Thank you. It did well the first day, all the way up to #1 among new releases for baseball books. That's why I was okay with sharing the headline with Skenes and Burrows :)
Lolololololololol "Trade-wise, Cherington has made 15 transactions since January 2020 that sent out MLB talent. Those 17 players have produced 59.3 wins above replacement with their subsequent teams, according to Baseball Reference. Meanwhile, the 33 players Cherington acquired have combined for just 13.1 bWAR with the Pirates."
"This offseason, Cherington signed six true free agents (Andrew McCutchen, Yasmani Grandal, Michael A. Taylor, Martin Perez, Aroldis Chapman and Rowdy Tellez) and traded for two more (Edward Olivares and Marco Gonzales).
Their combined salary: $37.6 million.
Their combined bWAR: 1.3 ... and 1.0 belongs to McCutchen."
If the guy with _that_ result doesn't get fired, I don't know why you'd ever bother turning a game on.
Quite the contrary, Mackey is spot on with his commentary. In fact, he was regularly accused here and on P2 if being a F.O. mouthpiece, and I'm glad he's come around (if that was really the case) on the failure of this F.O and coaching staff. He's frustrated, just like most of us, with the clown show of the management and lack of coaching fundamentals, and still being a losing team after 5 years if this BS. Why exactly is he a joke?
This doesn't affect the conclusion, but do you know if they included the WAR of the traded players only until they became free agents or their full career post trade values? To repeat, doesn't affect the conclusion IMO, but Gerritt Cole for example, you are really only trading the years of control not the full career.
I find it curious that Mackey is citing bWAR when speaking of the off season free agents. If you cite fWAR it’s like 3.5, additionally, he doesn’t factor in Perez’ salary being prorated.
By no means am I endorsing cherington, just trying to illustrate the hack job by Mackey.
I stopped two paragraphs in lol. As soon as someone takes the 'try or sell' stance, I pack it in.
For fans, that's one thing, and that's fine. But I feel like it's a lazy/borderline click bait approach when writers do it. We know what Nutting is, and that he isn't going to sell. If he does, it won't be because he felt bad and wanted the fans to see a winning team.
Headline gonna get those clicks I'd imagine though.
Normally I would agree but with an owner who tries so little, if at all, it’s a point that needs to be made early and often. Nutting is a grifter. John Fisher is who Nutting would be if he had a sliver of ambition.
Yeah I have little use for the try or sell side of the piece but the analysis of Cherington's tenure is useful and even worse than I had supposed. Cherington's trades have literally cost the team on average 9 bWAR per season over his 5 year tenure. Add to that he netted .035 rounded up bWAR per $1M spent this offseason and the guy is the biggest clown to hold down a GM seat in the league.
He entered David Littlefield territory this off-season and solidified at least a tie with Littlefield for worst GM in 70 years at the trade deadline.
As for Shelton, 5 or 10 years from now, the only thing that people will remember of Shelton's tenure is a laugh track of losing: players eating sunflower seeds in the middle of a play, having cellphones fall out of their pockets on the field, the Cubs dugout laughing at the Pirates as Will Craig tries to run a guy down between homeplate and 1B, Tellex trying to run a guy down between 2nd and 3rd at 1B, multiple players not running out of the box on balls that fall in for hits. After he is gone, someone will put a laugh-track of all the bloopers up on Youtube, and that will be all anyone remembers from the wondrous management of Derek Shelton.
I talked briefly to Max yesterday after hearing the news. Great move by the Pirates in my opinion. He gets things done when there's interest in a player. I'm willing to bet he wasn't happy they moved Shim before he came back, and that has nothing to do with how BDLC played
Well... he was the only person in the whole organization who managed to actually find some amateur free agent talent... so... better than where they were, I guess.
His first act needs to be to find someone who really understands the Latin baseball scene though. The Pirates cannot afford to just flush 3-5 million down the toilet every year on Latin players. They need to find talent there... badly.
I have some bad news for you. It is not just baseball in Latin America. If you want to get anything done here, there is usually some under-the-table cash involved. It is not that people are less honest than the U.S.. It is the horrendous tax rates and the hatred of socialist policies. Most people who make a living honestly in Latin America really resent giving anything to their governments because they get furious about so many people living off handouts and doing nothing.
So 60% of the economy is under-the-table. That is just how it is, and Kwan would be wise to find someone who knows how to move the system to the Pirates advantage, because the only guy who did was on-the-take himself, and they had to fire him.
It's hard not to wish they'd have gone with someone from a more successful organization but if they're bringing someone back he's probably the best option.
I'm hearing that MLB may cancel Monday's DH if both Braves and Mets clinch WC today. Pat Murphy not happy with that. Wondering if there's any truth to this. Guess I'll search the web.
