Hunter Barco with four more shutout innings for Altoona. I know everyone here is on top of his potential, but I feel like globally in prospect land he’s highly underrated. What’s not to like about a lefty with his stuff and command?
Nice to hear that the Pirates are now the 2nd to last stop before the Korean and Japanese leagues and that the Chisox have taken over as the final stop.
Brennan Malone apparently needs a little more work. This game is painful to watch. Marauders on their 3rd pitcher as they go to the top of third. Hoping i can make it to the 4th inning.
Funny, Grandal was the only one of birdbrain’s signings last year who hit anything, but he had to wait until now to get a MiL deal. Tellez and MAT are both in the majors. Well, arguably in MAT’s case.
We've got three high octane RHRP in Nicolas, Holderman, and Bednar that have all looked bad so far. Desperately need one and ideally two to get themselves together
Jack needs to cut that K rate but his savant page is a butt ton of red. Hope NMR is right and he is due for a ton of positive regression because he could be such an important cog in this offense actually having power potential and an ability to take walks.
Id gladly take a 30% K rate if he's hitting the ball with that kind of authority
Crazy that his babip is only .25 behind his career right average right now but his xwOBA is .352 (higher than 2023, btw) is 150 points higher than his actual wOBA.
Is this his reward for a 4 inning save? In my opinion, only having 5 starters on a roster is flirting with disaster. Ask Molly Hatchet. Any time a starter can't go more than 5 innings, we burn our bullpen. From a statistical side, I don't see the odds being very good. From the mental side of the game, I think Mlodsinki's second game was much better knowing he had Harrington in the bullpen.
Molly Hatchet…I owe my deafness to that Band….Went to a concert on campus in 1980-81. Was on campus at IUP …. Was in the Field House…. Stood about 20 feet from the stage…..never heard one lyric…. None of us could hear at all for a couple of days. Hearing gradually went down hill from there. Oh to be young and stupid again!
I'm right there with you but different band. Saw an audiologist and he told me it's hearing loss and tinnitus. Then gave me a flyer for a support group. I said "do we just sit around and say I didn't hear what you said?"
I agree with this move. I don’t think you want a young top prospect, sitting in the long relief role. We used him in a game that worked out well for him, but too often the usage is unpredictable. We have Wentz for that role. I don’t think Harrington earned anything with recording a save, and he kind of showed he’s not quite ready.
Good point on Wentz. He hasn't pitched 3 innings in a game since 2023, but if the Pirates are planning on pitching him long relief I am all aboard. A pet peeve is watching the Pirates waste some of their best relievers in blow-out games. That is bad for their short term success and their long term success, imo.
As far as Mlodzinski, I think 5 innings was pushing it for him in his build up, so I like seeing a prospect get experience against mlb hitters in a piggy back role.
-I disagree on the Harrington assessment. I think the expectations are too high on him and his second performance is what to expect from him. Gives up hits, seldom walks, and some balls hit pretty deep. Don't forget we still have prospects Chandler and Ashcraft almost ready, not to mention Burrows and Oviedo coming back.
Only if they use the long reliever correctly though. Starter (like Mlod, for example) gets into a jam in the 4th... bring in someone with some chops to get out of the jam. then go to your long reliever with a clean set of bases in the 5th.
Basically the guys whom were used last night and in that order: Ferguson, Santana, Borucki, and Lawrence. I think Burrows would too if he were used in the bullpen. I also think Holderman could be salvaged if he were to develop a good hard slider and stop with the sweeper, which does not take advantage of the velocity on his sinker.
Santana, Borucki and Lawrence were all used in the same game while were down by 5. That's what I would like to see eliminated. That would be nice to see Ferguson be able to take that pressure role.
Well.. if you keep getting into jams every inning, no bullpen is going to save you. So... you throw in the towel and use a mopup arm at some point. Just don't throw in the mopup arm in the 5th inning when you are only down 2 runs. That is the problem that I have with modern bullpen useage.
Yea, you're going to get burned more often than not playing the what-if game. Can only deal with the situation at hand, not predict the future. Use the bullets you've got when you've got them.
I think the issue I have with that is applying playing strategy to the regular season.
Playoffs give you expanded rosters, additional days off, and a smoke-em-if-you-got-em mentality with the season being over at any given point.
Awfully tough to figure out how to pull that off over 162 games.
