52 Comments

Lead on sportscenter last night was the pirates. Not the Yankees, not the Red Sox, but the Pittsburgh Pirates. Im guessing it’s been close to a decade since that happened.

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Thats because we've had dimwits in the front office for so long and a cheapo owner who doesn't care about winning

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Off topic.... I am going to Miwaukee the 10th and 11th. Has it been announced when Skenes next start is?

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I'm going on the 11th. I think it's luck if the draw at this point ...with Jones out a bullpen game could pop up

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I might go the 11th too

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Ke'Groundout Hayes batting third today is the most Derek Shelton thing possible!

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OPS over 1.000 vs lefties

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Oh boy, 69 PAs. Let's see how many groundouts today.

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Career .839

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Then he should be platooned, right? Imagine if we'd have signed Jeimer Candelario instead of the Reds and Hayes could have taken his rightful place as small platoon 3B and late innings defensive sub. Candelario could have bounced to 1B some too.

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ANGRY YINZER NOISES

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Angry troll noises.

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Angry whiner noises^

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Jul 6·edited Jul 6

RH 1B Andrew Vaughn for Thomas Harrington. Which side says no? Two years of control after this one.

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I wouldn't be very excited about Vaughn

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I think you ride with Rowdy, no?

He’s been one of the most productive 1bmen in baseball since June 1st.

I’d give Palacios a nice run rotating with Jack & DH.

That said, if they’re still in this by end of July, they should add a couple bats.

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As long as Rowdy is on a bull run you ride him. If the bear comes back out you run.

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So he's a keeper now? This may just be Josh Bell 2.0

I think they use him to bring back something better, a longer-term piece that fills a need like CF or rotation depth. I think you keep him only if the trade value on him is too low.

The Pirates can make the playoffs this year, as a wild card, but I'd prefer they do that with an eye on the future. I mean Skenes and Jones will probably be held to 130 - 150 innings, that's not going to be enough to win the world series. Let's play the long game.

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The Pirates are not making the playoffs this year lol

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I think you should look at the playoff standings. There's really only two teams in the NL that have no shot right now.

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We have 9% odds. It's Dumb and Dumber "So you're telling me there's a chance" territory.

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It was more of a joke than anything else. Maybe I should have ended with "...you run or if you're Cherington you play dead."

But on the serious side, I feel if they stay in the WC race, Rowdy is probably producing, so you really can't trade him because it'll cost more to replace him. If he's not producing, he's probably not getting much of a return.

Now if he's still mashing but the team falls out of the WC race you sure as hell trade him.

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But if they are .500 on August 1st they'll still be in reach of a WC spot, and then they have to hope he's still producing.

I think they stick to they're plan and trade all the 1-year contracts and any non-essential players they can get something for (including some prospects), and run down the stretch with players that will return next season.

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I think if we get at least one OF back, rowdy and joe platoon at first is very solid. Rest of the IF will need to basically need internal improvement

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It'd be pretty easy to get Kevin Pillar to make that happen. Or Tommy Pham.

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Yes vs RHP. Vaughn could play against lefties, DH some, and start or platoon next year.

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Just seems like another 'meh' first baseman which we have seen plenty of. With the current Rowdy high we are on and somehow we forget Joe was one of maybe two Pirates who hit the first 2 months and kept the Pirates in playoff range, I'm a quick no. Harrington has legitimate prospect hope and I would want more of a sure upgrade.

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Jul 6·edited Jul 6

He’s below replacement going to a yard that doesn’t yield homers to righties. I’m fine with Joe as long as they deploy him properly. I’m not trading Harrington for someone who is not an upgrade.

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I think the Pirates are higher on Harrington than the White Sox are. So I say they both say no.

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PNC would zap his pull side power, I'd pass but if the price was lower level prospects it might be worth it. I see Harrington as very good depth as early as next year for the rotation or he may become an excellent long man out of the pen.

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He and Rowdy have had the same season at the plate -- worse than zero until June 1 and busting it pretty solidly since. Right handed Rowdy.

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I think Rowdy is his floor. Hes young enough that there’s more potential there. Could become a decent starter.

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Pirates say no.

