45 Comments

The writing is the wall with Tellez. I can’t image him being claimed given his salary and performance thus far. It would be smart for him to accept an assignment off of the roster, similar to Andujar last off season. I actually like the idea of having the defensive versatility of Lamb/Joe at first.

I might be more concerned by Chapman at this point in time. No obvious substitute for him and definitely not cutting him and eating his salary.

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Ben has to get on the phone asap and call the “open for business” Whitesox! Either one of Vaughn or Sheets have control left, and could be the answer at 1B for the next few years. Vaughn has struggled but could be the classic change of scenery breakout guy while Sheets is having a good season and wouldn’t cost as much prospect wise. Maybe something along the lines of Peguero for Sheets gets things rolling?

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It would be a cheap move, I think either could be for Peguero or something similar. I'd also call the twins about Kirilloff, 2 of the 3 are buy low. All could use a change of scenery.

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But Tellez “underlying physical traits are still there” 🥸

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I'm not sure bringing Peguero to the majors at age 21 was a great idea or even playing him as much as they did last year at age 22. It doesn't seem to me that Peggy lacks talent and ability, it seems he is still a little immature in the baseball sense and lacks concentration and focus. Vaughn and Sheets may be good, but they are just fliers to me at this point.

Ke'Bryan Hayes should be coming back in a few days. Maybe that is when Rowdy will get the exit. Triolo can get some at bats at first. I wouldn't hold my breath at this point.

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May 25·edited May 25

They are fliers but all have produced more than Tellez in the more recent past. I'd rather aim for a lefty batter over a righty just to have a big side platoon incase injury or regression from Joe. Joe could still get time in the outfield as well. We are currently lacking a potential impact lefty on the bench (they apparently think that's Tellez lol).

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Missing Palacios heroics!

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We all know Tellez sucks, but our first baseman is Conner Joe. With the exception of a handful of teams, most team's don't have a significant better first baseman than Joe. His numbers are actually better than the average first baseman. I'm not ready to start trading prospects for fliers. If we actually get to .500, maybe we can trade prospects for good players at the deadline.

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May 25·edited May 25

I agree that Joe is our 1st basemen but our depth is severely lacking outside of Lamb (he might be a quad A player now). We don't have a left handed hitter with any pop on the bench currently. I wouldn't want to overpay for Sheets or Kirilloff but look for a trade similar to how they acquired Joe. Both have upside, position flexibility (somewhat), control and I believe an option remaining. Both of those teams are in need of pitching and it's an area we have some surplus.

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I think bullpen and a lefty hitting right fielder are bigger needs than 1b. Joe is fine and if he needs a blow Grandal can play 1b

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If Priester did a little better and Falter a little worse a few weeks ago, I'm not sure our bullpen would be this bad. We need an innings eater out of the bullpen as Falter did that successfully a few times last year. Every team usually has at least one of their relievers pitch poorly that day, the Pirates are stuck leaving our guy in their for 5 hits or 6 baserunners. The last thing I want is for the Pirates to try to find another one inning reliever, but prepare or find a couple relievers to go multiple innings.

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May 25·edited May 25

Kirilloff and Sheets play corner outfield more than firstbase. Not saying that they're good defensively.

Totally agree on the bullpen.

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-O’Neil playing a good short lately. He needs to let the outfielders catch balls hit to the outfield.

-Nick Gonzales is starting to feel real.

-Luis Ortiz is incredibly frustrating.

-Bailey Falter is on one hell of a roll. I keep waiting for regression but he keeps putting zeros up.

-Is Eddy Yean a thing now?

-Feels like this team is about to go on a run.

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I was surprised to see a) Yean still in the organization and b) him finally starting to put things together. Could find himself promoted to AAA before too long

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May 25·edited May 25

BC comments were on pre-game yesterday. To my surprise, his spin on the bullpen is "unlike past years, we believe we have the right pitchers in the bullpen. They just need to be more consistent. We have some guys who do well for stretches, while others struggle. (paraphrasing very close to his actual words).

We have 3 rookies (Nicolas, Stratton, Mlod) and a second-year pitcher (Ortiz) and a rule 5 guy Hernandez (2nd year) in the pen. That's quite a leap in faith, and a rolling of the dice in his roster construction. That's quite a leap of faith Ben and we're paying the price. Edit: Add Ryan, another post-prospect rookie. I like Ryan but they sent him down!

