I was not a fan of sacrificing in the 11th to play for the tie, but was glad when I realized that was Rabelo's call and not Kelly's (I hadn't realized that Kelly had been ejected since MLB had blacked me out).
Also, it was refreshing to read the positivity from Kelly wrt to Davis trying to score instead of the "young player mistake" we got from Shelton a few days ago:
“He did a good job running home. … We're just trying to put the pressure on them to make a play in that situation."
I agree that if you're going to sign a guy like Solak, you owe him another shot in the majors when he puts up the kind of numbers that he has been putting up.
However, where do you play him? The logical choice is in LF in place of Pham, but I don't see them moving on from Pham yet--even if Kelly wants too, I think that's Cherington's call and since he's so sure he's the best person for the GM job...
I vote YES! AAA has Solak 30, Stewart 31, and Hall 29. I noticed these guys when I looked at the Defensive games played by First Basemen, because I thought we should be prepping Malcom Nunez to possibly be the RH hitting 1B to complement Horwitz the lefty. When I looked a few days ago, Nunez only had 38 Inn at 1B, and the combination of Hall, Stewart, Gorski, and Solak had over 200 Inn at 1B.
Steamer projects Solak for 89 wRC+, Frazier for 84. And Steamer is the most optimistic projection for Frazier. Frazier’s batted ball data and expected outcomes are dreadful a quarter of the way through the season, so he’s on path to fall far short of projections while Solak is red hot in AAA. All of this could be said about Phamine, too. The only decision to be made here is which dead weight to jettison. But Birdbrain gotta Birdbrain.
Soon as I read that my reaction was - yeah, that's about equal!
AM - Two days in a row with all 5 Exit Velo's being for hits?
SP Wilber Dotel, 22, with a nice game against a tough opponent at AA. Kervin Pichardo with 4 hits incl 3 doubles and 2 RBI was recognized as the Best Hitter, but a very important aspect of the game at AA was that both Termarr Johnson and Jack Brannigan went yard. Johnson his 5th HR and Brannigan his 4th HR. These two position players will be key parts of the Pirates future. Brannigan is a Super U IF with a bat, and TJ is the LH hitting 2B who has posted consistently plus rates of BB/K in addition to power at every level, and VG defense at both 2B and SS. AA should be the most difficult level to manage the BB/K rates, but in around 100 AB's in 2025, he has 17 Walks/24 K's and his OBP is .357. And, still 20 for another month. Johnson, Skenes, Griffin - nice work by BC and his Draft Group.
I was not a fan of sacrificing in the 11th to play for the tie, but was glad when I realized that was Rabelo's call and not Kelly's (I hadn't realized that Kelly had been ejected since MLB had blacked me out).
Also, it was refreshing to read the positivity from Kelly wrt to Davis trying to score instead of the "young player mistake" we got from Shelton a few days ago:
“He did a good job running home. … We're just trying to put the pressure on them to make a play in that situation."
Free Solak
I agree that if you're going to sign a guy like Solak, you owe him another shot in the majors when he puts up the kind of numbers that he has been putting up.
However, where do you play him? The logical choice is in LF in place of Pham, but I don't see them moving on from Pham yet--even if Kelly wants too, I think that's Cherington's call and since he's so sure he's the best person for the GM job...
I vote YES! AAA has Solak 30, Stewart 31, and Hall 29. I noticed these guys when I looked at the Defensive games played by First Basemen, because I thought we should be prepping Malcom Nunez to possibly be the RH hitting 1B to complement Horwitz the lefty. When I looked a few days ago, Nunez only had 38 Inn at 1B, and the combination of Hall, Stewart, Gorski, and Solak had over 200 Inn at 1B.
Steamer projects Solak for 89 wRC+, Frazier for 84. And Steamer is the most optimistic projection for Frazier. Frazier’s batted ball data and expected outcomes are dreadful a quarter of the way through the season, so he’s on path to fall far short of projections while Solak is red hot in AAA. All of this could be said about Phamine, too. The only decision to be made here is which dead weight to jettison. But Birdbrain gotta Birdbrain.
Mlod vs Sale. What could go wrong?
This is why Kelly (and Marin) used our best relievers in game 1 and 2. They're pretty much expecting to lose this one,
assuming they won't go 3 days in a row with Santana, Bednar, Ferguson and Shugart.
Too bad Skenes didn't line up, for a #1 vs #3 in CY Young award last year.
Soon as I read that my reaction was - yeah, that's about equal!
AM - Two days in a row with all 5 Exit Velo's being for hits?
SP Wilber Dotel, 22, with a nice game against a tough opponent at AA. Kervin Pichardo with 4 hits incl 3 doubles and 2 RBI was recognized as the Best Hitter, but a very important aspect of the game at AA was that both Termarr Johnson and Jack Brannigan went yard. Johnson his 5th HR and Brannigan his 4th HR. These two position players will be key parts of the Pirates future. Brannigan is a Super U IF with a bat, and TJ is the LH hitting 2B who has posted consistently plus rates of BB/K in addition to power at every level, and VG defense at both 2B and SS. AA should be the most difficult level to manage the BB/K rates, but in around 100 AB's in 2025, he has 17 Walks/24 K's and his OBP is .357. And, still 20 for another month. Johnson, Skenes, Griffin - nice work by BC and his Draft Group.
Termarr hasn’t exploded but I like what he is doing at AA and am more hopeful of him because of it.