72 Comments

Any bets on who will fans actually credit for these improvements since it's now a Class A Felony to acknowledge Andy Haines as anything but the antichrist.

Spring 2024 will be interesting. Injury rust is the easy answer for this year but does not explain why he followed the exact same pattern, almost down to the week, in 2022.

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I would guess they will credit Gonzales since that is the time Cruz started getting hot.

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The Oneil Cruz slap-swing sacrifice fly turned out to be the difference in the game last night. Loved seeing that out of him.

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I was at the game last night and I can just say Paul Skenes was a rock star last night. The crowd around the Pirates bullpen by Cardinal fans was pretty thick. I actually got 5th row seats behind the Pirates dug-outs and there were more Pirate jerseys than I have seen at a Cardinal game. I will be second row tonight, then away from the sun Thursday afternoon when it will be 95 degrees.

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There's alot of mud thrown on Cards fans here, but you were there for the standing O they gave to Skenes. Classy. Good baseball fans, knowledgeable baseball fans in my book.

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It is always classy when the home teams gives an ovation for a good outing by the opposing pitcher, but the entire night was a little strange. It was obvious that a good number of the Cardinal fans went to that game to see Skenes more than there to support the Cardinals. Before the game, there only a few Cardinal fans around the Cardinal bullpen to watch Mikolas warm up, but hundreds at the Pirates bullpen an hour before the game. The other odd things was that Mikolas actually outpitched Skenes. Mikolas was perfect or just one walk in the 7th, but the Cardinal fans gave Skenes a bigger hand than their own pitcher Mikolas. I wonder if this might happen at most places where Skenes pitches. One of their fans told me he is more of a celebrity than a pitcher. I told him he is still a pretty good pitcher.

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Good for you, bring home some wins!

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Jun 12Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

Just one more comment regarding last night:

Paul Skenes.

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That's PAUL F*CKIN SKENES to you, sir

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I’ll bet Paul has a wallet that says “Bad Motherf*cker” on it.

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I have one. If I remember I'll post a pick of it as my profile picture when. I get home.

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Skenes > Jules.

Skenes > Mercellus

Skenes > Butch

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What about Honey Bunny?

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Honey Bunny > Ben Heller

Ringo > Ben Heller

Flock of Seagulls > Ben Heller

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Eagles < Ben Heller

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I'd give you a thousand hearts of I could.

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If the ASG was tomorrow, I would guess Skenes, Keller and Holderman would represent for Pittsburgh.

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Here are 10 starters all having good years.

Ranger Suarez, Imanaga, Fried, Sale, Yamamoto, Nola, Wheeler, Glasnow, Cease, Keller

Robert Suarez and Ryan Helsley look like locks while the Nationals need a representative who will probably be Kyle Finnegan.

They are only allowed 12 pitchers and I just mentioned 13.

Personally, I think if ASG was tomorrow the Pirates would only have one rep, either Keller or Reynolds because outfielders are so week this year. Once all the players decline to go, it will interesting to see what other Pirates might make it.

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Without intending any shade to young Mr. Jones, I - and it seems a lot of others based on media coverage - had absolutely no appreciate of how much more wildly dominant Mitch has been over the last six weeks.

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Keller not getting his due!!!

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I love Jones, but the league is adjusting. His k rate is plummeting. I have no doubt he will counter and punch back. But Mitch has been flat out dominant, and his era and Wins would get him an ASG nod. Not that Mitch has bad metrics, but I don't think folks are putting players in the ASG based on FIP and fWAR...It's still counting stats.

Skenes if qualified would-be 4th in ERA. He'll get votes as fans want to see him.

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League adjusting and command regressing, IMO.

Little bit worse command leading to less strikes, whiffs, and chases.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jared-jones/27863/graphs?position=P&statArr=110%2C111%2C204&legend=1%2C2%2C3&split=base&time=game&ymin=&ymax=&start=2024&end=2024&rtype=mult&gt1=20&dStatArray=

Still absolutely bonkers how he went from showing lie grade-40 command all spring to double-plus through the first month of the season. Probably should've expected that to come back down to earth at least a bit.

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Jones deserves the love he's getting but by most objective measures (fWAR, bWAR, ERA, FIP, though Jones leads in xFIP), Keller has been the better pitcher.

And I apologize to Keller for saying/thinking in April that I just needed to consider him a solid #3 and therefore deserving the contract rather than expecting him to lead the rotation just because he signed the biggest contract we've ever given to a pitcher. He's been pitching like the leader of the staff even if most of the media attention is going to Skenes and Jones, which I'm guessing is just fine with Keller.

