Hate seeing Bru go. I think he's going to really light it up next year when fully healthy.
Hate seeing him go, but not unhappy with the move. It's a huge stretch to me to think this was a salary dump as many are saying. Bru wasn't coming back till midseason which just happens to be when a bunch of high-end pitching prospects should be breaking into the bigs. I think BC knew there wouldn't be a spot for him and unloaded a guy that may not have it when he comes back if there was a spot for him. The pool money going to NYY has me convinced it's a real return coming back. So I'm excited for that for sure.
Alex Stumpf reporting he believes the PTBNL may be a roster player or someone close to major league ready. Not quite sure what’s leading him to speculate that, and obviously too early to know.
We have guys like Peraza Stacking up at AAA and AA - a RH hitting MI/Ut player. Hits well, but if we are trading an MLB-ready SP and Intl Money, why not get something we need, and something they have plenty of in their system and at the MLB level. That would be a young Center Fielder. Spencer Jones is who I would ask for - then when they get up off the floor, I would settle for Everson Pereira, 23, a RH hitting Center Fielder who hit for power and average in the minors last year 900+ OPS in AA, and a 900 OPS in AAA . He also got a look at MLB last year as a 22 year old, and did not do well.
I don't want either of them Peraza or Pereira. Peraza is a little better version of Alika and we have enough corner outfielders that strikeout a ton. I don't think Pereira is very good in center defensively. I would rather have Pereira, there is a chance he could pass in center and hit. I would love to get Brando Mayea though.
Yeah, I'm not getting my hopes up on the return as past returns from the Yankees suggest they know who they can let go of and that they're taking on a non-significant salary.
But the trade makes sense--why not save a little when you anticipate that there will be many options for the rotation once Bru is ready? However, it also reveals the ugly, business side of baseball in that evidently Bru has been around the team a lot during his rehab (not something he had to do, but speaks to his loyalty to his teammates) and is well-liked. I guess better to trade him now so that he can get used to his new organization before actually pitching for them, but I was hoping he'd have the chance to take the next step with us.
The season's first payroll drop hit Bob's desk (players don't get paid during ST). He was shocked. Asked BC WTH did he do this offseason? The trade of Bru's $2.275M and $550K in Intl money and that's a cool $2.8M off the books to placate Bob.
500k gets you a pretty decent international prospect + JT is solid ML SP depth, so i hope we’re getting something of value back. Most likely a DSL lottery ticket ala Suero & Severino from last year.
Probably the hopium, but I am feeling like the brubaker trade is probably the front office being opportunistic with the yankees having a glaring need for starting depth and throwing in the intnl pool money means we are targeting a specific player or two, probably from the most recent draft. This kind of deal, if done well, is what helps organizations keep rolling
Looking at his numbers for the first time, Ryder Ryan is a little more interesting than I first thought. The typical RP who Ks a bunch of guys in the minors, but also walks his fair share. Some times these guys work out, some times they don't. But at least there's something interesting there.
Also, any chance anyone besides Skenes breaks into the top pitch velocity today? Jones could touch 100 today and not break the top 10.
Yeah... I took a look at all the available public information on him last night after the game. It looks like he changed his profile completely 2 years ago in AAA with Seattle and then refined it with Texas. He went to a sinker/slider combo and became more of a pitch-to-contact type guy from a guy who worked on inducing chases. Somehow, his velocity also went up noticeably moving from a four-seamer to a two-seamer as his primary pitch. I see what interested the Pirates. Still not sure about using him as a leverage guy straight out of AAA though.
Second bit there is a great point, jones has a super live arm and yet skenes will very likely dominate all of the velo across the org, maybe across the league today
Or - positive view - Bru is his own player to be named later. Yankees feel so bad about fleecing the Bucs in past trades that they want to pay for his rehab and then send him back as a thank you to their minor league affiliate.
I always want the Pirates to win. Now if I could just squint and see Miami as a good team that they're beating... With the Bru trade - it's a player to be named later so that most will forget the trade when Bru dominates like Keller for a couple years and the "Later" is a nobody that never comes close to the majors. Bucs have a secret pitcher supply agreement with the Yanks that demands an annual sacrifice.
