Quite a day for pitchers in live BP. Skenes, Keller, Bednar, Bubba, Santana, Burrows, Borucki, Ferguson, Mayza, Strzelecki, Barco. Probably missed somebody. It’s like things got serious all of a sudden.
Literally the only guy I saw at 1B today was Hall. Coaches otherwise. Stewart was in RF. Hall has played by far the most there of anybody that I’ve seen. Dunno whether it means anything.
Just a couple pitches. He zipped through Cutch, Cruz and Reynolds. I don’t see how anybody hits the guy. Standing behind the screen when he’s pitching is . . . educational.
Per the P-G, the first injury update of the spring is in and both Sean Sullivan and Yerry Rodriguez are experiencing right elbow discomfort. Otherwise, all as expected, with Horwitz about the get the stitches removed and Oviedo and Ashcraft looking good.
Ugh. This includes all the guys whose primary position is 1B. And counting Billy Cook there is a stretch. I currently have Cook in a dead heat with Yorke for the 26th roster spot. I’m personally not buying the Darick Hall hype. He really has very little major or minor league track record. Nunez is back. Boy this is bad.
I don't see a scenario where Malcolm Nunez is starting @ 1b Opening Day. As for the 26th spot, I think it's between Suwinski & Palacios. Frazier, Backup C and Tree are locks. That leaves one spot, and I would guess it's a lefty OF'er to pair with Pham, unless they plan on using Frazier out there.
I think they're intrigued with Hall's lefty power and hope he goes on a heater for a month before Horwitz returns. Billy Cook playing every day at 1b could be bad, with K rates in the 40's. I think I would start him in AAA and move him all over the OF and spot starts at 1b and if everything clicks and the K rates drop, he could be a nice mid-season callup.
Yeah. GMBC seems to be giving Hall a real chc. But I’m guessing it’s veteran lip service. Nunez can’t really make it unless maybe Hall lands on the DL. Even then they’d probably look elsewhere.
My adventure with this last season was ridiculous. That channel got dumped from my Verizon cable sub tier with no warning (which was basically the only reason I still had cable). However, I could still get to games via laptop or that phone app by linking through with my cable credentials. To watch on my TV I had to cast from my phone app or else watch on my laptop. I just checked and it still seems to work, so I guess they have not yet closed that loophole. So dumb.
Someone on here recommended to get a separate router with a VPN to be able to use my brother's MLB TV (he is in NYC)...haven't done it yet though.
Does “defensive versatility” matter if it’s paired with below replacement level offense?! The only value created here is maybe saving a roster spot. I mean, Triolo probably represents the absolute floor offensively of what would be acceptable for this type of player. If he could actually hit, he would be your starting 1B or 3B, not a utility guy. Same goes for IKF.
Good question - and I think there is more value than simply saving a roster spot. Here's a comparison of 2 infielders with about the same amount of years in MLB with the Pirates
Jared Triolo - 2 yrs, 575 AB, slash of 242/325/341/666 OPS, bWAR of +3.4
Nick Gonzales - 2 yrs, 474 AB, slash 255/300/386/686 OPS, bWAR of +0.8
The Wins Above Replacement value difference comes from Triolo's Defense. Gonzales does have a 0.020 points higher OPS, but, if you are the guy calling the shots, which of these infielders would you keep if you had to choose between them? The difference in OPS is negligible. Triolo is special because he can play 1B, 2B, and SS probably better than anyone else we have - not going to say he is better than Hayes at 3B, but he has done a helluva job filling in there when Ke has been on the IL.
1) Current iterations of WAR, both fWAR and bWAR, tend to overstate the importance of defense generally, but especially for specific positions IMO. That said, defense is still important and not to be ignored (as this front office does so often... sloughing off the negative defensive metrics of so many of their acquisitions with terms such as "murky" or some such).
2) Triolo was recovering from a hamate injury when he first came up. Then he struggled mightily in the first half of last season. The jury is still out on how well he hits major-league pitching.