Actual good bullpens have multiple leverage guys who could serve as "closer", which is probably the solution here more than specific usage of your "closer".
Especially if the jam comes with a dangerous lefty up, we have about 13 guys in the pen who are supposed to take care of them as a strength. This strategy certainly has merit but I wish I trusted them to pull it off
May depend on whether they view the callup as long-term or short-term help. I suppose they could call up Rainey and dfa Peguero, who clearly has no role in the team's plans. Stratton has three options, though, so he can ride the shuttle if need be.
Pirates are the second-worst hitting team in baseball ahead of only the vaunted '27 Yankees I mean Cincinnati Reds but also have the second *largest* spread between their expected wOBA and actual (-.50) just 0.01 ahead of the Mets.
Their xwOBA is one point higher than Milwaukee for 12th in baseball.
Not that I’m bullish on this team, but one could wager that the pitching has been good but not so far over its ability that regression to the mean could make the team at least palatable to watch
Pham and Frazier also super underwater but even their expected wOBAs suck, so out of fairness I don't particularly care to include them. Sucking but not as bad as they've sucked isn't a bar I care to lower.
But there's a big difference between the mean being simply below average as opposed to the results being worst in baseball!
Ain't nobody arguing this is a world series contender or offensive juggernaut, but we're talking a .500 ballclub with a 2024 Detroit Tigers chance of making the playoffs even with the mean being what it is.
This is one of those timing things that sucks on many levels. They're not gonna spend til people buy tickets and people aren't gonna buy tickets until they win. Eeking out those wins they should've had against the Marlins keeps them interesting enough to sell tickets through the summer and just getting back to 2017 levels of attendance is another quarter million butts in seats.
That could be the difference between a hundred million dollar payroll which could be the difference between taking on even the modest salary of a Jazz Chisholm last year at the deadline and the cost-neutral moves they actually made.
This is they key. They have to increase attendance and fan interest to be competitive long-term. Everything that they do and every move they make does the opposite.
Need to put some defenders behind these boys. I'm completely off the IFK train, dude cannot play SS. A plus SS and plus CFer would go a loooooong ways for this team.
The solution to the SS problem is already on the roster and has been for years. Why they haven't moved Hayes to SS after shifts were banned is beyond me, but it is the Pirates who have extreme aversion to maximizing their assets.
Then you can put IKF at 2B or 3B as need arises, and you have a gold glove IF all around (when Triolo is at 3B). That's some defense.
They could solve the CF problem too, but the GM ruined that possibility by signing Pham and committing half the season to ensuring that he should have retired.
It is pretty hilarious that with all the emphasis they put on 'positional flexibility' and how often they put players in positions where they'll obviously fail they rarely give Triolo innings there and refuse to put Ke there....
My main concern with it is keeping Ke healthy. Im sure this has been talked about before, but if Triolo is supposed to be Hayes light then why don't we stick him at SS? His arm is good enough and even if he has some limited range, he won't be an error machine like others
Triolo would be fine at SS, but they have an extreme aversion to maximizing their assets. I'm not sure how playing SS every day would be any harder on Hayes' back than 3B, but OK... I'm fine with Triolo at SS too.
The problem arises when Gonzalez comes back. You really have to have Gonzalez and IKF in the lineup every day since they represent a little bit of offense, and any offence is essential at this point.
My line of thinking is just that SS requires more range and different movements than 3B and his back is already a problem. I could see Gonzales as everyday 2B and IKF getting at least 3 starts plus substitutions/injury time as a super utility guy
I am Ok with any of these solutions actually, but I do think that Hayes should never be playing 3 days in a row, no matter where he plays... so my ideal would be spelling him at SS every 3rd day with Triolo.
I've been saying this since shifts were banned all the way back to the Williams' site. Since it took a Bednar and Holderman implosion to finally start maximizing the bullpen, I do now have a little hope that Russell and Littlefield will finally see the light: that the only reason Huntington made Hayes a 3Bman instead of a SS was because of shifts.
Cruz has to stay in center, that's the only place he's realistically going to play so we just have to hope he shows improvement. OTOH, the hole at SS has been well documented since last year and choosing not to address it is inexcusable. If IKF could hit the ball 120+ then I would be fine but the best option would be having him basically fill the role that Triolo has, which would also be dumb (the hallmark of our FO) because redundancy.
Maybe its old school, but I feel every team should be able to stomach as SS who is a plus defender even if they only hit .200 because the position is just that important.