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Friday, May 24

24 down. 57 to go.

Pirates win 11-5 versus the Braves. They are in 4th place, six games behind the Brewers.

*

Ickity-Ackity-Ooph! The ogres are back at the bat rack. Having blown leads when they should have swept the Giants, the ogres were determined to put up enough that a good hitting Braves lineup could not fight back. SIX doubles and a dinger on the day. Daaang!

*

CARROTS ON THE HOUSE

@> Eddy O - Hitting in the four hole and going 3 for 5 with two runs and two batted in makes a wabbit wonder if’n Eddy O made Mike Wazowski expendable.

*

@>@> Nick the Stick, who is turning into a center of the order rbi machine, for his 2 for 3 day with four rbis. Not only is Nick a stick in the order, but he’s gonna stick at 2b for a long time, I think.

*

@>@>@> Falter for a strong seven inning quality start.

__________________________

“Go! Go! Go! Out! Out! Out! It’s mine, do ya hear me?! I’m rich! I’m a happy miser!”

-Wabbit

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Ro was throwing a sweeper last night, don't remember him throwing it with the pirates, I wish him good luck.

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He needs to fix the fastball, as bad as his became and the fact that he has a good slider I can’t understand why a sinker was not pushed….maybe they did and he didn’t take to it.

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Also in the PG this morning, this quote from Cherington worries me--if the bar is set at '21 (61-101) and the sense of urgency is based on "contention as soon as it can", there really isn't any urgency from Cherington on down:

“We feel urgency," Cherington said. "I think we have to feel urgency. This is the big leagues. We are further along than we were three years ago.

"We all feel a sense of urgency, and I think the best way to channel that urgency is into improvement. Let’s just keep getting better because with where we’re at, if we keep getting better day to day and month to month, it’s gonna add up to contention as soon as it can."

The bar needs to set at "further along" than '23 and contention should be this year, not some vague whenever it happens. I know it's just GM-speak and I give Cherington credit for at least making himself available for questions which has happened too rarely, but if I'm a player and I read those comments, I'm not feeling much urgency.

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Makes me nauseous. Also leads me to believe Shelton is here for probably another 2 years. Sickening

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Every Pirate fan has to hope they are trying to win and are heading in the right direction, but talking in circles by the GM doesn't help. He says "we feel urgency" and in the same breath says we're taking it slowly and might eventually get there. That's more than GM talk, that's being deliberately ambiguous and evasive.

We all accuse ownership of being cheap, which of course is true, but this guy was allowed to spend around $30 million on 6 free agents this year with the current contribution of that group being -0.6 fWAR. Most of the negative is Tellez but not all of it and only three of that group have a positive fWAR of any kind. Is that the kind of leadership that's going to eventually lead to the promised land?

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If you look at what I suspect their goal is, to hang around the edges of competition with the big boys like the annoying little brother, his statement makes more sense. I think if you gave them a choice: A.) winning at .480 ball for a decade but you win a World Series OR B.) winning .510 ball for a decade but no World Series… they’d choose B in a heartbeat.

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Relatedly, in an interview this week Austin Hedges talked about the big _difference_ with the Guardians compared to where he's played in the past is that they treat every game as if it was a playoff game. I didn't take it as a reference to only his time with the Pirates, but that this seemed to be a new experience for him suggests that maybe players here don't feel that kind of focus/urgency.

We'll see if the Guardians' intensity holds up over 162 games, but it reminded me of the reports from Shelton's first ST when players commented on how much they liked the shorter workouts and laid back atmosphere (the "my job is to keep things fun" era)--has that changed? Can a manager and coaching staff flip a switch once they've established a culture? Some of the new players (Skenes, Jones, Gonzales) seem to have a different level of intensity, and Cutch obviously knows what it takes to win. Maybe that will help and we'll be okay with the current staff--I do believe that managers get better, though it sometimes takes a second or third opportunity (see Dusty Baker).

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Did the Braves treat last night like a playoff game?