3) Gonzalez's swing is tailor-made for high-velocity pitching, but he has, as we all know, struggled mightily with offspeed and breaking stuff. Last year, he seemed to show better pitch recognition and a little better timing on his swing, waiting a split second and trying to pick up spin... less afraid to go the other way on fastballs. Again, the jury is still out on how well he hits MLB pitching. Let's see how it goes this year.
4) I know everyone who follows baseball loves stats and metrics of every type... the more the better, but stats and metrics, especially in sample sizes less than a full season or two, do not tell the whole story. This is especially so for young players or players playing through injuries for substantial periods. All of these things must be taken into account to produce a full picture.
No. But the metrics on OFers, for example, seem off with CFers consistently being given more positive "runs above average" and less negative than corners (because they have the authority to call off the corners on balls that either could get but may have been a little closer to the direction of the corner OF, making the corner the player responsible for bad outcomes, but not good outcomes). 3B is overrated now without shifts (and underrated before... that is why Hayes was developed as a 3Bman and not a SS... to cover the whole left side on right-side shifts... Cherington is too stupid to understand such advanced thinking by Huntington, so he left him at 3B after the full shift was banned). There are some other tweaks and twerks.
I don't discount defensive metrics... not at all. I just think they are overrated in WAR, which is a problem with WAR not defensive metrics as a whole.
Good take on the positioning of Hayes. Makes total sense in the shift heavy era. His range and arm was superior to Newman and much cleaner than Tucker.
Catcher) most subjective and offensive abilities carries more weight.
CF and SS) range and general fielding (glove work and throwing)
LF) depends a lot on the field, PNC is a totally different position from Fenway, range is way more important at PNC.
1b) a bit under appreciated, good hands and field awareness (watching Tellez consistently going after balls the second basemen could handle easily gave me heartburn).
One issue with Triolo was, if you remember, our esteemed former hitting coach decided decided to tinker with Triolo's swing to generate more bat speed and better exit velocities. That Triolo's bat speed and exit velocities may have been hampered by his hamate recovery was apparently not a concern for the ingenious Mr. Fixit. Let's see how Hague handles the hitters. I think we will see some better results in having guys transition successfully from the minors to the majors... something that actually never happened, not once (except maybe Suwinski) with the prior hitting instruction under Cherington.
My eye test for Triolo is that he has a crappy looking swing. He’s an excellent defender, but I don’t think it outweighs his offense. Gonzalez is better at every aspect of baseball, except defense, and he’s not bad on defense.
Early through mid-season I'd agree with you on Triolo. He had no load on his swing, just a straight release (his timing looked way off). Around mid-season he started using a slight load and he hit much better (still not good enough for an everyday regular).
If he can take a step forward and hit around league average he can be a great super utility with his ability to play everywhere but catcher/pitcher.
Some more FanGraphs fun today...
-Griffin gets a nod as a 2026 Pick to Click, as expected, but Omar Alfonso does as well. David Matoma also gets tagged as a 2-yr-out guy.
-ZiPS Top 100 includes Termarr all the way up #36. An indication that his production relative to age has actually been quite good.
Quite a day for pitchers in live BP. Skenes, Keller, Bednar, Bubba, Santana, Burrows, Borucki, Ferguson, Mayza, Strzelecki, Barco. Probably missed somebody. It’s like things got serious all of a sudden.
Literally the only guy I saw at 1B today was Hall. Coaches otherwise. Stewart was in RF. Hall has played by far the most there of anybody that I’ve seen. Dunno whether it means anything.
Did you catch Skenes vs Cruz?
Just a couple pitches. He zipped through Cutch, Cruz and Reynolds. I don’t see how anybody hits the guy. Standing behind the screen when he’s pitching is . . . educational.
Skenes, Keller and Jones and pray for cyclones?
Soon to be Skenes, Chandler, Jones, and pray for cyclones.
Curious, are all the reps on one field, sounds like they should be on multiple fields?
They were using all four.