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The Carrot Tally So Far:*

Keller 25

B.Rey 21

Tellez 20

Jones 18 injured

BabySkenes 17

O’Cruz 16

Nick the Stick 13

L’Ortiz 13

Falter 13

Cutch 11

Joe 8

Oliveras 7

HodorMan 7

ChapMan 7

M. Gonzales 6 injured

M. Perez 6

Bednar 6

Suwinski 5

Flemming 5

Granny 3

Triolo 3

Hayes 3

R.Ryan 2 minors

Davis 2

Bart 2

Williams 2

Bae 2

Nicolas 2

Contreras 1 traded

J. Hernandez 1 minors

M A Taylor 1

Delay 1

*

*updated 7/5/24

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With great appreciation for the nature of carrots, not all being the same size and things like that, Tellez must have stolen someone’s April and May carrots to be that high. Or maybe carrots are granted per decibel of noise in stadium.

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You might be onto it.

Funny thing happened on the way to the local farmer's market.... Carrots only count in wins. Meaning, a guy, say Baby Skenes, can pitch a carrot worthy performance and get nothing, as has happened.

Also, WHEN you have your good day matters. If Rowdy and B.Rey are gonna go off like that, Michael A. Taylor goes 4 for 4 and gets no carrots. The universe is unfair and MAT still lingers at the bottom of the list with Jason... Delay.

Rowdy has indeed gone from Chump to Champ in a month. Dude is raking and even owning the cleanup spot.

Last night's game DID have the air of a playoff, did it not? When there is something to cheer for, the Pirate fans DO turn out.

I tend to scroll right on past posts about potential trades, you know? Because I don't believe this front office is going to make an impact trade. I'll believe it when I read about it. I think this f/o will do the pitching and whatever else you can get thing unless they become serious contenders.

As to the nature of carrots... whatta dreamland of a blog we have here at Bucs On Deck? I love snapping off a bit of crunchy orange... like a raw carrot coin, you know? then you nibble away all the outside until you get to that little round part in the middle... I'm sure that has a name... but then I nosh on that little round part in the middle....

_________________________

"Oh, carrots are divine

You get a dozen for a dime

It's magic!"

-Wabbit.

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Cwazy Wabbit

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Friday, July 5

42 down. 39 to go.

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Pirates win 14-2 over the Mets in front of a full house at PNC in an historical offensive outburst. The Bucs are in third place, 9 games behind the first place Brewers and two games in front of the last place Cubs. At 42 and 45, the Bucs are three games under .500.

*

CARROTS ON THE HOUSE!!!!! (*bombs bursting in air edition)

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@> One mighty carrot juice box for Baby Skenes. It isn’t often that you can throw seven innings with a line like that and get one measly carrot, but on a night when the Ogres at the Bat Rack finally showed up for the rookie, I’d say Señor Hundo doesn’t mind a few less caratin bombs.

*

@>@> Two! ONLY TWO? Carrots for Rowdy who’s gone from Rotten Rowdy to Right-On Rowdy with sell out crowds chanting his name. AAANND the big base stealer has been rocketing up the carrot charts, as you will see when we post the Carrot Leader Board directly following. Big Boy went 2 for 4 with two big flies including a granny, knocking in 5 runs and scoring a pair himself. Welcome to the 4 hole Lefty McThump!

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@>@>@> B.Rey…. Whatta show! 4 for 5 with three runs scored and knocking in six. A homer from both sides of the plate including a granny. THIS is the guy we got when we traded Cutch. And on this day he was DHing in Cutch’s place. How neat to see them on the same team. Given what happened, perhaps Cutch should take a few more days of R-N-R! (JOKE! Easy, people!)

*

Fresh rutabagas for MAT, who’s been scuffling for quite a while, but had a day worthy of jump starting a season, going 4 for 4, but, guess what, cousin??? WE’VE RUN OUTTA CARROTS!!!! SOMEBODY FIND ME SOME FIREWORKS TO SET OFF…. DAAANG.

*

Some nice chard for Pappy Grandal and Mike Wazowski for the souvenirs they sent flying.

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Sour persimmons for Nick the Stick for wearing the collar. I guess SOMEBODY had to do it.