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I think it is easier for him to pitch like an ace if he is expected to be a number 3, if that makes any sense at all.

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Exactly where I am with Mitch.

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author

Very well put

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I’m wondering if Burrows and Ashcraft end up being the bullpen Calvary along with maybe Gonzales or Perez the second half of this year. Ashcraft will be on an innings limit so why not let him throw his last 30 innings on the MLB roster in relief. Burrows probably won’t start this year so why not let him come up in august or September to help the bullpen as well. Then once priester, Perez, and Gonzales are healthy, 2 if not all 3 may be good fits in the bullpen. The bullpen has a chance to be fixed from within if healthy. I still think I’d add another proven commodity at the deadline though. Still I feel hopeful there are solutions.

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Jun 12·edited Jun 12

Yeah, with all due respect, how many other playoff clubs do we expect to be trying to fix their greatest weakness for a pennant run with two rookies that lack literally any big league experience and both coming back from major surgeries?

Not saying it doesn't have a chance to work, but that's not a serious proposal from a club actually trying to win.

This is a maybe-Rowdy-Tellez-is-good-actually proposal.

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I said I would still add another pitcher. In no way do I think burrows or Ashcraft will solve the problem but my hope would be one or both could be the mlodzinski of this year. Then, instead of needing 4 guys they could maybe only need 1 or 2 via trade. I’m all for getting bullpen arms and sooner rather than later.

If they are serious about a pennant race they at the very least need another legit high leverage bullpen arm and 1B or OF power bat, in my opinion.

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Keep drafting pitching. Trade for more of it, beef up the defense. Try to win games 0.5-0. It don’t be good for my heart, but a win is a win.

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Had MAT's bunt been successful, do you think Shelton would have left Grandal in to get the run in? If so, that seems like having a very low probability of success. I'm rarely a fan of bunting, and even more so when our worst hitter is on deck. And then take that up another notch when you have GG fielders at 3B and 1B. It just didn't seem like the smart play there, all things considered.

And I find it a bit ironic that in the previous inning we couldn't get a runner in from 3rd with nobody out and the middle of the lineup coming up, but then played to try to do the same with one out and the bottom of the lineup coming up.

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It's possible that one could criticize Hayes' pulling the ball instead of going oppo, which likely scores BRey. But Arenado laying out almost directly over the 3b bag for the force was also a stellar play and well, kinda lucky for Cards.

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I wish MAT would have slug bunted in that situation between the pitcher and third basemen (between the pitcher and first basemen for a lefty pitcher). It's what I was taught when both the third and first basemen charge and short and 2nd basemen cover the vacant bases. The runner on second should have cautiously went about halfway and broke only on the throw to first. The only person behind the pitcher is the CFer and the 3rd base coach should be aware if they are crashing to cover 2nd. A fundamentally sound team should never get thrown out at third on that play.

I always thought it was easier to slug bunt than lay down a good bunt. Then again I played a lot of pepper lol.

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Are you questioning Shelton's judgment? Shocking.

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Tuesday, June 11

32 down. 49 to go.

The Pirates win an exceptional baseball game, 2-1 over the Cards, and vault all the way into second place, one half game out of last place and 6.5 behind the Brewers.

CARROTS ON THE HOUSE!!!

*all pitchers’ edition

@> Chapman

@>@> Hodor

@>@>@> Baby Skenes

Now, the way I’m approaching this is that whichever bullpen member is low man on the Carrot Leader Board gets the boost. So Bednar was higher up than Chapman and Hodor. NOW they’s all tied with 5 carrots each. Should be interesting as we go.

That “The Bullpen” can complement such a fine game of baseball is really fun to be part of. When this group is on, they’re pretty good and it’s difficult sometimes to weight a percentage of a carrot this way or that way.

Still, a fantastic game and hoping for another tonight!

______________________

“You keep otta’ dis. He doesn’t have to shoot you now.”

-Wabbit

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Dang I really liked Hernandez. Not sure why they DFAd him. Mustve been something with attitude or personal issues. Certainly more upside than the guy they claimed.

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He's lost almost 1.5 mph on his heater. There was hype when we selected him in the Rule V that he could hit 100...I never seen anything remotely close to that.

When you see kids like him and Ro getting DFA'd, I'm guessing they're not taking to coaching and have bad attitudes. Pirates obviously have so much more info than the average know-it-all on the interwebz. Either way, these types of arms are fungible. Ro probably was pissed that they didn't give him another chance to start and pouted.