FG has our cumulative WAR for batters as -1 and our cumulative WAR for pitchers as 2.2. Obviously very early, but the cumulative number of PAs (501) is not far below a typical season total for a starter and the cumulative total of IPs (121.1) falls between what we'd expect for a reliever and a starter for a season.
I.e., if an individual player has a -1 WAR after 500 PAs, we don't think of it as a fluke, nor do we think of a 2.2 WAR after 120 innings as nothing more than luck.
We have to hope that hitting is contagious, and that hitters often start slower than pitchers.
When you factor yours and Catch's comments together it encapsulates perfectly just how inept this front office is. Most teams that can't go after upper echelon talent are choosing between some combination of below average offense with plus defense, the inverse, or average-ish at both. Somehow we choose bad offense AND bad defense almost every time.
Valdez, Reynolds, Endy, Jack, Canario ALL with negative offense AND defense run values so far. Then there are some who have *slight* positives in one category but are *extremely* poor in the other - IKF, Triolo, Pham, Frazier.... Of course nobody would expect Reynolds to remain a net negative player and maybe there's some hope with guys like IKF, Endy and a prayer for Jack or Triolo but what a sad state of affairs for a team that ostensibly is supposed to be competing for the playoffs.
The Pirates insist their metrics show IKF as an outstanding SS. Probably the same metrics that showed Rowdy Tellez was about to turn into Freddie Freeman.
I DID think IKF was about average, but so far he’s pedro’d a lot of throws.
Just checked Statcast. Super SSS, but while it’s not predictive, it IS a reflection of how he’s played so far. His fielding run value is first percentile.
Yes. He does not have the arm strength to make the plays at the extent of his range, especially when ranging to his left. This would not be a problem at 2B at all.
I never understood how Rowdy was seen as a plus defender. Speaking of Rowdy, he did make the Mariners' roster after signing a minor league deal and having a great spring. But his current line is .050/.130/.050--he's been even worse for them than he was for us last April.
Great heads up play by Hayes after the collision between Rodriguez and Bart. The cardinal runner may have made a mistake running around the two who were laying on the ground in the baseline. If he runs into them and makes contact, isn't that interference? He would have been awarded home and that run would have won the game. I only saw the replay, so I don't know if Marmol complained or it was discussed on the broadcast.
I think a fielder is allowed to block a basepath to field a ball, so I don't think interference would have been called. If it would have been, then it should have been for forcing the runner to go out of their way. I think that was Marmol's brief argument that was quickly dismissed by the umps as being baseless because of the reason the fielders were in the basepath.
Top Exit Velocity - First time this year all five were for hits? And all are 108 to 111.8 - the 111.8 was a Single from our 19 year old Catcher at BRD, Axial Plaz. Malcom Nunez should get special recognition for his 111.1 Exit Velo for a HR to LC at Indy - probably about 420'+. LC in Indy is deeper than at PNC. He's still only 24, and is a RH hitting 1B who fields fairly well.
Cha-Ching - Mitch Keller putting up some excellent numbers, and Braxton Ashcraft doing the same at AAA. BC and all of his minions should be putting together a "wish list" of young OF's who can hit for average and power, preferably from the Left side. At the trade deadline, the Pirates could have as many as 3 or 4 pitching difference makers who could help teams looking to find pitching for the stretch run. Find the 1 or 2 who have somebody in their upper minors they would be willing to part with for strong pitching. And, some clubs need pitching badly enough that they cannot wait for the trade deadline.
Nice thought about trading for outfielders who can hit. Not going to happen - BC and the bunch are allergic to good hitters. If it's not a veteran no-hit utility infielder or a washed-up prospect who will never make it then he's no Pirate material as far as they're concerned.
Hunter Barco with four more shutout innings for Altoona. I know everyone here is on top of his potential, but I feel like globally in prospect land he’s highly underrated. What’s not to like about a lefty with his stuff and command?
Palacios called up by White Sox, wondering who’s gonna have a better season, him or Suwinski.
Nice to hear that the Pirates are now the 2nd to last stop before the Korean and Japanese leagues and that the Chisox have taken over as the final stop.
This Bradenton game is beyond ugly right now.
Antwone Kelly had another good start
13 walks and a hit batter in 5 innings. I left when they mercifully took Kennedy out.