I think they would only play the games if they are necessary. Playing a Monday doubleheader would put both clubs at a disadvantage, so I doubt them do them for no reason. It's like when the Pirates and Marlins had a scheduled Monday game after the season ended a few years ago (probably 2018 when they played 161 games), which was just canceled because it eventually became unnecessary.
What I heard is they won't play the games for seeding purposes if they are both in. Interesting dilemma, I can see both sides perspective. One answer is to play the DH and delay the WC series until Wed. from Tues.
Nunnally continues to be in touch with the players who came through Altoona, including Hayes, with the knowledge and support of the Pirates. But the key takeaway is that Hayes’ back continues to be messed up and surgery would make it worse. Hard to be hopeful that he will ever be a productive player again.
That article reads like pr to rework the fan understanding of Nunnally-gate. When reporters are beholden for access, they become little more than team mouthpieces.
I hate it for Hayes. As fans, we get caught up in the wins and losses, but he's a human being and I hate that he is going through this type of pain, not to mention the potential mental issues that can come with it.
I guess I don't mind sharing a headline with Paul Skenes and Mike Burrows. Thanks to Anthony (and crew) for allowing me to plug my latest book just in time to help you forget about this long season. Thanks to anyone who will purchase it today, or perhaps even share the article, which we be good for both the site and the book. Tip of the hat to Wilbur Miller, who provided the photo of John Bormann, which is inside the book and on the back cover.
Congrats John!
Mike Burrows is gonna be a problem. That changeup was phenomenal.
Thank you. It did well the first day, all the way up to #1 among new releases for baseball books. That's why I was okay with sharing the headline with Skenes and Burrows :)
Lolololololololol "Trade-wise, Cherington has made 15 transactions since January 2020 that sent out MLB talent. Those 17 players have produced 59.3 wins above replacement with their subsequent teams, according to Baseball Reference. Meanwhile, the 33 players Cherington acquired have combined for just 13.1 bWAR with the Pirates."
"This offseason, Cherington signed six true free agents (Andrew McCutchen, Yasmani Grandal, Michael A. Taylor, Martin Perez, Aroldis Chapman and Rowdy Tellez) and traded for two more (Edward Olivares and Marco Gonzales).
Their combined salary: $37.6 million.
Their combined bWAR: 1.3 ... and 1.0 belongs to McCutchen."
If the guy with _that_ result doesn't get fired, I don't know why you'd ever bother turning a game on.
https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2024/09/28/ben-cherington-derek-shelton-mlb-playoffs-paul-skenes-kebryan-hayes/stories/202409290079
Glad to see you’re alive and kicking, but that might be one of the worst articles I’ve read. Mackey has really become a joke of a journalist
Quite the contrary, Mackey is spot on with his commentary. In fact, he was regularly accused here and on P2 if being a F.O. mouthpiece, and I'm glad he's come around (if that was really the case) on the failure of this F.O and coaching staff. He's frustrated, just like most of us, with the clown show of the management and lack of coaching fundamentals, and still being a losing team after 5 years if this BS. Why exactly is he a joke?
This doesn't affect the conclusion, but do you know if they included the WAR of the traded players only until they became free agents or their full career post trade values? To repeat, doesn't affect the conclusion IMO, but Gerritt Cole for example, you are really only trading the years of control not the full career.
I find it curious that Mackey is citing bWAR when speaking of the off season free agents. If you cite fWAR it’s like 3.5, additionally, he doesn’t factor in Perez’ salary being prorated.
By no means am I endorsing cherington, just trying to illustrate the hack job by Mackey.
Mackey is trying really hard to be the cool guy.
I stopped two paragraphs in lol. As soon as someone takes the 'try or sell' stance, I pack it in.
For fans, that's one thing, and that's fine. But I feel like it's a lazy/borderline click bait approach when writers do it. We know what Nutting is, and that he isn't going to sell. If he does, it won't be because he felt bad and wanted the fans to see a winning team.
Headline gonna get those clicks I'd imagine though.
Normally I would agree but with an owner who tries so little, if at all, it’s a point that needs to be made early and often. Nutting is a grifter. John Fisher is who Nutting would be if he had a sliver of ambition.
Yeah I have little use for the try or sell side of the piece but the analysis of Cherington's tenure is useful and even worse than I had supposed. Cherington's trades have literally cost the team on average 9 bWAR per season over his 5 year tenure. Add to that he netted .035 rounded up bWAR per $1M spent this offseason and the guy is the biggest clown to hold down a GM seat in the league.
Mackey also reports in that piece that the only club to spend less than the Pirates during Nutting’s tenure as owner is the Marlins.
