62 Comments

so does anyone have any idea what the injury is for chandler? i saw no mention of any specific body part

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Matoma finally gave up an earned run.

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In the words of Coach Red Beaulieu—— Cut his ass!

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Going to let it slide this one time, it was a homerun by a 24 year old on a rehab assignment. Plus the 2 players reached on errors prior. Only 1 earned run of the 3, better not happen again, we expect more from 18 year olds from Uganda.

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Bum

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The Day Stalker is hunting down rbi's today in the fcl.

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Who is The Day Stalker?

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Richard Ramirez, maybe the Pitch Stalker would be better.

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Not on my Mt Rushmore of Serial Killers, but I am disappointed in myself for not getting this.

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I thought it might be in bad taste to say night lol.

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Random - Is Brennan Malone still trying to pitch / get healthy / develop, or has he moved on?

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Get healthy, I think he's on the milb 60 day IL.

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-Termarr! Bizarre box score down in high-A; Branigan, White, Escotto, Head, and Ross all take 0-fers, but Termarr/McAdoo/Cemillo combine to put 7 on the board.

-Probably coincidental but boy have both Chandler and Solometo developmentally piled up in a hurry at AA. Ugly starts to the season for both. Also it now feels like affiliates who don't have statcast are playing off in the wilderness. Do we know if Bubba started dropping velo?

-Ji Hwan Bae still putting up video game numbers. It's almost Memorial Day. I don't know, man...

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Is Solo now a reliever? I think last couple of times I read the box, he was pitching in relief

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Skenes, Jones, Mitch, Perez, Falter, Priester, German, Marco, Solometo, Bubba, Oviedo, Burrows, Harrington. That's 13 starters right now that could be up the same timea as Solometo. That's not even mentioning 6 more in Ashcraft, Mueth, Shim, Barco, Kennedy, Reilly.

I know we could use some 3 inning guys, but you got me wondering on Solometo as well. He has pitched 3 innings almost every start. What's the plan?

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Solo specifically I'd say the inning plan is a function of his success getting through them. I haven't noticed (could be wrong) that he's been on a particularly tight pitch count, just having trouble getting outs with them.

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I think you are probably right. 22 innings 23 hits 15 walks this year.

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Saturday, May 19

22 down. 59 to go.

Pirates win 3-2 over the Cubs taking the series 3 games to 1. They are four games under .500 and six games back of first place Milwaukee.

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CARROTS ON THE HOUSE!!!!!

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@> THE BULLPEN for three hitless innings, doing what we had hoped. When you are throwing this much gas, sometimes it can explode on ya. But yesterday, that was some shutdown business. Accepting for the pen today is A. Chapman. 3 outs. 10 pitches. Two strikeouts. Daaaaang!

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@>@> Nick the Stick. Since coming back from AAA, Gonzales has put together some good at bats. 2 for 4 with 2 rbis a walk and a k. He’s got a grip on the long term 2b job. He just has to keep it together and keep on strokin’.

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@>@>@> Pitch Keller. Pitch got through 6, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. Only 83 offerings. Now he walked three and doinked two but managed to limit the damage and keep the Pirate boat afloat.

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Macintosh apples for Mike Wazowski for hitting one outta the park against a strong wind that denied a lot of other guys yesterday.

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Fresh chives for The Renegade for locking down the save by covering the meat of the Cubs order, and to Holder Man for hold #5.

______________________________

“Exit our hero through the front door, stage left.”

-Wabbit

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Just wondering...what's the latest word on Michael Burrows? I searched around a bit and can't find anything that isn't a couple months old.

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From Tomczek a couple days ago, Burrows is expected to throw BPs in the next couple weeks. Sounds like he’s still a ways away.

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author

Before season they reported that Brubaker was due back around the All Star break (obviously until he was traded). Burrows had his surgery about a month after Brubaker did. So probably around the same time frame? Maybe a bit earlier we will see him in some rehab starts in the lower levels.

But, no, nothing NEW on him. Really just a speculation at this point.

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Big uh-oh re Chandler. There’s a decent possibility that Harrington + Barco > Chandler and Solometo by the end of the season.

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Give up on Bubba at your own peril.

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TINSTAAPP…they will break your heart. It’s why you can never have too much pitching.

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Speaking of. I’m not sure if it was noted here yet, but BA did another mock draft, 1-39. Had the Bucs taking college arm Trey Yesavage and prep arm Tegan Kuhns.

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Definitely not what we need, but the most likely players the organization can develop. Hitters be damned.

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Thinking hitters will be easier to sign in FA in the coming off-season as the Bucs will have Skenes-Jones-Keller at the top of the rotation to show potential FA that the pitching is definitely here to compete where they haven’t had for many years.

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Good point, Bob still needs to provide an adequate budget because they still won't sign at a discount.