Yea I don’t blame ya there. It’s been ugly
Javier Rivas with another home run, and his good start continues
Top 100 prospect by midseason, you heard it here first
Brennan Malone apparently needs a little more work. This game is painful to watch. Marauders on their 3rd pitcher as they go to the top of third. Hoping i can make it to the 4th inning.
He’s warshed.
Funny, Grandal was the only one of birdbrain’s signings last year who hit anything, but he had to wait until now to get a MiL deal. Tellez and MAT are both in the majors. Well, arguably in MAT’s case.
Ty France hit another HR today, playing 1B for the Twins. Just a reminder that he signed a contract for less than Frazier that was not guaranteed.
It takes remarkable skill to spend as little as the Pirates and still throw away as much money as they do.
"Chest hair, gut's out. Bucs win. CMON!"
-Joey Bart
I see Kyle Nicolas called up. Not 100% sure if true yet. Working to verify.
DKPS says him.
That's future closer Kyle Nicolas!
We've got three high octane RHRP in Nicolas, Holderman, and Bednar that have all looked bad so far. Desperately need one and ideally two to get themselves together
Jack needs to cut that K rate but his savant page is a butt ton of red. Hope NMR is right and he is due for a ton of positive regression because he could be such an important cog in this offense actually having power potential and an ability to take walks.
Id gladly take a 30% K rate if he's hitting the ball with that kind of authority
Crazy that his babip is only .25 behind his career right average right now but his xwOBA is .352 (higher than 2023, btw) is 150 points higher than his actual wOBA.
He might be the most unlucky hitter I’ve ever seen.
Hoping its just some early season small sample size fuckery
For sure, 2023 Jack would be a major boon to this team.
Harrington optioned.
Is this his reward for a 4 inning save? In my opinion, only having 5 starters on a roster is flirting with disaster. Ask Molly Hatchet. Any time a starter can't go more than 5 innings, we burn our bullpen. From a statistical side, I don't see the odds being very good. From the mental side of the game, I think Mlodsinki's second game was much better knowing he had Harrington in the bullpen.
Cmon. I'm the only like for a Molly Hatchet reference about a pitching rotation?
I guess having starters go 5 up minimum is a Dream I'll Never See?
Molly Hatchet…I owe my deafness to that Band….Went to a concert on campus in 1980-81. Was on campus at IUP …. Was in the Field House…. Stood about 20 feet from the stage…..never heard one lyric…. None of us could hear at all for a couple of days. Hearing gradually went down hill from there. Oh to be young and stupid again!
Stanley theatre, same time frame, first row. Time catches up!
At least the Stanley had a bit of acoustics. Imagine the same concert in a gram….🤣🤣🤣🤣
Seems like today's gyms are better, saw shows at RMU & Pitt, not bad. Sturgill did try to blow us out of Peterson!
I'm right there with you but different band. Saw an audiologist and he told me it's hearing loss and tinnitus. Then gave me a flyer for a support group. I said "do we just sit around and say I didn't hear what you said?"
lol!! What???? Hold on…..gotta adjust the hearing aids…..
He'll be here all week, ladies & gentlemen!
I agree with this move. I don’t think you want a young top prospect, sitting in the long relief role. We used him in a game that worked out well for him, but too often the usage is unpredictable. We have Wentz for that role. I don’t think Harrington earned anything with recording a save, and he kind of showed he’s not quite ready.
Good point on Wentz. He hasn't pitched 3 innings in a game since 2023, but if the Pirates are planning on pitching him long relief I am all aboard. A pet peeve is watching the Pirates waste some of their best relievers in blow-out games. That is bad for their short term success and their long term success, imo.
As far as Mlodzinski, I think 5 innings was pushing it for him in his build up, so I like seeing a prospect get experience against mlb hitters in a piggy back role.
-I disagree on the Harrington assessment. I think the expectations are too high on him and his second performance is what to expect from him. Gives up hits, seldom walks, and some balls hit pretty deep. Don't forget we still have prospects Chandler and Ashcraft almost ready, not to mention Burrows and Oviedo coming back.
I suppose you could defend this if they brought up Burrows or Ashcraft. They need a looong reliever, not just a two inning guy. But I doubt they will.
Isn’t Ferguson and or Wertz long relievers.
They talked about it in the off-season with Feguson, but his last 3 inning game was 2018. Wentz was in 2023.
They need Ferguson in a short relief role. Don't want him to go three and then be unavailable for several days.