Yea I’ve never dug into the numbers but kinda figured they weren’t pretty.
That’s an insane amount of value lost on trades
He entered David Littlefield territory this off-season and solidified at least a tie with Littlefield for worst GM in 70 years at the trade deadline.
As for Shelton, 5 or 10 years from now, the only thing that people will remember of Shelton's tenure is a laugh track of losing: players eating sunflower seeds in the middle of a play, having cellphones fall out of their pockets on the field, the Cubs dugout laughing at the Pirates as Will Craig tries to run a guy down between homeplate and 1B, Tellex trying to run a guy down between 2nd and 3rd at 1B, multiple players not running out of the box on balls that fall in for hits. After he is gone, someone will put a laugh-track of all the bloopers up on Youtube, and that will be all anyone remembers from the wondrous management of Derek Shelton.
I'm fairly confident I could turn $38M into 3 bWAR and more than double Cherington's offseason output. Seriously. I'm not kidding.
https://x.com/JohnDreker/status/1751672030175346857
Pirates just hired Kwan back as Director of International Scouting.
I talked briefly to Max yesterday after hearing the news. Great move by the Pirates in my opinion. He gets things done when there's interest in a player. I'm willing to bet he wasn't happy they moved Shim before he came back, and that has nothing to do with how BDLC played
Well... he was the only person in the whole organization who managed to actually find some amateur free agent talent... so... better than where they were, I guess.
His first act needs to be to find someone who really understands the Latin baseball scene though. The Pirates cannot afford to just flush 3-5 million down the toilet every year on Latin players. They need to find talent there... badly.
That's what the Latin baseball scene largely is though.....bribes and under the table cash, so there's always going to be commode flushing.
I have some bad news for you. It is not just baseball in Latin America. If you want to get anything done here, there is usually some under-the-table cash involved. It is not that people are less honest than the U.S.. It is the horrendous tax rates and the hatred of socialist policies. Most people who make a living honestly in Latin America really resent giving anything to their governments because they get furious about so many people living off handouts and doing nothing.
So 60% of the economy is under-the-table. That is just how it is, and Kwan would be wise to find someone who knows how to move the system to the Pirates advantage, because the only guy who did was on-the-take himself, and they had to fire him.
I won't call anything the Pirates do a great move until I see results.
It's hard not to wish they'd have gone with someone from a more successful organization but if they're bringing someone back he's probably the best option.
If I was a fan of any other ballclub I'd hope they'd be in touch with Tyler O'Neill this offseason but given Cherington and Nutting I'll demur.
I'm hearing that MLB may cancel Monday's DH if both Braves and Mets clinch WC today. Pat Murphy not happy with that. Wondering if there's any truth to this. Guess I'll search the web.
I think they would only play the games if they are necessary. Playing a Monday doubleheader would put both clubs at a disadvantage, so I doubt them do them for no reason. It's like when the Pirates and Marlins had a scheduled Monday game after the season ended a few years ago (probably 2018 when they played 161 games), which was just canceled because it eventually became unnecessary.
What I heard is they won't play the games for seeding purposes if they are both in. Interesting dilemma, I can see both sides perspective. One answer is to play the DH and delay the WC series until Wed. from Tues.
A well-reported article on the Ke’Bryan Hayes situation, with extensive quotes from Hayes, Nunnally, and Cherington: https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2024/09/29/kebryan-hayes-ben-cherington-derek-shelton-andy-haines-ben-cherington/stories/202409270071
Nunnally continues to be in touch with the players who came through Altoona, including Hayes, with the knowledge and support of the Pirates. But the key takeaway is that Hayes’ back continues to be messed up and surgery would make it worse. Hard to be hopeful that he will ever be a productive player again.
Honestly makes sense of whatever Kebryan Hayes has been for the last 3 or 4 years.
That article reads like pr to rework the fan understanding of Nunnally-gate. When reporters are beholden for access, they become little more than team mouthpieces.
Guy who thinks media would never dramatize and create conflict to get views.
Ke's dad was publicly pissed when they fired Nunnally. It's none of it a secret.
I hate it for Hayes. As fans, we get caught up in the wins and losses, but he's a human being and I hate that he is going through this type of pain, not to mention the potential mental issues that can come with it.
Really good article. Among other things, it should dispel the fantasy of the Pirates trading him. Nobody’s taking that on.
I guess I don't mind sharing a headline with Paul Skenes and Mike Burrows. Thanks to Anthony (and crew) for allowing me to plug my latest book just in time to help you forget about this long season. Thanks to anyone who will purchase it today, or perhaps even share the article, which we be good for both the site and the book. Tip of the hat to Wilbur Miller, who provided the photo of John Bormann, which is inside the book and on the back cover.