Reportedly the Braves intend to dump newly acquired Matt Carpenter. He hit .176 this year, so I'm sure they can figure out the perfect sap to dump him on.
Pirates' ZIPS projections are out. Bottom line is, they're not a bad team, but they need some upgrades. Which, of course, BC is making zero effort to do.
Looks like ZIPS has a lot of competency around the diamond and in the staff, which is probably optimistic for the back half of the staff but something i can see if im 6 beers in and squint a bunch
Management’s inability to do the little things well wouldn’t bother me so much if they could hit on more than 10% of the big things. But when they can’t do either, it’s a real indictment of their abilities
They totally were counting on signing the pitcher from Korea that signed with the Dodgers. When that fell through they couldn't find a backup. The shortstop is somewhat intriguing but to send $500,000 to the Yankees for McKinney just seems a waste of resources.
Pirates also signed a Cuban RHP named Enmanuel Chapman (no relation to Aroldis) for $200K. He supposedly throws 93-98, but his #s in Cuba are . . . gruesome.
Both Hank and Olivares are fast guys with good arms but it sounds like Olivares also is bad at reads and routes but couldn't possibly be as bad as guy just thrown out in RF for the first time in MLB by baseball's dumbest front office.
He'll be a nice platoon partner for Jack if they can work through his defense (124 wRC+ against LHP). He has the sprint speed and arm to be a good defender in any three OF spots so it must be reads and routes. He's good on the bases but not at stealing bases. Hasn't gotten a ton of MLB PAs. Last year's ~350 was the most he's ever seen at age 27.
I honestly feel kinda bad for the guy. He's done well enough to deserve something of a shot, but he has 44 PAs in the bigs and he's totally buried now.
I expect our LH hitting 1B, Tellez, will report to ST ready to impress. And, Connor Joe, our RH hitting 1B and LF is coming off his best MLB season. I liked it better when Endy was going to get some AB's at 1B, but shit happens and BC did the best he could without ransoming the future. Chances Endy can get AB's this year? Also hoping that Malcom Nunez will return to form after a down year.
Pirates signed a Korean SS, Jayden Kim, 17 yrs old. Also a Dominican RHP, Jeremia Berroa, age 19. I'm guessing these are the last int'l signings of the period.
Anthony, I appreciate your commitment to produce intelligent daily content for this site, but doing an in depth breakdown of Rowdy effing Tellez has to be one of the saddest tasks imaginable. I feel for you.
Looking forward to a complete analysis of Billy McKinney and why even though he’s never done a single impactful thing on an MLB baseball diamond he still has some upside.
Do the Pirates really need a farm system? The Pirates aren't going to compete for a playoff with or without Tellez. Apparently they think they can convince fans they can with a broken down starting rotation, loss of their starting catcher who still has a lot to prove but the tools to do it with. I'm fairly sure with BC/Shelton rf is already McKinney's to lose if they actually put Davis behind the plate. They need to find out what's causing this injury jinx, lol. Hint: It's not a goat.
Lack of first base prospects aside, you raise a good point. What is the difference in their final record if they run Triolo or Joe out there? Probably +/-0
Probably very minimal. However, what will it do for Triolo playing 1b where he has little to no value. If Telez catches fire and has 20+ bombs and an OPS+ of 120 at the TD, now all the sudden you have a nice trade chip.
Yeah but if the intention is to compete they need to be moving beyond the “hey this guy looks interesting maybe we can flip him at the deadline” type mentality.
The only thing going for Tellez is he's a lefty. The real problem is he can't hit enough bombs to cover all the throws from Cruz that will get past him along with all hits down the line past him. First base has been a problem for a long time and the Pirates just don't seem to ever address it in the draft or developmental wise. Maybe they don't know a good glove, good bat first baseman is as a hard to get as a a good glove, good bat catcher, lol.
Sure, he’s a lefty and the other guys I mentioned aren’t. But, as the article amply points out, he has such low upside and the defense is sufficiently bad enough that I’m not sure it makes huge difference, beyond them wasting what limited money they do have. Getting a good first base prospect also means drafting or trading for the sort of player with the offensive upside to play first base. They really don’t seem to be able to identify those guys.