Wentz will be closer before season´s end
Closer to where?
being DFA'd
Only if they use the long reliever correctly though. Starter (like Mlod, for example) gets into a jam in the 4th... bring in someone with some chops to get out of the jam. then go to your long reliever with a clean set of bases in the 5th.
Who are the pitchers that we have with chops? Not being a smart-ass, just asking.
Basically the guys whom were used last night and in that order: Ferguson, Santana, Borucki, and Lawrence. I think Burrows would too if he were used in the bullpen. I also think Holderman could be salvaged if he were to develop a good hard slider and stop with the sweeper, which does not take advantage of the velocity on his sinker.
Santana, Borucki and Lawrence were all used in the same game while were down by 5. That's what I would like to see eliminated. That would be nice to see Ferguson be able to take that pressure role.
Playing Devil's advocate.
What if the same situation comes up in the 6th? 7th? 8th?
You've blown your best leverage arm in the 4th inning.
Well.. if you keep getting into jams every inning, no bullpen is going to save you. So... you throw in the towel and use a mopup arm at some point. Just don't throw in the mopup arm in the 5th inning when you are only down 2 runs. That is the problem that I have with modern bullpen useage.
Yea, you're going to get burned more often than not playing the what-if game. Can only deal with the situation at hand, not predict the future. Use the bullets you've got when you've got them.
I think the issue I have with that is applying playing strategy to the regular season.
Playoffs give you expanded rosters, additional days off, and a smoke-em-if-you-got-em mentality with the season being over at any given point.
Awfully tough to figure out how to pull that off over 162 games.
Actual good bullpens have multiple leverage guys who could serve as "closer", which is probably the solution here more than specific usage of your "closer".
Especially if the jam comes with a dangerous lefty up, we have about 13 guys in the pen who are supposed to take care of them as a strength. This strategy certainly has merit but I wish I trusted them to pull it off
That’s awfully complicated for a bot to do.
There's been a lot of technical advancements being made lately. I would say chatGPT could be our new manager but Bob would never pay for license.
For who?
DKPS guy doesn't know yet. He's guessing Nicolas or Stratton bc they're on the roster. Bednar can't come back yet.
Dunno. All I can find is the one transaction listing.
Probably they want a reliever after the long game.
Wondering maybe Stratton?
May depend on whether they view the callup as long-term or short-term help. I suppose they could call up Rainey and dfa Peguero, who clearly has no role in the team's plans. Stratton has three options, though, so he can ride the shuttle if need be.
Pirates are the second-worst hitting team in baseball ahead of only the vaunted '27 Yankees I mean Cincinnati Reds but also have the second *largest* spread between their expected wOBA and actual (-.50) just 0.01 ahead of the Mets.
Their xwOBA is one point higher than Milwaukee for 12th in baseball.
Hayes alone is probably a big contributor to this. He's been getting absolutely robbed left and right
Hayes at -67, Reynolds at -66, and Oneil at -65 but poor Jack at a cartoonish -150.
The strikeouts are what they are but he's at an insane .608 expected wOBA on contact and just hasn't been rewarded for it.
Not that I’m bullish on this team, but one could wager that the pitching has been good but not so far over its ability that regression to the mean could make the team at least palatable to watch
that's where i'm at.
Going to play in Cincy in that small park would be a great time to start to get these guys back on track
Pham and Frazier also super underwater but even their expected wOBAs suck, so out of fairness I don't particularly care to include them. Sucking but not as bad as they've sucked isn't a bar I care to lower.
Adam Frazier is unfortunately having almost the same amount of sat bats as Cruz …
That needs to stop as soon as possible. Save us nick yorke and get your shoulder better (can’t believe we don’t have a better choice )
amen brother
some positive regression to the mean should be on the horizon.
Regression always is. The problem is the mean.
But there's a big difference between the mean being simply below average as opposed to the results being worst in baseball!
Ain't nobody arguing this is a world series contender or offensive juggernaut, but we're talking a .500 ballclub with a 2024 Detroit Tigers chance of making the playoffs even with the mean being what it is.
This is one of those timing things that sucks on many levels. They're not gonna spend til people buy tickets and people aren't gonna buy tickets until they win. Eeking out those wins they should've had against the Marlins keeps them interesting enough to sell tickets through the summer and just getting back to 2017 levels of attendance is another quarter million butts in seats.
