236 Comments

Arozarena to the mariners for their #12, #22, and PTBNL? Seems like a steal unless PTBNL is one of their top guys. For that price, we needed to be in on that

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Baz was the PTBNL in Archer trade so it could be something pretty decent, who knows🤷‍♂️

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Pirates are supposedly looking at Bryan De La Cruz, who's exactly replacement level this year and below it last year. More Cherington's speed.

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I’m ok with missing out on Randy. He’s only play LF the last two years and is trending towards a platoon type role.

This is good though because anyone else out there shouldn’t be too expensive now

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Moreso bummed we missed on him for that price than thinking he was a great player. Hope youre right on price, then we should have plenty of capital to pull of a significant deal

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Yea making a move should be no issue. It’ll just be finding the right one

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GBO up 9-0 but Termarr is 0-4, probably one more left. Perachi’s fanned 11 thru 6, one hit.

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why is he still there lol

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The reason I give to myself is that the FO wants him to solidify the gains he has made before promoting him to the higher level. If that reason is wrong, then I don't know what they are doing.

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Jul 26·edited Jul 26

Perachi may now be my top priority as I hopefully make my annual trip to Rome, GA to see the Grasshoppers in the last week of the regular season. Them being a playoff team should keep Termarr there (although I saw him last year). I figured Barco would be gone and my schedule permitting I try to pick a good starting pitcher to see if possible (I saw Bubba last year). I'd say Perachi and Reilly are looking like the best options.

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Jose Rojas is pretty interesting. He’s 31 and has had little opportunity in the majors, but he’s always hit well in AAA, with good power, and was having a big year this year. Looks like he opted out when the Yankees didn’t call him up.

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In true fashion, he is not a good fielder. Fits right into the system

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I'd like to aim higher, but a bat first (or at least more than no bat) backup infielder is the profile they need at this point. Triolo's defense at this point really doesn't add much since at least at 2B and 3B there is no need to sub out the starters for defense and outside of bringing Akila up the backup SS will just need to be somebody who has some experience and Nick G would serve in that role for any Cruz days off (and they don't seem to be platooning him anymore).

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Maybe he'll take over for Hayes

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That’s probably the best I’ve seen Mike Burrows this year. I guess the question has been going past the first inning, though

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8-pitch innings r gud.

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Those will definitely play at any level lol

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Perachi having a big game so far against Asheville, which is second in the league in scoring.

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So will De Los Santos and Severino get some time in Bradenton after the complex league playoffs? Both seem deserving. Anyone else likely to be promoted for the last month?

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I’d imagine so. Not sure where they put anyone. I’d imagine we get some organizational released coming up to make room.

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Jul 25Liked by Anthony Murphy

Sterling, Farrow and Lege signed.

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Sterling’s slot is $2.5M, so his bonus will be important.

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he signed for full slot

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If you trust the rumors from last year, their odd draft was from getting sniped on an overslot kid they had lined up.

The change in strategy this year seems to be popping those types earlier in the slots where they’d end money-wise in the end.

I like it.

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He had commitment to Texas which has loads of NIL money. So not surprised

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But football and basketball make up almost all of the big NIL $'s so while I think it plays into it some, baseball players aren't getting huge money. I saw where Texas athletes earned $15.7M over 2 years and $13.5 went to football and basketball. That leaves a little over $2M ($1M a year) for all the other sports which if i had to guess baseball would be next although I would guess softball also gets some. So even if he got $150K a year which seems high, that would still not be a lot of leverage with a slot of $2.5M.

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Of course it can't compete in total amount at this point in time but even if a top two round player gets say 50,000 per year and bets they will be drafted near their present position in 2 or 3 years when the slots will be even higher they get to spend 2 or 3 years in college instead of riding a bus with a bunch of guys.

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Not surprising.

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i wonder if griffin and sanford will be overslot

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I’m guessing Griffin will be a bit under, but my guesses on this are never much good.

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dunno. i think we (or maybe just me) all thought termarr would be a bit underslot too, and yet he was overslot

i guess we'll see whenever he signs

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Griffin is committed to LSU so depending on NIL money they offer will be the deciding factor

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Celestino to Cubs for cash considerations. Glad to see BC hard at work to make us a better team

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like to hear this

this means there is open dialog with the cubs

Ian happ is own his way home

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This transaction just shows some Cubs intern has the number of some Pirates intern.

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They should just let Forrester DH/1B and hit. I watched him a lot at Oregon ST and the dude can hit. He hits the ball really hard too. He doesn’t get it in the air nearly enough and maybe sometimes he’s too passive but he’ll get OB at a really good clip too.

I think he’s very similar to Tre Morgan(except RH). And less athletic at 1B but he’s sneaky athletic and should be playing just 1B/DH like Morgan.