Per the P-G, the first injury update of the spring is in and both Sean Sullivan and Yerry Rodriguez are experiencing right elbow discomfort. Otherwise, all as expected, with Horwitz about the get the stitches removed and Oviedo and Ashcraft looking good.
Ohhh not a good day for Nola.
First Basemen
Billy Cook………….50%
Darick Hall…………20%
Malcolm Nunez……5%
Spencer Horwitz….0% DL
Ugh. This includes all the guys whose primary position is 1B. And counting Billy Cook there is a stretch. I currently have Cook in a dead heat with Yorke for the 26th roster spot. I’m personally not buying the Darick Hall hype. He really has very little major or minor league track record. Nunez is back. Boy this is bad.
I love these!
Personally, I'd go...
Hall 60%
Triolo 30%
Slew of dudes 10%
I don't see a scenario where Malcolm Nunez is starting @ 1b Opening Day. As for the 26th spot, I think it's between Suwinski & Palacios. Frazier, Backup C and Tree are locks. That leaves one spot, and I would guess it's a lefty OF'er to pair with Pham, unless they plan on using Frazier out there.
I think they're intrigued with Hall's lefty power and hope he goes on a heater for a month before Horwitz returns. Billy Cook playing every day at 1b could be bad, with K rates in the 40's. I think I would start him in AAA and move him all over the OF and spot starts at 1b and if everything clicks and the K rates drop, he could be a nice mid-season callup.
I respect your opinion, but the BCFC will absolutely not stand and watch while you say the Cook is not the best option!
Yeah. GMBC seems to be giving Hall a real chc. But I’m guessing it’s veteran lip service. Nunez can’t really make it unless maybe Hall lands on the DL. Even then they’d probably look elsewhere.
I think Hall has inside track due to his power potential.
Gun to head right now, I think it's a Hall/Triolo platoon.
what are the details on this pittsburgh sports streaming app?
there is no webpage to stream? and has to be a mobile device or a tv to stream because it needs an "app" instead of a webpage www url address?
I'm not in the local market, so I don't think that's an option for me. Also means I'm not overly familiar with the apps' setup.
I'll look into it when I get a couple of free minutes and see if I can find some details
I don't think he's talking about Pittsburgh SportsNet 360. He's talking about MLBTV.
For what it's worth, I couldn't get PSN 360 working last year on either my iPhone or iPad. Haven't tried it since.
Has PSN announced a spring training TV schedule yet?
I am talking about Pittsburgh SportsNet 360
i disabled the auto renew feature on mlbtv this year
I saw this piece yesterday about which teams have local streaming available: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6143098/2025/02/18/mets-sny-streaming-blackout/
I'm not in the Pittsburgh market, so MLB.TV works for me. Looks like Pittsburgh has NESN/SNP360. Some of these local streamers cost the same as MLB.TV
need to know how I can pull open the game on my laptop instead of needing a phone or tv app
My adventure with this last season was ridiculous. That channel got dumped from my Verizon cable sub tier with no warning (which was basically the only reason I still had cable). However, I could still get to games via laptop or that phone app by linking through with my cable credentials. To watch on my TV I had to cast from my phone app or else watch on my laptop. I just checked and it still seems to work, so I guess they have not yet closed that loophole. So dumb.
Someone on here recommended to get a separate router with a VPN to be able to use my brother's MLB TV (he is in NYC)...haven't done it yet though.
Does “defensive versatility” matter if it’s paired with below replacement level offense?! The only value created here is maybe saving a roster spot. I mean, Triolo probably represents the absolute floor offensively of what would be acceptable for this type of player. If he could actually hit, he would be your starting 1B or 3B, not a utility guy. Same goes for IKF.
Good question - and I think there is more value than simply saving a roster spot. Here's a comparison of 2 infielders with about the same amount of years in MLB with the Pirates
Jared Triolo - 2 yrs, 575 AB, slash of 242/325/341/666 OPS, bWAR of +3.4
Nick Gonzales - 2 yrs, 474 AB, slash 255/300/386/686 OPS, bWAR of +0.8
The Wins Above Replacement value difference comes from Triolo's Defense. Gonzales does have a 0.020 points higher OPS, but, if you are the guy calling the shots, which of these infielders would you keep if you had to choose between them? The difference in OPS is negligible. Triolo is special because he can play 1B, 2B, and SS probably better than anyone else we have - not going to say he is better than Hayes at 3B, but he has done a helluva job filling in there when Ke has been on the IL.