Like most, I was underwhelmed by the Tellez signing. I think part of it was ' what's the hurry' too sign him? While we can all list players on the 40 man we would drop, they all have some level of value (not necessarily in a trade.. maybe just emergency depth) and why rush a 40 man crunch. Was there some mad competition for Rowdy? Could we not possibly sign an even lesser version of Rowdy if we actually lost him in February if it came to that level of desperation? I see this as such a 'meh' move that in this case I would have waited and see what becomes available.
As an addendum, while the Cutch signing is not 'meh', it comes with the same roster mgmt caveat. The Bucs have at least 3 players that can go on the 60 man DL as soon as it opens up IMO (Oviedo, ERod, Brubaker, and maybe Burrows - he would accrue service time), so could they have a handshake with Cutch and hold off on the signing?
I say all this assuming/hoping that there will be need for a few more (several?) MLB signings. A real RH outfield option to platoon with Jack and 2 SP's.
2022 Vogelbach, 2023 Choi, 2024 Tellez all seem like the same type of player. The Pirates also had 2022 Tsutsugo, 2023 Santana, but not another first baseman for sure yet in 2024.
The big IF is can Cutch play 40 to 80 games in right field. If the answer is Yes, I can see the Pirates signing another first baseman like they have the past two seasons. There are several out there. that can hit from the right side of the plate. Hoskins, CJ Cron, Santana, Urshella, Cooper, Wil Myers are probably the best.
Connor Joe is the rightie platoon dude so this is it. JoLez or ConDy is the 2024 1B answer with Rule 5 Dude as AAAA depth. We’ve started w worse… not saying much. The one eternal hope is that Rowdy can pull a Big Poppy and bloom post arbitration-cut. That’s what BC is smoking at least.
Joe was really good in August too (.845 OPS), was fine in July (.783 OPS), and wasn't terrible in September (.720 OPS). May and June were rough (.622 OPS over those two months). His season correlated well with the Pirates' season as a whole.
Reportedly the Braves intend to dump newly acquired Matt Carpenter. He hit .176 this year, so I'm sure they can figure out the perfect sap to dump him on.
Pirates' ZIPS projections are out. Bottom line is, they're not a bad team, but they need some upgrades. Which, of course, BC is making zero effort to do.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-zips-projections-pittsburgh-pirates/
Looks like ZIPS has a lot of competency around the diamond and in the staff, which is probably optimistic for the back half of the staff but something i can see if im 6 beers in and squint a bunch
Early Christmas present - Pirates ZiPS is up at FanGraphs.
It’s not 2020 brutal, but it’s disappointing for sure (and over optimistic on the pitching side if you ask me).
Just saw on the AP, the pirates sent $500,000 in international pool space to the Yankees for McKinney.
Very disappointed in their ability to use that pool space.
Management’s inability to do the little things well wouldn’t bother me so much if they could hit on more than 10% of the big things. But when they can’t do either, it’s a real indictment of their abilities
Some more bonus stuff: The Cuban pitcher, Chapman, and Korean SS, Kim, are each getting $200K.
They totally were counting on signing the pitcher from Korea that signed with the Dodgers. When that fell through they couldn't find a backup. The shortstop is somewhat intriguing but to send $500,000 to the Yankees for McKinney just seems a waste of resources.
Definitely would rather take a flyer on some IFAs, especially since that could fetch a fairly decent prospect than billy fucking mckinney
Yankees got a catcher for $450,000 of the $500,000 we sent them.
Well shit, 96% it wont change anything in the franchise's future, but feels like another unforced error
Pirates also signed a Cuban RHP named Enmanuel Chapman (no relation to Aroldis) for $200K. He supposedly throws 93-98, but his #s in Cuba are . . . gruesome.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/pirates-reportedly-sign-hard-throwing-international-free-agent/ar-AA1lyOW4
bb-ref page: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=chapma000enm
He makes up for his lack of strikeouts by hitting batters, walking them or giving up hits.
Search for Crash Davis. He might be old but he could still fix him😁
The deal was Olivares for low-level UT guy Deivis Nadal. Nadal has some ability but I'd be surprised if he ever got past AA.