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Nope, they saved their bullets for today and tomorrow. Brought up a minor leaguer to eat 4 innings and their mop up guy and a 40 year old to get the remaining innings. They were hoping last night, while setting up for the rest of the series retaining their best bullpen arms for their better starters to try and take the series. Hopefully we come out hitting and foil their strategy lol.

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Cherington still using a lot of words to say nothing. His actions resemble stubbornness and stupidity not so much urgency.

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I might be in the minority with my thinking, but I feel Cherington is one of the smartest GMs with a plan in the majors......... but I have met plenty of smart people that think they are smart at everything and are either too stubborn or just don't realize where they are flat out wrong.

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He might be smart with analytics but not so in the common sense area. Trying to put a square peg in a round hole time after time without accomplishment (Tellez), is a clear sign of stubbornness and the lack of urgency to correct the mistake is a sign of idiocy.

There's areas I do think he does well but he is departmental good, managerial bad. Reminds me of the story of a great mechanic that earned his promotion to the shop manager. He failed as a manager because he was removed from the area he was elite into a position he didn't have the the experience or ability to succeed. It would explain the many long answers without saying much of anything.

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Are you saying there is more than just analytics? Thank you. There wouldn't have been the movie Money Ball if it wasn't for Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder who were barely mentioned in the movie. :)

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Probably the 3 biggest reasons they won as much as they did lol.

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I don’t think contention alone is the goal. Sustained contention a what BC wants to create, a la Tampa Bay. He’s in no rush because it takes a decade to find out if it is sustained anyway.

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I’m not sure Tampa is an apt comparison. Tampa would’ve traded Reynolds, Bednar and Keller at peak value for more Reynoldses, Bednars and Kellers as opposed to extending them.

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Tampa, Atlanta, Oakland usually, whatever. The point isn’t to mirror another team exactly but to contend consistently. And they don’t care when that contention begins, only that once it does it is sustainable.

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Well that’s a fair assessment, but my critique is that the way they are going about it is flawed. Amongst smaller markets, when you really look at the past decade or so, only Tampa has been able to win consistently. Milwaukee and Cleveland to lesser degrees.

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I’m not commenting on whether they have a good plan. Only that I don’t think contending this season matters to Ben nearly as much as it seems to matter to the media and fan base.

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Well, that just causes me to once again question their competence because they repeatedly have said that build is over and it’s time to win. They pushed the button on the competitive clock, not the fan base.

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I also think Shelton will be the sacrificial lamb, not BC. He’s being setup for a firing.

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Sustained contention needs sustained focus and performance and we don't even seem to be able to achieve that within a series. If you're developing a culture that leads to sustained contention, you first need to develop a culture that treats every game and even every inning as important. We'll see--do they build on their big win last night or do we get a repeat of the SF and Milwaukee series? Gonzales had a great comment about their ability to keep adding runs in the postgame last night:

“That's always important,” Gonzales said. “To keep our foot on their throat as long as we can, for all nine innings. We play nine innings for a reason. We did a good job of that today.”

I don't think Gonzales was implying that they don't always show up to play nine innings, but there have been too many times when it seems like they sit back after scoring runs as if they've done enough.

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Who are you arguing with? I don’t say anything about whether they were succeeding. Only that the idea that BC’s job is in jeopardy or that he would feel urgency is misplaced. It isn’t and he doesn’t.

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I guess I'm just a little grumpy this morning after reading some of Ben's comments, even though I'm happy we won last night! And I didn't mean it to sound like I was arguing with you, just venting my frustration with those who don't seem to think five years is enough to start seeing better results than we're seeing so far this season.

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No worries. I’ve just resigned myself to the belief that Nutting is on board with Ben taking as long as it takes. Contention, in their view, is a broader based thing. This season is no more important to them than two seasons from now. I don’t like it but that’s what it is.

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Very inspiring (and heartbreaking) article about the boy who caught Cutch's 300th HR:

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2024/05/25/toren-mehta-family-andrew-mccutchen-home-run-cancer-battle/stories/202405200110

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That's why Cutch'll get a statue one day.

Every day I watch the Bucs, I get the pleasure of watching someone worthy of your attention. When Cutch is at bat, I take it as a rare pleasure and enjoy the opportunity no matter the outcome. He's a great player and, by this story, a great person.

Pittsburg can, indeed, have nice things.

-Wabbit

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