46 Comments

sources saying Chapman and Suwinksi to the Cardinals for Goldschmidt and Walker

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Done yesterday

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Just watched Gorski blast one out to center in Indy's blowout. His swing still makes me squirm, but he has the bat speed and strength to crush the ball if he makes contact. He's got 7 in his last 9 games, or something like that.

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I think they face LHP Skubal on Tuesday, a very tough matchup for anyone, but especially lefty’s. No way Tellez sees the field until they face Flahery on Wednesday

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I have a feeling the braves will get Robles from the Nats, just dfa'd. Somehow they'll get some of the potential he showed early to play.

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or we trade Taylor to the Braves and start Bae fulltime for a few months?

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Ooh i like the sound of that if we can get a decent return.

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trading Taylor to Atlanta for a reliver would be just what the doctor ordered

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outside of 2023, Aaron Bummer doesnt look too shabby

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also Ken Giles has been throwing well for them in AAA

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But why on earth would the Braves want Taylor. His one skill is elite defense in center. They have Michael Harris who provides the same defense but also hits.

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Shawn Ross - .153 ba, but .833 OPS?!?!

Fleming with an era of 15. I can’t believe nobody claimed him as he’s very important depth.

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Fleming's dfa is pretty far down the hand-wringing scale, imo.

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Apparently Tellez is with the team heading to Detroit, I don't think he'll get dfa'd on the trip.

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Yoshi got 193 plate appearances in 2022. Tellez is at 132 PA. The difference is that Yoshi had an .882 OPS while with the Pirates in 2021 in over 100 ABs with 8 Hrs. Tellez has been showing up in AM's top EV listing so BC is correct that the metrics don't look bad.

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I have to admit I though Yoshi was a good find in 2021 and glad we signed him for 2022. I was wrong about that one.

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Yay… he’s hitting some hard ground balls.

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He's almost unplayable at home with the fans turning on him. If he doesn't start finding outfield grass or balls over the fence in play, those boos won't stop no matter how hard he hits.

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BC is trying to wait until the very last moment to try to recoup some of that $3.2 mil. With what looks like positive EV's lately, he would probably be picked up for next to nothing if DFA'd right now. But, playing with only 25 players to keep him on the active roster until the trade deadline is not an answer either. He needs to hit now!

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His EV’s have been ok for the better part of the year though. He just can’t barrel the ball.

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Yep, he's this year's Austin Hedges, deservedly so.

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There was a better thesis for Hedges going into the signing than there was for Tellez. Not that I like the Hedges signing, either. I'm just saying that if you're a bit fan of catcher framing, there's at least a thesis.

As for Tellez, he was barely a positive fWAR player when he hit over 30 HRs.

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Maybe they think he’ll feel comfortable when he’s back in Toronto and they’ll give him one last chance.

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Boooooo

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If the Pirates need someone to start a couple times for Perez, and if the Pirates had any balls at all, they’d call up Ashcraft. Ride the hot hand and get a legit prospect a taste. He’s already on the 40-man and they can send him back down whenever. There’s no one at AAA who’s worthy of the spot. Especially Priester.

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I can see Ashcraft coming up to pitch in the bullpen at some point this season. The fact none of the relievers at Indy with the exception of Heller deserve a call up has me thinking they will be creative with call ups or scour the DFA heap

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Whoever it is they do need to bring someone up, we need to monitor Jones and Skenes innings as much as possible. More so Jones, his command is already slipping and velocity dipping.

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I disagree on Priester. When his stuff isn't working, he can't get minor league hitters out. When his stuff is working, he can get major league hitters out.

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Just needs to have more consistency, still learning to harness his pitch ability, use what's working and avoiding the middle of the zone.

Very much like Keller at a similar age.

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Yep. If he can stay off the middle of the plate, he has enough to succeed at the MLB level. He is 23. Good grief. That's the age of Drew Thorpe who is a top-10 pitching prospect in all baseball. Thorpe also pitches in AA ball, not the majors. You can count on one hand the number of pitchers who have come up and had immediate success at age 22 in the past decade.