Oddly, nobody but the transaction page seems to be up to date on this.
Here is mlb trade rumors: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/pirates-acquire-edward-olivares-from-royals.html#:~:text=The%20Royals%20are%20trading%20outfielder,a%20roster%20spot%20for%20him.
He had a RC+ of 105, which makes him a superstar on the Pirates, but his defensive metrics are terrible.
Geesh.....we might be better on defense with Hank in RF. Could Olivares be that bad!
Both Hank and Olivares are fast guys with good arms but it sounds like Olivares also is bad at reads and routes but couldn't possibly be as bad as guy just thrown out in RF for the first time in MLB by baseball's dumbest front office.
He'll be a nice platoon partner for Jack if they can work through his defense (124 wRC+ against LHP). He has the sprint speed and arm to be a good defender in any three OF spots so it must be reads and routes. He's good on the bases but not at stealing bases. Hasn't gotten a ton of MLB PAs. Last year's ~350 was the most he's ever seen at age 27.
0.3 WAR per Baseball Reference.
They gave up nothing for him, but this is another move that amounts to nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Edward Olivares? Seems like a decent RH bat to add to the OF given how LH we are there.
CSN is so low on the depth chart now a periscope won't do him any good.
Lol creative one here, well done WTM
I honestly feel kinda bad for the guy. He's done well enough to deserve something of a shot, but he has 44 PAs in the bigs and he's totally buried now.
Maybe he will find a way to stick on another org or something
It makes Joe the right handed platoon at 1st. I actually like this pickup, so does Bob, it doesn't cost much.
Actually seems like probably a fairly decent pickup? Not a household name but not a waste either
another blue jays prospect
Give some familiarity to manoah when he gets here
I'm guessing they actually gave up something at least borderline for him.
Who do you think they'll DFA, the pitcher claimed from the Nats or one of the other 5 or 6 candidates?
Survey says . . .
Alika
Makes since...
Still think the pitcher from the Nats is a dfa waiting to happen.
Yep, it's on the transaction page now.
You win the internet.
Good chance he'll make it through unless the Braves want him back.
Bae
I can hope
No one can seriously believe that Tellez and Joe are viable first basemen for a team trying to win and trying to pretend they are is just sad.
Guy hits a ton of air balls and pulls nearly every single one of them.
Fans have sort of given up on the club ever finding That One Guy who could really take advantage of PNC from RC to the line. Maybe, juts maybe...
I expect our LH hitting 1B, Tellez, will report to ST ready to impress. And, Connor Joe, our RH hitting 1B and LF is coming off his best MLB season. I liked it better when Endy was going to get some AB's at 1B, but shit happens and BC did the best he could without ransoming the future. Chances Endy can get AB's this year? Also hoping that Malcom Nunez will return to form after a down year.
Pirates signed a Korean SS, Jayden Kim, 17 yrs old. Also a Dominican RHP, Jeremia Berroa, age 19. I'm guessing these are the last int'l signings of the period.
Makes me feel a little better about the McKinney trade, it must have been $250,000 or less they had in their pool.
I think Kim is from Australia, they have a player with that name on their U18 national team.
I was wrong
Anthony, I appreciate your commitment to produce intelligent daily content for this site, but doing an in depth breakdown of Rowdy effing Tellez has to be one of the saddest tasks imaginable. I feel for you.
Looking forward to a complete analysis of Billy McKinney and why even though he’s never done a single impactful thing on an MLB baseball diamond he still has some upside.
And yet this must've felt like a dream topic compared to mustering up an article about Gilbert Constellation.
Do the Pirates really need a farm system? The Pirates aren't going to compete for a playoff with or without Tellez. Apparently they think they can convince fans they can with a broken down starting rotation, loss of their starting catcher who still has a lot to prove but the tools to do it with. I'm fairly sure with BC/Shelton rf is already McKinney's to lose if they actually put Davis behind the plate. They need to find out what's causing this injury jinx, lol. Hint: It's not a goat.
Do the Pirates really need a farm system?
Look around the diamond...The only player that did not come from the Pirates farm system is Telez. Literally every other position came from the farm.