That could be the difference between a hundred million dollar payroll which could be the difference between taking on even the modest salary of a Jazz Chisholm last year at the deadline and the cost-neutral moves they actually made.
This is they key. They have to increase attendance and fan interest to be competitive long-term. Everything that they do and every move they make does the opposite.
Below avg vs worst in baseball
It’s been over five seasons under birdbrain and the former remains an unachievable fantasy. What’s the definition of “insanity?”
Pirates' rotation FIP
-Skenes 1.32
-Heaney 1.51
-Mlodzinski 2.08
-Keller 2.77
-Falter 4.41
Need to put some defenders behind these boys. I'm completely off the IFK train, dude cannot play SS. A plus SS and plus CFer would go a loooooong ways for this team.
The solution to the SS problem is already on the roster and has been for years. Why they haven't moved Hayes to SS after shifts were banned is beyond me, but it is the Pirates who have extreme aversion to maximizing their assets.
Then you can put IKF at 2B or 3B as need arises, and you have a gold glove IF all around (when Triolo is at 3B). That's some defense.
They could solve the CF problem too, but the GM ruined that possibility by signing Pham and committing half the season to ensuring that he should have retired.
It is pretty hilarious that with all the emphasis they put on 'positional flexibility' and how often they put players in positions where they'll obviously fail they rarely give Triolo innings there and refuse to put Ke there....
god i love that somebody else is banging this drum.
Haha I was counting on this response! You've been pounding this table for what, one year, two years, maybe more?
(I'm going to pass though).
My main concern with it is keeping Ke healthy. Im sure this has been talked about before, but if Triolo is supposed to be Hayes light then why don't we stick him at SS? His arm is good enough and even if he has some limited range, he won't be an error machine like others
Triolo would be fine at SS, but they have an extreme aversion to maximizing their assets. I'm not sure how playing SS every day would be any harder on Hayes' back than 3B, but OK... I'm fine with Triolo at SS too.
The problem arises when Gonzalez comes back. You really have to have Gonzalez and IKF in the lineup every day since they represent a little bit of offense, and any offence is essential at this point.
My line of thinking is just that SS requires more range and different movements than 3B and his back is already a problem. I could see Gonzales as everyday 2B and IKF getting at least 3 starts plus substitutions/injury time as a super utility guy
I am Ok with any of these solutions actually, but I do think that Hayes should never be playing 3 days in a row, no matter where he plays... so my ideal would be spelling him at SS every 3rd day with Triolo.
Not sure I’m gonna bang the drum, but I won’t be shooting the messenger, either.
I've been saying this since shifts were banned all the way back to the Williams' site. Since it took a Bednar and Holderman implosion to finally start maximizing the bullpen, I do now have a little hope that Russell and Littlefield will finally see the light: that the only reason Huntington made Hayes a 3Bman instead of a SS was because of shifts.
Cruz has to stay in center, that's the only place he's realistically going to play so we just have to hope he shows improvement. OTOH, the hole at SS has been well documented since last year and choosing not to address it is inexcusable. If IKF could hit the ball 120+ then I would be fine but the best option would be having him basically fill the role that Triolo has, which would also be dumb (the hallmark of our FO) because redundancy.
Maybe its old school, but I feel every team should be able to stomach as SS who is a plus defender even if they only hit .200 because the position is just that important.
FG has our cumulative WAR for batters as -1 and our cumulative WAR for pitchers as 2.2. Obviously very early, but the cumulative number of PAs (501) is not far below a typical season total for a starter and the cumulative total of IPs (121.1) falls between what we'd expect for a reliever and a starter for a season.
I.e., if an individual player has a -1 WAR after 500 PAs, we don't think of it as a fluke, nor do we think of a 2.2 WAR after 120 innings as nothing more than luck.
We have to hope that hitting is contagious, and that hitters often start slower than pitchers.
When you factor yours and Catch's comments together it encapsulates perfectly just how inept this front office is. Most teams that can't go after upper echelon talent are choosing between some combination of below average offense with plus defense, the inverse, or average-ish at both. Somehow we choose bad offense AND bad defense almost every time.