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Does Priester have the command to stay out of the middle of the zone?

What publications have Thorpe a 10 top prospect in all of baseball?

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Mlb has him currently at #10 as far as RHP is concerned. He'll most likely climb into the 20 to 50 overall range and be a top 10 pitching prospect regardless of RH or LH.

As far as Priester, he still has youth on his side, and his command looks better this year than last. He'll keep making mistakes but hopefully they get fewer and further between, also similar to Keller. If he can add a few ticks in velocity he could become a solid 3 potentially more if the command improves.

Good questions.

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I think Ashcraft has better stuff than QP. Wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up having a better career than QP. However, there’s no way Pirates bypass QP for him at this stage in their careers.

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Disagree about Priester. He keeps getting better. And he's gone 6ip 3 of his last 4 starts in the majors. Not that i wouldn't want to see Ashcraft

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Me calling for a Mitch Keller DFA for two seasons in a row has taught me not to jump the gun on highly regarded pitching. Quinn is still young. He’s shown flashes. I think he has it in him to be a quality major league starter, just needs to find the consistency and not let innings snowball on him.

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Also, injury needs will eventually sort this out for the team. There's no reason to get too pushy about moving pitchers up.

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I’ve seen enuf of Priester. Not giving up forever but giving up for now. No velocity and no movement. Just cant get MLB hitters out.

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Not sure what our approach to the Catching position is at A+, but it seems like we are grooming DH's rather than Catcher's. Shawn Ross is 24 and trying to convert to Catching, but already has 9 errors and 3 passed balls in 27 Games. Planchart, 22, at A last year, posted 13 E's/12 PB's in 78 games, but has improved in 2024 to only 1 E, but still 8 PB's in only 17 games! Errors are usually from throwing and are sometimes unavoidable, but passed balls are pretty much unacceptable.

Omar Alfonzo played most of last year as a 19 year old with 1 E, 6 PB's at A Bradenton in 35 games and hit well - .800+ OPS with excellent K & BB percentages. This year at 20 he is still at A with only 1 E, 2 PB in 24 games, and is hitting for a .796 OPS with excellent K & BB percentages. Need to find a place for him behind the plate in A+.

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I've had an ongoing exchange in several places about this. Ross has power but he's also whiffing in half his ABs, which just won't work in AA, much less any higher. He also seems to have a good arm, but nine errors is a lot for a whole year for a catcher, much less 29 games.

I watched Planchart for a couple years and he's a solid catcher. He's also hitting as well as Ross with half the K rate, although he's playing so little it's hard to say.

The real mid-level (or a bit lower) catching prospects in the system are the three guys currently at Bradenton, which to me argues that Alfonzo needs to move up, as he's repeating the level. BA has featured him twice in articles about MiL hitters who're seeing big jumps in statcast hard-hit data.

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I did not want to offend anybody, but the Pirates have set the whole system up to be PITCHING, PITCHING, and more PITCHING! Therefore, Catchers need to be excellent receivers who make as few mistakes as possible. I cannot see the two guys at A+ as Catching prospects.

We should be more attuned to finding that type of Catcher who can also interact with Pitchers in a positive manner. I like guys to hit also, but defense and handling of the pitchers are of primary importance for a "hind Catcher" as they refer to the position in the South!

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I'm getting to where I don't consider anybody a prospect until they show it in AA, except in rare cases. And catchers even more than pitchers just seem to pop up at some point. Nobody ever thought of Jacob Stallings as a prospect -- he cleared waivers twice. Yet he won a GG.

They have some guys who could come through for them, I think including Planchart. But at this point all we can do is keep hoping they do well, imo.

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Happy Memorial Day to all of our Veterans - All Gave Some, Some Gave All

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Every year this bugs me... there are three different holidays for a reason:

Armed Forces Day - to thank all who serve

Veterans Day - to thank all who served

Memorial Day - to remember and appreciate those servicepeople who died for our country

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