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SOME NOTES: I thought the other night when Matt Carpenter struck out probably for the first time ever against the Pirates that it was a sign that the tide had turned, maybe for the season for our Bucs as the last of the great Buc-killers had finally whiffed. BUT NO. We lost in 10. I was thinking this was a watershed moment in our season. Taking two from the Cards might have just sent us on our way. On the other hand, losing two to the Cards like that could have put us in the seller’s market come the deadline. I really felt like it was RIGHT there for us. And despite the Cards TRYING to give us the game… we gave it right back.

*

Notwithstanding an offensive outburst like that v the Metropolitans, we NEED to get on that much-needed run right about now. We need a little more than two steps forward and one step back.

*

Let’s go Bucs.

_____________________________

“Why, ah, sure lil’ friend. Help yourself to the use of my, ah, telly-o-phone.”

-Wabbit

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With the 7 HRs last night, the Bucs.moved from tied for 25th in the league (with St. Louis) to league average. Another 7 tonight and they will be pushing top 10. So, let's do that.

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Wow

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I like this logic

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AM and BnP convinced me on the podcast that ashcraft might be our best trade chip worth moving as he should have decent value and it might never be higher. Should be a solid centerpiece with ability to help essentially right now and beyond, but we also have plenty of pitching depth to fill behind him

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Arizona might be looking for pitching and have 4 center fielders on their 40 man. They also have another 3 or 4 in their pipeline. The 2 on their 40 I'd consider are Alek Thomas and Jorge Barrosa with Jones as a long shot possibility in the minors. If they tried for Barrosa I'd ask for their draft pick at 35 because they have pick 31 from one of their other center fielders (Carrol) winning ROY last year. I'm sure a lot of teams could use a SP like Ashcraft and would be willing to part with some value.

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Christian Walker wouldn't be too bad of a get for this season either even though he'd never sign an extension here, likely.

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Walker is totally underrated, would love to have him but I wouldn't part with Ashcraft for a rental at 1st base. As long as Arizona is still in the WC picture I can't see them trading him either. He'll get a qualifying offer most likely, which I think would give them a 1st round comp pick in between the actual 1st round and competitive A picks.

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Love this idea, would give us a much better option for the near future and build the lower farm system. All of Ari’s pitching injuries should make them amenable imo

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I agree he is valuable, but not for a team looking for a NOW SP. Therefore not a contending team but more for a team looking to build a Rotation - possibly as a strong value to a team like the Athletics as part of a trade for CF JJ Bleday. Bleday had 1.055 years of MLB Service coming into 2024 and is is currently the leadoff batter for the Athletics with 11 HR, a very good BB of 10.3% and K of 18.6%, and wRC+ of 115.

Ashcraft could be a piece of that trade, but the Pirates would have to get on up if they want to talk trade for Bleday!

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The Pirates needed an "air-it-out" type of game like they had last night. On MLB Quick Pitch this morning they carried the news that the Pirates hit so many HR's that they ran out of Fireworks they shoot off after HR's! Also a nice view of the standing O for Skenes. Things are going well for the Bucs thanks to Reynolds, Tellez, and Cruz leading the offensive effort. Jack Suwinski hitting for an OPS in his last 7 games of .965 is very encouraging.

On the trade front, yesterday I mentioned Switch Hitter, CF, Jonatan Clase of the Mariners who is at AAA. Last night batting RH he hit his 10th HR to LC Field. The night before, on the 4th, batting LH, he hit a HR down the RF line. On July 2, batting RH, he hit a HR to LC. He's the leadoff hitter on his team and already has 24 SB's to go along with 25 EBH power. The Mariners are very high on him, but their GM has a rep for making trades to help his team. There are other possibilities and maybe BC will recognize the need.

One of my favorites when he wore a Pirate Uni, Clay Holmes, has fallen on hard times as the Closer for the Yankees. Another blown Save last night and he is at 5 blown Saves so far this season. I expect the pin stripes will be in the market to find some help.

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Holmes is an interesting but low candidate

He is expensive?

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Problem being they need hitting too, being one of the only teams that might have a better top three than we do. And they definitely have a better 4 and five.

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