Lack of first base prospects aside, you raise a good point. What is the difference in their final record if they run Triolo or Joe out there? Probably +/-0
Probably very minimal. However, what will it do for Triolo playing 1b where he has little to no value. If Telez catches fire and has 20+ bombs and an OPS+ of 120 at the TD, now all the sudden you have a nice trade chip.
Yeah but if the intention is to compete they need to be moving beyond the “hey this guy looks interesting maybe we can flip him at the deadline” type mentality.
I dunno. Rowdy hit 35 homers in '22 and was worth .8 fWAR. The crummy defense and on-base really put a limit on his value.
The only thing going for Tellez is he's a lefty. The real problem is he can't hit enough bombs to cover all the throws from Cruz that will get past him along with all hits down the line past him. First base has been a problem for a long time and the Pirates just don't seem to ever address it in the draft or developmental wise. Maybe they don't know a good glove, good bat first baseman is as a hard to get as a a good glove, good bat catcher, lol.
Sure, he’s a lefty and the other guys I mentioned aren’t. But, as the article amply points out, he has such low upside and the defense is sufficiently bad enough that I’m not sure it makes huge difference, beyond them wasting what limited money they do have. Getting a good first base prospect also means drafting or trading for the sort of player with the offensive upside to play first base. They really don’t seem to be able to identify those guys.
Reynolds is listed at 6'2 let's give him a mitt then you don't have to platoon first, lol
I'm not a fan of this signing, but what 1b prospect is he blocking? McKinney is AAA depth.
JFC
1b prospect? That’s allowed?
Nunez had a disappointing year but he won't turn 23 until March so there is time.
Like most, I was underwhelmed by the Tellez signing. I think part of it was ' what's the hurry' too sign him? While we can all list players on the 40 man we would drop, they all have some level of value (not necessarily in a trade.. maybe just emergency depth) and why rush a 40 man crunch. Was there some mad competition for Rowdy? Could we not possibly sign an even lesser version of Rowdy if we actually lost him in February if it came to that level of desperation? I see this as such a 'meh' move that in this case I would have waited and see what becomes available.
As an addendum, while the Cutch signing is not 'meh', it comes with the same roster mgmt caveat. The Bucs have at least 3 players that can go on the 60 man DL as soon as it opens up IMO (Oviedo, ERod, Brubaker, and maybe Burrows - he would accrue service time), so could they have a handshake with Cutch and hold off on the signing?
I say all this assuming/hoping that there will be need for a few more (several?) MLB signings. A real RH outfield option to platoon with Jack and 2 SP's.
Tellez’s has limited upside but immense width
And he's not fast, but he sure is slow.
2022 Vogelbach, 2023 Choi, 2024 Tellez all seem like the same type of player. The Pirates also had 2022 Tsutsugo, 2023 Santana, but not another first baseman for sure yet in 2024.
The big IF is can Cutch play 40 to 80 games in right field. If the answer is Yes, I can see the Pirates signing another first baseman like they have the past two seasons. There are several out there. that can hit from the right side of the plate. Hoskins, CJ Cron, Santana, Urshella, Cooper, Wil Myers are probably the best.
Justin Turner, no?
Justin Turner is another one. Good call.
it would turn the tables on the offseason if he pulled that one out of his hat
Connor Joe is the rightie platoon dude so this is it. JoLez or ConDy is the 2024 1B answer with Rule 5 Dude as AAAA depth. We’ve started w worse… not saying much. The one eternal hope is that Rowdy can pull a Big Poppy and bloom post arbitration-cut. That’s what BC is smoking at least.
Rowdy is only 28. It seemed like an early signing unless the Pirates thought they could get something out of him.
Really hope the 2023 version of Connor Joe is what we can expect. Rowdy is more of a known commodity. How about JoDy? ConTel?
Would also expect to see Triolo working there in spring training. Versatility and such....
April 2023 Joe would be great. May-Sept 2023 Joe would suck.
Joe was really good in August too (.845 OPS), was fine in July (.783 OPS), and wasn't terrible in September (.720 OPS). May and June were rough (.622 OPS over those two months). His season correlated well with the Pirates' season as a whole.