I know it is the smallest of small sample sizes, and means less than nothing, but I still can’t help but smile at yesterdays and this mornings write ups here when I got to the little leaderboards at the bottom.
MAT in the opener with the two highest EV at bats all day that weren’t home runs, and two of the top five on the day. And again yesterday with one of the two hardest hit balls on the big club. And if I looked correctly, all three against righties, to boot. 🤷♂️
Cherington basically said that he wasn't going to be able to pitch until at least the all-star break and something like, "we want to win this year." The first part is no doubt true, but the second part is a crap. He also said to remember that coming back from surgery is not a sure thing.
Brubaker has one more year of control after this year through arbitration (at least I think that's accurate but don't want to look it up right now) and the Pirates do not plan to resign him. They also do not want to pay him the $2+million they owe him and apparently the Yankees were willing to accept the risk and pay him the money.
The Pirates also supposedly sent them some international pool money and in turn are going to get some unknown player. Are they just paying the Yankees to take and pay a player they do not want any longer? Who knows, but it wouldn't be the first time. The fact that that player will not be named until much later probably means the return on the deal is contingent on Brubaker being physically cleared by them once his rehab is finished.
Most likely this is the Pirates getting rid of a player they do not see as part of the future here and saving some money in the process. Maybe they'll get something worthwhile in return and maybe they won't but it's unlikely to amount to much either way.
In the abstract I have no problem trading Brubaker given his middling results despite high strikeout totals and the wave of pitching on the way. But ….. it’s discouraging that the motivation is likely financial since the guy is making $2.5 million this year. We know they count pennies to that level, but that doesn’t make it any less depressing.
Then there’s the return. Cherington has not exactly been a master trader during his tenure with the Pirates. The fact that they even threw in international bonus pool money (which normally they horde) suggests that the return should be meaningful. But the record suggests that in the end it won’t amount to anything.
There could be several possibilities or a combination of several possibilities. First is most obvious: saving money. Second: perhaps the rehab isn’t going well, and they decided to trade him while he still had value. Third: they may have liked whatever the Yankees were offering. Mackey said on the Fan that they had multiple offers so I’d assume that they were clearly shopping him, which makes option 1 and 2 more likely.
BC seemed to hint as much that the return from TJ surgery may be after the break. He’s controlled through 25 only, he’ll then be 31, and they’ll likely have more arms they’re interested in ahead of him at that point. I’m not saying dealing from depth is a good idea, but I saw some people in the game thread saying “horrible trade,” last night. That’s a bit strong.
Agree. I wouldn’t say this is depth necessarily. They have a pile of non-awful/interesting arms with various health, performance and lack of experience issues, which is why I’m not sure I would have made the trade. It’s hard to evaluate a trade when you can’t see what the return is though. Definitely unfair and hyperbolic to call it a horrible trade.
I would say that depends on how the Yankees want to use him? As a traditional starter, he’s probably going to be vulnerable to left handed hitters there. Maybe if they use him as a swingman, piggy back guy, or even flat out reliever, he might have more value if he can dial up the stuff and/or cut back the walks?
I have to believe that the Yankees scouted Brubaker’s rehab work and are confident that he’ll be able to make a contribution this year. So I don’t think the rehab going awry is the issue.
It's probably a combination of all three. My guess is between Mitch/Perez/Jones/Marco/Falter/Ortiz/Falter/German/Lauer/Skenes/Priester they believe they should have enough starters to get through the season, so why pay 2 million plus for a later season depth option (peanuts in baseball for just about everyone but Bob). So if anything of interest comes along, move him. I hope, *hope*, the fact international slot money was involved means the return is interesting. If it's not, then this is beyond just a salary dump, it's would be a ridiculous display of cheapness including slot money.
So let me check, I had TJ with the first two ST game home runs, checking, ahh yes I also have Hernandez and Flemmings with the first two saves of the regular season….😬😳
Those last 2 were easy, everybody knew Hernandez was getting the save when he was put on the active roster and everyone knew Fleming was getting the save when Falter was named the starter for Sunday. It was the only conceivable outcome.
I like to make my predictions after they happen, you know so I’m never wrong 😑. But I see Jones giving up 5 today and Falter going 6 scoreless, because why not!