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I really think Forrester could be the vicinity of .355/.437/.511 with a .948 OPS, 17 2B, 5 HR in 273 PA if healthy and just concentrating on hitting and playing 1B/DH(Tre Morgan stats b/ween A-/A+).

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B-Rey to bereavement list

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Sucks prayers for strength and peace for his family.

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Ah bummer, that's rough

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It is, never like to hear that for anyone

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Bryan was on bereavement late April last year, too.

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Bae has been added to the taxi squad. (Well, he IS the taxi squad.) No indication yet why. Hopefully it's not an indication that Reynolds might go on IL. Could be a trade is close. They signed UT Jose Rojas to a MiL deal to replace Bae at Indy.

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Ethan brought up a good point the Pirates currently have (before Rojas) two domestic roster spots left with quite a few draft picks left to sign. Interesting to bring in a MiL free agent right now.

Just an interesting situation. Feels like has to be trade/injury

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Wonder if Rojas signed in case trades are made by Tuesday to fill a spot for some players moving on? Maybe something good,comimg soon 😁😁

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I guess I don't consider Rojas a real roster issue. He can be dropped just as fast when / if the need arises. It's kind of like the end of bench / AAAA relief pitcher waiver claims who are kept on the roster for 20 minutes before being waived again.

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Well the deadline to sign draft picks is in a week. Would seem weird to bring him in just to drop him a week later.

But yea, if it comes to that, you do what you gotta do

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Good point.. I just seem him as very fungible. We likely lose German off the roster July 31 / Aug 1.

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I'm not sure exactly at what point signed draftees start to count against the domestic roster limit. None of the guys they just signed, for instance, has been added to the FCL roster yet, at least not going by MiLB.com. I don't think they have to be added right away.

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That is what I was curious about too, I'll have to shoot Ethan a message and ask. Someone had said something that led me to believe that it would count immediately. But I could have been wrong.

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Well, scratch one anyway. They just traded Celestino, no doubt for a few bucks.

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I may email John. He knows this stuff pretty well.

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🤔

And the intrigue builds! I was hoping Bae would be up, but hopefully not at the expense of Reynolds

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The guy at DKPS said this came up just as he was boarding his flight. Hopefully somebody else will have the explanation before he gets to Phoenix.

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All of a sudden the NL wild card teams are on fire. Cease with the no hitter today and SD is cruising. Mets just swept the Yankees in the subway series. I’m starting to wonder a little if teams like the Braves (injuries) and Brewers are a little more catchable than we thought they were at one time. Can only handle your own business but all of a sudden scoreboard watching is getting tough

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I thought I´d take a moment to review the progress of everyone´s number trade target this past offseason: Eduardo Cabrera

7.04 era over 38 innings with a losing 1-3 record

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Buy low

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Marlins really want a long term solution at catcher

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Send them Endy.

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Endy for Eury

Tommy John Trade

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They'd probably want Holderman and Endy but I'd consider it.

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I’d pack Endy’s bags and drive him to the airport for Eury.

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i figured they´d want more prospects instead of MLB Holderman but id be good with either Colin or Ashcraft along with Endy

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So, Pirate Fans, why isn't Randy Arozarena the dude?

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Unreal.

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You've heard me before- nobody is untradeable. So to answer your question I always have to know the other half of the equation... what are the Pirate giving up? I've scanned this thread and the MLB TR threads. There are a LOT of players who improve the Pirates either incrementally or somewhat significantly (I put Randy more toward the significantly). But they also need more than one player and no matter how the math is done on funding at some point this is a small market team. Arozarena helps for this year and next as I don't expect Pirates (or most smaller market teams) to let good players just walk so I assume his is gone for his last arb year. What is that worth?

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What's fun about trading with the Rays is that they're always willing to get creative. It's never Pirate-style teardown trade returns for top prospects.

Maybe Luis Ortiz is the headliner.

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Ortiz may not yet have sufficient trade value to bring back a valuable player. He’s been good Ortiz for only a few starts.

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Some possible bias towards optimism there, no doubt.

Need a club who believed in his meteoric rise up the prospect ranks in 2022 and acknowledges the growing pains many if not most pitchers have in their first year. The totality of that perspective over just his recent success.

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Kyle Nicolas is an All-Star closer with the Rays and I hope Nola sees this lol

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Man I'd hate if we all replied enough to get Jeff's attention about KYLE NICOLAS BECOMING AN ALL-STAR CLOSER WITH THE RAYS.

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Something. Something. Kyle Nicolas. Something. All-Star closer.. Something. Tampa Bay Rays

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If you hear a loud thud emanating from the southern central U.S., you know Nola saw it and is unconscious…..