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Well... there are ways to get a discount, but most are risky... such as longer term for less annually. There are also player opt-outs, which are 9 times out of 10 just bad all around for the team: either stuck with a bad contract or watching a good player walk away.

One solution is trade and toss in a little extra to get the trading partner to cover salary: a tactic that the Pirates have used to success one or two times, but not nearly enough.

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If the Pirates start winning, he will exend the budget. As long as the Pirates are below .500, he won't. That's my prediction.

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May 20·edited May 20

It’s gonna happen. It will be like the Marlins and Tampa models. They have the pitching now so the will pay for bats short term and they will sell again when the pitching is going to head to FA unless they are able to extend some of it. Not counting on Skenes extending unless he really likes living in a smaller city. You heard it here first!

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Yesavage does sound pretty good. And I’d be totally cool with Kuuuuhhhhnnnnssss being a Buc pick.

The way their mock draft went, all of the college bats/arms were gone. So it’s one of the prep bats or something else.

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As much as I want them to take several bats in the first 6 picks with an arm or 2. I'm not sure they can develop the bats, I'm more confident in the arms but not sold on that either. Skenes was a generational arm and Jones developed his elite control after playing catch with Harrington lol.

They definitely spotted something with Falter, but there has been some regression or unfinished development with the other pitchers.

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Some of the nonsense I read in these rooms...

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Hopefully it’s nothing serious with Bubba. Hopefully just a phantom IL stint to work on mechanics. Fingers crossed.

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I just read it's the dreaded 'forearm tightness" in the Trib....

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No bueno

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Very well pitched series in Chicago, with strong defense and timely hitting amounts to taking 3 of 4. Young position players with strong offensive contributions.

Termarr Johnson sneaking up on the BA Mendoza line (.200) in A+ after a 3 hit day. However, he is also sneaking up on the .400 mark for OBP with 34 Walks. Walk percentage is 21.3% while the K percentage is 22%. Obviously very selective at the plate for a kid who will not turn 20 for another month.

Connor Joe had an 0'fer yesterday as did Rowdy Tellez. Good time to just stop and re-assess our need for a platoon situation at 1B. Joe is hitting for an .855 OPS against LHP's in 58 AB, but also an .805 OPS against RHP's in 85 AB. Tellez is hitless against LHP's in only 12 AB, with only an OPS of .504 against RHP's. Almost a third of the season in the rearview mirror, and I doubt there is a team out there waiting for Tellez at the trade deadline! One option could be to give Ji-Hwan Bae reps at 1B in AAA to go along with his ability to play CF - a nice leadoff hitter who can steal more than a few bases.

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Ji-Hwan would have to stand on Bae's shoulders to make a tall enough 1B. Like 2 children in a trench coat making a full size man.

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Ji-Hwan Bae at 1b?

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First Bae?

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For the second season, Malcolm Núñez is doing squat at AAA with a big league job just sitting there for him. If gonzo keeps hitting it makes more sense to have Triolo backup Joe.

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No doubt that Triolo can do that, but I think he can get enough action as a Utility Player at 1B, 2B, 3B, and Bae can provide us with the footspeed at the top of the lineup that has been missing. Two Utility Players?

Nunez lost most of last year to injury (I think) and he really has nowhere to go with the way Connor Joe has played since coming back to the Pirates. Joe can DH, as well as play LF/RF, leaving just enough AB's for a Utility player at 1B. Nunez needs the steady reps he is getting at Indy, and he only turned 23 a few months ago.

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Good to see Triolo start to hit the ball hard.

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We discussed last week.....that's his ceiling, soft flairs that fall in front of OF or

some average EV line drives that clear the IF. Ok, I'll take the OBP.

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Hopefully Gonzales can breakout and claim 2nd, moving Triolo into the super utility role he could win a gold glove at. I wish he would have had more time at short in spring training to be certain he can handle it (I personally think he can). It could open up a spot on the bench for a bat first player.

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SSS.....but yeah Nicky has broken out. He should be the starter at 2B at least until/unless he cools off. With Key's back problems, I think we have to keep Triolo as a reserve.

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But Tellez had a ground out at 111 MPH. That should buy him at least another month of opportunities...

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He was less than Milwaukee needed last year, but he did hit 13 HR in 311 AB for the Brewers in their homer-dome. So BC thought he found a "sleeper" for $3.2 mil! This year he is still a less than average defensive 1B with only 1 HR in 116 AB. It's just a matter of time - probably when Hayes returns. That's a spot on the 26 and the Pirates need every one of those spots to be occupied by contributing players/pitchers. Is Williams still up? If so, he back to AAA and Bae up?

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To be fair, I thought he had sleeper potential as well. I just didn't know he was Rip Van Winkle type sleep

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signed.

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