I liked what little I saw from Fleming in ST and especially liked his interview with Hannah after one of his ST appearances, and am happy to see him get off on the right foot. That length in the pen could be huge given that we may have a lot of ~5 inning starts.
Hate seeing Bru go. I think he's going to really light it up next year when fully healthy.
Hate seeing him go, but not unhappy with the move. It's a huge stretch to me to think this was a salary dump as many are saying. Bru wasn't coming back till midseason which just happens to be when a bunch of high-end pitching prospects should be breaking into the bigs. I think BC knew there wouldn't be a spot for him and unloaded a guy that may not have it when he comes back if there was a spot for him. The pool money going to NYY has me convinced it's a real return coming back. So I'm excited for that for sure.
Alex Stumpf reporting he believes the PTBNL may be a roster player or someone close to major league ready. Not quite sure what’s leading him to speculate that, and obviously too early to know.
MWT and WTM spiderman pointing gif
Rumor I just heard was Oswald Peraza if the medicals come back clean on his shoulder. Still a few weeks out.
I'm not buying it though and neither is the person who told me, he took it as speculation.
We have guys like Peraza Stacking up at AAA and AA - a RH hitting MI/Ut player. Hits well, but if we are trading an MLB-ready SP and Intl Money, why not get something we need, and something they have plenty of in their system and at the MLB level. That would be a young Center Fielder. Spencer Jones is who I would ask for - then when they get up off the floor, I would settle for Everson Pereira, 23, a RH hitting Center Fielder who hit for power and average in the minors last year 900+ OPS in AA, and a 900 OPS in AAA . He also got a look at MLB last year as a 22 year old, and did not do well.
I don't want either of them Peraza or Pereira. Peraza is a little better version of Alika and we have enough corner outfielders that strikeout a ton. I don't think Pereira is very good in center defensively. I would rather have Pereira, there is a chance he could pass in center and hit. I would love to get Brando Mayea though.
The fact that WE added international money means it won’t be garbage.
I feel like this would be a pretty meh result. Would rather lotto tickets tbh
There’s a lot of recent pirate legends playing for their AAA team. Josh Vanmeter, Yerry De Los Santos, Greg Allen…
Kidding, still kind of view it as a salary dump move regardless of how it’s framed. Not expecting much value in return
Yeah, I'm not getting my hopes up on the return as past returns from the Yankees suggest they know who they can let go of and that they're taking on a non-significant salary.
But the trade makes sense--why not save a little when you anticipate that there will be many options for the rotation once Bru is ready? However, it also reveals the ugly, business side of baseball in that evidently Bru has been around the team a lot during his rehab (not something he had to do, but speaks to his loyalty to his teammates) and is well-liked. I guess better to trade him now so that he can get used to his new organization before actually pitching for them, but I was hoping he'd have the chance to take the next step with us.
My hopes aren’t high either. But that’s mostly because it’s JT and some cash.
The season's first payroll drop hit Bob's desk (players don't get paid during ST). He was shocked. Asked BC WTH did he do this offseason? The trade of Bru's $2.275M and $550K in Intl money and that's a cool $2.8M off the books to placate Bob.
500k gets you a pretty decent international prospect + JT is solid ML SP depth, so i hope we’re getting something of value back. Most likely a DSL lottery ticket ala Suero & Severino from last year.
If that DSL ticket is Sabier Marte, I'm all in favor of the trade.
Probably just some Sabier rattling (cough).
Probably the hopium, but I am feeling like the brubaker trade is probably the front office being opportunistic with the yankees having a glaring need for starting depth and throwing in the intnl pool money means we are targeting a specific player or two, probably from the most recent draft. This kind of deal, if done well, is what helps organizations keep rolling
This
Looking at his numbers for the first time, Ryder Ryan is a little more interesting than I first thought. The typical RP who Ks a bunch of guys in the minors, but also walks his fair share. Some times these guys work out, some times they don't. But at least there's something interesting there.
Also, any chance anyone besides Skenes breaks into the top pitch velocity today? Jones could touch 100 today and not break the top 10.