I'm not a huge fan of Cherington (although, I'm starting to come around) knows infinite more than internet know-it all's.

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well said.

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We are trending opposite ways on Cherington, particularly given the sorry state of the minor league system, but I’ll agree the pearl clutching over Hernandez is much ado about nothing. Most guys, except the most elite, aren’t losing 1.5 MPH off the heater with little ill effect.

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Waiting on FanGraphs to see if Longenhagen agrees with your assessment.

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Totally fair. But you have to admit, there are some concerning data points.

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It will make a huge difference if Skenes, Jones and Gonzales are on his list.

Johnson will probably drop to a 50, which is still good. Harrington and Barco could be 50's.

Probably a middle of the road system. Not bad considering the graduations of Davis, Endy, Triolo and Ortiz.

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Really not fair to include those guys since they’ve essentially graduated. I’m referring more to Johnson’s struggles, the lack of offense pretty much system wide, and even some pitching struggles, such as seen with Solometo. It’s a system that appears to be running out of gas fairly quickly, despite years of high picks.

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I think it was the drop in velocity, but the bigger question is why was he on the major league roster? They evidently had lost confidence in him--Shelton wouldn't even use him in a perfect situation for a lefty (two outs, Vogelbach up) and of course the DFA confirms that lack of confidence. So essentially Cherington stuck Shelton with a short bullpen. Maybe that cost us a game, and with the way this season is going (so many teams bunched together), just a game here or there could cost us a playoff trip.

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True Cherington stuck Shelton with a short bullpen but I don't think he told Shelton not to use the lefty in a crucial situation.

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What if Shelty made the call to the pen and Hernandez refused? Insubordination happens in all places of employment.

Biggest reason Kenny Pickett is an Eagle is due to him refusing to be Rudolph's backup in Seattle.

When you see stuff that appears obvious, there is more than meets the eye.

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Agree. I get the feeling there was something go on with him being coachable or his overall behavior. Not trying to start rumors. I just found it hard to believe that he would be dropped if he was working hard to improve.

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I get the feeling they don't want bad attitudes in the clubhouse.

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That's quite the stretch if you believe they waited nine days to dfa a guy who refused to play. I might consider your hypothetical if he was dfa'ed after the game or the next day.

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Maybe they were trying to trade him?

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Well if you are going to leave an alleged troublemaker on your active roster for nine days with no intention of using him while making your bullpen short then he's just a little part of the problem.

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I dont know how Sonny Gray will hold up thru this 3 year contract but he has really performed better in his 30s than this poster saw coming, lets hope i just jinxed him🤷‍♂️

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Agreed. I’ve always been a fan of his, but not when he’s pitching against the Bucs.

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Eight of the 15 NL teams are within a game of each other in the loss column with 34 or 35 losses. The Mets are just behind this group with 37 losses. Two of the three wildcards will likely come from this group of nine.

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You'll get cancelled for acknowledging the reality of enormous parity in major league baseball.

Doesn't fit the narrative.

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MLB has a somewhat odd or fascinating way of achieving parity but it (mostly) works. Teams like the Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees show that you can spend your way out of parity, but the 6+ years of team-control combined with the draft and IFA rules allows every team to have windows of contention.

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Also like 25 of the 30 clubs have enough financial capacity to build basically 98% of the roster that $250m payroll clubs can, and at least a couple of the other five are just really fucking good at what they do.

We have an enormously skewed perspective as Pirate fans.

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Jun 12·edited Jun 12

Is McAdoo ready for Altoona? Also, wondering if Hernandez did something to fall out of favor.

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From my views of Hernandez this year and last, he seldom had command of more than one pitch, and he didn’t seem to dominate lefties. His numbers sort of support what I saw. He needed to take a step forward this year and he didn’t. I doubt he had personality issues and I also doubt he gets picked up by another team.

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yes on both accounts

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I initially was curious about that with Hernandez, but I also read he has some velocity drops to go with performance declines on some key metrics, i dont know....🤷‍♂️

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Makes me wonder what happened to cause the velo drop. Has he been doing what is being asked if him to improve? There are things that go on within an organization that we don't know. He was kept on the big league roster all last season. Now he's dropped. That seems like a pretty big fall from favor.

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I love how Chapman is bringing his velocity again when playing the best teams and when the rookie fire ballers pitched. Almost like a, remember I was the phenom first Skenes

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A 36 yo in his 15th season pumpin it at 104 is a remarkable story of discipline and physical training. This shouldn't be possible.

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