Valdez, Reynolds, Endy, Jack, Canario ALL with negative offense AND defense run values so far. Then there are some who have *slight* positives in one category but are *extremely* poor in the other - IKF, Triolo, Pham, Frazier.... Of course nobody would expect Reynolds to remain a net negative player and maybe there's some hope with guys like IKF, Endy and a prayer for Jack or Triolo but what a sad state of affairs for a team that ostensibly is supposed to be competing for the playoffs.
that's WAR abuse
Good God y'all. What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
WAR crimes?
good thing we have the Hague.
Just noting how it aligns with the observation that the pitchers have been very good and the positional players not.
It’s not like WAR doesn’t align in this case with every other stat known to man.
Just don't abuse the stat for something it's not supposed to do!
Pirate starters have an ERA of 4.76 but a FIP of just 2.67, which is what is used to calculate fWAR.
The closest hitter corollary is wOBA vs expected wOBA, and the Pirates are *50* points underwater but do not get the WAR bump that the pitchers do.
This is why fWAR is superior to bWAR IMO.
amen brotha
The Pirates insist their metrics show IKF as an outstanding SS. Probably the same metrics that showed Rowdy Tellez was about to turn into Freddie Freeman.
I DID think IKF was about average, but so far he’s pedro’d a lot of throws.
Just checked Statcast. Super SSS, but while it’s not predictive, it IS a reflection of how he’s played so far. His fielding run value is first percentile.
By *every* fielding metric this appears to be the worst stretch of defensive baseball he's ever played. Can only go up from here, right....?....
If he's playing 2nd or 3rd it'll go up, short maybe a smidgen but probably not.
Yes. He does not have the arm strength to make the plays at the extent of his range, especially when ranging to his left. This would not be a problem at 2B at all.
Ranging to his right rather. I have trouble with right and left, you know?
Maybe but he is aging too. He isn’t old BUT any drop off at this level of play could manifest itself like we are observing.
Pedro Alvarez says hi
Pedro Pedro HEY!
man i miss that guy.
I never understood how Rowdy was seen as a plus defender. Speaking of Rowdy, he did make the Mariners' roster after signing a minor league deal and having a great spring. But his current line is .050/.130/.050--he's been even worse for them than he was for us last April.
Haha, Rowdy’s already accumulated -0.4 WAR (by either measure). How tf does an adult human manage to repeat a Cherington blunder?
Braves have also been stuck starting BDLC with predictable results.
Ha, -0.2 fWAR. FG dedicated a whole article to explaining that Atl's OF depth was so bad that they had to sign him.
Great heads up play by Hayes after the collision between Rodriguez and Bart. The cardinal runner may have made a mistake running around the two who were laying on the ground in the baseline. If he runs into them and makes contact, isn't that interference? He would have been awarded home and that run would have won the game. I only saw the replay, so I don't know if Marmol complained or it was discussed on the broadcast.
I think a fielder is allowed to block a basepath to field a ball, so I don't think interference would have been called. If it would have been, then it should have been for forcing the runner to go out of their way. I think that was Marmol's brief argument that was quickly dismissed by the umps as being baseless because of the reason the fielders were in the basepath.
that's something Jeter would pull.
Endy has to pick up his head and have better awareness of the situation.
I thought Bart lost the ball. Unsure if he'd have caught it.
I was shocked to see the Mayor of Greenville, Maikol Escotto, is only 22. Hes been disappointing Grasshopper fans for 4 seasons. Consistency.
Top Exit Velocity - First time this year all five were for hits? And all are 108 to 111.8 - the 111.8 was a Single from our 19 year old Catcher at BRD, Axial Plaz. Malcom Nunez should get special recognition for his 111.1 Exit Velo for a HR to LC at Indy - probably about 420'+. LC in Indy is deeper than at PNC. He's still only 24, and is a RH hitting 1B who fields fairly well.
Cha-Ching - Mitch Keller putting up some excellent numbers, and Braxton Ashcraft doing the same at AAA. BC and all of his minions should be putting together a "wish list" of young OF's who can hit for average and power, preferably from the Left side. At the trade deadline, the Pirates could have as many as 3 or 4 pitching difference makers who could help teams looking to find pitching for the stretch run. Find the 1 or 2 who have somebody in their upper minors they would be willing to part with for strong pitching. And, some clubs need pitching badly enough that they cannot wait for the trade deadline.
Nice thought about trading for outfielders who can hit. Not going to happen - BC and the bunch are allergic to good hitters. If it's not a veteran no-hit utility infielder or a washed-up prospect who will never make it then he's no Pirate material as far as they're concerned.