Yeah... I took a look at all the available public information on him last night after the game. It looks like he changed his profile completely 2 years ago in AAA with Seattle and then refined it with Texas. He went to a sinker/slider combo and became more of a pitch-to-contact type guy from a guy who worked on inducing chases. Somehow, his velocity also went up noticeably moving from a four-seamer to a two-seamer as his primary pitch. I see what interested the Pirates. Still not sure about using him as a leverage guy straight out of AAA though.
Second bit there is a great point, jones has a super live arm and yet skenes will very likely dominate all of the velo across the org, maybe across the league today
Just so everyone knows, or at least those who don’t have Twitter. We’ve set records on back to back days already this season.
You guys have been amazing. Let’s keep it up, we absolutely will on our end.
Well, you guys do a good job of giving us a place to be.
All we need is a link and a place to shoot the shit and cry about the Pirates.
It isn't like we live in a hole in the ground where you need to plant some CARROTS ON THE HOUSE!!!!
2 down. 79 to go.
Pirates 7, Marlins 2
Pirates have the best record in baseball and are alone in first place.
ONE carrot for Key Hayes for his 2 for 3 day with 2 runs, 2 rbi and a base on balls.
Also for his two errors (WHAT?) and his beginning two KEY double plays. Heh heh. See what I did there?
TWO! Two lovely carrots for R. Ryan who whiffed the four and five hitters with two on and one out in the 5th. Turning point, yo, for the win.
And THREE... three sweet triangular roots with green on top for Flemming who calmly put the game away with three scoreless innings for the save.
___________________________________
"And don't think it hasn't been a little slice of heaven... 'Cuz it hasn't."
-Wabbit
Or - positive view - Bru is his own player to be named later. Yankees feel so bad about fleecing the Bucs in past trades that they want to pay for his rehab and then send him back as a thank you to their minor league affiliate.
I can get behind this
I always want the Pirates to win. Now if I could just squint and see Miami as a good team that they're beating... With the Bru trade - it's a player to be named later so that most will forget the trade when Bru dominates like Keller for a couple years and the "Later" is a nobody that never comes close to the majors. Bucs have a secret pitcher supply agreement with the Yanks that demands an annual sacrifice.
I feel like the Bru trade includes a list of players from which the Bucs can choose that they like.
Either a) Miami was a good team last year or b) You don't have to be a good team to make the play-offs.
Too be fair, they're down several pretty good starters, probably 4 of their top 5.
I was just talking last year. :)
They had those pitchers last year lol
Pretty opportunistic time to play them
Wow did Puk sukk. Very opportunistic time.
Hey just be happy they're beating anyone let alone the Marlins.
I know it is the smallest of small sample sizes, and means less than nothing, but I still can’t help but smile at yesterdays and this mornings write ups here when I got to the little leaderboards at the bottom.
MAT in the opener with the two highest EV at bats all day that weren’t home runs, and two of the top five on the day. And again yesterday with one of the two hardest hit balls on the big club. And if I looked correctly, all three against righties, to boot. 🤷♂️
What the heck, I’ll take it while it lasts 😋
A suggestion from the old PP site. Put a link to th MiLB box scores. Saves from me going and looking them up, which I often won’t do!
Jack Wagons at MLB.com won't let your pages load if you're using a VPN.
A-holes.
Help me understand why they traded JT at this point. Wouldn't he bring more value after he returns? Or is his return anticipated post trade deadline?
Cherington basically said that he wasn't going to be able to pitch until at least the all-star break and something like, "we want to win this year." The first part is no doubt true, but the second part is a crap. He also said to remember that coming back from surgery is not a sure thing.
Brubaker has one more year of control after this year through arbitration (at least I think that's accurate but don't want to look it up right now) and the Pirates do not plan to resign him. They also do not want to pay him the $2+million they owe him and apparently the Yankees were willing to accept the risk and pay him the money.
The Pirates also supposedly sent them some international pool money and in turn are going to get some unknown player. Are they just paying the Yankees to take and pay a player they do not want any longer? Who knows, but it wouldn't be the first time. The fact that that player will not be named until much later probably means the return on the deal is contingent on Brubaker being physically cleared by them once his rehab is finished.