Several things.
1) Current iterations of WAR, both fWAR and bWAR, tend to overstate the importance of defense generally, but especially for specific positions IMO. That said, defense is still important and not to be ignored (as this front office does so often... sloughing off the negative defensive metrics of so many of their acquisitions with terms such as "murky" or some such).
2) Triolo was recovering from a hamate injury when he first came up. Then he struggled mightily in the first half of last season. The jury is still out on how well he hits major-league pitching.
3) Gonzalez's swing is tailor-made for high-velocity pitching, but he has, as we all know, struggled mightily with offspeed and breaking stuff. Last year, he seemed to show better pitch recognition and a little better timing on his swing, waiting a split second and trying to pick up spin... less afraid to go the other way on fastballs. Again, the jury is still out on how well he hits MLB pitching. Let's see how it goes this year.
4) I know everyone who follows baseball loves stats and metrics of every type... the more the better, but stats and metrics, especially in sample sizes less than a full season or two, do not tell the whole story. This is especially so for young players or players playing through injuries for substantial periods. All of these things must be taken into account to produce a full picture.
Do you believe C, CF and SS should be viewed the same as 1b and LF for defensive value?
No. But the metrics on OFers, for example, seem off with CFers consistently being given more positive "runs above average" and less negative than corners (because they have the authority to call off the corners on balls that either could get but may have been a little closer to the direction of the corner OF, making the corner the player responsible for bad outcomes, but not good outcomes). 3B is overrated now without shifts (and underrated before... that is why Hayes was developed as a 3Bman and not a SS... to cover the whole left side on right-side shifts... Cherington is too stupid to understand such advanced thinking by Huntington, so he left him at 3B after the full shift was banned). There are some other tweaks and twerks.
I don't discount defensive metrics... not at all. I just think they are overrated in WAR, which is a problem with WAR not defensive metrics as a whole.
Good take on the positioning of Hayes. Makes total sense in the shift heavy era. His range and arm was superior to Newman and much cleaner than Tucker.
Good question. I don't but with exceptions.
Catcher) most subjective and offensive abilities carries more weight.
CF and SS) range and general fielding (glove work and throwing)
LF) depends a lot on the field, PNC is a totally different position from Fenway, range is way more important at PNC.
1b) a bit under appreciated, good hands and field awareness (watching Tellez consistently going after balls the second basemen could handle easily gave me heartburn).
Item 1) poster child: Keybryan.
One issue with Triolo was, if you remember, our esteemed former hitting coach decided decided to tinker with Triolo's swing to generate more bat speed and better exit velocities. That Triolo's bat speed and exit velocities may have been hampered by his hamate recovery was apparently not a concern for the ingenious Mr. Fixit. Let's see how Hague handles the hitters. I think we will see some better results in having guys transition successfully from the minors to the majors... something that actually never happened, not once (except maybe Suwinski) with the prior hitting instruction under Cherington.
My eye test for Triolo is that he has a crappy looking swing. He’s an excellent defender, but I don’t think it outweighs his offense. Gonzalez is better at every aspect of baseball, except defense, and he’s not bad on defense.
Early through mid-season I'd agree with you on Triolo. He had no load on his swing, just a straight release (his timing looked way off). Around mid-season he started using a slight load and he hit much better (still not good enough for an everyday regular).
If he can take a step forward and hit around league average he can be a great super utility with his ability to play everywhere but catcher/pitcher.
Yes. I think our esteemed former hitting coach messed up his timing.
Does having a pitching staff built on power, high strikeout and fly ball percentage, play into the equation?
I’m not as worried about putting out the best infield defensive team when Skenes is pitching, whereas I am when a guy like Harrington takes the mound.