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Case in point:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-make-some-deadline-trades-2024-edition/

I trust the data+feel take of Szym more than trade-o-matic. The Pirates can *easily* match the hypothetical return from the Mariners in the trade proposal from the article above.

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I agree Bucs could come up with that kind of proposal. I dream of the player with 4-5 years of control but who really will give that up without players we don't want to give up. And what I struggle with.. who exactly are those players? AAA players who need to prove themselves are risks who may need 2+ years to establish themselves. Pirates need already somewhat established players NOW(or at least by spring) Bleday was bantered around but he (at least temporarily) has morphed back to his fading prospect performance.

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Are you thinking you'd leave Yandy Diaz out of it? If not, Hancock is a 55. That's Jared Jones. Other two guys are Harrington and Mueth level dudes.

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Jul 25·edited Jul 25

It ain't 2021 anymore, brother.

Present-day Emerson Hancock isn't close to a 55.

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That’s my bad actually. I just popped up his FG player page and forgot they don’t update the FV there at all. You’re right; he’s a 45 now. So more like Ashcraft, Harrington and Meuth. (really wish they updated FV on player pages!)

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Do you really want Bashful Ben trading with the Rays? Sounds like an unmitigated disaster waiting to happen.

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Now thats the move of a team that wants to win

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I see all this Robert and Chisolm talk already, tho. Is the unspoken assumption that they'd cost significantly less than Arozarena?

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My guess is that the chisox and marlins have been known sellers whereas tampa is on the border/unknown who they might make available so less thought about dealing for him. Could be wrong though

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Welp there ya go. Never bet on Tampa to pay a guy after his first year of arbitration.

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Can we just borrow him for the play-offs? A guys that is already making 8 million and heading into arbitration is less likely for Bob to take on compared to a guy making 8 million and heading into free agency.

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I mean, yeah, kinda!

Two more years of control mean's they can have him for two playoff runs and still flip him in his final year of arb, which just so happens to match Oneil's first.

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I feel like the trade for now then flip later to recoup prospect value/most expensive arb year could be a new strategy that teams embrace

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I was saying that I think that Ben might not want 2 more years of control of him because with arbitration it won't be a bargain. Then again, they could get him now and flip him in the off-season.

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I hear yo on the concern, but they're also gonna shed around $35m in payroll this offseason with no significant escalation coming up next year in guaranteed contracts and arbitration.

Unless they run it back with half a dozen shitty dudes making nearly as much, Arozarena - even in arb - is extremely affordable for at least the next year and a half.

Things get dicey after that.

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His overall numbers are alway pretty good and he does walk, but as streaky as he is he would fit right on with this team. I think he was hitting around .160 after the first 2 months. Now he has been hitting .290 the last 2 months. I could be swayed either way. I can't think of too many players the Pirates keep when they are arbitration eligible.

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Through the end of arb or arb at all? They've literally never traded a good player before arb.

Dude ran sub-.200 BABIPs for the first two months of the year and has been an average or better bat in 16 of the last 18 months he's played over his previous three seasons.

This is as good as it gets, my man.

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Or El Duderino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

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Sure, he's an upgrade.

Randy in LF, move Reynolds to RF.

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FCL Bucs clinched a playoff spot, unless I'm reading the rules wrong. They'll either win their division outright, or finish tied with the Rays for both the division and the wild card. Not sure how the tiebreakers work.

Zander Mueth didn't have a good game, but they won, 9-3.

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Red Sox beat the Rays, so the Pirates won the division outright.

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Seeing Pirates fans on the internet claiming with a straight face that Luis Ortiz—if made available—would be the best pitcher on the market. Fan isn't short for fanatic for nothin. Skubal is being talked about. Crochet? Not even close. Ortiz _is_ worth something but let's be real.

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Seems like one fan on one site and I am assuming you addressed it there but I guess you wanted confirmation. First and only time I heard any claim like that regarding Ortiz.

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I let it go. John is nice if a wee bit overoptimistic.

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Bad take, sure. What site is this coming from?

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No thanks. Not going to that cesspool.

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Is it still run by a Yankee fan?

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No, she had health issues and stepped down. They have lots of AI written content now. All the action is fan discussion but you hafta be positive at all times or 3-4 posters will Catch22 you.

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The Yankee fan was a guy, so there must have been mulitiple changes.

"AI written content?" Wtf?? Charlie told me he thought SBN was headed rapidly downhill. He got out at the right time.

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Brother, I haven't even peeked into that place since you left.

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I think you just need to stop visiting bucsdugout like the majority of the other informed/reasonable pirate fans.

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I actually like a few posters' takes there even Johns sometimes who was the guy who said Ortiz best pitcher on the market but whoo boy on that one.

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That's the sort of thing you always get from Yankee fans.

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Yeah thats a real bad take lol

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