Most likely this is the Pirates getting rid of a player they do not see as part of the future here and saving some money in the process. Maybe they'll get something worthwhile in return and maybe they won't but it's unlikely to amount to much either way.
They didn’t send them money, just bonus pool space.
In the abstract I have no problem trading Brubaker given his middling results despite high strikeout totals and the wave of pitching on the way. But ….. it’s discouraging that the motivation is likely financial since the guy is making $2.5 million this year. We know they count pennies to that level, but that doesn’t make it any less depressing.
Then there’s the return. Cherington has not exactly been a master trader during his tenure with the Pirates. The fact that they even threw in international bonus pool money (which normally they horde) suggests that the return should be meaningful. But the record suggests that in the end it won’t amount to anything.
A light hitting athletic middle infielder and an 18 year old pitcher with health issues that throws hard.
Sabier Marte and Jared Serna.
I would be delighted if that was the return.
Haha I just went to the FG site and picked a pair who fit that profile.
Sabier Marte could be legit.. .very legit.
There could be several possibilities or a combination of several possibilities. First is most obvious: saving money. Second: perhaps the rehab isn’t going well, and they decided to trade him while he still had value. Third: they may have liked whatever the Yankees were offering. Mackey said on the Fan that they had multiple offers so I’d assume that they were clearly shopping him, which makes option 1 and 2 more likely.
BC seemed to hint as much that the return from TJ surgery may be after the break. He’s controlled through 25 only, he’ll then be 31, and they’ll likely have more arms they’re interested in ahead of him at that point. I’m not saying dealing from depth is a good idea, but I saw some people in the game thread saying “horrible trade,” last night. That’s a bit strong.
The Yanks are likely playing the long game here, Bru is a cost controlled starting option for 2025.
Yeah, actually at least 3 arms besides Skenes are ahead of him already. It is not a bad move.
Agree. I wouldn’t say this is depth necessarily. They have a pile of non-awful/interesting arms with various health, performance and lack of experience issues, which is why I’m not sure I would have made the trade. It’s hard to evaluate a trade when you can’t see what the return is though. Definitely unfair and hyperbolic to call it a horrible trade.
Also not for nothing. With his HR issues, how’s Brubaker gonna do in Yankee Stadium? And it is hard to evaluate without knowing the return.
I would say that depends on how the Yankees want to use him? As a traditional starter, he’s probably going to be vulnerable to left handed hitters there. Maybe if they use him as a swingman, piggy back guy, or even flat out reliever, he might have more value if he can dial up the stuff and/or cut back the walks?
I have to believe that the Yankees scouted Brubaker’s rehab work and are confident that he’ll be able to make a contribution this year. So I don’t think the rehab going awry is the issue.
Just throwing it out as possibility. You could have two teams with a different opinion on that matter.
It's probably a combination of all three. My guess is between Mitch/Perez/Jones/Marco/Falter/Ortiz/Falter/German/Lauer/Skenes/Priester they believe they should have enough starters to get through the season, so why pay 2 million plus for a later season depth option (peanuts in baseball for just about everyone but Bob). So if anything of interest comes along, move him. I hope, *hope*, the fact international slot money was involved means the return is interesting. If it's not, then this is beyond just a salary dump, it's would be a ridiculous display of cheapness including slot money.
Saving money, or an actually interesting return. Time will tell.
I’m thinking it’s probably a little bit of both.
So let me check, I had TJ with the first two ST game home runs, checking, ahh yes I also have Hernandez and Flemmings with the first two saves of the regular season….😬😳
You also had MAT dominating the “Bucs on Deck Morning Rundown” exit velocity leaderboard after two games, amiright?!? 😁
Goes without saying! 😅
Those last 2 were easy, everybody knew Hernandez was getting the save when he was put on the active roster and everyone knew Fleming was getting the save when Falter was named the starter for Sunday. It was the only conceivable outcome.
I like to make my predictions after they happen, you know so I’m never wrong 😑. But I see Jones giving up 5 today and Falter going 6 scoreless, because why not!
As long as they both win, I'm good with it.
I liked what little I saw from Fleming in ST and especially liked his interview with Hannah after one of his ST appearances, and am happy to see him get off on the right foot. That length in the pen could be huge given that we may have a lot of ~5 inning starts.