of an opportunity as ever to bring up Cook and/or Suwinski (hell, even Bae) to share playing time with Canario. The odds are against all of these guys ever becoming a starting-caliber OF on a contender, and non of them have played well enough to make it clear they should be up, but the team is pissing away the chance (no matter how small) to find out all while giving Pham at-bats.
Because the GM knows hes hanging onto his job by a thread and cutting Pham is an admission of failure. He needs him to battle back a la Rowdy.